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

That the pleasynge of communes is diffi∣ficile and also dangerous, and what peryll is in hastye and vnadui∣sed speche. Cap. vi.

IN lyke wyse as there is nothynge more propise and conueniente for a man, than the vertuous bryngynge vp of his children, so it is expe∣diente, that he sette them in a holsome and vncorrupted countreye, farre from the fantasyes and vayne glosynges of people. For he that endeuourethe hym to please the multitude, must nedes discon∣tent the wyse men, as wytnesseth Euripides the wryter of tragedies,

Thus am I called fole and ignoraunt Amonge rude people, my verses to auaunt But to meane men, egall to my degre I 〈◊〉〈◊〉 thought wyse, eche as they fauour me. For of whom wyse men set lytell price Contenteth the people Best with their deuyse.

Verily I perceyue that they, whiche put they•• holle prac••ise, to obteyne the grace and fauoure of the troublous cōmunes, be for the more parte prodigall, and desirous of inordinate pleasure / and by reason bit ••uste be so. For they that ne∣glecte honestie to content other mens appetites, can not always pref••rre good dilectations, or fo∣lowe

those that be moderate for them that be vo¦luptuous. More ouer take good hede that your children do not speake sodaynely / and without premedytacion. For that, whiche is spoken or done vnaduysedly and hastily / in no wyse maye be cōmēdable. For it is said in a prouerbe: Good thinges are difficile. And wordes not forestudied be infarced with lyghtnesse and negligence, and vnneth suche perceyue wher at to begynne, or where they shal make their conclusion. Amonge other faultes they that speake hastily, falle in to bablynge immoderate, but aduysed meditation suffreth not langage to wandre out of due mea∣sure. we rede of Pericles (one of the noble coū∣saylours of Athenes) often tymes whan he was required of the people to shew his opinion, wold none other thynge saye, but that he was not pro∣uyded. Semblably his successour in the cōmune weale Demosthenes (the most excellent oratour) whā the people called for him to gyue them coun¦sayle, he came not, sayenge, I am not yet four∣nysshed sufficiently. Perchaunce some wyll saye, this tale is nat trewe, and that I speake it with∣out auctorite. Al be it in his oration agaynst Mi∣dea, he declareth the cōmodite of premeditation in this fourme: Frendes I deny not, but I haue consydered, what I shall saye, and that I shall speake is with great labour prouyded. ye might well pytie me, If I shulde come before you pre∣pared, that I shuld omytte and passe ouer that thing, which I entende to declare. Nor I speake

not thus now to depraue spedy expedicion in gy∣uynge aduyse or counsayle, but that they whi∣che haue anye suche grace, maye frankelye prac∣tyse hit. All be hit, I thynke it necessarye, that ••onge men do seldome vse hit, vntyll they come to the age of perfection, leste they speake al thin∣ges that happeneth, and not all that is necessa∣rye. And whan the vertue of eloquence hath ta∣ken rote, than whan tyme requireth, hit shall be commendable to departe bounteously with plen∣tye of matter. For as they, whiche haue bene longe in gyues or stockes, by custome of longe imprisonemente, whan they be loused, they do halte for the tyme, and may not well go: in lyke wyse they, which haue longe refrayned to speke, whan they be constrayned to speake sodaynely, yet wylle they folowe the s••ile of an interpretour (whiche is with longe taryenge and moche stu∣dye.) But yet ••e that suffreth children to speake hastily withoute deliberation, gyueth them oc∣casyon to falle in to extreme claterynge and i••n∣glynge. On a tyme whan a symple peynter had shewed vnto Appelles the moste counnyng pein∣ter that euer was, an image that he had made, he also sayde to Appelles: Euen nowe I made this image. Nowe in good faythe sayde Appel∣les, if thou wylte holde thy tounge and saye ne∣uer a worde, I do perceiue thou dyddest sodayn∣lye peynte hit. But I do meruayle moche more•• that in that space thou haste not peynted no m•• ymages.