kinge whiche by lawe and equyte regardes more the
commoditie of his people then his owne lucre/yf he
be a bisshop which alwayes is careful for the
lordes flocke comytted to his pastorall charge/yf
he be a magistrate which frankelie and of good
wyll dothe make prouysyon, and dothe all thinge
for the comyn welthes sake/and yf he be a
phylosopher whiche passynge not vpon the goodes of
this worlde, only geueth hym selfe to attayn to a
good mynde, and to leade a vertuous lyfe. _Bea._
Lo thus ye may perseyue what a nombre of semblable
exaples ye may collecte & gether. _Boni._ Undouted
a great sorte. _Bea._ But I pray the tel me wyll
you saye that all these are no men. _Boni._ Nay I
feare rather lest in so sayenge it shulde cost vs
our lyues, and ||so myght we our selues shortelye
be no men. _Bea._ Yf man be a resonable creature,
howe ferre dyffers this from all good reason, that
in comodities apertayning to the body (for so
they deserue rather to be called then goodnes) and
in outwarde gyftes whiche dame fortune geues and
takes awaye at her pleasure, we had rather haue
the thynge then the name, and in the true and only
goodnes of the mynd we passe more vpon the name
then the thynge. _Boni._ So god helpe me it is a
corrupte and a preposterours iudgement, yf a man
marke and consyder it wel. _Bea._ The selfe same
reason is in contrarie thinges. _Boni._ I wolde
gladly knowe what ye meane by that. _Bea._ We maye
iudge lykewyse the same of the names of thynges to
be eschued, and incommodites which was spoken of
thynges to be diffyred and comodites. _Boni._ Nowe
I haue considered the thynges well, it apereth to
be euen so as ye saye in dede. __Bea.__ It
shulde be ||more feared of a good prynce to be
a tyraunt in dede then to haue the name of a
tyraunt. And yf an euyll bysshop be a thefe and a
robber, then we shulde not so greatly abhorre and
hate the name as the thynge. _Boni._ Eyther so it
is or so it shuld be. _Bea._ Nowe gather you of the
rest as I haue done of the prynce & the bysshop.
_Boni._ Me thynkes I vnderstande this gere
wonderouse well. _Bea._ Do not all men hate the
name of a fole or to be called a moome, a sotte,
or an asse? _Boni._ Yeas as moche as they do any
one thynge. _Bea._ And how saye you were not he a
starke fole that wold fishe with a golde bayte,
that wolde preferre or esteme glasse better then
prec