 |
 | [Three dialogues between Spudeus and Gelasimus, Eda and Agna, and Wisdome and Wylle] |  |
Spudeus.
Euer playing Gelasmie:
Lorde, when wyll you be wise & sad.
In scholers shoulde be modestie:
But you playe euer the wanton lad.
Gelasimus.
Is this your first salutation?
You appeare some quarrels to picke,
In few wordes make relation
Wherfore with me you are so quicke?
Spudeus
I must in few wordes shew my mynde
Whersoeuer I chaunce to come,
Idle and vayne I doo you fynde
Lo, here I haue tolde you the some:
And I knowe well that your parentes
To learne vertew, putte you to schole:
You defraude them of their ententes
For daily you playe the wanton foole.
Also sittyng at schole amonge vs
What doo you els but playe and toye
So that of you, all scholers saye thus:
Gelasimus is a wanton boye.
Tu leuior foliis, tunc cum sine pondere succi,
To you I may this verse apply
You are lighter then leaues without sap
For good exercise you let go by
And your owne selfe in Idlenesse wrap.
Gelasimus.
Of you God sende your frendes moch ioy,
I thynke you wyll proue a sage Solon
O God saue you and sweete saynt Loy
You are lyke to be a wyse man anon,
Se you not lo, a good body
When dyd my frendes to you complayne?
Medle you with your owne study
I doo not your maners disdayne.
Multa facere est, vbique putridum:
About many thynges busy to be
In euery place (qd he) doth stynke.
Curiouse you are in checkyng me
But of your selfe you doo not thynke.
Now syr, because you doo thus reporte.
When dyd you me so Idely fynde?
Spudeus.
Euery houre full of play and sporte
And as light as fethers in the wynde.
Gelasimus.
If I play, I am not Idle in deede
As you your selfe haue testified:
Spudeus.
Idle as he, as sayth saynt Beede
Which is neuer well occupied.
Gelasimus.
Interpone tuis, interdum gaudia curis:
Somtyme, sayth the wyse man Cato:
Interlace myrth amonge thy cares.
Wherfore doo sobre men vnto playes go
But to ease their myndes in great affayres
What sayth the wyse man Tully?
Gamnyng and pastyme we may vse
As sleepe and other rest truly
Which no honest persone wyll accuse.
Dum fata sinunt, viuite læti.
Dooth not Seneca this verse write,
While fortune suffereth, be mery.
And so wyll I for all your spyte
Play and syng, hay dery dery.
Sera nimis vita est crastina, viue hodie,
Yesterdayes life is very late,
Liue to day. Asmoch to say:
Be mery and play with thy mate,
Yea forsoth and that euery day.
Spudeus.
As your memory I doo commende
In that you can Authours reherse
So I must needes you reprehende
Because you abuse a good verse,
I meane the verse of wyse Cato
Which you dyd english competently
But the sentence of Cicero
You passed ouer negligently.
We may right well vse play and game
As we vse sleepe and other rest
But for what cause may we do the same?
In that place, it is manyfest.
Than (saieth hee) whan we haue satisfied
Other maters both weightie and graue
Also whan we haue rectified
Euylles, wont publique weales to depraue
For hee sayeth in his offices
That nature hath not brought vs forthe
To vse playes, games and fantasies
Whiche are maters nothinge worthe.
But rather to seueritie
And to more weighty studies
Meete for men in authoritie
And health for soules and bodies.
Gelasimus.
What speake you of senators
In whose handes cōmon weales did depende
They were great learned orators
Whose wisdome we can not comprehende
Quod medicorum est,
Promittunt medici, tractant fabrilia fabri
That longeth to Phisicians
Thereof they promise and talke largely
Carpenters for their furtherans
Talke and treate of Carpentry:
We are laddes, Scholers and Studentes
Let vs talke, as to laddes is semely:
So shall we please God and our parentes
And men shall iudge well of vs truly.
Spudeus.
