University of Virginia Library

The nynth booke of precepts, counsels, prouerbs and sayings of the wise.

Pythie meeters of diuers matters.

[When a reasonable soule from vertu flyeth]

Pithagoras.
When a reasonable soule from vertu flyeth,
it waxeth bestlike, and naturally dyeth:
For as the sowle geueth lyfe to the corse,
So iustice in the sowle is cause of liuely force.

Plato
To suche as accustome diuine meditation,
this life is a thing of smal reputacion.

Hermes
Lust, pleasure, and wordly vanities,
do cause the soule all vertues to despise.

Aristotle
Blessed is ye soule which doth not transgresse
her makers lawe through wordly filthynes.
But alwaies myndfull of her blessed state,
contemns the worlde and sinful lustes doth hate

Pithagoras.
He is not wise whiche knowing he must hence
in worldly buildinges maketh greate expence,
but he that buyldeth for the worlde to come,
is wise, expend he neuer so greate a summe,

Thales.
He that most dreadeth to breake gods behest,
is he that loueth and serueth him best.

Aristotle.
He that loueth the worlde hath trauaile & care,
but he that hateth hath quiet and welfare,
Who so then desireth to lyue most at rest,
must most fly the worlde and meddle with it lest.

Pithagoras.
This worldly welth that men so much desyre,
may well be likened to a burning fier:
whereof a little can do little harme,
but profit much our bodyes wel to warme,
but take to muche, and surely thou shalt burne:
so to muche welth, to to much woe doth turne.

Socrates.
This worldes fonde loue doth make a man
so deffe, so blinde, so dumme.
That here, nor see, nor aske he can,
where wisedome is become.
To enuy eke it maketh him thrall,
to trouble, care, and dread:
withdraweth his hande, his hart and all
from euery vertuouse dede.

Seneca
Sith we are vncertayn wher death wil vs mete
and certain that alwaies he followeth at our fete
Let vs in our doing be so wise and stedy,
that where euer he mete vs, he may find vs redy

Seneca
Death is the ender of all tribulacion,
and therfore to wise men a great consolacion.

Socrates
For doing wrong and mischiuous deedes,
the soule after death must be punished nedes:
For God is not God except he be iust,
and Iustice to al thinges their due render must.

Socrates
Talke euer of God, and he wil procure,
to fill the with wisdome and wares that be pure.

Aristotle.
To worldlynes who so doth geue his mynde,
of these griefes shal be full sure to finde:
the lacke of thinges, which he shall neuer haue,
or losse of that which gladliest he would haue.

Hermes
The world was of god created in dede,
a place of pleasure, rewarde of meede,
wherfore such as in it, for truth suffer trouble,
which ioy no dout is, be recompenced double.

Aristotle.
Better it is to die the soules life to saue,
then to lose the soule, the bodies life to haue.

Socrates
The sowles of ye righteous shal after the coarse,
of this life haue better, but the wicked wurse:
for right it is that what wee here embrace,
be geuen vs double in another place,

Hermes
Of bodyly imprisonmentes sikenes is the chiefe,
but the gaile of the soule is sorow and griefe.

Seneca
It is better to haue ye sowle garnished wt vertue
then the body decked with purple gold or blewe.

Plutarch
As excesse of wine oppresseth the minde,
so worldly pleasures, do make the soule blinde.

Seneca
Wisedome, knowledge, and vnderstanding,
are the soules most gorgious clothing.

Plato
Wo to the soule which wanteth grace
to retourne home to her state and place:
whome filthy workes, and bodely offence,
exclude and kepe downe frō gods holy presence.

Socrates.
Praier to god is the onely meane
to preserue a man from a wicked quene.

Zenophon.
In place where men of god comon euer,
Fooles become wise, and the wise wiser.

Plato
When naughty rulers, and wicked people dye,
then are all good men safe and in suretye.

Socrates
It is wisedome yea wisedōe ye maketh the wise,
all troubles, all tormentes, yea & death to despise
Therfore ought wisedome of al be embraced,
As meane whereby death and al feare is defaced,

Cicero.
Of al worldly comfortes true frendship is chief
because it is alway our speciall relief.
In weale and in wo, a stay stronge and stable,
and also to mankinde a good most agreeable.

