¶ Here begynneth a ryght frutefull treatyse / intituled the myrrour of good maners / cōtey­nyng the .iiii. vertues / called cardynall / com­pyled in latyn by Domynike Mancyn: Mancinus super quattuor virtu­tibus Cardineis. And translate into englysshe: at the desyre of syr Gyles Alyngton knyght: by Alexander Bercley prest: and monke of Ely.

[figure]
WHe coueteth to knowe / chefe maners cōmendable
P [...]ri Carmeliani ex [...]sticon: in Dominici Manci [...] de quattuor virtutibus Cardiners libellum.
And with holy lyfe: hymselfe wolde inlumyne
Let hym rede this treatyse / plesaunt & profytable
Fyrst in latyn meiyr / composed by Mancyne
This ryght prudent maister / dyd craftely cōbyne
The four noble vertues / surnamed cardinall
Qui cupi [...] eximios mo [...]s vitam (que) beatam Noscere / Mancini car­mina docta legat. Cardineas libro virtu tes quattuor vno. Is bene describ [...]t: mo­ribus assimilans. Mancino caedāt Curij: caedant (que) Catones. A [...]dita vel quorū scri­pta fuere prius.
In one lytell treatyse: includyng thyng nat small
Wherby he enfourmeth / man to direct his lyfe
To the towre of vertue▪ and maners most laudable
Whiche auctour in wrytyng / hath chefe preroga [...]yfe
Aboue all olde wryters / in sentence delectable
In elygaunce of meter / and speche incomparable
Compendiouse in sentence / and playne aboue them all
Whiche wrote or this season / of vertues ca [...]ynall
Wherfore olde Curius / and Cato most morall
With Senecke sad and sage / Tully and P [...]trarke
Pon [...]ane / And other most noble auctours all
Whiche in tymes passed / were vsed in lyke wark [...]
All these may well knowlege / them selfe diffuse or darke
Them both and theyr warke / submyttyng to Mancyne
Whiche this frutefull treatyse / composed in latyne

¶ Alexāder Barclay / to the reder of this present treatyse / transla­tyng Dominicus Mancinue ad lectorē de libro suo. the wordes of do­mynyke Mācyne.

THis playne lytell treatyse / in style compendyous
Quattuor astringit virtutes iste libellus: Perplacido ductu: per­facili (que) pede. Pe [...]uius est rudibꝰ pueris: teneris (que) puellis.
Moche brefly conteyneth / four vertues cardynall
In ryght plesant processe / playne and cōmodyous
With lyght [...]ote of meter / and style herocyall
Rude people to enfourme / in langage maternall
To whose vnderstandyng / maydens of tender age
And rude lytell chylderne / shall [...]ynd [...] easy passag [...]
ye suche as the mother / doth cheriss he on her lap
Quos etiā mater fom [...] [...]e lactis alit. Pe [...]uius ē senibꝰ: quos olim crassa ve [...]ust [...] Eduxit: quando barba [...]a lingua fuit.
With swete blandyment [...]: of wordes amyable
Cherysshyng with mylke / and noriss [...]yng with pappe
Shall fynde this small doctryne: both playn [...] & ꝓfitable
Olde men / whiche haue vsed / in tyme passed to bable
In barbaryke langage / and wordes course & vyle
May lerne here / theyr maners and tonges newe to [...]yle
To fyle nat with vyces / nor langage inornate
But to rase theyr rudenesse / and cu [...]tes auncient
The chaste and wyse matrone / after lyke maner rate
Hūc matrona suas an­cillas casta docere: Hunc possit sponsae vir recitare suae.
May rede this small treatyse / her maydens all present
Gyueng none attysment / to [...]yfe incontynent
The sad and wyse husbande / this treatyse may recyte
Unto his wyfe / nat hurtyng theyr courage with delyte
This boke none excludeth / but euery man doth fede
Hic nullum fugia [...]: nō taedia conferat vll [...]: Si quocun (que) modo pri­ma elimenta sciat.
Nor none wyll it escheue / nor greue with yrksomnesse
Who that can vnderstande / harkyn here or rede
Shall fynde here some pleasure / mengled w t frutefulnesse
To no man displeasure / to no man tedyousnesse
But in opyn langage frutefull / and playne doctryne
Who lysteth theyr eares / and myndes to enclyne
But where as myne auctour / Domynyke Mancyne
In his latyne treatyse / them prayeth of Paryse
Noscere pa [...]isi [...] libr [...] properate recentem.
To haste to the knowlege / of this his newe doctryne
I make proclamacion / here vnder other wyse
To our natyfe nacion / diswadyng them from vyce
Erortyng and prayng / the dwellers of Englande
This newe and small treatyse / to rede & vnderstande
Wherfore / tender virgyns / delytyng in doctryne
And chyldren disposed / to vertue and goodnesse
Haste hyther and receyue / ryght h [...]lsome disciplyne
Drawe nere O chaste matrons / take flame of ꝑfymesse
Drawe nere croked age: and youth whom wantonesse
By frewyll / lust / tyot / or wylfull ignoraunce
Misgydeth from maners: good lyfe and gouernaunce
Drawe nere perfyte lyuers / take conforte to your mynde
In this lytell treatyse / to kepe perseueraunce
Approche men disordred / here shall ye doctryne fynde
To reforme your lyueng / and sue good gouernaunce
Haste of this newe treatyse / to purchase acquayntaunce
For no maner [...]reatyse / can be more pro [...]a [...]e
Sanctius: vtilius ho [...] nihil esse potest.
No doctryne more holy / holsome [...]or cōmendable
It teacheth no tryfels / it vices teacheth none
But vertue and maners / to man cōuenient
Quid fieri decea [...] ▪ do­ [...]et hic: ꝑ tempora vit [...]
It teacheth what thynges / besemeth to be done
Enduryng mānes lyfe / as most expedient
Thyng passed to cōsyder to order thyng present
Et▪ fieri vt possit: his quo [...] rite docet.
And prudently to puruey / all thynges for to come
All ordryng in season / accordyng to wysdome
It teacheth to temper / dysorder and malyce
To mytygate rancoure▪ and percyalyte
Without feare or fauour / to execute Justpce
It teacheth in troubles / strong magnanimyte
And temperaunce herin / descrybed mayst thouse
So prudence / fortytude / Justyce & temperaunce
This boke to the profereth / with humble countenaunce
But certesse dere reder / it asketh nought agayne
Nec rogitat pro se lec­ [...]or te trahere nūm [...] Sed rogat: vt videas tūc habet [...]pse satis. Sponte tamē si qs mo­d [...]co sibi comparat aere Nil quicq̄ vtilius cre­dat haberi domi.
No coyne it requyreth / as pryse sufficient
But rede it: it prayeth / than is it glad & fayne
And note whan thou redest / than is it well content
But if any purpose / of mynde beniuolent
With a lytell money / to bye this small treatyse
He surely possesseth / no thyng of gretter pryce
Nor his house contayneth / no thyng more profytable
Sin verba: & sensus me mo [...] sub pectore cōda [...] The sauros magno [...] in­tus habe [...] p [...]tet.
So may he wele beleue: with [...]yte assurance
But suche as indeuoyre / with study ferme and stable
Both wordes and sentence / to close in remembraunce
Than hath he a iewell: which moche shall hym auaunce
And closed in his hert / a singuler treasour
All transytory treasour / surmountyng in valour
No marchandyse better / in martes maist thou fynde
Than this lytell boke / within it doth contayne
No better thyng bringeth / the marchaunt out of Inde
N [...] meliu [...] [...]a [...]ijs por­ [...]at mercator ab oris.
From D [...]as or Turkey / from Damyane or Spayne
From costes of Italy: from Naples or A [...]mayu [...]
In all other nacions most forayne / far & straunge
Can man fynde no better marchandyse not chaunge
No shoppe in ryche Cyte / hath better marchaundyse
No grocer / no mercer / nor other merchantes all
Can saty [...]ye the myndes / with ware of suche pryce
As this boke / which profreth the vertues cardynall
Nil qu [...] meli [...] biblio [...]ol [...] tenet.
The boke prynter selleth▪ no better thyng at all
Who this we [...] [...]mprys [...]h / sure in his mynde & though [...]
Let hymth [...] [...]rtayne / nought better can be bought

¶ The prologe of Alexander Barclay vpon the four Uertues cardynall / to his ryght honorable mayster Gyles Alyngton knyght / Translate of the preface of Do­mynyke Mancyne by hym written / to Frederyke Seueryne bysshop of Maleacence.

BIght honorable mayster / ye me requyred late
A louers confession / abrydgyng to amende
Dominici Mancin [...] in librū de quattuor v [...] ­tutibus ad Federicum Seuerinatē episcopū Maleacensium praefa­tio incipit.
And from corrupt Englysshe / in better to translate
To your request wolde I / ryght gladly condyscende
Were nat / that some reders / my warke wolde reprehende
As to my age and order / moche inconuenient
To wryte of thynge wanton / natsad / but insolent
And though many passage [...] / therin be cōmendable
Some processes appere / replete with wantōnesse
And also the labour / great / longe / and importable
Unto my weake wyttes / my myndes myght oppresse
Non mea fert aetas [...]u­ue [...]les aedere lusu [...]:
For age it is foly / and ieopardy doutlesse
And able for to rayse: bad name contagyous
To wryte / rede or comon [...] of thyng venerious

¶ The fyrst reason.

Myne age wyll nat suffer / to wryte of sport or game
Wherto: wanton iuuent / most wyllyngly intende
Quo [...] (que) soler vulgus ci memorare [...]oros▪
To scoftes and iestes / myne age wyll nat frame
Nor dissolute bourdes / whiche comons most cōmende
Nō etenim salibu [...] ca­ni sunt mollibus apti▪
Hore age to yonge bourdes / shulde nat it selfe extende
A man with hore heeres / vncom [...]y doth inclyne
To mystramed fables / or iesture femynyne
An olde man decrepite / laded with lockes gray
Nec deceat iuuenū te­la mouere senem. Quā turpe est cano su [...] gunt cui vellera mēto: Si pueris mixtꝰ fact [...] et ipse nuces.
And with berde lyke brystels / dependyng on his chyn
With yong mennes wepen / besemeth nat to play
To gābaude nor florysshe / smale prayse so shall be wyn
And certesse mesemeth / his wyt is very thyn
Whiche myngled with chyldren / and he a man of age
Wolde playe with cherystones / or nuttes by bota [...]e
To Caton or Curius / howe yll wolde it agre
Quā male cōueniat [...] neros si ludat amore [...] Vel Cato: vel Curi [...]: [...] bri cuiusue grauis? Nō homini ceruix ali­ter concrescit equ [...]a: Quam si nō proprium sumpserit osticium.
Or to sad Fabricius / the Romayne most famous
Forgettyng theyr honour / wysdome and grauyte
To wryte of thyng wanton / vayne / or veuerious
To man resonable / is as contraryous
To take on hym labour / or busynesse nat mets
As to be a monstre / with asses head & fete
Nat wele he presenteth / the wower in a daunce
Non bene saltātis per­sonam sustinet ille:
But very yll he playeth / the volage amorous
Which fettered in a gyue / wolde gābalde / leape / & prance
Attached to a chayne / of lynkes ponderous
So faynt croked age / frayle and oblyuyous
Compede q longa / conprimitur (que) graui.
Aggrauat with yeres / as lynke ioyned to lynke
Of loue venerious: shulde neyther speke nor thynke
If the crowe or cuckowe / pryuate of melody
Quā merito volucres cornici illudere certēt
With swan or nyghtingale / in synging wolde compare
All byrdes myght them scorne / & nat vnworthely
What shuld an premōger / mell with a grocers ware
Si cantat cygno / vel philomena tibi?
Or salter with sylkes / full symply coude fare
As youth sheweth sportes / frayle lust and vanyte
So meddell shulde men aged / with thyng of grauyte

¶ The seconde reason.

Ferthermore / the order holy and commendable
Nō etiam sanctus quo ascr [...]bo [...] postulat ordo Et vo [...]ū fidei: religio (que) facra. Me: nisi res sanctas: [...] ­sc [...]b [...]c: tum meditari
To whiche: god of mercy hath me associate
My fayth & professiō / shulde be inuiolable
Comaundyng my wrytyng / to be intemerate
These thre wyll none other / but after myne estate
My style and my wrytyng: insuyngly to sounde
On thing that on goodnesse: and vertue hath the grounde
And vtterly to wryte / of thyng of holinesse
De (que) fide sancta / catholica (que) loqui. Cur etenim quis (que) sa­cris caelo (que) dicatus: A sacris mentem dimouet vs (que) suam?
And on the same to muse / with pure and clene intent
To speke of holy fayth / of vertue and goodnesse
What shulde a man sacred / to god omny potent
By god hauyng power / of euery sacrament
Sith god by suche gyftes / so greatly doth hym bynde
What shuld he frō goodnes tourne / or w t ora [...] his mynde
A warriour or capitayne / disposed for to fyght
Militiae ascriptus vir▪ semper cogitat arma. Mercator cupidus mē ­ [...]e volutat opes. Praesbyter at debet vi­tijs indicere bellum:
Thynketh on his wepyn / his harnesse and armour
Hors / harnesse / and spere / are musyng of a knyght
The couetous marchant / in mynde tourneth eche hour
His marchandyse / changes / and fraudulent treasour▪
But the prestes musyng / labour / and exercyse
Shulde be in proclaymyng / playne warre agaynst vyce
And in abydyng batayle / dayly agaynst syn
Et populum summo cō ciliare deo. Debet et exempli [...] re­ [...]ocare: et voce tuētes I [...] suo stantes conso­lidare gradu.
Deuisyng and musyng / with all labour and payne
To reconsyle synners / and people for to wyn
By worde and example / he ought hym selfe constrayne
Men fallyn / and erryng / to lyft and call agayne
And brefely this ought he / to comfort ignorance
Exhortynge good lyuers▪ vnto perseuerance
And busely to watche / about our lordes tolde
[...] lans arcere rapaces▪ Et circum semper ad­uigilare gregem. Foedius haud quic (que) (quam) si sit scurra sacerdo [...]. Aut si praedu [...] militi [...] arma gerat.
The wylde wolues chasyng / from pore & symple shepe
As redy at all season / to soucour yonge and olde
Them chefely attendyng / whom he hath cure to kepe
But no thyng is vyler / nor mouyng more to wepe
Than a preest a rayler / dysdaynyng his honour
Or clothed as a courter: or cruell Soudyout
With weapyn or armour / as one redy to fyght
Sed non foeda m [...]nus res est: si moribus ips [...] Fabula sit vulg [...] / [...]d [...] ­culum (que) caput.
Usurpyng wrong honour: to lyueng repugnant
And where he by order is called chrystes knyght
Te be a worldly rybaude / the name is dissonant
And thynge nat lesse vyler / is to be ignorant
Of maners vncomly: agey [...]st all honeste
As fable or laughyng stocke / of lewdest cōmonte
Contemned / dysdayned / and without reuerence
For dissolute maners / or wantyng of connyng
Aut si continuae [...]ae▪ violentia: [...]te [...] Iurgia: v [...] [...]audes fu [...] ta rap [...]na placent.
Or of his chefe pleasure / be set in violence
In dyscord: theft / surfet / fraude / malyce or braulyng
To repyne disposed / or lustes insuyng
And with all these vyces / haue wordes rybaudyous
What is more vncomely / or more contagious
Wherfore it nat semeth / a preest only to kepe
His fame and his lyueng / from vyces fre and quyt [...]
But also hym semeth / for hurtyng of his shepe
Nought soundyng to foly / to comon nor to wryte
Thoughe worde be tollerable / what thyng one doth in­dyte
If it be infected / by foule contagion
By long tyme red often / it hurteth many one

¶ The thyrde reason.

And certainly I knowe / whyle year wont to rede
Sed ne (que) te quic (quam) mul­ [...]et Federice legentem Quod procula sancti [...] moribus esse v [...]des Nil etiā docta iucūdi­au [...]e capescis Quā: tibi quod sancta charta ministrat opus.
No thynge count ye plesant / to vertue repugnant
Or that to bad maners / mynystreth any sede
And wele I consyder / your mynde is so constant
That to your prudēt eares / nought soundeth more plesant
Than treatyse conteynyng / in euident processe
The fourme of good lyueng / and grounde of holynesse
To this be ye moued / of your nature benigne
Sic etenim mitis tua fert natura: be [...]gno Sydera cō [...]ncta: sydes [...]a si qua valent▪ Sic studia exposcūt▪ iu uenis quae semp amasti Et quae nunc doctus vel vehementer ama [...].
Helped my mylde planete / and constellacion
If planetys haue power / or may helpe any thynge
So in tender age / your conuersation
In vertue and lernyng / and lyke occupacion
Besemyng your nature / your blode and your lynage
Causeth you loue vertue / more veruently in age
Also conuersacyon / of wysemen and connyng
Sic etiā comitas porto rum [...]uncta virorum Admonuit lateri nocte di [...] (que) tuo. Hortantur veterū sic te monumenta virorū: Aedidit in [...]umeros quos seuerina domus
With whom ye ioy dayly / to be in company
Ercyteth your spyryt aboue all other thyng
To the loue of vertue / and of phylosophy
The fame and remembraūce / of your auncestry
By manyfolde vertues / excyteth you also
From vertue to vertue (as they haue done) to go
For certesse the lawdes / renome / and worthy fame
Dem (que)ies gestae quōdā laudes (que) paterne: Semina virtur sunt quo (quam) magna tuae. S [...]d [...]mō quae gessit dux belli et pacis amator. Virtutem saciunt illa virete magis.
And noble interpryses / of olde progenytours
At left as bright sparcles / yonge myndes to inflame
And as sede prouokyng / theyr myndes to honours
Nat by ambycyon / nor heapynge of tresours
Nor rentes augmented / without lawe or measure
But by godly vertue / and maners clere and pure
So as in vere veruant / whan Phebus is shynyng
Incremēta velut [...]stāt plant aribus imbres. Acre cum verno sole tepente cadunt. Sic tu dum spect as vir tutes ipse paternas / Fo [...]entū magnū das F [...]dericetuis.
Swete showres descendyng / with dropes christallyne
Ende with the drye grounde: causyng the plantes spring
Rygbtso / ye regardyng the hye vertues dyuyne
Of your olde forefaders / shall leaue vnto your lyne
Example of good maners / as frutefull nutryment
To dewe them in vertue: as plantes to augment
But if I wolde purpose / here seriatly to wryte
Si quis gesta velit nūc sci [...]e [...]ecentia patris: Hoc ego dicturū me ratione negem. Nō etenim possim paucis concludete verbis. Tum ne (que) narrādi commodus iste locus.
The actes auneient / of your progenitours
My reason repugneth / for wantyng of respyte
For thinges lately done: by your predecessours
Excytyng noble hertes / to sewe them in honours
To wryte were long processe / and nat expedient
Unto this my purpose / but inconuenient
But agayne to purpose / nowe to reuoke my style
Nā ꝓpero [...]mos quos cepi intendere cuisus. Vt dicā: quare non ego scribe iocos. Scilicet haec causa: est humer▪ (quam) sarcina niis:
Where as I fyrst began / this playne is myne entent
Wherfore I nat purpose / vayne tryfyls to compyle
For to myne age nor order / it is nat congruent
Nor to your prudent eares / no thyng conuenient
Wherfore / me besemeth to wryte of grauyte
Whiche to both our states / more comely may agre
Whiche a preest may wryte / nat hurtyng his estate
Nec digna est sanctis auribus illa tuis. Propterea (quam)tum potui grauiora petiui: Quae (que) tuo possint ap­tius ore lege.
Nor of honest name / obumbryng nat his lyght
And that a knyght may rede / after lyke maner rate
To this I prepare me / after my symple myght
For long haue I mused / and studyed day and nyght
What mater I myght wryte / to your auctoryte
To testyfye my loue / and my fydelyte
In whiche two I knowlege / my self vnto you bounde
Quippe (quam) ardebā no­strā te noscere mentē. Praestate & fidei in te monumenta meae: Quatuor en scripsi vi: tutum munera versu. Quae deceat hoies: qum probit ipse deus.
Wherfore / to recompence your dedes lyberall
At laste / longe tyme musyng / mete mater haue I founde
That is the foure vertues surnamed cardynall
Whiche comely to be vsed / are vnto man mortall
For them and theyr suers / god doth alway cōmende
Wherfore to my power / to wryte them I intende
To you these accordeth / these vnto you are dewe
Haec tibi cōueniūt: haec sunt tibi debita: tan (quam) Nuper de sancto fonte profecta tuo. Tu / velut exēplar scri­ptorū / & forma mcoū: Quod bene conscripsi plenius ipse facis.
Of you late procedyng / as of theyr heed fountayne
your lyse as example: in wrytyng I ensue
For more than my wrytyng / within it can contayne
your maners perfourmeth / and doth therto attayne
So / to wchyng these vertues / ye haue in your liueng
More than thre my meter / conteyneth in wrytyng
My dytyes indyted / may counsell many one
Haec alios / nō te pote­rūt mea scripta mone [...] Scripta monet alijos: tu mea scripta mones.
But nat you / your maners surmounteth my doctryne
Wherfore I regarde you: and your maners alone
After whose lyueng / my processe I combyne
So other men instructyng / I must to you inclyne
Conformyng my processe: as moche as I am able
To your sad behauour / and maners cōmendable
But though your bye courage / belongyng to a knyght
Et maiora licet sacra sub pectore verses: Nostra tamē legito: cū datur ipsa quies▪ Nō aquila aertas semꝑ petit ardua nubes. Proxima sed terris il­la aliquando volat.
Muse on gretter matters / than I intende to wryte
yet all thynges ended / at mornyng or at nyght
Rede this my rude meter / at layser and respyte
The Egle at all seasons / hath nat her most delyte
To flye to the cloudes / nor hyer in the Ayre
Some tyme nere lowe feioes / her pleaseth to repayre
And oft hath she pleasour / in steyng nere the grounde
Sic tu: cum cessant gra uiores pectore cura: Praesta aliquid musi [...] carminibus (que) meis. Laetabor: tāto si nostra legantur ab ore. Et fiāt lima s [...] meliora tua.
So / whan greatien cures / wyll graūt to you respyte
And whan your mynde from them / for season is vnboūde
Graunt than to our muses some pleasure and delyte
That gladly forto rede / which gladly I indyte
My spyrit shall reioyce / to here that in effect
My werkes ye shall rede: And them mende and correct
Forthouh in rude metter / my mater I compyle
Men shall count it ornate / whan [...]e [...] lust to rede
Prima canenda venit mater prudentia rerū.
Your tong shall it polisshe / garnysshe adorne and [...]yl [...]
But this thyng omitteyng / I purpose me to spede
To shewe in what order / I purpose to procede
Fyrst of all in meter / intende I for to shue
Oi sayre lavy prude [...]et / mother of all vertue
Of whom lady Justyce / draweth her holy lyght
Iusticia hinc lumē mex trahit alma suum. Post animꝰ magnꝰ / du­ra oīa ferre paratus: Scribitur in fine mens moderata mihi.
Of whom next ensuyng / I wryte with brcuyte
Than thyrdly I purpose / for to discrybe the myght
Of a valiant courage / or magnanymyte
Redy for to suffre / all harde aduersyte
And than last intende I: by the deuyne suffraunce
To describe the maner / of lady temperaunce
These four are four wheles: to charet of vertue
Quattuor cae cuirū to­ [...]dem fecere rotarum. Quem si quis scandat: magnus et altus erit. Nec minꝰ a cūctis spe­ctabit ille triump [...]ās. Quā toto si quis victor in orbe soret.
To whiche / who ascendeth / is great and glorious
And as a conquerour / hymselfe playne shall he shewe
To all maner people / triumphant and famous
And shall be reputed / moche more victoryous
More eurouse or happy / more strong or fortunate
Than if the hole worlde / by hym were subiugate
Fewe kynges / fewe prynces / or worldely gouernours
Hunc currū rari reges egere duces (que) Rara etenim virtus ec̄ quaterna solet. Ergo recognoscas tete mea scripta legēdo. Te tan (quam) in speculo / dū legis ipse vide.
Haue into this charet / ascended perfytely
For many in the worlde / haue ben great conquerours
And them selfe haue suffred / subdued of folly
But agayne to purpose / my matter to apply
Consyder ye your selfe / in redyng my wrytyng
And as in a myrrour / contemple your lyueng
Nowe be yemy Juge / in wrytyng / if my bande
Cēsor addes: nū quid ꝓpero dū fingere formā: Mens bene quod vidit est imitata manus. Sediam virtutum se­riē netremus ab ortu. Principi is not; omnia clara magis.
Shall these four ymages / forge as they ought to be
Or if the handefulfyll / that mynde doth vnderstande
This thyng to determyne / haue ye auctoryte
Nowe wyll I here begyn / to wryte with breuyte
Wherof these four vertues / haue theyr orygynall
For whan the grounde is clere / the warke is clerer all.

¶ Here foloweth / the four fountayns or welles of honeste / whiche of naturall reason / haue De quatuor fontibus honestatis: qui a ratione habent originem. theyr begynnyng orygynall / and of whom the four cardynall vertues spryngeth.

AT the fyrste begynnyng / our lorde omnypotent
Principio omnipoten [...] caelū / terram (que) creauit: Et staruit ꝓprijs cūcta elementa locis. Hinc caelū ornauit stel lis: et gramine terras. Aera pennatis: pisce re pleuit aquas.
Fourmed heuyn & erth / as wytnesseth scripture
And in theyr proper places / set euery elyment
Than garnysshed the heuyn / with sterres bryght & pure
And the grounde with trees / and grasse of [...] sshe verdu [...]e
And beestes in theyr kynde / than fylled he the ayre
With manyfolde byrdes [...] of fethers bryght and fayre
Than stored he the see / with fysshes in theyr kynde
Inde hoiem faciens si­milē: sibi subdidit illi Omne animans: terri [...] impetium (que) dedit.
All thynges thus ordered: and plesantly ornate
Lyke hym selfe he fourmed man of most noble mynde
And all lyuely thynges / to hym made subiugate
At his will obeyng / whyle he kepte his estate
Thus made were all beestes / to man obedyent
And man onely subiect / to god omnypotent
Than god hym exalted / to haue dominion
Hūc et participē ratio nis fecit vt illa Differat a reliquis dis­sociante ferts. Hic igitur: tāto rōnis munere fretus: Scrutari incepit oīa mente sua.
Ouer the brode worlde / and therto dyd hym able
Of his goodnesse: mankyng hym partner of reason
Wherby he dyffereth: from beest vnresonable
Wha [...] man had this treasour / and gyft incomparable
By reason he began / to compase in his mynde
And serche the secretes / of thyng of euery kynde

¶ Of the oryginall of prudence.

So mankynde aduertyng / & pondryng by wysoome
At: dum praeteritis quae sunt praesencia: nectit Qualia sunt certa: mē ­te futura videt. Propterea (que) parans il­lis quodcū (que) necesse est
Thynges gone and passed / and also thyng present
He seeth for certayne / what semeth for to come
And agaynst it happyn / is nat improuident
But maketh prouysyon / for all impediment
Of thynges necessary / wantyng nothyng at all
But hym selfe preparyng / to chaūces or they fall
Hymselfe so disposyng / by reason president
Prudētis meruit: nomē liabere viti. At (que) eadē ratio multos coniunxit in vnum Colloquij causa / praesi­dij (que) simul.
Thyng passed to consyder / thyng present well to frame
And for thynges cōmyng / well to be prouydent
Thus of a prudent man / deserueth he the name
These thynges consydred / than reason is the same
Whiche ioyneth man to man / for loue of company
For cōmunyng / comfort / and socour necessary

¶ Of the orygynall of Justice.

And so / whan moche people co [...]oyned is in one
Impulit & coetus cogi parere iubenti: Vrbibus & positi [...] viu [...] re lege viros,
Reason hath them moued / to be obedient
To suche as excelleth / in wysdom and reason
Wherby the cōmon wele / of cyte excellent
Hath fyrste chefe begynnyng / & greatly doth augment
Than reason requyreth / to ordeyne ryght wyse lawe
Transgressours to chastice / and to kepe vnder awe
To socour and defende / the weake and Innocent
And proude rasshe rebellers / with reason to chastyce
Thus: eche state them byndeth / to be obedient
By instinct of reason / to lawes of Justice
And eche in his order / hym selfe to exercyse
For drede of correccion / nat presumyg to do
But lyke as he hym selfe / wolde gladly be done to
This same lawe of nature / ingendred bath of kynde
Praecipuū in sobolē pa tribꝰ generauit amore
In fathers and mothers / a leue most pryncypall
Anenst theyr dere chyldren / And after that doth bynde
Them to theyr Progeny / In loue most specyall
In (que) alios: sicut sanguinis ordo inbet.
To suche / as of theyr blode / they knowe nerest of all
Thus loue in degrees / by nature shulde agre
After the degrees / of consanguynyte
And therfore the Parentes / endeuoyr with all arte
Hinc patres curant na tos omni arte tueri. Hinc nati patres ꝓ pie rate colunt. Haec iubet officijs ho­mines certare vicissim
Theyr chyldren to defende: to conforte and maynteyne
The chyldren in lykewyse / of nature do theyr parte
For pytie to worshyp / theyr dere patent agayne
This Justyce cōmaundeth / this nature doth constrayne
So reason toyneth man / as brother vnto brother
To contende in kyndnesse / and doyng one for other
Eche other to cōforte / whan is necessyte
Thus reason contoyneth / the bondes of concorde
In (que) vicem aduersis rebus adesse iubet. Haec inter populos: et reges foedera nectit. Haec inter raros iungit amicitias.
It peas reconseleth: loue / fayth / and charyte
Betwyxt kyng & kyng / and bytwene lorde & lorde
Thus reason by Justyce / excludeth all discorde
For whyle euery parsone / by iustyce hath his ryght
It is a brutall fury / in batayle for to fyght
But suche as in ryches / and reason doth habounde
By the gyfte of god / to them granted of grace
Plus in̄ officijs certāt / opibus (que) ferendis. Qui: donante deo: plus rationis habent. Sic hoim comitas fir­mata / & viribꝰ auctaē,
With ryches and reason / these stryue as they are bounde
Must the pore to socoure: in euery nedefull case
Thus gentylnesse of man / augmenteth with solace
Thus maners augmenteth / thus chastesed is vyce
And vertue auaunced / by reason and Justyce
Emperes thus augment / by Justyces rewarde
And most souerayne gydyng / Thus is benygnyte
From man to man shewed / Thus maners go forwarde
Sic aucta imperia mu­nere iusticiae.
And braūches delateth / of peas and vnyte
Thus chastised is synne / and all enormyte
And all thyng reduced / to ryght dyrectyon
By meane of Justyce / procedyng of reason.

¶ Of the orygynall of magnany­myte / or strength of mynde.

FErthermore: by reason: groweth in mānes mynde
Praeterea innata est ex hac ratione cupido. Mentibꝰ: vt semper ab dita nosse velint, Vt ve [...]: simplex (que) bo­nū deprēdere curēt. Et post (quam) notint / id vehementer ament.
A naturall desyre / alway with besy cure
Chynges hyd and secrete / to serche / knowe and fynde
Oftre we & parfyte gode / the knowlege to procure
Whiche knowlege obteyned / whan they therof be sure
Of natural instynct / this reason doth man moue
Suche treasour obteyned / moche feruently to loue
Reason also moueth / man: greatly to labour
Quippe: (quam) est hōi ma­ior non vlla voluptas. Illa: qua discit / conti­nue (que) sapit.
To serche and haue knowledge / of trouth and verite
For certaynly to man / can be no more pleasour
No more iocunde pastyme / ioy nor felycyte
Than dayly for to lerne / and more prudent to be
To sauer and perceyue / by reason what is ryght
Than clered is his mynde / with ꝑfyte in ward lyght
Wherfore oft it hapnith / whā mā the trouth hath foūde
Saepe igitur veri sic ser uet amore reperti Mens nihil vt duri res puat illa pati. Casibꝰ haud vllis / nō vllo victa labore: Pro vero est morti nes cia terga data.
His mynde is so feruent / for to defende the same
That for the loue therof / he careth for no wounde
No hard thinge nor greuous / can hym subdue nor tame
No chaūce / nor no labour can myttigate this flame
No tyraut / by turment by deth / nor other payne
From mayntenāce of trouth / can hym moue or cōstrayne
Thus is his bolde spyryte / in maner inuyucible
In hard chance he coūteth no great dyffyculte
No laboure nor trauayle / he counteth impossyble
In the trouth defendynge: Thus clerely may we se
Tertia sic virtus mēs alta / & magna vocata est.
Howe of reason spryngeth hye magnanimite
And boldnes of spyryt / which trouth for to defende
Both blode / lyfe and goodes / refuseth nat to spende
This thirde noble vertue of magnanimite
Thus rysynge of reason: some men cal fortitude
Quae semꝑ custos sim­plicitaris adest.
Protectour of the trouth / and for symplicite
Renouncynge no rigour / nor no solycitude
Called is it strenght / of comon people rude
Or boldenesse of spyrit / but no we let vs auance
Our style / to descrybynge / the grounde of temperance

¶ Of the begynnynge of temperance. Nec parua illa quidē vis est rōnis habenda: Per quā nos nimiū cer nere pulchra iuuat. Quantꝰ inest ordo re­bꝰ: vel quāta venustas Solus homo solers ꝑei pit: at (que) videt.

yet reasone hath one myght: nat to be counted small
Wherby: it excyteth / man to felycite
For to beholde thynges / fayre plesant and formall
And to take great pleasure / aduysynge theyr beawte
Man: onely by reason / ꝑceyueth and dothse
Howe good [...] an ordre / and what beawte ornate
Is in worldly thinges / of god almyght create
Therfore whan the wyse mā / this beate doth beholde
Hanc igitur faciē mū di / formam (que) decoram Cū sapiens spectat: di ligit / at (que) probat.
Cōsy derynge this shap / and pleasant fourme mundayne
He prayseth the fayrnesse / with laudes many folde
And knoweth by this fourme / the fourme souerayne
Than reason reduceth / vnto his mynde certayne
That than is thinge decent / and synguler beaute
Whan all thinge procedeth / in order and degre
Whan man this reuolueth / delytynge in his mynde
Tū secū loquit̄. Quā ­tores pu [...]chrior esset Si tantus nostris mo­ribus ordo foret. Propterea exēplo te­rum cōponere mores
Than sayth he to hym selfe: O lorde eternall kynge
If so goodly ordre / in maners of mankynde
Were dueuly obserued / it were more plesaūt thinge
Wherfore he contendeth / by reason hym gydynge
After suche example / of outwarde thing mundayne
His owne lyfe and maners / in ordre to constrayne
And suche inwarde beaute / to gyue vnto his mynde
Ni [...]itur at (que) aio tra­dere tale decus. Ergo nil sordis / nil & cōmittere inepti. Prouidet: et nullam prorsus habere notā.
As in outwarde thinges / he dothe beholde expresse
Wherfore he prouydeth / as reason doth hym bynde
To conforme his maners / to so fayre comlynesse
Sufferynge in hym self / no foule vnclenlynesse
No vice nor disordre: nor other spot at all
In wordys dysolute: nor warkes specyall
So that no maner faute / nor blame in hym be founde
Ne quid vel nimiū sa [...]acia [...] / vel pōdere mācū Sir (que) deus [...]ebꝰ tēpo­ris / at (que) loci.
By passynge / in his dedes: due ordre or measure
In doinge ouer moche: or lesse than he is bounde
Or nat in dewe season: repugnynge to nature
Therfore dothe he study / and muse with busy cure
His dedes to redresse / and do in euery case
Accordynge as requireth / the season tyme and place.
Thus tyseth in the mynde / the fourth noble vertue
Deni (que) sic animo vir­tus moderatio su [...]git Ordie quae quarro cō numeranda loco est. Quattuor has igitur ꝑtes cōprendit hone­stum. Quas omnes ratio cō [...]icit ipsa tibi.
Called Moderacion / or elles Temperance
Whiche vertue auanceth: and vices doth subdue
Condutinge mankyde / in goodly gouernance
So: these four conioyned / shall theyr hauer auance
To the sure prosession / of perfyte honeste
And fyrste vpon reason: all four grounded they be
Which reason is graunted / by god vnto mankynde
As moste souerayne auctoure / and gouerner moste sure
Sed deus hāc homini rōnem cōtulit auctor Natur [...] vulgus dicti­tat esse deum.
All if comon people / dull / ignorant and blynde
Ascrybeth this hye gyft: some tymes to nature
It takynge / as god: agaynst iust scripture
And symple creature / exaltynge with honour
Whiche onely belongeth / to god our creatour
But fauorable redar take thyne eleccion
Siue igit̄ place at: na­turae numera dici / Siue dei: arbitrium sector habeto tuum. Hoc ego p̄stabo distin cte vt singula tractem.
Whither thou wylt call / these vertues cardynall
The gyftes of nature / procedynge of reason
Or rather the gyftes / of hye god immortall
As touchynge my dute / this thinge perfourm I shall
Of these four distynctly / to fynysshe this treatyse
Unto the laude of vertue / and reprouynge of vyce
And fyrst shal I begyn / at vertue of Prudence
Fyrste grounded on reason / of whome the other thre
Procedeth as braunches / of hye preemynence
Primū & prudentia or dine munus erit.
But fauorable redar / where thou shalt here orse
Ought soundynge in my warke / agaynst grauite
Ornat comely ordred / in meter or substance
Correcte I requyre the / my symple ignorance.

