THE TRIAL of true Friendship; Or perfect mirror, whereby to discern a trusty friend from a flattering Parasite. Otherwise, A knack to know a knave from an honest man: By a perfect mirror of both: Sooth to say; Try ere you trust; Believe no man rashly. No less profitable in observing, then pleasant in reading. By M. B.  
Imprinted at London by Valentine Simmes dwelling on Adling hill at the sign of the white Swan. 1596.   

〈…〉 Walter Flood, Gentleman V.S. wisheth all happiness.  
TO recognise (sir) in multitude of words, how much charged I stand unto your bounty, were to your wisdom, I know, but frivolous, who better respecteth the inward service intended of any one (whereof I humbly beseech you on my part to stand assured) than an outward behaviour, the validity whereof many ways may be doubted. Yet nevertheless, in that the thoughts of men are only in word or action to be deciphered, let it, I beseech you, stand with your good favour, that I may by this little mite of my friends labours confess myself bound unto you: and for the residue, when it shall seem good unto you to command me, I will not have life or ability that shall not be yours, in all it may please you to use me. Thus much to have delivered, may, for the present, satisfy my mind but thus much to have performed, would content my soul, for that in all actions of the body inwardly to be effected, the mind is pleased with speech, and the heart only is replenished by the doing. Much more to have protested, were no more than sufficient, though more than wherewith your modesty will be pleased, for which, I remain in heart more than in ability to answer the same: humbly submitting my poor service to the censure thereof, and recommending you unto the protection of the Almighty, and to the happy possessing of your hearts best content.  
Yours ever affectionate, Valentine Simmes.   

The trial of true Friendship, Or, A Knack to know a knave from an honest man.  
THe gods desirous (as Poets feign) to show forth the omnipotency of their deity & their incomparable cunnings united in one, to the intent they might purchase themselves some great commendations and honour upon earth, determined to carve a piece of some curious perfection, wherein might be expressed the substance of the gods, and beauty of the graces: whereupon they framed a man so angelical in form & exquisite in feature, that as for the lineaments of his face, or the proportion of his body, it was impossible to say the least thing imaginary to be any where wanting. This demie-god being perfected and sent upon the earth, when as none could condemn either the creature of want, or the creators for lack of skill; Momus at length found this fault, that the gods had not made a window in his breast through which to perceive the inward thoughts and secrets of his heart (meaning as I conjecture) that as the glitteringst Diamond being broken distilleth the deadliest poison, as the stone Ceuranon burneth without when it freezeth within, and as the Nightingale hath a most sweet voice, but unfavourie flesh: so there is none so comely in his body, but may be corrupt in his mind, none so fine in his feature, but may be faulty in his faith, nor any so loving in his look, but may be lowering in his heart. Whereupon I think that Tully in his book de Amicitia, considering the double dealing of men, how they carried most commonly two faces like janus under one hood, having as well wrinkles in the one to prognosticate mishap, as dimples in the other to signify prosperity: and like the leaves of the Seaulpher, to be green and beautiful in love and affection outwardly, when their roots or hearts were withered and dead in good will inwardly, counseleth Scaevola and Fannius under the person of Laelius above all other things, as the chiefest principal belonging to find a friend, that they should first multos modios salis simul edere, etc. meaning that they should be so far from choosing a friend at the first sight, that they should neither give any their hearts, nor hands, until by reason of their long acquaintance and conversation together they might have had time to have eaten many bushels of salt. For seeing there is nothing more necessary unto the life of man then to be environed with faithful and unfeigned friends, into whom he may transport his affections, repose his secrets, and commit his enterprises, so he ought to bestow the greatest pains and careful industry in the finding of them, especially in these our present times wherein flattery is become such a common art and so much practised of most men, that almost every rustical companion & illiterate peasant can represent like a looking-glass what man's qualities and conditions he will: So that good cause hath every one with Ulysses to fear the enchanting harmony of sweet singing Sirens, seeing under the fairest flower often lurks the foulest serpent and those that profess most liberal affection in words, are oft proved the deadliest enemies in deed. Wherefore not without good reason did Darius esteem more of his faithful Zaphirus then of his conquest of an hundred chieftains of his Babylonian enemies, for kingdoms may be gotten by policy, and enemies subdued by the sword, but an unfeigned friend by neither to be obtained, wherefore Zeno the philosopher was of this opinion that the loss of a friend was only to be lamented: which Agesilans the Greek seemeth also to affirm, who being demanded why he did more lament the heaviness of his friends then the death of his children, made answer, I do not bewail the want of my wife, the loss of my goods, or the death of my children, for all these are but parts of myself: but I bewail the death of my friend which is another myself, whose like I am not likely ever to light upon, seeing true friendship is so seldom seen, and being seen, so greatly admired, so that we read of Alexander, who for his noble conquests and spacious regiment, was surnamed the great, that in all the provinces kingdoms, and empires, which most victoriously he passed through, he found but one faithful and unfeigned friend named Calisthenes: The like we read of Xerxes, Nero, Dionysius, & many other renowned peers and potentates in the world, who are not reported to have had any more than one friend. And if we allow of the counsel of Seneca a wise and discreet man, if he might have many (as he cannot) yet will not admit any more than one: for if there be danger (saith he) in enemies, there can be no surety in the multitude of friends, seeing in respect of their number they breed difference of consent and will, with variety of conditions: and where is no conformity of manners, there can be no perfection in friendship. Furthermore one friend ought not to say to another, I will not, or, I can not, since it is a privilege in friendship to find nothing impossible: therefore who joins friendship with another, binds himself not to deny the thing that his friend requires him to do, seeing in this consists the full office of friendship, to owe to our friends ourselves and all that we have. But how can a man that is said to have many friends, execute this office of true friendship, when in the same instance one friend invites him to a banquet, and another sends for him being sick: one requests him to plead his cause against his adversary at London, and another to ride with him about other affairs to Dover, where you see he can do his duty to no more but one, and consequently all the rest do seem to be despised, & their friendship little or not at all regarded: whereby it appeareth, that true friendship can be only in the dual number, namely an unfeigned consent of two men's wills and affections, & a transportation of two hearts into one body: and therefore a friend is called alter idem, another moiety, or another self. The river that is divided into many brooks, experience shows us the stream to be very slow and shallow: so love which is divided amongst many cannot be so great as that which hath but one subject to work on: and therefore Homer speaking of a child whom his, father entirely loveth indeed, calleth him Solum, atque in senio natum, that is, his father's only son, and borne when his parents were past hope to have any more. Wherefore seeing thou canst have but one true friend, whose bosom must be a place of retract for all thy counsels, opinions, actions, and enterprises, what care and circumspections oughtest thou to have in choosing this one. They that try poison by the taste, destroy themselves therewith, and he that will admit a friend before he knoweth him, most commonly hurts himself whilst he proveth him, as the Satire thought the fire to be some great goddess, by reason of the brightness and warmth that it gave, & therefore would needs embrace it, and kiss it, having burnt his venturous lips, Prometheus told him the nature and force thereof: so parasites or flatterers because their words are pleasant to the ear, many embrace them & commit themselves and all that they have unto them, till having tried their more secret operation they begin to cry Cave when their coin is consumed, and to be chary when they have nothing whereof to take charge, than they can tell others, that men's hearts and tongues, are no perfect relatives, and that it is not always true, that what the heart thinks, the tongue