Well, of Idlenesse we beganne to speake
Wherto you are moche geuen I doo see
From that I coueyte you to breake
That more studeouse you might be
A fewe sentences you haue caught
Which plainly you doo moche abuse
You apply them not as the Authours taught
But your owne Idlenesse to excuse.
Gelasimus.
You talke here lyke a great deuine
And altogither of Idlenesse
I pray you vouchsafe the same to define
Because it is so great wickednesse.
Spudeus.
In the Tusculane questions
Of Idlenesse, thus sayth Tully,
As touchyng all honest actions
Idlenesse is an ignary vncomly
Also an ircksomnesse of the mynde
When any good matier is begonne.
And therfore seeketh some other kynde
Wherabout vainly it may ronne
As thus you are set to schole now
To learne both vertew and science
This is a good thyng begonne in you
Godly is parentes wyll and pretence
But a none ircksomnesse of harte
And lothsomnesse of well dooyng
Cause you to take another parte
And to geue yourselfe to plaiyng.
Gelasimus.
A certayne wyse man geueth warnyng
Not ouer moche in study to stande
For to some body Arte and learnyng
Are as a sworde in a mad mans hande
Doctrina scelesti, est gladio insani similis.
Spudeus.
Truthe, a wicked persone without dout
To whom no honest thyng is good
Mischeuously vttereth learnyng out
As one dooth a weapon that is wood:
But I woulde haue you to note two thynges
First: The goodly sequels of studentes
Some haue ben counsellours to Kynges
Yea, though thei haue come of poore parentes
What were the cheife counsels of Rome
I meane when vertew flourished,
Learned and graue in iudgement and dome
Who their Comunaltie most nourished.
A thousande I coulde reherse by name
Of whom I reade in diuers stories
Which through learnyng haue come to fame,
And attayned vnto high glories.
Qui probus atque idem doctus diademate talem
Quis dignum neget? hic aliis precellit vt aurum
Est oricalcho nobilius vitroque pyropus.
He that is good and learned withall
Who wyll denie suchone worthy
To enioy an honour royall
Which we call a diademe truly
For suchone dooth other excell
As farre as golde dooth the copper passe
And as precious stone or Birrall
Excelleth counterfaites or glasse
Yet must learned men come of poore lignage
Example of Marke Tully by name
Uertue is a most sure heritage
For that enhaunceth to honour and fame.
Gelasimus.
Truly your wordes make me to smile
You speake not of the endes of the same
Either they were driuen to exile
Or els suffred death with shame.
Spudeus.
Impute that to ingratitude
Marke this: Suche is euer the rewarde
Of the ignoraunt multitude
Whiche dyd neuer vertue regarde
Suffred with shame say you? forsoth no:
Happy are they which for vertues sake
Suffre death, or into exile go
So that paciently they doo it take
Also I wyll tell you as I thynke
He that is endued with doctrine
Shall neuer want mony, meate nor drinke
So that to vertue he doo incline
But the fallible chaunces of fate
He shalbe hable to withstande
And if he be deposed from his state
Learnyng preserueth him in any lande.
Ipse tamen vidi nunquam, & vix credere possum
Vel perijsse fame, vel mendicasse disertum,
I dyd yet neuer see, the poete dooth say,
And scarsely beleue it I can
That for honger any shall decay
That is in deede a learned man.
Gelasimus.
Frende Spudeus I wyll be playne
To obtayne glory, I bende not my hope
They that coueyte honour to attayne
At noone dayes for the way doo grope.
Ergo honor & fama, & mortalis gloria lausque
Somnia sunt prorsus nil conducentia,
Honor, fame worldly, glory and prayse
Are but dreames, for nothyng profitable
Therfore I am bent nothyng that wayes
For I looke not to be honourable.
Spudeus,
Lo this is your commune fascion
To truncate and destroy the verse
Styll for your owne excusacion
And wyll not the whole sentence reherse.
Somnia sunt prorsus nil conducentia, quando
Serte magis quam virtute acquiruntur,
They are dreames nothyng profitable
But whan? whan by chaūce thei are acquired
Rather than by vertue honourable.