¶ Of the fyrste Cardinall vertue named Prudence. De prudentia.

THe fyrste place and partye / longyng to honeste
Primꝰ honestatis loc­ē disquaerere: quid sit Verū / vel falsum: quae mala / quidue bonum. Hoc adeo in hois na­turae / et viribus aptū [...]
Is the noble vertue / which called is Prudence
This teacheth for to sertche / the clere dyuersyte
Bytwene good and euyll / or vertue and offence
Bytwene treuth and falshed / it sertcheth dyfference
And this inquisicion / to man is naturall
And more conuenient / than other thynges all
No thinge is more propre / nor apter to mankynde
Nil magis vt proptiū: nil deceat (que) magis. Ducitur ois eni mor­talis amore sciendi: Prorsus vt ignotū nil velit esse sibi.
Than to haue clere knowledge / of thinges naturall
For of euery man / this is the wyll and mynde
To loue to haue knowlege / and perceyue thynges all
Except some blynde wretches / nat humayn but brutall
Onely in the wombe / as beestes delytyng
Man wold haue vnknowyn / to hym playne lyue thing
Al thynges he sertcheth: al thynge consydereth he
Omnia vestigat solers et mente volutat. Nā labi / et falli turpe malum (que) putat. Est autē prudēs: quis­quis disquirit honestū Aturpi: vt tantū possit honesta sequi.
In mynde them reuoluynge / with perfyte dylygence
For he counteth it foule: yll / and dyshoneste
To erre / as ouersene in wronge / by negligence
But that man is called / a man of true prudence
Which tryeth forth the trouth / dyscerninge good frō yll
Honest from dyshonest: and doth the best fulfyll
But no man is able / this perfytely to trye
Hoc nō discernet: nisi qui meritur idipsum. Vt natura sua iudicat et ratio. Nō qui quis (que) prouat: prudens ea recta pro­babit.
Nor dyscerne thinge honest: from bad & dyshonest
Except he it measure / and ponder perfytely
By naturall reason / iugyng within his brest
Nor the parfyte wyseman: alloweth nat that best
Which moste is cōmended / of people imprudent
Or vnstable cōmons / of v [...]ylful Jugement
But that thyng he demeth / honest and cōmendable
Sed: quae iudicio com­probat ipse suo. Hoc sed iudiciū ratio dominata gubernet.
Which he hymselfe iugeth / in his intencion
But this same iugement / may nat be disceyuable
Nor wanderynge at pleasour / but subiect to reason
To whom the apperyte / in lyke condycion
Must be obedient / and wyll / as seruitour
Reason alway regent / chefe gyde and gouernour
As the chylde obeyth / his mayster hym teachynge
Pareat & sēsus: vt puer at (que) comes. Ve [...]ū / quo leuius rectū digno scere possis: Hic quasi ꝑspicies sin­gula lector habes.
And as pylgrymes folowe / their gyde to flye daungers
So wyll and appetyre / to reason in all thynge
Must obey and folowe / than iugement is dere
But that this same vertue▪ more playnly may appere
And lyghter to knowlege / here reder thou shalt fynde
Eche party dyscrybed / distynctly in his kynde

¶ Two fautes to be exchued in prudence.

Therfore / who requyreth to purchase honeste
Imprimis igitur quis­quis ꝑquirit honestū ▪ In vita agno [...]cat eē ca uenda duo. Est vnū: ne scire putet: quae nescit: et illis Haereat / vt certis: cre­dulus ipse sibi.
And laudable lyfe / by vertue of prudence
Ware of two thynges / in lyueng must he be
One is / that he count nat / hym selfe to haue scyence
Of thynge wherof he hath / playne none experience
Nor knowlege / as cleuynge to his owne fantasy
And pryuat opynion / mentaynynge hardely
Hym selfe countynge certayne / of thyngys incertayne
Plurima nā (que) latēt cae­cis abstrusa latebris: Quae ne (que) de facili [...]s (que) videre potest. Ergo illis temere tu consentire caue [...]o. Ne capiat sacti te cito poena tui.
And lyghtly beleuynge / what falleth to hys mynde
For many thynges be hyd / and nat clere nor playne
But with obscure knowlege obumbred of theyr kynde
Which of a wyse person / are nat easy to fynde:
Wherfore beware / rasshely to these soone to consent
Lest thy hasty dedes / soone cause the to repent
In suche obscure thynges / requyreth great study
Hic opꝰ est studio: hic cura / et tēpore longo. Hic quo (que) p [...]eptor for [...]e vocandus erit.
Great cure and compasynge / longe tyme and dylygence
And here parauenture / man must hym nede apply
To call for a mayster / experter inscyence
Of suche secrete thynges / hauynge experyence
And in suche hye thynges / doth profyte farthermore
Experience and profe / of thynges done before
And the faitfull hertes / of frendes sure counsell
Proderit in multis si­mul experientia [...]e [...]ū. Proderit & fidae pectus amicitiae Rebꝰ in ambiguis par tes scrutaberis amba [...] Vt [...]quaecun (que) venit: res tibi tuta cadat.
In suche thinges doutfull (if thou to them resort)
Shall greatly the profyte / and trouth vnto the tell
But in suche thinges doutfull / it is to man confort
To serche both parties / To reason to resort
Both wysely dyscussynge by serche dyligent
That what so euer fall▪ come nat vnprouydent
As wele as for the good / prouyde thou for the yll
Non satis est istam pat tem munire▪ vel illam: Altera si restat debili [...] at (que) vagans.
As wele one as the other / may fortune for to fall
To prouyde one partye / it is nat parfyte skyll
Thou muste before daunger / ymagyne daungers all
And than for them puruay / by wyt substancy all
One party prouyded / an other neglygent
And lame / this nat semeth / a wyse man and prudent
It is nat f [...]ll ynoughe / whan serpentes men assayle
Non bene prouidit: tā tū qui a dente colubri Cauit [...]nā pariter cau­da cauenda fuit. Sic age: ꝙ nun (quam) dicas▪ non ista putaram. Nō sine dedecore fer­tur id ore viri.
Al onely for theyr mouthes / to make prouysion
Man must in lyke beware / both of the toth and tayle
For thoughe the toth trencheth / the tayle bereth poyson
Wherfore so behaue the / in euery season
That thou say nat after / I thought this shulde nat fall
For without dysworshyp / thus sayth no man at all
Nor suffre nat this thynge also / the to dysceyue
Nec te decip [...]at / quos­dā quod decipit illud: Dū quaecū (que) sua recta▪ & honesta putant:
Which many hath dysceyued / debowtyng from honour
In theyr owne cōceytes / whyle they chefe plesour haue
Led blydly as beastes / in brydyll of errour
All thinge countynge honest / whiche is to them pleasour
Whose luste is theyr lawe / from suche thou muste declyne
Lest thou them ensuynge / fall heedlyng to ruyne
Suche onely ensuynge / theyr pryuat iugement
Iudicio addicti ꝓprio [...] serui (que) suorum. Errorum▪ credunt s [...] nihil esse supra. Auelli nequeūt vlla [...]a tione / vel arte. Iudicium (que) omni plus ratione vale [...].
To theyr own errours as vyle seruaūtes subiecte
By leue nought aboue them / can be more excellent
And nought can them alter / nor moue to good effect
No counsell nor reason: theyr myndes can correct
Aboue all good reason / reigneth there iugement
And obstynate purpose / as asses imprudent
As fathers haue / custome oft tymes to cōmende
Vt solite patres nato­rum crimina sepae. Laudare. et bonis cre­dere digna suis. Vt: qui fecit opꝰ sculp­tor / ca [...]n (que) poet [...].
The vyce of theyr chyldren / product in errour blynde
Redy in all crymes / theyr fautes to defende
A [...] paynters & grauers / or poetes hauynge mynde
In payntynge or grauynge / or fresshe meter to fynde
Cōmendeth theyr werkes / and thynketh them plesant
So ioyeth in foly / blynde foles ignorant
An ouersene poet / dare great Maro despyse
Saepe is phidiacū sper­nit: & arma virum: Sic isti ꝓprios mores venerantur: adorāt. Quae (que) alij. faciūt vt viciosa: premunt.
His owne art delytynge / indyted folysshly
The paynter despyseth / Apelles in lyke wyse
And Phedias / dispyseth the grauer semblably
So some dotynge foles / in errour led blyndly
Cōmende theyr owne maners / & prayse aboue althinge
All other mennes warke / extremely deprayuinge
What causeth suche folly? what moueth this errour?
Quippe: (quam) a rerū fallū [...]u [...] a [...]o [...]e suarum. [...]ec [...] ipsos ꝓr­ [...]ant. Quicquid [...]t ipsi gē ­mas: aurū (que) licentur.
Forsoth this is chefely / the grounde originall
In theyr owne conceytes / most resteth theyr pleasour
And saue theyr owne myndes / they loue no thynge at all
Theyr own wysdome coūt they / moche clerer thā christall
Aboue precyous stones / and prayse it aboue golde
As able for to teache / and gouerne yonge and olde
But other mennes reason / they counte as fylthy clay
Tan (quam) vile lutum cūcta aliena serunt. Is ratio explosa ē: at (que) omnis quaestio viri. Ii minime distāt a pe­core: at (que) feris.
This namely doth asses / set in auctorite
From suche is all reason / and trouth dryuen away
And prudence subdued / brought in captyuyte
Suche wretches in lyuynge / moche dyfferent nat be
From vyle brutall beestes / which lyuenge in theyr den
Cōtemneth vertues maners / and cōnynge of all men
What man of thynge cōmune / belongynge to nature
Quisquis / naturae quae sunt cōmunia nō vult. An partē e proprijs p ­beat ille bonis / At: si te talis casu sub­ted serit error: Vt nimiū tribuas par­tibus ipse tuis:
Dispyseth to departe / as reason doth requyre
Of his propre goodes howe can a man be sure
To haue some small parcell / if none of nede desyre?
But if lyke blynde errour / do set thy mynde on fyre
To thyne owne opynion: to gyue to sore credence
yet leaue this and leane thou / to men of more prudence
And in mynde endeuoyre / to consyder and se
Tūc videas: quaecū (que) tenēt sancti (que) / boni (que). At (que) ea tu credas eē te­nenda tibi: Plus oculi cernūt multi sub luce serena: Quā videt in tenebris vnus ocellus iners.
What wyse men obserueth / whom vertue dothe inflame
And what men obserued / of wyt and grauyte
Than thynke it necessary / for the to do the same
Thus mayst thou wyn wysdome / laude / honour & good name
For dyuers eyen seeth / more clerely by day lyght
Than an one yed blynarde / darke wanderyng by nyght
Thus fyrst in all dedes / requyred is counsell
At (que) / cū consilio cōsta­bunt omnia certo. Tunc age mature: sit procul ipsa mora.
But whan all thynge standeth / determyned cert [...]
Than all faynt delayenge / thou must from the repell
And soone do thy purpose / and dede / with hast sodayne
Whan counsell is taken / delayenge is but vayne
For oft man abydeth / tyme more conuenient
Whyle chaūces / and causes / fall lesse expedient
For many be / whiche counsell before with perfyte hede
Sūt multi segnes: & lē ti pondere facti: Cōsultēt (quam)uis optima quae (que) prius. Ii ne (que) cēcendi pruden tes nā (que) relinquunt. Partem: quae prima est officij (que) caput:
Prouydynge all chaunces / whiche may by fortune fall
And whan they at endyng / shulde come vnto the dede
Than by sluggysshe slouth / they do no thynge at all
Such count I nat prudent: none wyse / so wyll they call
For that part omyt they / wherto they shulde procede
As chefe and pryncypall / that is the very dede
If nought be reduced / to purpose and effect
Nō aliter virides flo­rescunt arbore [...]ami Si nequeant ꝓprio tē ­pore poma legit.
Without dede concluded / what valour hath counsell?
Whan to faynt cowardyse / wyse counsell is subiecte
Than farre from effect / doth all prudence expell
What shulde the gardyner / with ympe or graffynge mell
Or grene bowes b [...]rgyn / with leaues and blossom [...]
If no frute in season: shall on the trees come
What shulde a man of warre / or subtyll capytayne
Nec secus inmedijs se [...]actant agmina cāpis. Si conserta manꝰ nul­la trophea resert. Sic etiā cultis mādan tur semina fulcis: Ni segetes [...]ostas falce sonante meta [...].
Assemble a great army / she wynge his pompe and glory?
And mustre in the felde / crakyng all day in vayne
Without wyse entreaty / or fyghtynge for vyctory
What shulde the husbandman / in lande or terrytory
Cōmyt sede / or labour his feldes euyn or morne
Except the in season / may of the same reape corne?
All thynges are vsed / for profyte of the ende
O [...]s enim sua lau [...] vir­tutis facta requirit. Nā sine re prodest con suluisse parum. Nō tamē ille caret vit tutis laude perenni:
The fruyt and auantage / is conforte to labour
And in warke all wysemen / vse vertu to cōmende
Thus counsell without dede / is but of small valur [...]
But this nat withstandynge / he deserueth honour
Whome vertue by counsell / to good dede doth enflame
All it he want power / for to perfourme the same
For many haue wyse counsell / dyscrete and prouydent
Qui bona consultat si gerere illa nequit. Nā prohibet multos morbꝰ: nam saepe fac [...] tas. Cōsilijs rectis nō sinit esse locum.
But theyr wyll is letted / by faynt infyrmyte
Other some haue counsell / and fynde impedyment
By wantynge of ryches / and weyght of pouerte
But all suche as worthy / cōmended for to be
For all if theyr power / may nat the dede fulfyll
yet ought we thē to laude / for theyr good mynde & wyll
Phylosophers also / and other of wysdome
Philosophi pari [...] lau­dem / [...]amā (que) merētur: Qui bene scribēdo se­cula longa monent. Secundum vicium i [...] prudentia.
Which haue by wyse wrytynge and endlesse memory
Infourmed and clered / longe tyme for to come
And taught vs blynde wretches / from troubles trāsitory
These also deserue nat / a lytell laude and glory
But clere fame immortall: syth by theyr good doctryne
Ryght many to good order / ar called fro ruyne

¶ The seconde faute to be excluded frō prudence

Est aliud vitiū lōgum consumere tempus: Et nimis studijs ardua quae (que) sequi. Difficiles etenim res quaedam id aginis altae. Quae tamen haud ali­quid vtilitatis habēt.
¶ There is yet in prudence / another faute and cryme
And that is / whan people agaynst good reason
Wasteth and spendeth / in vayne study / longe tyme
Serchynge thinge / excedynge / theyr dull dyscression
For some thinges hard be / in inquisicion
Requirynge great study / longe season and respyte
Yet graunt they no profyte / no pleasour nor delyte
For all if they trouble / the myndes day and nyght
Nā (que) nihil fini ꝓ [...]unt not moribus ipsis [...] Solicitēt animos no­cte / die (que) licet. Aut si vl recto possunt conduce [...]e fini: Haec / plus (quam) finis: sola petita iuuant.
Of suche as them study / yet this one thinge is true
Theyr endynge is fruytles / they knowen: gyue no lyght
Theyr studentes to gyde / to maners nor vertue
Or if they coude do profyte / yll maners to subdue
Or to purchase vertue / yet lesse is theyr aueyle
Than they gyue in serchynge / of laboure & traueyle
And pleasour more they gyue / in serchyng them onely
Quid ꝓdest varios stel la [...]ū inquirere cursus? Quid res / & causas no scere inepte pet [...]?
Than profyte or pleasour / procedeth consequent
What profyteth it man / to serche busely
The courses of sterres / hye in the fyrmament
What helpeth this study: here is the tyme myspent
Un Wyse man: what wylt thou? bestowe thy dayly cure
Superfluously to knowe / the secretes of nature
Or causes of thynges / aboue reason humayne
Whiche ar more laborious / and hard than profitable
Quid cupis inumera [...] discēdo āplectier artes Et toto veros orbe te ferre situs?
Wherto doste thou study / to purchase and obtayne
The sciences of artes / or crastes innumerable
Or to recount the coūtrees / and landes varyable
Ouer all the worlde / where both the lande and nacion
Had theyr fyrst begynnynge / and situacion
Wherto dost reioyce / thy wyttes to apply
Quid gaudes nodis cuctos vicisse sophistas?
To resolue or argue: with wordes superflue
The knottes intrycate / of bablynge sophystry
In subtyll conclusions / the wysest to subdue
Aut verbis totum deti nuisse forum?
All these / if thou wyse be: are scantly worth a kewe
What profyteth to study / in glosynge of the lawe
Syth lawe without good lyfe / is scantly worth a strawe
If thou be wyse / of these / nought longeth vnto the
Si sapis isto [...] nil qui [...] ­ (quam) pertinet ad te. Simplicius multo est: quod didicisse decet vt recte viuas: discas: moriare (que) recte. Haec duo sunt nr̄a vi­ [...]imus et morimur.
That thynge whiche to lerne / to man is more comely
Is greatly more easy / and more symplycyte
That is / well to lyue: and to dye ryghtfully
These lōgeth to mankynde: we lyue and we shall dye
These two wele to ordre: to goddes hye pleasour
And helth of our soules: we namely shuld labour
It is a playne study / plesant and profytable
Est simplex studium: vt recte versemur vtio (que): Et facile est: quod nos numera [...]e vtro (que) beet.
In these bothe our study / to exercyse and vse
And lyght is that lernynge / iocunde and delectable
Which sygneth to vertue / and vices to refuse
Wherfore / we shulde chefely / both study thynke and muse
What may make vs happy / and to good endyng bryng
And certaynly this study / is but a easy thyng
Than / on this poynt groūde the / heron prefixe thyrie hert
Ergo ptiꝰ discas: quid te praestare beatum Possit: et id toto pecto re fige tuo. Disce viā pariter: qua perueniatur ad illud. Quā simul ingredere: perpetuo (que) tene.
And lerne the playne passage and way to this wysdome
But whan thou art entred / agayne do nat depart
But kepe it / vntyll thou to parfayte vertue come
Folowe nat the maner / of many / whose custome
Is all theyr lyfe dayes / cōtynually to spende
In lernyng of this way: vnto theyr latter ende
But as myndlesse wretches: neuer entre they the same
Nempe viā multi per­discunt tempore toto. Nō tamen amētes in­grediuntur iter. Quid didicisse viā pro dest quā ꝑgere noli [...] Turpior ignaro factus es ipse scien [...].
Usyng barayne labour and frutlesse sore trauayle
Aias / man abused / howe moch art thou to blame?
In lerning of this way / what profite or auayle
Fyndest thou / or pleasour / but great cause to bewayle
To lerne wele and lyue yll / of reason thou must graunt
Thou / for all thy cōnynge / art worse than ignoraunt
Some foles offendyng / are som what excusable
By reason nat parfyte / and symple ignorance
But thou hauyng scyence / thyne errour is damnable
What lernest thou wysdome / by long cōtynuance
Styll blyndly ꝑseueringe / in thyne mysgouernance
Art thou called mayster / goest thou so long to scole
To be in thyne lyuyng▪moche leuder than a fole
What profyteth to lerne / that way is so busely
Anne viā mōstres alijs tu deuius erres▪ Ft moneas alias: quod minus ipse facis?
Wherin / thy leude custome: nat suffreth the to go
Doest thou to teche other: the path and way playnly
And thy selfe in errour: styll wanderyng to and fro
Say / is it nat a foly: and blynde furour also
The fayre way to heuyn: to men to preche and tell
Thy selfe wāderyng heedlyng: and wylfully to hell
What warnes [...] thou other▪that thou wylt neuer do
Quam stultum ē to [...] noctes vigilar [...]: dies (que) ▪ Nullius vt fructus sit pater ipse labor. Sumimus incassum tē ­pus discēdo profecto: Actio ni sequitur mē [...] [...]ecep [...]a prius.
Alas / howe great folly it is: to take suche payne
Both nyght and day watchyng: from study nat to go
That at last thy labour / be frutlesse and barayne
Certaynly / in lernyng / we spende the tyme in vayne
Except the dede folowe all / parfytely to bynde
Which we at begynnynge / cōceyued in our mynde
Syth doing lis the fruyt / and lernynge but the sede
Actio cum finis discē ­di d [...]beat esse: Plus pete: (quam) discas: vt sapienter ag [...]s.
And many / ioye the frute / whiche haue no sede atall
And also syth the ende / of lernynge is the dede
Than seke to do wysely / moche chefe and princypall
Rather than the scyence▪of artes lyberall
Better an idyot / vntaught and wele lyuynge
Than a vycious doctour / yll manered and cōnynge
Wherfore / with good reason: and accordyng to ryght
Iure igitur miles re [...] ­ [...]di [...] philosophantē: Gymnasio da [...]at duz nimis ille senex. Inquit [...]m̄ miles. Dic o venerāde magister. Quid sibi clamores / verba (que) vestra volunt.
The philosopher olde / loude in the scole cryenge
Was vnder this maner / reproued of the knyght
Sayd he / wortely mayster: assure me of this thynge
What meaneth this clamour / what meaneth this brau­ling
What mean all these words / all this dyscord & stryfe
As bytwene an husbande / and a fell froward wyfe
Ye braule and ye babble / from mornyng vnto nyght
A mane ad noctē mis­cetis iurgia: nullus Est alij cōcors▪ hic ait ille nugat. Respōdit sapiēs: O fi­li quaerimus illam. Virtutē: hanc potuit quaerere nemo satis. Sub [...]isit miles: Iam­canus: iā moriturus.
Dyscordynge / One affyrmeth / another dothe deny
The sage phylosopher / than answered to the knyght
O son / we endeuoyre and dayly vs apply
In sekynge of vertue / and trouth / thus busely
No man hath ben able / in tymes without mynde
I noughe these to sertche / nor perfytly to fynde
The knyght in scorne smyled / and to the sage thus sayde
Nowe art thou gray hered / and tournyng to the grounde
And redy for to dye / and as a man dysmayde
Es ne (que) dū virtus ipsa rep [...]rta tibi est? Quando ergo vteris? q [...] tu praeditus illa? An tibi apud manes il lius vsus erit?
Haste thou nat yet vertue / with all thy study founde
What tyme shalt thou vse it? to lyue as thou art bounde
What tyme shalt thy study / the with the same endue
Syth nowe in later age / thou sekest for vertue
What thyng is thy purpose / what thynkest in thy mynde
Disce igitur (quam)tū pos­sis: praestare g [...]rendo. Et (quam)tū discis: per [...]ice­re (que) gere.
In another worlde / this vertue for to vse
A strawe for thy study / thy reason is but blynde
To waste tyme in wordes / and on no dede to muse
But agayne to purpose: Therfore reder refuse
Suꝑfluous study / and care superfluous
And tourne thy chefe study / to dedes vertuous
This lernynge belongyng / to gettyng of vertue
Nō latet id: potius se offert quaerētib [...] vltro Id poterit facili pēde­ [...]e quis (que) manu.
Is nat obscure / secrete / dyffuse nor pallyate
But clere / playne / and opyn: It selfe redy to shewe
To suche as it sertcheth / or wyll inuestygate
The tre of this scyence / with braunches deaura [...]e
Ordo seruādꝰ ne minꝰ dignū p̄fera [...] digniori
Extendeth nat itselfe / in altytude so hye
But that man may gather / the frute ryght easely

¶ The order of thynges requisite in prudence.