clacketh, & can verify it with a probatum of their own. It were better to be wise too soon then repent too late, and to look before we leap, lest we fall into their ditch, for if we are once down, there are few that will lend us their hands to help us up again and carry us through all the stormy waves of our distress, as the dolphin did Arion, but every one almost will answer as they did the young man in Plautus in his necessity, with a Non est, that is, faith friend you come to a wrong box, I stand in as much need as yourself, or as the crow did the kite, when it happened the one to be bare of feathers, the other answered, that to him were no more than sufficed him to fly, and yet they will promise one in his prosperity never to forsake him, as Peter promised Christ, who in a while after did utterly deny him, and forswear too, therefore not unfitly did Pliny compare men unto the fifh Palerna, which being passing white in the calm, yet becometh black at every storm, and like unto the Heban blossoms, which open with the dew and shut with the sun: so in prosperity they fawn, but in adversity they fade, they honour the sun at his uprising with the Egyptians, but curse him at his going down, yea those on whom we bestow the greatest benefits, if opportunity serve, will requite us with the deadliest hate. The Troyans' never showed more favour unto any then unto wretched Sinon, who afterward betrayed their city unto the Gaecians: and none was more welcome unto Carthage, than straggling Aeneas, and yet he repaid them with most shameful abuses: Severus the Emperor never bestowed more benefits upon any, then on his servant Plautianus, for he made him copartner with him in th'empire, who shamed not for all this to hire Saturninus treacherously to murder his friend so faithful and lord so loving, Severus: The Babylonians never trusted any more than the forenamed Zopirus who most villainously betrayed them into the hand of Darius: And Thraso in Terence, never affected man more than his parasite Gnatho, by whom he was delivered up as a prey to his enemies, with an hunc ego comedendum & bibendum vobis propino. But if these and the rest whom we read to have tasted of the same sauce had prudently pondered the sugared subtleties of the world, they needed not to have locked the door when the steed was stolen, nor by their own harms to have learned to beware. Therefore seeing we perceive the trap, let us not foolishly follow the train, nor swallow the bait, wherein is shrouded the intent of our bane, neither let us think with the pike to cast up the hook which we have swallowed, when we please without prejudice to our persons, for if we have once entertained a knave we shall not easily be rid of him, but presently he becomes like fulsome meat which we cannot keep in our stomachs, without hurting us, nor vomit it up alone as it went in, but mingled with other meat, which would have nourished and cherished us: So when we have received a counterfeit and harboured him, with our hindrances we can neither continue with him but he will hurt us, neither shake him off so clearly, but heiwil go better away than he came, therefore Principijs obsta, take heed at the first, and thou shalt do well enough, believe not at the first that it is gold because it glistreth, neither swear that the Polipus is white, because he seemed so once unto thee, nor that such a one is an honest man, because thou never foundest him otherwise: for Proteus can turn himself into more shapes than one, and jupiter if he would compass the love of a fair lady, can turn himself from a bull, into a shower of gold to deceive simple Danae: so a parasite hath more cranckes in his budget to deceive then one: he hath one for the scholar, another for the courtier, one for the merchant, another for the yeoman, one for this good fellow, another for that. If he chance to meet with a scholar in the University troubled with an heavy purse, presently he calls to mind the saying of S. Paul, that wills us to bear one another's burden, and therefore without delay whilst the spirit knocks he will open, lest be find not so much grace at another time, and therefore (because birds of a feather will fly together, and the scholar will trust or believe the scholar, rather than another) he gins to be as precise as a knave in a cage: first he puts on the black cloak & the falling hand, than he walks like Bellona in her equipage, with his eyelids close, he speaks nothing without Propterea quod, to conclude, all the day he is in contemplation, or rather meditation how he may best ease his brother of his burden, but if he perceive that he hath met with a wily brother that hath read over Plutarch de discrimine adulatoris & amici, then off goes the black cloak & the long picardevaunt, and he must be cut again according to the fashion, than he makes rhymes on Plato's crooked shoulders, and tries how he can scoff at Aristotle's stammering voice. If he chance to meet Bias somewhat whitteld in an alehouse as he walks alone, as Struthias did, he commends him highly for overcoming so many pewter-iohns', and tells him how Alexander is as much famous for his quaffing, as Thales, Solon, Periander, Cleobulus, Chilon, and Pittacus were for their wisdom, yea as Mison himself, whom Apollo said to be wiser than him. Furthermore he shows him that a man is not borne only for himself, but also for his neighbours, and therefore it is a good deed of charity to help a poor alewife away with a dozen of beer next his heart in a morning, also it is good to increase blood, to quicken the spirit, and so to speak more wisely, and conseqúently, to be more esteemed, and therefore wills him to call in the other half dozen, till at the last he hath brought into his fools paradise (his bed I mean) where he strips him as clean of his come as an ape of a tail, before drunken Bias can get out of his memento. Again if he fall acquainted with an idle and shameful magistrate, which cares not (as they say) which end goes foremost, he tells him magistracy is but a troublesome toiling in other men's business, and the most profit that a man shall reap thereby, is but a wind of men's mouths, and the most busy bodies have least thanks, for their labours, and therefore it were as good, to neither meddle nor make, as to trouble himself and be never the better, but if he perceive him to be very laborious and painful in his office, he also beginneth to change his note, and tells him that it is a pleasant thing to be idle, but very full of discredit, and a man that hath lost his credit, is half hanged etc. If he company with some liberal serving creature he can guess at his conditions, which are most commonly to swear, drink, and hunt after whores, if he be a young practitioner he teacheth him to swill it in, and swear it out, he reproves him friendly if he swear any base or beggarly oath, as by faith and troth, and as God shall judge him, he tells him if he love his credit he must thunder them out like jupiter, or else he shames himself and all his friends. If he see him not well at ease, he wishes him to purge himself, if he understand not this mystery, he tells him more plainly, that for a piece of money he will fetch him a suppositive out of petticoat lane that shall make him purge out all the gross humours in his body. But if he perceive him better disposed, he tells him that he plays the part of an honest man, and all that he said was nought, but to try him, and if he had been bend that way, friendly to have dissuaded him from it, by which means he wins the love and friendship of all men unto himself. But it were a world to say as much as might be said, and altogether unneedeful, seeing we may gather by Hercules his foot, the greatness of his whole body, & by these few things that flattery is a mystery, which every fool cannot unfold at the first. But if thou wouldst know the safest and surest way to escape their fingers, then hearken unto the counsel of Epicarmus saying, Esto sobrius ac memento nulli temerè credere, that is, be wise and circumspect in thy dealings, and believe no man rashly. Into which counsel before we go any further, let us look more narrowly: of whom doth he bid us beware? What? of our enemies? why there is none so foolish except he be stark mad (I think) as was Aesop's cock that would believe the fox, to follow his counsel, of whom he knows he is deadly hated, therefore belike he biddeth us to beware of our friends, neighbours, and allies, whom no man mistrusts, every one believes and will swear for their fidelity. Therefore let us call to mind whether our manifest, sworn, & professed enemies have done us most mischief, or our supposed friends, our kinsmen, and allies. Surely if we would search into histories (witnesses of former times) we shall perceive more castles overthrown, cities overcome, kingdoms and empires utterly wasted and extinguished, by false hearted friends, and outwardly sworn brethren, then by the mighty hand of proclaimed enemies, as Troy suffered more damage in one night by Sinon's feigned tears, then by the power of the Graetians in ten years, and more complaints in adversity of acquaintance and friends, than accusations of enemies, for against our enemies we furnish ourselves by sea and land, we erect strong and mighty castles on the bordures, we