Who so dooth not desyre honour
The same dooth no vertue regarde
For honour in good men euer more
For vertue is a iust rewarde.
Gelasimus,
Ha ha ha, to laugh you compell me
In the faute wherin you dyd me charge
Most euedently in you I see
As I shall declare more at large.
Turpe est doctori cum culpa redarguit ipsum.
It is a foule thyng to a teacher
When the same faute in him is fownde
Whiche he rebuketh in other
Himselfe first to teache he is bownde
I dyd truncate a verse you say
Your later verse now doo you scande
And whether I say true, proue you may,
Or whether as a verse it may stande.
Spudeus,
Sorte magis quam virtute acquiruntur, at esto?
Gelasimus,
At esto? Haue you founde, at esto?
In your first rehersall that dyd lacke
You talke so moche do honesto
That you cast rectum at your backe.
Spudeus.
That (at esto) beginneth a new sentence,
Which had ben prolixe to reherse.
Gelasimus.
I perceyue your cautelouse pretence
That sentence woulde your wordes requite
Because you woulde appeare fautlesse
Takyng vpon you other to blame
What foloweth I wyll expresse
Earnestly without mocke or game:
At esto,
Quod tantum dignis tribuantur, dic mihi nunquid
Corporibus prosint? certe nil. Animisne?
Tantundem: hos inflant potius tumidosque leuesque,
Nec non solicitos reddunt: se subdere multis,
Et seruire solet multis, Ambire præcari,
Munera largiri quisquis sectatur honores.
My formour wordes I must agayne reherse:
For honour (I say) I doo not moche care
Hereto tendeth my formour verse
Now these in english I wyll declare.
Be it so, that honour and fame
Are geuen only to the worthy
What profite haue men by the same?
They profite nothyng their body
What commoditie are they to the myndes
Euen asmoch: they fyll them full of pride
And make them as light as the wyndes
And fill them with care on euery syde
Many must one serue and many flatter
Pray, speake fayre, and mony pay
Stoutly he must beare out the matter
That wyll haue honour at this day.
Lo, who so hunteth for honour
This disquietnesse he shall fynde
To the body a longe dolour
And a continuall sore to the mynde.
O bona paupertas, o non dum cognita diuum
Munera, virtutum custos & amica pudori.
O Good pouertie, o Gods good gifte,
Unknowne is thy cōmoditie
Keper of vertue throughe thy shyft
And a very frende to honestie.
A meane state is surest of all
Daungerouse it is highe to clyme
The mightye Okes haue greatest fall
Whan the lowe shrubbes grow out their time
Spudeus.
Your wordes be good, but you digresse
And declyne muche fro my purpose
Gelasimus.
Go to hardely: your minde expresse
Spare not your learnyng to disclose
Spudeus.
I counsailed you lightnes to leaue
And to giue your selfe to study
To vertue I wolde haue you to cleaue
Commodiouse to soule and body.
By examples auncient and olde
Stearyng vp your hope as I thought
But with sentences stoute and bolde
You haue sett my counsell at nought.
As I coulde haue tolde you by name
Of suche as study in youth haue loued
Whiche haue attayned honour and fame
And worthy men haue bene proued.
Likewyse of innumerable
I can tell you also by name
Whiche of byrth haue bene honourable
And yet their endes haue bene shame.
Wherfore? this is the cause for a truth
Their tyme full Idely they dyd spende
And would not study in their youthe
Therfore shame & dishonour was their ende.
Let all youth of Idlenes beware
For it is the steppedame of vertue
If you be caught ones in her snare
All myschefes besyde wyll soone ensue.
Otia enim fomes vitiorum est otia mentem
Ad mala multa trahunt, oti comes ipsa libido est.
It is the prouoking of wickednes
To many myschefes it draweth the mynde
Unclennes accompanyeth Idelnes
No greater enemy to mankinde.
Gelasimus.
You may perceiue well by my wordes
That I haue not bene ydle alway
Though somtime I set pytfalles for byrdes
I am not ydle, as perceiue you may.
Spudeus.
