The education or bringinge vp of children, translated oute of Plutarche by syr Thomas Eliot knyght

¶Of the iuste temperance and modera∣cion of speakynge, and of the beste kinde of doctryne. Ca. vii. (Book 7)

NOwe to returne to mi first matter. My counsayle is that chyldren do eschewe to moche arrogaunt and pom∣pous speche: and in like wise to auoyde homely and rude communicacion. Inflate and proude speche lacketh gentyllnesse: base and vile wordes nothynge perswadethe or moueth. For like as the body ought not only to be hoole from sickenes, but also to be of good habilite or facion: so shulde the oracion or sentence not be onely not sicke, but also firme and substanciall. For that thynge whiche is sure, is onely commendable: & that whiche is exployted with daunger we com∣mun••ly wonder at. And like opinion haue I in disposynge the mynde: For hit becomethe not a childe eyther to be shrewde and folehardy, or to be cowarde and temerous. The one shall cause hym to be shameles: the other to be of vile cou∣rage and dastarde. The meane waye to holde in euery thynge, it is a high and perfecte crafte. Al be it I eftsones do remembre lernynge, yet what I deme therin, I wyll at this tyme differre. But to retourne to speakynge / To be contented with one onely membre or fourme of speakynge, and not to poli••he it with sondrie clauses or sen∣tenses

hit is a great token of ignoraunce. For to speake alway one thynge hit is nowe and thanne tedious and intollerable. For one note of syng∣inge, and one acte in an Interlude withoute va∣riacion, is to the syngers & playours laborious, and to the herers fulsome & tedyous. Therfore pleasaunt varietie is in euery thynge delectable: mooste specially in voyces, and thynges made to beholde. Therfore in yonge men of good stocke, nothynge shulde lacke, worthye to be harde or sene. And to say the trouthe, there shulde be in them that, whiche menne calle the Cercle of ler∣nynge. But yet that is onely as it were to be ta∣sted (takynge of euery doctrine some parte) per∣usynge them through at the fyrste syghte. For it is almost impossible to be perfecte in all thynges. All be it philosophy of al studies ought to be so∣ueraygne and had in moost reuerence: wherin I wyll declare myn opinion, by a similitude.

For lyke as it is a pleasant and goodly thynge in passynge the sees to come to dyuers worldes and countreyes, so to inhabyte and dwelle in the beste of them / hit is a thynge excellently commo∣dious and moste hyghest to be estemed. Veryly hit was a propre sayenge of Byas the philoso∣pher, that as the wowars of Penelope (wyfe of Vlysses, whiche in the ten yeres absence of her husbande, honorably susteyned her selfe chaste ageynste the importune sute of many valyaunte princes) coude not haue with her vnlefull com∣panye, they medled with the wenches and drud∣ges

of her house. In lyke wyse some parsones, whiche can not atteygne to philosophye, as hi•• were men vnapte and desperate, do languysshe and spende their tyme in other lernynges of no pryce or estimation. wherfore doubtles philoso∣phie is to be preferred as princesse of al other do∣ctrines. The wytte and studye of man hath dy∣uysed a double science or knowlege for the good gouernaunce of the body, that is to saye phisike and exercise: Of the whiche, the one bryngeth helth, thother good habite or personage: onely they gryues and diseases of the soule and mynde, phylosophye cureth and maketh hoole. By her may be knowen what is honest, what is disho∣nest, what ryght, what wronge: and generally what is to be enlued, what to be eschewed: how your parentes / your frendes, your soueraynes, your wyues and seruauntes, men in auctoritie and straungers ought to be vsed and enterteyg∣ned. More ouer, howe we shulde honoure god, worshyppe our parentes, reuerence our betters, obey the lawes, suffre and gyue place to men ha∣uyng auctorities. Also howe we ought to fauour our frendes, to loue womenne with measure, to holde dere our children, not to be of seruile con∣dicion: & aboue all other, not to reioice to moche of prosperite, nor to be oppressed with sorowe in aduersitie / n•• to be enclyned to voluptuosite, nei∣ther by to moche wrath make our mindes beast∣ly. whiche thynges be the chieffe and principall commodities or treasure of philosophie. Hit is

the office or duetie of a gentyll man / to vse well good fortune, of a man well brought vppe to es∣chewe enuie, of a man wyse and assured, to van∣quyshe his appitites and desyres, with reason: And to refrayne or ouercome anger, hit is the parte of a man not abiecte nor of small discreci∣on or vertue. But to my purpose, They ben as∣sured and perfecte men, whiche can myxe poly∣tike wysedome with philosophie. And I dare af∣firme, they do therby obteyne double commodi∣tie. That is to wete, they do leade theyr life to the cōmune weale of theyr countrey: And also they do passe theyr tyme in studies of wysedome and vertue, with quietnesse of mynde, neuer o∣uer flowen with the wawes of fortune. For wher there be thre maner of lyues, one called Actife, the other contemplatife, the thyrde voluptuous or sensuall, the laste beinge vicious and seruaunt to pleasure, apperteyneth to beastis, and men of no reputation or goodnesse. The actife lyfe, lac∣kynge philosophie, is of littell purpose, and is in sondry errours enuolued. The contemplatife life (concernynge man) if hit be natioyned with the actiue, hit is of none effecte or profite. Ther¦fore let vs endeuour our selfes, that the cōmune weale may be applied, and also philosophie ob∣teyned, as accordynge to the tyme hit shall seme moste expedient. In this wyse Pericles (the no∣ble counsailour of Athenes) dyd his duetie to the cōmune weale o•• his countre. So dyd Architas in Tarcut, Dyon in Sicile, and Epaminondas

in Thebes: of whom two the last were scholers to Plato, the prince of philosophers. what shal I nede to tarye longer aboute doctryne / excepte that besydes that we haue all redy spoken, one thynge is conuenient and also necessary to be re∣membred, that is, that yonge men endeuoure them to gette the bokes of olde wryters, and in gatheryng of them, to folowe and be lyke to the ploughman. For as the feate of tyllage is kepte by occupyenge of the grounde, and nat onely by hauynge of plowes and other store of housban∣drie: in lyke wyse the instrument of lernynge is not only possession of bokes, but also exercise and practise of the same.