our._ xxxiiii.

+ Plutarche rehersethe also, that what tyme an ambassadour, that was
sente frome the Samiens, had made a longe oration vnto Cleomines, to
perswade him to make warre to Polycrates, he answered the ambassadour on
this maner of wyse: I remembre nat, what thou sayddest in the begynnyng
of thy tale, and therfore I vnderstand nat the myddis; and thy
conclusion pleaseth me nat.

Wherby we may perceyue, that the noble wyse men loue fewe wordes. And
as the Rhetoriciens say: amonge the vices of an oratoure, there is none
more hurtefull than the superfluous heape of wordes.

+ _Of the wyse man Piso and his seruant._ xxxv.

+ A certayn wise man called Piso, to auoyde greuous ianglynge,
commaunded that his seruauntes shulde saye nothinge, but answere to that
that thei were demaunded, and no more. Vpon a daye the sayde Piso made a
dyner, and sente a seruaunt to desire Clodius the Consull to come and
dyne with him. Aboute the houre of diner al the guestes came saue
Clodius, for whom they taryed tyll hit was almoste nyght, and euer sente
to loke if he came. At laste Piso sayde to his seruaunt: diddest thou
byd the Consull come to dyner? Yes, truely, sayde he. Why cometh he nat
than, quod Piso? Mary, quod the seruaunt, he sayde he wolde nat.
Wherfore toldest me nat so incontinent, quod Piso? Bycause, quod the
seruaunt, ye dyd nat aske me.

By this tale, seruauntes may lerne to kepe theyr maisters biddyng: but
yet I aduise maysters therby to take hede, howe they make an
iniunction.

+ _Of the marchant that made a wager with his lord._ xxxvi.

+ A certayne marchaunt, before his lorde that he was subiecte vnto,
amonge other thynges praysed his wyfe, and sayde, that he neuer harde
her lette a *****. Wherat the lorde meruailed, and sayd it was
impossible: and so layde and ventred a souper with the marchant, that
before thre monethes were ended, he shulde here her lette a ***** or
twayne. On the morowe, the lorde came to the marchaunt, and borowed
fyfty crownes, the whiche he promysed trewely to repay agayne within
viij dayes after. The marchaunt ryght sore agaynst his wylle lent it,
and thoughtfully abode, tyll the daye of payment was come: and than he
wente to his lorde and requyred his moneye. The lorde, makynge as though
he had hadde more nede than before, desyred the marchaunt to lende hym
other fyftye crownes, and promysed to paye all within a monethe. And all
though the good man denyed hit long