Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	king_n	parliament_n	sovereign_a	3,527	5	9.3552	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85713	The sage senator delineated: or, A discourse of the qualifications, endowments, parts, external and internal, office, duty and dignity of a perfect politician. With a discourse of kingdoms, republiques, & states-popular. As also, of kings and princes: to which is annexed, the new models of modern policy. / By J.G. Gent.; De optimo senatore. English	Goślicki, Wawrzyniec, 1530-1607.; Grimefield, John,; J. G., Gent.	1660 (1660)	Wing G2027; Thomason E1766_1; ESTC R10030	85,759	226

and fields like brute Animals were first by Cecrops and after by Theseus confined to a City which was then called Cecropia now Athens and at length reduced to a Kingdom descendable to their Posterity But what authority the Senate had under those Kings which order did represent the Optimacie cannot be manifested or apparently known by reason of the length of time and multitude of years since elapsed as also the paucity of those Writers that have any waies discoursed thereon Yet we must believe that Kings had in those daies their Sages or Wisemen about them and made use of their counsel in the management of their political affairs The Kings of that Age as Thucydides writes did rule by consent of People and with their suffrages did many times determine those things whereof they themselves were doubtful Yet that Government was of short continuance for in tract of time which altereth all things it was committed to the multitude whose force and power did utterly subvert the Commonwealth The Lacedaemonian State seemed to contain all the three sorts of Government viz. King Nobles and People the Nobles were their Senators and the People were the Ephori for they were alwaies elected out of the number of popular men Now the Lacedaemonians are very much extolled in that for the space of seven hundred years compleat they have continued without any alteration of their Laws Customs or Government But the Venetians in that respect may challenge a greater portion of glory for they have till this very present Age of ours constantly lived under one Form of Government and Governours the space of one thousand years and better Now the Venetians in framing their Republick do include within the name of People Gentlemen and Citizens being very careful to oppose any other if he presume or dare usurp that title because they only are capable of Magistracy The Senate is chosen out of that number that represents an Optimacie and is the foundation as it were of that State The Duke is elected out of that number that resemble Kings Polybius doth very much extol the Roman Monarchy because it was made up of the King Nobility and People supposing that by this means the King for fear of the People durst not become insolent and the People out of respect to the Senate durst not disobey the King Which Form of Republick is accounted most just For as perfect harmony is made up of Treble Mean and Base so the best and surest agreement among men and the most stable Government is established by the mixture of the Best the Mean and the Base people Romulus saith Livy being as we have already mentioned by consent both of God and men elected King though the State was then but an Embryo refused to have the reins of Government lie altogether upon his own shoulders and did therefore call unto his assistance one hundred Senators who out of respect to their Age and Gravity were called Fathers And lest the People should suppose that they were hereby deluded misled and defrauded of all honour and thereby envy and malignity might ensue to the prejudice of the King or Senate He made them Judges and gave them full power and authority to sit and determine War and conclude peace with many other priviledges thereunto annexed And if this model of Government had still continued in Rome there had not been so great an effusion of bloud in aspiring after Liberty and enlarging the Territories of the Roman Empire Nor had the happiness of that Country been shaken with so many seditions which did at length work her ruine and desolation for she was observed to be very little acquainted with peace all the time she stood upon her own legs ever since she was able to go alone But now let us take the Governments of our Age into consideration and first of the French Monarchy which owns a King who rules ad placitum at his own discretion and although his authority come not under the lash of the Law yet like an honourable and just Prince he acts nothing contrary to Law or Honour In his Kingdom the Noblemen which they call Peers represent an Optimacie the People are divided into three sorts Gentlemen Clergy-men and the popular Multitude and a choice number of these three assembled together by the Kings Edict or Command determine matters of greatest importance in the Kingdom This Council was anciently called Panceltium as the Aetolians named theirs Panaetolium and the universal Council of the Ionians was termed Panionium though since as we have already hinted by reason of the English wars there the King got all authority into his own hands so that his word carries as much force and validity with it as the former acts of