Roger Ascham Toxophilus 1545

0f rf500tt'«3. 57

his moneye he had, vpon the boorde, fware me by the
fleffhe of God, that yf fweryng woulde helpe him but
one ace, he woulde not leue one pece of god vnfworne,
neyther wythin nor without The remembraunce of
this blafphemy Philologe, doth make me quake at the
heart, and therefore I wyll fpeake no more of it.

And fo to conclude wyth fuche gamnying, I thynke
there is no vngracioufenes in all thys worlde, that
carieth fo far from god, as thys faulte doth. And yf
there were anye fo delperate a perfone, that woulde
begynne his hell here in earth, I trowe he fhoulde not
fynde hell more lyke hell it felfe, then the lyfe of thofe
menis which daylyhaunt and vfe fuche vngracious games.

•Jjiljtl. You handle this gere in dede: And I fuppofe
if ye had ben a prentice at fuche games, you coulde
not haue fayd more of them then you haue done, and
by lyke you haue had fomwhat to do with them.

3C0I. In dede, you may honefllye gather that I hate
them greatly, in that I fpeake agaynfl them : not that
I haue vfed them greatlye, in that I fpeake of them.
For thynges be knowen dyuerfe wayes, as Socrates (you
knowe) doeth proue in-Alcibiades. And if euery man
fhulde be that, that he fpeaketh or wryteth vpon, then
fhulde Homer haue bene the befl capitayne, mooft
cowarde, hardye, hafty, wyfe and woode, fage and
limple: And Terence an oulde man and a yong, an
honeft man and a bawde : with fuche lyke. Surelye
euerye man ought to praye to God dayly, to kepe them
from fuche unthriftyneffe, and fpeciallye all the youth
of Englande : for what youth doth begynne, a man
wyll folowe commonlye, euen to his dyinge daye:
whiche thinge Adrailus in Euripides pretelye doth ex-
preffe, fayinge.

What thing a man in tender age hath moft in vre
That fame to death alwayes to kepe heJJial befure Euripidea

Therfore in age who greatly longes goodfrute to mcrwe m suppli.
In youth he muft him felfe aplye goodfeede to fowe*

pr the foundation of youth well fetfe (as Plsjtp doth