A Very Pleasaunt Fruitful Diologe Called the Epicure | Page 6

the high and principall
felicitie of man in pleasure, and thiketh that lyfe most pure and godly,
whiche may haue greate delectatiõ and pleasure, and lytle pensiuenes.
_SPV._ It is euen so. _HED._ What more vertuouser thyng, I praye you,
is possible too bee spokê then this || saiyng. _Spu._ Yea, but all menne
wonder and crye out on it, and saye: it is the voyce of a bruite beast,
and not of manne. _Hedo._ I knowe thei doo so, but thei erre in ye
vocables of theise thinges, and are very ignoraunt of the true and natiue
significations of the woordes, for if wee speake of perfecte thynges, no
kinde of menne bee more righter Epicures, then Christen men liuing
reuerêtly towardes God and mã, and in the right seruice and worshiping
of Christ. SPV But I thinke the Epicures bee more nerer and agree
rather with the Cynickes, then with the Christien sorte: forsoth ye
Christiens make them selues leane || with fastynge, bewayle and lament
their offences, and eyther they bee nowe poore, or elles theyr charitie
and liberalitie on the nedye maketh theim poore, thei suffer paciently to
bee oppressed of mêne that haue great power and take many wronges at
their handes, and many men also laughe theim too skorne. Nowe, if
pleasure brynge felicitie wyth it, or helpe in anye wyse vnto the
furderaunce of vertue: we see playnly that this kynde of lyfe is fardest
from al pleasures. _Hedonius._ But doo you not admitte Plautus too
bee of authoritie? _Speudeus._ Yea, yf he speake vprightely.
_Hedonius._ Heare nowe them, and beare awaye wyth you the saiynge
of || an vnthriftie seruaunt, whyche is more wyttier then all the
paradoxes of the Stoickes. _SPE._ I tarie to heare what ye wil say.
_HEDO._ Ther is nothyng more miserable then a mynd vnquiet &
agreued with it selfe. _SPE._ I like this saiyng well, but what doo you
gather of it? _HEDO._ If nothing bee more miserable thê an vnquiet
mynde, it foloweth also, that there is nothing happiar, then a mynde

voyde of all feare, grudge, and vnquietnes. _SPEV._ Surely you gather
the thing together with good reasõ but that notwithstandynge, in what
countrie shall you fynde any such mynde, that knoweth not it selfe
gyltie and culpable in some kynde of euell, _HEDO._ || I call that euyll,
whiche dissolueth the pure loue and amitie betwixt God and manne.
_SPV._ And I suppose there bee verye fewe, but that thei bee offêders
in this thynge. _HEDO._ And in good soth I take it, that al those that
bee purdged, are clere: whych wiped out their fautes with lee of teares,
and saltpeter of sorowfull repentaunce, or els with the fire of charitie,
their offêces nowe bee not only smalle grefe and vnquietnes too them,
but also chaunce oftê for some more godlier purpose, as causing thê too
lyue afterward more accordyngly vnto Gods commaûdemêtes. _SPV._
In deede I knowe saltpeter and lee, but yet I neuer hearde before, that
faultes || haue been purdged with fire. _H._ Surely, if you go to the
minte you shall see gould fyned wyth fyre, notwithstãdyng that ther is
also, a certaine kynde of linê that brenneth not if it bee cast in ye fyre,
but loketh more whiter then any water coulde haue made it, & therefore
it is called Linum asbestinum, a kynde of lynen, whyche canne neither
bee quenched with water nor brent with fyre. _Spu._ Nowe in good
faith you bring a paradox more wõderful then all the maruailous and
profound thynges of the Stoickes: lyue thei pleasasauntly whom Chryst
calleth blessed for that they mourne & lament? _Hedonius._ Thei seme
too the worlde too mourne, but || verely they lyue in greate pleasure,
and as the commune saiynge is, thei lyue all together in pleasure, in
somuche that SARDANAPALVS, Philoxenus, or Apitius compared vnto
them: or anye other spoken of, for the greate desyre and study of
pleasures, did leade but a sorowefull and a myserable lyfe. _Spe._
These thinges that you declare bee so straunge and newe, that I can
scarcelye yeoue any credite vnto them. _Hedo._ Proue and assaye them
ones, and you shall fynde all my saiynges so true as the Gospell, and
immediatly I shal bryng the thynge too suche a conclusion (as I
suppose) that it shall appeare too differ very lytle from the truth ||C.i||
_SPV._ make hast then vnto your purpose. _HED._ It shalbe doone if
you wyll graunt me certayne thynges or I begynne. _Spu._ If in case
you demaunde suche as bee resonable. _Hedo._ I wyl take myne
aduauntage, if you confesse the thyng that maketh for mine intent.
_Spu._ go too. _Hedo._ I thynke ye wyll fyrste graunt me, that ther is

great diuersitie