Praeterea officiū pru­dentis noscitur illud: Ordis vt serues inter agenda modum. Prouideas primū: qu [...] sunt grauiora subind [...] Cōstituas: digno quae leuiora loco.
FErthermore / this longeth vnto the man prudent
To pondes al his dedes / and warkes in balance
Of reason: with due order / mete and conuenient
Endeuoyr fyrst thy selfe / to make chefe purueyance
For moost weyghty thynges: and greatest of substance
And than lyghter maters / of lesse dyfficulte
Prouyde in due order / as they are in degre
It is nat thyng le full / from mynde to set a syde
Non decet: vt spretis ca [...]a cū cōiuge natis▪ De pueris cures: m [...]i pijs (que) tuis. Nec licet: vt vitam: si mul a [...]pe [...]ner [...] salutē: Dū nimio studio quae­ris au [...]rꝰ opes.
Thy dere wyfe and chyldren: without ayde cōfortlesse
And for thy frende / folke / and seruantes to prouyde
And certayne that persone / wele may we call wytlesse
Whiche with to moche study▪faste sekynge vayne rychesse
As a couetous wretche / commytteth wylfully
His soule / lyfe / and body / to mortall ieopardy
Nor man shulde nat commyt / vnto perdicion
Non a [...]am pe [...]da [...] ▪ dū vis te reddere saluum Corpore: plus a [...]a nam preciosa tua est. Quid tāti facias a [...]am quo perdere spernas. Quae merces animae [...] queat esse tuae.
His soule / whyle he seketh / with mynde voluptuous
To pleas his frayle body / with delectacion
For more than the body / the soule is precyous
What thinge shulde man repute / so dere orsumptuous
For loue therof / to lose his soule: whose great valour
Surmounteth and passeth / all temperall tresour
What profyte is to man / the worlde hole to wyn
Quis sibi [...]pona [...] me­mento viuere paruo. A [...]e [...] demens vt [...] ille mori▪ Nec nis [...] momentū di­ci tua vita mo [...]u [...]: Secula si spectes▪ & si­ue fine dies.
And to suffre in soule: sore deedly detryment
To hell payne adiuged: for vyle pleasure of syn
What man shuld be so mad: for this short lyfe present
Eternally to dye / and byde endlesse tourment
For nought: but one moment: is thy short lyfe vnstable
If thou haue respect / to tyme interminable
A sone fadynge shodowe / is thys lyfe temporall
Cōsumed as a cloude / chased before the wynde
But after cometh lyfe / or deth perpetuall
After thy deseruynge / thy meryte shalt thou fynde
Wherfore prudence warneth man / this to call to mynde
And duely hym to gyde / in order and measure
Of soule than of body / hauynge more parfyte cure
¶ Another poynt belongynge / to vertue of prudence
E [...] cui plus debes cu res plus reddere semp
The straytly cōmaundeth / and chargeth this to do
Hym chefely to regarde / with mekest dyligence
And for hym moste to do / whom thou art most boūde to
And chefely beholdon / reason commaundeth so
Ante tamē gratus omnia pone deum.
But if thou be gentyll / and kynde of dealynge
Than muste thou thy maker / pre [...] aboue all thynge
It is nat sufficient / to cal vnto thy mynde
Non licet officij mēor vt videaris ab omni. Immemori Christum [...]is tamen ipse tuum. Nō solū a spicias prae­sentis gaudia vitae. Sed videas: qualis vi­ta futura tibi est.
To do thy full dutye / to euery man on grounde
And to chryst thy maker for to be founde vnkynde
To whome: thou by reason / moste specyally art bounde
For these cadūke pleasours / nat onely shold be founde
Prouysion in lyfe / but this chargeth wysdom
To make prouision / for lyfe after to come
What longeth more to man / than wyse and ware to be
Quid magis est hoīs / (quam) voluere mente futura. Ne qd cōtigeat: quod grauitate premat.
And to reuolue in mynde / or oft before to caste
Al thinges for the come / that no perplexyte
Inuolue hym in troubles / or his wyt ouercaste
We knowe thinges cōmynge / by thynges gone and paste
And men vs procedynge / abyden haue no care
But suche may We suffer / than ought we to be ware
As other haue dyed / in lyke maner shal we
At vētura quidē mors est: at (que) altera vita: Quae premet: aut no­bis pmia grata dabit. Quae veniet: nullas habitura ē tēpore metas Sic mala perpetua / vl dabit illa bona.
And outher lyfe or deth / vs after doth remayne
To rewarde good lyuers / with great felicyte
Or synners to rewarde / with wo / and endles payne
This lyfe is transytory / but lyfe cōmynge certayne
Hath none ende nor mesure / but is interminable
Gyuenge endles pleasour / or paynes perdurable
But this short lyfe present / as shadowe fugytyfe
Ast velut haec vmbrae / [...]e [...]eri (que) similima ven­to est. Sic bona / siue mala dat: peritura breui. Hic locus est veniae tā ­tū dū vescimur auta. Ius summū nobis altera vita feret.
And varienge as fanes / erect in to the wynde
Hath no stable plesure / ioy / nor prerogatyfe
Nor permanent sorowe / but sone palsynge mankynde
Here may man oftrespas / both grace and mercy fynde
And of syn remission / if he be penitent
But after is nought els / but ryght wyse iugemēt
Here / is it moche better: more lyght and tollerable
Est satis placidos ad tēpus ferre labores. Supplicia aetnis (quam) tol le [...]are rogis. Molle iugū collo est: si quod suscepimꝰ vltro. Inuiti grauius sed pa [...]iemur onus.
For short tyme to suffre / lyght labour of penance
Than after to byde payne / offyer intermynable
And tourment eternall / for our mysgouernance
Alyght wylful burthen / is no payne / but plesaunce
Where a weyghty burthen / to mānes mynde cōtrary
Is greuous sad / heuy / and tedyous to cary
Here / chryst is a leche / meke and beneuolent
Hic medicus Christus medicat tristibꝰ aegris Illic vt iudex frōte ve rendus erit.
Redy for to comfort / alsuche as them amende
Here / is he fesician / to syke and pacyent
Redy salue of grace / and mercy for to sende
But in another world / whan this lyfe shal haue ende
As a ryght wyse iuge / he shal to man apere
Of sentence in flexyble / and reuerende of chere
Terrible to fynuers / and dredefull of sentence
To ryght wyse men ioyfull: all daunger set a syde
Wherfore man aduertyse / this counselleth prudence
For this day moste dredefull: dyscretly to prouyde
Than of thy disordre / nought can thou close nor hyde
But thy selfe / heuyn / erth / and hell / shall the accuse
Wherfore on this countes / man specyally shulde muse
Count thou nothynge caduke: dayne / frayle / and tēporall
Non tu magna putes▪ quaecun (que) caduca vide­bis. Id pete: quod du [...]a [...]: ꝑpetuum (que) manet.
To be great in valour: or lyftyng man to glory
But seke that thynge namely / moste chefe and pryncipall
Which dureth eternall / nat vayne nor transitory
And prudence the chargeth / to haue in thy memory
On transytory treasour / nat moche to set thy mynde
Nō etiam serues: quae sunt tibi mox peritura
Whiche thou / without profyte / at last shall leaue behynde
Use temporall treasour / whyle thou art lyuenge here
In charytable dedes / on poore people that fayle
Lest after thy partynge / whan thou art layde on bere
Thy good superfluous / may lytyll the auayle
Ne tibi non prosint: si qua supersuerint.
Prouyde for harde chaunces / whiche after may assayle
And make sure prouysion / in moste pleasour and rest
For after fayre season / oft falleth fore tempest
Loke alway that thou lyue / constant and [...]yght wys [...]y
Fac iuste semper vi [...] & iunct is iniquis: Nō te commutes: quin magis aptus erit.
Change nat thy lyuynge / from vertue tyll offence
All if thou be tangled / with wretched company
But dresse the to suffer / all payne with pacience
For tyme: for bere foles / this counselleth prudence
Whan obstynate wretches / by doctryne wyll nat amende
Agayne them / is foly: with wordes to contende
But euer more beware / and se thou namely feare
Tunc vero aptus erit: cū iustū tēdis ad illud: Semper: et ad tempus scis variare vias.
That theyr corrupte maners / nat after thy lyuynge
Dyspose the / them rather / to suffer and forbeare
And parte to conforme the / as asketh theyr dealynge
As nowe full of sadnesse / nowe mery cōmunynge
Uaryenge thy maners / to place / ꝑsone and tyme
But alway concludynge / on vertue and nat cryme
Thou feest dyuers wayes / oft leadynge to one place
Saepe via ē duplex: quae ad metas ducit easdē. Altera nunc clausa est: altera aperta paret. Vt manꝰ in palmā mo­do se distendit: & aptat In pugnū rursus: & ta­men vna manet.
Thone somtyme opyn / th [...]ther close and shyt
The hande is extended / somtyme vnder lyke case
And somtyme together / agayne closed is it
But one maner of hande / styll it remayneth yet
And many other thynges / oft vary of fygure
Nat changynge in matter / in substaunce nor nature
Ryght vnder lyke maner / vseth the prudent man
Sic prudēs semper iu­stus permanserit idem Sed sumet vultꝰ: quos monet ipsa dies. Nō leuis / vt vētus: sed pro re mobilis assis.
Perseuer in his goodnesse / ryght and symplicite
But as tyme requyreth / his chere vary he can
In fayre moderat wyse / to myrth or grauyte
A wyseman nat semeth / lyght as the wynde to be
Nowe in and nowe out / in certayne and vnstable
But as the case requyreth / at certayne tyme mouable
Be constant and constable / nat harde and obstynate
Cōstans: nō durus: pro positi (que) tenax. Nec cito credideris: fuerint quecū (que) relata Discutias omne quod secus esse potest.
No wyseman hym sheweth / selfwylled intretable
Nor in his opinion / all season indurate
A man of suche maners / vnneth is tollerable
Thynke nat that all tales / ar iust and veritable
But wysely discusse thou / suche thynges as may vary
And from the fyrst report / proue afterwarde contrary
Oft is he disceyued / and oft disceyueth he
Fallit̄ [...]et fallit: faciles qui cōmodat aures. Esse a prudente debet vtrum (que) procul.
Whiche to fleynge tales / to lyght is of credence
The wyse man nat semeth / a dysceyuer to be
And to be dysceyued / is sygne of necl [...]gence
Excluded shulde be bothe / from man of clere prudence
O how many prynces / haue fallen to ruyne
Whiche wolde to vayne tales / to lyght eares inclyne
Oft thynge semed fayned / hath ben certayne and true
Saepe suit verum: quod res cōficta videtur. Visa (que) res vera: ficta re perta fuit.
And thinge true and certayne / semed vntre we and fayned
Whose colour hath caused / ryght many sore to rewe
For theyr honour wasted / theyr name and fame distayned
Let suche hasty credence / therfore be refrayned
And or thou gyue credence / all thynge wysely discusse
Prudence: for thy profyte / the straytly chargeth thus
O how oft hath hyd treuth / and symple veryte
Delituit verū quoties sub imagine falsi [...] Et falsum viri imagie delituit? Non ꝓprios vultus se­per mendatia gestant. Saepe & simplicitas cre ditur esse dolu [...].
Lurked vnder ymage / of falshode nubil [...]te
And how oft hath falshode / semynge symplicite
Lurked vnder ymage / of t [...]enth so palyate
Wherby symplicite / oft tyme is vyolate
Oft lyes ar cloked / aperynge treuth somwhyle
And oft symplicite / beleued fraude and gyle
As faynynge flaterer / presenteth outwardly
Vt (que) assentator frōtem sibi sumit amici: Sic [...]qui recta manet / sae pi [...] hostis habet.
In worde and in vysage / afrendes countenaunce
So somtyme a true frende / semeth an enmye
Whyle he sharpely blameth the / for mysgouernaunce
yet wolde he by counsell / tyll honour the auaunce
Be circumspect and ware / for moche better it is
To byde a frendes angre / than a foes kysse
In hyd thynges doutfull / gyue nat sodeyne sentence
Non tibi de dubsjs sen tentia certa ceratur. Sed suspensa quidem reddere verba potes.
And certayne Jugement / in thynges incerteyne
To callers importune / of wordes be suspence
Redoublynge delayes / tyll treuth be tryed playne
Better so than Juge / and than reuoke agayne
In sentence remyse / is lesser iniury
Than in heedlynge sentence / pronounsed hastely
Whan thou shalte ought do / of vnexpert or newe
Cū quic (quam) facies / impri mis mente voluta: Quantum est / & male quod queat inde sequi Nil tibi sit subitum nil aggrediare repente: Si res est durans: est pa tiens (que) morae.
Fyrste ponder in thy mynde / reuoluynge busely
What maner / and how great thynge / may therof ensue
Attempt nothynge weyghty / in haste nor sodaynly
If thynges may byde / tary / begyn thou nat rasshely
For enterpryses rasshe / hasty and repentyne
Ar chefe thynges bryngynge / great warkes to ruyne
Therfore in all doutes / vse moderate delay
Quod dubitas: differ: meliꝰ suspēde parumꝑ. Quod gerit: donec / tē ­pore certus erit. Praetere a quicquid no­scis non sure fuisse Inceptum debes defer uisse cito.
And that is to be done / best is / a whyle refrayne
Inquerynge and serchynge / with wysdome day by day
Tyll by contynuaunce / at last thou be certayne
And thynge nat well begon / leaue of lyghtly agayne
For better is be counted / somwhat presumptuous
Than negligent / obstynate / wylfull iniurious
Be nat to suspecyous / in all thynge misdemynge
And yf this fonde errour / within thyne hert aryse
Si tibi suspitio fuerit sub pectore nata. Illa quidem cesset: sed tamen omne caue.
Constrayne it for to cesse / for to mysdeme all thynge
Thou causest the fautlesse / oft fraudes to deuyse
And after thy sore domage / also the to dispyse
Thus flye thou suspection / yet gyde the by wysdome
To be ware / and puruay / all thynges for to come
Use in thy comunynge / other men to tell
In sermone tuo vl quae sunt recta mouebis:
What thynges be ryghtwyse / what way is most laudable
Them warnynge and mouynge / to good / by thy coūsell
Or to thyne owne person / se thou be profytable
Aut rectū quaeres quod latuisse solet.
Sekynge the way of trouth / as moche as thou art able
Whiche oftyn tyme is hyd / and nat lyght to dyscerne
Thus alway employ the / to teache or els to lerne
To rude and vnlerned / endeuoyre the to shewe
Ignotum rudibꝰ mitis monstrabis honestum: Praecipies illis: quos tua cura regit. At: si solatus fueris sua damna dolens: Non tibi virtutis pars mediocris erit.
With all maner mekenesse / loue and benygnyte
Suche thynges moste honest / as they before nat knewe
Cōmaunde to the good maners / suche as belonge to the
Cōmytted to thy cure / but yf thou lyst to be
A conforter to mourners / and wretches myserable
It is a great vertue / and labour cōmendable
Cōmende thou in measure / hym whom thou doest beleue
Laudabilis parce: quē credas iure probari. Parcius & dānes: quē ne (que) iure ꝓbes. Qui nimiū laudat: blā diri nempe videtur Qui nimiū dānat: cre­dita lingua mala est.
Worthy to be praysed / and of lyueng laudable▪
But moche more in measure / and scarsly do repreue
Hym / whom thou reputest / by myslyueng culpable
Who laudeth ouermoche / though man be commendable
He semeth a flaterer / mayntayner of errour
And to sore a blamer / is lyke a detractour
Preferre thou veryte / and treuth before thy frende
Quod verum est: caro praeferri debet amico. Sit veri species inuio­lata tibi. Discute quid possis / cū vis promittere quic (quam). Post (quam) ꝓmissum est: ple­nius ipse dabis.
Set more by supportyng of treuth / than amyte
Kepe treuth in vyolate / as well in dede as mynde
Thy dere frende for sake thou / rather than veryte
Dyscusse or thou promyse / yf thon mayst able be
To performe thy promyse / whan ones made is it
Endeuoyre to fulfyll / more than thou dyd promyt
Take hede to tyme passed / consyder tyme to come
Praeteritum specta tem pus praenosce futurū. Vt prudēs petagas: nō sine laude quod est. Cōmoda praeuideas si­mul & quae dāna sequā [...] Vt leuius / quicquid ve nerit inde: feras.
That thou mayst well order / thynge present as is best
To thy laude and honour / accordynge to wysdome
With dewe aduysement / consyder in thy brest
That all thy busynesses / conclude on one thyng honest
And what hurt may folowe / or thynges profytable
So what euer folowe / shall be more tollerable
Benat alway busy / in warkes corporall
Nō tu semper opus sa­cies: sed certa laboris. Sit requies animi par [...] erit illa tui.
But somtyme release the / of worldly busynesse
Than occupy thy mynde: musyng onthyng morall
Whyle thy body resteth / and is at quyetnesse
Some pastyme of body / is worse than ydelnesse
Nō tamen in requie lu dat tua dextra fritillo
As tables contynuall / the cardes and the dyse
But leaue these and study / frequent and exercyse
Whyle the body pauseth / in study and pastyme
Sed stuij cures te sa­tiare cibis. Segniciem fugias quā do tu cun (que) quiescis. Versa aliquod mente tunc pietatis opus
Conuenient for myndes / as very gostely fode
From mynde is expulsed / blynde mocion to cryme
Whyle the mynde is musyng / on thyng honest and good
Beware slouth / though labour hath sore chased thy blode
Though thou resort to rest / beware of ydelnesse
In mynde alway muse thou / on goodly besynesse
Or cast [...]n remembraunce / what labour doth remayne
What busynesse resteth / or remayneth behynde
Aut animo tractes quae cun (que) negotia testant. Plus etenim semꝑ mēs requieta videt.
For as mannes shadowe / sheweth more clere and playne
In stremes nat troubled / by muddell graue / or wynde
So moste clere parceyueth / a cawme and quyet mynde
It hasteth a dullarde / hym mouyng to desyre
To do some good labour / whiche vertue doth requyre
A quiet mynde seeth / all dull perplexite
Accelerat tardum per­plexū digerit omne.
Determynyng doutes / by wyt and reason clere
To lyght warke it turneth / all harde dyfficulte
Et durum mollit aspe­ra plana facit.
And maketh harde labours / plesant and playne appere
Mollifyeng hardnes / lyghtnyng the mynde and chere
And brefely / who thynketh all troubles to oppresse
Let hym his mynde reduce / to rest and quietnesse
At no tyme it semeth / the mynde of man prudent
Nun (quam) prudens mentē decet esse solutam: A gestis (quam)uis dextera fesla vacet. Quid peccent alij non sit tibi maxima cura Discere quid pecces sit tibi cura magis.
Unoccupyed to be / solute in ydelnesse
Nor from meditacion / remise / or negligent
Though handes be vacant / from worldly busynesse
Let other offence / nat moche thy mynde oppresse
And greatly regarde nat / anothers negligence
But ponder and repent / thyne owne faute & defence
Loue thou alway to lerne / and ponder thou nothynge
Discere semp ama: di­mittas quaerere: [...]s sit: A quo ꝑ discas: sit didi cisse satis. Consilium alterius de rebus concipe gestis. Ex minimis eteni no­scere magna potes.
Of what man thou lernest / do nat the ꝑson spare
Demaunde nat his maners / so thou mayst haue cōnynge
Ense we his doctryne / where ought doth swarue beware
Of other mennes warkes / to take counseyll haue care
And by theyr misfortune: take wysdome & doctryne
By small thynge knowen / great dothe escape ruyne
Lerne by small thynges / greatter to prouyde
For oftyn by the small / the greatter shalt thou knowe
But yf thou lyst intende / youth prudently to gyde
Aetas pma monet: qu [...] lis sit quis (que) futurus. Et reliquā vitam iudi cat vna dies.
Consyder fyrst in age / how nature doth vp growe
For after / thoughe maners / oft alter / ebbe and flowe
Oftende and begynnynge / accorde [...]h without fayle
None maketh two hande swerde / oft plyant cowes tayle
To make a streyght Jauelyn / of a crabbed tre
Theron must great labour / trauayle / and arte be layde
Soone croketh the same tre / that good cramoke wylbe
As a comon prouerbe / in youth I harde this sayde
Wherfore ought our iuuent / be prudently conueyde
With sharpe byt of reason / refrayned from wylde rage
For soner breake than bowe / great trees of long age
Whan custome and vse / is tourned to nature
And whan yonge myndes / long tyme rotyd is in vice
It is no small labour / to leaue I the ensure
Wherfore / begyn tymely / vertue to exercyse
And so / still perseuer / excludynge all malyce
And to souerayne good / and lyfe ꝑfite contende
Remember that all thynges / are praysed at good ende
Regarde nat the doer / nor auctour of the dede
To say or do lyke hym / for his auctorite
Nō dicti aut facti quis (quam) te mouerit auctor. Sed tantum motus sis ratione rei.
But to the thynge itselfe / with good reason gyne hede
If it be laudable / and sounde to honeste
Than folowe thou the same / or elsse thou it flye
Better sue a begger / in good thynge laudable
Than baron or burgays / in thynges reprouable
All yf thou please many / though many the cōmende
Nec tibi plus placias: quia multin forte pla­cebis. Id specta potiꝰ: quali­bus ipse places.
Stande in thyne owne cōceyt / therfore nothyng the more
But what men thou pleasest / aduert and well entende
If they be laudable / than mayst thou ioye therfore
That good men / count the good / be they ryche or poore
If yll men cōmende the / it is nothyng laudable
But euident token / thou art to them semblable
Of yll men / it is prayse / dispraysed for to be
For playne it apereth / by theyr malice and yre
Theyr lyfe and thy lyuynge / in one doth nat agre
But ar playne repugnāt / as water agayne fyre
Illud fac quaeras: quod nō repcrire negatū est Et tenta: vt discas: quod modo scire licet.
Requyre thou that cōnynge / and that knowlege desyre
Whiche is nat denyed / to knowlege of mankynde
And lerne that is lefull / and profite for mankynde
Nor coueit nought in mynde: in wysshyng secretly
Illa etiā exoptes: quae eoram optare licebit. Turpe ē quod nequea [...] concupi jsse palam. Alta nimis caueas: vbi sit test [...]te tremēdum: Aut: si descēdas: multa timenda putes.
But that thou with reason / myght openly desyre
It is thyng dishonest / and folysshe certaynly
Thynges impossible / to coueit or requyre
And than yf they come nat / to bren in wrath and yre
Of thynges ouer hye / se thou alway beware
Where vnstable standyng: oft troubleth with great care
The toppes of mountayns / with lyghtnyng ar brent
More oft than lowe valeys / small stremes ar most pure
So hyest degrees / haue troubles and tourment
And myndes vnquiete / vexed with dyuers cure
Where symple pouertie / is glad quyete and sure
Than coueit nat to hye / and to mynde se thou call
Moche is to be feared / if thou by fortune fall
He slepeth moste surely / whiche is nerest the grounde
But namely in tempest / whan stormy wyndes blowe
The formest in batayle: is nerest deedly wounde
The grounde is in quiete / whyle sees ebbe and flowe
Some troubled with tempest / with wawes hye and lowe
But planly for to speke / who wolde assende to hys
Is wery of welfare / and seketh mysery
Who wadeth to power / or clymmeth tyll honour
He clymmeth to daūger / as blynde / led by a lyne
Of errour / vnte thought / drede / enuy and dolour
Hauynge for one pleasour: displeasours. viii. ornyne
Honour is a castell / styll manacynge ruyne
With smoke / sounde / & perill / hauyng more greuous fall
Than a symple lodge / or cottage pastorall
Wherfore on suffysance / set thy pleasour and ioy
Illuc intendas neruos cunctos (que) labores: Quo si peruenias: sit tibi parta quies. Sunt quaedam merito quae ꝑquisisse probere: Sed cum sat fuerit: est retinenda manus,
And coueit nat to clyme / sith lowe rowmes are best
But all thy chefe study / labour / and thought employ
To come to suche rowme / where thou mayst fynd sure rest
Some rowmes to purchace / may be counted honest
For honour is dutye / of wysemen and prudent
But measure is meane / whiche ought the to content
Whan thou haste suffysaūce / cesse & with drawe thy hande
A man may ouerlade / a myghty stronge camell
Cū tibi pro vita fuerit quaesita facultas: Id quaeras: ꝑ quo vita tributa tibi est.
That vnder suche burthen / he shall nat go nor stande
Wherfore / in this matter / do thou by my counseyll
Whan thou haste sure substaunce / for lyfe prouyde well
By prudence in measure / and nothyng excessyue
Than seke that for whose sake / god gaue to the lyfe
God gaue the nat thy lyfe / to gather vayne rychesse
To wyn nor yet to waste / this treasour transytory
But to purchace vertue / fayre maners and goodnesse
And by suche meryte / to come to ioy and glory
Nō opibus mutis fue­ris famulatus auarus. Sed vitae famulas semꝑ habebis opes.
Than serue nat dome ryches / whiche blyndeth y e memory
By couetyse to ryches / se thou nat subiect be
But vse it in thy lyfe / as subiect vnto the
[...]yue thou vpon hyll / as thon wolde lyue in hall
What thou woldest nat do / in opyn company
Quicquid non saceres si praesens arbiter esset. Non magis id facias: hoc quia teste cares.
That do thou nat aloue / note that god seeth all
He sytteth and seeth: whan thou art solytary
Wherfore in all places / flye euery vilany
Of dedes of wordes / of small thoughtes be pure
Tyll laudable custome / be tourned to nature
Whan fortune shall flatter / with paynted countenance
And she we thē smylyng chere / by faynt prosperite
Cum tibi redibit vult [...] fortuna secundo: Vtere consilijs tūc magis at (que) magis.
Than specially beware / make surest purueyaunce
For next in course / cometh care and aduersyte
Note fortune is volage / hauyng no certente
Men wyse / counte lowe fortune / wore sure and tollerable
Than prosperous fortune / vnsure and variable
As after harde fortune / succedeth ease agayne
Nā velut in lubrico ne queūt cōsistere plantae. Sic solet & felix perde re saepe modum.
After payne is pleasour / who can the same abyde
So after great pleasour succedeth we and peyne
As on a slypper grounde / oft man doth fall or slyde
So prosperous fortune / is very harde to gyde
Seldome where is welth / can vertue long endure
Whan man is fortunate / oft loseth he measure
As a shyppe is tossed / and dryuen in tempest
Nec magis a falsis na­ [...]s gemit acta ꝓcellis. Quā ratio i multa pro speritate gemat. Propterea placide dū spirant flatibus aurae.
Out of course and compase / from place where it shulde be
So tossed is reason / from ryghtwyse course and rest
By welth in habundaūce / and great prosperite
Therfore in cawme season / and sure tranquilyte
Apoynt the for tempest / nor wander nat at wyll
But drawe the to sure porte / where wyndes are more styll
Oft vnder cawme sees / ar perils many one
Nō quocū (que) lubet: sed loca tuta pete: Saepe mari placido sco puli latuere sub vndā. Saepe (que) perscopulos lae sa carina fuit.
As swalons / quycksandes / and fordes perylous
Hyd bankes of grauell / and great rockes of stone
So lurketh great danngers / in fortune prosperous
Oft fall sodeyne stormes / and tempest ieoꝑdous
Whyle vnder full sayle / in cawme wynde and plesant
The shyppesdrely fleteth / no daunger attendant
As the shippe is brused / by course improuydent
Aequore trāquillo dū currūt carbasa plena: Improuisa venit saepe procella surens.
By suche secrete daungers / in most tranquilyte
So welth / of man causeth / to wander negligent
Foreseyng no peryls / nor none aduersyte
So great is the blyndnesse / of vayne prosperyte
Wherfor man / aduyse the / with wit substancyall
In welth to prouyde the / for peryll that may fall
One thretned (as is sayd) halfe armed is and sure
Fallere te nullus vult: qui tibi dura minatur.
And may make prouysion / his enmy to defy
He wyll nat disceyue the / whiche is of that nature
With harde crakyng wordes to thretten opynly
Sed magis / vt caueas: turbidus ille monet. Fallimur a placidis verbis / vultu (que) sereno.
But rather he warneth / the to be ware therby
Fayre wordes vs deceyue / with smylyng countenaūce
Suche seke after season and tyme of vengeaunce
A counterfayted frende / with paynted speche ornate
Cū sapido capimus sae­pe venena cibo. Sic soelet arridēs mul­tis fortuna nocere: In quos turbata non fuit illa potens.
By false fayned fauour / disceyueth worst of all
As man taketh poyson / with meates delycate
And with drynke delicious / some venym and mortall
Ryght so / fortune smylyng / disceyueth vnder pall
And many one she greueth / in most prosperyte
In whome she had myght / in harde aduersyte
Seke after company / as moche as thou art able
After thy behauour / thy maners and degre
Oft study and desyre / vnto thy selfe semblable
If thou suche frequent / thou hast tranquilyte
But for lacke of knowlege / yf the fortune to be
In company of suche / as ar to the contrary
By malyce or enuy / yet do nat shortly vary
Perseuer and assay / by long contynuaunce
If thou mayst by doctryne / reduce them from malice
From beestyall excesse / and wylfull ignoraunce
To vertue and lernyng / from disorder and vyce
But after long labours / yf suche the dispyse
And yf for thy doctryne / displeasour thou doest wyn
Than flye and forsake them / enuolued in theyr syn
And rest nat tyll thou fynde / a place where as is rest
For where enuy reygneth / is no tranquylyte
By many ignoraunt / one lerned is opprest
Proude and blynde ambicyon / gapyng for dignyte
Suspectath a louer / of wylfull pouerte
And ydelnesse contēneth / study and diligence
For lyke vnto lyke wyll / or ought so / by prudence
What shulde an hardy knyght be felowe tyll a knau [...]
Or with a tryflyng tyncarde / a clerke companyon
A mason with masons / moste sure pleasour shall hau [...]
A paynter with paynters / is best comparyson
And of other craftes / in lyke condicyon
A dyamant in donge / is nat fayre to beholde
It loseth the beauty / excepte it be in golde
Therfore / nowe concludynge / suche man as thou wylth [...]
Endeuoyre thou thyselfe / with all thy dylygence
Vir pat [...]it p [...]udēst sed iam nūc munera dici. Iusticiae per quā necti­tur orbis amo [...].
With suche to resort / to suche drawe thou the
Than shall thyne exercyse / haue laude and reuerence
Thus haue we discribed / the persone [...]fprudence
Nowe wryte we of Justice / and her gyftes plesant
By whome the worlde / in loue / is ioyned constant.
¶ Thus endeth the discripcion of the fyrst Cardynall vertue called Prudence: And begynneth to be treated of the Seconde Cardy­nall vertue named Justyce.

¶ Of Justyce.

IUstice / is a certayne decre / or ordynaunce
Iusticia est quaedam na turae sanctio: multis Quae iubet: vt prosis: auxilium (que) feras. Inter mortales sic mu­tua vincula nectit Humanū vt seruet so­la vel illa genus.
Ryghtwyse and holy / belongyng to nature
Cōmaundynge man to loue / to profyte / or auaunce
To helpe and socour / eche humayne creature
This iustyce conioyneth: bondes of loue so sure
Bytwene all men mortall / that it onely certayne
Doth preserue in order / or kepe lynage humayne
Demaunde nat yf that be / thynge of vtylyte
Vtile nō quaetas: an sit quod iusterit illa. Nam quicquid iubeat vtile sempet erit. Iusticiae primae partes sunt reddere honorem Christo: qui nobis oīa / se (que) dedit.
Whiche Justyce cōmaundeth / for certesse without fable
Nothynge it cōmaundeth / but ryght and equyte
What euer it doth charge / is alway profytable
The pryncipall partes / of Justyce moste laudable
Is for to gyue honour / and laudes: as is due
Aboue other thynges / vnto our lorde Jesu
Whiche of his great mercy / meke and beneuolent
Hath gyuen vs hym selfe / to be our sauyour
And all other thynges / for vs cōuement
Wherfore we be boūdyn / of ryght hym to honour
Without comparyson / before all vayne treasour
And who that perfytly / fulfylleth nat the same
Of a ryghtwyse person / deserueth nat the name
What man wyll enioy name / of a ryghtwyse man
Ergo si quis erit gau­ [...]ens cognomine iusti: [...]lle deu imprimis religiosus amet. Sic amet ille deū: (quam) cō tra dignus amari: Quod sibi sit merito gratia parte dei.
Must fyrste loue / and honour: deuout and constantly
Our sauyour (as is sayd) as moche as euer he can
And so must he loue god / with spyryt feruently
That he of goddꝭ loue / agayne may be worthy
And dygnely deserue / by fauour to purchace
Of our lorde and maker / his mercy and his grace
Thus shall our loue and seruyce / be to god acceptable
Esse deo gratis poterit quicun (que) nocere Vult nullitet cunctis vtilis esse cupit. Sic de [...]est homini qui nulli lumina solis. Denegat in tris sit li­cet vs (que) malus.
If we to no person / do wronge nor iniury
But be to all people / iust meke / and profytable
Forso / god to man is / of infynyte mercy
Which the sonnes bryghtnesse / to no man doth deny
But suffreth it shyne / both on good man and yll
Nat yeldynge mystyuers / after theyr fro warde wyll
The duty of one ryghtwyse / that man doth nat fulfyll
Non plene officiū iusti cōpleue [...]it ille: Qui nulli prodest: qui ne (que) prorsus obest. Quippe requirit opus (quam) sit laudabile virtus: Non habet illa satis abstinuisse malis.
Whiche is to no person / helpynge nor profytable
Though he do to no man hurt / nother good nor yll
For vertue requyreth / some warke or dede laudable
It is nat contented / man nat to be culpable
Of man is requyred / and asked of vertue
Both to do good dedes / and all vyces eschewe
We be nat borne onely / for our pryuate profyte
Nō sumꝰ ad non [...]a [...]p [...] tantum cōmoda nati. Ferre alij gratā quis (que) tenetur opem. Nati hoies hominum cā sunt (teste Platone) Vt sese faciles vltro: ci tio [...] iuuent.
But eche man is bounde / another for to socour
For as prudent Plato / playne doth recorde and wryte
One man for another / is borne euery hour
And tyme to be redy / refusynge no labour
To confort / to coūseyll / and socour one another
Both true / glad / and redy / as brother vnto brother
Unresonable beastes / oft tymes do the same
Than moche more shuld man: to man be profitable
Or els: yf he be nat: he greatly is to blame
That is a foule villayne / and chorle abhomynable
Whiche to his owne ꝑson / is onely charitable
And on his onely ꝓfyte / doth onely muse and thynke
Carynge for none other / whether they flete or synke
But one maner reason / nor yet one maner way
Nec ratio est simplex [...] aut oibus vna iuuādi. Auxilij cui (que) propria causa data est. Si nequeas opibꝰ quē (quam) rebus (que) iuuare: Ast opera saltē [...] consi­lio (que) iuues,
To helpe one an other / is nat cōmon to all
Eche man hath his maner / and power to puruay
And helpe / other nedy / by confort frateruall
Some man hath great ryches / he mar be lyberall
The strong man hath power / weake wretches to defende
The wyse man hath coūsyell / that shulde he wysely spende
In redressynge errours / informynge ignorant
And openynge the passage / to vertue and goodnesse
If thou canst nat socour / with wit / nor myght puyssan [...]
At leste way be redy / to confort with rychesse
Or if thou want ryches / yet mayst thou neuerthelesse
Confort the poore carefull / with counseyl or labour
By one meane or other / so mayst thou gyue socour
Or yf thou fayle counseyl / or haue no good to spende
Quinotiā poteris sor­tis prohibere notētes: Ne laedāt grauius vi [...] dolis (que) bonos,
At least thou hast courage / audacyte and myght
From ryrannes extorcion / good people to defende
And to bestowe thy blode in mayntenaunce of ryght
This poynt moste conserueth the ꝑson of a knyght
For ryght / fayth and Justice / fatheries / wydowes good
For maydes / kynge / and coūtre / boldly to spēdy his blod [...]
To dye in suche quarell / is honour fame and glory
Suche deth is mort immortall / and entrynge in to lyfe
To hym and his lynagel ꝑpetuall memory
Shulde a valyant knyght / for brede of speare or [...]yle
Lose so great tryumphe / fame and prerogaty [...]e
Who dare nat for Justyce / poore / fame / and glory tyght
Ought certesse be counted / a cowarde and no [...]
Besyde all these poyntes / yet wayes be there [...]o
Necmin Fiortado so­lando tum (que) monendo: [...]urg [...]do & multos [...]pe iuuare potes
To socour and to helpe / the sicke / sory and poore
As carefull confortynge / them easynge of theyr [...]o
And whan hurt apperteth / warnynge a man before
And some for theyr vyces / blamynge with wordes sore
And some fayre exortynge / thus none is excusable
Who none of all these hath / is wretched and myserable
But in doynge dutyes / or beynge profitable
Sed gradꝰ ofiici [...]s dan dis seruādꝰ: & ordo est Ordine nā cuncta splē ­didiora nitent. Quippe deo primē de­bes persoluere cultū. Pone deum poscit pa­tria prima locum.
Moste chefely beholden / due ordre and degre
For order obseruerd / all thynge is more laudable
More comely and pleasant / that they shulde els be
Fyrst do thou thy dutye to god omnypotent
Next god: to thy cout [...]ey / be trewe and dylygent
To counseyll / to socour / and the same to defende
So doynge: thou helpest thy selfe: ye and all thyne
For thy lande and countrey / all these doth cōprehende
And all these [...]o the pery sshe / if it go to ruyne
Than nexte helpe thy chyldren / and other of thy lyne
Hic natoacaros (que)tuoa tueare parentes. Post: tibi quos sanguis quos quo (que) iūxit amot
But namely thy parentꝭ / moste lefe and dere to the
Than kynred and louers / eche after theyr degre
And whan thou hast proued / a frende feythfull and stable
Whiche harde is to be founde / yet suche one y [...]thou fynde
Also be thou faythfull / sure / and nat varyable
Tohym / as to thone parte / and kepar of thy mynde
Nec quos pauperta [...] ▪ quos morbꝰ quosue se­nectus: Oppressit: spernas: sed misere magis. Inter [...] ho [...] si quos mo rū cōmendat honest 26
Nought may be compared / to frende louynge and kynde
Thy chefe frende / is Jesu / whiche put for the his lyfe
So wolde nat thy father / sone / doughter / nor thy wyfe
Despyse nat suche frendꝭ / but haue thou moste pyte
Ofsicke and aged / or opressed with nede
And pouerte: syth suche haue moste necessite
Therfore thou shulde namely / them cōfort / clothe & fede
Thou must amonge these / consyder and take hede
If any somtyme flowynge / in welthe and honestely [...]e
Be fall to pouertie / lyuynge in care pensyfe
With thyne owne eyen / beholde suche pytie
Hos oculis ꝓprius in­tueare tuis. Sunt etiā / qui te quon dam iuuere: iuuandi. Sed re [...]erāt foenus tūc in amore vices.
And in thy [...]roper person / them conforte and restore
To theyr olde estate / as mothe as is in the
Suche as in tyme passed / haue holpen the before
Restore thou them agayne / nat lesse / but rather more
For theyr one good dede / with two them recōpence
This longeth to largesse / and hye magny sy [...]en [...]e
Hesyodus the greke gaue this cōmaundement
Vt iubet Hesiodꝰ: eam pos imittere feraces: Semina qui dn̄o multiplicata serunt.
If thou wylt be counted / gentyll and lyberall
Folowe fulsome feldes / abundant of frument
Or a soyle wele bèaryng / frutefull and fayre with all
Whiche alway be gentyll / in maner prodigall
For one lytell measure of sede / or els twayne
To theyr lordes rēdryng / a score doubled agayne
yet resteth one errour / which must be noted here
Est tamē vt caueas: ne­dum sis vtilis vni: Id damno alterius fe­cer is at (que) malo.
Wherof thou must be ware / yf thou be cōmendable
Uncouer nat the churche / ther with to mende the quere
Spoyle nat a multytude / of people miserable
To one or two persones / for to be profytable
No vertue is lauded / which grounde is on vyce
Of thyng stolne / accepteth our lorde no sacryfyce
Prouyde thou in lyke wyse / that whyle thou dost entende
Prouideas parit dū vis nimis esse benignus: Ne tibi res desit: at (que) aliena petas. Saepe etenim censu cō ­sumpto ꝓdigus omni▪ Aut rapit: aut turpem cōtrahit ipse notam.
Ouer gentyll lyberall / benygne / courteyse and fre
To many men to be / and all thy good thus spende
Lest thy selfe begge of other / by harde necessyte
For often in the worlde / this thyng prouyded wese
That whan the prodygall / and waster hath all spent
He beggeth or steleth / by wayes fraudulent
Or if he shame to begge / or feare to robbe or steale
Than tourneth he to fraude / and crafty cheues aunce
Nō etiam vt magnus fias: te dede rapinae. Nam ne (que) quo regnes ius violare licet.
Of all men borowynge / on suretie / othe / or seale
At last / hym with other / so bryngyng to vtteraunce
Gyue the nat to rapyne: thyne honour to auaunce
Thou shulde nat vyolate iustyce / in any thyng
Though thou knowe therby / for to be made a kyng
It is nat full ynough / for one louyng iustyce
Nec tantū a iusto vio­lentia longius absit. Sed fraus: at (que) dolus debet abess [...] procul. Vulpeculae fraus ē via est innata leoni. Vtra (que) sed iustis ē aliena viris.
For from hys mynde to cast / wrong and extorcyon
But fraude and gyle / must he in lyke maner dispyce
Fraude longeth to the foxe / and myght to the lyon
Let bruyt beastes folowe / beastly condycyon
Gyle / fraude / nor extorcion / belongeth in no wyse
To men louyng vertue / good maners or Justyce
But among all people / no man is more damnable
Qui populo ex om̄i nullus capitalior illo. Qui lupus ē intus: pel­le videtur ouis: Nec solum facto sit sae­pe iniuria verbis: Obiectes si cui crimina falsa reo.
Than he which resembleth / a shepe forth in the skyn
But by cruell purpose / and maners desceyuable
He is in very dede / a ragyng wolfe within
A man doth nat onely wrong▪ iniury / and syn
In dedes: But in wordes / is also iniury
Accusyng or slaundryng / the gyl [...]esse wrongfully
Therfore refrayne thy selfe / frō wrong in worde & dede
Quod verū est: semper prosert semper (que) tuere S [...]c nihil vt vero tu ve nerere magis. Nec verū credas viola ri posse negando: Quin sic religio est: tū violata sides.
And speke that is ryghtwyse / playne trouth and equite
In trouth styll defendyng / great is thy laude and mede
So that thou nought worshyp / so moche as veryte
Nor thynke thou nat / that trouth vyolate may be
But that in lyke maner / both fayth and conscyence
With trouth delyted / and suffreth vyolence
In trouth / though to wytnesse / man do nat call our lorde
Nā licet in testem non [...] deus ipse vocatus: Attamen is custos / vl­tro (que) testis adest: Et si quādo licet men­tiri: sorte licebit: Tātulum: vt vera sint manifesta magis.
yet is he defender of trouth and wyllyngly
And thus is he wytlesse: of hys owne accorde
So / the trouth dyspysed / our lorde is semblably
And if it be laufull / at any tyme to lye
Or contrary the trouth / parchaunce it so may be
More openly to trye / the trouth and veryte
And he parauenture / is worthy of pardon
Qui (que) fidē vt seruet [...]ue [...]it non vera locutus: Forsitan est veniā dig nus habere suam. Est seruēda [...]ides sic: vt constantia semper Aisit pollicitis: practa­ (que) sancta velis.
Whiche to kepe hys promyse / forbereth to say trouthe
As if he constrayned / before to some person
To kepe some thyng secrete / hath boūde hym self by othe
Man to breke his promyse / most comonly is lothe
For sure othe and promyse / requyreth great constaunce
And couenauntes requyre / trouth and perseueraunce
I graunt that often tyme / suche chaunce & tyme may fall
Saepe tamen fateor tē ­pus contingere posse: Quod ne (que) dānandū sit violare fidem: Vt quia promittā tibi: quod non vtile fiat: Aut mihi plus nocea [...] / (quam) tua facta inuet.
That to breake thy promyse / by othe affyrmed stable
Is nat to be dampned / nor blamed nought at all
But rather aloweth / of wyse men resonable
As thyng promysed / to none is profytable
To the lytell auayle / and great dommage to me
No syn if suche promyse / nat parfourmed shal be
Theseus shulde haue / desyred that Neptune
Theseus op [...]asset Nep tunum pacta negare: Cum taxit miserū cur­ribus hippolytum.
Wolde haue broken promyse / & made his word vnstable
Whan he with wylde horses / for cause nat oportune
Drewe Ipolytus / to deth most myserable
Accused of Phedra / and nat beyng culpable
As innocent Joseph / in Egypt was some tyme
Of a quene accused / herselfe in all the cryme
If ought be cōmytted / to the in pryuete
Nō cōmissa sibi iustus secreta loquatur: Sed taceat: quicquid nō licet ore loqui: Vocibꝰ ambiguis litis non semina iactes: Iudiciū certū sed ma­gis ore feras.
Or in secrete counsell / do nat the same dysclose
As thy selfe wolde haue / one secret vnto the
So thy selfe order / in mynde and tonge purpose
Do nat doutfull wordes / within thy mynde cōpose
Whiche vttred may be cause / of anger or dyscorde
But playne cōmon langage frequent at euery worde
Speke so / that none constrerthy wordes frowardly
Aut potius tacias cū nō sit causa loquendi. Saepe sibi at (que) alijs: gar [...]ula lingua nocet.
Or if thou haue no cause to speke / than kepe scylence
For a chattryng tonge / and bablyng busely
Hath often tyme raysed / great inconuenience
Agayne it selfe and other / cōmyttyng great offence
By wordes superflue / a fole is knowen playne
Where wyse men by reason / theyr tonges can refrayne
If thou haue cōmitted / at any tyme to the
Publica si qn̄ tibi sit cō missa potestas: Aut si turba tuae sit nu­merosa domi: Corrige: quē facinius: quem reddit culpa no­centem. Non laus ē leuis (quam) re­putere nimis.
Cure of a cōmon wele / to chastyce euery vyce
Or if thou haue housholde / or meyny in plente
Be bolde transgressours / for fautes to chastyce
And among them alway / to gyde the by iustyce
For it is no praysyng / to be to fauorable
Nor yet to be counted / a tyran intretable
For whyle thou hast tyll one / immoderate pyte
By loue or neglygence / or parciall fauour
Nā peccare facit mul­tos: qui ignouerit vni: [...]ū vni ne prodest pl [...] ­ [...]ibus ille nocet: Quicqd peccabūt mul ti: te dante fauo [...]em:
Thou causyst many syn / by wylde aud acyte
yet / nought dost thou profyte / that one in his errour
But many dost thou hurte: Thy cause is hard and sour
For what many syuneth / by thy remyse sufferance
Thy selfe art in faute / and worthy vengeance
And for all theyr fautes / by ryght / art thou culpable
Cūcto [...]ū iu [...]e es [...]rimi­nis ipse [...]eus. Sed fauet is: si qu is nō punit crimina praeses Iudicis ē nimius virga benigna fauor.
And for theyr offences / shalt byde punicion
But heed offycers / to suche are fauorable
Whom they nat wyll chastyce / for theyr transgression
Fauour / is a mylde rod of execucion
Of lawe / ryght and iustice / some iuges mankyng blynde
That they seynge iustyce / wyll it nat se nor fynde
Oft iustyce is closed / and captyue in pryson
Within thre folde dores / that no man may he [...]se
Mede fauour / and feare / denyeth her raunsom
So kepynge her oftyn / styll in captyuyte
And oft these by fauour / set her at lyberte
To wander at her wyll / in places reprouable
Her eyen blyndfeid: by meanes disceyuable
More playnly to pronounce / lawe hath no lyberte
Without mede or money / or fauour parcyall
Sub [...]ubit ille hominū coetus: & subruit vrbe [...] Per quē iusta malis poe na remissa fuit.
But feare / oft her kepeth / in wrong captyuyte
In stede of trewe iustyce / these gouerne ouerall
For soth he subuerteth / great cyties pryncipall
And cōpanyes of men / which blyndly spareth vyce
Nat scourgyng mysdoers / by lawe / ryght and iustyce
As he soone subuerteth / olde townes of great name
Subruit & flammā qui multā spargit in edes. Aut remouet portis hoste premente seras: Nō erit hic lenis ciuis princepsue vocandus. Sed dici potiꝰ pestifer ille potest.
Whyche opyneth the gates / to foes vyolent
And casteth on houses / great fyre lyghtnyng in flame
So iuges forgyueng / deserued punysshment
Subuerteth great townes / and cyties excellent
Suche ought nat be called / prynces nor cytyzens
But most mortall foes: and mayteners of syns
yet is it nat laufull / in payne to passe measure
Nō tamē in poenis mē ­suram excedere sas est Est pulchrū rebus om­nibus esse modum. Suppliciū sumens: nō sis immitis & asper [...] Laetus vt alteriꝰ tu vi­deare malo.
Or rage in punysshment / as tyran intretable
Syth frayle vnto trespas / is all humayne nature
A fayre mean is measure: in all thyng cōmendable
Wherfore in chastysyng / be nat to vngeable
Unmercyfull and sharpe / as ioynyng in thy rage
Of anothers ruyne / confusion and dommage
But punysshe as one pensyfe / nat wyllyng / but dolent
Sed plecte inuieꝰ velu­ti sis tactus ad illud Officiū: et doleas tan­ta patrasse reum. Quī quo (que) si plures: ea dē dat causa nocētes. Nō illū absoluas hunc retinere velis.
As both for to punysshe / constrayned to the same
And sorowe that synners / deserue suche punysshement
With so great transgression / hurtyng theyr soule & name
If many trespassers / be all as one to blame
And in one cause and cryme / be all in lyke culpable
Let nat one eschape the / another byde in stable
Let thou nat one go fre / an other pay for all
Nō poena afficias hos dum tu munere donas Illos: quod facinus ar­guit illud idem.
Or these lesse trangressour / haue greattest punysshment
Murther nat one wretche / of wyt and substance small
Promotyng another / strong thefe / more vyolent
This is no good iustyce / ryght / lawe / nor iugement
Improbitas eadē poe­nā patiatur eandem.
Let one faut or forfaytethaue punysshment semblable
Be egally to all / ryght wyse, or fauorable
Shewe the nat to some / in maner of a mother
Nec [...] cuius il­lius [...].
To some as a enmy / or foe most vyolent
Though thou this day iuge / consyder that a nother
Parchaunce shall to morowe / syt on thy iugement
Endeuoyre the therfore / to be indyfferent
Be nat to regorous / nor yet ouer remys
But iuge thou with mercy / lyke as the mater is
Murder nat small theues / lettyng greatter theues go
Sic fert̄ solers quas nectit aranea telas. Solum ꝓ minimis fila parata feris. Si veniat scrabro ma [...]orts ponderis: illas Perfringit telas: dila­cerat (que) leues.
Without execucyon / for feere / fauor or mede
So men say / the spyder / hath custome for to do
With her webbes framed / of artyficyall threde
To tangell lytell flyes / onely she taketh hede
But if theyr come a hornet / a dore or greater flye
They breake the lyght webbes / & so for the passe they fre
Her webbes dependant / onely inuolueth in
Inuoluūt minimas pē dentia retia muscas: Quarū cū misero murmure vita perit. Sic solet & paup puni­ri lege seuera: Si peccat diues lege so lutus abit.
The small lyttell flyes / as dayly we may se
Whose lyues doth perysshe / with murmur and small dyn
Ryght so the symple wretche / lyueng in pouerte
Hath rygour of the lawe / with most extremyte
But the ryche tyran offendyng / passeth equyte
Fre loused by the lawe / of wrong custume and ryte
O custome execrable / and greuous preiudyce
So these thre fell tyrans / feare / money / and fauour
Oft tymes vse to breake / the balans of iustyce
The ryche fyndyng ryghtwyse / to poore gyueng rygour
These thre blideth iustyce / which thyng is great dolour
Which causeth poore wretches / theyr wrōges to be wayle
Whyle the ryche is correcte / scant with a foxe tayle
What dyfference bytwene / a great thefe and a small
Forsoth no more but this / to speke I dare be bolde
The great sytteth on benche / in costly furres of pall
The small thefe at barre / standeth tremblyng for colde
The great theues are laded / with great chaynes of golde
The small thefe with yron: chayned from all refuge
The small thefe is iuged / oft tyme the great is iuge
If any haue trepased / agayne the wyllyngly
Si tibi deliquit quis (que) non vltio maior Delicto fuerit: sufficit esse parem. Si tamē ignoscas: vin­dicta (que) nulla placebit: Iustior es multo / gra­tior at (que) deo.
Be nat ouer hasty / by cruell punysshment
Let nat the punysshment / excede the iniury
If it be so greuous / it is suffycient
But the faut to pardon / if thou can be content
Than art thou more ryghtwyse / benygne and charitable
And to god thy maker / more dere and acceptable
Mercy maketh māhynde / to his maker most semblable
In famulos etiā iustū seruabis & aequum: Iis iusta impendas: nec nisi iusta petas. Hos credas: fr̄es nobis natura crearit: Vt saeuite ne fas latius esse putes.
And also to thy seruaūtes / whiche lyueth vnder the
Be ryghtwyse and equall / in maner resonable
Gyue them theyr dutye / and ryght with all pyte
And nought of them requyre / but ryght and equyte
Thynke seruaūtes be made / our bretherne by nature
Wherfore ryght requyreth / to treat them in measure
And nat without reason / agayne them for to rage
Them treatyng as beastes / syth they be men as we
Abijce: si grauiter tibi peccant vel miserere: Si leuitir: sapiēs quis queat esse satis?
If theyr faute be greuous / and done of yll corage
Or of froward malyce / cast them away fro the
Or if theyr faute be small / than of them haue pyte
Theyr long faythfull seruyce / se thou do nat dyspyse
What man is so dyscrete / whyche alway can be wyse
But nowe comprehendyng / all Justyce in one sōme
And breuely concludyng / the bondes of iustyce
If thou wylt be ryghtwyse / as requyreth wysdome
Than must thou thy lyueng / order in this wyse
Gyue god laude and glory / and let thyne hart aryse
Most clefely in his loue / contynually brennyng
Auoyde his displeasour / do after his byddyng
Next to thy neyghbour / or euery chrysten man
Do thou no otherwyse / than thou wolde haue gladly
Get goodes ryghtwysely / & whan thou hast thē: than
Loue them nat ouer moche / but them bestowe wysely
To reason of thy soule / make subiecte thy body
Let hym with his lustes: be subiecte seruytour
Refrayned from folly / by reason gouernour
Nowe haue we dyscrybed / the bondes of iustyce
Iusticiae post (quam) fines re­ferauimꝰ ipsos. Dicamus fortē: magnanimum (que) virum.
Moche thyng omittyng / bycause of breuyte
Whiche asketh long processe / in meter to compryse
Wherfore / nowe procedyng / endeuoyre vs shall we
For to dyscrybe a man / of magnanimite
And wryttyng / for to gyue cure / and solycytude
To shewe what belongeth / to strenght or fortytude
¶ Thus endeth the dyscrypcion of the seconde cardynall Uertue / na myd Justyce / And be­gynneth to be trea­ted De magnanimitate. of the thyrde Cardynall vertue / called fortytude or magnanimite / or strenght of mynde