Your goodly wyt I do commende
And to prayse god you haue great cause
But I haue sene that doth mee offende
As I sayed in my former clause.
Emollit otium Vires sicut rubigo ferrum.
Idlenesse weakeneth the strength
Like as rust dooth the yrone freate
Quicke wyttes it dulled at lengthe
And bredeth infirmities great
Haue you not hearde men of grauitie
Wishe that they had learned in youthe
And haue bewayled their vanitie
Cursyng themselfes with their owne mouth
Vidi iam iuuenem præmeret, cum serior ætas
Mœrentem tardos præterijsse dies.
I haue sene (sayth Ouid) a yonge man
When with more age pressed he was
Mournyng in himselfe now and than
That idely he dyd let the dayes passe.
Idlenesse bryngeth in voluptuousnesse
Whom good sayntes call the deuils bayte
In voluptuousnes is all wickednesse
Wherin youth to catche, the deuyll doth wayt
Gelasimus.
An olde prouerbe: Yonge saint olde deuyll
Whiche to you I may well apply.
Spudeus.
Thus rather he that in youth is a dreuyll
Is most like a deuyll to dye
He that in youthe no vertue wyll vse
As the commune prouerbe dooth say
In age all goodnesse wyll him refuse:
Whiche to hell is the pathe waye
As no fruite is founde in that tree
Wheron no flowre dyd before appeare
So in age he can come to no degree
Whiche in youthe wyll vse no vertue cleare.
Iuuenis existens multa bona disce:
While thou arte yonge, sayth Menander,
Many good thynges study and learne.
About foly let not your mynde wander
Geue eare to wyse men which doo you warne
Well may you be named Gelasimus
Whiche scornfull dooth signify
For whatsoeuer good men discusse
You tourne it to a scorne vtterly.
Gelasimus.
And Spudeus may well be your name
Whiche signifieth studious
You study to gette honour and fame
So that you wyll be come furious.
Spudeus,
Not so, I trust there is a meane,
I haue learned to vse modestie
Not so wyll I to study leane
That I shall forgette honestie.
I study not vertue to acquire
Fame and honour therby to attayne
Uertue for her owne sake I desyre
In whom alone honour dooth remayne.
Propter se virtus petitur non propter honorem.
Gelasimus.
I pray you let all this reasonyng passe
And tell me this: may I not somtyme play?
Spudeus.
You remembre what our talke was?
As sleepe and other rest Tully dooth say.
Gelasimus.
I am glad of that by this light
I wish that my maister so wolde say.
Men vse to rest and sleepe euery night
Than so might I play euery day.
Spudeus.
Whether you may or no, you doo
Yea truly, and that without measure
And suche wantonnesse you adde therto
That none other in your play haue pleasure.
Gelasimus.
In good fayth I play not other to please
I vse to play for myne owne solace.
Spudeus.
But in your play you doo other disease
And in so dooyng you doo trespace:
Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines
Quos vltra citraque nequit consistere rectum.
There is a comly meane in all thynges
Therbe also certayne limites pyght
Beyonde the which if you passe the strynges,
Nothyng that you doo, can be doone right
In your play, and in all your affayres
Learne you honest maners to vse
Let not idlenesse catche you in her snares
And euyll company doo you refuse
Corrumpunt etiam Sanctos commercia praua.
Euyll company dooth corrupte alway
Euen those that be well disposed
Conceale no falshed night nor day
But of you let it be disclosed
Serue God daily before any thyng
Feare him, beware his lawes to offende
Honour, loue, and truly serue the kyng
And where fautes be, learne to amende:
Your Father, Mother and Maister
Loue, feare, serue, and gentely obay:
Of their goodes be ye no waster
With truthe helpe to gette that you may.
Of tonge and hande be you euer true,
[OMITTED] pathes to sweare,
[OMITTED] doo you rewe:
[OMITTED] beare.
[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
And you shall neuer go out of the way.