furnish them with men, and munition, and all things requisite for the defence of our lives, and living, and therefore we seldom are assaulted, and if we be, we easily overcome, but among fellow citizens qui ijsdem sacris ac fames utuntur, there is continual jangling and brawling, often going to law, yea between brother and brother, for injuries offered: so that the miserly father who hath been a scraping together a little pelf all his life time, caring not which way he came by it, seemeth to have lived to have set folks together by the ears at his death; namely, the devils for his soul, and his children for his goods, what then should a man do to live a quiet and peaceable life, and safe from the snares and engines of all men? should he sever himself from the company of all men as Timon the Athenian did? or else should he have no ears like the picture of jupiter in Crect, whereby he might be deceived? should he scratch out his eyes with the Bishop of Alexandria for fear of Venus' charms? or with Lewes the second son of Charles, king of France hide himself in corners, to the intent he might never be entrapped? rather let him hearken to the counsel of Pythagoras, who wisheth one gaudere potiùs repugnantibus quam assentantibus, rather to trust his professed enemy whom he knoweth hates him, than his trencher-friends and pedantical parasites that seem to love him, which will praise him as the fox did the foolish crow, and call him a white bird as white as the driven snow, that they may make him open his mouth to sing after their pipe that they may deceive him of the meat therein: and when they once have it, will not stick to say, Nec vocem stulte, nec mentem habes, that is, friend, you might look better to your goods when you had them, and seeing you were such a fool to lavish them out so fond, you are like to have a fools reward, which is a flap with a fox tail. Think not therefore with the swallow, every sunshine to be a summer's day, and every one that shows thee a fair face, to bear thee inwardly a faithful heart, but think that the leaves of the Date tree will change their colour if the wind be not always in the same quarter: that Dedalus images will fly away if they be not always tied, & that flatterers will fade if thou bind them not daily with the bands of thy purse strings, therefore Dioscorides compareth them to the Celedony stone, which retaineth his virtue no longer than it is rubbed with gold, and unto the Marigold which openeth her leaves as long as the Sun shineth, but with the least cold gins to close: So when fortune favoureth a man, they laugh, when she frowneth on him, they lower. In prosperity their love is as hot as Aetna, but in calamity as cold as Caucasus, therefore truly said Juvenal: 
In pretio precium nunc est, dat census honores,  
Census amicitias, pauper ubique jacet:  that is, as long as fortune favoureth thee, thou shalt not want fellows, or as long as thou hast any substance thou shalt not want accidental adherents, which will not leave thee sine interitu subiecti, that is, before all thy substance be wasted and consumed: therefore not unfitly may their love be compared to the love of the ivy to the Oak, the ivy roundeth itself as it were for pure love about the oak, and never leaveth to creep up till it hath advanced itself to the highest of all, and sucked out the sap leaves, and dried it up, the green leaves in the mean time make a fair and glorious show, but in the end when it hath clunged close and climbed aloft it marreth all both top and trunk: So whilst thou hast any coin thou shalt not want copesmats which will make a show that they love thee as their own souls, but upon this condition, that they may grow up by thee, and live bravely by thy means, for they are not every knaves companions, they scorn those poor, base and beggarly brats which are ready to drown themselves with Theognes because they have no meat to put in their mouths, and they esteem no more of fine Thraso without pence, than a horse doth a fair stable without provender, this is their final scope, which is, primum in intention, the first and principallest thing they aim at, and therefore they hie themselves thither where it is to be had, namely, among noble and wealthy personages, who having their closerts watered with the Indian or Pactolian fountains, & stored with such trees as Aeneas plucked a bough off, when he went to visit his father in the Elifian meads, these they flatter and soothe up in all that they do, do they never so bad, about these they swarm as thick as flies about butcher's shambles. What a goodly company of them (think you) had the gold-glutted Midas waiting at his heels, when he was endued with that spirit-gladding gift of Bacchus, that all which he touched should turn to gold. I warrant ye Cassandra strived not half so much to sing unto her father Ileons' destruction and Queen Helen's rape, as these thronged and strived, who should be next him, for quid non mortalia pectora cogit auri sacra fames, what will not the omnipotency of Gold make a man to do, it is the necessariest thing that a man can have, as Lisander said, what more requisite in wars, and what more needful in peace? it hath entered those cities which neither the thundering threats of fiery jupiter, nor the roaring shot of bloody Mars could ever overcome, it is a friend to all good arts, and a nurse to all notable exploits, for as Aristotle saith impossibile est, ut quis praeclaras res agate, cui facultates desunt, it is as impossible that a man should do any excellent act or worthy of commendations without the help of money, as to build a church without stone or timber, therefore quaerenda pecunia primum, first get money, and then all things else shall be given unto thee: whereas poverty is an enemy to all goodness, an enemy to honour, and an enemy to honesty, for what causeth so many now a days to get their living by robbing, and stealing, but only poverty? what provoketh many women to sell their honesty at so low a rate, as usually they do, but only poverty? what causeth the merchant to lie, the coiner to clip, the tailor to steal, the usurer to oppress, and the parasite to purloin, but only poverty? name but only poverty, and thou hast named almost the root of all evils, therefore is it shunned as a basilisk of all men, whose sight presently killeth, wherefore few or none at all will lend a look on a poor and needy man, but will shun his company as near as they can, yea even the louse the senseless creatures of all will avoid a man when his blood is gone, and the flesh is cold, which was their food: how then canst thou persuade thyself, that a man which is a reasonable creature will stay thee? when thy purse is cold, thy cheer is cold, and his entertainment therefore of necessity is cold. Moreover, it is some men's opinion that the Devil will haunt such as have no cross about them, how then wilt thou think that any man will stay with thee, if thou hast never a cross about thee to keep the devil away, doubt not then but they will leave thee when thy crosses are spent in thy extremity, and therefore trust them not too much in thy prosperity, when they flatter and speak thee fair, but remember that after the greatest calm will follow the suddenest storm, that Nilus is most quietest against a deluge, that the feathers of the Halciones glister most against foul weather, and that when men speak most fair, than they intent most mischief. It is not so common a saying as true, aliquid latet quod non patet, every man is not as he seems to be, the arrant knave is often taken for the honester man, and Critius sometimes will choose a gilded box full of bones, before a leaden one full of precious gems, for men judge only by the outward appearance and protestations of men, and so choose an empty barrel for his louder sound, before a full vessel of pleasant liquor, and believe subtle Rodeyan because she can tell the smother tale before simple Cordeill, and prefer deceitful Ulysses for his eloquent tongue before faithful Ajax a mirror of manhood. But as the Troyans' bewailed their rashness in believing too late, when their city was metamorphosed into ashes, and the Graetians repent their judgement when their valiant captain was turned into a flower, so unless thou art more considerate than the Troyans', and less rash than the Graetians, thou mayst have just cause one day to rue thy leaping when thou liest in the ditch. Miserrimum est (saith one) fuisse bearum it is the greevousest thing in the world for a man in his misery to remember his former felicity, labour therefore to avoid this hellish dolour, which unless thou takest heed, thou art like to fall into. The dear knowing Tamariske is deadly to his nature, will not come near the tree. The Unicorn will not brook to rest under the Citron tree, for that it is hurtful unto him, neither will any beast come near the Panther for all his fair skin, since they know by experience that he is a murderer, these beasts avoid what nature tells them is perilous, be not therefore less senseless than the beasts of the field, but let experience be thy guide when affections persuade the contrary, remember what credulous Phillis wan, by believing demure Demophoon, but only her death, what got Crassus by trusting his parasite Andromachus, but to