Chapter 2

¶ Beneuolence is the place whereby the herer is made willyng to here vs / and it is conteyned in the thynge that we speke of / in them whom we speke to / & in our owne persone. The easyest and moost vsed place of beneuolence consysteth in the offyce or duety of the person / whan we shew that it is our duety to do that we be about.

¶ Out of this place is fet y^e p[re]a[m]ble of sai[n]t Gregory Nazazene / made to the praise of saynt Basyll / where he saith that it is his his duety to prayse saynt Basyll for thre causes. For the great loue and frendeshyp that hath ben always betwene them / and agayne for the remembrau[n]ce of the moost [B.iii.r] fayre and excellent vertues that were in hym / and thyrdely that the chyrch myght haue an example of a good and holy Bys- shop. ¶ Trewly by our authours lycence me thynketh that in the preamble Naza- zen doth nat only take beneuolence out of the place of his owne persone / but also out of the other two / wha[n] he sheweth the cause of his duetye / for in praysynge his frende he dyd but his duetye. In praysynge his vertues / he cam to the place of beneuole[n]ce of hym that he spake of / as touchyng the example that the chyrche shulde haue / it was for theyr profite / and concernyng the place of beneuolence / taken of them that he spake to. But our authour regarded chiefly the principall proposicion / whiche was that saynt Gregory Nazazene was bounde to praise saint Basyll.

¶ A lyke example of beneuolence taken out of the place of office or dutie / is in the oracyon that Tully made for the Poete Archias / whiche begynneth thus.

MY lordes that be here iuges / yf there be in me any wyt / whiche I knowe is but small / or yf I haue any crafty vse of makynge an oracion / wherein I denie nat but y^t I haue metely excercysed my selfe / or yf any helpe to that science cometh out [B.iii.v] of other lyberall artes / in whome I haue occupied al my lyfe / surely I am bou[n]de to no man more for them than to Archias / whiche may lawfully if I may do any ma[n] any profite by them / chalenge a chiefe por[-] cion for hym therin.

¶ Out of this place dyd this same Tully fetche the begynnyng of his fyrste epistle / in whome he wrytethe to one Lentule on this maner: I do so my deutie in al poyn- tes towarde you / and so great is the loue and reuerence that I bere vnto you that all other men say that I can do no more / and yet me semeth that I haue neuer don that that I am bounde to do / eyther to you or in your cause.

¶ We may also get beneuolence by reason of them / whome we make our oracion of: As yf we saye that we can neuer prayse hym to hyghly / but y^t he is worthy moch more laude and prayse. And so taketh sai[n]t Nazianzene beneuolence in his sayd ora- cion for sainct Basile.

¶ Also of them afore whome we speke / as if we say / it is for theyr profyte to laude or prayse the p[er]son. And that we knowe very wel howe moche they haue alwayes loued [B.iiii.r] hym / and that he ought therfore to be prai[-] sed the more for theyr sakes. The maner is also to get vs beneuolence in the preface of our oracion / by pynchyng and blamyng of our aduersarie. As doth Tullie in the o- racion that he made for one Aulus Cecin- na / wherin he begynneth his proeme thus If temerite and lake of shame coulde as moche preuayle in plees afore the iustices / as doth audacite and temerarious bolde- nesse in the feldes and deserte places / there were no remedie but euen so muste Aulus Cecinna be ouercome in this matter by Sextus Ebucius impudence / as he was in the felde ouercome by his insidious au- dacite. And these be the co[m]mune formes of beneuolence.

¶ A man may also fetche his proeme out of the nature of the place wher he speketh / as Tullie dothe in the oracion made for Pompeius for the sendynge of hym into Asie agaynst kynge Mithridates of Pon- tus / and kynge Tigraues of Armenie on this maner: howe be it my lordes and mai[-] sters of this noble citie of Rome / I haue al tymes thought it a synguler reioyse to me if I myght ones se you gadred to gyther in a co[m]pany / to here some publique oracion [B.iiii.v] of myne / and agayne I iuged no place to be so ample and so honourable to speke in as this is. &c[etera].

¶ Or he may begyn at the nature of the tyme that is than / or at som other cyrcum[-] staunce of his mater / as Tully taketh the begynnynge of his oracion for Celius at the tyme / this wise.

¶ If so be it my lordes iuges any ma[n] be now present here that is ignora[n]t of your lawes / of your processe in iugement[e]s / and of your customes / surely he may well mar[-] uell what so heynous a mater this shulde be / that it onely shulde be syt vppon in an hygh feest daye / whan all the comonaltye after theyr olde custome are gyuen to the sight of playes / ordeined after a perpetual vsage for the nones for them / all maters of the law laid for the tyme vtterly a part.

