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inserch your thoughtes. For whan ye were the ministres of his realme ye iuged nat uprightly, ne obserued the lawe of iustice, nor ye walked nat according to his pleasure. He shall shortly and terribly appiere unto you. For moste harde and greuous iugement shall be on them that haue rule ouer other. To the poure man mercy is graunted, but the great men shall suffre great tourmentes. He that is lorde of all excepteth no persone, ne he shall feare the gretnes of any man ; for he made as wel the great as the smal, and careth for euery of them equally. The stronger or of more mighte is the persone, the stronger payne is to hym imminent. Therfore to you gouernours be these my words, that ye may lerne wisedom and fal nat.

This notable sentence is nat only to be imprinted in the hartes of gouernours, but also to be often tymes reuolued and called to remembraunce.

Erasmus.

They shall nat thynke howe moche honour they receiue, but howe moche care and burdene. Ne they shall nat moche esteme their reuenues and treasure, considerynge that it is no buten or praie, but a laboriouse office and trauaile.a

Let them thynke the greatter dominion they haue, that therby they sustayne the more care and studie. And that therfore they muste haue the lasse solace and passetyme, and to sensuall pleasures lasse opportunitie.b

Also whan they beholde their garmentes and other ornamentes, riche and preciouse, they shall thynke what reproche

'Cum Principatum suscipis, ne cogita quantum accipias honoris, sed quantum oneris ac sollicitudinis, neque censum ac vectigalium modum expende, sed curam, nec arbitreris tibi prædam obtigisse, sed administrationem.'--Inst. Prin. Christ. p. 35, ed. 1519. It is evident that the word in the text is no other than the French butin, and we have already seen how fond the author was of introducing French words, ex. gr. esbatement, semblable, &c. ; though it is indisputable that a knowledge of French was at this time by no means uncommon, it was quite otherwise with German.

'Quo ditionem suscipis ampliorem, cave ne hoc tibi videare fortunatior: sed memineris te hoc plus curarum ac sollicitudinum in humeros recipere, ut minus jam indulgendum sit otio, minus dandum voluptatibus.'-Ibid. p. 35.

were to them to surmounte in that which be other mennes warkes, and nat theirs, and to be vainquisshed of a poure subiecte in sondry vertues, wherof they them selfes be the artificers.a

They that regarde them of whom they haue gouernaunce no more than shall appertaine to their owne priuate commodities, they no better esteme them than other men doth their horsis and mules, to whom they empploye no lasse labour and diligence, not to the benefite of the sely bestis, but to their owne necessities and singuler aduantage.

The most sure fundation of noble renome is a man to be of suche vertues and qualities as he desireth to be openly publisshed. For it is a fainte praise that is goten with feare or by flaterars gyuen. And the fame is but fume whiche is supported with silence prouoked by menacis.

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'Cogita quæso quàm sit absurdum gemmis, auro, purpurâ, satellitio, reliquisque corporis ornamentis, ceris et imaginibus, planèque bonis non tuis, omnes tanto intervallo superare, veris animi bonis multis è mediâ fece plebis inferiorem conspici.' -Inst. Prin. Christ. p. 23.

'Qui suos eatenus curant, quatenus expedit propriis commoditatibus, ii non alio loco cives suos habent, quàm vulgus hominum equos et asinos. Nam hos quoque curant illi, sed omnem curationem suis, non illorum usibus metiuntur.'—— Ibid. p. 37.

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• Richardson says that sely or seely silly, and that it means simple, guileless, innocent. He does not, however, remark that it is an epithet most frequently applied to animals. Thus Harrison says, 'Last of all the hare, not the least in estimation, because the hunting of that seelie beast is mother to all the terms, blasts, and artificiall deuises that hunters do use.'-Descript. of England, p. 226. And again, *It is said that the sparhawke preieth not upon the foule in the morning that she taketh ouer euen, but as loth to haue double benefit by one seelie foule, doth let it go to make some shift for it selfe.'--Ibid. p. 227.

Ut bene audias, id certissimâ consequeris viâ, si qualem te cupis prædicari, talem temet ipsum exhibeas. Non est vera laus quæ extorquetur metu, aut tribuitur ab adulatoribus. Et male agitur cum famâ Principis, si hujus præsidium in silentio minis indicto situm est.'-Erasmus, ubi supra, p. 72.

