luptuous, and with the absence of them is nat discontented, and from the presence of them he wyllyngly abstayneth." But in myne oppinion, Plotinus, the wonderfull philosopher, maketh an excellent definition of temperaunce, sayenge, that the propretie or office therof is to couaite nothynge whiche maye be repented, also nat to excede the boundes of medyocritye, and to kepe desyre under the yocke of reason.b He that practiseth this vertue is called a temperate man, and he that doeth contrarye there to is named intemperate. Betwene whome and a persone incontynent Aristotelle maketh this. diuersytye; that he is intemperate, whyche by his owne election is ladde, supposynge that the pleasure that is presente, or (as I mought saye) in ure shulde all waye be folowed. But the persone incontinent supposeth nat so, and yet he nat withstandinge dothe folowe it. The same autour also maketh a diuersitie betwene hym that is temperate and him that is continent; sayeng, that the continent man is suche one that no thinge will do for bodely pleasure whiche shall stande ἀκολασία ἐστὶν ὧν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ζῷα κοινωνεῖ, ὅθεν ἀνδραποδώδεις καὶ θηριώδεις φαίνονται· αὗται δ ̓ εἰσὶν ἁφή καὶ γεῦσις.—Arist. Eth, Nic. lib. ii. cap. 7 ; lib. iii. cap. 10. (13).

* Ὁ δὲ σώφρων (λέγεται) τῷ μὴ λυπεῖθαι τῇ ἀπουσίᾳ καὶ τῷ ἀπέχεσθαι τοῦ ἡδέος. Arist. Eth. Nic. lib. iii. cap. 11. (13).

This is not the author's own opinion, but is merely copied from Patrizi, who says: Academici palæstram doloris fortitudini relinquentes, dicunt temperantiarn cerni in prætermittendis voluptatibus. Quâ opinione ductus, Plotinus Platonicus temperantiæ munus esse dixit, nihil appetere pœnitendum, nullâ in re metain moderationis excedere, et sub jugum rationis cupiditatem domare.'-De Regno a Reg. Instit. lib. vi. tit. 18. And Patrizi himself has taken the definition at second hand from Macrobius' Commentary on the Somnium Scipionis, as is evident on comparing the following passage in the latter: 'Sed Plotinus inter philosophiæ professores cum Platone princeps, libro de virtutibus, gradus earum verâ et naturali divisionis ratione compositos per ordinem digerit . . . Temperantiæ (est) nihil appetere pœnitendum, in nullo legem moderationis excedere, sub jugum rationis cupiditatem domare.'-Lib. i. cap. 8, §§ 5, 7. The so-called definition, it may be observed, is not to be found in Plotinus, but is simply part of an abridgment by Macrobius of the works of that philosopher.

· Ὁ μὲν οὖν ἀκόλαστος ἐπιθυμεῖ τῶν ἡδέων πάντων ἢ τῶν μάλιστα, καὶ ἄγεται ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ὥστε ἀντὶ τῶν ἄλλων ταῦθ' αἱρεῖσθαι· διὸ καὶ λυπεῖται καὶ ἀποτυγ Xávwv kal éπi0vμŵv. – Arist. Eth. Nic. lib. iii.-cap. 11. (14).

agayne reason.

reason.

The same is he which is temperate, sauynge that the other hathe corrupte desyres, whiche this man lacketh. Also the temperate man deliteth in nothynge contrarye to But he that is continent deliteth, yet will he nat be ladde agayne reason. Finally, to declare it in fewe wordes, we may well calle hym a temperate man that desireth the thynge whiche he aught to desire, and as he aught to desyre, and whanne he aught to desyre.b Nat withstandynge there be diuers other vertues whiche do seme to be as it were companyons with temperaunce. Of whome (for the exchuynge of tediousenes) I wyll speke nowe onely of two, moderation and sobrenesse, whiche no man (I suppose) doughteth to be of suche efficacie, that without them no man may attayne unto wisedome, and by them wisedome is sonest espied.

CHAPTER XXI.

Of Moderation a spice of temperance.

