The prouerbes of the noble and woorthy souldier Sir Iames Lopez de Mendoza Marques of Santillana with the paraphrase of D. Peter Diaz of Toledo: wherin is contained whatsoeuer is necessarie to the leading of an honest and vertuous life. Translated out of Spanishe by Barnabe Googe.

The twelfth Chapter of Duetie to Parents. (Book 12)

90.

Great reuerence to the parents euermore we ought to giue: And with obedience honor them, as long as they doe liue. The Lord him selfe hath promised assuredly that hee

That doth the same, with long & hap∣py life, shall blessed bee.

The Paraphrase.

SEtting aside the lawes both of God and man, we see that euen by very na∣ture men are moued to honour, loue, & feare their parentes, and that we shun to offend them, for the benefite of nature that by them we haue receiued, as we are taught by the Ciuil law. Besides, our Sauiour Ie∣sus Christe intreating of the Commaunde∣ments, hath not promised long life for the fulfilling of any of them, saue onely for this, where he saith, Honor thy father and thy mother, that thou maist liue long & ma∣ny daies vpon the earth: As it is also writ∣ten in Ecclesiasticus, He that honoreth his father, shall receiue ioy and comforte of his owne children, and shal liue a long and an happy life. And againe, The bles∣sing of the father maketh stedfast the state of the children, but the curse of the mother bringeth them to distruction, Whervpon saith the Prouerbe, The Lorde him selfe hath promised, &c.

91.

By motherly perswasions Veturia did asswage (And with her presence pacifie) the Roman in his rage. On th' other side the beastly lust of that same monster vile, With incest and with murder did, his hatefull hart defile.

The Paraphrase.

VEturia was an honourable Matrone of Rome, and mother to Coriolanus, a man of great wisedome and valure, to whom for his great deseruings, the com∣mon wealth of Rome was not a little be∣holding, howbeit as it is no newe thing a∣mongst men, to haue their good deedes re∣quited with vnthankfulnesse, he was moste vnkindely & vniustly banished by his owne Countrey men: the cause why, I finde not apparant, for malice neuer mindeth reason, neither doth euill will at any time regarde Iustice. But to returne to the matter of Co∣riolanus, beeing thus banished, goeth straightwayes to the Volscians, who at

that time were in armes against the Ro∣manes: and as vertue in all places getteth estimation, so was he receiued and inter∣teined with great honour amongst them, and for his valour, within a very small time chosen to be their general. Wherby it came to passe (as Valerius writeth) that euē him, whose profit and good turnes his Citizens could not away with, nowe were they, the case beeing altered, driuen to dreade as their mortall enemy, and besieger of their towne: And beeing thus by the siege sore di∣stressed (which is alwayes more grieuous to great and populous Cities, then to small townes) they were constrayned to send vnto Coriolanus, moste humbly requiring him to leaue his siege, and to departe from the Citie, and whereas their Embassadors, bee∣ing the chiefe and principall men of the Citie and of the Capitoll, with colde enter∣tainment, were neither heard nor answered, they continued their sute, and with humble submission sent out their priestes and cler∣gie, beeing araied in their deuoutest ves∣tures: but as the other were returned, so were these sent back, with very harde spee∣ches and euel entertainment, whervpon the

whole Citie bewayling their miserable case, and crying out for the cruel aunswere, that (iustly deserued) they had receued. Ven∣turia the mother of this Coriolanus stau∣deth vp, and taking with her Volumnia hee sonnes wife, with her and her Children she goeth directly to the Campe of the Volsci∣ans, whom when Coriolanus a farre of perceiueth, hauing in his company a ga∣lant company of Gentlemen, he commeth foorth to meete her, though not a little dis∣quieted, because his minde gaue him that their comming was onely to mooue him for the raysing of his siege, and as soone as he came neere vnto them, alighting from his horse, hee came towardes his mo∣ther to embrace her. But shee, put∣ting him a little backe from her with her hand, with a heauie countenaunce saide vnto him these woordes, Before thou commest neare mee, and before I re∣ceiue thine embracinges, let mee vnder∣stande whether I bee come vnto my sonne, or to my enemie? or whether I shall enter into thy tent as a mother, or as a sorrowfull captiue? Alas, to what extremitie is my wretched Age come, to