be betrayed to the Parthians? and what wan Catiline by opening his conspiracy, but the loss of his life and honour? and what are thou like to get by trusting of flatterers, but the loss of thy goods, the extinguishment of thy arms, the derision of thy enemies, and the curse of thy posterity? therefore cast them off from thee as infectious vipers, and salute them a far off, as Hippolytus did Venus, because he would not be entangled, & if thou must needs company with them, if their words be like Adamant, whose nature is to draw, then sprinkle thee with goat's blood, which resisteth his operation: and if their faces have power to incense thy mind, then take the herb Lupinar to cool thy desire, if the Sirens allure thee, let the mast withhold thee, if Circe's persuade thee, let reason dissuade thee, if thou wouldst kiss the Bee, because she hath honey in her mouth, yet let her alone, because she hath a sting in her tail: if thou wouldst embrace Pallas, because she shows thee her library, yet be not too bold, because she wears a sword: and if thou lovest a man for his affection towards thee now, yet trust him not over boldly lest he hate thee to morrow, and make open thy secrets: what is more common than dessention amongst friends, and variance between brethren, so that they that love to day as truly as Turtles, to morrow upon the least occasion, as if they had drunk of the fountain of Ardenia, their hot love will be turned to as cold a liking? We need not borrow examples from former ages or antiquity, for (alas) every city. town, and village, can lend us whole legions of them, how one friend hath slain another, how the father the children, and children have slain their fathers, yea they do not only not abstain from murdering their dearest friends and nearest in blood, but also if they be defeated of their will, or injured of one of whom they know not how to be revenged, they will not fear to kill themselves, as Ajax did being defeated by Ulysses of Achilles' armour. Therefore how should we think that they will always love us, when they will hate themselves, seeing every one loveth himself better than another, according to the old proverb, near is my petticoat, but nearer is my smock, I love thee well, but I love myself better: think not then that there is any such a Gordian knot of unfeigned friendship knit so fast to day, but there may be an Alexander to cut it in pieces at one time or other: nor any such a solemn league made between Priamus and Menelaus, but there is a Ponderous somewheare or other that will break and dissolve it: nor any such a Sympathy of affections to day, but there may be an Antipathy by some chance or other, ere the year is gone about. The sea sometimes is so calm and quiet, that the fearfullest that is will seem to despise and contemn the force thereof; but therefore have the sailors less need to carry with them their anchors and cabelles and other things needful, when winds should arise? no surely, for although Aeolus sleep for a while and will disquiet no man else, and suffers Phoebus to domineer as sole Regent, yet if he perceived him wax too hot in his pride, he begins to moderate his affections commonly with a cooling card or twain, by his tempestuous ambassadors to put him in mind that he is a king as well as himself, and although sometimes in his anger he roareth and is testy, yet he will not altogether be shut out for a wrangler. In like manner they that follow thy humours for a while in flattering thee with the Panther, in smiling on thee with the Hyena, and weeping with the Crocodile at thy mishaps, and that are ready to make themselves thy footstool in lowly obedience as the Cyprian women were to the Syrian dames, which would cover down and become footestooles for the Ladies to ascend into their choches (for which cause they were called Climacidae of Climacha, which the Assyrians name a ladder) but when they see their time they will of steps become steppers, till they are got so high that they are become as good men as their masters, and then for one taunt will not stick to give them twain. I cannot resemble them better, then unto the lake in the farthest part of Africa amongst the people Troglotidae which in the forenoon is so sweet and pleasant to the taste, that the gods themselves might seem to loathe the celestial Nectar in respect thereof: but when the sun is gone past, the meridian climate it will be as bitter and unsavoury as our wells are in Nantewich, which are good for nought but to make salt: So whilst the glorious sun of thy prosperity continues his ascension, whilst riches increase and fortune looketh favourably, they will kiss thee with judas, and stoop to thee with dissembling Adrastus: but when the golden beams of thy beautiful Sun, begin to decrease, and thou art not able any longer to make than stoop unto thee, with the golden sceptre with Assuerus, they will begin to despise thee, and forsake thee, or else lay hands on thee for a vagabond, as they did on Christ when he walked alone in the dark. Then mought he have said with the Poet:  Qui color albus erat nunc est contrarius albo. 
Now I perceive when the angels crowned me with glory and honour in the mount, they were desirous to make their tabernacles there to dwell with me, and when I road triumphantly toward jerusalem, these plucked off their garments to spread them in my way, and to run before like heralds crying, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. But going on foot, my disciples to whom I revealed all my secrets which I kept from the wise and prudent men of the world, whom I thought would rather have been rack to death with Horatius Secundus to have manifested their constancy, have now either forsaken me, or betrayed me, or sworn they never knew me: these other spit at me, take my garments from me, and curse me, or crucify me: so unless thou takest the better heed whom thou trustest, thou mayest have cause one day to say; those to whom I committed all the thoughts and secrets of my heart, whom I thought would never have bewrayed me, do now seek to kill me if they could, those who flattered me in my prosperity, and were ready to run through fire & water to get my favour or good will to grace them, do labour only to disgrace me, those whom I fed with my goods as long as I could, as willingly as the Pelican doth her young ones, with her own blood, do now tear my heart with taunts like as young Vipers gnaw their dams guts which bred them. Res est ingeniosae dare, I was an honest gentleman as long as I had any money in my purse, but now having spent all upon them, they turn me out of their company as a shake-ragge, as the Athenians turned Theseus out of Athens which he builded on his own charges and bestowed upon them, which things do more vex & trouble me, than those grievous gripes of the Eagle do Tantalus in hell, he was punished justly because he bewrayed the secrets of the gods: but I most unjustly, seeing I never disclosed any thing which they told me in counsel and put me in trust with, they are not unlike the stone Siphnius, which being heated in oil waxeth hard, but being let alone becometh soft, so the more I have pleasured them, the more do they now displease me, and the more I have bestowed upon them, the more is their hearts hardened against me. Now I perceive that the sweetest musk is sour to be tasted, the finest pills, most bitter to be chewed, and the flatteringst friend most fickle being tried: and now I understand that the fairest promises have least performances, and that words are but wind, and therefore not sufficient pledges for such an inseparable knot of friendship. But alas, serò sapiunt Phriges, what good will my salve do me when my sore is incurable? what availeth it me to know a covert, my ship being sunkt, and to discern a dissembler, when my coin is consumed. Although this be but a feigned speech, yet thou that flourishest now in thy peacocks plumes, and hast angels enough to keep thee from poverty, and hast as many friends (as thou supposest) as Prometheus ever had shapes, & do daily increase like Hidra's heads, yet if thou takest not heed whom thou trust, thou mayst walk alone one day like a shorn sheep, bleating forth such a complaint of thine own. Remember the example of Edward the second, I warrant thee he would once have sworn that he should never have stood up to the ears in the filthy kennel of Killingworth, till he was ready to starve for meat, and lastly should have been murdered so beastly and basely. But his too tender heart toward his younkers and wanton flatterers brought him to this, who made him abhor like Rohoboam, the counsel of his dear friends and grave senators, and so to run headlong into all vices and villainies, unbeseeming a Prince or governor of a common wealth who is a rule unto all his subjects, after which they square out their actions and affections, as the Poet saith, Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis, that is as we say, Like master, like man, if the Prince be vicious, all his subjects (for the most part) are as bad or rather worse, as when trajan was just all his subjects loved justice, and in Heliogabalus days, all were wanton and given to gluttony and lechery, in that he was a glutton, and a drunkard, and one that loved a whore as well as his life: but again to our matter. Let Edward's example teach us to beware how we listen to any Calipso's that seek nought but our downefal, and how we entertain all fair faces that come unto us like capons, upon sops and sugar, seeing so many an unsavoury weed beareth a fair blossom, and a sound look so often covers a hollow heart, but let us look into the inward man, as Diogenes did into Plato's capon, to see if he were a man in all respects, which if we do, no doubt we shall find many a wolf walking in a sheeps coat, many a stinking carcase enclosed within a glorious sepulchre, and many a Tiger's heart shadowed over with an hyaena's face. Conon the Athenian was a courteous gentleman in countenance, yet a counterfeit knave in conditions: Galba was gentle in show, yet treacherous in proof: and Ulysses had a saire tongue, but a false heart, wherefore it behoveth us to look that the inside of the cup be clean, aswell as the outside, to see that the Amber stone freezeth not within, when it frieth without, and to try whether a man's properties be agreeing to his profession, lest like Ixion we take hold on a cloud when we think to embrace juno, and choose grapes in show like those of Darius' vine, and lose grapes in substance like those of Vermandois, and abound with friends in words when we think to be environed with friends indeed. A man is as his mind is, not that form and figure which may be pointed at, we see many a proper man's hand struck off for a traitor, and many more should be, if we could know them by the faces, but their countenance shall be great, when their conditions be without grace, they will talk of virtue, when their mind is about same other villainy, like as our maidens do now a days, which with their tongues will sacrifice perfumes to Vesta, when their hearts are offering smoking thoughts to Venus, so that without good trial it is almost impossible to know of what metal they are made. Zancthus the Philosopher surely bought not Aesop before Cappadox and Cantor, for his outward perfections, but for his inward perfection, not for the shape of his body, but for the qualities of his mind, not for that he was the fairest of the three, but the faithfullest of them all, not for that he promised much, but that he saw he could perform most: est virtus placidis (saith the poet) abstinuisse bonus, it is better sometimes to take the rugged gem, before the pearl, & to buy the foulest face before the fairest visage. Perhaps Cantor and his companion were not unlike the Seaster, whose shell staineth the ivory, but the meat is blacker than jet: so they were not so fair without, but they were as foul within, and they had not so comely countenances, but they had as currish conditions. So choose thou not a friend by the outward shapes if thou be a Philosopher or a lover of wisdom, but as near as thou canst by his inward graces, which knowing, thou mayst see whether thou canst frame thy mind, according unto his mind, wherein consisteth the perfections of friendship, which if thou canst not, then look for nothing in contraries but always repugnancy, and in divers conditions nothing but variancie. The tigers blood will not be mingled with the wolves. Zethis and Amphion will not agree as long as the delight of the one be a despite to the other. Venus also and Vesta have always been at strife; and never was good fellowship long seen ere yet between a virtuous husband and a vicious wife, but the devils for their likeness do easily agree, and good men with good men do live together in unity, therefore to discern the inward qualities it is necessary that thou put off thy Moles eyes, and take unto thee the eyes of the sharp sighted Linx, else thou shalt never descry with Palamed Ulysses mad counterfeiting, nor discern Achilles from a chambermaid if he be once decked with a spindle and a distaff, nor judge of Androgeni (those flattering copesinates I mean) that can counterfeit the shape of either kind, who when they are indeed thy enemies, are in countenance friends, when they are in name mothers, are in deed murderers, by birth brothers, but in life lothers and haters one of another. Medea was in name a mother unto her three children, and oftentimes prayed unto the gods for the prosperous and long life of them all, yea many times she tormented herself, and tore her hair for very grief when she perceived them a little sick, but do these things make that she murdered them not with her own hands? but thou wilt say she did it in her anger, which doth deprive us of the use of reason, that we do we know not what, therefore wilt thou think that he that is now thy friend, may not hereafter be as much thy foe, seeing there is no man but may be angry if he have any life in him, as Plutharch saith?  Iram non habet, qui mentem non habet. 
Therefore if mothers become murderers and butchers of their own children when they are angry, think not but the hottest love may be soon cold, and he that is now ready to go with thee through all dangers, as Achates went with Aeneas, and Pirithous with Theseus, yet if they see any preferment to be gotten an other way, they will leave thee in all thy sorrows as Aeneas did Dido, although he promised never to forsake her when his ships were unrigged, and his men without victual, but some man will say, this man was a stranger unto her, and therefore she was served well enough to believe on whom she never saw before, but I will believe none but mine own acquaintance and those that I know. But hath every hurt been offered by strangers? have none but strangers spoiled thee of thy goods? have none but strangers murdered and slain one another? have not kinsmen and brothers, fathers and children, murdered and spoiled one another, was not Atreus brother unto Thyestes' and uncle unto the children whom he slew and caused the father to feed on? was not Herraclus the Emperor son unto Phocas whom he caused to be slain? was not Geta the Emperor brother unto Bassianus whom he slew in the temple in his mother's arms? but if consanguinity could have prevailed, these should have loved more than any else: and if consanguinity could have prevailed, Artaxerxes should not have been slain with the whole consent of his 115. children, nor Phrahartes would have slain his father and his 30. brethren, nor Remu▪ should have been slain by Romulus for so small an occasion as leaping over a wall, nor Clytaemnestra would have murdered her husband for the love of a stranger. But let us pass over these examples, for it is impossible to reckon up all which histories have notified, but much more impossible to recapitulate how many unknown Atrei and Bassiani and unnatural Phrahartes, how many Aeropes, clytemnestra's, and falshearted Sthuebaeas have & do daily lurk in the world, when as every town and village is stuffed almost as full with them, as the Trojan horse was with butchering Grecians. The world is far changed from that it hath been (if it be true Plutarch reports) when men would offer violence to none but hurtful beasts, yea & thought it an heinous offence to lay hands on any other: but in awhile after they began (saith he) to kill the innocent birds, and silly fish, of which when they had felt the sweetness, they spared not the ox which laboured for them, nor the simple sheep which gave them clothing; so that in the end they began to lay hands on mankind also, beginning with the worst, as we read: the first that ever was slain in Athens was one Epitedeus, a most wicked sycophant; such also were the second and third: but when their hands were somewhat enured therewith, they slew the virtuous Niceratus, the noble emperor Theramenes; and the most learned philosopher Polimarchus, & in th'end, the son spared not the father, nor the father the son, the brother the sister, nor the daughter the mother, so that use hath made them so cunning, that men now adays make it an occupation, and will glory in the deed with the barbarous Scythians, who are wont (as Bohemus reporteth) to make them handkerchefs of the skin which they flay from the head of man, and of the skulls to make measures or goblets to drink in, and when any guest comes, they use to set before him as many skulls full of wine as they have, and declare it for a great brag of their valiantness, that so many they have slain. Wherefore seeing consanguinity is made such a trifle, how foolish or rather stark mad may we think those men are, that suppose by the meeting ni the market place, or the communing together over a pot in an alehouse, a perpetual friendship to be joined from that day forward between them? They think that vestis virum facit, that a suit of silks make a right worshipful gentleman, and a Mercurian-glosing tongue a faithful and unfeigned friend: but they remember not that Simia est simia etiamsi aurea gestat insignia, that an ape is an ape although he wear a chain of gold about his neck; and a knave is a knave, although his tongue distills nothing but Nectar, they hold it for a general rule that Sermo est animi index, that a filthy fountain can send forth no pleasant water, and an envious heart no friendly words, and therefore that the dog never biteth but only when he barketh, nor the serpent never stings but only when she hisseth, nor that any man is their enemy, but he that reproves or chideth them for their faults: which indeed is the property of an unfeigned friend, namely to do that that is behoveful, to order his words like a skilful physician, doth his medicines as he seethe occasion, who sometimes will cut and launch the flesh, and when need so requireth will anoint it with soft & pleasant oil, but both ways tending to one end, viz. that the patient may be healed: so one friend sometimes will praise and highly commend the other when he seethe him do well that hereby he may bring him to love, and long after those things which are honest, & profitable: for honos alit arts (as Tully saith) omnesque incenduntur ad studia gloria, honour and praise are spurs unto virtue, and cause us to think nothing difficult to be achieved, nor impossible to be performed, and therefore men undertake so great burdens upon them in the common wealth, only to get the praise and commendations of men, and to be renowned after their death, but neglect those things oftentimes which are dishonest, although they be perhaps far more profitable, and therefore when he seethe him do amiss he reprehends him secretly for it, and lays before him the shame and dishonour which he should reap if it were known, yea sometimes he separates himself from him, and will not suffer him to come into his company, as Menedemus did shut his son out of doors for his riotousness, until he was more sober, or Arcesilaus railed on Battus, & banished him the schools, because he made verses against Cleantes: but afterwards when Battus was sorry for his fault and made Cleantes amends, he took him into his favour again, and used him more courteously than ever he did before. Therefore as Agesilaus could not abide to be praised of any, but of those that would dispraise him sometimes if occasion required: So is he to be esteemed a true and faithful friend, which hath learned to reprove as well as sooth, and to make us sad, as well as glad, and therefore we ought to have those in suspicion, which always are pleasant with us, and soothe us up in all that we say or do, and to have at our fingers end that saying of the Lacedaemonian, Quomodo hic bonus esse potest qui ne malis quidem acerbus est? how can this man be a friend unto me for my virtues, and is not an enemy unto me for my vices? This therefore is a mark to distinguish between a friend and a flatterer, whereas the one is our friend only in things honest meet and requisite, the other in all things whatsoever to the intent he may not displease us. But some man perhaps thinketh that he liveth so uprightly that he needeth none to reprehend him, and therefore to go the surest way to work, his companion and he will be sworn brothers by some deep oath which they think no man will wittingly or willingly break, sith the gods themselves as jupiter said to Semele, dare not in any wise violate their oath, or go back from their vow which they made to any one. But men nowadays are so far to be like the gods, that they are almost as bad as devils, for of all things that belong to the enlargement of their living they think nothing more necessary than an oath whereby they may deceive. By this means Philip king of Macedonia wan more cities in a month, than he slew men in the open field manfully in a year, and therefore was wont to say, that his soldier Perjury did him more service than all his army beside. The like opinion held Lisander the Lacedaemonian, when any objected against him his cowardly cozening of his enemies by oaths, a thing which Hercules nor any valiant man could ever abide, was wont to answer them Si quò non pertingerit pellis leonina afsuendum & vulpinam: If I think them too good for me in open field I will put in practice, my overreaching policy. Yea not only kings and men of the more dissolute sort do defend and offend in this heinous sin of perjury, but also priests, prelate's, and religious men, yea even God's vicar himself (the Pope I mean) who hath taken upon him the name to sit in God's feat (if he do, it is to keep God out of it) but indeed wears the devils badge or colison, which is lying and perjury. In their baptism they faithfully promised to stand up against all the devils in hell, but at receiving their popish degrees, they have and do daily forswear the verity of God, they have sworn to obey their temporal magistrates, and civil governors, but when they come to the papal degree, they break both oath and allegiance to all, whatsoever. Search but the chronicles and thou shalt find as many examples as ever there were pope's: but lest we should say any more than we could prove, let us look into the life of twain of the godliest that ever were among them, namely Paschalis and Alexander the third: Paschalis swore most deeply to be true unto Henry the fourth Emperor, but in a while after when he saw his opportunity, he called a general synod, whereas by the help of his spiritual sorcerers breaking both oath and vow of allegiance, excommunicated the good emperor, raised his son against him, deposed him, imprisoned him, murdered him, and finally caused his body to be taken out of the ground at Leodium, and in a profane place to be buried. The like did Alexander the third, who made the good king Fredericus Barbarossa his footstool at Venice, to the ridiculous shame and rebuke of all the world, and the next day to hold his stirrup, and like a page to wait on his mule, to whom he had once sworn all homage and obedience: but if a man should reprehend them for it, I think they would have none other excuse but that of Euripides, iuravi lingua, mentem iviuratam gero, I swear with my lips, but not from my heart, and therefore I do not offend, for God only regardeth the heart and inward man, believe not therefore any man the sooner for his swearing, for as it is an infallible axiom that omnis homo est mendax, every man is a liar, so every liar before he would be found to trip in his tale, will not stick to uphold it with oaths enough, if it be a matter of importance, and stand on his bare affirmation or negation. But perhaps thou wilt object unto me the example of Regulus, who rather than he would incur that heinous sin of wilful perjury, would throw himself voluntarily into most miserable captivity, and to be hewn in pieces by his most savage and unmerciful enemies. But I think if thou wouldst go forward in recapitulation of examples, thou wouldst quickly be brought to a non plus, seeing few of these Phoenixes are to be found in the world, especially in these our present times: perhaps in former ages some were to be found when laws were made for punishing swearers, therefore it were good that those laudable constitutions of penalties which were made in former times, were renewed again, lest custom grow into nature, and so never be rooted out. King Alonso amongst many other laudable and notable laws made this also, that knights of the band should maintain their words and keep fidelity unto their friends: & in case it were proved, that any knight of the same band had not accomplished his oath, although it were given to a very base person, and upon a matter of little weight, yet such a one should go alone in the Court and unaccompanied, nor should presume to speak or to approach near any knight of the same band. Henry the fift made a law somewhat more general, which touched, not only knights of the band, but all other degrees and conditions of people within his court whatsoever: namely, that if he were a duke that did swear he should forfeit for every oath forty shillings, to the aiding of poor people: if he were a lord or baron twenty shillings: if he were a knight or esquire ten shillings: if he were a yeoman ten groats: if he were a page or a slave, to be scourged naked with a rod or a whip: which being for a while strictly executed, caused swearing to be greatly abated in the court, but it did no good at all in the country. And therefore king Edmond decreed, that all men of all degrees, and of all places whatsoever, which were proved to have sworn, should for ever be separated from God's congregation: but Donaldus king of the Scots perceiving this law to be little esteemed, and for that men then (as they now) cared not how seldom they went to the church, made this act, that all perjurers and common swearers should have their lips seared with a hot burning iron: which law saint Lodowick king of France did put in execution at Paris upon a citizen for blaspheming the name of Christ to the example of all others, and so caused it to be proclaimed throughout his whole realm for a general punishment. In a while after Philip earl of Flanders hearing that the French men had banished swearing clean out of their coasts, thought good that some were made in like manner in his land for the reformation of his people, and therefore (because he would not seem to borrow any of the laws of the French men his professed enemies in those days) he purposed to ordain some other as grievous as that, which without delay he did, which was, that he that did swear or forswear himself, should lose his life and goods, and his children should be disinherited: which law if it were kept in these days, I think there should so many lose their lives that there should be few or none at all left alive to inherit their goods, that were of age to know what to do with them, but they are now all laid aside, and we