¶ Of magnanimite or strenth of mynde.

THat man ought be counted / of magnanimite
Magnanimum sateor: ꝗ: quo teneat̄ honestū: Vltro dura subit ꝗ ne­ (que) saeua pauet: Nō timer hic hoies nō & discrimina mortis.
Or of an hyghe mynde / and courage valyant
Which in the defendyng / of ryght and honeste
Al hardnesse indureth / glad / and with mynde constant
Wyllyngly submyttyng / hymselfe to deth instant
Rather than to recule / from the defence of ryght
No cruelte dredyng / of tyran / kyng / nor knyght
Suche one feareth no man / his mynde so constant is
Quicꝗd contingat: ser re paratus adest. Nō aim magnū possūt tormenta: mine (que): Vnica sed ratio sancta monere potest.
He boldly contemneth deth / and daunger mortall
Deuyse the tyran / Nero nor Falaty
Nor all other tyrans / can hym nought moue at all
He prest is to suffer / what euer thyng doth fall
Bolde mynde is nat moued / by thretnyng nor turment
But onely by reason / is moued his intent
yet a manly courage / desyreth nat rasshely
Nō tamen exposcit te mere discrimina: (quam) (quam) Effugiat timidi nomē habere viri. Stultiꝰ haud quic (quam): (quam) sese offerre periclis. Cū poscit tuto non minus illud idem.
To presume without cause / on doutfull thyng & harne
Howe be it euery persone / for most part cōmonly
Wold nat beare gladly / the name of a cowarde
No thyng is more folysshe: than one to ren forwarde
To do that with danger / with peryll and distresse
Whyche myche without peryll / be done in quyetnesse
That man is ouer mad / founde / and nat worthy rest
Est nimiū demens: trā ­quilla si quis in vnda Spumiferos aestus op­tet habere freti.
Whiche being on the see / in caume tranquylyte
Desyreth and prayeth: for vyolent tempest
For roughe wawes / or fomyng feruour of the se
Nat lesse oursene / but moche madder is he
Whiche may haue his pleasour / and mynde with pacience
yet rennyng to daunger / by hasty vyolence
A tyran presumyng / for to subdue iustyce
Qui patriā īsultat: vso sat qui publica [...]u [...]. Nō vir magnanimꝰ il­le putandus erit. Est audax potiꝰ: teme­rariꝰ: impius amens.
Inuadyng his countrey / by mad rebellyon
Is nat of hye courage / nor valyant in no wyse
But traytour and rayser / of insurreccion
A rasshe and bolde brybour / sekyng confusion
And whyle in his quraell / foles theyr lyues spende
His lyfe and his purpose / commeth to shamefull ende
Howe may a clerke descrybe: a wretche so pestylent
Et quicquid possit lin­gua referre mali.
His mynde hath no mercy / but rasshe audacyte
His mad mynde amased / by purpose imprudent
Of his natyfe countrey / seketh captyuyte
His owne shame and frendes / extreme calamyte
Suche ought nat be counted / partyner of fortytude
But tyrannes / trayterours / presumptuous and rude
Nor he is nat manly / nor of an hyghe courage
Nec vir sortis erit qu [...] rēs sua cōmoda sed qui Vim ꝓhibet patriae nec facit ipse suae.
Which suffceth great labour / and peryll of this lyfe
For his singuler wele / and pryuate auantage
But that man / whiche fighteth / for his countre natyfe
No vyolence doyng / to mayden chylde nor wyfe
Nor ageyn his countrey / nat beyng vyolent
Suche one hath hye courage / & mynde magnificent
The mynde hath no praysyng / nor laude worthy doutlesse
Nulla animi laus ē nul la est praestantia facti: Iusticia vnde procul: ē patriae (que) salus. Nec nisi vir rectus: vir simplicitatis amicus:
Nor that dede is counted / of no preemynence
Where iustyce is nat gyde / where wanteth ryghtwysnesse
Where helth of our countrey / is voyded from presence
And where the cōmon wele / fyndeth nat sure defence
Only a ryghtwyse man / of iust and playne intent
Ought to be called stronge / of mynde magnyficent
No man saue a louer / of iust symplycyte
Magnanimi▪ et fortis nomē habere potest.
Without fraude or faynyng / boldly supportyng ryght
Ought for to haue the name / of magnanimite
Nō te facto [...] delectet fama tuorum.
Let nat thyne owne dedes / be plesant in thy syght
All if the cōmon fame / them laude with wordes lyght
Consyder wele thy selfe / if they be without blame
Trust more to that try all / than to the cōmon fame
Let that onely please the / and onely the delyte
Sed per se placita sit bene facta tibi. Magnanimus claris in gestis ponit honestum. Et populi voces respi­cit ille parum. Nō magni ē animi: qui vulgi pendet ab ore.
A man of bolde spyryt / consydereth honeste
And in honest dedes / whiche many doth profyte
Them selfe clere cōmendyng / hath he felycyte
Ryght lytell regardyng the voyce of cōmonte
He hath no bolde courage / which onely doth depende
On mouth of the cōmons / his dedes to cōmende
But he is most manly / which in his dedes can
Sed dare qui potuit▪ quod cupit ipse sibi.
Gyue surely to hymself / all that he doth requyre
Nat caryng the prayses / of woman / chylde or man
Who that ouermoche / doth great names desyre
Qui nimiū tribuit til­tulis▪ et queritat illos: Ille nimis vanꝰ: & pue [...]ilis homo est.
Orcoueyteth vayne tytyls / of honour to conquyre
He shulde nat be counted / a man of granyte
But a chyldysshe persone: ensuyng vanyte
It namely belongeth / to man of bolde courage
Est animi iprimis magnites spernere cunctas Externas: nimiū quas rude vulgus amat. Res humilis spernens animus petit ardua magnus. Quicquid habet tellu [...] se putat esse minus.
All vayne thynges outwarde / to despyse vtterly
Countyng all thyng mundayne / incertayne & volage
Which rude cōmon people / most loueth cōmonly
Thus a valyant mynde / all way mounteth on hye
Despysyng lowe thynges / thyng erthely in no wyse
Can content his courage / nor noble mynde suffyse
All erthes contentes / what euer is here on grounde
Is lesse than his courage / nor can nat content
Nō oculus quicꝗd cer nit vel dextra tangit / Sed que mēte capit: ar dua: et alta putat.
Suche treasour as his eye / beholdeth here abounde
Or whateuer he toucheth / is nat suffycient
yet seketh he in mynde / for thyng more excellent
Thing endlesse reuoluyng / and castyng in memory
Conteynyng these tryfels / of thynges transtytory
I count hym moche greater / than emperour or kyng
Qui spernit [...]ras: aīo coelestia tangens. Illo non vullus (vt pu­to) maior erit. Atqui magnꝰ homo est quisꝗs versat̄ in [...]m [...]s? Et ne (que) de terra tollit ad alta caput?
Whyche in mynde atteyneth / to thyng celestyall
Utterly dyspysyng / caduke and erthly thyng
Though he in this worlde / possesse no thyng at all
But on thother partye / what man wolde great hym call
Whyche onely reuolueth / lowe thyng and trāsytory
Nat lyftynge his reason / from groūde to perelesse glory
What persone wolde deny: but it where worthy thyng
Quis negit esse hois magni virtute me [...]e [...]i: Dignum cū summo re­ge tenere locum? Ergo non magnus: sed maximus ille [...]eretur: Qui summi meru [...]t a [...] licus esse dei.
And a great mannes dede / by vertue to purchase
A great roume or offyce / with emperour or kyng
Than is he moche greater / which hath the gyft of grace
With the kyng eternall: to purchase hym a place
With angels for to reygne / hye in the heuynly hall
Where is endlesse solace / and ioy perpetuall
What man wolde deny hym / both bolde and valyant
Quis negit eē virū for tem: qui viribus v [...]be [...] Et lōga magnas obsi­dione capit? Ergo nō [...]ortis: sed erit fortissimus ille: Qui sistet capta victor in arce poli.
Whiche by long siegyng / strength and audacyte
Taketh great Cytyes / wele peopled and puysant
Well stored of ryches / and armour in plente
Than moche more valyant / myghty and strong is he
Which as an ouercomer / and myghty cōquerour
Hath won (by hys merytes the hye and heuenly tour)
No trauayle nor labours / what so euer they be
Nō hominē magnū te [...] rent quicū (que) labores: Vt tādë absoluat quod bene cedit opu [...].
Can moue a bolde courage / by fearfull fantasy
Thyng laudable to leaue / but that boldly wyll he
Perseuer and procede / concludyng fynally
Warkes wele attempted / and fyrst begyn wysely
The bolde nought abydeth / tyll all wysely be done
For wele he consydreth / that thende gyueth corone
And nought can be surely praysed before the ende
Sic te nō pigeat pulsa re palacia coeli: Vt referet faciles iani tor ipse fores. Nō quen (quam) tenuit pul­santem [...]anitor altus. Et nulli nō dat: si mo­do iusta petit.
Therfore he ther vnto / contendeth constantly
So / be nat thou wery / but busely entende
At the heuynly palays / to knocke perseuerantly
Than shall the porter opyn / the gates fynally
For none he repelleth / which byde knocking with myght
Nor none he denyeth / whiche asketh thyng of ryght
Wherfore haue ye done cesse nat / perseuer knocke & stande
Quare age: nō vn (quam) tu brachia fessa remitta [...] Quando quidē mox te praemia certa manent. Palmā fine feres: ad fi­nem pergito nam (que).
Remyt nat thyne armes: by knockynge fitigate
Abyde? for thy meryt / anon is sure at hande
Thy rewarde is instant / thou shalt nat be frustrate
Before the vyctory / no man is laureate
At endyng shalt thou haue / palme / vyctory: and mede
Than hast in thy voyage / perseuer and procede
Procede vnto the ende / in stormes and tempest
Aequore decurso: dig­na corona datur, Nec finē nimium tibi credas esse remotum. Cū minime reris: saepe propinquus adest.
Ron ouer the streames / with sure shyp and constant
Thou shalt after trauayle / com to the hauen of rest
And sure port of pleasour / and glory tryumphant
Nor thynke nat that the ende / or port is farre dystant
Let no suche suspeccion: of long delay the greue
The port is oft at hande / long or thou wolde byleue
A great mynde dysdayneth / in bondage for to be
Nō animus magnꝰ ser uit: sed liber ab omni Est vitio recti: perpe­ [...]uns (que) comes.
But from all maner vyce / and inconuenience
It selfe it preserueth / at lyberte and fre
As sone as fyrst mocyon / of vyle concupiscence
Attempteth hym in mynde / for to cōmyt offence
Anone he dysdayneth / suche vyle temptacion
Hys lustes refraynyng / with brydell of reason
The very fyrst mouyng / or temptyng vnto syn
He chaseth from his mynde / and doth the same subdue
By reason wele nothynge / that if it entred in
And resteth any space / soone after myght ensue
Some pleasour or consent / or dede agayne vertue
Therfore he resteth / begynnyng with all myght
And alway for gydes / taketh reason and ryght
He suffreth nat vyle lust / nor blynde lascyuyte
Nec patit̄: luxus suꝑet turpis (que) libido. Sed superat sensus for c [...]or ipse suos. Seruitiū maius nō est / nec turpius vllum:
To subdue his reason / wyt / or intellygence
But boldly he brydleth / all wylde enormyte
Moche strongly subduyng / carnall concupyscence
For certesse no bondage / nor vyle obedience
Is fouler to mankynde / fyrst fourmed resonable
Than to be subdued / to vyces detestable
And lye as outlawed / in mynde and in reason
Quam quo sub vitijs: mens religata [...]acet. Libertas animi vera ē quē nulla voluptas Imperio cogit: serui­tio (que) premit.
Under greuous yoke of vyce / or syn vnkynde
His carnall lust raignyng / aboue dyscresion
But certaynly there is / no lyberte of mynde
Saue where no vyle lustes / nor vyce doth reason bynde
Where no lust oppresseth / the reason in bondage
There is trewe lyberte / nat subiect to seruage
A man thus endued / with so great liberte
Nil admirat̄: nisi quod videatur honestum: Nil: nisi quod semper: quod propri [...] (que) manet.
Cōmendeth no pleasour / vnstable nor volage
That only whiche soundeth / to laude and honeste
He prayseth and laudeth / of his most hye courage
He forseth nat fauour / of iuuent nor of age
But that whiche abydeth iust / and contynuall
He laudeth and prayseth / or els nought at all
A bolde mynde is cōstant / one maner man alway
Casibꝰ aduersis cōstā [...] subcumbere nescit: Tan (quam) si semp res sua salua foret.
Nat shrynkyng for sorowe / nor hard aduersyte
But boldely he beareth / troubles of euery fray
With stout port and stomake / in maner / as though he
Felt none aduersyte / losse / nor necessyte
No chaunce can hym chang / so bolde is his courage
Dysdaynyng for to fele / mysfortune or dommage
That bolde worthy courage / which thinketh for to haue
Sed nihil aduersi cēse­bit maximus ille: Oia qui in mēte credit habere bona.
His hole treasour in hart / and all his good in mynde
And nat in his body / as in a mortall graue
Suche one in cernall troubles / can no dyspleasour fynde
Nor none aduerse fortune / reputeth he vnkynde
These chaungeable chaunces / of mysfortune mundayne
Are to hym assured / no dyspleasour nor payne
He onely contayneth / all goodnesse in his mynde
Ille autē solus cōple­ctitur omnia mente. Pectore cu [...] Christꝰ no­cte die (que) sedet. Aspectū seruat: graui­tas quē vestit: [...] o [...]nat. Nec trepidat verbis: Lāgu [...]dius (que) so nat.
Which bereth in hys herte / chryst Jesu day and nyght
This man hath grauyte / nought can hys reason blynde
So chryst hath inclered / hys mynde with inward lyght
His countenaunce is one / in euery mannes syght
No more faynt nor fearefull / is he / of hys langage
In most greuous chaunces / than in chefe auantage
He sheweth no semblance / in worde nor coūtenaunce
Non magni est toruo [...] oc [...]os vultus (que) minace [...] Sed magis ē mitis [...]rō ­tis habere decus.
Of inwarde dysplesour / his courage is so sure
And certesse / it nat semeth / a great man of constaunce
To shewe cruell eyen / or loke agayne nature
But rather with vysage: and countenaunce demure
These grym thretnyng lokes / betoken no fortytude
But rather a proude hert / vnkynde boystuous & rude
The stronge is nattryed / nor proued by iesture
Non etenï fortis gestu vultu (que) probatur: Sed facito: at (que) aia sit mihi magnus homo.
By face nor countenaunce / but one may trye and fynde
What man hath hye courage: and boldnes of nature
By hys worthy dedes / and stablenes of mynde
Many one is fearfull / and cowarde of his kynde
Counterfaytyng outward / a lyons countenaunce
Unstable in his dedes / without perseueraunce
If thou be in offyce / or great auctoryte
Nō: quia tu populi ve­rearis ferre repulsas: Propterea res ē publi­ca agenda minus.
Be nat more remyse / do nat thy dutye lesse
Anenst the cōmon wele / all yf thou fere to be
Soone after deposed / by comons vnkyndnesse
The nature of comons: is roted in rudenesse
And very hard it is / to please a multytude
yet for the comon wele / flye nat sollicitude
Leaue thou nat thy coūtre / whan batayle is instant
Nō datriā liquas quia sit tibi pugna futura.
But boldely prepare the / for it to byde and fyght
Extreme nede best proueth / a courage valyant
Thou can nat better dye / than fyghtyng for the ryght
Than: nede most requyreth to shewe thy force
Nō ali [...] fortis noscier ipse potes.
Thou canst nat be knowen strong / nor of bolde courage
Saue in bydyng daunger / and peryll of dāmage

¶ Howe no couetous wretche can haue the trewe vertu of magnanimite.