¶ He began also an other oracion for one Sext[us] Roscius / out of the daunger of the season that he spake in.

¶ One may besyde these vse other maner of prohemes / whiche by cause they are nat set out of the very mater it selfe / or els the circumstaunces / as in these aforsayd they are called peregrine or strau[n]ge prohemes. And they be taken out of se[n]tences / sole[m]pne peticions / maners or customes / lawes / sta[-] [B.v.r] tutes of nacyons & contreys. And on this maner dothe Aristides begyn his oracion made to the praise of Rome.

¶ Demosthenes in his oracyon made a- gainst Eschines / toke his preface out of a solempne peticion / besechynge the goddes that he might haue as good fauour in y^t cause / as he had fou[n]de in all other maters y^t he had done afore for the comon welth.

¶ In like maner beginneth Tully the ora[-] cion that he made for one Murena / & also the oracyon that he made vnto the Ro- maynes after his retourne from exyle.

¶ He begynneth also an other oracyon / whiche he made as touchynge a lawe de- creed for the diuision of feldes amonge the comunes out of a custome amonge them / on this wyse.

¶ The maner and custome of our olde fa- ders of Rome hath ben. &c. And this is the maner of prefaces in any oracion / whiche is also obserued in the making of epistles / how beit there is farre lesse crafte in them than is in an oracyon.

¶ There is yet an other fourme & maner to begyn by insinuacion / wherfore it beho[-] ueth to know that insinuacion is / wha[n] in the begynnyng / yf the mater seme nat lau[-] dable or honest / we find an excuse therfore.

[B.v.v]

¶ Example / Homere in his Iliade des- cribeth one Thersites / that he was moost foule and euyll fauored of all the Grekes that came to the batayle of Troye / for he was both gogle eyed / and lame on the one legge / with croked and pynched shulders / and a longe pyked hede / balde in very ma- ny places. And besyde these fautes he was a great folysshe babler / and ryght foule mouthed / and ful of debate and stryfe / car- rynge alwayes agaynste the heddes and wyse men of the armye.

¶ Nowe if one wolde take vpon hym to make an oracio[n] to the prayse of this losel / whiche mater is of litle honesty in it selfe / he must vse in stede of a preface an insinu- acion. That what thynge poetes or com- mune fame doth eyther prayse or dispraise ought nat to be gyuen credence to / but ra- ther to be suspecte. For ones it is the na- ture of poetes to fayne and lye / as bothe Homere and Virgile / which are the prin- ces and heddes of al poetes to witnesse the[m] selfe. Of whome Homere sayth / that poe- tes make many lies / and Virgile he saith: The moost part of the sene is but deceyte. [B.vi.r] Poetes haue sene blake soules vnder the erthe / poetes haue fayned and made many lyes of the pale kyngdome of Plato / and of the water of Stigie / and of dogges in hell. And agayne co[m]mune rumours howe often they ben vayne / it is so open that it nede nat to be declared. Wherfore his trust is that the hearers wyll more regarde his saynge than fayned fables of poetes / and fleyng tales of lyght folkes / whiche ar for the more parte the grounders of fame & rumours.

¶ An example may be fet out of the decla- macion that Erasmus made to the prayse of folysshenes.

¶ An other example hath the same Eras- mus in his second booke of Copia / which is this: Plato in the fyfte dialogue of his communaltie wyllethe that no man shall haue no wyfe of his owne / but that euery woman shalbe commune to euery man. If any man than wolde eyther prayse or de- fende this mynde of Plato / which is both contrarie to Christes religion and to the commune lyuynge of me[n] / he myght as E- rasmus teacheth / begynne thus.

[B.vi.v]

¶ I knowe very well that this mater whiche I haue determyned to speke of / wyll seme vnto you at the fyrste herynge / nat onely very straunge / but also right ab- hominable. But that nat withstandynge / yf it wyll please you a litle while to deferre you iugement tyll ye haue herde the su[m]me of suche reasons as I wyll brynge forthe in the cause / I doubte nothynge but that I shall make the trouthe so euydent that you all will with one assent approue it / & knowlege that ye haue ben hitherto mar- uelously deceyued in your oppynyon / and somdele to alleuiate your myndes / ye shall vnderstande that I am nat my selfe au- thour of the thynge / but it is the mynde & saynge of the excellent & moost highly na- med philosopher Plato / whiche was vn- doubted so famouse a clerke / so discrete a man / and soo vertuouse in all his dedes / that ye may be sure he wold speke nothi[n]g but it were on a right perfyte ground / and that the thynge were of it selfe very expe- dient / thoughe peraduenture it shewe ferre otherwise at the fyrst herynge.