Gelasimus,
I haue not so litle wyt, good frynde,
But that I perceyue your intent
I thanke you both with hearte and mynde
Your counsell is honest and prudent
This one thyng of you I woulde desyre
Daily that we may togither talke
At suche a tyme as you shall requyre
When you are best disposed to walke.
Spudeus.
I shalbe content, with all my harte:
Fare ye well, God haue you in his kepyng.
Gelasimus.
Seyng that you wyll hence departe
God preserue you wakyng and slepyng.
Euer playing Gelasmie:
Lorde, when wyll you be wise & sad.
In scholers shoulde be modestie:
But you playe euer the wanton lad.
Gelasimus.
Is this your first salutation?
You appeare some quarrels to picke,
In few wordes make relation
Wherfore with me you are so quicke?
Spudeus
I must in few wordes shew my mynde
Whersoeuer I chaunce to come,
Idle and vayne I doo you fynde
Lo, here I haue tolde you the some:
And I knowe well that your parentes
To learne vertew, putte you to schole:
You defraude them of their ententes
For daily you playe the wanton foole.
Also sittyng at schole amonge vs
What doo you els but playe and toye
So that of you, all scholers saye thus:
Gelasimus is a wanton boye.
Tu leuior foliis, tunc cum sine pondere succi,
To you I may this verse apply
You are lighter then leaues without sap
For good exercise you let go by
Gelasimus.
Of you God sende your frendes moch ioy,
I thynke you wyll proue a sage Solon
O God saue you and sweete saynt Loy
You are lyke to be a wyse man anon,
Se you not lo, a good body
When dyd my frendes to you complayne?
Medle you with your owne study
I doo not your maners disdayne.
Multa facere est, vbique putridum:
About many thynges busy to be
In euery place (qd he) doth stynke.
Curiouse you are in checkyng me
But of your selfe you doo not thynke.
Now syr, because you doo thus reporte.
When dyd you me so Idely fynde?
Spudeus.
Euery houre full of play and sporte
And as light as fethers in the wynde.
Gelasimus.
If I play, I am not Idle in deede
As you your selfe haue testified:
Spudeus.
Idle as he, as sayth saynt Beede
Which is neuer well occupied.
Gelasimus.
Somtyme, sayth the wyse man Cato:
Interlace myrth amonge thy cares.
Wherfore doo sobre men vnto playes go
But to ease their myndes in great affayres
What sayth the wyse man Tully?
Gamnyng and pastyme we may vse
As sleepe and other rest truly
Which no honest persone wyll accuse.
Dum fata sinunt, viuite læti.
Dooth not Seneca this verse write,
While fortune suffereth, be mery.
And so wyll I for all your spyte
Play and syng, hay dery dery.
Sera nimis vita est crastina, viue hodie,
Yesterdayes life is very late,
Liue to day. Asmoch to say:
Be mery and play with thy mate,
Yea forsoth and that euery day.
Spudeus.
As your memory I doo commende
In that you can Authours reherse
So I must needes you reprehende
Because you abuse a good verse,
I meane the verse of wyse Cato
Which you dyd english competently
But the sentence of Cicero
We may right well vse play and game
As we vse sleepe and other rest
But for what cause may we do the same?
In that place, it is manyfest.
Than (saieth hee) whan we haue satisfied
Other maters both weightie and graue
Also whan we haue rectified
Euylles, wont publique weales to depraue
For hee sayeth in his offices
That nature hath not brought vs forthe
To vse playes, games and fantasies
Whiche are maters nothinge worthe.
But rather to seueritie
And to more weighty studies
Meete for men in authoritie
And health for soules and bodies.
Gelasimus.
What speake you of senators
In whose handes cōmon weales did depende
They were great learned orators
Whose wisdome we can not comprehende
Quod medicorum est,
Promittunt medici, tractant fabrilia fabri
That longeth to Phisicians
Thereof they promise and talke largely
Carpenters for their furtherans
We are laddes, Scholers and Studentes
Let vs talke, as to laddes is semely:
So shall we please God and our parentes
And men shall iudge well of vs truly.
Spudeus.