¶ A wretche / whom the fassion / and hunger execrable
Praeterea / quē facra fa­mes: et forma monetae Ceperit: haud magnus imo pusillus homo est. Tormē [...]et (quam)uis scelera ta pecunia paruos: Esse tamē magnis illa molestia inquit.
Of golde or vyle money / hath blynded in intent
May nat be called great / but small and myserable
For though this cursed coyne / small wretches doth tour­ment
yet can it nat trouble / a mynde magnificent
A bolde mynde consydereth it / gotten with great payne
Saued or kept with feare / with sorowe lost agayne
No man is more symple / vyle / nor of base courage
Nil minuū est a [...]o: nil est angustius illo: Qui seruit nūmis: cui dominātur ope [...]. Ille autē est fortis: qui scit contemnere pauꝑ: Diui [...]ias animo nō cu­piendo suo.
Nor no mynde more pynched / or drouned in dolour
Than he / which of money / is kept vnder bondage
Of whom wretched treasour / is lorde and gouernour
But that symple persone / is worth a conquerour
Whyche can dyspyse ryches / cōtent with pouerte
Couetynge no ryches / nor vayne prosperyte
Suche one / in beholdynge the vayne solicytude
Of couetous catyfes / and wretches of the grounde
He laugheth vnto scorne / theyr lyfe and maners rude
Aduertyng to what care / and labours they be bounde
Which doth all the iugement / of theyr reason confounde
Of rest them bereuyng / of treasour whyle they thynke
To slepe thy entende nat / nor yet to meat nor drynke
Thus whyle they get ryches / false / frayle / and fugytyfe
These wretches to them selfe / than tyrānes more vnkynde
Lose rest / fame / and frenshyp: and also the swete lyfe
All this / a bolde courage reuolueth oft in mynde
Aut si diues habet: qui sic partitur amicis:
Wherfore no suche furour / can his hye reason blynde
But if he haue plente / of ryches and treasour
He parteth it a brode / to nedefull with honour
Unto his poore fryndes / which haue necessite
He parteth and spredeth his treasour ioyously
Delytyng for to haue / suche prossybylyte
To many men to be / socour and subsedy
Subsidio vt multis gaudeat esse viri [...].
He studyeth with treasour / eternall blysse to bye
And louers in this lyfe / as thyng more cōmendable
Than all Cresus ryches / of golde innumerable
Howe cōmon is the clause / and sentence of Pyrrus
Qua vulgat viros ite [...] sententia Pir [...]hi est▪ Cū redimit captos sau cia roma suos. Inquit enim Pyrrhus p̄ciū numerari volēti.
Of most famous auctours / counted of dignyte
Whiche vnto the romayns / made noble answere thus
Whan they came to hym / with treasour in plente
Theyr captyues to redeme / whiche in pryson had he
Whyle thynbassadours tolde / theyr raūsone in golde
Pyrrus thus aswerde / with courage fre and bolde
your golde I demaunde nat / no syluer wyll I fele
Non aurū posco: non mihi dona dabis: Ce [...]emus ferro nō au­ro cauponantes Contractare aurū / nos decet arma viros.
No gyft shall ye gyue / your treasour I dispyse
Contende we with armour / of yren and of stele
Nat with golde nor gyftes / as tauerners haue gyse
Marchauntes / and other / ensuyng couetyse
Icsemeth vyle wretches / to handell coyne & golde
Bryght armour besemeth / / men valyaunt and bolde
For certayne this answere / semed so noble a kyng
Dignū rege quidē ver­bū genus aeacidarum: Ostendit magnum viri bus / at (que) animo: Nec minor ipse animo Curi dentate fu [...]sti Cum tibi samnires au­rea dona darent.
Of Eacus / worthy to come of hye lynage
Of whome this sayd Pyrrus / had his byrth and spryng
This worde / well hym proued: strong & of bolde courage
And thou also Curius / both sadde sober and sage
Thy selfe well declared / of mynde / as strong and bolde
Whan the samnytes / presented the with golde
As thou syttyng ydell / was dryeng by the fyre
Small rapes / as man symple / by ryches settyng nought
Torrebas modicum [...] ▪ pas tu lentus ad [...]gnē: Explicuit samnis cum sua dona clien [...].
One of the samnytes / subiect to thyne empyre
Layd forth goldy gyftes / whiche he had to the brought
By sygnes whiche he sawe / reputyng in his thought
By suche maner gyftes / the greatly to content
By cause thou resembled / as poore and indigent
But what answere gaue thou? forsoth a wyse and bolde
Malo equidem dixti fi guli coenare catino / Quam fuluis: tecū mu nera missa refer. Nō aurū volumus: po­tiꝰ sed habentibꝰ aurū
Saynge / I had leauer thus homely for to dyne
In an erthyn platter / than in a dysshe of golde
Retourne with thy gyftes / nought I demaunde of thyne
What nede I thy gyftes / sith thou thy selfe art myne
Of gouernours of golde / we wylbe gouernours
Rather than of golde: or other vayne treasours
This answere besemed / a mynde magnificent
And a man establed / in magnanimite
Esse super volumꝰ: hoe [...]upimus (que) magis.
But agayne retourne we / vnto our fyrst e [...]tent
A bolde mynde in labour: most diligent must be
Corpore sunt etiā sub­ [...]unda pericula rerum. Sunt res difficiles: im [...] probior (que) labor.
In thyng of most peryll / and most dyfficulte
Where thynges be most h [...]o / there must thou to preuayle
Chefely put thy body / to labour and trauayle
yet though the thyng be nedefull / go nat therto ra [...]hly
Nō tamen haec temere sed rectiꝰ ante vidē dū. Quid ratio assētit ꝗd fieri ve negat. Non etenim tētet sese ma [...]ora fuit (que) Vi [...]ibꝰ vt coeptū turpe relinquat opus,
But before consyder / what way is ryght and sure
What reason affermeth / and what it doth deny
Attempte nothyng passyng / thy wyt / myght / and nature
Nor whose ende and processe / is vnto the obscure
A wyse man by reason / consydereth well this same
But foles oft begyn / and leaue agayne with shame
And namly some trustyng / in them selfe to greatly
Saepe nimis fidens sibi magna negotia sumit: Quae ne (que) cum perigat: dedecus inde refert. Attamen & caueat: ni­miū dū ꝓuidet omne: Ne visus trepidā quae­rere velle fugam.
Begyn oft great thynges / wenyng to wyn them name
But whan all theyr purpose / procedeth fro wardly
In stede of cōmendyng / they get them rebuke and shame
Another thyng beware / whiche also wynneth blame
So long do nat all thyng / before prouyde and cast
That thou seme to leaue all (as co warde) at the last
Better dye with honour / than lyue in worldly shame
Nempe mori praestat: (quam) turpē viuere vitam: Seruitio mors est ante ferenda viris. Non certes armis: nisi cū certare necesse est. Nam (que) ferum nimis est conseruisse manus.
And leade the lyfe dishonest / and foule / tyll vtter age
A bolde noble courage / desyryng worthy name
Wolde moche rather dye / than lyue in vyle bondage
Contende nat in batayle: if thou be sadde and sage
Without nede constrayne the / or harde necessyte
To shede bolde is brutall / and beastly cruelte
It semeth nat mankynde / but cruell beastes wode
Whiche of noble reason / parteners can nat be
Nun (quam) suscipias bellū nisi pacis amore. Sed pax nil fraudis / nil habeat (que) doli.
To delyte in shedyng / echone of others blode
Begyn neuer betayle / as moche as is in the
But for to loue peas / concorde / and vnyte
And whan peas is compact / and sure confederate
Let no fraude nor trayson: nor gyle it vyolate
Nothyng in a great man / can be more cōmendable
Digniꝰ in magno nihil est / (quam) darcere victis. In quo naturae cōuenit ille dei. Nō tantae est laudis vi debellare superbos: Quantae est elemētem se: placidum (que) dare.
Than to spare his foes / brought in obedyence
To great god eternall / this man is most semblable
Lesse laude is to subdue / by force and vyolence
Than to shewe thyne ennemy / thy mercy and clemence
More laude is to pardon / and spare wretches subiect
Than proude great rebellers / by batayle to correct
Amonge all the vertues / ascrybed to Cesar
Inter caesareas virtu­res prima refertur: Quod placidus victus ciuibus ille fuit, Magnanimum mitem fecit natura leonem Prostratis: pueris exi­guis (que) feris.
This one is renomed / most chefe and pryncypall
That he was mercyfull / nat more in peas than warre
Sparyng the Cytezins / to hym subiect and thrall
All if the bolde lyon / be cruell and brutall
To suche [...]s be prostrate / of nature is he mylde
And vnder lyke maner / both to small beast and chylde
Thou shuldest nat cōtende / nor fyght agaynst thy fo
Nō nisi praemonito du dū conflixeris hosti: Nā (que) animos timidos indicat ipse dolus. Nō odio quen (quam): nec sis liuore secutus. Hoc eteni angustis mē tibus esse solet.
Except thou hast somwhat / playne warned hym before
For gyle proueth a mynde / co ward and faynt also
A false fearfull hert / by nought is proued more
Than fraudfull assautes / and vengeaunce tosore
Purse we non with hatred / with malyce / nor enuy
These bynde thyn owne mynde / most streyght in mysery
If any haue greued the / with outher worde or dede
Si ꝗs te verbis: vel fac­tis laesit iniquis. Hūc tecum reputa nil nocuisse tibi. Sed tantū mentem di­cas habuisse nocendi: Et mentē optatum nō habuisse suum.
Agaynst ryght or reason / as oftyn tyme may fall
To suche a wretched parsons / lyueng take good hede
And count thy selfe by hym / nothyng greued at all
But say thus / as semeth / a man substancyall
This man wolde haue hurt me / but god is good & kynde
Nat grauntyng hym power / nor myght after his mynde
Hys mynde was to greue / nowe hath it none effect
Unto his owne tourment / nowe tourneth his delyte
And more cause haue other / his malyce to suspect
And certaynly to slepe / that man hath small respyte
Whiche tourneth & wakeneth / whan euery fley dothe byte
Many grefes happen / whom pacyent scilence
Moche better subdueth / than open vyolence
For certayne no ꝑsone / is greatly hurt in dede
Nā nisi se laedat: certo non laeditur vllus. Nam (que) aliꝰ mentē tan gere nemo potest. Cum (que) vlciscēdi fuerit tibi facta potestas: Hoc ꝓ vindicta sit po­tuisse satis.
Without he hurt hym selfe / by faynt thoughes vnkynde
Dispyse / though thy body / in dyuers partes blede
Without thyne owne cōsent / no man can greue thy mynde
Thy wronges to reuenge / whan thou shalt power fynde
Let this full suffice the / to haue thy foe subiect
And to haue suche myght / his malyce to correct
Take onely suche power / for vtter punysshment
Vltio nulla quidē ma­ [...]ori cedet honori Quam tibi quae spreta quae (que) remissa fuit. Occulto quenquam nō carpes ipse susurro. Sed / si quem argue [...]is: aggrediare palam.
Thou canst nat reuenge thy wronge / in nobler wyse
Than whan of thy foes / thou mayst haue thyne intent
To pardon theyr trespas / and theyr malyce dispyse
Of secrete detractours / ensue thou nat the gyse
Blame thou no man absent / why speryng secretly
If thou haue cause to blame / assayle hym openly
A mynde onely grounded / on ryght and equite
Magnanimū faciet tā ­tū mens conscia recti. Men [...] pura: & simplex / intemerata sides.
And it selfe perceyuyng ryghtwyse and innocent
Of spyryt may bebolde / with magnanimyt [...]
These thynges make namely / a mynde magnyficent
A pure mynde and symple / a ryght & playne intent
With iust faith and lyueng / defyled at no tyme
With none enorme maners / nor greuous spot of crym [...]
But vyle and foule synnes: and vyces of lyueng
At trepidū facient sor des & crimina vitae. Omnia nā metuit: quē sua vita premit. Cor mundū nun (quam) tor­pet sermidine tristi. Nā quicū (que) sine est cri mine: quid metuat?
Maketh man be fearfull / sad: heuy and pensyfe
For that wretche suspecteth / and dredeth euery thyng
Whiche is harde oppressed / with his owne synfull lyfe
A pure herte and clene mynde / haue this prerogatyfe
Neuer to be sluggysshe / by heuy drede or feare
Who is without trespas: what can hym hurt or deare
Or what hath he to drede: no maner thyng be sure
An morté? munus sibi quam natura parauit? Per quá nó dubius re­gna beata subit? An vel suppliciū? cui, non ille dolorem Sentit: dū sanans vul nera: Christus adest?
What shulde he drede of deth / it is ineuytable
The generall dotye: and trybute of nature
By whom he hath passage: to lyfe intermynable
What shulde he drede tourment / of tyran intretable
Of whom he nat feleth / displeasour / hurt nor grefe
Syth our lorde is redy / his woundes to relefe
What mater shulde he drede? what can hym fear or moue
Quid time at qué Christus amat? quem virgo tuetur? Numina cui coeli cun­cta benigna fauent?
Whom no true troubles / nor vyces can oppresse
Whom Chryst his dere mayster / doth both defende & loue
Whom the gloryous vyrgyn / eternall empresse
Defendeth / and is redy / to helpe in all distresse
Whom all heuynly spiritꝭ / doth fauour & defende
With his foes redy / all season to contende
Who coude in tyme passed / these holy martyrs feare
Martyribꝰ potuit qui [...] quōdā inferre timorē ▪ Vincere tā magnos ꝗ potuere viro [...]? Nōillos reges super a­ru [...]: non quae tyranni. Non populi: admissae nec valuere ferae.
Or moue theyr great constance / from fayth & true beleue
They prynces ouercam / but no prynce couoe them deare
No kyng coude them chaunge / ouercome / nor remeue
No tyran nor tourment / coud them in myndes greue
All if theyr frayle bodyes / oft suffred vtter payne
Cherat / theyr mynde constant / had vtterly disdayne
Accused of peoples / and false rulers were some
Praesidibꝰ corāiuuenes pueri (que) senes (que) [...]t tragilis mulier non hab [...]ere metum.
Some caste to wylde beastes / in peces to be rent
But no maner manace / nor peyne coude them ouercome
Weake women / chyldren / olde fathers / and Juuent
Before cruell prouostes / standyng at iugement
And with them yonge vyrgyns / seyng theyr woundꝭ blede
Of tyrannes nor tourment / had nouther feare nor drede
No bowes nor dartes / nor other lyke atmour
Non arcus: non arina: neci districta / toguf (que) / Nō [...]aculis saeue / verbi bus (que) manus. Nō carcer nō longa fa mes: tormenta / sitis (que). Non oleū / nō pix: nō (que) sluenta maris.
Nor bryght swerdes drawen / to theyr deedly tourment
No speares nor fyers / kyndled them to deuour
No pryson no scourges / no pytche of lothly sent
No thretnyng of pryson / nor vtter punysshment
No hunger nor thurst: nor fetuenty oyle brennyng
Coude moue them to chaūge / theyr fayth nor pure lyueng
No thretnyng nor suffraunce / of waters vyolence
Munera / nec regni partes: promissa (que) regum. Coniugia: in turpē nō pepulere fugam.
Coude chaunge theyr sad purpose / establed by wysdome
No gyftes nor treasour / of greatest opulence
No promyse of part / of empyre / nor kyngdome
Nor kynges maryage / coude these martyrs ouercome
Nor theyr holy purpose moue / nor inclyne to flyght
In mynde were they strēghted / so sure with heuēly syght
Nat onely the parentꝭ / sawe theyr chyldren in flame
With chere glad and ioconde / in hert and countenaunce
Nec tantū natos laeti valuere parentes Spectare in flāmis▪ erucibus (que) suos
But many theyr owne chyldren / exorted to the same
And for no short tourment to flye from theyr constaūce
O meruelous myndes / great perseueraunce
The mother hath oft tymes / with voyce magnificent
Exorted her yonge chyldren / to peynes and tourment
The wyfe hath exorted / her husbande in lyke wyse
Quin magis infantes genitrix hortata te­nellos. Et frater fratrē: spon­sa (que) cara virum. Quis possit sctōs mo­rientes dicere victos? Victores potius morre fuere sua.
And one brother another / strenghted to martyrdome
And for our lordes cause / all tourment to despyse
But what man of lernyng / of vertue / or wysdome
Wolde say that these martyrs / thus dyeng were ouercome
But rather in the myddes / of all theyr tormentours
They stode nat ouercome / but lyker conquerours
The Juge or tourmentour: by cruell tyranny
Myght subdue the body / somtyme vnto tourment
But the mynde ꝑseuered: establed constantly
Fortius aut maiꝰ nihil est quā vincere mūdū.
In the fayth and laudes: of god omnypotent.
Thus were they by peynes / and mynde magnyfycent
And by deth subduers / of theyr owne corps carnall
Of tyrans / tormentours: and fendes infarnall
The worlde / and bayne pleasours / subdued they also
Dispysyng all pleasour / of thynges transytory
Than: all these ouercomyng / who loketh clere therto
Vincere quā terras / et superare polos.
On erth can no man fynde / more worthy vyctory
In ouer cōmyng erth / they wan eternall glory
And where men supposed them / to haue ben ouercome
They ouercam / both men / erth / and the hye kyngdome
For certayne lorde Jesu / who thus may dye for the
Nil parit selix homini pariter que beatum: Nil pariter dulce (quam) ti­bi Christe mori.
To hym can nothyng be / of more beatytude
Of more parfyte swetnesse / of more felycyte
More ioconde / more ioyous / nor yet more gratytude
Alas we blynde wretches / are we nat dull and rude
Seyng our redemar / endure for vs suche peyne
And no payne nor dolour: to endure for hym agayne
Nat onely may we dye: and suffre martydrome
Nec tātum gladio▪ sed viui possumus ipsi Hoc tibi contēpto cor pore Christe mori. Qui gladio mori [...] tan­tum semel occidat ille. Occidit hic saepe: ꝗ sua membra domat.
By tourment of tyran / by swerde / water or flame
But lyueng we may dye / if we our selfe ouercome
This vyle corps dispysyng: and lustes of the same
Who dyeth with swerde / but ones hym selfe doth rame
By deth / but who tameth his membres corporall
Is dayly mortifyed / by deth contynuall
Nor this deth is graunted / nat vnto euery man
Nec datur hāc cunctis gladij cōtinger̄ mortē Qui cupiunt: gladius gratia summa dei est▪
Whiche coueyte for to dye: for Christ our sauyour
Some wold fayne be martyrs / by swerde / but they ne can
That is a specy all grace / of our dere redemptour
But this sayd other deth / to vanquysshe all errour
To tame this frayle body / and lust to mortyfy
To euery one wyllyng: is graunted cōmouly
But whom Chryst vouchsaueth / to dye by martyrdome
Quem fuerit Christus dignatus morte perire Cōstmile / certe ē proxi [...]usille deo.
Of tyrannes tourment / no doute is / but he is
Next ioyned vnto god / aboue in his kyngdome
In endlesse fruicion / of his eternall blysse
And next them innocentes / whiche haue nat done a mysse
But nat without meryte / and endlesse ioy is he
Which hym selfe subdueth / by magnanymyte
Wherfore haue done redar / addresse the to vertue
In whose cause and quarell / be bolde to stande & fyght
Thy blynde carnall lustes / of frayle membres subdue
Be redy for to dye / for Justyce / treuth and ryght
Dispyse all iniury / so semeth Chrystes knyght
Subdue this false worlde / it is but vanyte
Than thynke thy selfe stabled / in magnanymyte
What are these passyons / of troubles transytory
But cloudes consumyng / and meanes for to call
Man from worldly folyes / to blysse and endlesse glory
Make nat double domage / of one displeasour small
Be strong trust no tempest / can last contynuall
After sorest stormes / moste clerest ayre wese
After aduers fortune / shyneth prosperyte
Who can nat abyde the one / shall nat attayne the other
The sour sauce is serued / before meat deynteous
Joy sauced is / with peyne / remember this my brother
Myxt with mysauenture / be chaunces prosperous
This lyfe is resembled / a byldyng ruynous
Nowe shaked with the wynde / agayne nowe reparate
So fareth by troublesi and chaunces fortunate
The chyldren of Israell / passed fyrste the reed see
And thyrty yere wandred in sauage wyldernesse
In lande of promyssion / or they / in rest coude be
And long tyme of batayle / endured harde distresse
At last were they stabled / in rest and quyetnesse
So god wyll his seruauntes / here in this lyfe chastyce
Before he receyue them / to rest in paradyse
Than haue done / take confort / be of stoute courage
Haue hope / that these troubles / are ernest (trust to me)
Of solace and confort / in endlesse heritage
Make lyght thyng of labours / by magnanymyte
Aduert all thyng mundayne / hath mutabylyte
Saue vertue / well roted / within a stedtast mynde
Nothyng is here constant / all tourneth as the wynde
Nothyng is here constant / nought permanent at all
Euer: perylles passed / are pleasour for to tell
A man on grounde restyng / can moche lower fall
Let hope and bolde spyrite / all mysery excell
Aduert what is wrytten / playnly in the gospell
He must trauers troubles whiche wyll our lorde ensue
Renounce the frayle worlde / and his owne selfe subdue
¶ Our muse hath remayned / ynough as thynketh me
[...] ā satis in magnis ais versata thalia es: Nūc reliquum ꝓpera sancta re [...]erre pede.
In the shape / descrybyng / of stoute perseuerance
Or payntyng the pycture / of magnanymyte
God gydyng / our style: nowe let vs forth auaunce
To discrybe the vertue / of comely Temperaunce
But fauourable redar / thynke nat peyne / but delyte
Rede forth / for I promyt / both pleasour and profyte.
¶ Thus endeth y e discripcion of y e thyrde Cardynall ver tue / named Magnanymyte or fortytude / or strenghte of ¶ De Temperancia. great mynde: And here after enseweth the discripcion of the fourth and last Cardynall vertue / called moderacion or Temperaunce.

¶ Of Temperaunce.

BEfore haue we treated / of myndes inuyncyble
Diximꝰ inuictas mēte: nunc ferre modestas Et locꝰ: & tempus: pro positum (que) monet. Qui cohibet motꝰ: and mi seruat (que) decorum Dictis: & factis: is mo­deratus erit.
Nowe place / tyme / & purpose exorteth our scripture
In meter for to wryte: as playne as is possyble
Of myndes temperate / well manerde and demure
Who brydeleth his lustes / well orderyng his iesture
Kepyng comelynesse / in dede / worde and countenaunce
Suche one ought be counted / a man of temperaunce
Therfore / that thou mayst be suche one: of gouernaūce
Ergo / vt sis talis: tecū tua vota tependas. Et pōlia ꝑsequere: cae­tera missa face.
By comely temperance / thy dedes to dispose
Thy mocyons of mynde / note well in remembraūce
Whether they be honest / or nothyng to purpose
If they be laudable than after them compose
Thy maners and lyueng / if thy desyres be
Repugnant to reason / than vtterly them fle
Those onely be good desyres / clene and sure
Sūt bona: quae simplex tantū natura requirit. Nō ea: quae fastu [...]: am­bicioque iubet.
Whiche nature requyreth / obeyeng to reason
Nat they / whom haute purpose / makyng reason obscure
Desyreth of proude mynde / end blynde ambicion
One hauyng hym owne selfe: in his possession
Hym rulyng by reason / doth nat moche requyre
Suche hym selfe possessyng / nought forther wyll desyre
For moche he nat nedeth / whiche of hymselfe is lorde
Non eget hic multis: q se possiderit ipsum. Qui se possideat: se putat esse satis. Omnibꝰ et rebus praedictes semp abundat: Esse vel abs (que) opibꝰ di­cet ille nequit.
But hymselfe he counteth / ryches sufficient
Who can hymselfe gouerne / in dede / in thought / & worde
Abundantly is euer: great / ryche / and opulent
In all nedefull treasour / and neuer indigent
What man / wolde afferme / suche one without treasour
Whiche of all his dedes: is lorde and gouernour
Thus euery man may make / hymselfe full of ryches
Nā se quis (que) potest ꝑ se praestare beatum / Si modo possideat omne quod intus habet: Cui sua nō sat sūt: ali­ud sed quaeritat extra:
Replenysshe hym with welth / ioye / and felycyte
His owne inwarde gyftes / if he can well possesse
Stablyng his desyres / on thyng of honeste
But myserable / carefull and euer nedy / is he
Whiche can nat welde hymselfe / subduyng all errour
With hymselfe nat content / sekyng outwarde treasour
Whiche thynketh nat ynough / the treasour of his mynde
Ille miser semꝑ: semꝑ egenus erit. Nā numero (quam)uis habe at sibi plurima diues: Plura tamē multo semper habere cupit.
But of outwarde ryches seketh / hymselfe for to store
For certayne / the ryche / is so gredy and blynde
That though he haue plenty / hymselfe he coūteth pore
And euermore in mynde / doth coueyt moche more
As his coyne increaseth / and treasour temporall.
His gredy appetyte / increaseth styll with all▪
Forsoth he possesseth hymselfe / most parfytely
Sese antē totū (ni fal­lor) possidet ille: Qui sane ē mētis: qui (que) videnda videt. Corpore ceu totus cēsetur: et integre esse. Omnia q validus inte­gra membra gerit.
And eche parte to reason / is due obedient
Whiche is of hole mynde / beholdyng inwardly
All thynges to be sene / to ryght expedynt
Suche one hymselfe ruleth / by parfyte Jugement
And is called parfyte / as men hym ꝑfyte call
Whiche hath his hole membres / and ꝑtes corporall
But contrary wyse / this parte to vnderstande
Contra: nō totus cense tur lumine cas [...]us. Nec si cui nasus: pes (que): manus (que) deest. Si etiā: si cui caligant lumina mentis: Mersus in errores non sibi totus ad [...]st.
That man is nat parfyte / whiche is noselesse or blynde
Or wanteth any parte / as arme / legge / fote / or hande
In lyke wyse that person / is nat perfyte of mynde
Whiche one thyng parfourmeth / another left behynde
Or whose lyght of reason / is drowned in derknesse
Or whom sondry errours / inuoluyng doth oppresse
Inough can it nat be / the to defende from yre
And to be subdued / of beastly glotony
What vayleth to auoyde / frayle Uenus ragyng fyre
And ouercome to be / with malyce and enuy
What helpeth pacience / where reygneth lechery
Or what helpeth mekenesse / where reygneth couetyse
An hole mynde and parfyte / subdueth euery vyce
And stryueth to vaynquysshe / all errour crymynall
Ergo te habe primum necres ꝑquir̄ remotas. Pars tibi cū desit [...]xi­ma quae (que) tua est:
From his mynde excludyng / all braunches of myssyueng
For this cause ouercome / thy desyre fyrst of all
And thy selfe possesse thou / as was my fyrst byddyng
Than care nat / nor seke nat / for no farther thyng
It is nat a tokyn / of man discrete nor wyse
To seke outwarde thynges / and inwarde to dispyse
The prudent man spareth / no treasour temporall
To dryue from his body / sicknesse / and euery sore
Vt sese prudēs habeat [...] de corpore morbos Pellit: & assidue noxia cuncta cauet.
To haue in possession / his lymmes corporall
That kepeth good dyete / whan he is hole before
Than shuldest thou dispyse / vayne treasour mykell more
And all outwarde thynges / vtterly dispyse
Thy treasour of vertue / to put in exercyse
Beholde what abusion / subdueth frayle mankynde
Quisnā cōsulto sumit potat (que) venenum? In foueam quis se prae­cipitanter agit? Quin si quis biberit c [...] su: vel fraude cicutam. Antidotū medicos pro tinus ille petit.
All seketh for socour / of peynes corporall
But veray fewe or none / regarde the soule or mynde
Let se / who receyueth with wyll poyson mortall
Or in a pyt profounde / wyllyngly wyllfall
But rather / if he take a drynke in toxicate
Soone doth he seke for physyke / and ayde investigate
If any brake his legge / by sodayne aduenture
Sicui crus fractū: subi [...] to conducit aliptem. Quin oculis lippis et medicina sua est. Quod magis est dicam claudus si icedit ac [...]li [...] Continuo fabrum tu proprio or [...] vocas.
Anon abone setter / he hyreth sodaynly
Or if his syght hym fayle / or gynne to ware obscure
Nature hym constrayneth / to seke for remedy
But yet shall I touche / one thyng more largely
If an asse go lame mentary nat a weke
But streyght to the smyth / for remedy they seke
This cure thou cōmittest / for helpe of the body
Cut quo (que): si mo [...]bꝰ sen sum mentē (que) grauauit: Nō adh [...]bes curā [...] resti tuisse quae tibi [...]
If disease haue greued / thy reason and thy mynde
Why sekest nat socour / for helpe and remedy
Namely syth the same / so easy is to fynde
Alas man thou slepyst / thy reason is to blynde
Thou sholdest of thy mynde / haue moche greater cure
Than of thy frayle body / a sacke of vyle ordure
Nowe moche more the mynde / excelleth thy body
Ho [...] etenim cura ē maior tibi mētis habēda: Quo suꝑat corpus no­bilitate sua.
In noblesse of nature / and emynent valour
So moche more thou sholdest / for it fynde remedy
Whan it by thy folly: is wounded by errour
Consyder of thy soule / the excellent honour
It hath shape and ymage / of god omnypotent
Thy body is mortall / as beast / or vyle [...]ument
Than puruey for thy soule / thy vyle body dispyse
Why hast thou suche plesour / to lose so great treasour
Quid iuuat in tātos illam mersare labores: Semꝑ vt ancipiti se rotet illa malo▪ Cur illá in flāmis noc­tes (que): dies (que) fatigas▪
In so great vayne labours / drownyng thy mynde this wyse
It tournyng as a wele / in vyces euery hour
And in doutfull domage / inuoluyng and errour
What meanest to tourment / it nyght and day in fyre
And most feruent flames / of thyne vnclene desyre
Say / what delyte hast thou to lose without profyte
Thy dere inwarde iewell / and pryncipall treasour
Et perdis melius: quod potius (que) tenes? Impiꝰ e [...] nimiū: nimiū crudelis: et asper: In [...]e qui ꝓpria [...] [...]ij [...]i [...] ipse manus.
Unkynde is thy pleasour / O vayne is this delyte
Unpytefull art thou / and cruell tormentour
Whiche / thyn owne ꝓper mynde / thus drownest in errour
If he be moche cruell / whiche doth his body quell
Who kylleth his owne soule / is moche more cruell
Wherfore doest thou cōtende / tynuolue & wrap thy mynde
Quid tanti [...] certas in­uoluere retibus illam: Scilicet vnde volē [...] ex plicuisse nequis? En quatitur vigilās cu tis: quatitur (que) quiesces
In snares and great nettes / of thought / labour / and peyne
From whiche at thy pleasour / thou shalt no meanes fynde
The same to lyberte / for to get forth agayne
Beholde it is troubled: wakyng with cures bayne
And nyghtly whan nature / demaundeth quyete rest
Thy mynde most with cures / is tossed and opprest
As a shyp is tossed / in vehement tempest
So prycked is the mynde / inquyete by furour
Acta velut stimulis ir­requiet [...] furit. Tu tanquā tor [...]or: tan quā Bellona flagello: Persequeries s [...]uus illa misella fugit.
Thou chasest / it fleyth / in ragyng without rest
Thy mynde is myserable / thy selfe art tourmentour
With [...]ge it persuyng / and lasshyng with [...]ygour
As cru [...]l Bellona / the goodes of batayle
So thy wofull mynde / thyne owne selfe dothe assayle
To lose from thy body / a fote or els an hande
Nōne foret satius de cor [...]ore ꝑdere dextrā [...] Quā partē: cuius viri­bus ipse sapis? Quā pars ꝑtē: e sūmo: quae ē tibi tradita coelo Qua sine cū reli [...]s an­numere [...]e feris?
Were it nat lesse domage / and losse more tollerable
Than to lose that parte / whiche maketh vnderstande
And maketh man dyffer / from beast vnresonable
This is our soule or mynde: whiche is incomparable
Gyuen vs from heuyn / without whose gouernyng
From wylde and brude beastes / we dyffer lytell thyng
But well myght be counted / with them vnresonable
O tibi (quam) falsa ē spes: vi uo: & funere [...]uncto: Si vitae: & mortis dux tuus aeger abest? Sūt ergo iprimis mor­bi de mente fugandi:
O / what hope disceytfull / hast thou both quicke & deade
If thy mynde be from the / sicke / blynde / and inable
Whiche both in lyfe and deth / is graunted the to leade
Wherfore here what counseyll / of reason doth the reade
Fyrst clens all disases / out of thy mynde and thought
Than art thou sure and safe / and fayle thou canst nought
than art thou sounde and hole / than art thou hole perfyte
Quo tibi sis totꝰ: defi­ciat que nihil. Hanc tu ꝑ salubres / et rectos dirige calles Sana tibi officiū [...]ste [...] vt ipsa suum. Sed ne [...]e longū teneā ca [...]issime lector.
If thy mynde and reason / be pure and without vyce
So that thou gyde thy mynde / ryght vnto thy profyte
In wayes good and holsome / and ryghtwyse exercyse
Than shall it to the do / iust dutye and offyce
But brefely to shewe the / O reder [...]ere and kynde
Thynke this is the dutye / of perfyte and hole mynde
An hole mynde and perfyte / desyreth that onely
Officiū sanae mentis id est puta: Vt tātum speret: quod ꝓsit tempore in omni. Quod (que) sit immensum vel sine fine bonū. Vt timeat: quicꝗd pos sit sine fine nocere.
And that onely hopeth / whiche lasteth ꝑdurable
Whiche all tyme doth profyte / the mynde to fortify
And good without measure / or ioye intermynable
On the other party / it dredeth payne damnable
And all thynges noyeng / with endlesse dolour
Wherin none assysteth / with confort nor sorour
More brefely to declare / the mynde desyreth blys
In quo nō assit qui fe­rat vllus opem. Omnibus vt studijs [...]o lers ea gaudia querat. Quae nullus morbꝰ frā gere. vis (que) potest. Vt soleat solū damnū quod nulla voluptas.
And wolde flye that tourment / whiche is interminable
With all crafty study / and meanes / glad it is
To seke that sure glory / and ioy incomparable
Whiche non infyrmyte / to vyolate is able
It onely doth sorowe / those losses and domage
Whome no ioy succedeth / nor plesant auauntage
But by whome lyfe endlesse / and soules helth is lost
Consequi [...] / vel quo vi [...] ta / salus (que) perit. Caetera nil pendas nis [...] quantū penditur vsu [...] Hospicij vnde parat. Hospes abire cito.
This dredeth an hole mynde / and feareth inwardly
In other erthely pleasour / it fareth lyke and hoste
A shorte tyme soiournyng / and flyttyng by and by
Thyng erthly and caduke / dispysyng vtterly
Than vse the lyke a ghest / take ryches in lyke case
As one nat longe wyllyng / to tary in one plase
Consyder this moreouer / and stedfastly beleue
Quin ea tu pōdus cre­das morbos (que) grauātes Quae te vel perimunt / vel remorantur iter.
That temporall treasour / of frayle mūdayne richesse
Is nought but a burthen / the soule & mynde to greue
And in sondry troubles / blynde wretches to oppresse
With thought / labour / sorowe / care and heuynesse
Whiche burthen doth outher oppresse / fale thy mynde
Or els in thy iourney / hynder the farre behynde
Away faryng parsone / ought gladly to auoyde
Debet onus: morbū (que) si mul vitare viator. Vt peregat coeptā: quā cupit ire viā. Est via: qua gradimur: vita haec erit alta vita: Patria perpetuum vel dabit exiliū.
Both ponderous burthen / and all disease also
Wherby in his iourney / he myght soone be accloyde
This lyfe is a passage / or way / wherin we go
Circundate in compasse / with mysery and wo
But the lyfe ensuyng / is countrey permanent
Of rest / ioy / solace / or els endlesse tourment
Thus outher he graūteth / sure rest or exyle
Si patria ad caros pro auo [...]: caros (que) parentes, I [...]mus: vt constet omni bus vna quies
If it graunt vs rest / than endlesse ioy is ours
Among blyssed lyuers (in this lyfe counted vyle)
Among our forefaders / and olde progenytours
Were fylled with gladnesse / and voyde of all dolours
We shall all together / haue rest interminable
And one lyke fruicion / in blysse in estimable
But if the lyfe cōmyng / put vs in banysshment
Sin vero exiliū capiet nos vltima labes. Accipiet fletus: perpe­tuus (que) rogus. In patriā redeunt: qui freti munere sanae: Menti [...] ab aduersis se explicuere malis.
Than extreme distruccion / shall vs wretches oppresse
In endlesse perdicion / fyre: mournyng and tourment
And all maner kyndes: of dolour and distresse
But suche shall in [...]urete: the lande of lyfe possesse
Whiche ruled by the gyft / of hole mynde haue ben fayne
To ryd them from synnes / and vyle pleasours mundayne
But on the other part: suche entreth in exyle
Exiliū contra subeūt: qui erroribus acti: Vtere se ad verum non potuere bonum. Mēs errat: quoties ra­tio nō imperat: et cum Quae bona sunt: cernit deteriora sequens.
Whiche dryuen in errours: to theyr confusyon
Coude fynde in theyr hertes / to tourne no tyme nor whyle
To vertue and goodnesse / from blynde abusion
The mynde blyndly erreth / as often as reason
Nat ruleth / but seyng / clerely what thyng is best
The worst it ensueth / by frowardnesse opprest
But ouer long digression / we make as I suppose
Sed nimiū fuimus di­gressi: iam (que) redire: Causa monet nostrum: propositum (que) sequi In coeptū fuerat nr̄m moderatio motus. Quod (que) nitet tebus: cō spicitur que decus.
The mater requyreth vs / forwarde to auaūce
And brefely to retourne / agayne to our purpose
To speke of the vertue / of worthy Temperaūce
Of well ordred maners / and goodly gouernaūce
And what order shyneth / and worthy comlynesse
Whan men lyst theyr dedes / discretly to redresse
In this thyng our speche / hole wrytyng / and our style
Hac in re noster sermo versabitur omnis. Tam liquido: quātum nostra thalia potest. In primis igi [...] studeas seruare decorum. Vis magna officijs eiꝰ inesse solet.
Or cōmunicacion / shall hensforth procede
As playne as our ingyne / vs graunteth to compyle
Wherfore / fyrst and namely / endeuoyre and take hede
To kepe comly order / in euery worde and dede
In all dede and duyte / most of effect doutlesse
Is to rule thyne actes / in ordred comelynesse
This comelynesse resteth / in dewe conuenience
Dicitur id duplex cum quoddā sit moderantis Quoddā cōmune quod generale magis. Quod cōmune serūt [...]ē quod comita [...] honestū Omne: & inest ill [...] nec valeat esse sine.
And semely proporcion / orderyng thy dedes all
Of whome to reduce the / to clere intelligence
One comelynesse is called / proporcyon specyall
Another comelynesse / cōmon and generall
The fyrst one belongeth / to mannes owne body
The other to behauour / with outward company

¶ Of outwarde comelynesse in behauour.

This outwarde comelynesse / cōmen and generall
Hoc magis appa [...]e [...]s oculis simul auribus extat. Hoc sine nil [...]ectū: nil reor esse bonum.
Is so sure annexed / to lyfe of honeste
That without it / honest / can be nothyng at all
So is it aparent / and opyn to the eye
Opyn to beholders / both for to heare and se
Without this behauour (after my iugement)
No lyfe can seme honest / ryght nor conuenient
This comelynesse called / nought [...]ls ought to be
Nō aliud fuerit: quam conuenientia rerum: Quas hoies recte: ve [...] sapienter agunt.
But of mennes dedes / adewe conuenience
That is / whan theyr wordes / and warkes wele agre
Wele syttyng and semyng: by wysdome and prudence
Nought done without measure▪ nor without prouydence
This wyse vpon prudence / is graunted Temperaunce
As next vnto reason / gyde of good gouernaunce
And as forme and beaute / is in the hole body
Et velut [...] toto cō [...]usa est corpore forma. Nec tamē est corp▪sed magis id: quod inest: Sic etiā recto censetur inesse decorum: Quod rectum exo [...]nat quod (que) videre [...]uuat.
yet is it nat the body / but ioyned thervnto
Ryght so is comelynesse / comoyned semblably
To mannes behauour / the same adornyng so
With order / loke: iesture / and cyrcunstances mo
That men taketh pleasour / ioy and felycyte
Thyng ryght and wele ordred / so semely for to se
And lyke as the fayrnesse / and corporall beaute
Sic mouet hoc animo [...] oculos vt forma ve­nusta: Corpotis oblectat: de­tinet: at (que) mouet.
Delyteth and moueth / with pleasour to beholde
So comelynesse of lyfe / with great felycyte
Reioyceth to mannes mynde / moche more a hūdred folde
For good men count vertue / more pre [...]yous than golde
And wele ordred maners / surmoūtyng all rychesse
And namely adourned / with plesant comelynesse
This cōmon comelynesse / or order generall
More playnly appereth / and sheweth more persyte
By the lyght of reason / and in his mynde one shall
More playnly perceyue it / than any pen may wryte
Or that man with wordes / is able to resyte
Wherfore this omyttyng let vs our style addresse
Compendiously to touche / the seconde comelynesse.

¶ Of the seconde comelynesse in behauour.

¶ The seconde comelynesse: concernyng honeste
Sed ne (que) desidiae ded [...] ­ [...]int se etate ciuil [...]. Quis neget a senibus [...]urima posse ge [...] ▪
Belongeth to mankynde: in proper gouernaunce
To temper his mocyons: that all they wele agre
In habyte: voyce / iesture / in loke and countenaunce
In shamefastnesse / measure / tyme / place / & cyrcūstaunce
So that all thy maners / in worde / loke and iesture
Is the tyme requyreth / be ordered by measure
Suche maners shall the make / plesant and acceptable
Aut leget aut scribit cum primum ex ede re uersus: Sacra vbi iā primo so­le oriente fuit. At puer addiscat / tum pluria corde repo [...]at. Nā [...]acile est puerū co­ge [...]e ferre i [...]gum.
Among cōmon people / haue great laude and fame
And before all other / accept and amyable
Nor after my counsell / dispyse thou nat the same
Whether a multytude / do the commende or blame
The iugement of many / is greuous to dispyse
And oft cōmon rumour / is trouth: I the promyse
It n [...]des must be trewe / which euery man doth say
Th [...] / fame dispyse nat / and se that thou attende
Unto the cōmon voyce / of people to obey
Nec cures sensus si nō percepit ad vnguem. Cū recitat multos or­dine mente libros.
For he / which his credence / no ferther wyll extende
But hym selfe and actes / all onely to commende
Nat forsyng what other / hym hynder or auaunce
Is Juged nat partlesse: of pryde and arrogaūce
Some maners vncomely / by theyr dyfformyte
Nā spersum in [...]ra [...]e­men producere germē Differt ꝑ menses: & ta­men inde feret. Interea terrae matris nutritur in aluo
By theyr yll example / or vnkynde iniury
Offendeth mennes myndes / and woūdeth as we se
Howe vyolent weapyn / oft woundeth the body
But suche of vyle maners / are called cōmonly
Uyle persons vnmanered / and wretches without shame
Them hurtyng the body / vnryght wyse may we name
Nor thynke it nat ynough / nor thyng suffycient
Cui tacito vires subge [...]i [...] ille suas. S [...] puer a teneris quae c [...] (que) acceperit annis. Reddere iā fructus sen [...]t illa senex.
All onely for to kepe / order: and comelynesse
Of iesture / of body / as is conuenient
Also thou must study / with gretter busynesse
The comelynesse of mynde / inwarde to redresse
And inwardly to kepe / that beaute most of all
Moche rather than hauour / or iesture corporall
This comelynesse is kept / and good order of mynde
Ast animū poterit com ponere quis (que) decenter Imperiū ratio si tenet ipsa suum. Aut: si deiecta ē ꝓpria de sede: resumit Confestim soliū: quo se det: illa sacrum.
Whan clere reason ruleth / as regent souerayne
Or if it be subiecte / agaynst nature and kynde
Than soone to his power / it to restore agayne
And styll in holy trone / it after to mentayne
For where reason ruleth / or is sure rep [...]rate
By no lust vncomely / can mynde be vyolate.

¶ Of yre to be eschued.

In this part most namely / defende the from foule yre
Hic primū turpi tete scruabis ab i [...]a. Deformat vultum quae simul at (que) animum. Turpiꝰ irato qd possis cernere vultu: Cū fluit a rapido spu­meus ore liquor?
This foule vyce dysfourmeth / both coūtenance & mynde
The tong it distayneth / brynnyng the herte on fyre
What canst thou consyder / more lothely in mankynde
Than a wrathfull vysage / raygne as tyran blynde?
Oft grynnyng / oft gnastyng / and fomyng in furour
Or gapyng as a bere / poore wretches to deuour
As a bore assayled / with dogges roūde about
Sic dispumat aper: cin ctus latrante cate [...]ua. Sic etiā: frenis exagi­tatus: equus. Non hominē dicas: ser uens quē concitat ira. In furias versus: inci­pit esse feta.
Or as a proude pal [...]ray / chafed with spur or byt
From theyr mouthes casteth / whyte fomyng strem [...] out
So fareth this blynde wretche / ragyng for wāt of wyt
As redy in his furour / all meschefe to commyt
No man wolde suppose hym / a man of wyt laudable
But turned to fures / lyke beest vnresonable
And as one furyous / mad / ragynge without mynde
Consilium perdit tan (quam) furia sus. et amens Poenitet hūc facti pro­tinus inde sui.
He loseth all counsell / and ryghtwyse tugement
His reason subdued / his wittes all made blynde
And oft he cōmitteth / hasty and vyolent
That dede / whiche long after / hym causeth to repent
He sodenly stryketh / with worde or els knyfe
And wenyng to correct / depryueth name or lyfe
Than streyght he repenteth / and pensyfe is therfore
And without remedy / his wrath turneth to wo
For neyther name nor lyfe / can he agayn restore
Thus losyng another / hymselfe is lost also
And by his occasyn / oft dyuers other mo
The dere wyfe and chyldren / and oftyn all the kyn
Long sorowe and bewayle / one hasty wretches syn.

