The Garden of Wisdom Book 2, Part 24

The Garden of Wisdom Book 2 · Part 24

¶ Of Cato the sage.

CAto y^e elder was wōt to saye, that he had leuer for a good tourne hauehave no rewarde: thā for an euel turne hauehave no punishment. Signifyenge, that nothynge is more perilouse to a cōmon wealth, then impunitie, whych alwayes allureth mē to do worse and worse.

The same Cato also sayde, that he forgaue al mē that offended saue him selfe. Nowe that man doth pardon and forgyue himselfe whych repēteth not him selfe of that he hath mysdone And agayne he taketh punyshmente of him selfe, which wyth diligence redresseth the thynge that by negligēce was commytted.

Adhortyng offycers and rulers to punysh offendours, & malefactours, p. 43he sayde, suche as myghte restrayne wycked doers and wolle not: ought to be stoned to death.

He sayde, he hated that souldyour which in walkyng moued his hādes and in fyghtynge hys fete, and which louder routed in tente, then cryed in felde. And that Capitayne or Ruler was starke naught whych could not rule hym selfe.

He sayde he loued rather those yongmen that blusshed then y^t waxed pale, bycause blusshynge is token of an honest nature, but palenes not so.

He sayde that euerye man ought most to stande in awe of himselfe, bycause no man can at any tyme depart from hymselfe. So shulde it come to passe, that what so euer we durst not do in presence of other, we wolde be abashed to do the same, when we be alone.

When he sawe other Senatours and lordes of Rome set vp gorgiouse ymages in memorie of them selues: I hadde leuer, sayeth he, that men shuld aske and maruayle at me, why Cato hathe no ymage set vp for hys memorialle, then why he hath one. Sygnifyenge, that he had rather do worthy actes to thyntent in tyme cō mynge, men knowynge, that he deserued an ymage to be erected in memorie of hym, mought wonder why he hath none set vp in hys commendacion and memorie.

He admonyshed, such as be of great power to vse skantly theyr power, that they may vse it euer. Meanynge that power by clemeneye and gentylnesse is made longe, by roughnes, shorte.

Suche as defrauded vertue of her due honoure, he sayde, take away p. 44vertue from youthe. Meanynge, by rewards and promocion yonge mēs mindes be kindled vntounto vertue which yf ye plucke awaye: anon vertue wol ware faynt and quale.

He sayde, a Magistrate or iudge oughte neyther to be prayed for good men, nor intreated for euell men. By thyshe meant, that it is a greate lacke in the iudges yf they muste be prayed to be indyfferente vntounto good men sythe they ought of theyr owne mere mocion fauour honest persones Nowe for vnryghteous persones a man to be a suter, it is a token perchaunce of humanitie, but a iudge to be intreated for suche, surely is a part of a shrynker of iustice.

He sayde that iniurye althoughe it bryngeth no daūger to the worker of it, yet is it daungerous vniuersaily to all men. Meanynge, that thexemple of iniurye vnpunyshed threatneth iniurie to eueryevery man. For yf it were lawfull to do hurt without punyshement there shulde be no man sure frō the violence of the wycked and deuelyshe personnes.

He sayde an angrye bodye dothe nothynge dyffer from a mad mā but in the tariaunce of tyme. Signifyeng that wrathe is (as Horace the poete sayeth) a short frensye.

Suche he sayde as moderately & soberly coulde vse the auauncemente of fortune: be nothynge at all assaulted wyth the grudge or enuye of the people. For he sayde mē enuye not vsus but our godes wherwyth they se vsus adourned and flowynge. Outwarde goodes be out of mā, but the vyce of vsynge them proudly, is wythin mā.

Suche as accustome them selues to be ernest in tryfles, he sayde shalbe p. 45in ernest matiers, trifelynge.

He blamed the cytizens, bycause they committed theyr offyces euer to all one personnes. For me thynke, sayde Cato, ye eyther lytle esteme the offycies of your citye, or els ye iuge few worthy to hauehave thē. Wherof the one was to iuge amisse of the publike power, the other to hauehave an euyl opinyon of the citizens.

