specially in loue towarde their husbandes; or els mought there happen to be some wronge inheritours.a

Constance is as propre unto a man as is reason, and is of suche estimation, that according as it was spoken of a wise man, it were better to haue a constant enemye thanne an inconstant frende." Wherof I my selfe haue had sufficient ex

• Montaigne's opinion on this point was just the reverse of this: 'Il n'en est pas à douzaines, comme chascun sçait, et notamment aux debvoirs de mariage; car c'est un marché plein de tant d'espineuses circonstances, qu'il est malaysé que la volonté d'une femme s'y maintienne entiere long temps : les hommes, quoyqu'ils y soyent avecques un peu meilleure condition, y ont trop affaire. La touche d'un bon mariage, et sa vraye preuve, regarde le temps que la société dure; si elle a esté constamment doulce, loyale, et commode. En nostre siecle, elles reservent plus communement à estaler leurs bons offices, et la vehemence de leur affection, envers leurs maris perdus; cherchent au moins lors à donner tesmoignage de leur bonne volonté.'-Essais, tom. iii. p. 227, ed. 1854.

Apparently the reference is to the following passage in a work sometimes attributed to S. Chrysostom, but which is not generally admitted as genuine, and is not printed in Migne's collection of the works of that father: Nam inimicus manifestus melior est, quàm amicus fictus.'-Opus Imperfectum. Homil. xlü. in Matt. cap. xxii. ed. Caillau, tom. viii. p. 458. Considerable doubt was cast upon the authorship of this work by men who were contemporaries with Sir Thomas Elyot. Thus Bishop Ridley, in A brief declaration of the Lord's Supper, after quoting a passage from it alludes thus to its supposed spuriousness: "The author," saith one, "is suspected." I answer, but in this place never fault was found with him unto these our days. And whether the author were John Chrysostom himself, the Archbishop of Constantinople, or no, that is not the matter: for of all it is granted, that he was a writer of that age, and a man of learning.'—Works, p. 33, ed. 1841, Parker Soc. And Bradford, relating a conversation between the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Chichester, and himself, mentions that he quoted a phrase of Chrysostom, upon which the Archbishop exclaimed, 'Indeed that is of Chrysostom in Opere Imperfecto, which may be doubted of.'-Writings, p. 529, ed. 1848, Parker Soc. Dr. Whitaker, at the end of the century, says: Some do, indeed, suppose that these homilies were written by one Maximus, who was an Arian.'-Disputation, p. 684, ed. 1849, Parker Soc. The 'Opus Imperfectum ' was interdicted by the Index Romanus of Pope Paul IV. in 1559, but the prohibitory sentence was withdrawn by Pius IV. in 1564, and by Clement VIII. in 1596. Bellarmin thinks it credible that the author was a Catholic, but that his work was depraved by the Arians; and it has been supposed by Montfaucon that he could not have lived before the sixth or seventh century. See Calfhill, p. 95, note, ed. 1846, Parker Soc. The Benedictine editors, in their prolegomena to this work say: Illud opus (Imperfectum) nec esse, nec esse posse, Chrysostomi certum est.' See Sandys' Sermons, p. 148, note, ed. 1841, Parker Soc.

perience. But nowe to declare some experience of constance, wherby the reders may be the more therto prouoked, I will reherce some examples therof out of olde histories, as I shall happen to remembre them.

After that Sylla hadde vainquisshed Marius, and destroyed

Sceuola.

the parte of his aduersaries, he with a great numbre of persones all armed, enuironed the senate, intendynge to compell them by violence to condemne Marius for a traytour; whiche request none darste agayne saye, Sceuola onely excepte, who beinge therof demaunded, wolde gyue no sentence. But whan Sylla dyd cast therfore on him a cruell countenance, he with a constant visage and noble courage, said to him, Sylla, all though thou facist and threttist me with thy multitude of souldiours, with whome thou hast thus besieged this court, ye and all though thou doest menace me with dethe neuer so moche, yet shalt thou neuer brynge it to passe that for shedynge a little olde blode, I shall iuge Marius a traytour, by whome this citie and all Italy haue ben preserued.*

The constance that great kynge Alexander had in trustAlexanders ynge his frende agayne false reporte, saued his lyfe, confidence. whereof all men despaired. For after that noble batayle wherin he had vainquisshed Darius, and taken his treasure, as he passed through Cilicia, beynge sore chaufed with feruent heate and the lengthe of his iournay, as he came by the ryuer called Cydnus, beholding it clere and pleasaunt, and thinkynge to a swage therin the heates that he suffred, he went there into naked and dranke therof. But immediately, by the excedinge colde which was in that water, his sinewes