• Meaning idle conceit, vain imagination-Sir Francis Bacon uses the word in the same sense. 'It may be, Plato's great year, if the world should last so long, would have some effect, not in renewing the state of like individuals, (for that is the fume of those that conceive the celestial bodies have more accurate influences upon these things below, than indeed they have) but in gross.'—Works, vol. i. p. 188, ed. 1825.

They shal also consider that by their pre-eminence they sitte, as it were on a piller on the toppe of a mountaine, where all the people do beholde them, nat only in their open affaires, but also in their secrete passetimes, priuie daliaunce, or other improfitable or wanton conditions: whiche soone be discouered by the conuersation of their most familiare seruauntes, whiche do alway imbrace that studie wherin their maister delitethe: accordynge to the sayinge of Jesus Sirach, As the iuge of the people is, so be his ministers; and such as be the gouernours of the citie, suche be the people. Whiche sentence is confirmed by sondry histories: for Nero, Caligula,a Domi

• 'Tua in conspicuo vita est, latere non potes: aut magno omnium bono, bonus sis necesse est, aut magnâ omnium pernicie malus. Vulgus nihil imitatur lubentiùs, quàm quod à suo Principe fieri conspexerit. Sub aleatore passim luditur alea, sub bellaci bellaturiunt omnes, sub comessatore luxu diffluunt, sub libidinoso lenocinantur, sub crudeli deferunt et calumniantur. Evolve veterum historias, reperies semper ejusmodi fuisse seculi mores, cujusmodi fuerat Principis vita.'— Erasmus, ubi supra, pp. 30, 31. Ovid has a very similar sentiment:

'Non eadem vulgusque decent, et lumina rerum.

Est quod præcipuum debeat ista domus.
Imposuit te alto Fortuna, locumque tueri
Jussit honoratum, Livia: perfer onus.

Ad te oculos, auresque trahis: tua facta notamus.
Nec vox missa potest principis ore tegi.'

Ad Liviam Aug. Consolatio, 347-352.

'As the iuge of the people is him selfe euen so are his officers; and loke what maner of man the ruler of the citie is, suche are they that dwel therin also.'-Cap. x. v. 2, Bokes of Salomon, ed. 1542. So Cicero says, 'Erant præterea hæc animadvertenda in civitate, quæ sunt apud Platonem nostrum scripta divinitùs: Quales in republicâ principes essent, tales reliquos solere esse cives.'—Epist. ad Div. lib. i. 9. And Xenophon : “ Ὁποῖοί τινες γὰρ ἂν οἱ προστάται ὦσι, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ ὑπ ̓ αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ γίγνονται. Cyropad. lib. viii. cap. 8, § 5.

• Merivale says that Nero was 'surrounded on the throne not by generals and statesmen, but by troops of slaves or freedmen, by players and dancers, lost to all sense of decency themselves, and seeking only their advancement at the expense of their master and of mankind; surrendered by loose women to still more despicable minions, and ruled by the most cruel and profligate of ministers.'-Hist. of Rom. Empire, vol. vi. p. 317, ed. 1858.

In his expedition against the Germans Caius 'was attended throughout by a rain of players and gladiators, dancers and women, the vile retinue of a Parthian overeign.'-Ibid. vol. v. p. 447.

ciane, Lucius Commodus, Varius Heliogabalus, monstruous emperours, norisshed about them ribauldes and other voluptuouse artificers. Maximianus, Dioclesian, Maxencius, and other persecutours of christen men, lacked nat inuentours of cruel and terrible tourmentes. Cuntrary wise reigninge the

• The mimes found no doubt a protector in the prince of mimes, who had also his personal favourites among this profession, and allowed them easy access to his person.'-Ibid. vol. vii, pp. 132, 133.

'The younger Cæsar,' says Merivale, 'flung himself into the dissipations of his villa on the Clodian Way, and among his boon companions paraded the trophies of his campaigns, his troops of buffoons and players, dancers and conjurors, and all the vilest spawn of the Orontes.'—Ibid. vol. vii. p. 577.

• He was originally called Varius Avitus Bassianus after his father, grandfather, and great grandfather respectively. By this emperor a dancer was made præfect of the city, a charioteer præfect of the watch, a barber præfect of the provisions.' —Decline and Fall of the Rom. Emp. vol. i. p. 283, note.

So Erasmus says, ‘An non hujusmodi quidam orbis malus genius fuit Nero, an non Caligula, an non Heliogabalus ? Quorum non solum omnis vita pestis quædam mundi fuit, sed ipsa etiam memoria publicæ mortalium exsecrationi est obnoxia.'— Instit. Prin. Christ. p. 32.

