Page:Arte or Crafte of Rhethoryke - 1899.djvu/62

 60 THE ARTE OR CRAFTE OF RHETHORYKE

thefe warres were fo fortunate / that he ouercame his aduerfaries more by auctoritie & wyfedom than by effufyon of blode.

Alfo many other notable examples of vertue were in hym in that age / fpecyally that he edified the vniuerfitye of Paris.

Here maye by digreffyon be declared howe goodly a thyng lernyng is in Prynces. Chiefly suche condicion appertayneth to vertue and good lyuynge.

[C iii a] Here may be allb made companion of his vertues in warre / & of other agreynge with peace / in the whiche (as his hiftory maketh mencyon) he was more excellent. For his chyefe delyte was to haue peace / & agayne he was Ib gentyll and fo mercyfull that he wolde rather faue euyn suche as had done hym great offence : & had deferued very well for to dye / than to dyftroye them / thoughe he myght do it conueniently.

Befyde this / he was fo greatly enflamed in the loue of god and his holy church, that one Alcuine a noble clerk of England was continually with hym / in whofe preachynge and other goftely com- municacion he had a chiefe pleafure. His olde age he paffed in refte and quyetnes fortunately / faue for one thyng / that his fonnes agreed euyll betwene them.

After his deceafe reigned his fo#ne / holy faint Lewes / and fo the folowinges of his dethe were fuche that they colde be no better / and a very great toke of his good and vertuoufe lyuynge. For yf an yll tre can brynge furthe no good fruite / what fhal we fuppofe of this noble kynge Charles / of whom cam fo vertuoufe and fo holy a fon ? Truely methynkethe that hyther may be nat inco- , uenie^tly applied the fayenges of the gofpel / by theyr fruits you fhal knowe them.

[C iii b] ^1 Of an oration Demonftratiue / wherein an acte is prayfed.

Whan we wyll prayfe any maner of dede / the moft apte pre- amble for that purpofe lhall be to fay that the mater p^rteineth 1 to the commodities of them which here vs.

Example.

Whan the Romaynes had expelled theyr kynge / whom the hiftori- cyens cal Tarquine the proude / out of the citie / and fully enacted

1 B. perteyneth.

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