I Haue pleasaunt walkes.

I confesse in deede, that these somtyme doo bryng honest pleasure, and somtyme vnho∣nest. And therefore, those that be studious of vertue, and such as geue them selues to voluptuousnesse, doo equally delight in shadowie withdrawing places: For the place prouoketh some to wisedome, and some to repentaunce, and some to incontinencie and wantonnesse. For it is not for nothing that the great Oratour, when he obiected adulterie against a vile person, described also the pleasantnesse of y^t place where the fact was committed, as adding a spurre vnto the wickednesse: and therefore we ought not to take delight in the place, but to be merie in minde, if it haue hapned vn∣to thee to haue such an one, as knoweth well how to vse al places.

I haue store of pleasant walkes.

Who hath Page  82not heard of Tiberius secret walke, and the withdrawing place of Caprea? I am ashamed to recite the thinges that are knowen to al men. The olde man Hircinus, how doth he rayle against secret walkes: How much more gloriously did Scipio Africane liue a poore banished man in the dry countrey, then the Romane prince in al his pleasures? I therefore repeate this agayne: Al your fe∣licitie consisteth not in places, neither in any other thinges, but in the minde only. So that they whiche haue commended of the soli∣tarie life, and secret withdrawing places, woulde haue it thus to be vnderstoode, to witte, yf the minde be able to vse them wysely, and not otherwise. And therefore I attende to heare, what profite thou reapest of those thy pleasant walkes, and then marke what I wyll pronounce thereof. For if thou vaunt thee so muche of the places which yesterday were not thine, and to morow perhaps may be taken from thee, and if thou consider vprightly, at this present are none of thine, doubtlesse thou vauntest of that whiche is anothers. What hast thou then to glory of? What belongeth it vnto thee that the Alpes be cold in Sommer, that y^e mountaine Olympus is higher then the cloudes, that the hil Apenninus beareth wood and trees? What though Ticinus be bright, Athesis pleasant, Sorga soundyng? If these be prayses, truly they are not the pray∣ses of men, but of places: but it is thy part to minister iust matter of thine owne commedation.

I walke in pleasant places.

In the meane while it skilleth what cares doo walke in thy breast: for what auayleth it to put stinking oyntmentes into iuorie boxes? What, to haue a foule mind, in fayre places? Howe many holy fathers haue florished among the rough mountaines? How many filthy adulterers haue rotted in the greene medowes? Moreouer, it hath ben prooued that such places haue not only ben hurtful to mens mindes, but somtimes also to their bodies & liues, not only by taking too much aire, but also by the swoord & sudden inuasion. Who readeth not in Curtius of y^e most pleasant groues and woods, the secrete walkes & herbars which the kinges of the Medes planted with their owne handes, the chiefest thing where∣in the kinges & nobles of the Medes bestowed their indeuours and tooke greatest delight, as it is reported? Howbeit, in them at the commaundement of a drunken and frantyke young Kyng, Page  [unnumbered]the auncient and noble Parmenio was stayne, who, as I sup∣pose, was the chiefe of the Dukes and Captaynes of the Ma∣cedones. Who knoweth not Caieta, and that bendyng of the shoare there, a fayrer and pleasaunter place then whiche, there is none vnder the Coape of heauen: in whiche place the noble Ci∣cero was murdered at the commaundement of drunken and cru∣ell Antonie? This place in some respect myght be conueni∣ent for so woorthie a man, that since the destenies had denyed hym power to dye at Rome, he myght dye in that flouryshyng countrey, the most flourishyng Oratour of all other, and best citi∣zen: Howbeit the maner and auctour of his death was far vn∣woorthie, It was by chaunce that Cicero at that tyme walked in those places, to auoyde the troubles of the citie, and was after his maner eyther deuising some newe matter concernyng Phi∣losophie, or apparteyning to the course and trade of liuing, or be∣waylyng the common wealth. The griefe of his minde which he conceiued of the state of his countrey, he aswaged with the delight of his eyes, when as the Butchers that were sent by him that was enimie to all vertue, dispatched such a man out of the worlde, as no age to come wyl restoare the lyke. Thus therefore it hapneth, that delectable places are most ap• for treason and deceypt, whilst men lyue there most loosely, and haue least regarde to foresee daungers. For the wylde beastes are sonest snared in the thickest wooddes, and birdes are most easily limed in the greene twigges.

I walke meryly in my pleasaunt walkes, and voyde of care.

Mirth, and neglect of care, are alwayes contra∣rie vnto heedefulnesse. So long as euery man thynketh earnestly vpon his owne dangers, and the common state of mans life, there shall scarce any man lyue very merily, or deuoyde of care: And it is neyther the beautie of the places, nor hope of ryches, that can breede forgetfulnesse of mischiefes that are at hande.

I take delyght to be abroade in my walkes.

Not more delyght then doo the wilde Boares and the Beares. It maketh not so muche matter where thou art, but what thou doest: The place shall neuer make thee noble, but thou the place, and that neuer ouherwyse, then by attemptyng some notable matter there∣in.