Politeuphuia VVits common wealth.

Of Office.

Defi. Office or dutie, is the knowledge of man concerning his owne nature, & contemplation of diuine nature, and a labour to benefit our selues and all other men; it is also taken for authority or rule.

MAns life may not bee destitute of office, because in it honesty consisteth,

Office is the ende where-vnto vertue ay∣meth, and chiefely when vve obserue things comely.

Office marrieth the soule to respect, & ma∣keth it principally acquainted with piety.

The first office of dutie, is to acknowledge the Diuinity.

Office is strenthened by zeale, and zeale makes opinion inuinsible.

VVee must feare a dissembling officer, be∣cause he delights in a tyrannous office.

A busie officer doth best become a trouble∣some office.

The office of a wise-man, prefers euer con∣sideration

before conclusion.

Office without profit, brings a man to po∣uerty; and profit without office, looseth his best reward.

Men to rule mens desires, is the greatest au∣thority.

In dooing nothing but what we ought, wee deserue no greater reward but what we beare about vs. Chris.

To know euill, is an office of profit, but to vse euill, is a sinne of indignity.

Vpon the Anuile of vpbrayding, is forged the office of vnthankfulnes.

It is an office of pitty to giue a speedy death to a miserable and condemned creature.

It is also an office of charitable loue, to doe good vnto euery man that needeth, and to refraine from seeking reuenge for our owne iniuries.

Loue, sufficiency, and exercise, are the three beauties which adorne offices.

Old men well experienced in lawes and cu∣stoms, ought chiefly to be chosen Officers.

It is not meete that man should beare anie authoritie, which with his money seeketh to buy another mans office.

The buiers of offices sell by retaile, as deer•• as they can, that which they buy in grosse.

No poynt of philosophy is more excellent, then office in publique affaires, if officers doe practise that which Philosophers teach.

VVhere offices are vendible, there the best monied ignorants beare the greatest rule.

They which sell offices, sell the most sacred thing in the vvorld, euen iustice it selfe, the Common-wealth, subiects, and the lawes.

It is as hard an office to gouern an Empire, as to conquer an Empire.

He is only fit to rule & beare office, which comes to it by constraint, & against his will.

The office of a Monarke is, continually to looke vpon the Law of God, to engraue it in his soule, and to meditate vpon his word.

Officers must rule by good lawes, & good examples; iudge by prouidence, wisedome, and iustice; and defend by prowesse, care, & vigilancie. Agesil.

Pericula, labores, dolores etiam optimus quis∣que suscipere mauult, quā deserere vllam officij partem.

Cicero.

Sigismundus Romanorum Imperator, dicere solitus est, nulla nobis militia opus esset, si suas quique ciuitates praetores, caeterique magistratus moderaté iustequé gubernarent.