see thee firste bannished and expulsed thy Cittie, and nowe a cruell enemie and spoyler of thy Countrie that nourished thee? howe couldest thou come into these partes with so deadely and reuengefull a minde? howe couldest thou enter into these territories, and not let fall thy fu∣rious displeasure and threatnings? Howe happened it, that at the sight of Rome thou saydest not vnto thy selfe, Loe heare within these walles is enclosed my na∣tiue soyle; my patrimonie, my mother, my wife, and my children? Vnhappie woman that I am, who am well assured, that if I had neuer borne thee, Rome had neuer by thee been besieged: And if I had neuer beene deliuered of a sonne, I had happily dyed both free and at home in mine owne countrie. I speake not these woordes, because I am not able to suffer anie thing that shall be more re∣prochfull to thee, nor for the griefe of myne owne captiuitie, whose miserie can not be long by reason of my age, but onely for these, that be heere present, thy miserable wife & poore distressed infants.

When Ventruria had thus ended her so∣rowfull complaint, Coriolanus imbracing her w^t teares in his eyes, said these wordes: Mine owne sweete Mother, my rage and fury is conquered & appeased, and is turned at your request from this mine vnnatural & vnthankful countrie: wherwith he presently discamped, & brake vp his siege. Wherevp∣on Valerius in the same Chapter sayeth, That the hart, that was full of wrath & re∣uenge, for the iniurie that he had sustained, and was now in assured hope of present vic∣tory, vpon the onely sight of his mother, and vpon his vertuous compassion, chaunged his intent of bloody warres, into a sweete and healthfull peace. Long were it to write, how greatly vertuous children haue alwayes beene gouerned by duetie and re∣uerence to their parents. Touching Nero of whom mention is made in this prouerb, where hee sayeth, The beastly lust of that same monster vile &c. Howe lothsome and horrible the lecheryes of this shame∣full tyrant was, and what, and howe greate his disobedience was to his owne natural mother, is to bee seene in the story of his life, where who so liste may reade it. And

therefore I meane to stand no longer vpon this prouerb, but to conclud, affirming that reuerence ought of bounden deutie to bee giuen to the Parents, for which the Lorde hath promised in the fourth of his Com∣maundements, a long and blessed life vpon the earth. I could heere bring in, if I were disposed, a great number of testimonies, as wel from the Philosophers, as from the holy Patriarches and Prophets. But be∣cause the olde saying is, The tedious tale offends the eare, and briefest words wee gladiest heare. And therefore let this that I haue saide, suffise the Reader, which I take to be inough for the vnderstanding of the Prouerbe.

92.

And heere we may not ouerslip the wicked Absolon, But call to minde his froward hart, and fond presumption. For neuer haue we seene nor shall, that he that is vnkinde, Doth any grace with GOD aboue, or any fauour finde.

The Paraphrase.

ABsalon was the sonne of Dauid, a man of passing beautie and singular proportion, who found the meanes by cer∣taine of his seruants to murder his brother Amon for the deflouring of Thamar his sister, & turning her dishonestly out of his house. For which murder Dauid was greatly offended, howbeit vppon fatherly compassion, and at the humble sute and re∣quest of Ioab, who was a speciall friende to Absalon, he pardoned him. But Absa∣lon, whether it were because he found not the like countenaunce at his fathers hande as he was woonte to doe, or that hee was set on by some wicked seruauntes and leude Councellers, or whether it was the moti∣on of his owne euill disposed minde, he pre∣sently withdrue himselfe (as if he wont with his fathers fauour) from Hierusalem, and came to Hebron, and with the sounde of the Trumpet, calling togither the people of Israel, without any regarde of his due∣tie to his father, he made him selfe King, with presumption to depose him, and to set vy him selfe, & to that intent he allured vn∣to

him a great number of the tribes of Isra∣el, and entred into open armes against his father. But God, who could neuer away with the disobedience of the childe to his father, turned all his deuises, force, and po∣wer to his owne confusion, for at the ioy∣ning of the battailes, the fight being fierce, there was slaine to the number of twentie thousand, and Absalon him selfe galloping vp and downe, and passing thorowe a thick wood, was hanged by the heare of the head vpon the bough of an Oke, his Moyle run∣ning from vnder him, and beeing found so hanging, was slaine by Ioab and certaine of his seruants: wherby the good father ob∣tained the victory of his disobedient sonne, where it plainely appeared, that God him selfe, abhorring his rebellious fact, fought against him, as is more largely declared in the seconde Booke of the Kinges, which I haue heere but briefely touched, to shewe that the disobedience to the father, is great∣ly displeasing of God.