Parliament which were their three Estates conven'd and met together As for the Spanish Monarchy the King there hath Soveraign authority and power the Council-Royal represents an Optimacie and the three prime Orders of Knighthood may be compared to the popular State For the Order of St Jago Collatrava and Alcantara assembled with the King decide the most important State-controversies and affairs The Monarchy of Polonia consists likewise of these three sorts i. e. The King Nobility and People but it is to be noted that this word People here denotes only Knights and Gentlemen The Union and Fellowship of these orders is so admirable that the King without the advice of his Council and their authority can do nothing nor can the Council determine without the King's approbation and the Peoples consent In this Kingdom the Laws are of so great force that every man religiously swears to keep and observe them and if any person act contrary to that Oath he is accounted unjust and impious Now that Oath by which they swear to be strict in the observance of their Laws and Liberty is in their vernacular language called Captue which is as much as Tegmen capitis in Latine for as the head is kept in health and preserved from the injury of the nipping weather by being covered so by vertue of that Oath their Laws Lives and Liberties are conserved and to maintain it no man is so fearful as not to venture his life against Tyrants and all such as endeavour to cut the wings of publick Liberty and Happiness This people enjoy great freedom being principled with this perswasion that to live according to the direction of the Law is the most absolute Liberty in the World In this Kingdom the Prince follows not the dictamen of his own will and fancy but sticks close to the Rule of the Law In waging war or concluding peace he makes use of his Council never transgressing Law which works this effect that the Kings person is not only honoured among the people but had in high reverence and estimation so that he may be said to be adored rather than obeyed And who indeed is there that would not entirely love honour respect and reverence that Prince that in governing steers himself

that the former exceedeth not the bounds of contemplation and the latter is wholly exercised in action and the management of humane affairs Plato affirmeth that there are two things observable in the life of Man The first is For a man to know himself And the second To know and understand all things Therefore let our Senator be stored with this wisdom viz. of knowing himself for without it no reason vertue action or cogitation can be reputed good or perfect By the help of this wisdom the prudent man first settles and orders his own affairs in which skill if he be deficient he must not be offended at the name of fool Now under Prudence is comprehended or contained the skill of well-regulating domestical business and the knowledge of enacting and making Laws civill wisdom and policy in consultation and judgement Which is the reason why Cicero termeth the prudent management of oeconomiques or houshold domestical and the fame in State-affairs civill wisdom And to the end that the Senator may ground his wisdom upon a solid foundation whereunto his imagination may have recourse for reason to steer him to the truth let him alwaies have before his eyes these things honesty and profit So that whatsoever he acteth or affirmeth privately or publikely may be directed by them both for all things that can be either conceived by reason or expressed by truth are included within the limits of these two Wherefore it is convenient that he be furnished with a peracute wit and solid understanding that he may dive into the abstruse nature of things and find out what is honest and profitable lest the mind hoodwinckt with inordinate affections and desires seduce the judgement and lead him from the path of truth And many there are who finding themselves to have depraved their reason by giving the reins to their loose affections and lusts do fall into erronious opinions quite opposite and contrary to wisdome Whence it follows inevitably that they are not only cheated in their choice of that which is honest and profitable but are blindfolded with the love of that which is absolutely dishonest and unprofitable To prevent which errour two things are to be taken into consideration First Not to take things unknown for known and praecipitantly assent unto them Next Not to give way in the least to any evill custome for consuetudo or usus secunda natura Custome doth tyrannize over the nature of man or to walk contrary to the rules of vertue A thing that may with facility be comprehended by a Senator if he consider the good and welfare of the Commonwealth which is the Meta or scope that all wisdom and counsel aims at nor can the Natives of his own Country nay wisdom her self require more at his hands or expect more from him than industry in preserving the safety and felicity of the place of his nativity But now it lies upon me to prove what Philosophy best befits a Senator Wherefore since the felicity of every Counsellor and the quintessence of all knowledge consists in action it ought to be his care and study to be exquisite in that part of Philosophy which prescribeth