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 one that dyeth without Children. The .Cxxxj. Dialogue.

SOROWE.

I Die without children.

Reason.

For that cause thou oughtest to die the more willingly, and with the more expedition to goe

foorth on thy iourney, for that thou hast nothyng behinde thee, to stay thee or cal thee backe. The greatest greefe which they that lie a dying haue, surceaseth in thee, whiche riseth vpon the sorowe and compassion of leauing their children, specially when they be young & neede the asistance and counsel of their parentes, being at those yeeres destitute of aduice, & subiect vnto iniuries, & many other casualties.

Sorow.

My children, whom I wished & hoped should haue liued after me, are gone before me.

Reason.

Then hast thou some, to whom thou art desirous to goe, & from whom thou art not willing to depart, which is no smal comfort vnto thee.

Sorowe.

Bitter death constraineth me to dye without chyldren.

Reason.

If thou thinke this to be so miserable a matter, what cause hast thou either to die now, or heretofore to haue liued with∣out children, seeing there is such choise of young Gentlemen, & to∣wardly youthes, among whom thou maiest choose and adopt thee sonnes, who perhaps wyl be more louing and obedient vnto thee then thine owne natural children, descended of thy flesh & blood: for they come vnto thee by chaunce, but these are elected out of many by exquisite iudgment? The other were thy children before thou knewest them, but these thou knewest, chosest, and louedst be∣fore thou madest them thy children. And therefore, the one sort of them wil wholy impute it to nature, that they are thy children, but the other to thy special good liking. Whereby it hath hapned ma∣ny times, that the succession by adoption hath ben very fortunate vnto the heyres, in which kind not only meane inheritances, but also whole Empires haue ben committed in trust. Thou knowest howe Iulius Caesar wanting issue, adopted Augustus to be his sonne, & Augustus againe adopted Tyberius almost against his wyl. And likewise afterward, how Nerua adopted Vlp••us Tra∣ianus, and he Elius Hadrianus, & be againe Antonius pius, & he likewise toke vnto him Marcus Aurelius to be his sonne: which Marcus, I would to God he had more happily adopted any other, then vnluckely begotten his sonne Commodus, commodious to none, but discommodiouss to the whole world, the only disgracing of so good a father, & one among a few of them that were no small shame & reproch to the Romane Empire, & also a most apparent argument how much adoption is more fortunate then procreatiō.

For whereas the first princes had in order one after another raig∣ned long time & in happie estate, this man forsaking the sleppes of so many his auncetours & predecessours, hauing defiled the Com∣monwealth with his short and filthy gouernment, or rather tyran∣nie, at last came to a miserable, but for his desartes a woorthy end, the whole contempt & mockerie of the common people being tur∣ned vpon him. But long before al these, Scipio that was the sonne of Scipio Africanus the great, adopted vnto him selfe to the ho∣nour of his familie, the second thunderbolt of the Punike war, and hammer of the citie of Carthage, by special ordinance appointed to that purpose, that y^e same citie which the grandfather had sha∣ken, the nephew should ouerthrow, as Florus the Historician say∣eth, being translated from the stock of Aemilia, into the familie of Cornelia, no small glory, & confesse, and yet the last of them both. Hereby thou seest, that neither thou, nor any Prince can lacke a sonne, or rather that which is best of al, they that are good can not lacke a good choise: which if it please thee to make, perhaps it wil geue thee such an one as thy wife wyl not bring thee the like, & be∣ing losed from the bandes of marriage shalt possesse the desired ef∣fect and end of matrimonie: In such sort doth the law prouide for the defectes of Nature.

Sorow.

How shal I now dispose of my house, since that I die without children?

Reason.

Do not refuse this great occasion of wel deseruing and commendation, which is now, as it were throwen into thy lap: and that which thou deter∣minest to bestowe vpon thy children, who peraduenture would be vnthankful for it, or wickedly hoorde it vp, or els as it is the cu∣stome of either sort of these, to conuert it to vngodly vses, or rather in very short tyme or waste & consume al most prodigally, employ thou more cōmendably, more profitably, & more durably. Attalus that was king of Pergamus, by his testament made the people of Rome his heire, not being poore nor needefull of it, who also were sshortly after corrupted with the wanton wealth of Asia. But I wyl tel thee of another people, to whom thou mayest leaue thy goodes. On the one side of thee standeth a route of thy freendes & kinsfolke, at the other a rabble of poore people, out of both which thou art permitted to adopt chyldren. The one sort of these, when thou art gone, wyll deteyne the sweete remembraunce of thee in

theyr mindes, the other preuent thee with their godly prayers vn∣to the place whyther thou art nowe passing: insomuch as, looke what thou bestowest vpon them here, thou shalt receiue an hundred fold there, which is a large interest, & a most assured prouision for them that are vpon the poynt to passe that way.

Sorow.

I die without a sonne.

Reason.

What if thou haddest many: wouldest thou then chose one of them to be the keeper of thy house and mo∣ney, which shal be thine no longer? Or wouldest thou appoint one of them to be thy Champion in the conflict & pangues of death, beyng hym selfe also mortall? or els to wayte vpon thee to thy graue? for farther none of all thy freendes wyl folowe thee, more then Metellus freendes followed hym. The way is but short from the death bed to the graue: and what skilleth it whether thou lye alone here, or there? These are but friuolous and vaine causes truely, to wysh for sonnes: and yf in them moreouer, as the vul∣gare speeche is, thou hopedst to haue thy name preserued and con∣tinued, thou wast also vulgarly deceiued. For doubtlesse, for the most part suche is the obscurenesse of the children generally to be found, that they are not able to beautifie nor to keepe vp their fa∣thers name. But the rare nobilite of the sonnes, as alwayes it maketh the sonnes them selues honourable, so for neerenesse sake sometyme it couereth and obscureth the parentes, euen as the Sunne doth the lesser Starres: which is in none seene more eui∣dently then in Iulius Caesars father, whom his sonnes bryght∣nesse made almost vnknowen. And to be short, whosoeuer reposeth the trust of his name in his sonne, he putteth a slender and slippe∣rie substance into a rotten and cracked earthen vessell, and which is more foolysh, that is none of his owne: a thyng truely more accounted of among the common multitude, then of the learned, and yet contemned of neyther: Howbeit this hope were more commendably and assuredly layde vp in their sounde and vncor∣ruptible vessels, to wit, in their owne vertue, notable deedes, and learning.

Sorowe.

I dye without chyldren.

Reason.

Thou hast none to diuide thy care vpon, thyne attendaunce is fixed only on thy selfe, so that thou maiest depart with more readi∣nesse and libertie, respectyng thy selfe, and consideryng thine owne estate, how miserable or happie thou shalt die. And further,

thou diest not in an vncertayntie whether thy miserie be augmen∣ted, or felicitie abated by the dishonour or vertue of another. Al∣though some others be of another opinion, to accord with whom I finde my selfe more wyllyng: notwithstandyng it hath seemed true for the most part vnto Philosophers of great skil that the fa∣thers estate concernyng miserie or happinesse, is varied by the e∣uent of the chyldren. Truely it is a weake good thyng that streat∣cheth vnto fortune that shal befal hereafter, and dependeth vpon anothers estate. Whiche opinion if we do admit, what may be concluded thereon thou knowest: for it is out of al doubt, that ma∣ny had departed in more happie estate, if they had dyed without chyldren.