¶ Howe man may retrayne and beware of yre.

This pestylent plage / to vanquysshe or auoyde
Quo pestē hanc fugias tecū meditaberis ante Vt constes: si te causa furoris adit.
Or yre take his entre (consyder wele this clause)
That if inflame the / thy reason is accloyed
Therfore at begynnyng / resyst a space and pause
Wele ponderyng & musyng / what is the groūd & cause
And whether by rasshe anger / thou remedy mayst fynde
If nat / than refrayne the / and mytygate thy mynde
Lyke as wyse warryout / sygneth a sowdyour
In specula tan (quam) vigi­lat [...] praeuidet hostes: Sic vigilat i c [...]uto ne ruat ita tibi.
For enmyes approchyng / to watche and to espy
Beholdyng forthe a far / from wyndowes of a towre
So watche thou for wrath / and anger semblably
Consyder his assautes / and wysely put them by
Resyst at begynnyng / ponder that pacyence
More oftyn preuayieth / than yre and vyolence
As passyng thy lodgyng / prepare the to batayle
[...]g [...]ediens (que) dom [...]tan (quam) certamen [...]dires: Limine sub primo pro­ [...]idus arma cape. Te (que) para: sicut time as ne forte latrones: Au [...] tibi non visus ho­stis obesse queat.
Drawe nere the thyne armour / as wyse and prouydent
At the fyrst mocyon / whan yre shall the assayle
Stande stoutly resyst hym / strongly incontynent
Lyke as thou wolde withstande / thy foes vyolent
Or as if thou feared / theues approchyng nere
Of thy lyfe to reaue the: or thyng to the most dere
But if thou vnwarely / be fallen in to yre
Si tamē incautus fue­ris prolapsus in iram: Ne tuleris mersum te facuisse diu. Interea nullo sumas de crimine poenas. In poenis vllū non ha­bet ira modum.
Than suffer nat thy selfe / therin long to remayne
But ryse thou as quyckely / as from a flamyng fyre
To fall / lesse rebuke is / so man soone ryse agayne
But in the mean season / whyle yre doth the distayne
Take nat rasshe punysshment: of any crat [...]re
For yre hath no maner / no mercy nor measure
At all tyme abhor thou / to moche cruelte
Sae [...]iciam nimiā tu de­tes [...]abere semꝑ. Et modicas poenas tu pius vltot ame [...]. Praecipue dulces geni­tor si affligis alumnos Cū modica i natos poe na sit apta patris.
For great offences / take lytell punysshment
Reuenge thy wronges / with mercy and pyte
But namely thou father / be meke and pacyent
Anenst thy dere chyldren: and nat to vyolent
For small punysshment: doth sore and great appere
Of a tender father / agaynst his chyldren dere
Whyle men thynke by rygour / foly to myttygate
Ac veniā pronum cum te natura crearit: Siluestres crudus non imitere fcras.
Oft tyme the transgressour / correcte beyonde measure
Is proner vnto syn / more harde and obstynate
Sith prone vnto mercy / the fourmed hath nature
Folowe nat in maners / a beastly creature
Blast nat after blode / by cruell vengeance
Thus art thou cōmaunded / by worthy Temperance.

¶ Of to moche bourdyng or sporte to be eschewed.

Another wylde mocyon / to ragyng yre contrary
Est quo (que) vitandus mo tus contrarius trae: Qui semper ludo ver­titur / in (que) ioco. Non nos ad ludos ge­nuit natura: iocus (que). Sed multo graui [...] illa requirit opus.
As dyssolute sportes / and wanton game or play
Also must be voyded / as thyng nat necessary
Mankynde is nat borne / to sporte and bourde alway
Though lust this requyreth / yet reason wyll say nay
Of nature to tryfels / product none of vs be
But to sadder pastyme / and worke of grauyte
Be rather in wordes frutefull / and profitable
Vtilis in dictis sis plu [...] (quam) voce sacetus. Seria sint crebro: ra­tior ipse iocus. Non tn̄ illa vetat nos ludere. non (que) iocari. Sed iubet in rebꝰ om­nibus esse modum.
Than iocondly iestynge / with worde of wantōnesse
Men iugeth the lycour / to the vessell semblable
And oft tyme the wordes / doth mannes thought expresse
Use syldom tyme bourdes / but often vse sadnesse
yet temperance chargeth nat / sportes to refuse
But in tyme and measure / all thynges for to vse
Neyther it semeth / to vse the in that wyse
Nō decet: vt tan (que) durꝰ fugiaris: et asper. Nec quo (que) cōtemptus sis leuitate tua. Gloria nō ludo tibi sit quaesita: ioco (que): Vt tota fias ludius vr­be vagus.
That all men forsake the / for solem grauyte
Nor to be so wanton / that all men the dispyse
For companable sportes / and famyliaryt [...]
Seke nat to get glory / nor laudes vnto the
Of a cōmon iester / or bourder hauyng name
Thou countest this worshyp / but certesse it is shame
Lyke as it is lefull / to people fatygate
Vt licuit fessis vites re perate quiete: Sic salibus raris te re­create licet: Cum (que) iocū misces sic: sic moderabere dictis: Ne facile ex ipsa tu grauitate cadas.
And wery with labour / theyr bodyes to comfort
And some tyme them restyng / theyr strenght to recreate
Ryght so is it lefull / to bourdes to resorte
And somtyme the spyrytes: to recreate with sporte
But mengle so in measure / myrth and [...]o [...]undyte
That men nat repute the / forgottyn grauyte
Use myrth with good maners / and moderate measure
Sit iocus īgenuus: mo­deratus: sit verecūdus. In quo vel multum lu­ceat ingenium. Ergo vbi tēpus erit nō tan (quam) scurra volabis. Sit salibꝰ pōdus gestu [...] et ipse grauis.
With honest shame fastnesse / and nat outragyous
Or els in suche wordes / of myrth thy selfe inure
Wherby thou mayst appere / quicke and ingenyous
Nat ragyng in iestes / as rybalde vylla [...]ous
But whan thou seest season / and felowes lyke to the
Than season thy bourdes / with prudent grauyte
And vnder iocunde iestes / close wysdom and substance
Nat gyglyng nor laughyng / for others vayne pleasour
Vox tua nō nimio fue­rit clamore soluta. Neccitus icessus: cui (que) tumultus inest.
As the tyme requyreth / after thy countenance
And after thy matter / nat to wanton nor soure
Exalt nat thy wordes / in dissolute clamour
Nor in speche superflue / in going and iesture
Be nat rasshe nor hasty / but sober and demure
Hurt no maner persone / with thy iestyng wordes
Nō laedant quen (quam) ea­ueas tua verba iocosa. Contristent nullū: sint sine dente sales.
Gyueng them occasyon of anger or sadnesse
Auoyde of all checkes / se that thou vse thy bourdes
To moue one to malyce / another to gladnesse
It ought nat be lauded / but reproued doublenesse
Thoughe many by thy myrth / be iocunde in an hall
One checked and hasty / soone trouble may them all
And brefely suche bourdes: are lytell of valure
Whiche purchase dyspleasour of any creature
In causyng one to laugh / another for to loure
Nor no man forbyddeth / our wrytyng or scripture
To laugh / so it be done / in maner and measure
Nec ridere vetāt quē (quam) mea scripta modeste. Sed nimiū risum for­ma decora vetat.
But comelynesse of chere / and shape of countenance
By laughyng superflue / is greued of semblance

¶ Of ouer moche laughyng to be forborne

Ouer moche laughyng / is foule and dishonest
Turpis enim risus ni­mius nam fusus vbi (que) Quid pueri: & fractus quod mulieris habet.
Unto the face and fygure / nat smal dyfformyte
One alway loude laughyng / at euery toy and iest
Maketh his hyd folly / playne euydent to be
One euery where laughyng / as is a chylde to se
Loude gyglyng and laughyng / is but a folysshe sygne
And euydent token / of maners femenyne
Gryn nat in derysion / with fayned countenance
Est odio dignus: ꝗ fur­t [...]m riserit: et qui De dāno alterius sol­uerit ora iocans.
A fayre iocunde smylyng / is counted cōmendable
Who laugheth at myschefe / therin hauyng plesance
Of hatred / is worthy / as leude and reprouable
To laugh at vyce commytted: is greuous & damnable
As theft or auoutry / or others losse or grefe
Suche seme by theyr laughyng / menteners of myschefe.

¶ Of ouer moche and dishonest play to be eschued.

Flye gamnynge and playes / as rote of sondry cryme
In [...]udis vites: quo quae stus quaeritur. et quo Iacturā nimiam tēpo­ris ipse facis.
And most namely suche / where lucre is damnable
Or where losse ensueth / of goodes name and tyme
And falshod commytted / by meanes dysceyuable
Where is murder / periury / and othes abhomynable
And other his conclusyon / theft / stryfe / and beggery
Or goodes falsly gotten / by fraude and trechery
Of fresshe lusty iuuent / yf thou be in the flour
Si fueris iuuents: ludū tibi quaerere laboris: Qui cām praestet: quem moderate tamen.
Than get the to sportes / as is to the semyng
Thy strenght to exercyse / in pastyme of labour
But vse must thou measure / and order in all thyng
With tyme and company / as semeth best syttyng
Obserue these circūstances / and gamnyng is laudable
Or els it is folly / and thyng bytuperable
Age neuer sawe I play / and without losse of tyme
Ludere non vn (quam) vidi / nec perdere tempus: Egregium: et digna cū grauitate senem.
For gamnyng and age / doth very yll agre
A small faute to youth / in age is greuous cryme
None olde man can play / and kepe his grauyte
Of deth the remembraunce / his gamnyng ought to be
It is a fonde fury / and very blynde dotage
To haue chyldysshe pleasour / in colde decrepyte age
Age wyse and great player / neuer sawe I in my lyue
Nec iuuenē vidi nimio se dede [...]e ludo: De quo praecipui spes sit habenda boni.
Nor a yonge man gyuen / to greatly vnto play
Whiche in tyme to come / was lykely for to thryue
Or come to great honour / but rather soone decay
Wherfore youth refrayne the / con [...]yder this alway
Wele mayst thou recouer / ryches and honeste
But tyme past and mispent / reuoked can nat be
Of wyse men and lerned / frequent the company
Sit tibi cōgressus cum doctis: cum (que) peritis: Cū: studio lassus te re­creare cupis. Ingenij vires auget meditatio gressus. Incolumes artus non minus ille facit.
Whan thou art dysposed / thy mynde to recreat
After wery watchyng / and labour of study
Of suche company / if thou be clene pryuate
Muse than on some pleasour / nat hurtyng thyne estate
Mebytacyon augmenteth / the wyttes semblably
And quickeneth / as walkyng doth comforte the body

¶ Of lust of Uenus to be refrayned.

Be nat beastly redy / thy iustes to fulfyll
Let Uenus fell brydell / her pleasours to refrayne
Sentiat & frenū Vene­ris sibi adesse voluptas Ne quātum libuit: sit spaciata procul. Qui nimis indulget ve ne [...]i paret (que) palato: Re pecꝰ est: tantū no­mine dictus homo.
For if thy carnall desyre / a brode wander at wyll
Thy foule name and body / it greatly shall distayne
Who to moche on Uenus / fixeth his mynde and brayne
Or leaneth to his belly / is beastly of nature
Of man onely bearyng / the name / shape / and fygure
Nought lykeneth more mankynd / to passe vnresonable
Than glotony and slouth / and lust without reason
These thre confederate / in workyng agreable
To vertuous maners / are venemous poyson
Both wyt and dyscresyon / kepyng in dongion
And who that perseuereth in any of these same
He loseth / soule / body / lyfe / ryches / and good name

¶ What remedyes are agaynst body lust.

Who wolde of vyle Uenus / alay the feruent flame
Quis (que) cupidine as po­terit cōpescere flāmas. Qui somēta rogis ab­stulit apta suis. Qui (que) nihil voluēs ani mo quod concitet ignē Nec nisi seruata so­brietate bibit.
Or quenche in his body / the nutryment of [...]nstes
Must take away / the fyry brondes from the same
Remembryng it shall tourne / to caryon and dust
Nought kyndlyng for this flame / in mynde reuolue he must
And sobernesse obserued / he must auoyde excesse
Nought kyndleth more Cupide / thā beastly drēkenesse
Whā fayre flateryng Cupyde / shall the with dart assayle
In pugnam dubij nol [...] prodire duelli. Cū venere: & mēsa pr [...] lia in fre caue.
Abyde nat the byckeryng / stand nat to stryue & fyght
It is a stryle doutfull and daungerous batayle
And most for a vantage / it is to take thy flyght
Auoyde place and presence / flye wordes flye the syght
Flye bedde / borde / and chamber / trust nat to thy wysdome
Els art thou made subiecte / and wrechedly ouercome
Nor be thou not in purpose: to proue or to assay
Nec tēta [...]e velis / quā sobrius at (que) pudicus Cum Thais: & mēsa sit tibi structa prope. Difficile est flāmam nō se inclinare repente. Proxima cū rapido sit sita stupa rogo.
Howe thou canst inchastyte / and sobernesse abyde
Whan the table charged / and Thays decked gay
To tempe and prouoke the: be redy by thy syde
But flye and withdrawe the / beware and stande a wyde
Conioyne nat fyre to flaxe / the one hote / the other dry
It harde is to kepe both / flamyng sodaynly
That thou mayst ouercome: the vyces beastyall
Turpia quo vicas: fac certes eminus illis. Fac tua ne subeat tecta petulca cohors.
Fyght with them aloufe / and neuer approche nye
Of the sorte of Thays / suffer thou none at all
In the house to entre / farre flye theyr company
The gorgious dispysyng / regard nat vtterly
Theyr peakes nor pappes / theyr glystryng paynted skyn
Aduyse nat / for these are / hyd snares vnto syn
Theyr false hear inuolued / in nettes intrycate
Theyr brestes vnbrased / theyr smerkyng paynted chyn
Of iouth and cōfusyon / and the fyndes bayte
Ne veniant intro: cum vestibꝰ obstrue portas Nō tutum est illis con seruisse manus.
From god to Lucifer / yōge people for to wyn
Therfore barre thy gates / let none of them come in
A voyde them as fures / yssued out of hell
It is extreme peryll / with any of them to mell
For if they ones entre / and ones thy hert inflame
Non sine te victo: cre­das in fine: recedent. Ipse triumphatus: et spoliatus eris.
Beleue / they departe nat (so come they for the nones)
Tyll they haue ouercome the / to thy rebuke and shame
And tyll thou be spoyled / and gnawen to the bones
Therfore flye theyr clawes / fly and a voyde at ones
For it is but folly / to trust thy wyt and myght
For here in is gotten / sure vyctory by flyght
And that is more wonder / and moche more maruayle
Quaeri [...] hac in resolū fugiēdo triumphus / Quid mirere magis▪ est data palma fugae
The palme here is gyuen / to suche as wyll nat fyght
But flyeth in all haste / and wyll nat abyde batayle
Resemblyng a cowarde / and auoydyng out of syght
Trust nat thy wysdom: thy grauyte nor myght
These femenyne flateryng / and wepyng faynedly
Subdueth all cōstance / and myght they molle [...]y.

¶ Of meanes to redeme y e from bondage of Uenus.

If thou to vyle Uenus / or blynd [...] Cupyde volage
Deni (que) captiuus si for­te cupidinis ires. Te propere redimas: (quam) minimo aere potes.
Be led as subget / bounde in captyuyte
For as small as thou can / thy selfe ryd of bondage
Hast the by some trayne / out of pryson to be
Sone fyle of thy fetters / get the [...]oly [...]erte
If small thynges helpe nat / no pecy [...]e thou spare
Use vyolence or strenght / to breake thy deedly snare
Shake of thy color / from thy necks miserable
Excute de miseris la­queos ceruicibus ipsos Vim facias: sugias: est mora plena mali. Nâ quicun (que) fuit Vene ri blanditus ab illa. Durius affectus ignib▪ esse solet.
In tary is no trust / but ioperdy mortall
As olde roted sores / appereth incurable
So is it harde to flye / olde lust veneryall
Who flattereth blynde Uenus / hath most bondage of all
And whyle man prolongeth / to leaue his wylde desyre
Hym Uenus most flameth / with feruenty deedly fyre
Syth thou art man fourmed / to goddes owne ymage
Cum (que) homo sis certe diuine mentis imago: Vt deus arcane est: sic procul esse stude. Quamuis clam pecces semp tn̄ es tibi testis. Cur alium quam te: tu vereare magis.
Preserue goddes fygure / from beestly vylany
Folowe nat thy lustes / as rennyng in outrage
But from carnall pleasoure / a voyde the vtterly
Remembre thou nat canst / offende so secretly
But that thyne owne person / is wytnesse present there
Thā why shuld y t other more / than thyne own self fere
Thou woldest nat offende / before a kyng present
Nor any other persone / whiche loueth honeste
Than art thou nat aferde / of god omnypotent
So foule dede to cōmytte / before his mageste?
Doest thou nat cōsyder / that god all thyng doth se?
Alas / whether wylt thou flye / to perfourme thy lust
But god there is present / and se the nedes must
Flye vp to the cloudes / or hyde the in the grounde
Inclose the in tauernes / or place inuestygable
In heuyn / hell / and erthe / or in the see profounde
Our lorde all beholdeth / O catyfe myserable
Consyder this in mynde / and lyue as resonable
If thou woldest abasshe / before a lorde or knyght
Than feare thou more greatly / to syn in goddes syght
Wherfore / syth our lorde / doth euery thyng espye
Qui latitant intus mo tus compone deco [...]os. Nec minus id cure [...]: ij quia sorte latent. Nam (que) parum refert (quam) memo perspicit illos. Quos tacito tecū no­cte: die (que) vides.
And sercheth the secretes / of thyne herte and mynde
Order and dyspose wele / thy maners inwardly
And thyne inwarde mocyons / in comely order bynde
And though they be secret / yet leaue them nat behynde
For though none perceyue them / y e thyng forceth but small
Syth thyne owyn cōscience / & god beholdeth all
Thoughe vyle lust of Uenus / in all men be damnable
Omnibus est vitio Ve­neris damnosa libido. Sed nihil in senibꝰ foe­dius esse potest. Praeterea senibꝰ nimi (rum) conuenit illud. Exemplo vt iuuenes: consilijs (que) regant
yet is it most lothsome / and vyle in croked age
In age can no thynge / be more foule and reprouable
Nor thyng more resemblyng / to frensy or rage
For this thyng belongeth / to fathers olde and sage
By theyr good example to gouerne wylde iuuent
And nat to enduce them / to worke insolent
And so beholde men aged / in cōmunycacion
Se praestent tales corā sermonibus illis: Vt possint multo: semꝑ honore coli. Hoc solo quōdā fuerat veneranda senectus. Hoc solo antiquo [...] ij voluere patres.
Before youth begaue them / fyled with none offence
That theyr good example / of conuersacyon
May reduce frayle iuuent / to vertue and prudence
Wherby they may tyll age / haue greatter reuerence
For suche good example / and hauour cōmendable
In olde tyme men aged: were greatly honorable
And for suche example / sad fathers auncyent
Sed cōtra iuuenes se­mū venerētur: adorēt. Sint comites lōgae: sub sidium (que) viae.
Were honoured of fathers / more yonge of theyr lynage
Ageyne this belongeth / to duty of iuuent
To worshyp and honour / olde fathers sad and fage
To susteyne and confort / theyr lyfe and feble age
To gyde and assyst them / in chyrche / way and strete
Gyueng them stede & seruyce: where euer they them mete
And whether courte or maket / requyre / or solem day
Curia seu poscat: seu sacri festa dei: Haerebit senibꝰ officio sa cohors. Ex quibꝰ optabūt cui▪ precepta sequantur Gesta simul cuius sint [...]itanda magis.
This longeth to dutye / of yonge men commendable
To f [...]lowe sage fathers: and cleue to them alway
With trusty attendance / and waytyng seruyable
Of whom youth shall desyre / sad doctryne profytable
To knowe whose example / them semeth to ensue
Whose iesture to folowe / and whose they shulde exchue
For trouthe a great token / is in hym of vertue
Est (fateor) magnū sig­num virtutis in illo Obsequio gaudet ꝗ ce­lebrare senem.
Whiche glad is with seruyce / to honour feble age
For his good example / shall many mo ensue
And honour shall he haue / after of his lynage
But one yonge dispysyng / olde faders sad and sage
Is lykely in his age / to be of small valour
And nat worthy seruyce / loue / worshyp / nor honour.

¶ Of temperance to yonge men belongyng

¶ yonge men shulde dyspose them / alway to busynesse
Confirmet iuuenū la­bor & patiētia corpus. A [...]cendi a venere sunt nimio (que) m [...]ro.
And laudable labour refusyng for no payne
And therin them custome / auoydyng ydelnesse
From excesse of wynes / they must them selfe abstayne
And vyle lust of Uenus / by sobernesse refrayne
For ydell youth disposed / to beastly glotony
Ren heedlyng to ryot / vyle lust and lechery
Therfore ought theyr meates / be cōmon and homely
Sine (que) cibi viles positi vulgata (que) mensa Nam tantū venter: nō saturanda gula est. Nō epulas iuueni mit tat famosa popina. Sed: quas decoxit par­ca coquina patri [...]
Nat ouer aboundant / costly nor deynteous
To content theyr body / and nat for glotony
Serue thou nat iuuent / with dysshes sumptuous
From the costly kychen / of tast delycyous
Small thyng pleaseth nature / let them cōtent y t wombe
With scarce meat in measure / of poore kychen at home
Conforted is nature / by meates in measure
Aptiꝰ id cernas inter­no lumine mentis: Quam verbo aut cala mis id reserare queam
Mannes lyfe is lengthed / by dyete temperate
By meates immoderate / confounded is nature
Complection corrupt / and lyfe is breuyace
The clere wyt obscured / and reason vyolate
And with sluggysshe slouth / the body hole opprest
For whan belly full is / the bones wolde haue rest
Thus temperate dyet / labour / and exercyse
Sed decꝰ ē aliud / quod partem spectat honesti Que ꝓprios motus tē ­perat / at (que) regit. Hoc habitu: gestu: mē ­sura: voce / pudore. Est positū: in cultu: tē ­pore tum (que) loco.
Belongeth vnto youth▪to bate theyr hye courage
And w tdrawe theyr myndes / frō leude pleasour of vyce
In lykewyse is labour / belongyng vnto age
It semeth nat olde men / them selfe reputyng sage
To gyue them vnto slouth / what wyse man can deny
But that to many thynges / men aged may apply
After they at mornyng / at sonnes fyrst rysyng
Haue serued deuoutly / our maker fyrst of all
Hoc facit: vt placeas: gratus sis omnibꝰ vnꝰ▪ In populū de te fama perennis eat.
Than may they wryte or rede / or do some other thyng
Of lyght easy labour / as beest doth them befall
But chyldren ought to lerne / and rulers on them call
To close in theyr myndes / lernyng as chefe treasour
For youth soone is moued / to burthyn of labour
Soone is youth compelled / the yoke strongly to bere
Nec spernas populus de te quid sentiat ois. Est graue cūcto (rum) sper­nere iudiciū. Iudicio inserui populi nā (que) esse superbus Creditur is: solus ꝗ sua facta probat.
Therfore let them lerne / and render busely
And as for this matter / haue thou no care nor fere
All if they conceyue nat / eche sentence parfytly
Though they dyuers bokes / can render by and by
For sede is nat sowyn / into the grounde in vayne
Though it spryng nat vp / incontynent agayne
For it certayne season / is hyd within the ground [...]
Offendūt aīos hominū deformia quaedā: Vt violāt corpus spicu la missa manu. Qui tn̄ offendunt: ho [...] dicimus inuerecūdo [...]. Dicimꝰ iniustos: ꝗ vio­lenta mouent.
Dyfferryng for to spryng / yet ryseth it at last
But in the mean season / it resteth and is bounde
Norysshed in the grounde / and rotyng it selfe fast
As in the mothers wombe / but whan that tyme is past
And it hath receyued / hyd / nutrymēt / and strenght
To hundred folde fruyte / it spryngeth at the length
So vnder lyke maner▪a chylde tender and mylde
Corꝑis haud tantū ser uandū crede decorum. Est animi interius sed magis / at (que) magis.
What thyng he hath lerned / in his frayle tender age
Shall fynde therof the fruyt / whan he passed chylde
And come to mānes estate / with double auaūtage
Therfore fyrst recorde thou / as byrde within a cage
In thy ioyous iuuent / thy tunes tempryng long
And than at mannes estate / forth with thy plesant song
Becomely in clothyng / as semeth thy degre
[...] tibi conueniēs cul­ [...]us grauitate (que) dignus Ne retegat vestis quod tibi corde latet. Vestis eni multos mol les detexit: et intus. Innatū prodit quod la tet vicus [...]ners.
Mete vnto grauyte / to wysdom and sadnesse
Flye pompe apparayle / lyst outwarde vanyte
Myght shewe thy hyd thoughtes / & inwarde folysshnesse
For oft proude apparayle / doth opynly expresse
Lyght maners mysordred / hyd in the mynde within
As inwarde complexyon / appereth in the skyn
A reed byle or blyster / apperyng outwardly
Que rupit in summo carnis: vesica pusilla Est index infra sangui ni [...] ill [...] mali.
Is token that yll blode: corrupt and putryfyed
Is closed in the flesshe: or vaynes inwardly
Ryght so / by the clothyng / yll maners are espyed
Suche euydent signes / are harde to be denyed
Thus dyssolute clothyng: wanton / and varyable
Declareth wylde maners / and rasshe myndes vnstable
Suche wanton apparayle: and dysgysyng delicate
Delicias potiꝰ credas mulieribus aptas: Quāuis nec nimias in muliere probem.
Belongeth to women / lyght / volage / and vnstable
And moche it repugneth / to mannes sad estate
yet is it in woman / nat greatly cōmendable
Saue onely that foles / reioyce in theyr bable
And frayle creatours / of reason vnparfyte
In outward dysgysyng / haue specyall delyte
Wherfore / if suche pleasours of pompose vanyte
Quate deliciae si sint. non mollis inbaete. Nec si nō fuerit: anxi [...] ipse pete. [...]oemineos sultus: & gestus sumere molles. Vir pu [...]et indignū ridiculum (que) simul.
Come to the by fortune / do nat to them apply
If fortune deny them / as contrary to the
Than lykewyse dispyse them / nor seke them nat greatly
A man ought to count it / indigne / and vnsemely
To cloth hym repugnant / to custome of nature
In womans apparayle / or femenine vesture
Suche maner is worthy / scorne and dyrysion
Quid magis est contra [...]turā / sine decorum / Quā sub foeminea vi­ [...]e veste virum? Sorde tamē cateas nec [...] videaris ag [...]estis: Molliciē pariter: duri­ [...]em (que) fuge.
What is more vncomely: repugnant to nature
Than man to leade his lyfe / in frayle condicion
Under fonde dysgysyng / of femynyne vesture
But yet in thy clothyng / be nat vyle and impure
Lest some man repute the / a rude rurall vylayne
From excesse and contempte / in lyke maner abstayne
Go neyther in clothyng / to wanton nor to vyle
Sis paup quamuis / tu munde viuere debe [...] / Nā ne (que) / qui paup: sor­didus esse licet.
In all thyngys measure / is counted cōmendable
Though nedy pouerte / all welth from the exyle
yet go clene and clenly / as moche as thou art able
For though thou be poore / yet honeste laudable
Wyll that thy poore clothyng / be nat fylthy / but clene
By poore clene apparayle / god lyfe is outwarde sene
But thoughe I [...]r [...]y [...] / the proude [...]o [...]y [...]e
Nec qu [...] [...]e mone pro­hibet: te suadet agrestā Et durū: quod stat iter vttum (que) probat. Dedecet: extremis: ni­miū quodcū (que) ꝑpiquat Est laudi: cent [...]ū quod medium (que) tener.
yet do I nat counseyll / nor moueth to rudenesse
But measure I cōmende / whiche kepeth honeste
Bytwene tender clothyng / and rygour or hardnesse
Penury nat prayse I / nor yet cōmende excesse
Extremyte in all thynge / is very yll syttyng
But meane and measure / is lauded in all thyng.

¶ Of temperaūce / in lyueng & dyet to be obserued.

¶ Content the with measure / of dyet at thy table
Simplicitas mēsae pla­ceat (non arte paratae) Quae possit tantum tol le [...]e pa [...]ca famem. Sufficiēs victus tibi sit nec praebeat vllam. Mensa voluptatē: sed tibi nuda cibum.
Nor seke nat for meates / costly nor exquysyte
Prepare nat by connyng / swete meates varyable
To slake thyrst and hunger: haue onely thy delyte
Let fode be sufficient / to slake thyne appetyte
Garnysshe nat thy borde: for lust and glotony
But onely for nature / and nede of thy body
Let hunger be thy sauce / thy meates to season
Excitet ipsa fames ie­iunum longa palatum. Nō sapo [...] iuuētus mul ceat arte gulam.
Prouoke thyne appetyte / by holsome abstynence
Care nat if thy dysshes: or meates be gheason
Where one dysshe suffiseth / can be none indyg [...]nce
Inough is a banket / and plesaunt opulence
By sauour of sauces: the stomake to excyte
Is sygne of glotony / and bestyall delyte
Reken nat thy dysshes / but holsome meat desyre
Fercula nō numetes of cas sed posce salubres. Et placeat: quae olim coena placebat au [...]s.
Content the with dyet / of fathers auncient
Whiche whylom were called / from plough tyll an empyre
To rule all the worlde / for lyueng excellent
Colde fruytes for theyr fode / thought they sufficient
Than what pleasour hast thou / so costely to procure
So deynteous disshes / of them to make ordure
Thynke it nat great glory / to get thy selfe a name
Nec magni esse puta: quod gloria pta culina Sit tibi: sed potius so­brietate stude.
By smokyng of kechyns / lyke as the smoke doth waste
So lyghtly with the smoke / doth vanysshe suche fame
And thy laude forgotten / whan hungre is ones paste
Whyle the ryche is replete / vnethes at the laste
Is one symple morsell / set to the wretched pore
Whiche in colde and hungre / forth standeth at the dore
Say what is thy glory / for meates this wyse spent
It is for vayne glory / thy meryt is ryght small
If thou wylt make feastes / for god omnypotent
Than fede goddes seruaūtes / pore people fyrst of all
Herin is sure meryte / and laudes specyall
And ryght path dyrectyng / to laude and [...]oye endlesse
Wherfore thus behaue the / or vse thou sobernesse
Of all [...]hynges beware / o [...] [...]ea [...]ya [...] [...]
For it man defyleth / with most deformyte
And doth nat for the tyme / moche differ from madnesse
Whan it is inflamed / to rasshe audacyte
By madnesse it kyndleth / all vyle enormyte
It discloseth counseyll / and casteth to the grounde
Most famous olde Cyties / the fame doth it confounde
It febleth the body / abrydgyng mann es lyfe
It moueth debates / and kyndleth lechery
Thousandes it murdreth / without wepen or knyfe
It breaketh louedayes▪ and causeth robbery
The wyt it confoundeth / with hasty frenesy
Whan these vyle dronkard [...] / are ingorged as swyne
What seke they but braulyng / lust murder and tapyne
No counseyll nor conforte / no grauyte / no grace
None order / no maners / no lawe / nor honeste
No welth / strenght / nor ryches / can rest wher it hath place
But all it confoundeth / by bestialyte
Reioysyng in mischefe / and all iniquyte
Alas wretched dronkard [...] / aduert thy beastly syn
Consyder in what state / and blyndnesse thou art in
Whyle thou wastest drynkes / the drynkes wasteth the▪
Whyle thou wyne consumest / by lust insaciable
Thy selfe art consumed / in thyne enormyte
Before our lorde art thou / counted abhomynable
Of angels dispysed / as beast vnresonable
Of men art thou scorned / and hated of most parte
And of all vertues: playne destytute thou arte
The fendes infarnall / also doth the confounde
Thy reason is blynded: and drowned in ordure
And as a wytlesse beast / all tredde the to the grounde
Alas / grace thou losest / and confoundest nature
Fynally / abhorred / of eurry creature
In blasphemyng othes / is thy delectacion
And head [...]yg thou rennest / vnto damnacion
Wherfore this consyder / and ponder in thy mynde
Nec tamen parc [...]rie subeas (quam) nomē auari.
What mo dyuers peryls / procedeth of dronknesse
In boundes of measure / therfore thy lyueng bynde
And purchace the vertue / of holsome sobrenesse
But though I gyue counseyll / to flye and [...]oyde excesse
yet gyue I nat counseyll / to be so scarse and harde
That men may repute the / a couetous nygarde
And vse in all places / of thy maners to bable
Et fias vulgi fabula trita tui. In minimis rebus ne cures figere leges: Laeticiae vt nullus sit datus vs (que) locus.
So that thy lyueng / to strayt in nygardnesse
Among cōmon people / be as a cōmon fable
Also in small thynges / vse nat so great hardnesse
That no place be graunted / to pleasour and gladnesse
Fyre thou no lawes / bytwene other and the
But that somtyme gladnesse / may confort grauyte
For ofte of small thynges / cometh great dyshonour
yet suche a small tryfell / grounde of dyshoneste
Is of lytell substance / pleasour / or valour
Nam res ꝑua quidē ꝑ magnū dedecus affert. Et tamen illa nihil vtilitatis habet.
And playne of no profyte / nor yet cōmodyte
Therfore / I counseyl suche nygardyse to flye
And solem countenaunce / one peny with gladnesse
Somtyme is better spent / than horded great rychesse
But though many poyntes / belong to comelynesse
At cū sint multae ꝑtes causae que decori: Praecipua est: sci [...]us qua variare vices. Non semꝑ fit idem sub quoquo tēpore honestū Vt Protheus: multas vertitur in facies.
yet / this is the chefest / and most especyall
Our maners to vary / and dedes to redresse
To tyme / place / and causes / accordyng as they fall
One selfe thynge is nat done / honest / in tymes all
Our dedes must alter / and vary / be thou sure
As monstrous protheous / ofte varyed fygure
Suche thyng as besemed / yonge Juuent and volage
Quic qd enim iuuenē decuit puerū (que) tenell [...] ̄ Nō eadem possunt illa decere senem. Condicio officiū ▪ tem­pus distinguit & etas: Vt / modo quod decuit: nunc tibi turpe putes.
Or thynges of a chylde / cōmended as well done
These cannat be comely / besemyng man of age
For tyme / place / age / office / roume / and condycion
Deuydeth and varyeth / all thynges vp set downe
That suche thyng semed / erst / honest and laudable
Nowe semeth dishonest / vyle / and incōmendable
Suche thynges as thou dyd / beyng of symple name
Iā (que) magistratus modo quod priuatus agebas Desine: nūc aliud pub­lica causa monet. Quae fuerāt medijs ti­bi verba ferocia castri▪ Vrbe mo [...]ans mitte: respuit illa toga.
Without roume or office / lauded in dyuers wyse
Whan thou art in office / thou must vary the same
And of thyne olde maners / the greatest parte dispyse
In court or in Cytie / thou must nat vse that gyse
In roughe speche and cruell / whiche thou had in batayle
There / tygour auaunced / here mekenesse doth preuayle
If thou waxing aged / vse youthes busynesse
Si stuijs ageris iuueni libus ipse senescens: Scito: (quam) officium deseris omne tuum. Si ne (que) mutauit mores prouecta senectus: Vt tetrum monstrum: diffugienda tua est.
Knowe thou for certayne thou passest thy nature
Thy dutye and boundes / excedest thou doutlesse
As an erryng dotarde / of chyldysshe wyt obscure
For if thy feble age / in chyldysshe lyfe endur [...]
And alternat maners / from wylde to grauyte
Thyne age as a monster / all people ought to flye
Whan thou wast a yonge man / thy specyall desyre
Optasti iuuenis p [...]in­gere adus (que) senectam. At nunc optāda est al­tera vita [...]eni. Ridēdus senior: pueri qui su scipit artes Tanquā si in cunis nūc recubare velit.
Was to lyue tyll age / but whan thy selfe art olde
A newe maner a lyfe / thou nedes must requyre
Where thou in youth lyued / rasshe / negligēt: and bolde
A gayne age requyreth / wyse maners / sad and colde
And olde men aud chyldysshe / of maners ought certayne
Be scorned as he lay / in cradell newe agayne

¶ Howe prestes ought to differ frō obter / in maners / as they differ in vesture.