He exhorted yong men, that those whych were come vp to dignitie and promotion by indifferencie, good demenours, prowesse & vertue: shulde not now fowly growe out of kynd & degedre vntounto worse, but if they were come to worshyp by ambition and extorcions, they shulde nowe yet frame them selfes to a better kynde of lyfe. For so, sayd he, shuld it come to passe, that bothe they shulde increase theyr glorie, & these abolishe and weare out theyr blottes w^t theyr well doynges.

Thys prudent Senatour Cato, the more he studyed and traueled for the weale of the citye of Rome, the more the vnthanfull Romanes hated and spyted hym. Whyche thynge when he espyed, he sayde openlye to the people, that of hys ennemyes he was therfore enuyed bycause he continually rysynge euerye nyghte, and settyng asyde hys own priuate affaires, traueled in the maters of the common weale, notyng the ingratitude and vnthankfullnes of the people. Assuredlye thys is the nature of that beast af manye heddes I meane of the people, for so the Poete Horace calleth them not without cause. England hathe at thys daye a Prynce incomparable Henry the eyght, she hath vpō his maiestye Counsailours attendant not a fewe euen the moste p. 46prudent and graue parsonagies that could be pyked out of the realme to gyue holsom counsaile, she hathe bysshops, she hathe teachers a greate manye, both lerned and godly, yet her ingrate chyldern hauehave not refrayned from treasons, from sedicions, from both preuie and aperte grudges and furies, frō sklaunderouse reapportes, from blowyng abrode and brutynge of moste shamefull and detestable lesynges & thynges neuer doon, spokē, nor yet ones thought vponupon, as they were ymagined to hauehave been. O ingrate England. O eroked & paruerse generacyon. But I retourne to my purpose.

This Cato very wyttyly also said that fooles bryng more vtilitie & profette vntounto wyse men, than wyse men to fooles. For the prudent and wyse personnes, whyle they sone espye the errours and misedemenors of fooles and eschue the same: they become the warer, but fooles not so, for the thynges that they se wel doon of wisemē, they hauehave not the witte to folowe.

A certayne person whych studyed for nothyng elles but to fare wel, coueted moch to be familiare wyth Cato. But Cato refused hym vtterlye, sayinge he could not lyue wyth hym that sauered better in hys palate thē in hys hart.

A louers mynd, he sayde, lyued in an others bodye, agreynge to the eō mō prouerbe that sayeth. Anima illie potius est, vbi amat quā vbi animat. The soule or mynd of man is rather there where it loueth, then where it lyueth.

Of thre thynges doon in all hys lyef he sayde he repented hym, fyrst, yf he committed any hys secreates to p. 47a woman, second, yf to onye place he were caryed by water, whyther he moughte hauehave goon by lande. The thyrd, if any day had eskaped him by negligence without frute.

Thys Cato for all he was one of the chiefest lordes of Rome, yet hys chief delite and pleasure was in husbandrye, in so moch that he wrote also bokes of husbandrye. For he sayde that of husbande men be engendred most stronge men, most hardy souldiours & parsonnes least replete wyth gyle & malice. And when he was demaūded what gaynes was most certayne & best, he aunswered, to grease or pasture wel, what next, to pasture metely wel, what thyrd, to clothe wel what fourth, tyllage. Why, ꝙ one that stode by, what is it to gayne by vsaunce or lone of money? what is it ꝙ Cato, to kyll a man?

A certayne person which rose erly in the mormynge and found his hose knawn and eaten of the rattes being troubled with this syght, thinkyng it a pronosticatiō & tokē of some misfortune: He cōmeth to Cato to aske his coūsaile & to know of hym what euyl thys thyng portended and sygnified. Cato maketh hym thys aunswere. Certes my frend, it is no mōstruouse syght to se rattes eate mēs hoses, but yf thy hose had eaten the rattes that had been a monstrucuse syght.

¶ The Table of the fyrst boke of the gardeyn of wisedome.

¶ The Table of the seconde boke.

FINIS.

¶ Prynted at London by Richard Bankes.

¶ Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum.

End of the text · Richard Taverner, The Garden of Wisdom Book 2 (1542)