count him no gentleman except he can swear by creature and creator, the tale shall want his due circumstance if it be not garnished and polished with oaths and blasphemy. We read that the jews when they heard God's name blasphemed, were wont to tear their hair and rend their garments for grief, but who now a days shows any token that he is discontented therewith? the pope himself who would feign be esteemed the holiest of all, is not only content that men should swear and forswear themselves, but also when he seethe them somewhat slack, he hireth them to forswear themselves; as for example he hireth the subjects to break their oaths of allegiance to their Princes, as Zachary the first hired the French men to rise up against their loving prince Hildericke, and Honorius the third, and john the 22. hired the Germans to break their oaths which they had made unto their emperors; and Innocent the third procured the Englishmen to go from their allegiance which they had made unto their good king john; and of late days we have oftentimes been enticed with manifold promises, by his damnable senate and ungodly Catholics, to renounce our oaths of duty and obedience to our most gracious and virtuous princess that now is (whom God long preserve and continue amongst us) and hath promised by his messengers, as doctor Harding, and divers others of late days, that they should have full pardon for all their sins (which is to be feared he will never get himself) that could by any means rid her of her life, which caused many of that cursed seed of Cham, as Westmoreland, Northumberland, the duke of Norfolk, Sanders, Bristol Campion, Parry, Savage, and many other firebrands of hell, to put in practise this devilish decree. When he bore the supremacy here in Q. Mary's days, his persuasions so persuaded them▪ that the chief sort made no conscience of swearing, because by their money they thought they might be pardoned when they would, and the poorer sort following the example of their superiors, lived as they did, and so like sinful Sodomites lived together in darkness, bringing forth most plenteously the works of darkness, which were so fast rooted in the hearts of most men, as they could not to this day be so clean rooted out, but that their venal sin of blasphemy hath flourished to this day, so that now we are become far worse than the heathen perjured Glaucus, for he went to the oracle of Apollo, to know if he might forswear the pawn which was delivered him to keep: but who now adays consults, either with Apollo, or Minerva, or any god else, about perjury? yea they fear not to swear and forswear themselves for single money, though the God of gods command the contrary: therefore believe not any the sooner, for that he swears love & fidelity to thee, but think that if he could see his opportunity, he would deal no better with thee then Achilles did with his old companion Lycaon, whom he hewed into as many pieces with his falchion, as he swore to him oaths of perpetual brotherhood, by Ceres when they were chamber-fellows together in Greece, he had rather quarter him then lose a quarter of so fair a prey, whose example the false Aegistus imitated, who thought it better to dispatch Agamemnon of his life, even when he was offering sacrifices to the gods, than his love to Clytaemnestra should be any whit cut off, or diminished, which he did not only of his own accord, but by the consent of cruel Clytaemnestra, who would not suffer his eyes to be shut, or any other ceremonial rite to be performed: how far unlike was she unto the women amongst the Indians called Catheis, who when the husband dieth, all his wives assemble before the chiefest judges of the city, and there each one allegeth her well deserving towards him, how dearly she loved, and how much she tendered and honoured him, and she that is judged to have borne herself best in that behalf decketh herself in the best manner, and the most gorgeously she can, triumphing and rejoicing, getteth herself up upon the funeral pile where her husband's corpse lie to be burned, where embracing & kissing him, she is burned with him. But Clytaemnestra is of a right contrary opinion, wherefore the poets feign, that Agamemnon meeting Aeneas in hell, grievously complaineth of her unnatural fact, and wisheth him never to believe a woman in any wise, neither was Clytaemnestra so cruel unto her husband because she was a woman, but because she was a most wicked and unnatural woman, therefore we may believe a woman as well as a man: but such as man's natural condition and quality that he always hates him, and bids others beware of any thing by which he hath been endamaged or received any evil, as whom a serpent hath stung, he will always fear and bid others beware of the serpent, and whom a dog hath bitten he will always avoid the fawning of dogs. In like manner are we affected one towards another, have we been hurt by a woman, than we exclaim against and bitterly ban all woman kind? hath our friend been murdered or ourselves spoiled by our guests, as Euritus was slain by Hercules, Lucrece deflowered by Tarquin, & Menelaus rob of his wife and goods by Alexander, from that day forward we will scarce lodge any more guests, another hath been hurt by his brother, an other by his children. But it is but a folly to reckon up particulars, seeing not only brothers, and kinsmen, strangers and acquaintance are wont to endamage and deceive one another, but almost all men in general. Wherefore if thou be wise mistrust all whatsoever. Do as the Esseis which were a kind of sects amongst the jews, who admitted no man into their sect under a year of probation, and after what time they had received him, yet had they two years more to prove his manners and conditions: so make not any of thy counsel over hastily. Doth he say he is thy brother? yet see thou mistrust him, doth he tell thee of his honest behaviour and virtuous life? yet see thou mistrust him, hast thou found in him some properties of an honest man, and unfeigned friend? yet take some more time of trial and watch him never the less narrowly in the mean while: for that which is said of fortune may be said more fitly (in my opinion) of man, that none knoweth whether he shallbe like himself to morrow or no. Therefore if a man by trusting another hath received any hurt, he is to be counted a very ass, if he should blame him that hath deceived him, when there is none to be blamed but himself and his own foolishness. Thressa might very well have laughed at Thales, when he fell into the ditch, if he had beaten the stones, or found fault with his feet when he should have been angry with himself, that had not an eye unto his steps: and Darius might justly have scoffed at Goraldus, when he had never a penny in his purse, if he had laid the fault upon his companions, who alured him to lavish, when the fault was his own that would not beware of them. But some man will say, thou seemest to bid me live solitary like a beast void of all company when thou wouldst have me to believe any man? No, I counsel thee not to leave thy life in solitariness, but to live warily & circumspectly, as one that hath learned to live well and happily: otherwise it is far better to live in the desert amongst brute beasts, then to live in the city without circumspection and wariness in all thy actions, and affections, but by these two thou mayest live as safely as if thou were alone. There is no herb to perilous which hath not some one virtue that is precious, nor no serpent so infectious, which is not moved with some one quality which is commodious. What is worse to the thirsty than the brinish Sea water, and yet what more commodious to the painful fishermen? and what more hurtful to the foolish swains, than the venomous viper? but to the skilful druggiers, what more profitable? seeing from her they have the most wholesome treacle: so although company keeping be very hurtful unto some, yet to othersome it may be very profitable, and a schoolmaster to wisdom. The wise and prudent man when he seethe every one as an enemy ready to devour him, he will then be more wary and look better about him, & when he seethe every one prying like Momus into his life and conversation, he will then begin to live as uprightly as Io lest watchful Argus should find him tripping: but the fool mistrusting no man is quickly eaten up alive amongst them. What is the reason that Saturn of all the other gods lay bound in the bonds of Briareus, but because he was the most blockish and witless of all the other, and could scarcely look about him in the space of thirty years? if thou art such a one, thou wilt quickly lie ensnared in the traps of parasites, and lie fast fettered in the chains of penury. If Actaeon have lost the outward shape of a man, his own dogs will devour him, and if thou hast lost the inward shape of a man, which is reason or politic prudence, thine own friends will not spare to devour thee, or spoil thee of thy goods. Nothing provoketh the thief sooner than negligency: if the Athenians had tied care and circumspection to their words and actions, they had neither fallen into the mouths of the Lacedæmonians nor had cause to fear their malice, and therefore job saith factus sum mihimetipsi gravis, meaning, that the evils which do happen unto us (for