I Was borne in freedome.

He is not free that is borne, but he that dyeth; fortune hath great power ouer hym that is commyng into the worlde, but none ouer hym that is dead: She ouerthroweth strong Cities: She vanquysheth va∣lya nt armyes: She subuerteth mightie kyngdomes. The graue is an impregnable castle: there the wormes beare rule, and not fortune. Who so therefore haue stept into that lybertie, of al men they are free from the insultes of this lyfe. Thou boastest thy selfe to be free, and knowest not whether thou shalt enter this bay a free man, I say not into thy graue, but into thy chamber. Your libertie whiche hangeth by a weake threede, as all your thynges els doo wherein ye trust, is always waueryng and bryt∣tle.

I am a free man.

For this cause, I suppose, thou callest thy selfe a free man, because thou hast no mai∣ster: but heare what Annaeus Seneca sayeth, Thyne age is pros∣perous, sayth he, perhaps it wyll so continue: knowest thou not at what age Hecuba, and Craesus, and the mother of Darius, and Plato, and Diogenes came into bondage? By these examples he admonishyth thee. There be many other examples of Seneca, eyther concealed or not knowne. Dooest thou not remember how Attilius Regulus (though vnworthy) yet susteyned this re∣proche? Hast thou forgotten Valerianus that was of latter yeeres? whereof the one, of whom I spake last, was a captayne, and the other a prynce of the people of Rome, and anon the one made slaue to the Carthagians, the other to the Persians, and this man cruelly put to death, the other consumed with long and miserable seruitude. What shall I say of the kynges of Mace∣donia, and Numidia? Perses on the one side, and Siphan on the other: who both fell downe from the top of theyr kyngdomes in∣to the Romanes fetters. I omit the auncient fall of kynges and princes. Thyne age hath seene some thrust out of the court into pryson, and the same man also both first a kyng, and last a bond∣slaue. For euery one is by so muche the more miserable in bon∣dage, by howe much he was the more happy in freedome. Be not proude therefore of thy libertie, forasmuch as bonde men are made so soone, not only of free men, but of kynges: And mar∣uayle not at it, seeyng that according to the saying of Plato, Kinges are no lesse made of seruauntes: humane thynges are chaun∣ged dayly. There is nothyng vnder heauen permanent: who wyl hope that any thyng can be fyrme or stable, in so great an vncertayntie? Neyther thynke thy selfe to be a free man in this respect, because thou hast no maister, because thou art borne of free parentes, neyther wast euer taken prysoner in warre, nor solde for a slaue. Ye haue inuincible maisters of your myndes, and there is a secrete poyson and infection whiche lurketh in the first Original of man. The generation of you in the very byrth is subiect to sinne, a greater bondage then which cannot be ima∣gined. Ye haue hydden enemies, and priuie warres. There be same that sel miserable soules, whiche (alas) for to small a price, Page  [unnumbered]ye make sale of. Yea, some of you are subiect to outragious mi∣stresses, to wyt, most fylthy pleasures, whereunto you are tyde with an vndissoluble knot. Goe your way now, & vaunt of your freedome: But you, beyng blynde, see nothyng but that which be∣longeth to the body, so that ye iudge hym to be bounde that is subiect to one mortal maister: As for hym that is oppressed with a thousande immortall tyrantes, ye accompt to be free, euen fine∣ly as ye doo all other thynges. Veryly, it is not fortune that ma∣keth a man free, but vertue.

I am a free man.

In deede thou art so, if thou be wyse, yf thou be iust, if thou be va∣liaunt, yf thou be modest, if thou be innocent, yf thou be godly: If any of these be wantyng, knowe thou, that in that respect thou art bonde.

I was borne in a free countrey.

Thou hast also knowne in thine age certayne free cities, which in short tyme haue become bonde. But yf auncient examples be more knowne and renowmed, the most free cities of Lacedemon and Athens, first suffered a ciuil, and afterward a forraigne yoke. The holy citie of Ierusalem, and the mother of euerlastyng liber∣tie, was in temperall subiection to the Romanes, and the Assyri∣ans, and at this present is in captiuitie to the Egyptians. Rome it selfe, beyng not only a free citie, but the Lady of nations, was first bond to her owne citizens, and after to other most vyle per∣sons: so that no man can euer trust to his owne freedome, or his owne Empire.