• Dispulsis, prostratisque inimicorum partibus, Sylla occupatâ urbe senatum armatus coegerat, ac summâ cupiditate ferebatur, ut C. Marius quàm celerrimè hostis judicaretur. Cujus voluntati nullo obviam ire audente, solus Scævola interrogatus de hâc re sententiam dicere noluit. Quin etiam truculentius sibi minitanti Syllæ, "Licet," inquit, "mihi agmina militum, quibus Curiam circumsedisti, ostentes; licet mortem identidem mineteris; nunquam tamen efficies, ut propter exiguum senilemque sanguinem meum, Marium, à quo Urbs et Italia conservata est hostem judicem."-Val. Max. lib. iii. cap. 8, § 5.

323

shranke, and his iointes became unweldy, and as they were dede, and all his hoste being discomforted, he was conuayed to a citie thereby, called Tarsum. Where upon the Phisicions assembled and deuisinge for the best remedy, they all were determined to gyue hym one medicine, and that it shulde be ministred by one Philippe, chiefe phisicion with Alexander. In the meane tyme, Parmenio, one of the grettest capitaynes about Alexander, aduertised hym by his letters that he shulde beware of the trayson of the sayde Philyppe, sayenge that he was corrupted with a great some of money by Darius. Wherwith he beinge nothing esbaied" helde in his handes the letter, and receyuinge the medicyne that Philyppe gaue hym, he at one tyme deliured the letter open to Philyppe, and dranke also the medicine, declaringe therby the constance that was in his frendship. Whiche truste nat onely caused nature the better to warke with the medicine, but also bounde so the harte of the Phisicion towarde him, that he euer after studyed more diligently for the helpe and preseruation of the noble prince that dyd so moche trust hym.b

I.e. dismayed. This is simply the French word esbahi, the participle of s'esbahir Anglicised. Cotgrave translates the former, 'abashed, astonished, amazed, appalled.' The form in the text appears to be ära λeyóμevov, and is not noticed by any of the dictionaries except Richardson, who can give no other instances of it. Froissart, in his account of the siege of Bergerac in 1371, says, 'à l'endemain la truie fut levée au plus près qu'ils purent de Bergerac, qui grandement esbahit ceux de la ville,' which Lord Berners translates the whiche greatlye abasshed them of the towne.'-Chron. vol. i. p. 495, ed. 1812. And Philippe de Commines, speaking of the events of the year 1475, says, 'Les Anglois qui sont supicionneux, et qui estoient tous neufs par deça et esbahis, ne se pouvoient contenter de son allée, ni croire qu'il eut nulles gens aux champs; et si ne sçavoit le duc de Bourgougne adouber avec eux le faict du connestable, nonobstant qu'il eut dit que, tout ce qu'il en avoit fait, estoit pour toutes bonnes fins ; et si les eshahissoit l'hyver qui s'approchoit, et sembloit bien, à les ouir parler, que le cœur leur tirast plus à la paix qu'à la guerre.'-Liv. iv. chap. 6. Pan. Litt. ed. Chaucer uses the word abaiste in the same sense in Troylus and Cryseyde.

Alexander Macedonum rex inclytâ jam pugnâ, excellentissimis opibus Darii contusis, æstu et itineris fervore in Ciliciâ percalefactus, Cydno, qui aquæ liquore conspicuus Tarsum interfluit, corpus suum immersit. Subito deinde ex nimio haustu rigoris obstupefactis nervis, ac torpore hebetatis artubus, maximâ cum

Cato.

The constance of Cato Uticensis was all waye immoueable, in so moche as at sondry tymes, whanne he in the Senate egrely defended the publike weale with vehement and longe orations, agayne the attemptates of ambicious persones, he was by them rebuked and committed to prisone. But he therfore nat cessynge, but goinge towarde prisone, detected to the people, as he went, the unlefull purposes and enterprises of them by whome he was punisshed with the peryle that was imminent to the publike weale. Whiche he dyd with suche courage and eloquence that as well the Senate as the people drewe so about him, that his aduersaries were fayne for feare to discharge him. Who can sufficiently commende this noble man Cato, whan he redeth in the warkes of Plutarche of his excellent courage and vertue? Howe moche worthyar had he bene to haue hadde Homere, the trumpe of his fame immortall, than Achilles, who for a lytle wenche contended with Agamemnon onely, where Cato, for the conseruation of the weale publike contended, and also resisted agayne Julius Ceasar and the greatte Pompey, and nat onely agayne theyr exanimatione totius exercitus, in oppidum castris propinquum defertur. Jacebat æger Tarsi, inque valetudine ejus adversa instantis victoriæ spes fluctuabat. Itaque convocati medici attentissimo consilio salutis remedia circumspiciebant. Qui cum ad unam potionem sententiam direxissent, atque eam Philippus medicus suis manibus temperatam Alexandro (erat autem ipsius amicus et comes) porrexisset, à Parmenione missæ literæ superveniunt, admonentes, ut rex insidias Philippi, perinde ac pecuniâ corrupti à Dario, caveret. Quas cum legisset, sine ullâ cunctatione medicamentum hausit, ac tunc legendas Philippo tradidit. Pro quo tam constanti erga amicum judicio, dignissimam à Diis immortalibus mercedem recepit: qui incolumitatis ejus præsidium falso interpellari indicio noluerunt,'— Val. Max. lib. iii. cap. 8, ext. 6.

