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An epystle sent to kyng Alexandre by Arystotle.

Ryght glorious sone and ryghtwyse, god conserve the in the walke of knowlegyng the ways of trouthe & vertues, and withdrawe thy carnall and beestly desyres, & conferme thy realme to his servyce, & to thy honour. Letynge the wyte deere sone that I have receyved thyn epystle reverently & honourably as it apperteyneth, and playnly have understande the grete desyre that thou hast that I were personally with the. Reprovynge me of that I care but lytel for thy besynesses. For the which cause I have ordeyned & hasted me to make a boke for the, the which shall weye & conteyne all my werkes, supplyenge myn absence & defautes, and shall be to the a ryght certayne rule & doctryne in all thynges that thou wyllest. The whiche I will shew as I were presently with the. Dere son thou ought not to repreve nor blame me, for thou knowest well that for no thynge of the worlde, but that I would go to the, and yf were not that I am so sore greved, and laden with aege & weykenesse of my persone, wherby in no wyse I can go to the. And wyte thou, that the thynge which thou hast demaunded of me, and that thou so moche desyrest to knowe & have is the secretes that nature humaynes thought scantly can compryse nor susteyne. How than may in the hert of mortall man be wryten or understande that thynge that he ought not to knowe. And that thyng that is not behovefull nor covenable to be spoken of. Howbeit I am bounde by veray duety to answere to that, that thou demaundest. I shall never other thynge shewe the, but that which is wryten in this boke. For yf thou rede it dylygently, and understande it playnly, and that thou mayse knowe that is conteyned in it, without doubt thou shalt have all that that thou desyrest. For god shall gyve the suche grace, suche understandynge, and subtylte of grete wyt and scyence, and also by the doctryne that I have gyven the afore tyme, that by thy selfe thou mayst knowe & conceyve that whiche thou desyrest. And the cause why that I have opened and related my secretes fyguratyvely & somewhat derkly, & that I have put obscure examples, and by fygures, is that I doubt, & feare moche that this boke sholde come to the handes of infect persones, & in the power of arrogant & evyll folkes, which myght knowe the secretes of god. And god knoweth wel that they be not worthy. Certaynly I make grete doubt, that I in this trespace not the wyll and the grace of god. I do relate & dyscover this thynge, as it hath ben revelate of god unto the. Wyte thou then ryght dere sone that I have dyscovered to the, the thynges that ben to be hyd. And yf thou dyscover these secretes, thou shalt have shortly evyl fortunes, and mayst not be sure frome grete harmes that shall be comynge towarde the. But almyghty god kepe the & me from suche thynges, & from all dyshonest thynges. And after all these thynges have in thy mynde this noble & prouffytable doctryne, that I make redy to the, & intende to expose thy noble hert, to informe it to thy grete solace, as myrour of helth yf thou wylt apply the therto. Moost dere sone it behoveth every kyng to have two thynges to sustayne hym & his royalme. But he maye not stedfastely have it, but yf he have good & grete governaunce of them that ought to governe. And he that reygneth so is obeyed one of his subgectes. And his subgectes egally with one courage, & by one selfe forme shalbe obedyent to the lorde. For by the dysobedyence of the subgectes the power of the lorde is gretly feblysshed. And yf the subgectes reygne, the governaunce may nothyng do. And I shall shewe the, the cause wherfore the subgectes ben styred & couraged to obey theyr lorde. Two thynges ther is. The one is outwarde & the other inwarde. It is not longe syth I declared to the that that is outwarde. That is to wyte, whan the lorde spendeth wysely his rychesse among his subgectes, and that he in them worke lyberalyte & that he gyve to echone as they be worthy. And therwith the kynge behoveth to have a wyle, wherof I shall make mencyon in the chapytre of vyces & helpes. That is so wyte that the kynge ought to enforce hym to get the hertes of his subgectes by good werkes. And this is the fyrst degre & foundacyon in doyng of his dedes by .ij. thynges. One inward & the other outwarde. The cause outwarde is that the kynge do, & maynteyne Justyce, the possessions & rychesses of his subgectes, & that he be pyteous & mercyfull. The cause inwarde is that he honoure grete lerned men, & that he have them for recommended. For god hath recommended them theyr scyence. And I recommende the this secrete pryncypally with dyvers other, whiche thou shalt fynde in other chapytres of this boke, wherein thou shalt fynde grete wysdome & doctrine & the content of the of the fynal cause wherby thou shalt fynde thy pryncypall purpose. For in it thou shalt lerne the sygnyfycacyions, of the wordes, & obscurytees of the examples. Than thou shalt playnly & perfytely have that, that thou desyrest. Wherfore pray to god moost wyse & gloryous kynge that he wyll lyghten thy reason & understandynge to thende that thou mayst knowe & perceyue the secretes of this scyence. And in the same thou mayst be myn heyre & successour, & that he wyl graunt the largenesse of goodes, to gyve haboundaunce to the lyvyng of wyse men & studyentes, with grace to knowe that which is dyfficyle, & without the same nothyng can be done.


next up previous contents
Next: The maner of kynges Up: Prolegomena Previous: The prologue of a   Contents
tashid 2001-09-09