¶ In all prefaces of preambles must be good heed taken that they be nat to ferre fet / nor to longe.

¶ These affectuouse wordes / I reioyce / I [B.vii.r] am sorye / I meruaile / I am glad for your sake / I desire / I fere / I pray god / and such other lyke / be very apte for a preface.

¶ Of the seconde place of a preface / called Attencion.

THe herers shall be made attent or diligent to giue audience / yf the oratour make promyse y^t he will shew them new thynges / or els necessary or profita[-] ble / or yf he say y^t it is an harde mater that he hath in handelynge / or els obscure & nat easy to be vndersta[n]d / except they gyue right good attendaunce.

¶ wherfore it is expedyent that yf they wyll haue the percepcion of it / that they gyue a good eare. But as concernyng the newnesse or profyte of the mater / it ma- keth nat all onely y^e herer to gyue a good ere (which thynge is called attencion) but also maketh hym well wyllynge for to be present / whiche is beneuolence.

¶ Docilite.

DOcilite whereby we make the mater playne & easy to be per- ceyued / is nat greatly required in this kynde of oracion / for it is belonging properly to derke [B.vii.v] and obscure causes / in whiche we must p[ro]- myse that we wyl nat vse great ambages / or to go (as me[n] say) rou[n]de about the bussh / but to be short and playne.

¶ Of narracion whiche is the se- conde p[ar]te of an oracion.

¶ The Narracion or tale wherin p[er]sones are praysed / is the declaryng of theyr lyfe & doynges after the fasshion of an historie. The places out of the whiche it is sought are: The persones byrthe. His chyldhode. His adolescencie. His mannes state. His old age. His dethe and what foloweth after.

IN his byrthe is consydered of what stocke he came / what chau[n][-] sed at the tyme of his natiuite or nighe vpon / as in the natiuite of Christe shepeherdes hard angelles synge.

¶ In his chyldhode are marked his bryngynge vp and tokens of wysdome co[m]- mynge: As Horace in his fourthe Satire sheweth / how in his chyldhode his father taught hym by examples of suche as were than lyuynge to flee from vice and to gyue hym selfe to vertue.

¶ In adolescencie is considered where to [B.viii.r] he than gyuethe hym selfe; As in the fyrst comedie of Tere[n]ce one Simo telleth his seruau[n]t Sosia / that though all yonge men for the more parte gyue them selfe to some peculiare thynge / wherin they sette theyr chiefe delyght / as some to haue goo- dely horses / some to cherysshe houndes for huntyng / & some are gyuen onely to theyr bookes / his sone Pa[m]philus loued none of these more one tha[n] an other / and yet in al these he exercised hym selfe mesurably.

¶ In mannes state and olde age is noted what office or rule he bare among his citi- sens / or in his co[n]trey / what actes he dyd / how he gouerned suche as were vnd[er] him / howe he p[ro]spered / & what fortune he had in suche thyng[e]s as he went about. Example here of is in Saluste / whiche co[m]pareth to[-] gether Cato and Cesar / sayng that both theyr stocke / age & eloque[n]ce / were almoost lyke & egall / theyr excelle[n]cie & greatnes of spirite & wytte was also lyke & egal / & lyke fame & worshyppe had they both attayned howe be it nat by a lyke waye. Cesar was had i[n] great estimacion for his benefites & & liberalite. Cato had gotte[n] hi[m] a name for his p[er]fight & vpright lyuynge. Cesar was praysed for his gentilnes and pitie. Cato was honored for his ernestnes and surete.

[B.viii.v]

¶ The tother wanne moche bruyt by gy[-] uynge large gyftes / by helpynge suche as were in dystresse / and by forgyuyng of tres[-] passes done agaynste hym. Catons fame dyd sprede because he wold neither be for- gyuen of none offence / neither forgiue non other / but as any man had deserued / so to cause him to be delt with. In the one was great refuge to suche as were in mysery: In the other was sore punisshment & per- nicion to mysdoers & euyll transgressours of the law. Briefly to conclude it was all Ceazars mynde and pleasure to labour di- ligently night and day in his frendes cau[-] ses / to care lesse for his owne busynes tha[n] for theyrs / to deny nothing that was wor[-] thy to be asked / his desyre was euermore to be in warre / to haue a great hoost of me[n] vnder his gouernaunce / that by his noble and hardy faictes his valyantnes myght be the more knowen and spred abrood.