the most part) ourselves do procure them, Phaeton by his own foolishness was stricken from heaven with a thunderbolt, and Icarus by his own folly was drenched in the Ocean, and the Scythians by their own unadvisedness in drinking the wines (which Cirus pretending flight had caused to be left behind him) were in their drunkenness overcome by the Persians. Vulcan's nets were not made for Apollo, Mercury, or Pallas, but for heady Mars, and love blinded Venus, these lay quickly entangled therein, and were made a laughing to all the other gods: so flatterers vaites are not laid forth to catch wise men and circumspect, but to ensnare foundlings and idiots, who presume so much of their honesty, that they think it would go against any man's conscience to eoosin them, but so long goes the pitcher to the brook that at the length it comes broken home, & so long do they trust, that in the end they can scant find any one to trust them when they are fallen into poverty for the worth of a dodkin: the fair promises, which were made them once, will not any whit profit them, Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest, saith Ovid, if promise would make a man the richer, we should have but few beggars, poor Codrus would frolic it out, as bravely as Croesus, and needy Thraso when he went a begging should have as many attendants as ever he had before, but now he perceiveth that the poet said true, Tempora cum fuerint nubila solus eris, that no penny, no pater noster, that a man cannot be a free man in Wales although he hath sacrificed a whole bed of Leeks unto saint Davie, nor that a man can be entertained in his poverty, amongst whom he hath spent all that ever he had in his prosperity. Dionysius wished that he might be poor and distressed one year before he died, to try who would prove constant of all those manifold troops of men, which vowed him such singular affection; it was to be feared that he should have found as few as Pirithous did when he was persecuted by the Lapithans', namely, one only Theseus, or as few as Euryalus had when he fell amongst the soldiers of Turnus, many promised never to forsake him, but only Nisus stood to his word; the rest presently changed their notes, as the bird Acanthis doth her fine white colour at the first storm: they could have been content to have been partakers of their liberty, but not of their bondage: of their wealth, but not of their woe: of their prosperous success, but not of their distress: wherefore shun the company of such kind of men, and if thou art acquainted with them unawares, shake them off presently as Paul did the viper, lest a worse thing happen unto thee, and stop thy ears against their enticements▪ as Ulysses did against the enticements of Circe's lest thou be transformed from wealth into woe, from bliss into bale, and from joy into annoy. Tantalus' apples had a gallant show, but being touched, turned into ashes: and he that shows himself outwardly a demi-god, who tries him inwardly, shall find him but a solemn saint. Their lips (saith Solomon) drop as an honey comb, and their mouths are more soft than oil, but the end of them is as bitter as gall, and as sharp as a two edged sword: and David saith, the poison of aspis is under their lips, which killeth a man when it hath cast him into a pleasant slumber. But if thou wouldst avoid this evil, then take away all the occasions: keep not company with them: company keeping is the occasion of most evils: he which handleth pitch can not choose but be defiled therewith, and he that keepeth company with evil men, can scarce choose but he infected with their manners: God never appeared unto Abraham as long as he dwelled with the wicked in Hu●, but afterward when he went to dwell elsewhere, he oftentimes appeared unto him: and judas Machabaeus as soon as he entered friendship with the wicked Gentiles, he was soon overcome: so if thou suffer thyself to be lulled in the cradle of flattering Calypso, and give thy hand unto every one that flatters thee, be sure the God of goods will presently forsake thee, and suffer thy wealth in a moment to be wracked. Yet do I not condemn company keeping altogether with our enemies: for sometimes we get much good by them, and learn to know our own imperfections by them, which otherwise we should never have known. hieron's enemy could quickly smell his stinking breath, and mock him with it, which made him presently seek a remedy; whereas his wife that had lived with him many years before could never perceive so much, for amor cecutit in eo quod amat, love wa●eth in blood in those things that he loveth, as two men walking in a mist, can not perceive that they are in it, but he that is out of it, may easily perceive that they are in it: so an enemy can more easily descry our errors th●● our friends, and therefore saith Tully, it is good to have enemies in the city. The husbandman grieveth that his 〈◊〉 should have a better crop of corn than himself, and therefore ●e riseth more early than otherwise he would, that 〈…〉 might be as fruitful as his enemies: and we think it again ●lami●● to be 〈◊〉 with any vice by them of all others, and therefore we strain ourselves to live more uprightly than otherwise we would have done, if we had none to emulate. Scipio Affricanus was of no account in Rome before Cyrus' prowess and manhood was blazed in Italy, emulating whose fortitude (as one angry with himself that his enemy should go beyond him) he achieved that fame of wisdom and valour as few had attained before him: and Themistocles was wont to say, that he could never sleep or take any rest, because the victory which Miltiades got was always in his mind: and Caesar had never aspired to so great renown, but by emulating the example of Alexander, whose victories when he read, he presently burst forth into tears, for that at the same age wherein Alexander lived himself, had done nothing worthy of memory. Therefore as Alexander's renown was the cause of Caesar's travels, & Miltiades victory the cause of Themistocles watching: so let our enemy's vigilancy be a spur to rouse us from negligency and flatterers engines, to make us more circumspect. Oceamademus had never been honoured with so many triumphs, if he had not always been beset with enemies, for it is said of him, that when he had subdued all his enemies, he gave commandment that there should not be above half of them put to the edge of the sword, the rest would he place near the confines of his camp, which might keep his soldiers from idleness and security, which caused him to have so many so expert and skilful soldiers, that not twice he is reported to have ever been overcome. Therefore we see it is better to live amongst our enemies whom we are sure do hate us, then amongst flatterers whom we suppose to love us, for we are never more near drowning then when we sail near the shore, nor never oftener endamaged then when we think ourselves without danger. Samson lived safely enough among his enemies the giantly Philistines, but in his wives lay where he thought himself safest, he was quickly subdued: and Hercules was not so much tormented by the dragons in Hesperidos, as by the shirt which Deianira had sent him in token of her faithfulness. Many of Sampsons' wives posterity are yet living in the world, who are in shapes angels, but in qualities devils, that to work their desires can turn themselves into as many subtleties and sugared humilities, as the Chameleon into colours, or the juggler into strange devices to deceive the beholders, that can present a man bread in one hand, and his bane in the other, a fine shell and a rotten kernel, whose words are like alminacks that decipher nothing but uncertainty, or like Pythias oracles which speak one thing, and mean another: as Herod did to the wise man of the East, who promised to worship Christ, when he purposed to murder him, for if they had not by a vision been counseled to have turned another way, should have found under the shape of a Lamb, the substance of a Lion, under flourishing words dissembling deeds, and under most courteous countenance, most currish conditions. Therefore to shut up all in a word, seeing the most glittering sands are found so fickle being tried, the eye pleasing Echates so infectious being handled, and the greatest promises to have so small performances, that we cannot safely believe friend or foe, kinsman or alien, by his word nor his oath, let us try ere we trust, and prove ere we put in practice, let us go as the snail fair & softly, seeing haste makes waste, and the Malt is sweetest when the fire is softest, so shall we the better discern the true sterling from the counterfeit coin, the precious medicine, from the perilous confection, the loyal lover from the fading flatterer, but then let us not sing Medea's song, which said I see and allow the better, but I will follow the worse: seeing Pallas gift or juno's proffer to be more profitable, let us not give our apple to flattering Venus, as foolish Paris did lest she be our confusion, nor let us settle our affections, on fair tongued parasites, lest like lightning they break our bones, before we can perceive our skin to be hurt, but let us try ere we trust, after good assurance, let us not trust before we try for fear of repentance.  
FINIS.  Praemonitus praemunitus.