Augustus. The excellent emperour Augustus on a time, in the presence of many men, plaied on cymbales, or a nother like instrument. A poure man, standyng with other and beholdynge the emperour, saide with a loude voice to his felowe, Seest thou nat howe this voluptuouse lechour tempereth al the worlde with his finger? Whiche wordes the emperour so wisely noted, without wrathe or displeasure, that euer after, durynge his lyfe, he refrayned his handes from semblable lightnesse. Antoninus Pius. Capitoli nus. b The good Antonine, emperour of Rome, commyng to supper to a meane gentilman, behelde in the house certaine pillers of a delicate stone, called porpheri, asked of the good man, where he had boughte those pillers. Who made to the emperour this answere, Sir, whan ye come in to any other mannes house than your owne, euer be you bothe dome and defe. Whiche liberall taunte that moste gentill emperour toke in so good parte that he often tymes reherced that sentence to other for a wyse and discrete counsaile. By these examples appereth nowe euidently what good comethe of affabilitie, or sufferaunce of speche, what mooste pernicious daunger alway ensueth to them, that either do refuse counsaile, or prohibite libertie of speche; sens that in libertie (as it hath bene proued) is moste perfecte suertie, ac If the reader compares the author's version with the original given below, he will notice a considerable discrepancy, and that the author has not only pointed his moral, but adorned the tale. 'Sed et populus quondam universus ludorum die et accepit in contumeliam ejus, et assensu maximo comprobavit versum in scenâ pronuntiatam de Gallo matris Deum tympanizante, "Viden" ut cinædus orbem digito temperat?"-Sueton. Octavius, 68. The side note in the original has the word 'Lampridius,' but as this is manifestly a mistake, it has been deemed expedient to substitute the name of the writer from whom the quotation is really taken. Inter alia etiam hoc civilitatis ejus præcipuum argumentum est, quòd quum domum Omuli visens, miransque columnas porphyreticas, requisisset unde eas haberet atque Omulus ei dixisset, Quum in domum alienam veneris, et mutus et surdus esto, patienter tulit. Cujus Omuli multa joca semper patienter accepit.'— Hist. August. tom. i. p. 277, ed. 1671. cording as it is remembred by Plutarche of Theopompus, kyng of Lacedemone, who beinge demaunded, howe a realme moughte be best and mooste surely kepte; If (saide he) the prince giue to his frendes libertie to speake to hym thinges that be iuste, and neglecteth nat the wronges that his subiecte sustaineth.a CHAPTER VI. Howe noble a vertue placabilitie is. PLACABILITIE is no litle part of Benignitie, and it is proprely where a man is by any occasion meued to be angry, and, nat withstandynge, either by his owne reason ingenerate, or by counsaile persuaded, he omitteth to be reuenged, and often times receiueth the transgressour ones reconsiled in to more fauour; whiche undoubtedly is a vertue wonderfull excellent. For, as Tulli saithe, no thinge is more to be merCi. Off. i. uailed at, or that more becometh a man noble and honorable, than mercy and placabilitie. The value therof is beste knowen by the contrarye, whiche is ire, called Ire or vulgarely wrathe, a vice moste ugly and ferrest from wrathe. humanitie. For who, beholdynge a man in estimation of nobilitie and wisedome by furie chaunged in to an horrible figure, his face in arced with rancour, his mouthe foule and • Θεόπομπος πρὸς τὸν ἐρωτήσαντα, πῶς ἄν τις ἀσφαλῶς τηροίη τὴν βασιλείαν, Εἰ τοῖς μὲν φίλοις, ἔφη, μεταδιδοίη παῤῥησίας δικαίας, τοὺς δὲ ἀρχομένους κατὰ δύναμιν μὴ repiopýn adikovμévovs.'—Apophth. Lacon. 221, E. Nihil enim laudabilius, nihil magno et præclaro viro dignius, placabilitate atque clementiâ.'-De Off. lib. i. cap. 25. c • Patrizi devotes a chapter to the definition and description of anger, in which occurs the following passage: 'Imprimis ira, quæ quum ferociùs excanduit, hominem præcipitem rapit, adeo ut ab insano ac furioso paululum quippiam absit. Oculi, color, vultus, gestus, vox, clamor, verba prope furentis atque insanientis hominis esse videntur, qui nisi quamprimùm ad se redeat, ad agnatos omnino atque affines (vecordium furiosorumque more) rejiciendus erit.'—De Regno et Reg., lib. iv. tit. 10. imbosed, his eien wyde starynge and sparklynge like fire, nat speakyng, but as a wylde bulle, roryng and brayienge out wordes despitefull and venomous; forgetynge his astate or condition, forgeting lernyng, ye forgetynge all reason, wyll nat haue suche a passion in extreme detestation? Shall he nat wisshe to be in suche a man placabilitie? Wherby only he shulde be eftsones restored to the fourme of a man, wherof he is by wrathe despoyled, as it is wondersly well described by Ouide in his crafte of loue: Ouidius de arte amandi, Man, to thy visage it is conuenient For peace is beautifull to man only sent, For in man the face swelleth whan wrathe is in rage, This Gorgon, that Ouide speaketh of, is supposed of poetes to be a fury or infernall monstre, whose heris were all in the figure of adders, signifieng the abundance of mischiefe that is contained in wrathe.c Cotgrave translates the word embosser, 'to swell, or arise in bunches, &c., to grow knotty;' and emboutir, 'to retch, extend, stretch out, also to raise, to imbosse.' Richardson says, 'According to the old writers on hunting, a deer is said to be embossed, when it throws forth bosses or round masses, of foam from its mouth, or when it swells at the knees with hard hunting;' he does not, however, quote the passage in the text where it is applied not to animals, but to men, and apparently in the technical sense. Latham suggests that the word is derived from the Spanish embozar, 'to cast out of the mouth;' but there is no necessity to seek so far, for this is only one of the numerous instances in which the author has borrowed a French word, in this case a well-known term of venery. uses it in the Faerie Queen. Spenser also Art. Amator. lib. iii. 501-504. • Ovid, in another place, explains why the hair of the Gorgon was changed into snakes, but assigns a different reason from that given by the author. 