Consyder / O preste sacred / to god omnypotent
A spice quam differs alijs in veste: sacerpoa: Tantū differre moribꝰ ipse velis. Et: quo maior apex ci­git tua tempora: tanto Est morum cura maior habenda tibi.
Thy gowne and thy clothyng / thy name and dignite
These are to lay people / moche greatly dyfferent
So moche let thy maners / from lay men disagre
Howe moche more thou passyst / in great auctorite
In myter or order / in office or prebende
So moche loke in vertue / and maners to ascende
And as thou procedest / as regent honorable
In vertue and maners / lyke wyse be president
Nō facias vt qui s (que) fa­cit: cum non tibi guis [...] Collatus fuerit: [...]fice maius opus.
And though none about the / to the be comparable
yet be thou nat more proude / more haute or negligent
Nor trust nat more greatly / to thyne owne iugement
But do in due order: what longeth vnto the
Nat folowyng the lyfe: nor sect of cōmonte
If thou be made lyon / take maners of lyon
Si leo sis factus: mores assume leonis. Nō v [...]tra mores mu [...]is habere licet. Cum (que) oculos aquilae dederit tibi Christus in altum Suscipe: nec ꝑgas ver­tere talpa solum.
I meane yf men set the: in rowme and dignyts
Use Justyce with mercy / lawe with compassion
Of maners lyke a mouse / no longer mayst thou be
Clere eyes of an egle / whan Chryst shall graunt to the
Than clerely loke vpwarde / and lyue as thou art bounde
And be nat as a mole / styll dyggyng in the grounde
Whan thou were a knyght / or a stouborne soudiou [...]
Cū sueras miles: castro rum tela mouebas. Nūc Christi miles ac­cipe rela crucem Cū medicū gerere [...] cu­rabas corpora morbis. Nūc debes factus pas­cere pastor oues.
The wepyns of warfare / were plesaunt vnto the
But nowe / thou Chrystes knyght / thy weapyn & armour
The crosse of Chryst Jesu / of duety ought to be
Whan thou of phisicion / vsed the faculte
Thou cured sicke bodies / of sores corporall
Thou nowe made apastour / cure sore spirituall
Gyue nowe to poore languent / spirituall medycyne
Aduigilās noctu pastor custodit ouile: Ne pecudes ꝑdat vis rabio sa lupi. Nec satis est sese pasto rem reddere saluum. Sed debet [...]aluum red­dere & ipse gregem.
And watche well thy foldꝭ / as ought a good pastour
A pastour well watcheth / by nyght / dredyng rapyne
Lest vyolent wolues / myght his weake shepe deuour
It can nat be ynough / for meryte and honour
Thyne owne pryuate parsone / in saue [...]arde for to kepe
Thou must in lyke maner / preserue thy flocke & shepe
But who that his owne lyfe / in maner doth dispyse
At: qui cū propria vit contemnit ouilis Amotus propio [...]ure erit ille grege. Pastores ou [...]ū multi s [...] se esse fatentur: Sortiti falso noia tan­ta tibi.
And also his pore flocke / exp [...]seth to deuour
Nought caryng for the same / nor hym selfe in lyke wyse
Is nat to be called / a heerd but rauynour
And ought to be moued / from rowme of gouernour
Many be whiche count them / heerdes without blame
Whiche rather be wolues: vnworthy theyr fyrst name
For nouther haue they thought / on theyr pore hūgry shepe
Nā ne (que) ieiuni curam meditantu [...] ouilis: Nec quoque: si cupiāt munera ferre sciunt.
Or all if they cared them / both to gyde and fede
They haue nat the cōnyng / nor wayes them to kepe
To cure of theyr sores / thus can they nat take hede
But this nat withstandyng / yet loke they for theyr mede
Theyr duty they chalenge / and neuer are content
Though they in theyr duety / be neuer neglygent
And gredy ambicion / them blyndeth in suche wyse
Quin satur ē pastor [...]a [...]us licet omnia pleno Suppeditet stomacho luxuriosa gula.
That though they be laded / with cure innumerable
And haue but ouer moche / that can them nat suffyse
The most feblest asse / ofte counteth hym most able
To bere of ambycion / the sacke insaciable
The sacke without boto [...]e / whiche neuer can say ho
The more they receyue / alway thy gape for mo

¶ Of beauour to be chosen.

Bueieue we these wretches / inuolued in blyndnesse
Adde etiam: nulla ca­reas vt parte decori: Prospice persona quae magis apta tibi.
As people incurable / by pompous insolence
And agayne retourne we / to purpose & processe
Take hede on all partes / with prudent dilygence
That thou want nought longyng vnto cōuenience
On all sydes consyder / what personnes behauour
To the may be metest / and comly for honour
Some man it becometh / for to kepe grauyte
Est alij laudi vultū set uare seuerum. Ast alij laeta frons ma­gis apta sedet. Si velit hic tristem se reddere fiet ineptus. Si velit ille hilarē: nō magis aptus erit.
And sadnesse in iesture / in speche and in visage
An other best besemeth / mery and glad to be
If this ioconde parsone: wolde after his vsage
And countersayt in there / an heuy father sage
It shulde nat beseme hym / no more shulde it agre
For one sad of nature / to mery for to be
An other man is mery / soft / ioconde of langage
Est alius lenis: facilis▪ sermone facetus. Hic quo (que) tristitiae pos­sit habere nihil Hic simplex: veri & re­cti sit semper amicus. Hic nisi cū multa nes­ciat arte loqui.
Lyghtly intreated / all gyuen to gladnesse
So moued of nature / as well in youth as in age
Suche one shulde [...]e [...]ly dispose hym to sadnesse
An other man is symple / all gyuen to playnnesse
Without fraude or faynyng / set hole on veryte
An other all thyng speketh / with crafte and subtylte
A barbaryke vylayne / to play the oratour
Or couterfayt termes / in langage eloquent
Quis igi [...] teneat: sibi quod natura secūdat: Si modo nil vicij: nil [...]ouet ille mali.
It were moche vnsyttyng / so wysdome or honour
To vse rurall langage: were inconuenient
Brefely / euery parsone / ought to be diligent
To folowe and to kepe▪ that nature doth inflame
So that none vnclennesse / nor vyce be in the same
A worlde it is to se / wyse tyllers of the grounde
Est opere precium do­ctos spectare colonos: Semina ꝗ reddunt cō ­grua cui (que) solo. Agricola imprimis na turam quaerit agelli. Inserit hinc plantas: quas regio ipsa cupit.
And husbandes to beholde / howe they be dylygent
To cause all theyr fru [...]es / more largely habounde
Cōmyttyng euery sed [...]: to soyle conuenient
Fyrste / is the husbandmen / quycke and nat neglygent
Of his felde to know [...]he naturall condicion
Than graffeth his plantes / after the region
As nature of the soyle / is most conuenient
Collibus infigit vites / in vallibus alnos. I [...]iccis melius crescit o [...] [...]locis.
His vynes he fasteneth / on hylles and mountayns
Or on pendant clyffes: than is he dilygent
His cornes for to sowe / on fayre feldꝭ and playnes
Chosyng soyle appropred / to euery sorte of graynes
His wyllous and aldyrs / in moyst grounde cōmonly
For olyues he choseth / groūde / harde / stony & dry
For chaftaynes / colde places / cōmonly choseth he
Frigida castaneis sunt pi [...]gu [...]a consita malis. Litoribꝰ myrt / citr [...] poma vi [...]ent. Gaudet mōte pyrꝰ sed crescit a quatica lotos Et platan (que) riguis ma­xima crescit aquis.
The myrtre and orange / by sey bankes doth growe
In hye grounde or hylles / reioyseth the peare tre
But the lote and playne tre / where waters oftyn flowe
Thus some loue hye drye grounde: some watery & lowe
So knowe thy complexion / and after thy nature
Oroer thy behauour / with all labour and cure
And leane to thy nature: and disposicion
Ergo tuā noscas natu­ram: haerebis et illi Sedulus: vt proestes nā sua quen (que) decent. Ingenio splendere tuo [...]ta [...]e labora. Et til [...] non pluris sint alie [...] tuis.
And with all thy power / ꝑseuer in the same
For man best becometh / his owne cōdicion
As thyne owne maners / and wyt doth the inflame
So vse thy behauour / in sadnesse / myrth or game
In counterfaytyng other / vse nat to lour nor iest
But folowe thy nature / that shall become the best
Harde is it to auoyde: suche inclynacion
Nō bene deuitat quod quis [...]titur ab astris. Nec facile acquiret: (quam) sibi stella negat. Quando metum ceruꝰ dep [...]et? quādo leonē.
As man hath by planete / at his natyuite
And thyng to man contrary / by constellacion
To wyn / is nat easy / but gret difficulte
Whan shall the bolde lyon leaue his audacyte
Whan shall the hynde or hare / leaue theyr olde drede & feare
Or leaue theyr olde rapyne / whan shall the wolfe & beare
To drede the bolde lyon / what tyme leaue shall the bull
No time at [...] [...] ­na (que) parua lupum▪ Quado vel assuetā mit tet vulpecula fraudē ▪ Aut erit au [...]tus abs (que) timore [...]epus? Nō vnquam mergus se mergere desinet vndis Nō canet & coruus: vt modulatur holor. Caprea nō siluas / non linquet rana paludem. Nō gemit [...] turtur: ar­bore moesta can [...]s Nō aliter cupimꝰ quic quā: renuēte minerua. Quam nauta aduer so flumine serre ratem. Qui trahit aduersis nauē currētibꝰ vndis: Gaudere optatis non solet [...]lle diu. Quippe [...] (quam) amissis su­perāte labore lacertis Reijcitur praeceps de­teriore loco.
Whan shall the symple lambe: nat drede the wolfe let se
Whan shall the asse forsake / his nature to be dull
Or whan shall the false foxe / forsake his subtylte
Whan shall the dyuer leaue / in waters for to be
The rauyn neuer shall syng / asswane or nyghtyngale
Nor the crowe nor cuckowe / lyke other byrdes smale
The Ro / bucke nor do / shall neuer leaue the wodes
The frogge leaue poles / nor hogges leaue ordure
The turtyll cesse to mourne / nor fysshes leaue the flode
Nor bees leaue floures swete / and of fresshe verdure
All thyng in theyr kynde / obeyeth theyr nature
It is nat lesse folly / to stryue agaynst kynde
Than a shypman to stryue / agaynst both streme & wynde
A maryner to wynge / his shyppe by strength of ore
Agaynst the streme stryuyng / and wynde to hym contrary
Of tyme is cast bacwarde / worse than he was before
Arte / small thyng auayleth / where nature doth deny
Unto porte desyred suche seldome tyme apply
Be they neuer so stoute / so valyant and wyght
Ouercome by labour / is all theyr force and myght
Lyke wyse / who dispyseth / his gyftes of nature
Sic sua ꝗ spernit [...]cap­tans aliena: frequēter▪ Amittens propria: n [...] aliena capit Qui (que) vnum retinen [...] ▪ aliud studiosius optat. Soepe hic delusus stul­ [...]us vtto que caret.
And others behauour / wolde counterfayt alway
His owne oft he lofeth / of others nothyng sure
And who sure hath one gyfte / and busy wolde assay
As a fadyng shadowe / an other to puruay
Whyle he two desyreth / he so deluded is
That of one and other / ofte tymes doth he mys

¶ How he ought behaue hym selfe / whiche of necessyre treateth thynge to hym denyed / of nature and arte.

But yf thou constrayned / without any refuge
At si te munꝰ praetoris siue tribuni. Officiū ignotum forte subire iubet: Vt quia verba soro ti­bi sint facienda diserte Cū ne (que) sis rhetor: grā ­maticus (que) minus
Must take charge and burthen / of vnexpert office
To wchyng a cōmon well / as oratour or Juge
Knowyng: what therto belongeth / in no wyse
As if thou must prepare / after the cōmon gyse
To speke in cōmon place / in termes elegant
Beyng both in rethoryke / and grāmer ignorant
Than / thou thus constrayned / before must well deuyse
Tūc causam meditate prius: scitare perit [...]s Quod nescis: disca [...] ▪ suppleat ipse labor: Vt: si nō possis nomen▪ [...]audem que referre Nō referas s [...]ltem [...] ▪ decus: atque nota [...].
Thy cause well discussyng / what is expedient
And lerne what thou lackest / of men ornate and wyse
Fulfyll thyne ignorance / with labour diligent
So / though thou wyn nat laude / nor name preehemynent
At leste way / yet mayst thou / auoyde rebuke & shame
By suche wyse prouysyon / all if thou get no name

¶ Of maner of lyueng not to be rasshly charged / but with goode [...]o [...]isell [...] aduisemē [...]

Quae semel est aurē vi­ [...] [...] forma recepta: H [...] [...]ues temere nec var [...]are velis. S [...]amē est ratio mutā di: & perferat aetas Fac mutans doceas (quam) ratione facis.
Suche maner of lyuēg / as thou hast ones begon
Contynewe in the same / and vary nat rasshely
By so chaungyng thy state / scorne / & contempte is won
But resonable cause: constrayne the to vary
And if thyne age also / be nat therto contrary
Than do / that in changyng / it may besene profitable
That thy cause is honest / ryghtwyse and resonable
Be nat lyght as wynde / but with reason mouable
Non leuis vt vētus sed pro [...]e: mobilis assis. Constās nō durus: pro­positique tenax Nā variate genus vitae leuitatis habetur: Si temere: leuitas non leue crimen erit.
As the cause requyreth / after thy tyme and state
Dyfferre longe / assay all / or thou be varyable
Be constant discretly / nat harde nor obstynate
It is a sygne of mynde / lyght / and infatuate
The maner of thy lyueng / to change sodaynly
And great faute and foly / if it be done rasshely
By lytell and by lytell / therfore thy lyueng change
For sodayne mutacions / repugneth to nature
And among acquayntaunce / as well as among strange
Suche changyng / nat wanteth / suspecion be thou sure
Than / other wysely change / or in none state endure
An old tre tranposed / shall fynde smal auauntage
Nor an olde byrde taken / and closed in a cage
Hangyng insowre wyndes / blowyng from north & west
And vnkyndly serued / suche byrde loseth her songe
But yonge fetherles foules / streyght takyn from te nest
Nought knowyng of pleasour / may more suffer of wrong
An hauke fedde vnkyndly / can nat contynewe long
What shulde a chylde do playeng / with syngyng byrde or foule
As good (for the season) a cuckowe or an owle
Among olde parrables / this oftyn haue I red
A vyllayns subicte / a iolous boyes wyfe
Tū quo (que) paulatim mu tes: nam facta repente Versio non hominum suspitione caret.
And a chyldis byrde / are wo and harde bested
In contynuall tourment / abrydged of theyr lyfe
And at last consumed / with depe dolour pensyfe
Therfore well aduyse the / before thou change estate
Els maist thou mourne to deth / as wretche infortunate.

¶ Of the duety & hauyour of men in great roume & office.

If thou be auaunced / to roume of dignyte
Than voyde & exclude thou / thyne olde & pryuate mynde
Ipse magistratus eū sis tune exue mentem. Priuatam: populi te ca put esse putes.
Seke nat as before / thyne owne vtylyte
Remember howe thy charge / and offyce doth the bynde
To seke the cōmon wele / leauyng thyne owne behynde
Consyder / thou art set in place of great labour
To serue a multytude: as heade and gouernour
And rather hast thou name / of labour / than honour
Per te nūc populus lo­quitur: sentit (que) videt (que) Vtile quod fuerit oib­ergo vide Publica priuatis p̄ser­ri cōmoda debent.
In this wyse promoted / to troublous dignyte
All if thou be ruler / thou art but seruitour
Therfore / note that people / fele / se / and speke by the
Than holy dispose the / for theyr vtylyte
Preferre cōmon profite / before profyte pryuate
For pryuate behauour / besemeth nat astate
The lawier in pleding / for his pore client
Iuridicus debet imme mor esse sui. Tum decus obserues quod majestate verēda Sit dignum: mutes os / habitum (que) tuum.
Before his owne profite / shulde set Justyce and ryght
But agayne retournyng / vnto our fyrst entent
Whether thou be prelate / kyng / duke / baron or knyght
Or other gouernour / of name power or myght
Obserue comelynesse / maners / or maieste
In worde / loke / and habyte / as semeth thy degre
To mayre / Juge / and other / set in auctoryte
Multa quidem praetor ꝓhibit̄ plurima cōsul. Quae neque priuato sunt prohibenda viro Multa etiam damnare solet tēpus (que): locus (que): Quae ne (que) sunt alio tē ­pore digna nota.
Moche thyng is forbydden / nat comely nor semyng
Whiche are nat prohybyte: but sounde to honeste
To a pryuate parsone / or man meane lyueng
Also the tyme and place / refuseth many a thyng
For in one tyme and place / a thyng may be laudable
Whiche after and elswer done / were incōmendable
Therfore the sage father / renomed Sophocles
Iurgauit merito So­phoclen collega Peri­cles. Quod puerū inspexit: dum sacra iura daret
Sittyng in Jugement / with great auctoryte
Was worthely blamed / of his felowe Perycles
Bycause he forgettyng / his rowme and grauyte
Stedfastly behelde: and praysed the beauty
Of a goodly stryplyng / of stature excellent
Whiche was that tyme present / in tyme of Jugement
If this same Sophocles / had after done the same
Si fecisset idem campo mediaque palestra Causa fuit iurgi nulla pericle tibi.
In a place of sportes / in felde or wrastlyng place
Perycles shulde haue bad / no matter hym to blame
Thus tyme is of sadnesse / and tyme is ofsolace
And place is of sadnesse / and pleasour in lyke case
The chefe poynt belongyng / to maners and reason
Is euer to consyder / place / parson / and season
For lyke as in an harpe / men vseth cōmonly
Ergo velut cytharae cō cordant ordine nerui. Vt cupidas aures mul­ceat arte sonus: Sic tēpus: ꝑsona: locus concordet: & aetas: Officij vt species / eni­ [...]eatque decus.
For to tune the strynges / in order and concorde
The eares to retoyce / by crafte with melody
So tyme / place / age / parsone / iest / countenaūce / & worde
To thynges most agre / auoydyng all discorde
Whiche thynges obserued / in euery busynesse
Gyue beauty and bryghmesse / to plesaunt comelynesse

¶ Of the dutye in behauour of pryuate [...]yte [...]in [...] lyuing together.

Est quo (que) priuati ciuis cum cruibus aeque Viuere nec socios sub­dere velle suos Nec tamē inferius pa­tiatur subditus esse: Cum quo [...]ura volūt vi uere lege pari.
It also be semeth / one Cytezyn with other
If they be of one state / oppression to eschewe
And to lyue in quyete / as brother with brother
And nat one an other / vnkyndely to subdue
Nor the porest parson / symple / playne / iuste / & true
Shulde nat hym selfe suffer / subdued for to be
Of one ryght admytted / to none auctoryte
And whom lawe cōmaundeth / to lyue in different
Nō adeo simplex: vt cō temnaris ab vllo. Dum (que) velis lenis: lan­guidus esse caue. Nō cui quam visus sis ambitiosus & audax. Facte submittas: non tamen abijcias.
Nor be so symple / that all men the dispyse
Whyle thou wolde behaue the / demure and pacient
Beware / be nat remyse / nor shepysshe in no wyse
Be nat to desyrous / tyll honour for to ryse
Be nat to proude nor pert / suche ryche nat / but decay
Submyt thy selfe gladly / but cast the nat away
Be lyke with thy felowes / ioconde and compynable
Ae quus eris paribꝰ sed nec cōtemne [...]ainores. Ma [...]ores aequa tu quo (que) mente colas. Non tamē hos metuas multa formidīe tristis. Nam: quicun (que) sine est crimine non metuit.
Dispyse nor disdayne nat / thy pore inferyour
And honour thyne elders / to them beseruysable
Namely if theyr lyueng / be worthy of honour
Nor drede nat ouer moche / theyr lokes nor rygour
For what man is fautlesse / what nedeth hym to feare
Oft blame may he byde / but nothyng can hym deare
Therfore / O howe greatly: shulde thou awayte all tyme
O quantum debes tur­pitu labe carere. Res sola haec hominea ahs (que) timore facit. Factio non placeat: cō munis pacis amator Consule trāquillae: ꝑpe tuae (que) rei.
And with all thy wittes / intentyfely gyue hede
That thou mayst be fautlesse / and clere of syn & cryme
For this same thyng onely / delyuereth man from drede
Loue thou nat discorde / nor stryfes for to fede
But loue cōmon concorde / as moche as is in the
Slake stryfe and loue peas: and fayre tranquillyte
Suche as in tyme passed / haue taken great labour
Qui bene gesserunt iā publica munera v [...] qui Nunc praesunt: merito semp honore cole. Quosquo (que) vulgauit virtutis nomē honora Pulchrū ē et natis esse in honore patres.
To gyde the cōmon wele / without diserued blame
Them se that all season / thou worshyppe and honour
And suche as nowe present / also entende the same
Suche as of iust lyueng / and vertue haue clere name
Honour them also / for great is the pleasour
For chyldren to beholde / theyr fathers in honour
And oft tyme yonge hertes / are kyndled with desyre
To deserue lyke honour: by lyueng vertuous
Lyke wyse as a candell / in flamed is by fyre
So youth whiche of honour / is alway desyrous
In hope to wyn honour / doth artes gloryous
So vertue cōmended / ryseth to great flame
And yonge noble hertes / are kyndled with the same

¶ Howe a [...]orayne [...] ought to behaue hym in a strāge cyt [...]e.

Ipse pe [...]egrina si forte moraris in vrbe. Nullius vrbanae sit tibi cura rei. Sed tantū proprij ma­neat tibi cura negoci: Ne tibi quis dicat: Ad uona vade foras
If thou be a forayner / dwellyng in a strange Cytie
Medle with none office / nor matters more or lesse
Conceruyng the Cytie: nor yet the cōmonte
Order thou all onely / thy proper busynesse
Lest by moche medlyng / thou wyn vnquyetnesse
And some one may bydde the / forth forayner auaunt
To thy natyfe countrey / auoyde thou alyaunt

¶ Of the duty of a Cytezyne anenst a forayne

Sed ne (que) tu debes ꝑe­grinos spernere ciuis. Accipias quenque mi­tis in vrbe tua. Durus in externos: ho minē sese exuit omnē. Et versum in [...]ae [...]am se probat esse feram.
¶ But thou a Cytezyne / dispyse thou no forayne
Receyue euery stranger / with maner amyable
One harde vnto strangers / sheweth hymselfe vyllayne
More lyke to a tyran / than to a man companable
And proueth hym as badde / as beast vnresonable
Consyder that here after / thy selfe may forrayne be
Than dele as thou woldest / that men shulde dele with the
Non alia causa vertit sua membra lycaon: Quam (que) in externos saeuus & asper erat.
All men may nat dyscende / of hye and noble blode
Nor all men be borne / in one lande of best name
What force of the countrey / so that the man be good
Some good / for theyr coūtrey / byde ofte outbrayde & bla­me
And ofte an other wretche / to his hole lande is shame
Shulde men out of Englande: our lorde Jesu exclude
By cause that he was borne / within the lande of Jude
Whan frō this wretched lyfe / at last thou must departe
And come to heuyn gates / to se [...]be eternall kyng
It shall nat be asked / what countrey man thou arte
Frenche / englysshe / scot / lumbarde / pycarde / or flē [...]ng
But onely shalbe asked / thy meryte and lyuyng
A poore scot of good lyfe / shall fynde hym better than
Than some ryche lumbarde / or noble Englysshe man
Therfore / thou shulde strangers: in no maner dispyse
Out [...]raydyng nor scornyng / with dede or wordes fell
For none other cause / but for lyke cruell gyse
Lycaon the tyran / as olde poetes do tell
Was iustly transformed / to ragynge wolfe cruell
To rage amonge beastes / excluded from pyte
As he fyrst one strangers / had vsed cruelte.

¶ Of vnclennesse to be auoyded.

¶ Count euery burthen / to the ryght tollerable
Omne tibi credas ꝙ sit tolerabille pondus Sed quod turpe gra­uat nō tollerabile erit Turpe grauat / [...]cquid mores subuertit ho­nestos. Et quicquid fam [...] to facit esse males.
And all weyght of labour / without dyffyculte
But weyght of vnclennesse / repute thou importable
Or what euer repugneth / maners of honeste
Count that ouer weyghty / and labour it to flye
Count all thyng to greuous / whiche may defyle thy fame
And nothyng more plesante / than hole and ꝑfite name

¶ Of honeste in [...]

Turpia naturae [...]lacis membra verendae. Nā natura: teg [...]s illa: magistratua est.
¶ Kepe secrete thy membres / of vnclenlynesse
Whiche are in place secrete / of euery creature
Wherin very nature / is vnto the maistresse
Hydyng them in places: hyd / couered / and obscure
A dysgysed Jougler / or vyle iester vnpure
Is nat so foule rybaude / but that in test or game
His membres he hydeth / for drede of opyn shame
And therfore apperyng / all naked in a play
Histrio. ꝗ in scaenā va­dit: sibi subligat aptat: Ne ꝓdat quicquid lex verecunda tegit. Ne igiur tuleris: (quam) te verecundior is sit Scaenicus: impune cui licet esse malo.
If his parte so requyre / presented for to be
He kepeth his foule partes hyd / in a brake alway
Nat shewyng what nature / hath set in pryuete
Suffer nat thy selfe / be more shamelesse than he
Whiche without all blames / may boldly play his parte
Honest or dishonest: after his raylyng arte
Nor gyue thou nat credence / to suche people vnpure
Nec cynicis credas qui bus o [...]a noia honesta. Turpia sed caueas di­cere verba palam.
Whiche openly conioyned / as dogges without shame
Cōmytteth nought vnclenly / belongyng to nature
And all wordes honest / whiche any man may name
Ense we nat this vyle sect / nor thynke thou nat this same
But what nature chargeth: that worke thou priuely
Nor speke nat vyle wordes / before men openly
Abstayne from vyle wordes / in speche and cōmunyng
Turbibus abstineas di­ctis grauiora locutus. Turpia iacturam dicta pudoris habent. Sit tibi circuitus: cum dicere postulat vsus. M [...]s etenim: & lingua: debet honesta loqui.
Whan thou hast to cōmon / of thyng of grauyte
For oft tyme vyle wordes / corrupteth good lyueng
And are thou shamefast lyfe / nat small difformyte
But whan thou must in speche / touche of necessite
Suche matters vnclenly / vse circumlocucion
And let thy mynde and tonge / be honest all season
For foule wordes spoken / oft tyme doth reason blynde
Turpia nā subeūt dic­ta ad penetralia mētis Solicitan (que) animū quē tenet alta quies. Tam (que) ea tu spernas: (quam) res male spernis olētes Quam spernis lubricū progrediendo locum.
And doth both the spekers: with vyle thoughtes inflame
And herers in entryng / the secretes of the mynde
And where it erst was quyet / they trouble sore the mynde
Wherfore flye suche wordes / whiche soūdeth vnto shame
As thou woldest auoyde / vyle place or thyng that stynke
Or as thou wolde esche we / assymy slypper brynke
For lyke as yll sauers / hurteth the heed and brayne
Nā quod olet: nare [...] lae dit via lubrica plantas Sed leedunt mores tur­pia verba bonos.
And as slypper patthes / cast men ofte to the grounde
Ryght so suche vyle wordes / doth good maners distayne
And persuyng quyete myndes / with hyd & secrete wounde
Both thought / wordes / & lyueng / vtterly confounde
And brefely to conclude / the lyfe of euery age
May clerely be iuged / by iesture and langage

Howe euery man ought to medyll on his owne faculte.

De qua nil didicit quia (quam) non arte loquatur. Nā saepe est praesens: ꝗ sua dicta neget.
¶ None ought with any craft / nor scyence intrem [...]t
To be busy bablyng / and arguyng the same
Without he haue it lerned / and be expert in it
For oft some is present / nat moche knowen by fame
Whiche in the same science / is worthy haue name
And myght wele suche foles wordes / playne deny
Or here hym with sylence: and scorne hym pryuely
If thou be somwhat experte / in true latyne
Graeca parū doctus nō disserat ore la [...]nus. Virgili [...] interpres nec quo (que) graecus erit.
What shuld thou do bablyng / of strong wordes of greke
Or if thou haue in greke / had all thy discyplyne
To dispute in latyn / what nedeth the to seke
And surely thy lecture / shall scant be worth a leke
If thou take vpon the / a cōment to compyle
(Knowyng lytell of latyn) on Duyd or Uyrgyle
What shulde a lawier / dyspute of medycyne
Qui studu it leges: di­mittat de medici [...]s Dicere cu [...] tantum ne­scia credat a nus.
Scant wolde an olde wyfe / to hym gyue audience
A merchaunt to dyspute / agaynst a dyuyne
Were a thyng vnsemely / and signe of insolence
Let euery wyseman: mell with his own science
For who that wyll meddyll / with euery faculte
Is outher a starke fole / or peuysshe proude is he.

¶ Of maners to be kept in goynge.

Ferthermore in goynge / a man ought be dilygent
Praeterea incessu sua debet inesse venustas Cum pateat semp om­nibus ille palam.
To kepe honest maner / and orded comelynesse
Syth the same is outwarde / to all men euydent
And oftyn tyme the ga [...]e / doth mannes mynde expresse
The gate she weth constance / or rasshe vnstablenesse
Men iuge sore the pace / for by the same we se
A wylde mynde vnquyet / or prudent grauyte
And brefely the goinge / oft doth the mynde declare
Saepe etenim incessus grauiter cencet ab illo Nā (que) animi mores sae­pe videre potes. Non igitur lentus: nō sit festinus ametu [...] Quem neutra in parte dicimus esse nimis.
And playnly expresseth / the maners and nature
Wherfore go nat dreamyng / nor yet flyenge be ware
Of moche hasty or slownesse / both are agayn nurture
Wherfore bitwene these both / loue temperate measure
It is gate vncomely (as doth a crane) to stryde
With countenance a lost / whiche is playn signe of pryde
It semeth nat to iette / with roulyng countenaunce
With legges and armes: shakyng on euery syde
Nō placet: incedas: si­cut [...] fercula portant: Nec sicut solita est tra dita sponsa viro.
It semeth nat in strete / as pal [...]ray to praūce
Nor solemly procede / as we beholde a bryde
Led stately to the chyrche / on her chefe day of pryde
Nor thy pase to temper / I count it nat laudable
As men bearyng dysshes / vnto a lordes table
Nouther is it comely / to ren so hastely
Nō tamē: vt nimio cut su defessus: anheles. Aut capite [...]curuo prae cipitatus eas.
That thou pant / as wery / faynted / & fatygate
Nor yet to go droupyng / in maner of a spy
Nor gasyng on the grounde: as one infatuate
As in other thynges / is maner temperate
So in goyng requyreth / maner and honeste
For by outwarde iesture / hyd thoughtes opyn be.

¶ Of temperaunce in spekyng.