Isocrates.
To himselfe and his frend a frend must be one
For a frend is ones ownselfe in another person,

Pithagoras.
These troublesōe words, thyne, mine, & our own
the cause of all strife, with frindes are vnknowē
they title all onres, none counteth ought his
for al things are echemans wher true frēdship is

Socrates
Such thinges as are noiful vncomely & nought
are easily attained yea ear they be sought.
but wisedome & honour, with other such like,
are harde to be gotten, how so euer we seeke

Plato
Who so for frendes or true frindship watches
must seeke it of suche, as may be his matches,
For he that of other, any frendes procureth,
may chaunce finde frendship, but not ye endureth

Aristotle.
Although many wicked in one may agree,
yet cause they no frendship but a conspiracie:
For frendship is a vertue by nature so cleane,
as can with the vicious be mixt by no meane.

Plato
Betwene Lorde & seruant no frendship may fal
because theire states are to farre vnequall:
yet sith they be men, good frendes they may be,
because that in manhode they both dooe agree,

Seneca
Who so denies his frindes his aide.
the while he is wel taken:
shall at his most nede be denied
theire helpe and quite forsaken.

Tullius.
In trouble, sorow, aduersitie and griefe,
Frends are a comfort, a refuge and relife:
Likewise in welth, a pleasance and treasure,
To be partakers of any kind of pleasure.

Plato.
By bearing good will, first fauour doth growe
through vse wherof swete frēdship doth follow.

Aristotle.
The fryndship ye is betwene good men ingēdred
Can be by no meanes broken nor ended.
Wherefore he that doth from frendship disseuer,
is naught by nature, and was a frende neuer.

Ennius
Whōe men doe feare they hate, & whōe they hate
they wish to dye or perish from his state:
who therfore longs long time chiefe rule to bear,
must get mens loue, with fauor not with feare

Socrates
Glory of good dedes by the father done,
Is the best inheritaunce that he leaues his sōne
which who so doth by his vicious life appeire,
bewraies himselfe a bastarde, & vnworthy heire.

Tullius
He cannot be counted a liberall geuer,
whiche hath not bene also a liberal getter:
For true liberallitie is to helpe manye,
and in getting wherewith not to hurt anye,

Seneca
Who so desyreth to liue without care,
ought slowly to spende, and swiftly to spare:
For at the botome to leaue is but vaine,
where both the least part & wurst doth remaine.

Isocrates.
By wyne beautye fadeth, and age is defaced,
drink maketh forgotten, that late was embraced

Socrates.
He that to wrath and anger is thrall,
ouer his witte hath no power at all.

Hermes
Be mery and glad, honest and vertuous.
For that sufficeth to anger the enuiouse.

Pithagoras
The more that a man hath of aboundaunce,
so muche the lesse hath he of assuraunce.

Socrates
The frendes whome profite or lucre encrease,
when substaunce faileth therewithal wil cease:
but frendes yt are coupled with heart & with loue
neither feare nor fortune, nor force may remoue.

Musonius.
If that in vertue thou take any paine,
the paine departeth, but vertues remaine:
But if thou haue pleasure to doe that is ill,
the pleasure abateth, but ill tarieth still.

Solon
If that by desteny thinges be decreede,
to laboure to shonne them is paine lost in dede:
but if that the chaunce of thinges be vn set,
it is folly to feare that, we know we may let,

Plato
It is the parte of him that is wise,
thinges to foresee with diligent aduise,
but when as thinges vnluckely do frame,
it becommeth the valiant to suffer the same.

Hermes.
If not for the spede, thou think it a paine,
wil not the thing that thou maist not attaind:
For thou and none other, art cause of thy lette
if ye whiche thou maist not, thou trauail to gette.

Plato.
To fayne, to flatter, to glose and to lye,
require colours, and worde faire and slye:
but the vtterance of trouthe is so simple & plaine
that it nedeth no studye, to forge or to faine.

Horas
To the auariciouse in no suffisance,
for couetouse encreaseth as fast as his substāce.

Solon
He is neither riche, happy nor wise,
that is a bonde man to his owne auarice.

Pithagoras
To strike another if that thou pretende,
thinke if he stroke the, thou wouldest the defēde.

Solon
To beastes much hurt happeneth, because they be dūm
but much more to mē, by means of speache hath cūme

Thales.
Al enuious hartes with the dead men departe,
but after death dureth the slaunderous dart.

Hermes
He that at ones instaunce, another wil defame,
wil also at anothers, to the last do thee the same
For none are so daungerous & doubtful to trust,
as those that are rediest to obey euery lust,

Plato
Sith making of maners in company doth lye,
enhaunt the good, and the euill see thou flye:
but if to the euill thou nedes wilt resort,
retourne betimes, for feare thou come to short,

Isocrates
Loue betwene wisemen, by effect may fall
but not betwene fooles, though folly be egall:
For wit goeth by order, and may agre in one,
but folly lacketh order, so that concorde is none,

Socrates
He that of all men will be a correctour,
shall of the most part winne hate for his labour.

