Phisicke against fortune, aswell prosperous, as aduerse conteyned in two bookes. Whereby men are instructed, with lyke indifferencie to remedie theyr affections, aswell in tyme of the bryght shynyng sunne of prosperitie, as also of the foule lowryng stormes of aduersitie. Expedient for all men, but most necessary for such as be subiect to any notable insult of eyther extremitie. Written in Latine by Frauncis Petrarch, a most famous poet, and oratour. And now first Englished by Thomas Twyne.

Of sundrie Spectacles and Shewes. The .xxx. Dialogue.

IOY.

I Am delyghted with sundrie Shewes.

Reason.

Perhaps with the Curteine or Theater: which two places are well knowen to be enimies to good manners: for looke who goeth thyther euyl, returneth worse. For that iourney is vnknowen to the good, whiche yf any vndertake vppon ignorannce, he can not choose but be defyled.

Ioy.

I am delyghted with the playes, and the pryses of Fence.

Reason.

Other dilightes haue some part eyther of vanitie, or of sensualitie, and this hath both, besydes crueltie, and inhumanitie, vnwoorthy of good mindes, neyther is it any excuse for vs, that in foretyme the Ro∣manes whiche were the flowre of men were delyghted in these: for in vpright iudgement, that same Citie which most abounded with good and noble examples, had nothyng in it more to be re∣prooued, or deformed, then the residue, sauyng at one side the troubles of ciuile warres, on the other syde, the immoderate stu∣die of playes: as though the great bloodshed at home in the warres, were not sufficient, vnlesse the peace also were blooddy, and the pleasures blooddy: vnlesse perhaps some man wyl say, that the Theater were more honest, wherein thou mayest see not only the people gaping, but also the Senate, and the Emperours of Rome, the Lordes of al the worlde. In lyke sort were they also delyghted in spectacles, who were made spectacles to mankynde. I wyl tel thee a straunge matter, but wel kno∣wen and common. That same rage and folly of frequenting the Theater, so inuaded the myndes of al men, that it brought a∣broade into common assemblies, not onely the wyues and daughters of the Emperours, but also the Virgyns vestale, whose chastitie was suche, as nothyng was more perfect,

nothyng more tender then fame, nothyng more reuerent to be preserued, in so muche that in them al motion, all trymming, al wanton talke was reprehended and pu••yshed: and yet we reade that there was a place appoynted for these in the Thea∣tre, not by euery one, but by the good and great Prince Augu∣stus Caesar, Notwithstanding the errour wherein great men are ouerseene is not therefore the lesse, but rather the greater, and more conspicable.

Ioy.

I am very willing to see playes.

Reason.

A thyng whiche is neyther honestly playde, nor ho∣nestly behelde, neyther easily to be spoken whether the player or the looker on be more infamous, or whether the Scene be more dishonest, or the seueral place for the Senatours, sauyng that po∣uertie many tymes draweth men to the one, and vanitie alwayes plucketh them to the other. For in euery offence, it skylleth muche whether a man offende through pouertie, lasciuiousnesse, or pryde.

Ioy.

I am delyghted with the syghtes of the Am∣phitheater.

Reason.

A very hurtful delyght euery way, as∣wel publique as priuate, whiche thou mayest easyly geather yf thou call vnto mynde out of the stories the begynnyng hereof, and the encrease, with what expences of common charge, and with what care of Princes neare vnto madnesse, and fynally, with what studie and toyle of the people it was buylded. True∣ly it is an harde matter to report the manyfolde vanities, and superfluous to repeate so many common things, a thousand cou∣ple of Fensars at once, whiche were not only not sufficient for the play, but for the fight, with the flockes of Elephantes, and Tigres, and Lions, and Leopardes, and wylde Asses, and coura∣gious Horses, and sundrie kyndes of straunge beastes, sent from al partes of the world, from their Desertes, Parkes, and Fo∣restes, to serue the Romane Theater. Moreouer, that the same sumptuousnesse of buyldyng had no patterne, but not lyke to want imitation, Pyllers of Marble brought by Sea and by lande for the vse of the playes, cunnyngly carued by the great industrie of the woorkmen, proudly polyshed on the toppes, and the braunches glysteryng with golde. Of whiche madnesse Scaurus was the chiefe and beginner, he that was Edilis or Maister of the woorkes in buyldyng the Stage