Well, of Idlenesse we beganne to speake
Wherto you are moche geuen I doo see
From that I coueyte you to breake
That more studeouse you might be
A fewe sentences you haue caught
Which plainly you doo moche abuse
You apply them not as the Authours taught
But your owne Idlenesse to excuse.
Gelasimus.
You talke here lyke a great deuine
And altogither of Idlenesse
I pray you vouchsafe the same to define
Because it is so great wickednesse.
Spudeus.
In the Tusculane questions
Of Idlenesse, thus sayth Tully,
As touchyng all honest actions
Idlenesse is an ignary vncomly
Also an ircksomnesse of the mynde
When any good matier is begonne.
And therfore seeketh some other kynde
As thus you are set to schole now
To learne both vertew and science
This is a good thyng begonne in you
Godly is parentes wyll and pretence
But a none ircksomnesse of harte
And lothsomnesse of well dooyng
Cause you to take another parte
And to geue yourselfe to plaiyng.
Gelasimus.
A certayne wyse man geueth warnyng
Not ouer moche in study to stande
For to some body Arte and learnyng
Are as a sworde in a mad mans hande
Doctrina scelesti, est gladio insani similis.
Spudeus.
Truthe, a wicked persone without dout
To whom no honest thyng is good
Mischeuously vttereth learnyng out
As one dooth a weapon that is wood:
But I woulde haue you to note two thynges
First: The goodly sequels of studentes
Some haue ben counsellours to Kynges
Yea, though thei haue come of poore parentes
What were the cheife counsels of Rome
I meane when vertew flourished,
Learned and graue in iudgement and dome
A thousande I coulde reherse by name
Of whom I reade in diuers stories
Which through learnyng haue come to fame,
And attayned vnto high glories.
Qui probus atque idem doctus diademate talem
Quis dignum neget? hic aliis precellit vt aurum
Est oricalcho nobilius vitroque pyropus.
He that is good and learned withall
Who wyll denie suchone worthy
To enioy an honour royall
Which we call a diademe truly
For suchone dooth other excell
As farre as golde dooth the copper passe
And as precious stone or Birrall
Excelleth counterfaites or glasse
Yet must learned men come of poore lignage
Example of Marke Tully by name
Uertue is a most sure heritage
For that enhaunceth to honour and fame.
Gelasimus.
Truly your wordes make me to smile
You speake not of the endes of the same
Either they were driuen to exile
Or els suffred death with shame.
Spudeus.
Impute that to ingratitude
Of the ignoraunt multitude
Whiche dyd neuer vertue regarde
Suffred with shame say you? forsoth no:
Happy are they which for vertues sake
Suffre death, or into exile go
So that paciently they doo it take
Also I wyll tell you as I thynke
He that is endued with doctrine
Shall neuer want mony, meate nor drinke
So that to vertue he doo incline
But the fallible chaunces of fate
He shalbe hable to withstande
And if he be deposed from his state
Learnyng preserueth him in any lande.
Ipse tamen vidi nunquam, & vix credere possum
Vel perijsse fame, vel mendicasse disertum,
I dyd yet neuer see, the poete dooth say,
And scarsely beleue it I can
That for honger any shall decay
That is in deede a learned man.
Gelasimus.
Frende Spudeus I wyll be playne
To obtayne glory, I bende not my hope
They that coueyte honour to attayne
At noone dayes for the way doo grope.
Ergo honor & fama, & mortalis gloria lausque
Honor, fame worldly, glory and prayse
Are but dreames, for nothyng profitable
Therfore I am bent nothyng that wayes
For I looke not to be honourable.
Spudeus,
Lo this is your commune fascion
To truncate and destroy the verse
Styll for your owne excusacion
And wyll not the whole sentence reherse.
Somnia sunt prorsus nil conducentia, quando
Serte magis quam virtute acquiruntur,
They are dreames nothyng profitable
But whan? whan by chaūce thei are acquired
Rather than by vertue honourable.
Who so dooth not desyre honour
The same dooth no vertue regarde
For honour in good men euer more
For vertue is a iust rewarde.
