¶ We may also begyn at the nature of the
tyme that we speke in / or at the nature of
the place / or at any other circumstaunce or
thynge incident. As Liuius in the .ix. boke
of his fourthe decade agaynste the feestes
that the Romaynes kept in the honour of
the ydolyssh god Bacchus / begynneth his
oracion at prayenge on this wyse.
THe solempne makynge of prayers
vnto the goddes was neuer so apte
nor yet so necessary in any oracion as it is
in this / whiche shall shew and admonysshe
you that they be very and ryght goddes /
whom our elders haue ordeyned to be wor[-]
shypped / adoured / and prayed vnto.
¶ Briefly in all prefaces belongynge to
oracions deliberatiues the office of the per[-]
sone: and the necessytye or commodytye
of the matter that we treate of are consy-
dered.
IN oraciōs deliberatiues we vse very
seldome narracions / but for the more
parte in stede of them we make a brief pro[-]
posicion cōteinyng the sūme of our entent.
As now adayes nothing is so necessary as
to labour to brynge these dissencions that
be in the chyrche to a perfecte vnity & con-
corde / that accordyng to Christes sayng[e]s /
there be but one shepeherde and one folde.
Neuertheles we vse somtyme briefe [narra[-]
ciions] / whā yt som thyng hath ben don all
redy of yt that we giue our coūcell vpō / as
in the abouesayd oracion yt Tuli made for
Pōpey / where he maketh this narracion.
GReat & very perillous warre is made
bothe agaynst your tributours / and
also thē that bothe cōfederate with you: &
by you called your felowes / whiche warre
is moued by two ryght myghty kynges /
Mithridates & Tigranes. &c. ¶ After this
maner is a narracion in the oraciō yt Ha-
niball made to Scipio / & is cōteined in the
x. boke of ye .iii. decade of Liui[us] / right pro-
per & elegant / without any preface begyn-
nyng his narracion thus.
¶ If it hath
ben ordeyned by my fortune and desteny
that I whiche first of all ye Carthaginors
began warre with the Romayns / & which
haue almoost had the victory so often in
myne hādes / shuld now com of myne owne
mynde to aske peace. I am glad that for-
tune hathe prepared that I shulde aske it
of you specially. And amonge all your no-
ble [landes] this shall nat be one of the leest
that Haniball gaue ouer to you / to whom
the goddes had gyuen afore the vyctorye
ouer so many capitains of the Romayns /
& that it was your lucke to make an ende
of this warre / in the which the Romayns
haue had farre mo euyll chaunces thā we
of Carthagene. And whether it were my
desteny or chaūce yt ought me this skorn-
full shame. I which began the warre whā
your father was Consull / and after ioyned
bataile with hym whan he was made Ca-
pitayne of the Romayns army / must now
come vnarmed to his son to aske peace of
hym. It had ben best for bothe parties yf
it had pleased the goddes to haue sent our
fore faders that mynde / that you of Rome
wolde haue ben content with the Empyre
of Italy / and we Carthaginoys with Af-
frike. For neither Sicil nor Sardinia can
be any sufficēt amendes to either of vs for
so many naueis / so many armies / so many
and so excellent capitaines lost in our war-
res betwene vs / but thynges passed / may
soner be blamed than mended. We of Car-
thagene (as touchynge our parte) haue so
couetyd other dominions / that at lengthe
we had busines ynough to defende our pos[-]
sessions. Nor the warre hath nat ben only
with you in Italy or with vs onely in Af-
fryke: but at the pleasure of fortune / som-
tyme here and som there / in so moche that
you my maisters of Rome haue sene ye stā[-]
derdes and armes of your enemies harde
at your walles and gates of the citie. And
we on the other syde haue herde the noyse
out of your campe into our citie.
¶ After the narracion ought to folowe
immediately the proposicion of our coun-
cell or aduise. As after the narraciō of Ha-
niball afore reherced / foloweth the propo-
sicion of his purpose thus.