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• Gibbon says that the rigorous edicts of Diocletian were strictly and cheerfully executed by his associate Maximian, who had long hated the Christians, and who delighted in acts of blood and violence. In the autumn of the first year of the persecution the two emperors met at Rome to celebrate their triumph; several oppressive laws appear to have issued from their secret consultations, and the diligence of the magistrates was animated by the presence of their sovereigns.'— Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. ii. p. 276. With regard to the invention of tornents, Lactantius has many minute details. Schlegel says: 'According with the disposition of the several governors was the execution of their imperial edict. Some only sent the Christians into banishment, when the attempt to make them offer sacrifices failed. Others deprived them of an eye, or lamed one of their feet by burning it, and others exposed them to wild beasts or lacerated their bodies with iron hooks, or with the scourge, and afterwards sprinkled vinegar and salt on the wounds, or dropped melted lead into them.'-Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. 284, note, ed. 1845. According to Gibbon, however, Maxentius, who 'oppressed every other class of his subjects, showed himself just, humane, and even partial towards the afflicted Christians;' and he insinuates that it suited the purpose of Lactantius to place his death among the persecutors, because he was vanquished by Constantine.--Ubi supra. And even Mr. Milner, who has undertaken to correct the 'perversions' of the great historian, is obliged to admit that 'Maxentius, though a tyrant of the basest character, never seems to have been, strictly speaking, a persecutor of the Christians.'-Church History, vol. i. p. 499, ed. 1847. The passage in the text taken in connexion with another in the preceding volume (p. 49), proves conclusively that the author was acquainted with the writings of Lactantius.

noble Augustus," Nerua," Traiane, Hadriane, the two Antonines, and the wonderfull emperour Alexander, for his grauitie called Seuerus, the imperiall palaice was alway replenisshed with eloquent oratours, delectable poetes, wise philosophers, moste cunnynge and experte lawyars, prudent and valiaunt capitaines. Mo semblable examples shall hereof be founden by them which purposely do rede histories, whom of all other I moste desire to be princes and gouernours.g

• Merivale says: The companions of his leisure hours were jurists, grammarians, and physicians, rather than philosophers.'-Hist. of Rome, vol. iv. p. 297, ed. 1856.

b "The name of Nerva has been associated in after ages with the mildness of age, and the charm of paternal government.'-Ibid. vol. vii. p. 204.

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'Trajan was fond of society, and of educated and even literary society. He was proud of being known to associate with the learned, and felt himself complimented when he bestowed on the rhetorician Dion the compliment of carrying him in his own chariot.'—Ibid. vol. vii. p. 269.

◄ Hadrian was distinguished, even beyond his predecessor, by the geniality of his temperament. Versed in all the knowledge of his era, he placed himself on an intimate footing with the ablest teachers and practitioners, and divided his smiles equally between senators like Fronto, and freedmen such as Favorinus the rhetorician, and the architect Apollodorus.'—Ibid. lib. vii. p. 425.

• The two Antonines governed the Roman world forty-two years with the same invariable spirit of wisdom and virtue. In private life Titus Antoninus Pius was an amiable as well as a good man. The native simplicity of his virtue was a stranger to vanity or affectation. He enjoyed with moderation the conveniences of his fortune and the innocent pleasures of society; and the benevolence of his soul displayed itself in a cheerful serenity of temper. The virtue of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was of a severer and more laborious kind. It was the wellearned harvest of many a learned conference, of many a patient lecture, and many a midnight lucubration. His "Meditations," composed in the tumult of a camp, are still extant; and he even condescended to give lessons of philosophy, in a more public manner than was perhaps consistent with the modesty of a sage or the dignity of an emperor.'—Decline and Fall of Rom. Emp. vol. i. pp. 214, 215, 216.

'Alexander's table was served with the most frugal simplicity, and whenever he was at liberty to consult his own inclination, the company consisted of a few select friends-men of learning and virtue, amongst whom Ulpian was constantly invited. Their conversation was familiar and instructive; and the pauses were occasionally enlivened by the recital of some pleasing composition, which supplied the place of the dancers, comedians, and even gladiators, so frequently summoned to the tables of the rich and luxurious Romans.'-Ibid. vol. i. p. 288.

Patrizi says: "Cognitio historiæ Regibus Ducibus Imperatoribus, et omnibus Principibus perquam necessaria habenda est.'-De Regno et Reg. Instit. lib. ii. tit.

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