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.

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The head and spring of goodnesse al, Is wisedome, that doeth shewe The meanes for to discerne the trueth, And vertue pure to knowe. Who so beginneth in his youth In vertue to delight, No doubt, but when he comes to age, Will leade his life aright.

The Paraphrase.

IN this Prouerbe the Marques sheweth that one of the principall causes of wise∣dome and knowledge, is to feare God, as Salomon in his prouerbes saith, The be∣ginning of wisdome, is the feare of God, and wisedome & knowledge the foolish doe abhorre, and therfore he saith, That wisedome is more woorth then the wea∣pons of the mightie, of greater value then precious stones, & more fine thē pure gold. For by wisedome we are able to discerne betwixt good and euill, betwixt vertue

and vice, to which ende leauing to speake of the doctrine and rules of the holy Scripture, whereby we are taught to flee from all sinne and wickednesse and to em∣brace and followe vertuousnesse) Aristotle hath written three bookes: In the one of them he entreateth of the rules and orders that are requisite for the guiding of a coun∣trey and citie, which booke is called the Politiques: In the other he sheweth howe a man ought to gouerne his house, his wife, and his children, & this booke is called the Aeconomikes. The thirde, teacheth how a man shoulde gouerne him selfe, wherein there is a medlie of rules & obseruations, by which a man may knowe the vertuous, and discerne and seuere them from the vi∣ces. And specially in this booke he shew∣eth, that all maner of vertues are gotten by vse and custome, and that a man by vsing a long time to liue vertuously, it commeth at length to bee naturall vnto him, and although a man be naturally enclined to vice, yet yf he accustome him selfe to vertue, he shall leaue his euill inclination and become vertuous. And this is it that the Prouerbe sayeth,

Who so beginneth to liue well in his youth, it is a signe that he shall not doe a∣misse in his age. But it is not one vertuous act alone, that can be called a beginning, as Aristot. saith, no more then can one swallow shew a spring. And the greatest presump∣tion by which we may cōiecture (as Ari∣stotle in the second of his Ethickes sayeth) whether a man shall proue vertuous or no, is the pleasure or the heauinesse that he taketh in his well doing. For if he be ioyfull, & take delight in the vertuous actes that he doeth, it is a token that he wil proue well in his age, and be verie vertuous. But if he goe about them, with an euill will, and seeme to take no delight therein, it is a signe that his vertues will not long endure. And therefore as the wise man sayeth: By the pleasauntnesse and heauinesse of a child in his youth, we shall easily ghesse what he will be in his age.