of the Theater within the space of a fewe dayes, whiche was rea∣red with a small deale of timber and a fewe roopes, bringing in three hundred and threescore suche monstrous pillers, to please the eyes of the people that reioyced in suche toyes: and finished a woorke, as thou knowest it is written, the greatest that euer was made by mans hande, not in respect of the temporall conti∣nuance thereof, but by euerlastyng destinie, whereby he deserued truly to be reported, y^t as first by a greeuous proscription he sent the citizens, so afterwarde in his most vaine Edileship he sent good maners into banishment: as one that was both auctor and example of muche losse tyme to the foolyshe commons, and of many great expenses to the common wealth. But O strange case: shortly after, the madnesse of them that came afterward, surpassed this outrage: whereby it came to passe, that what by the wonder∣fulnesse and number of the woorkes, there was nothyng in all the whole world to be wondred at, but Rome. For thou seest also how it is written, that the very bowels of the earth were perced, the ••••••ntes digged vp, the bidden rockes discouered, riuers turned a∣side and conue••ghed away in pipes, the frettyng sea shut in or out with great bankes, toppes of mountaines hanging, & the secretes of the sea seatched, and to be breefe, a great and large scope of madding left to the posteritie, and the expec••ation of your Grand∣fathers fulfylled in you, to wit, that your lasciuiousnesse would ne∣uer leaue ye. And that the mischiefe myght be the more ••eaped, priuate calamitie was added to publike losse: For the people be∣ing tyed with the desire to see, and in the meane while forgetting theyr dayly gayne, they neyther let one day escape them, ney∣ther perceyued howe armed penurie pinched them by the backe: And thus enterchangably priuate destruction, was turned into publique, and publique, into common. Neyther is the losse of patrimonie more greeuous then of maners, where lust is learned, and humanitie forgotten. And therefore what ye shoulde hope for by shewes from the verie begyn∣nyng, your fyrst kyng Romulus gaue a president, who in them circu••••ented the rough and seuere chastitie of the Sabine women. And although the houour of matrimonie couered both the iniuries, vnto howe many since that tyme

hath this been a meane, not to mariage, but to whoordome, and wandryng sensualitie? To be sh••rt, beleeue this one thyng, that we haue seene chastitie often ouerthrowen by playes, but alwayes assaulted. And to speake nothyng of those men who haue pro∣ceeded to suche outrage of wickednesse, that they doo almost glory in theyr adulterie: the good name and honestie of many women hath there peryshed, many haue returned home vnchast, moe doubted of, and none the honester. Moreouer, to the ende there may want no kynde of mischiefe, what bodyly slaughters, not onely of priuate men, but of whole multitudes doo there hap∣pen: the effuse laughing, turned into sodayne sorowe, and the dead corpses caryed out of the Theater, and the troupes of wee∣pers, mingled with the companies of reioycers, doo declare. Thou hast hearde, howe that the same Curio, whiche was slayne in the ciuile warre in Africa on Caesars syde, went beyonde Scaurus in witte, whom he coulde not matche in wealth, how he, I say, deuisyng a Theater of wood, but double and hanging, by wonderfull art hung vp a loft aboue ground, that conqueryng people, beyng ouercome with the playes of the nations, and re∣ioycing in their owne perilles, that laughing within, and amazed without, they myght be both laughed at and pitied of the behol∣ders. And do we wonder that he coulde turne the mynde of one great banished personage, by laying before hym the hope of an Empyre, who by proposing so light and short pleasure of the eyes, coulde turne about so many thousande citizens in a mouea∣ble spectacle? But, some man wyll say vnto me, there perished no body: ••••t there myght haue perished, and thousandes also in another place perished. And that I may not touch both newe and olde downefalles together, by meanes whereof many haue found both their death, and their graue: vnder Tyberius the Empe∣rour, at a notable shewe at the citie Tidena, thou remembrest how by the fall of the Amphitheater, twentie thousand men were slayne. This is the commoditie and ende that the lookers on doo get.

Ioy.

I beholde shewes with great pleasure.

Reason.

Eyther of faygned loue, or true hatred. The fyrst is not for a man to beholde: the seconde not for a reasonable creature. Who wyll wyllyngly receyue a dagger to his hart? Who wyll

powre more blood vpon an hotte wounde? Who can waxe pale sooner, then when he seeth death? What delyght haue ye to goe to the schoole of crueltie? Ye neede no scholemaisters, ye learne euyll too fast of your selues: Ye learne more of your selues at home, then is needefull. What if the maisters of mischiefe, and the mystresse of errour, the common multitude shoulde ioyne vn∣to this with redy wittes? Many whom nature framed gentle, haue learned crueltie by meanes of shewes and spectacles. Mans minde, whiche of it selfe is prone to vice, is not to be pricked forward, but brydled: yf it be left to it selfe, it hardly standeth: yf it be dryuen foorth, it runneth headlong. There commeth in muche euyll at the eares, but muche more at the eyes, by those two open windowes death breaketh into the soule: nothyng en∣treth more effectually into the memorie, then that whiche com∣meth by seeyng: thinges hearde, doo lyghtly passe by, the images of thynges which we haue seene sticke fast in vs, whether we wyl or not: and yet they enter not, vnlesse we be wylling, but verie seldome, and they depart soone. Whyther goest thou then? What violence caryeth thee a way? To be mery an houre, and alwayes afterwarde to be sorie? To see that once, that thou wylt repent a thousande tymes ••hat euer thou sawest it? To see a man slayne with a weapon, or to be torne by the teeth and nayles of wylde beastes, or some suche other syght as may trouble a man that is awake, and terrifie hym when he is a sleepe: I can not perceyue what pleasure is in it, or rather, what bitter∣nesse and greefe is no: in it: and I can not discerne any greater argument of madnesse in you, then in that bitter sweetenesse and vnpleasaunt delyght thrust you dayly forwarde to death, enticyng you by miserable flatteries, drowned as it were in a Stygian sleepe. Ye obserue one order almost in al thynges: Whatsoeuer ye desire, whatsoeuer ye goe about, whatsoeuer ye doo, it is agaynst you.