Pithagoras
They that to talke of wisedome are bent,
not folowing the same, are like a instrument:
Whose pleasaunt sounde, the herers doth delight
but it selfe not hearing, hath thereby no profite.

Pithagoras
Beware of thyne enemy when he doth manace,
and trust thou him not, if faire seeme his face:
For serpentes neuer so deadly do sting,
as when they byte without any hissing.

Plutarch
Syth the worlde vnsteadye, doth oft ebbe & flow
it behoueth a wise man al times to know:
And so for to saile, while he hath faire wether,
yt ye hauē may kepe him, whē hold may no anker.

Diogenes.
Of a chourlishe nature procedeth foule langage:
But faire speache, is token of a noble courage.

Anacharsis.
A friende is not knowen, but in necessitie,
for in time of wealth, eche man seemeth friendly.

Socrates.
Wisdome & science which are pure by kind,
shoulde not be writte in bookes but in minde.
For wisdome in bokes with the boke wil rotte,
but writte in minde, will neuer be forgotte.

Seneca.
For couetous people, to die is the best,
for the longer they liue the lesse is their rest:
For lyfe them leadeth, their substance to double
where death them dischargeth of endles trouble.

Antisthenes.
Men ought not to wepe for him, that guiltles is slain,
but for ye slaier, which quick doth remaine
For to die giltles, is losse but of body,
but bodie and soule both, are lost of the guilty.

Xenocrates.
Of workes begonne, when goodnes may brede
we shoulde with all swiftnes, deuise to proceede
But if by our workes, may grow any ill,
we should be as swift, to conquere our will.

Socrates.
What euer it chaunce thee of any to heare,
thine eie not consenting, beleue not thine eare.
For the eare is a subiect, full ofte ledde awrye,
but the eie is a iudge, that in nothing will lie.

Seneca, Boetius.
Wisdome and honoure, most commonly be found
in them that in vertue, and goodnes abounde:
And therfore are better, then siluer and golde,
whiche the euel commonly, most haue in holde.

Zenophon.
If that it chaunce thee in warre for to fight,
more then to witte, trust not to thy might
For wit wtout strength, much more doth preuail,
then strength without wit, to cōquer in battaile.

Aristotle.
Both hatered, loue, and their owne profet,
cause iudges ofttimes, the truth to forget,
Pourge all these vices therefore, frō thy minde,
so shal right rule thee, & thou the truth finde.

Plato.
Although for a while thy vyce thou may hide
yet caust thou not alwaies keepe it vnspide.
For truth the true daughter of god and of time
hath sworne to detect all sinne vice and crime.

Aristotle.
The hauing of riches, is not so commodious,
as the departinge from them is grieuous.

Plato
Happie is that realme that hath a kinge,
endewed with wisedome, vertue and learning,
And much vnhappy is the realme and prouince,
where as these pointes do lacke in their prince.

Plutarche.
To whatsoeuer, the king doth him frame
his men for the most part, delight in the same.
Wherfore a good king shoulde vertue ensue
to giue his subiectes, example of vertue.

Socrates.
Almes distributed vnto the indigent
is like a medicine giuen to the impotent.
But to the vnneedy, a man to make his dole:
is like the ministring of plaisters to the whole.

Pithagoras.
Better it is for a man to be mute
then with the ignoraunt much to dispute.
And better it is to liue solitarily,
then to enhaunt much euil company.

Diogenes.
Trie and then trust after good assuraunce,
but trust not before ye trie, for teare of repētāce,

Plato.
That thing in a realme is worthy renoune.
which raiseth vp right, & wrong beateth downe.

Seneca.
Goodnes it selfe doth good men declare,
for which many mo the better doth tare

Socrates.
Unhappy is he whersoeuer he become,
that hath a wit, and will not learne wisedome,

THE THYNGES THAT causeth a quiet life, writen by Marciall.

My friend, the things that do attaine
the happy life, be these I finde:
the riches left, not got with paine,
the fruitfull grounde, the quiet minde,
the equall friende: no grudge, no strife
no charge of rule, nor gouernaunce,
without desease, the healthie lyfe
the householde of continuance,
the meane diet, no deinte fare
wisedome ioyned with simplenes
the night discharged of all care,
where wine the witte, may not oppresse,
The faithfull wise without debate
such sleepe as may beguile the night
content thy selfe with thine estate,
neither wishe death nor feare his might.