The.xi. Chapter. The litle commoditie that men haue o • • ovvme •, offices and autor • tie, if they desyre the

LEt vs nowe consider in likewise, what greate worldly wealth aryseth vnto mē by great offices, tow[…]s and autoritie to those worldly disposed people, I say that desyer[…] thē for no better purpose. For of them that desyer them for better, we shall speake after anon. The greate thyng that they chiefe like al therin[…] is […]hat they may beare a rule, commaund and controlled other men, and liue vncōmaunded and vncontrolled themself[…]: & yet this commoditie toke I so litle hede of that I neuer was ware it was so great, till a good frēd of ours merely told me once, yt his wife once in a great angre taught it him. For whā her husband had no lust to growe greatly v[…]ward in ye world, nor neyther would labour for office of autoritie, & ouer yt forsoke a right worshipful rowme whē it was offered him, she fell in hand with him (he told me[…] & al to rat[…]d him, & asked him: what wil you doe? wi[…]l you sit still by the fyre & make goslynges in ye asshes with a sticks as children doe? would god I wer a man, & loke what I would doe: Why wife ꝙ her husband, what woulde you doe? what? by god goe foreward with ye best of thē For as my mother was wont to say, god haue mercy on her soule: It is better to rule thē to be ruled. And therfore by god I would not I warrant you be so foolish to be ruled, where I might rule. By my trueth wife, ꝙ her hus[…]and, in this I dare saye you say trueth. For I neuer foūd you willing to be ruled yet.

Vincent. Wel vncle, I wote where you be wel inough. She is in dede a stoute maister woman: & in good fayth for ought yt I can see, euen that same womannish mind of hers, is yt greatest commoditie yt men reckon vpon, in […]owmes & offices of autoritie.

Anthony. By my trouth & me thinkeeth very fewe there are of them that attayn any great commoditie therein. For fyrste there is in euery kyngdome, but one that can haue an office of suche authoritie that no manne may commaunde hym or controll hym. None officer can there stand in that case, but the Kynge hymselfe, whiche onelye vncont[…]olled or commaunded, maye controlle and commaunde all.

Nowe of all the rem[…]aunt, eche is vnder hym: and yet beside him, almoste euery one is vnder moe commaunders and controllers too than one: and some man that is in a great office, commaūdeth fewer thinges and lesse labour to many men that are vnder him, thā some one that is ouer him cōmaundeth him alone.

☞Vincent. Yet it doth them good vncle, that men must make curtesy to them, and salute them with reuerēce, and stand bare headed b[…]fore them, or to some of them knele peraduenture too.

Anthony. Wel Cosin, in some part they doe but playe at gl[…]ke, receiue reuerence, and to theyr cost paye honor agayn therfore. For except, as I sayd, onely a king, the greatest in autoritie vnder hym, receyueth not so muche reuerence of no man, as accordyng to reason, himselfe doeth honour to him. Nor.xx. mennes curtesies doe him not so muche pleasure, as hys owne once kneling doeth him payne, if his knee happe to be sore. And I wi[…]t once a greate o[…]ficer of the Kynges saye, (and in good fayth I wene he sayd but as he thought) that twentie men standing barehead before him, kept not his head halfe so warme, as to kepe on hys owne cappe. Nor he neuer toke so muche ease with theyr being barehead before him, as he caught once griefe with a cough that came vpon hym, by standyng barehead long before the Kyng. But let it be that these commodities be somewhat suche as they be, yet than considre whither that any incommodities be so ioined therwith, that a manne were almost as good lacke both, as haue both. Goeth all thyng euermore as euerye one of them woulde haue it? that were as harde, as to please all the people at once with one weather, whyle in one howse, the husband woulde haue fayer weather for his corne, and his wyfe woulde haue rayne for her leekes. So while they that are in aucthoryte, be not al euermore of one minde. But sometime variance amonge them[…] eyther for the respecte of profyite or for contencion of rule or for mayntenaunce of matters, sūdry partes for theyr sundry friendes. It can not be that both the partes can haue theyr owne mynde, nor often are they content which see theyr conclusion quaile, but x. times they take the missing of theyr mynde more dyspleasauntly than other poore men doe. And thys goeth not onelye to men of meane authoritie, but vnto the very greatest. The princes thēself can not haue you wote well al theyr wyll: for howe were it possible while eche of them almost would, if he myght, be lord ouer al the remnaunte? Than many men vnder theyr princes in authoritie, are in the case that prieuy malice and enuie many beare them in hearte falselye speake them fayre, and prayse them wyth their mouthes which when there happeth any greate fal vnto them, baule and barke and byte vpon them lyke dogges. Finally, the cost & charge, ye daunger & perill of warre, wherin theyr parte is more than a poore mannes is, syth the matter more dependeth vpō them, and many a poore plough man maye sitte styll by the fyre while they muste ryse and walke, and somtime theyr authoritie falleth by the chaunge of theyr maisters mynde, and of that see we dayly in one place or other ensamples such, & so many, that ye parable of ye Philosopher can lacke no testimony, which likened y• seruantes of greate princes vnto the coumptors, wt which men doe cast a coumpt. For like as the countor y• stādeth sometime for a farthing, is sodeynly set vp & standeth for a. M. poūde, & after as sone set down, efte sone beneath to stand for a farthing againe: So fareth it loe, sometime wyth those yt seeke the waye to rise & growe vp in au[…]thoritie, by ye fauour of greate princes, yt as they rise vp high, so fal they downe againe as lowe. Howebeit, though a mā escape al such aduētures & abide in great authoritie til he dye[…] yet thā at ye leaste wise euery mā mu[…]t leaue it at ye last: & that whiche we cal at least, hath no very long time to it. Let a mā reckē his yeres yt are passed of hys age ere euer he can geat vp alofte: & let him whē he hath it firste in his fiste, recken howe longe he shal be like to lyue after, and I weene that th[…]n ye mo[…] parte shal haue litle cause to reioyce, they shal see the time likely to be so short, yt theyr honour & autoriti[…] by nature shal endure, beside the manifolde chaunces wherby they maye lese it more soone. And than when they see that they must nedes leaue it, the thing which they dyd much more set theyr heart vpō than euer they had reasonable cause, what sorowe […]hey take therfore, that shal I not nede to tell you.

And thus it semeth vnto me Cosin, in good faith, that sith in the hauing ye profite is not great, & the displeasures neyther small nor fewe, and of the lesing so many sundry chaūces, & yt by no meane a mā can kepe it longe, & that to parte there frō, is suche a paynefull gri[…]fe, I can see no very great cause, for which as an high worldly cōmoditie, men should greatly desier it.