the rules of regulating mens actions and the Science of Government to the end that he may understand what is the best course of life what is necessary and requisite for the administration of publike and private affaires and be skilful in ordaining Laws correcting Judgments and governing of People Let him therefore be expert in that part of Philosophy that instructeth the management of mans life and the Art of Consultation For otherwise what account will he be able to give de vivendi ratione of the best way of living according to the rules of vertue that is uncapable of giving you a definition thereof What discourse can such a one make concerning Counsel Justice Fortitude Temperance or Wisdom How shall he appease the mutineers suppress sedition or mitigate the rigour and severity of the Laws or proceed according to the rigour thereof when he is ignorant of the precepts of Justice and Prudence What counsel or advice can he afford either of War Peace or Contracts that understands not when War is lawful or unlawful Peace just or unjust and Treaties honorable or dishonorable Whenas he ought not only to conceive all the Precepts of vertue and morality and to understand them by name but to exercise and put them in practice The sum of which knowledge is contained in the Ethicks Politicks and Oeconomicks from these as from a Magazine or Store-house he may furnish himself with all Rules Directions and Precepts for the exercise of vertue and the government of a Kingdom as also the order of a domestical life And though all this while we plead for the necessity of Philosophy in our Senators yet are we clearly against the divisions and Sects of Philosophy nor is it profitable but rather injurious to the Commonwealth that the minds of men should be divided into several whimsies and opinions First therefore we extirpate Epicurism Because it being grounded on and supported by sensual delights and pleasures ought not to be in him whom we elect for our Senator The Stoick we do not blame or accuse yet we hold it convenient that their Tenets be exploded as unfit for our Counsellor in regard that as Cicero saith they maintain the Philosopher to be the only wise man and that all other persons are but Thieves barbarous and infatuated For it were absurd to admit him a Senator that is of an opinion there is no wise Counsellor Freeman or Citizen himself excepted And though there hath ever been a dissention between the Stoick and Peripatetick touching the Summum bonum yet we adhere to the latter because they are the best Tutors of Vertue and good Manners and the most noble valiant wise discreet Captains Counsellors Emperours and Kings have issued out of that Society Besides it is requisite that our Senator be well read in History and exercised in all humane Learning For first in History he will find out the notable sayings and acts of wise men that have lived in elapsed time which are not so plentifully found in any Books as in the monumental Annals and Chronicles of fore-past Ages This was the reason that moved Tully to call History The witness of time the light of truth the memorial of life and the Herald of Antiquity For can any person paint out so fully to the life or give so perfect a delineation of Vertue Fortitude Justice Continence Frugality and contempt of death in an eloquent and fluent Oration as may be read in the actions of Cornelii Valerii Fabritii Curii Decii Mutii and others What noble Heroes have our modern times produced Hath not the Politick Monck Noble Massey and Loyal Montross been singular and almost unimitable for their Policy Valour and Magnanimity From these and the like he may make an extract of the most exact civill knowledge and direct himself in the management

the time was somewhat changed yet not given to a multitude for till the State returned to the Basis and foundation of Government Monarchy Senators were elected by Consuls Censors Dictators or Chieftains In all which Elections till the time of Augustus there is no mention made of lots but the Fame Family Order Office before born riches and possessions were most of all considered and respected Now since there is no earthly possession but comes far short of Vertue for excellency in the choice of Senators that must be chiefly look'd upon because they are reputed Defenders of the Law Moderators of Liberty and Conservers of a Kingdom And as the Republick or Kingdom is oftentimes infected by the vice and impiety of Magistrates so is it antidoted corrected and repaired by their vertues Such are the People of every Country as are the Manners of their Governours and the Subjects are apt to Ape the Customs and Constitutions of their Prince It was well said of one That the change of Princes Lives and the alteration of Manners in Magistrates would also work even to a mutation of the Customs Institutions and Rights nay of the Kingdom it self And to deal really with you evill Princes are very much to be blamed not in that they themselves are guilty of any crime for it is a Maxim in our Common Law That the King can do no wrong but that thereby the Subjects are prone to be feduced and led away to the same exorbitancies which may justly be so termed in them though not in a King And indeed how can it enter within the lists of possibility