Gelasimus,
Ha ha ha, to laugh you compell me
In the faute wherin you dyd me charge
Most euedently in you I see
As I shall declare more at large.
Turpe est doctori cum culpa redarguit ipsum.
It is a foule thyng to a teacher
When the same faute in him is fownde
Himselfe first to teache he is bownde
I dyd truncate a verse you say
Your later verse now doo you scande
And whether I say true, proue you may,
Or whether as a verse it may stande.
Spudeus,
Sorte magis quam virtute acquiruntur, at esto?
Gelasimus,
At esto? Haue you founde, at esto?
In your first rehersall that dyd lacke
You talke so moche do honesto
That you cast rectum at your backe.
Spudeus.
That (at esto) beginneth a new sentence,
Which had ben prolixe to reherse.
Gelasimus.
I perceyue your cautelouse pretence
That sentence woulde your wordes requite
Because you woulde appeare fautlesse
Takyng vpon you other to blame
What foloweth I wyll expresse
Earnestly without mocke or game:
At esto,
Quod tantum dignis tribuantur, dic mihi nunquid
Corporibus prosint? certe nil. Animisne?
Tantundem: hos inflant potius tumidosque leuesque,
Et seruire solet multis, Ambire præcari,
Munera largiri quisquis sectatur honores.
My formour wordes I must agayne reherse:
For honour (I say) I doo not moche care
Hereto tendeth my formour verse
Now these in english I wyll declare.
Be it so, that honour and fame
Are geuen only to the worthy
What profite haue men by the same?
They profite nothyng their body
What commoditie are they to the myndes
Euen asmoch: they fyll them full of pride
And make them as light as the wyndes
And fill them with care on euery syde
Many must one serue and many flatter
Pray, speake fayre, and mony pay
Stoutly he must beare out the matter
That wyll haue honour at this day.
Lo, who so hunteth for honour
This disquietnesse he shall fynde
To the body a longe dolour
And a continuall sore to the mynde.
O bona paupertas, o non dum cognita diuum
Munera, virtutum custos & amica pudori.
O Good pouertie, o Gods good gifte,
Unknowne is thy cōmoditie
And a very frende to honestie.
A meane state is surest of all
Daungerouse it is highe to clyme
The mightye Okes haue greatest fall
Whan the lowe shrubbes grow out their time
Spudeus.
Your wordes be good, but you digresse
And declyne muche fro my purpose
Gelasimus.
Go to hardely: your minde expresse
Spare not your learnyng to disclose
Spudeus.
I counsailed you lightnes to leaue
And to giue your selfe to study
To vertue I wolde haue you to cleaue
Commodiouse to soule and body.
By examples auncient and olde
Stearyng vp your hope as I thought
But with sentences stoute and bolde
You haue sett my counsell at nought.
As I coulde haue tolde you by name
Of suche as study in youth haue loued
Whiche haue attayned honour and fame
And worthy men haue bene proued.
Likewyse of innumerable
I can tell you also by name
And yet their endes haue bene shame.
Wherfore? this is the cause for a truth
Their tyme full Idely they dyd spende
And would not study in their youthe
Therfore shame & dishonour was their ende.
Let all youth of Idlenes beware
For it is the steppedame of vertue
If you be caught ones in her snare
All myschefes besyde wyll soone ensue.
Otia enim fomes vitiorum est otia mentem
Ad mala multa trahunt, oti comes ipsa libido est.
It is the prouoking of wickednes
To many myschefes it draweth the mynde
Unclennes accompanyeth Idelnes
No greater enemy to mankinde.
Gelasimus.
You may perceiue well by my wordes
That I haue not bene ydle alway
Though somtime I set pytfalles for byrdes
I am not ydle, as perceiue you may.
Spudeus.
Your goodly wyt I do commende
And to prayse god you haue great cause
But I haue sene that doth mee offende
As I sayed in my former clause.
Emollit otium Vires sicut rubigo ferrum.