a

Επαρθεὶς οὖν ὁ Καῖσαρ ἄλλον εἰσέφερε νόμον τὴν Καμπανίαν σχεδὸν ὅλην προσκατανέμοντα τοῖς ἀπόροις καὶ πένησιν. ̓Αντέλεγε δὲ οὐδεὶς πλὴν τοῦ Κάτωνος. Καὶ τοῦτον ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος ὁ Καῖσαρ εἷλκεν εἰς δεσμωτήριον οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον ὑφιέμενον τῆς παῤῥησίας, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ βαδίζειν ἅμα περὶ τοῦ νόμου διαλεγόμενον καὶ παραινοῦντα παύσασθαι τοιαῦτα πολιτευομένους. Επηκολούθει δὲ ἡ βουλὴ μετὰ κατηφείας καὶ τοῦ δήμου τὸ βέλτιστον ἀγανακτοῦν σίωπῇ καὶ ἀχθόμενον, ὥστε τὸν Καίσαρα μὴ λαν θάνειν βαρέως φέροντας, ἀλλὰ φιλονεικῶν καὶ περιμένων ὑπὸ τοῦ Κάτωνος ἐπίκλησιν γενέσθαι καὶ δέησιν προῆγεν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐκεῖνος ἦν δῆλος οὐδὲ μελλήσων τι ποιεῖν, ἡττηθεὶς ὑπὸ αἰσχύνης καὶ ἀδοξίας ὁ Καῖσαρ αὐτός τινα τῶν δημάρχων ὑφῆκε πείσας ¿è̟-λéσbai тdy Káτwva.-Plut. Cato Minor, 33.

menaces, but also agayne theyr desyres and offres of aliaunce? Where of I wolde gladly haue made a remembrance in this warke if the volume there by shulde nat to moche haue increased, and becomen unhandsome.

Undoughtedly, constaunce is an honourable vertue, as inconstance is reprochefull and odious. Wherfore, that man whiche is mutable for euerye occasyon, muste nedes often repente hym, and in moche repentance is nat only moche foly, but also great detriment, whiche euery wyse man wyll eschue if he can. Wherfore to gouernours nothing is more propre than to be in theyr lyuyng stable and constant.

CHAPTER XX.

The true signification of Temperaunce a morall vertue. THIS blessed companye of vertues in this wyse assembled, foloweth Temperaunce, as a sad and discrete matrone and reuerent gouernesse, awaitinge diligently that in any wyse voluptie or concupiscence haue no preeminence in the soule of man. Aristotle defineth this vertue to be a mediocrite in the

pleasures of the body, specially in taste and touching. Arist. Eth. Therfore he that is temperate fleeth pleasures vo

'Do nothing without advice, and when thou hast once done repent not.'Ecclesiasticus xxxii. 19. Montaigne was of the same opinion as Sir T. Elyot, for he says: Au demourant, ie hais cet accidental repentir que l'aage apporte Si i'avois à revivre, ie revivrois comme i'ay vescu: ny ie ne plainds le passé, ny ie ne crainds l'advenir ; et, si ie ne me deceois, il est allé du dedans environ comme du debors.'-Essais, tom. iii. pp. 344, 347.

Adam Smith says: In the command of the appetites of the body consists that virtue which is properly called Temperance. To restrain them within those bounds, which regard to health and fortune prescribes, is the part of Prudence. But to confine them within those limits, which grace, which propriety, which delicacy, and modesty, require, is the office of Temperance.'-Theory of Mor. Sent. P. 34, ed. 1853

Περὶ ἡδονὰς δὲ καὶ λύπας οὐ πάσας, ἧττον δὲ καὶ περὶ τὰς λύπας, μεσότης μὲν σωφροσύνη, ὑπερβολὴ δὲ ἀκολασία. Περὶ τὰς τοιαύτας δὴ ἡδονὰς ἡ σωφροσύνη καὶ ἡ