Co[n]traryly all Catons study was on tem[-] perau[n]ce / and to do in no maner otherwyse than was conuenient & fyttynge for suche a man as he was / and chiefly he sette his mynde to seueryty / he neuer made no com[-] parison with the riche man in richesse / nor with the myghty man in power. But yf nede required / with the hardy ma[n] in bold- [C.i.r] nes / with the temperate in moderacion / with the good man in innocency & iust dea[-] ling. He cared not for the name / it was suf- ficie[n]t to hym to haue the dede / & so / the lesse he cared for glorye / the more alwayes he opteyned. Many suche comparisons ve- ry profitable for this inte[n]t / are also in Plu[-] tarche in his boke of noble mennes lyues.

¶ A goodly ensa[m]ple of this place is in the oracion that Hermola[us] Barbarus made to the emperour Frederike and Maximi- lian his son / which for bicause it is so long I let it passe. ¶ A like ensample is in Tul- lies oracion / that he made to the people of Rome for Pompeyus / to be sente agaynst Mithridates.

¶ Some there be that deuide the landes of persones into thre kindes of goodes / be- gynnynge the narracion at them / whiche thynge our author doth nat greatly com- mende / but rather in rehersyng of any per[-] sones dedes / yf there can nat be kept an or- der of historie / and many thynges must be spoken. It were after his mynde best to touche fyrst his actes done by prudence / & next by iustice / thirdely by fortitude of the mynde / and last by temperaunce / and so to gather the narracion out of this foure car- dinall vertues. As if one shuld praise saint [C.i.v] Austen / after that he hath spoken of his pa[-] rentele and bryngynge vp in youthe / and is come to the rehersale of his actes / they may be conueniently distributed into the places of vertues. On this maner did Tul[-] ly prayse Pompey.

¶ I suppose (sayeth he) that in hym that shulde be a hed capitayne ouer a great ar- my / ought to be foure thynges. Knowlege of werre / valiantnes / auctoritie / & felicitie.

¶ Here is to be noted that in rehersynge any persons actes / we may haue our chief respecte to some peculiare and principall vertue in hym / enlargynge and exaltynge it by amplificacio[n] in maner of a digressio[n].

¶ Our author in this worke maketh no mencyon of the last place that is dethe and suche thynges as folowe after / but in an other greater work he declareth it thus briefly. ¶ The dethe of the persone hathe also his praises / as of suche whiche haue ben slayne for the defence of theyr contrey or prince.

¶ A very goodly ensample for the hande- lynge of this place is in an epistle that An[-] gele Policiane writeth in his fourth boke of epistels to Iames Antiquarie of Lau- rence Medices / howe wysely and deuout- ly he dysposed hym selfe in his dethe bed / [C.ii.r] and of his departynge / and what chann[-] ced at that tyme.

¶ And so to conclude an oracion Demon- stratiue / wherein persones are lauded / is an historycall exposicion of all his lyfe in order. And there is no difference betwene this kynde and an history / saue that in hi- stories we be more briefe and vse lesse curi- ositie. Here all thynges be augme[n]ted and coloured with as moche ornamentes of eloquence as can be had.

¶ Confirmacion of our purpose / and con- futynge or reprouynge of the contrarye / whiche are the partes of contencion / are nat requisite in this kynde of oracion / for here are nat treated any doubtefull ma- ters / to whome contencion perteineth.

Neuer the lesse / somtyme it happeneth (how beit it is seldome) that a doubte may come / which must be either defended / or at the leest excused.

¶ Example.

THe frenche men in olde tyme made myghty warre agaynste the Romaynes / and so sore be- sieged theym that they were by compul- cion constrayned to fall to composicion [C.ii.v] with the frenche men for an huge summe of golde / to be payed to theym for the bre- kynge of the siege / but beynge in this ex- treme misery / they sent for one Camillus / whome nat very longe afore they had ba- nisshed out of the citie / and in his absence made hym dictatour / which was the chie- fest dignitie amonge the Romaynes / and of so greate auctoritie / that for the space of thre monethes / for so long dured the office moost co[n]ueniently / he might do all thyng at his pleasure / whether it concerned deth or no / nor no ma[n] so hardy ones to say nay against any thyng that he dyd / so that for the space he was as a kynge / hauynge all in his owne mere power. Now it chau[n]ced that while this summe was in payenge / & nat fully wayed / Camillus of whome I said afore / that being in exile he was made dictatour / came with an army / and anone bad cease of the payment / & that eche par- ty shulde make redy to bataile / and so he vainquisshed the frenche men.

