The boke of wisdome otherwise called the flower of vertue. Folowing the auctorities of auncient doctours [and] philosophers, deuiding and speaking of vices [and] vertues, wyth many goodly examples wherby a man may be praysed or dyspraysed, wyth the maner to speake well and wyselie to al folkes, of what estate so euer they bee. Translated first out of Italion into French, [and] out of french into English, by Iohn Larke. 1565.
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Title
The boke of wisdome otherwise called the flower of vertue. Folowing the auctorities of auncient doctours [and] philosophers, deuiding and speaking of vices [and] vertues, wyth many goodly examples wherby a man may be praysed or dyspraysed, wyth the maner to speake well and wyselie to al folkes, of what estate so euer they bee. Translated first out of Italion into French, [and] out of french into English, by Iohn Larke. 1565.
Publication
[Imprinted at London :: In Fletestreate, beneathe the conduyte, at the sygne of S. Iohn Euangeliste, by Thomas Colwell,
[1565]]
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Subject terms
Conduct of life -- Early works to 1800.
Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A16439.0001.001
Cite this Item
"The boke of wisdome otherwise called the flower of vertue. Folowing the auctorities of auncient doctours [and] philosophers, deuiding and speaking of vices [and] vertues, wyth many goodly examples wherby a man may be praysed or dyspraysed, wyth the maner to speake well and wyselie to al folkes, of what estate so euer they bee. Translated first out of Italion into French, [and] out of french into English, by Iohn Larke. 1565." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A16439.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 26, 2025.
Pages
descriptionPage [unnumbered]
¶Howe Constancye and Inconstaū∣cye,
be dyfferent, And howe Con∣staunce
is a Noble Vertue.
And what Incon∣stauncye
is,
¶The .xxxiiii. Chapter. (Book 34)
COnstauncye, is to be
Ferme and stable in
one purpose, without
varyenge.
¶Tulle saithe,* 1.1 that
it is a very great and a good thing
for a man to be stable in those thin∣ges
whiche he wil say or doe.
¶Isydore saythe,* 1.2 that he is not
worthye of prayse, whiche doth be∣gynne
anye worke, but he whyche
maketh an ende therof. Yet not∣wythstandynge
a man oughte not
too bee so styffe in those thynges
descriptionPage 67
which he hath to do, that he do fal
into the vyce of Obstynacye. Obsti∣nacye
is, not to chaunge his pur∣pose,
for anye counsayle or for anye
thing that may chaūre therof. In∣constauncye
is a vyce contrarye to
the vertue of Constauncye.
¶Senec saythe that Inconstaun∣cye
is not to be ferme and stedfaste.* 1.3
And it maye be compared to the
Swalowe, whyche doth feede and
nouryshe hym selfe, in flieng here &
there, and so doth Inconstauncye,
which dothe put all thinges at ad∣uenture.