Like as rust dooth the yrone freate
Quicke wyttes it dulled at lengthe
And bredeth infirmities great
Haue you not hearde men of grauitie
Wishe that they had learned in youthe
And haue bewayled their vanitie
Cursyng themselfes with their owne mouth
Vidi iam iuuenem præmeret, cum serior ætas
Mœrentem tardos præterijsse dies.
I haue sene (sayth Ouid) a yonge man
When with more age pressed he was
Mournyng in himselfe now and than
That idely he dyd let the dayes passe.
Idlenesse bryngeth in voluptuousnesse
Whom good sayntes call the deuils bayte
In voluptuousnes is all wickednesse
Wherin youth to catche, the deuyll doth wayt
Gelasimus.
An olde prouerbe: Yonge saint olde deuyll
Whiche to you I may well apply.
Spudeus.
Thus rather he that in youth is a dreuyll
Is most like a deuyll to dye
He that in youthe no vertue wyll vse
As the commune prouerbe dooth say
In age all goodnesse wyll him refuse:
As no fruite is founde in that tree
Wheron no flowre dyd before appeare
So in age he can come to no degree
Whiche in youthe wyll vse no vertue cleare.
Iuuenis existens multa bona disce:
While thou arte yonge, sayth Menander,
Many good thynges study and learne.
About foly let not your mynde wander
Geue eare to wyse men which doo you warne
Well may you be named Gelasimus
Whiche scornfull dooth signify
For whatsoeuer good men discusse
You tourne it to a scorne vtterly.
Gelasimus.
And Spudeus may well be your name
Whiche signifieth studious
You study to gette honour and fame
So that you wyll be come furious.
Spudeus,
Not so, I trust there is a meane,
I haue learned to vse modestie
Not so wyll I to study leane
That I shall forgette honestie.
I study not vertue to acquire
Fame and honour therby to attayne
Uertue for her owne sake I desyre
Propter se virtus petitur non propter honorem.
Gelasimus.
I pray you let all this reasonyng passe
And tell me this: may I not somtyme play?
Spudeus.
You remembre what our talke was?
As sleepe and other rest Tully dooth say.
Gelasimus.
I am glad of that by this light
I wish that my maister so wolde say.
Men vse to rest and sleepe euery night
Than so might I play euery day.
Spudeus.
Whether you may or no, you doo
Yea truly, and that without measure
And suche wantonnesse you adde therto
That none other in your play haue pleasure.
Gelasimus.
In good fayth I play not other to please
I vse to play for myne owne solace.
Spudeus.
But in your play you doo other disease
And in so dooyng you doo trespace:
Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines
Quos vltra citraque nequit consistere rectum.
There is a comly meane in all thynges
Beyonde the which if you passe the strynges,
Nothyng that you doo, can be doone right
In your play, and in all your affayres
Learne you honest maners to vse
Let not idlenesse catche you in her snares
And euyll company doo you refuse
Corrumpunt etiam Sanctos commercia praua.
Euyll company dooth corrupte alway
Euen those that be well disposed
Conceale no falshed night nor day
But of you let it be disclosed
Serue God daily before any thyng
Feare him, beware his lawes to offende
Honour, loue, and truly serue the kyng
And where fautes be, learne to amende:
Your Father, Mother and Maister
Loue, feare, serue, and gentely obay:
Of their goodes be ye no waster
With truthe helpe to gette that you may.
Of tonge and hande be you euer true,
[OMITTED] pathes to sweare,
[OMITTED] doo you rewe:
[OMITTED] beare.
[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
Gelasimus,
I haue not so litle wyt, good frynde,
But that I perceyue your intent
I thanke you both with hearte and mynde
Your counsell is honest and prudent
This one thyng of you I woulde desyre
Daily that we may togither talke
At suche a tyme as you shall requyre
When you are best disposed to walke.
Spudeus.
I shalbe content, with all my harte:
Fare ye well, God haue you in his kepyng.
Gelasimus.
Seyng that you wyll hence departe
God preserue you wakyng and slepyng.
Finis.
| [Three dialogues between Spudeus and Gelasimus, Eda and Agna, and Wisdome and Wylle] | |