Lyke wyse / as in goynge / is laude and comelynesse
Nec minus in verbis speciē: formā (que) decori [...]nuenies: laudē ferre loquendo potes. Dū loqueris socios in­ter caros (que) sodales Tūc insit sermo pres­sior ore tuo.
So soberly spekyng / with semely grauyte
Thou mayst fynde great laudes / & praysyng nat the lesse
Pronounsyng thy wordes / with humble honeste
Among olde companyons / if the fortune to be
Or dere faythfull frendes / proued stedfast and sure
Pronounce than thy speche / lowe: mery / and demure
But lohan thou must nede speke / before a cōmonte
At cum verba foro fa­cies: contentio maior-Nis [...]bus in (que) aures vox tua missa fluat.
Exalte than thy wordes: with more contencyon
Or thy ryght defendyng / speke with audacyte
That men may more playnly / here thyne intencyon
Beware / by rasshe wordes: to rayse dissencion
Though thou speke with stomake / ꝓnoūce playn & clere
That all may perceyue / whiche shall thy wordes here
If clere voyce to the / be denyed of nature
Verba tamē studeas [...] ­clara expromere voce. Claram natura: tū tua cura dabit▪ Seria si tractas vultus [...] [...]e seueros. Si: leuis quic (que): sit tibi fronte lepos.
By cure and exercyse: than do thy selfe auaunce
If thou speake of sadnesse / loke sadly and demure
If thou speke of sportes / take mery countenaunce
Use sadnesse in dedes / and other circumstaunce
Rather than in wordes / and rather let thy lyfe
She we forth sad grauyte / than coūtenaunce pensyfe
Season thou thy speche / with wysdome and prudence
Iuditio sueris: plus (quam) sermone seuerus. Sit tibi: quā vultus: vi ta [...]uera magis. Sit sale conditus ser­mo [...]cedat (que) libenter C [...]sortio: & vinci saepe purato decus.
Gyue place to thy felowe / and harken his wysdom
Somtyme is lesse honoure / to speke / than kepe sylence
And often mayst thou coūte / great prayse to be ouercome
Say trouth: nor glose nat▪ flatter nat as do some
With none cory fauell: if thy party be sure
But in thyne opynyon / obserue alway measure
Mayntayne none opynyon / in maner obstynate
Veridicus fueris: nulli tua verba secundent. Sed tamē hac in re de­ber inesse modus. Nam satis est certe te dissentire fateri. Cui nō consentis: desi­ne turpe loqui:
Contende nat in wordes / with suche as thou shaltse
Of wordes superflue / frowarde and indurate
In cōmunicacyon / ynough is to shewe the
To contrary party: in mynde to dysagre
And where as two other / the lyst nat to consent
yet speke no rebukes / nor wordes vyolent
Whan thy selfe hast spoken / here thy companions
Ausculta socios: cū sis tua verba locutus. Te solum turpe est o [...]a velle loqui. Si ꝗs contēdat (vel sal sum) cede proterno Iurgia ne forte sint in eunda tibi.
It is agaynst maners / thy selfe to speke only
Without suffryng any / to thyne opinions
To make any answere / to reason or reply
If any kepe opynyon / contendyng frowardly
Gyue place for the season / all if his part be wrong
Lest both fall to braulyng / or some strypes among
Whan any thyng is sayd / nat plesant vnto the
Non ideo turbes alios audire volentes: Hoc: quia delectent te re ferenda parum. Quin patiens alios au di: quecun (que) loquentes Exeat et seimo ratio [...] o [...]e tuo.
yet trouble thou nat other / wyllyng to here the same
For some men hath pleasour / and great felycyte
To here that / whiche other dispyse / refuse / and blame
If thou wylt be counted / of maners and good name
Here other men gladly / what euer they wyll say
And speke thou as syldom / and lytell as thou may
Men oft haue repented / of wordes superflue
But syldom ofscilence / doth any men repent
Wherfore scarce of wordes / is coūted great vertue
And a fole is knowen / by speche negligent
And to busy babelyng / in wordes imprudent
If a fole were able / to kepe hym in scylence
He shuld be reputed / a man of sapience
Where man is disposed: to wordes superflue
Nat forsyng what he say / but spekyng all by chaunce
Si iuuat aut tristem te frōte. vel esse saeue [...] ▪ [...]. Nō damnes illos: quos iuuat esse hilares.
And is full of wordes / they can nat all be true
If thou lust be heuy or sadde of countenaunce
As thy kynde requyreth or vsed gouernaunce
Obserue thyne owne maner / but whyle thy selfe art sad
yet blame thou none other / disposed to be glad
Dispyse thou no parson / all if thou purer be
Sit iibi cōtemptus ne­mo: quia purior illo es Cōsilio et facto sed ma gis ipse iuua. Dum loqueris: caueas ne sermo lapsus ab ore Indidet idmorbi: quod tibi corde latet.
Of clothyng / of connyng / of byrth / of eloquence
Of ryches or ought els / oportune than is he
Rather helpe hym with dede / and counsell of prudence
And whyle thou art talkyng (gyue hede to this sentence)
Beware that no wordes / vuwarely fro the start
Dysclosyng hyd fautes / and secret in thy herte
Blame thou no man absent: as detractour vnkynde
Non quē quam carpes absentem nā (que) videris Proditor inca [...]ti cede re terga viri. Sed spectes eti [...]: ne sis te carpe [...]e visus Dū damnas illos: quos imitare viros.
For in thy so doyng / I the repute semblable
Unto a cowarde teaytour / assaylyng one behynde
Whan his wretched power / in presence is nought able
Beware / lest thou blame thyne owne selfe / as culpable
Whyle thou blamest other / for faute that is in the
Whose lyfe thou dost folowe / in all enormyte
Be no tale berer / vse nat detraction
Sowe nat vyle sedes / for mayntaynyng discorde
Nor paynt nat thy langage by adulation
Quo scun (que) alloqueris [...]ac vt digneris honore Nec minimum e plebe spernere visus eris.
Dyspers thou no slaunders / in tokyn nor in worde
Wysper no newe tales / in churche / strete / nor borde
Dispyse no pore parson / with wordes of rigour
To all men in spekyng / vse reuerent honour
But rather endeuoyr: thy selfe in cōmunyng
Qui potiꝰ studeas: om­nes videaris amare. Nā vere id fertur: non nisi amarus: amat
To seme vnto all men / louyng and amyable
And proue thy selfe louyng / for proued is this thyng
Except hym that loueth / no man can fynde loue stable
For trewe is this sayeng / and oftyn founde probable
If thou wolde fynde fauour / or loue: fyrst sowe the sede
Shewe thou loue to wyn loue / in worde / hart and dede
With fayre plesaunt wordes / wyn fauour of all men
Cunctorū placidis in­eūda est gratia verbis. Et seruāda vetus sem­per amicitia est. Non quen (quam) interoges acri nec voce minaci. Respōsum mitis: tu fa­cilis (que) dabis.
And vse thou no wordes / to breke olde amyte
With speche wyn the fauour / and so demeane the then
To mayntayne that fauour / with true humanite
A frende sone is gotten / kept with difficulte
Demaunde no question / with wordes rygorous
And answere / with wordes demure: and amorous
Cōmende none ouermoche / with wordes excessyfe
Nō nimis extollas quē (quam). nec presseris vllum. Laudibꝰ: & vitijs assit vtris (que) modus. Sic lauda / aut dāna: ne possit dicere quisquā. Iudicij nimiū vel boni tatis habe [...].
But that thou mayst after / agayn hym discōmende
If he fall by fraylnesse-or turne to badder lyfe
Nor none beyonde measure-blame nor reprehende
Let nat laude nor blamyng / beyonde measure extende
But in both vse measure-and do that none the call
In any of both partes: to greatly parcyall
Ferthermore in langage-vsurpe thou no delyte
Insuper idcirco nō de­lectabere lingua: Vulnus in absentes vt iaculere viros. Quis (que) (quam) absentes car pentem signat: & odit: Dū putat absenti non secus esse sibi.
To wounde any person / with wordes in absence
Nor any out of syght / to slaunder nor backebyte
For all suche as here the / than beyng in presence
If they haue clere reason / wyt or intelligence
Shall thynke that by them / thou shalt commyt the same
And whan they are frō syght / them so backebyte & blame
For as thou doest tyll one / so wylt thou do tyll other
And that all men marketh / & doth thy maners hate
Nō tibi blādiri quen (quam) patiare nec vlli Tu blanditus eris: er­ror vter (que) grauis.
And none shall beleue the: all if he were thy brother
But that thou in absence / shall serue hym in lyke rate
Agayne newe I warne the / lyke as I dyd but late
Let no man the flatter / nor no man flatter thou
For both is lyke errour / whiche wysemen dyssalowe

¶ Howe none shulde wyn hym frendes by flatry. Blāditus caueas: (quam) tu merceris amicos Sed ne (que) blanditus te magis vllus emat. Non plus esse putes: si te quis landat iniquus Quā tibi si causa lau­dis iniqua foret

Beware / wyn no frendes / by meane of flateryng
Ill won and inconstant / shall be suche amyte
And suche as the flatter / with fayre wordes glosyng
Are nat more sure frendes / nor more louers to the
In suche fayned frenshyp / is lytell certaynte
If any wycked persone / prayse the / set nought therby
For leude wretches praysyng / is shame and villany
Therfore count theyr praysyng / and commendacyon
Ascribe ad laudē verā maledicta malorum Summa etenim laus ē displicuisse malis.
As if thou were nat worthy / but as rebuke and blame
Dispyse of yll lyuers / theyr adulacion
And if they disprayse the / to blame ascribe the same
Theyr disprayse is praysyng / theyr prayse rebuke & shame
No token can be better / of honest men laudable
Than for to be hated / of vyle wretches culpable
Whan false adulation / with fayre wordes doth glose
Difficile est blādis ver bis occludier aures. Egregiū imprimis id (que) refertur opus.
And flatterers doth trouth: with paynted wordes pall
It is dyffyculte: thyne eares than to close
And counted a maistry / and labour princypall
These are the mermaydes / whom men Serenis call
And merueylous monstres / by song and melody
Blynde people inducyng: to deedly ieoperde
These flatterers / by whom the worlde is acloyde
Nō puto Syrenas ali­as quas spreuit Vlixes Quā blandas linguas: sunt ea monstra satis: Semper blanda magis (quam) tu maledicta timebis Nā vitia ostendūt hac magis illa tegunt.
I counte the same monsters / whose gylefull armony
Ulixes dispysed / and manly dyd, auoyde
Hym selfe so preseruyng / and all his company
In flatterers than chyders / count gretter ieoperdy
For chyders and braulers vse vyces for to blame
But false glosyng flaterers / are wont to cloke the same
A pacyent perceyuyng / his malady and sore
Quē sentit morbū: me dicari enititur aege [...] At: quem nō sentit: ne­gligit vnde petit.
Can kepe hym from daunger / of meate cōtagyous
And busy is to puruay / some medecyne therfore
But a sore vnknowen / is namely ieoperdous
The seke man suspecteth / no matter perylous
For hyd sore prouydyng / no cure nor remedy
Tyll at last he perysshe / atones sodaynly
What sore forth appereth / in woman chylde / or man
Anon is regarded / and lyghtly is curable
Quod patet exterius: facile ē curabile vulriꝰ Philiriden fallet: quod latet interius.
But hyd sore disceyueth / a wysesurgian
So: founde is a blamer / oft season profitable
But swete glosyng flaterers / are alway disceyuable
Better to be blamed of frende: that faythfull is
Than of a flateryng foe / to haue a Judas kysse
Study thou nat outwarde / among the cōmonte
Nō aliud / (quam) sis stude as in plebe videri: Sed ne (que) / quod non est / finxeris esse tibi Non eti ā referas tua fortia facta / genus (que) / Et proauos: quicquid nobilitatis habes.
To seme any other / than thou art inwardly
Nor in thyne owne conceyt / suppose thou nat to be
More better than thou art / for both are lyke foly
Nor custome nat thy selfe / to bost and magnyfy
Of valyant dedes of kyndred / or rychesse
For suche vayne wordes / are sygne of folysshnesse
It foly is to boste / of kyndred or lynage
The laude is in thy kyn / perchance nought in the
Or to boste of ryches / syth fortune is volage
And foly is to boste / of strength or beaute
Whan sykenesse assayleth / both are but vanyte
It foly is to boste: of suche caduke thyng
Man onely is noble / by vertue or cōnyng
It semeth none to be / proclaymer by bostyng
Nō decet / vt laudū qs­ (quam) sit proeco suarum Nec decet alterius ste mata voce premat Alteriꝰ famae dictis nō liuides obstes Cantator facti sis minꝰ ipse tui.
Of his proper laudes / his precony or name
Nor it is nat comely / but very yll syttyng
Another mannes dedes / or lynage for to blame
Resyst nat with wordes / anothers laude and fame
By malyce or enuy / nor yet in case semblable
Synge nat thyne owne laudes / both are in lyke culpable
For lyke as the wyse man / dyscloseth nat his faute
Vt sapiēs nullus populo sua crimina vulgat. Sic ne (que) virtutes pre­dicat ille suas.
Nor his vyce bewrayeth: before the cōmonte
Ryght so he is wele ware / w t wordes proude & haute
To preche forth his vertues: exalted for to be
For this is a prouerbe / soundyng to veryte
Of thy proper mouth / thy laude is nat laudale
But other mennes prayse: is greatly cōmendable
Suche bostyng besemeth / a braynles soudyour
Nā laus (vt fertur) pro prio sordescit in ore / Praesertim falsa: milite digna leui.
Whiche scarsly durst reaue / yong chykens from an hen
Suche crakyng declareth / an hert of small valour
For the greattest crakers / are nat the boldest men
Some thynke them good ynough / to fyght w t. ix. or ten
But if one scoldyng quean / fought w t hym hande to hande
He were nat so manfull / he dystaffe to withstande
Therfore / cesse thy crakyng / & order thy lyueng
Sed magis id facito / quo tu referaris ab oī / Ductus in exemplū: posteritate tua. At / sua [...] [...]atuus diuni­gat crimina multis Omnibus hic iure cre­ditur esse furens.
In doyng manly dedes / accordyng to vertue
That suche as come after / & all thy hole offprynke
May se good example / thyne actes to ensue
But certaynly that fole / whiche doth his fautes shewe
To many / as bostyng / or ioyeng in the same
Of all may be counted / a madman without shame
[...] wh [...]ver suche a role / [...] hym o [...] [...]
[...] seu falsa ferat de [...] seu crimina vera: Dignior est poena dig­nior ille cruce.
Alway is he worthy / of vtter punysshment
For if his lyfe be suche / as bostyng he doth shewe
Than well he deserueth / the galous for tourment
But if he boste of vyce / yet be Juge innocent
yet the wretche is worthy / of punysshment and care
For who sclaundreth hymselfe / whom other can he spare

¶ Howe mā may laufully manyfest his own vertue: without arrogās or pryde

But this nat withstandyng / vnknowen if thou be
Si tamē acciderit (quam) fi [...] ignotus: et ipsa Sint tua: tunc parcue illa referre potes. Fac noscāt hoies: fue­rit tibi siqua faculta [...]. Ne tamē ijs fiat illa molesta: vide.
And if people knowe nat / thy con [...]yng and science
Thou mayst the same shewe forth / if it be true in the
But beware (in shewyng) of pryde and insolence
Of any faculte / if thou haue experience
Do that men may knowe it / but [...]e well as thou can
That the same be noysome / or greuous to no man
By bostyng of the same / or other busynesse
Nemo etenim accens [...] posuit sub corde luce [...] ­nam. Aut oculos propius▪ (quam) decet esse locat▪
Unto theyr displeasure / or quietnesse cōtrary
As by this example / thou mayst perceyue expresse
Non closeth in a corner / a kyndled lumynary
Nor ouer nere the eyes / the same / agayne doth cary
Bytwene both is measure / so hyde nat thy connyng
Nor shewe it nat to moche / by crakyng or bostyng
yet suche as inhabyte / among neyghbours vnkynde
May prayse his owne gyftes / and his owne parte defende
For enuy and malyce / so many wretches doth blynde
That els shulde non at al / his vertues cōmende
But beyonde his bondes / he shulde nat hym extende
Lest his gyftes knowen: heape / and augment enuy
And cause hym lyue after / moche more vnquietly

¶ Of vayne glory nat to be coueted.

Syth all worldly glory / is small and transitory
Gloria nam studio non est tibi vana petenda▪ Non sapit is: sicui glo­ria vana placet. At vana est oisquia: quicꝗd gessimus ipsi / Nō nos sed sūmus dux suit ipse deus.
And all holy lyuers / the same / in hert dispyse
Therfore thou oughtest nat / to study for vayne glory
What man it desyreth / ought nat be coūted wyse
But vayne is all glory / nowe haue I tolde the twyse
For what good we wretches do / any tyme or tyde
Our selfe it perfourme nat / but god whiche is our gyde
And therfore all glory / all prayse / laude and honour
Propterea ē omnis coe lesti debita patri: Gloria sic Christi dice responsa docet. Immeritis igi [...] nobis est siqua tributa: Haec poterit vana di­cie [...] atque leuis.
As dewe to the father / hye and celestyall
So teacheth holy churche / spouse of our sauiour
Wherfore if glory / or honour temporall
Be gyuen here in erthe / to be people mortall
Suche honour and glory / may well be called vayne
As waynyng & fadyng / nat able to remayne

[...] At Ti qué obiur [...]: cu­ra ne percitus ira Sis visus: sed (quam) ductus a more facis.

If thou be constrayned / any persone to blame
Do that thou nat seme / for wrath hym to reproue
But with all demurenesse / behaue the in the same
As nat led by malyce: but rather of good loue
Oft tyme a great blamer / is lytell for behoue
But rather maketh worse / by to great cruelte
Where as a mery blamer: is great vtylyte
To the frayle offender / by countenaunce demure
Saepe nihil prodest ni­ [...] reprehē for acerbꝰ Plus prodest hilaris: nā magis ille docet. Errori veniam facilis donabis: et illi Non dandam dices: si repetitus erit.
So glad chere doth profyte / whan yre rageth in vayne
Be lyght to forgyuenesse / and byd gylty be sure
Nat to haue lyke mercy / if they trespas agayne
If thou loue the synner: and worde can nat constrayne
Hym to cesse his foly / than vs [...] thou more rygour
As fetters or pryson / to sober his furour
Better is to suffer / hym for a tyme to smerte
Si ne (que) verba valent: & carior ipse reprensus: Vtere carceribus: con­pede stringe pedes Non nimiū longe fue­ris iurgando profectus Inter di [...]iūctos acrior esse caue.
Than wander vncor [...]ect / to manyfolde errour
And after se hym ende / with sadde and wofull herte
To his owne confusion / and frendes dishonour
Nor go thou nat to farre / blamyng with wordes sour
Or ragyng and chydyng / for any cryme or synne
Namely agaynst suche / as are nat of thy [...]ynne
If thou be wyse / folowe the maner what thou can
Si sapias: medicos iu [...] gans imitare peritos Qui tantum: vt [...]anent putrida mēbra secant. Sic tu quo prosis: pru­denter corripe car [...]. Nō odiū queras: dum male facta refers.
Of a wyse phesician: or leche experient
For deed flesshe they cut out / of woman chylde or man
In most easy maner / onely for this entent
To restore vnto helth / the paynfull pacyent
So blame thou with wysdome / thy frēde aboue all thyng
Lest thou wyn but hatred / by rygorous chydyng
Aduert glasse is brytell / but yren stele and brasse
Ergo si [...] hoc caro: [...]ū (que) est [...]iniu [...]ia cesset. Sit tūc: cū melior nul­la relicta via est.
Endureth great strokes / or they receyue fygure
But the cryspyng yren / suffyseth brytell glasse
So man must be treated / as semeth theyr nature
Some roughly / some myloly / with fayre wordes demure
Therfore blame but seldome / and without iniury
And that whan thou seest: none other remedy

¶ Howe he whiche is blamyd for his faute / ought behaue hym selfe.

Agayne / if another the blame or reprehende
Si ꝗs te cōtra moneat patiare monentem. Qui monet vt pro [...]it: non graue dicta feras. Nā si te metito iurga­uit profuit ille. Sin min [...]: is voluit vti lis esse tibi.
Or warne the of thy faute / endure hym pacyently
If he warne thy profyte / to his wordes entende
Bere nat his rebukes / nor wordes heuely
For if thou haste mysdome / of blame art thou worthy
So dyd he the profyte / if thou be nat culpable
yet thought he vnto the / for to be profytable
Thys wy [...] / [...] and [...] h [...] good mynde
And nat worse art thou / reb [...]e [...] innocent
And certesse it is better / sharpe wordes and vnkynde
To suffer of a frende: spoken for good entent
Than of a fo to haue / fayre speche and fraudulent
The one wolde thy profyte / all if he seme nat so
But ofte glosed langage / cloketh a mortall fo

Howe man ought behaue hym selfe anenst his enmyes. Te siquādo procax in [...] micus dente lacessit: Vtere et aduersus hūc grauitate tua.

¶ If any testy foes / ioyned as burre to burre
Assayle the by malyce / to wrath prouokyng the
Grynnyng and gnarryng: as doth a butchers curre
For get thou nat suffrance / nor thyne olde grauyte
Disdayne thou suche wretches / outher to here or se
Syth suche want good maners / all reason and wysdome
One (shall) them dispysyng / in best maner ouercome
O / howe moche hath greued / a subtyll for mortall
Heu quātum nocu [...]t sine ferro callidꝰ hosti [...] Si facit: vt solita tu grauitate cadas Nō quicquā indignum sancto tibi decidat o [...]e Quāu [...] ille canis im­proba verba latet.
Without swerde or weapen / yfhe by wordes fell
From thy wont grauyte / constrayne the to fall
Wherfore / if thou be wyse / worke after my counsell
Here nat that scolder / and braulyng hounde of hell
Though his mouth by malyce: braulyng do fome & blede
Let no worde vnworthy / out of thy mouth procede.

¶ Of maner to be kepte in spekyng. Praeterea intendas. ne sermo longius erret. Digressus propera / lu­ce reuerte domum Prospice / ne quis [...] di­cat iā luce propinqua: Iam tādem ad causam propositùm (que) redi.

Further more intende thou / that thou in cōmunyng
Erre nat from thy purpose / to farre / in wordes vayne
If thou make digression / go nat so farre wandryng
But that thou may to purpose / by lyght retourne agayn
Lest some in derysion / warne the in wordes playne
Sayeng / syr consyder: it draweth fast to nyght
At laste drawe to purpose / retourne whyle it is lyght
Nowe brefely concludyng / whan thou shalt fel [...] and se
Deni (que) / cum sentis so­cios sermone grauari [...] Desine ne pergas lon­giu [...] esse grauis.
Thy long speche tedyous / to thy felowes present
Cesse / and procede no more tedious for to be
For short song and plesant / is most cōuenient
And short tale cōmended / is best of men prudent
As small meate prouoketh / a gredy appetyte
So shorte speth? gyueth / to herers most delyte

¶ Of measure to be kept in curyosyte of mancions.

Desyr [...] thou nat to dwell / in curyous buyldyng
Nō habitesoedes: pictu ra / et marmore culta [...] Sed salubrem cures it coluisse domum.
Of marble and pycture / or grauyng curyous
Suche buyldyng besemeth / an emperouror kyng
But before all other / it semeth goddes house
Oft tyme the house sheweth / proude mynde gloryous
Wherfore / seke in housyng / holsome cōmodyte
Rather than proude buyldyng / or curyosite
And wheder thou shalt bylde / hyt other hyre thy hous
[...] seu tu fabricas p­cio seu suscipis emptā. Aspice: qualē vsus exi­git ipse tuus. Nam domus humanos cum solum fiat in vsus Assit dumtaxat vsibus apta tuis.
Marke if it be nedefull / and competent to the
Seke more ease and profite / than grauyng gloryous
Syth houses are buylded / for mannes necessyte
And only for mannes vse / and cōmodite
Prepare thyne abydyng / and habytacyon
After thy nede / thyne vse and occupacyon
Nor seke thou nat pleasure / in comely apparayle
Nec tibi decult; domibus quaerēda voluptas Sed magis e cella est interiora tua.
In deckyng thyne houses / with costly ornament
In outwarde ornament / is pompe and small auayle
Fyrst garnysshe and clense / the house of thyne entent
Than clense thy bedchamber / from all displesant sent
In a lytell parler / clene / and of swete odour
Is roume sufficient / and plenty of pleasour
Hāc si mūdabis: miros tibi fundet odores Sume voluptates: quod cupis inde tibi. Cūque domo verses nō toto tempore vitae In cella maneas nocti­bus atque die. Propterea assyrio cu­res hāc spargere odore Haec cures: omni quo decoretur ope▪
For in thyne outwarde house / thou seldome doest frequent
In chamber thou restest: ofte tyme both day and nyght
And therfore / it garnysshe / with herbes redolent
And with fragrant odours / thy spyryte for to lyght
Make it swete in odour / and comely vnto syght
That this thy plesant cell / adourned in best wyse
May declare the clennesse / and fulfyll the suffyse
Therfore / the housholder / and mayster of the house
Nō igitur dominꝰ pulchra noscatur ab aede. Sed domꝰ a domino sit celebrata suo. Nō decet: vt totus tibi splēdor ab aede petat̄. Splēdorem domini sed iuuet ipsa domus.
Ought nat to be noted / by sumptuous buyldyng
Nor by outwarde grauyng / or warkes curyouse
But let the house be lauded / more after his lyueng
Unto thy laude and honour / it is but lytell thyng
That on thy fayre buyldyng: thy name shulde hole depede
yet the buyldyng somwhat: the mayster may cōmende
Let nat this olde sentence, whiche people oft frequent
Nō queat illa frequēs in te sentencia dici. Quā dispar dominꝰ est tibi prisca domus▪ Saepe ego dicentes au­diui tempore nostro. Heu antiqua domus: (quam) tibi dispar herus.
Agaynst the be spoken / whiche is this to recorde
O noble mancyon / O house most auncient
Howe greatly vnto the: discordyng is thy lorde
For often in my tyme / my selfe haue harde this worde
Alas noble buyldyng / house of antiquyte
Howe moche is thy mayster / & lorde vnlyke to the
All thynges here spoken / of buyldyng curyous
Nō etiā condas maiora palacia tuti: Quā: modo praescriptꝰ [...]ictet in aede modus.
Cōcernyng the Cytie / thou must them vnderstande
In lykewyse forbyddyng / great buyldyng sumptuous
And houses superflue / in countrey or vplande
For of many folyes / this one I count most fonde
To buylde costly cages / in forest / parke or wode
Whiche nat to no man nor beest / can fynally do good

¶ Of maner to be obserued in iesture & coūtenaūce. Sic manuum gestns: sic os: oculos (que) gubernes: Indiciū vt prestes: qua liter intus habes. Quos autē gestus alio­rum ducis ineptos: In te crede illos posse placere minus.

¶ So gouerne thy iesture / of body fote and hande
Of countenaunce / eyen / and mouth / with fayre semblaūce
That who the beholdeth / may se and vnderstande
Thyne inwarde behauour / by outwarde countenaunce
And where thou seest other / of fro warde gouernaūce
And iesture dyshonest: agaynst nurture and skyll
Consyder that lyke iesture / shuld the beseme as yll
And whom thou reputest wele maneted dispose the
At / si quid dubitas: fi­dos tibi cō sule amicos Vt: quic quid peccas te monuisse velint Sic faciūt docti picto­res / sic (que) poetae. Interrogāt alios: qua­le videtur opus.
Theyr maners to folowe / in manerly iesture
And if thou in norture / drede of incertaynte
Take counsell of frendes / proued louyng and sure
So poetes and paynters: in verses & pycture
Take counsell of other / inquyryng theyr sentence
To theyr owne cōceyte / before they gyue credence

Of honest occupaciōs to be vsed cōueniēt to mānes state.

¶ In lyke wyse behaue the / and this in any wyse
Sed ne (que) tu cupidꝰ tur pes sectaberis artes: Multarum vt dominus e [...]ciaris opum. Sed pariter f [...]gias quae sordida lucra parātur: Nā (que) odij causas / inui diam (que) parant.
I warne the to beware / of artes of vylenesse
Or foule occupacyon / to haunt or exercyse
By wretched couetyse / to gather great rychesse
Fly lucre dishonest / by fraudes or falsenesse
Uyle lucre is lothsom / both vnto good and man
And causeth the getter / oft ryme his purpose ban
For therby is the soule / in daunger for to spyll
And the same defyled / with name of vylany
And man wynneth hatred / hyd rancour and ylwyll
Therfore / namely flye thou the spot of symony
And all maner braūches: of cloked vsery
By fraudes and falshod / do nat thy good extende
For goodes falsly goten / come syldome to good ende
Wherfore be no toller / catchepoll / nor customer
Quare non custos por­tus: nō foenoris auctor Nō lanius: caupo [...] sor­det id omne genus.
No broker nor botcher / no somner nor sergiaun:
Be thou none Inholder: hosteler / nor tauernet
No bryggyng exchetour / nor yet baylyf erraunt
An Offyciall or Shirife / are honest but ryght skant
The most of this nomber / lyueth by double tollyng
By cloked extorcyon / by fraudes and by pollyng
Wherfore / these and other / vnto them semblable
Et sordent omnes / quo [...]um non artis emetur Ingenium / sed opus: id genus omne fuge.
Ar vyle busynesse / hurtyng both name and thought
And all suche craftes are vyle / and skant laudable
Whose warke (and nat cōnyng) is vsed or yet bought
In shoppes or insale / of good cōnyng is nought
Nor yet wyt nor wysdom / but g [...]le & subtylte
Where dysc [...]yte is wysdom / there is no honeste
Nor nought is prayse worthy / in crafty cokery
Nil habet ingenij: ge­quid vulgata taberna Exposuit: quae (que) ē prōp ta popina gulae. Alea: saltator seruant nil prorsus honesti.
By saued equyte / and meates prodigall
Kyndlyng carnall lustes / by meane of glotony
The dyse are damnable / and fury infernall
Uayne daunsyng is noryse / to vyle lustes carnall
Uyle ioglers and pypers / by wanton melody
And songes excyteth / youth oft to rybaudy
A poore pety marchaunt / or pedler is but vyle
Mercator tenuis: sordi dus ipse quo (que) est. Quisquis emit merces illas subito (que) reuendit Periurus / vanus semꝑ is esse solet Nil autem vano: & per iuto turpius extat Nā (que) homines fraudat negligit ille deos At si mercat or magnus sit mercis opimae: Vt puto nō magno ver titur ille probro. Hic quo (que) laudari po­terit si plenꝰ: ad agros Se tantem vertēs: agri cola esse cupit.
And suche as nowe beyng / retayle anon agayne
These comely frequent / fraude / periury / and gyle
And harde is from lyeng / theyr tonges to refrayne
Than a vayne periurer / nonght is more vyle certayne
For hym selfe forsweryng / by wretched couetyse
Both men he defraudeth / and god doth he dispyse
But a famous marchaunt: great / ryche / and habundant
And ryghtwysely dealyng / is nat vituperable
But worthy with great rulers / for to be conuersant
As to court and Cyte / nedefull and profitable
But yet suche a marchaunt / is counted more laudable
To leaue courte and Cytie / whan he hath full ynough
And to be an husbande / to gyde the wayne & plough
For among all craftes / and worldly busynesse
Nil melius cultu tertae nil dignius illa Quae pauca accipiens: plurima donat hero.
No thyng is more lauded / than tyslyng of the grounde
Whichefor lytell labour / yeldeth great rychesse
And small sede receyuyng / causeth the lorde abounde
In plentye / wherwith all / both he / and his are founde
And holsom vnto body / is this same exercyse
And also to the soule / quenchyng the rote of vyce
Whylom the great Romayns / moste myghty conquerous
To whome all the worlde / was made subiecte & bounde
Hanc quondam mundi victores / ture modesto Vtere / cū propria non rubuere manu.
Were nothyng ashamed / to take the same labours
With theyr propre handes / to turne & dygge the groūde
And often suche fathers / were in the fyldes founde
That dyuerse were called / from plough to the empyre
At prynces requestes / and cōmons great desyre
Some of homely plowmen / iust / symple / and rurall
Curia conscriptos pa­tres cogebat ab agris.
Made ouer the hole worlde / most worthy emperours
And some other called / to diguyte royall
As Dictatours / Consuls / and prudent Senatours
Whiche after great actes / and deserued honours
Haue left theyr great lordshyp / & after were ryght fayne
Unto the quyete fyldes / and plough to turne agayne
Thus the romayne lawes / constrayned men rurall
For sober behauour / and wyse frugalyte
From ploughe to be prynces / in rowm imperyall
Qus (que) hodie est consulante bubulcus erat.
So some / thone day / lyfted to great auctoryte
Was yester an heerd / cōtent with pouerte
Thus of all labours / and euery exercyse
The tylmanes labours / is counted of most pryce
Among artyficers / the wysesurgian
Artifices inter medicꝰ laudatur: et archi Tectus: qui fabros aedi­ficare docet,
Is lauded nat a lyttell / and for necessyte
And nat lesse is lauded / the good phesician
And lawier whiche leaneth / to ryght and equyte
Masons / carpenters: and other suche as be
For mannes lyfe nedefull: and greatly profitable
May welbe admytted / as craftes cōmendable
But no maner scyence / no craft nor exercyse
Can be in it own selfe / so good and necessary
But that may be blamed / and obscured by vyce
If the same be vsed / wrong and to way contrary
In all thynge discression / is gyde and lumynary
It weke thynge susteyneth / and lyghtneth obscure
And all thynge derecteth / in ordre and measure
Desyre thou none office / nor cure in any wyse
Officij exactor nō sis: si redditur vltro Gratia: nō segnis ipse receptor eris Nō cito credideris vul go quaecun (que) feruntur. Saepe fuit falsum quod mala lingua refert
If it vnrequyred: be gyuen vnto the
If thou thynke the able / do nat the same dispyse
And thanke thou the gyuer / with dewe humanyte
Gyue thou nat sone credēce / to voyce of cōmonte
For oft tyme yll tonges / confederate apply
Of customed malyce / to flatter or to lye
And leude vnder colour / of playne simplicite
Saepe mali querūt sub nomine simplicitatis: Dū referunt falsa: prae­cipitare bonos. Artibus istorū / quantū potes ipse resiste Despice / quae dicūt: de­spice quae faciunt.
Composyng theyr lyes / oft tymes craftely
Supplanteth good people / and men of honeste
This is theyr chefe study / and fendly polycy
Resyst thou suche wretches / and theyr wordes de [...]ye
Dispyse thou what they say / and theyr dedes dispyse
For all is but flattery / or gyle that they deuyse
Shewe thy selfe moste humble / most deboner and mylde
Te placidū studeas re­bus praestare secundis. Nam magis id debes: quo magis ipse potes. At / si sint tenues tibi res solatia quaeras Nec fueris visus omni bus esse miser.
Whan most welth and ryches / shall vnto the abounde
Than be thou most curtayse / to man / woman / and chylde
For the more thou mayst / more straytly art thou bounde
And thoughe thou haue but lyttell / yet fall nat to y t groūde
Take comfort to thy selfe / in hope of better spede
Nor let nat all men knowe / thy mysery and nede
Whan thy selfe be waylest / thy nede and mysery
No tua cū doleas: alio rum cōmoda narres. Ne videare suis inui­dus esse bonis. Discere semꝑ ama: nec sit tibi maxima cura. A quo tu discas: sit di­dicisse satis.
Comon nat of others / welth / ease / and quyetnesse
Lest thou seme to murmur / by malyce and enuy
Agaynst others fortune / helth / honour / and rychesse
Loue euer for to lerne / ware wysdom and goodnesse
Nor of whom thou lernest / thou nedest nat discerne
Let it full suffyce the / good maners for to lerne
And what thou hast lerned / teche thou the same agayne
Quod nosti: doceas alios: id scire volentes Sis memor ex alijs te didicisse prius.
To suche as lernyng coūteth treasour and store
On obstynate dullardes / breke nat thy wyt and brayne
In apt myndes / cōnyng / declared / waxeth more
Remember of other / thy selfe lerned before
So let other of the: So lerned may delate
Nor make nat fre scyence / to many subiugate
Nowe my muse Thalia / assyne me to conclude
Iam (que) operi finē nostro praescribe Thalia. Tempore: quae superāt cōmediore canes. Da veniā lector si sum nimis ipse profectus Nā nisi ꝓdesse: nil mea musa cupit.
This my present labour / and instant busynesse
And what thynge remayneth / with moresolycytude
In tyme more oportune / I gladly shall expresse
But good reder pardon / my tedyous rudenesse
For onely my purpose / is iuuent to profyce
And yong tender myndes / to maners to exyte
For as a rased table / with whyte coler alayde
Is redy to receyue / all maner of pycture
So youth is disposed / as cōmonly is sayd
To all good or yll maners / as men put them in vre
But though vnto the worst / youth leaneth of nature
yet a erthen vessell / is euer swete or sowre
And after styll kepeth / tast of the fyrst lycour
Whiche men at begynnyng / for season put therin
So wylde youth abused / fyrst w t frayle plesours blynde
Longe after his proner / and redyer to syn
For foly by custome / oft turneth vnto blynde
That none holsom doctryne / can rase it fro thy mynde
Wherfore: O tender youth / loke on this small treatyse
And leaue barayne balades / mouynge the mynde to vyce
Rede this lyttell treatyce / O iuuent of Englande
As myrour of good maners: ye chefely of London
And whan ye it redyng / shall perfyte vnderstande
Gyue ye laude and thankes / to Gyles Alyngton
Knyght / at whose precept / this treatyse was begon
If this do you profyte / that shall my mynde excyte
Of mo frutefull matters / after this to wryte.
¶ Finis.

¶ Thus endeth the ryght frutefull matter of the foure Uertues cardynall: Im­prynted by Rychard Pynson: pryn ter vnto the kynges noble gra­ce: with his gracyous pry­uylege / the whiche boke I haue pryn­ted / at the instan­ce & request / of the ryght noble Rychard yerle of Kent.

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