'Clarissima formâ, Multorumque fuit spes invidiosa procorum Wherwith the great kynge Alexander beinge (as I mought say) obsessed, dyd put to vengeable deth Alexander his dere frende Clitus, his moste prudent counsailour in furye. Calisthenes, his moste valiant capitayne Philotas, with his father Parmenio, and diuers other. Wherof he so sore after repented, that oppressed with heuines he had slayne hym selfe, had he nat bene lette by his seruauntes.b Wherfore his furye and inordinate wrathe is a foule and greuouse blemysshe to his glorie, whiche, without that vice, had incomparably excelled all other princis. Who abhorreth or hateth nat the violence or rage that was in Scilla and Marius, noble Romanes, and in their The horrible crueltie tyme in highest authoritie within the citie, hauyng of Silla and the gouernance of the more parte of the worlde? Marius, Illa: nec in totâ conspectior ulla capillis Metamorph. lib. iv. 793-802, • 'Alexandrum iracundia sua propemodum cælo deripuit. Nam quid obstitit, quo minus illuc assurgeret, nisi Lysimachus leoni objectus, et Clytus hastâ trajectus, et Callisthenes mori jussus? quia tres maximas victorias totidem amicorum injustis cædibus victor edidit.'—Val. Max. lib. ix. cap 3, § 1, ext. Ubi sunt ergo isti, qui iracundiam utilem dicunt? (potest utilis esse insania ?) aut naturalem? An quicquam esse potest secundum naturam, quod sit repugnante ratione? Quo modo autem, si naturalis esset ira; aut alius alio magis iracundus esset; aut finem haberet prius, quàm esset ulta ulciscendi libido; aut quenquam pœniteret, quod fecisset per iram? ut Alexandrum regem videmus, qui, cum interemisset Clitum, familiarem suum, vix à se manus abstinuit: tanta vis fuit pœnitendi.'-Cic. Tusc. Quæst. lib. iv. cap. 37. • A great modern historian says, 'Among the many tragical deeds recounted throughout the course of this history, there is none more revolting than the fate of these two generals (i. e. Parmenio and Philotas). Alexander, violent in all his impulses, displayed, on this occasion, a personal rancour worthy of his ferocious mother Olympias, exasperated rather than softened by the magnitude of past services.'-Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. viii. p. 415. Scilla, for the malignitie that he hadde towarde Marius, caused the heedes of a thousande and seuen hundred of the chiefe citezins of Rome to be striken of, and brought to him fresshe bledyng and quicke, and theron fedde his mooste cruell eien, which to eate his mouth naturally abhorred.a Marius with no lasse rancour inflamed, beside a terrible slaughter that he made of noble men leanyng to Scilla, he also caused Caius Cesar (who had bene bothe Consul and Censor, two of the moste honorable dignities in the citie of Rome) to be violently drawen to the sepulture of one Varius, a simple and seditious persone, and there to be dishonestly slayne. With like beastial fury he caused the hed of Marcus Antonius, one of the moste eloquent oratours of all the Romanes, to be broughte unto hym as he sate at dyner, and there toke the heed all blody betwene his handes, and with a malicious countenance reproched hym of his eloquence, wherwith he had nat only defended many an innocent, but also the hole publike weale had ben by his wyse consultations singulerly profited." O what calamitie hapned to the mooste noble citie of Sir Thomas Elyot had, no doubt, consulted the following passage, but, as the reader will see, the number is not given accurately. He probably intended to write 'four thousand and seven hundred.' 'Quatuor millia et septingentos diræ proscriptionis edicto jugulatos in tabulas publicas retulit: videlicet ne memoria tam præclaræ rei dilueretur. Nec contentus in eos sævire, qui armis à se dissenserant, etiam quieti animi cives, propter pecuniæ magnitudinem, per nomenclatorem conquisitos, proscriptorum numero adjecit. Adversus mulieres quoque gladios destrinxit: quasi parum cædibus virorum satiatus. Id quoque inexplebilis feritatis indicium est. Abscissa miserorum capita, modo non vultum ac spiritum retinentia, in conspectum suum afferri voluit, ut oculis illa, quia ore nefas erat, manderet.'— Val. Max. lib. ix. cap. 2, § I. 'Cujus tamen crudelitatis C. Marius invidiam levat: nam et ille nimiâ cupiditate persequendi inimicos, iram suam nefariè destrinxit, L. Cæsaris consularis et censorii nobilissimum corpus ignobili sævitiâ trucidando, et quidem apud seditiosissimi et abjectissimi hominis bustum. Id enim malorum miserrimæ tunc Reipublicæ deerat, ut Vario Cæsar piaculum caderet. Pæne tanti victoriæ ejus non fuerunt: quarum oblitus plus criminis domi quàm laudis in militiâ meruit. Idem caput M. Antonii abscissum lætis manibus inter epulas per summam animi ac verborum insolentiam aliquamdiu tenuit: clarissimique et civis et oratoris sanguine contaminari mensæ sacra passus est.’— Val. Max. lib. ix. cap. 2, § 2. |