that way, the more instant was he with an old man who was privy to all, using all means to enforce him for to bewray that secret: at length, when the thing itself was so pregnant that it brought him into farther suspicion, and withal when the said old man cried out in this manner:
Alas, how am I at the point perforce
To utter that which will cause remorse?
the king, surprised still with his humour of curiosity, notwithstanding he was vexed at the very heart, answered:
And I likewise for my part am as near
To hear as much, but yet I must it hear.
So bitter-sweet is that itching-smart humour of curiosity, like unto an ulcer or sore, which the more it is rubbed and scratched, the more it bleedeth and bloodieth itself. Howbeit he that is delivered from this disease, and besides of nature mild and gentle, so long as he is ignorant and knoweth not any evil accident, may thus say:
O blessed saint, when evils are past and gone,
How sage and wise art thou, oblivion.
And therefore we must by little and little accustom ourselves to this, that when there be any letters brought unto us, we do not open them presently and in great haste, as many do, who if their hands be not quick enough to do the feat, set their teeth to, and gnaw in sunder the threads that sewed them up fast. Also, if there be a messenger coming toward us from a place with any tidings, that we run not to meet him, nor so much as once rise and stir for the matter; and if a friend come unto thee saying, I have some news to tell you of: Yea, marry (must you say again), but I had rather that you brought me something indeed that were profitable, fruitful and commodious. I remember upon a time when I declaimed and read a lecture at Rome, that orator Rustius, whom afterwards Domitian put to death for envy that he bare to his glory, happened to be there to hear me: Now in the midst of my lecture there came into the place a soldier with letters from the emperor, which he delivered to Rustius aforesaid, whereupon there was great silence in the school, and I myself made some pause, whiles he might read the letter, but he would not read it then, nor so much as break it open before I had made an end of my discourse, and dismissed the auditory: for which all the company there present highly praised and admired the gravity of the man.