MODERATION is the limites and boundes whiche honestie hath appoynted in spekynge and doynge; lyke as in rennynge passynge the gole is accounted but rasshenesse, so rennynge halfe waye is reproued for slownesse. In like wise wordes and

* Ο τε γὰρ ἐγκρατὴς οἷος μηδὲν παρὰ τὸν λόγον διὰ τὰς σωματικὰς ἡδονὰς ποιεῖν καὶ ὁ σώφρων, ἀλλ ̓ ὁ μὲν ἔχων ὁ δ ̓ οὐκ ἔχων φαύλας ἐπιθυμίας, καὶ ὁ μὲν τοιοῦτος οἷος μὴ ἥδεσθαι παρὰ τὸν λόγον, ὁ δ ̓ οἷος ἥδεσθαι ἀλλὰ μὴ ἄγεσθαι. —Arist. Eth. Nic, lib. vii. cap. 9. (II).

* Διὸ δεῖ τοῦ σώφρονος τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν συμφωνεῖν τῷ λόγῳ· σκοπὸς γὰρ ἀμφοῖν τὸ καλόν, καὶ ἐπιθυμεῖ ὁ σώφρων ὧν δεῖ καὶ ὡς δεῖ καὶ ὅτε· οὕτω δὲ τάττει καὶ ὁ λóyos.-Arist. Eth. Nic. lib. iii. cap. 12. (15).

• These are enumerated by Patrizi as follows: Temperantiam comitantur modestia, verecundia, pudor, abstinentia, castitas, honestas, moderatio, parcitas, sobrietas, pudicitia.'—De Regno et Reg. Inst. lib. vi. tit. 18.

d This metaphor, as usual, is borrowed from Patrizi, who says: 'Moderatio actionem metitur, ne fines, quos honestas præscripsit, aut non attingat, aut longius progrediatur. Ut enim in currendi certaminibus, ultra metas currere temeritatis

actes be the paces, wherin the witte of man maketh his course, and moderation is in stede of the gole, whiche if he passe ouer, he is noted either of presumption or of foole hardinesse; if he come short of the purpose, he is contemned as dulle, and unapte to affaires of great importaunce. This vertue shall best be perceiued by rehersinge of examples shewed by noble men, whiche is in effecte but dayly experience.

Fabius Maximus, beinge fyue tymes Consul, perceyuinge his father, his graundefather, and great graundefather, and diuers other his auncetours to haue had often tymes that most honorable dignitie, whan his sonne, by the uniuersall consent of the people, shulde be also made consul, he ernestly intreated the people to spare his sonne, and to gyue to the house of Fabius as hit were a vacation tyme from that honoure, nat for that he hadde anye mystrust in his sonnes vertue and honesty, but that his moderation was suche that he wolde nat that excellent dignitie shulde alway continue in one familie. Scipio Affricanus the elder, whan the senate and people had purposed that accordinge to his merites he shuld haue certaine statues or images set in al courtes and places of assembly, also they wold haue set his image in triumphant apparaile within the capitole, and haue granted to him to haue ben consul and Dictator during his lyfe; he, nat withstandyng, wolde nat suffre that anye of them shulde be decreed, either by the acte of the senate, or by the peoples suffrage. Where in

esse videtur, sic vix è carceribus progredi, ignaviæ.'-De Regno et Reg. Inst. lib. vi. tit. 24.

• So Montaigne says: L'archer qui oultrepasse le blanc fault, comme celuy qui n'y arrive pas; et les yeulx me troublent à monter à coup vers une grande lumiere, esgalement comme à devaler à l'ombre.'-Essais, tom. i. p. 295.

Fabius vero Maximus cum à se quinquies, et à patre, avo, proavo, majori busque suis sæpenumero consulatum gestum animadverteret, comitiis, quibus filius ejus summo consensu consul creabatur, quàm potuit constanter cum populo egit, "ut vacationem aliquando hujus honoris Fabiæ genti darent:" non quòd filii virtutibus diffideret (erat enim illustris), sed ne maximum imperium in unâ familiâ continuaretur. Quid hâc moderatione valentius, aut efficacius; quæ etiam patrios affectus qui potentissimi habentur, superavit ?'-Val. Max. lib. iv. cap. 1, § 5.

goode and

he shewed hym selfe to be as valiant in refusing of honoures, as he was in the actes where in he had them well Toleration deserued. There is also moderation in tolleration of fortune of fortune of euerye sorte, whiche of Tulli is called badde. equabilite, whiche is, whan there semeth to be alwaye one visage and countenance neuer changed nor for prosperitie nor for aduersite.b

Metellus, called Numidicus, in a common sedicion beyng banisshed from Rome, and abyding in Asia, as he hapned to sit with noble men of that countray in beholding a great play, ther were letters deliuered him, wherby he was assertained that by the hole consent of the senate and people his retourne into his countray was graunted; he (nat withstanding that he was of that tidinges exceding ioifull) remeued nat untyll the playes were ended, nor any man sitting by hym mought perceiue in his countenance any token of gladnes.

