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ignorance or mifhap whiche place Cato vfeth ironioufly in Salult / thus: My rnyndc is that yc hauc pity with you / for they that haue done amylVe be but very yonge men / & defy re of honour draue them to it.
v is whan we haue non excufe : but we call vpon the J uft ires mercy. The handelynge wherof Tully wrytcth in his boke of inuencion thus.
He that laboreth to be forgyue* of his faut / muft rcherc< he can) fome benefytes of his / done afore tyme / and fhewe tha they be farre greater in theyr nature than is the cry me that he hathe commytted / ib that (how be it he hath done greatly amyflc) yet the goodes' of his fore merites are farre bygger / and fo may wel opprelle this one faut. Nexte after that it behoueth hym to haue refuge to the merytes of his elders / yf there be any / and to open them. That done / he muft retourne to the place of purga- cion / and fhewe that he dyd nat the dede for any hate or malyce / but either by MylVhness/or els by the entifement [E vi a] of fome other / or for fome prouable caufe. And the* promife faithfully that this faut fhall teche hym to beware fro* thens forth and alfo that theyr benefytes that forgyue hym fhal bynde hym alVuredly ncuer to do fo more / but perpetually to abhorre any fuche offence / and with that to fhewe some great hope ones to make them a great recowpence & pleafure therfore agayne. After this let hy he can) declare fome kynred betwene the*i& hym/orfrendfhyp of his elders / & am pi live the greatenes of his feruice & good hartc towarde them / yf it fhall pleafe them to forgiue this faut / & adde the nobylity of tnem that would fayne haue hym delyuered. And than he fhall foberly declare his ownc vertues & fuche thynges as be in hym perteynynge to honefte and prayfe / that he may by thefe meanes feme rather worthy to be auaunced in honour for his good qualities / than to be punifhed for his fall.
This done / let hym reherse fome other that haue be forgyuen greater fautes then this is. It fhall alfo greatly auayle yf he can fhewe that he hath in tyme afore ben in auctoritie and bare a rule oner other / in the whiche he was neuer but gentyll and glad to forgyue thew that had offended vnderncth hym. And then let hym extenuate [E vi b] his own faute / and fhewe that there folowed nat fo great damage therof / and that but lytle profyte or
- B. goodnes.
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