¶ Now yf one shulde praise hym of his no[-] ble faites / it shuld seme that this was done contrary to the law of armes / to defait the frenche men of the raumsom due to them / syns the compacte was made afore / wher- fore it is necessary for the oratour to defe[n]de [C.iii.r] this dede / & to proue that he did nothynge contrary to equitie. For the whiche pur- pose he hathe two places. One apparent / whiche is a comon sayenge vsurped of the poete. _Dolus au virtus quis in hoste requirat._ That is to say / who will serche whether y^e dede of enemy against enemy be either gile or pure valiantnes? But for that in warre law is as well to be kept as in other thin- ges. This sayeng is but of a feble grou[n]de. The other is of a more stronge assurau[n]ce / whiche Titus Liuius writeth in his fyfte boke from the buildynge of Rome / where he reherceth this history now mencioned / and that answere is this / that the co[m]pacte was made to paye the foresayd raunsome after that Camillus was created dicta- tour / at what time it was nat lawfull that they whiche were of ferre lesse auctoritie / ye & had put them selfe holy in his hande / shuld entermedle them with any maner of treatise without his licence / & that he was nat bounde to stande to theyr bargayne. The whiche argumente is deducte out of two circumstaunces / whereof one is the tyme of the makynge of the compacte / and the other / the persons that made it / which two circumstaunces may briefly be called whan / and who. ¶ Likewise yf an oracion [C.iii.v] shulde be made to the laude of saint Pe- ter / it behoueth to excuse his denyenge of christe / that it was rather of diuine power and wyll: than otherwise / for a confortable example to synners of grace yf they repe[n]t.

¶ This is the maner of handelynge of an oracion demonstratiue / in whiche the per- son is praised.

¶ The author in his greater worke decla[-] reth the facion by this example.

¶ If one wolde praise kynge Charles / he shulde kepe in his oracion this order.

Fyrst in declarynge his parentele / that he was kynge Pipines sone / whiche was the fyrste of all kynges of Frannce named the moost christen kynge / and by whom all af- ter hym had the same name / and Nephien to Martell / the moost valiauntest prynce that euer was. Nexte / his bryngynge vp vnder one Peter Pisane / of whom he was instructe bothe in Greke and Latin. Tha[n] his adolessencie / whiche he passed in excer- cise of armes vnder in his fader in y^e war- res of Acquitaine / where he lerned also the Sarazynes tongue.

¶ Beynge come to mannes state / & now kyuge of Fraunce / he subdued Aquitayn / Italye / Swauelande / and the Saxones. And these warres were so fortunate / that [C.iiii.r] he ouercam his aduersaries more by aucto[-] ritie and wisdom than by effusion of blode.

¶ Also many other notable examples of vertue were in hym in that age / specially that he edified the vniuersitie of Paris.

¶ Here may by digressio[n] be declared how goodly a thynge lernynge is in Prynces. Chiefly suche condicion apperteyneth to vertue and good lyuynge.

¶ Here may be also made comparison of his vertues in warre / and of other agre- ynge with peace / in the whiche (as his hi- story maketh mencyon) he was more ex- cellent. For his chiefe delyte was to haue peace / and agayne he was so gentyll and so mercyfull / that he wolde rather saue euyn suche as had don hym great offence: and had deserued very well for to dye / tha[n] to dystroye theym / thoughe he might do it conueniently.

¶ Besyde this / he was so greatly enfla- med in the loue of god and his holy chirch / that one Alcuine a noble clerk of England was continually with hym / in whose prea[-] chynge and other gostely communicacion he had a chiefe pleasure. His olde age he passed in rest and quyetenes fortunately / saue for one thyng / that his sonnes agreed euyll betwene them.

[C.iiii.v]

¶ After his decease reigned his son / holy saint Lewes / and so the folowynges of his dethe were suche that they could be no bet- ter / and a very great token of his good and vertuouse lyuynge. For yf an yll tree can brynge furthe no good fruite / what shall we suppose of this noble kynge Charles / of whome cam so vertuouse and so holy a son? Truely me thynketh that hither may be nat inco[n]ueniently applied the sayenges of the gospell / by theyr fruites you shall know them.

¶ Of an oracion Demonstratiue / wherein an acte is praysed.

WHan we wyll prayse any maner of dede / the moost apte preamble for that purpose shall be to say that the mater perteyneth to the commodities of them whiche here vs.

¶ Example.