The great kynge Antiochus, whiche longe tyme hadde in his dominion all Asia, whiche is accounted to be the thirde part of the worlde,d whan at the laste beinge vainquisshed by

'Non defuit majoribus grata mens ad præmia superiori Africano exsolvenda : siquidem maxima ejus merita paribus ornamentis decorare conati sunt. Voluerunt illi statuas in comitio, in rostris, in curiâ, in ipsâ denique Jovis Optimi Maximi cellâ ponere voluerunt imaginem ejus triumphali ornatu indutam Capitolinis pulvinaribus applicare voluerunt ei continuum per omnes vitæ annos consulatum, perpetuamque dictaturam tribuere. Quorum nihil sibi, neque plebiscito dari, neque senatusconsulto decerni patiendo, pæne tantum in recusandis honoribus se gessit, quantum gesserat in emerendis.'-Val. Max. lib. iv. cap. 1, § 6.

Præclaraque est æquabilitas in omni vitâ, et idem semper vultus, eademque frons.'-De Off. lib i. cap. 26.

• Numidicus autem Metellus populari factione patriâ pulsûs in Asiam secessit, In quâ cum ei fortè ludos Trallibus spectanti literæ redditæ essent, quibus scriptum erat, maximo senatûs et populi consensu reditum illi in Urbem datum, non è theatro prius abiit, quàm spectaculum ederetur; non lætitiam suam proximè sedentibus ullâ ex parte patefecit; sed summum gaudium intra se continuit. Eundem constat pari vultu, et exulem fuisse, et restitutum : adeo moderationis beneficio medius semper inter secundas et adversas res animi firmitate versatus est.'-Val. Max. lib. iv. cap. 1, § 13.

From this passage it would seem that the author was unaware of the discovery of America. Yet this is almost incredible, even on the assumption that he had no

Lucius Scipio, he had lost the more parte of his empire, and was assigned but to a smal porcion, he used his fortune so moderately that he gaue great thankes to the Romanes, that beinge delyuered of so greatte burdon and charge, he more easely mought gouerne a litle dominion. Alexander, emperour of Rome, so in this vertue excelled, that beinge electe and made emperour at xvi yeres of his age, whan the senate and people for his vertue, wherin he passed al other, wolde haue hym called the great Alexander and father of the countray, whiche of all names was hygheste, he with a wonderfull grauite refused it, sayeng, that it behoued that those names were optayned by merites and ripenesse of yeres. The same

knowledge of the feat accomplished by the great Genoese navigator in 1492, because the Cabots, father and son, had at least not later than 1502, placed England in possession of the fact; and the citizens of London had had ocular proof of the results of their voyages, for Stow tells us that in 'this yeere were brought unto the king three men, taken in the new found ilands by Sebastian Gabato, before named, in anno 1498. These men were clothed in beasts skins, and eate raw flesh, but spake such a language as no man could understand them, of the which three men, two of them were seene in the king's court at Westminster two yeeres after, clothed like English men, and could not be discerned from English men.'-Annales, p. 485, ed. 1615. The probability however is, that the author did not regard the newly discovered territories as a continent. In a letter by Robert Thorne, a merchant of London, to the king, circa 1527, he says, 'Of the foure partes of the worlde, it seemeth three parts are discouered by other Princes. For out of Spaine they haue discouered all the Indies and seas Occiden tall, and out of Portingall all the Indies and seas Orientall; so that by this part of the Orient and Occident they haue compassed the world. For the one of them departing toward the Orient, and the other toward the Occident, met againe in the course or way of the middest of the day, and so then was discouered a great part of the same seas and coastes by the Spaniards. So that now rest to be discouered the sayd North parts, the which, it seemeth to mee, is onely your charge and duety.'-Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 213, ed. 1599.

Antiochus autem a L. Scipione ultra Taurum montem imperii finibus summotus, cum Asiam provinciam, vicinasque ei gentes amisisset, gratias agere populo · Romano non dissimulanter tulit, "quòd nimis magnâ procuratione liberatus, modicis regni terminis uteretur." Et sane nihil est tam præclarum, aut tam magnificum, quod non moderatione temperari desideret.'-Val. Max. lib. iv. cap. I. ext. 9.

b 'Recusavit et Magni nomen, quod ei quasi Alexandro est oblatum senatus judicio. . Post hæc acclamatum est, "Magne Alexander, dii te servent. Si