for a man to perswade other men to be vertuous when he himself is vicious The Romans derided Scylla who though a man infinitely debauched and wholly given up to licenciousness did nevertheless admonish and stir up others to Sobriety Temperance and Frugality And who would not blame Lisander though he swam in a contrary stream yet he allowed and gave toleration to the Citizens for those vices which he himself abstained from and abhorred But Lycurgus deserves commendation because he never imposed the observation of that upon any man which he himself did not first of all diligently follow Yet in a free-State if any such there be it hath been observed they have been directed by the suffrage of chance This order of Election is observed by that Virgin Venice The like institution Solon authorized among the Athenians for the choice of the five hundred Senators For out of every Tribe were so many elected as were thought to deserve that dignity whose names were put into a Pot and into another as many Beans the one half white and the other black now so many as hapned upon the white were pronounced Senators and those that chanced to light on the black were repulsed and dismissed which made Thucydides to call that Senate Senatum à Faba Besides it was observed among the Romans what Office he had born before his Election and with what fidelity he had discharged himself of his duty for they made choice of their Senators out of that number of men only that were by them styled Patres which was as it were the Nursery of Counsellors that so they might be known to be men famous for some publike exploit or renowned for their Wisdom and Gravity Among us those that sit in Parliament obtain that Dignity three manner of waies First By reason of their Tenure Secondly By vertue of Writ and Thirdly By vertue of Office Per Tenure are these Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Dukes Marquesses Earls and Barons And these are summoned to appear before the Parliament in the space of 48. daies They that come in per Breve or by Writ are these Knights of the Shires Burgesses Citizens Barons of the Cinque-Ports and the King's Council There come also per Breve directed to the several Deans and Arch-Deacons of this Kingdom two several Proctors of the Clergy for every several Deaconry Arch-deaconry and these Proctors of the Clergy are elected by the Clergy There come hither per Service or by vertue of Office The Chief Crier of England The Chief Usher The Chancellor The Treasurer The Chamberlain and Barons of the Exchequer The Justices of either Bench The Steward of England The Porter Grooms and all tyed by service to be here done The Stewards Office was to place the Lords the Porter used to see there be but one door to enter in and go out at And every one of the above-mentioned Officers hath had his several Charge respectively Thus have you had a description of our Sage Senator of all the qualifications that tend to his accomplishment his Duty Dignity and Office displayed and laid open the rewards due unto and conferred on him the ancient Customs of the Romans and Grecians touching this particular their election and choice as also their manner of sitting in Parliament among us how and by what means they obtain the Senatorship or title of Parliament-men according to our modern styles who were so termed because every Member of this High and most absolute Court of Justice in England from which there is no appeal to any other for redress should sincerely and discreetly Parler la ment as it is in the old Norman French that is freely express their minds for the benefit of the Kingdom Nor are the Laws of this Island only and the Liberty of the Subject conserved by Parliament but those of all well policied Kingdoms Countries else in Europe The Germans have their Diets The Danes and Swedes their Riicks Dachs The Spaniard calls his Parliament Las Cortes And the French have or at least should have their Assembly of the three States though it be now in a manner grown obsolete because the authority thereof was by accident devolv'd upon the King it will not be altogether impertinent to give you a succinct account of this memorable alteration which hapned as followeth When our Nation had taken such large footing in France that they advanced as far as Orleans and had forced their then Soveraign to fly to Bourges in Berry for sanctuary the Assembly of the three States not being able to convene during these pressures in full Parliament because that by those invasions the enemy made into the very bowels of the Kingdom the Country was altogether unpassable so that the power that was inherent in the Parliamentary Convention of enacting Laws assessing the Subject with Taxes subsidiary Levies and other Impositions was transmitted to the King during the rage and fury of that war only which proving of long continuance that entrusted Authority began to grow habitual and could never hitherto be taken from him so that his Edicts stand in lieu of Acts of Parliament Out of these foregoing premises this Conclusion may easily be deduced That the principal Fountain whence the King derives his happiness and safety is the Parliament It is the great Conduit-Pipe which conveys unto him his Peoples bounty and gratitude the truest