Selected quad for the lemma: blood_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
blood_n	fit_a	young_a	youth_n	20	3	7.8286	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51725	Discourses upon Cornelius Tacitus written in Italian by the learned Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi ; dedicated to the Serenissimo Ferdinand the Second, Great Duke of Thuscany ; and translated into English by Sir Richard Baker, Knight.; Discorsi sopra Cornelio Tacito. English	Malvezzi, Virgilio, marchese, 1595-1653.; Baker, Richard, Sir, 1568-1645.	1642 (1642)	Wing M359; ESTC R13322	256,112	410

vivido pectore vigebat virebatque integris sensibus A Prince therefore should not be old as well because such are apt to be contemned as because becomming a child againe he will governe ill whereupon not without cause Tacitus speaking of Augustus saith Postquam provecta jam senectus aegro corpore fatigabatur and that which followeth And Galba knowing this and meaning to helpe these inconveniences of old age he adopted Piso saying Et audita adoption desinam videri senex quod mihi unum objicitur And our Lord God meaning to furnish his Captaine Moyses with all the parts required in a Prince to the end that through old age he might not be contemned nor through want of understanding come to governe ill suffered not his senses nor yet his flesh to grow old with yeeres but preserved them in a flourishing state Non caligaverunt oculi ejus saith the Scripture and this opinion all Writers follow It remaines to shew which is the fitter age of youth or the consistent age for Resolution whereof I say briefly that if a Prince be to attend the warres it is then better he should be yong as well for the labours of the body as for the vigour of blood which growne cold in old men were never able to performe those things which are required in a warriour Whereupon we see that many great Captaines who in their youth have done admirable acts in their old age have lost many advantages through weaknesse of spirit as it happened to Metellus in the warre against Sertorius in Spaino as Plutarch relates And therefore Moyses shewed great judgement who amongst the Elders he had chosen having two yong men Eldad and Medad he caused them to stay in the Army shewing thereby that in matters of warre they should be yong men And our Lord God meaning to ayd the Maccabees in a battaile against their enemies appeared in the forme of a yong man upon a white Horse But if we speake of Princes that are to judge the people in peace in this case the age that inclines to old age is certainly fittest in signe whereof our Lord God who in the Canticles as being a Bridegroome appeared in forme of a yong man Comae ejus sicut elatae palmorum nigrae quasi Corvus when afterwards he appeares as a King and Judge of Daniel and in the Apocalyps he comes described with gray haires Caput autem ejus Capilli erant candidi tanquam lana alba tanquam Nix and this is for as much as for the most part is wont to happen But because the contrary of this is often seene that some man in his youth governes much better then in his age I cannot omit in this place to advertise that canities or whitenesse by age consists not so much in haires or in yeers as in the whitenesse of the thoughts whereupon in the Canticles the Bridegroome saith to the Bride Vulnerasti cor meum in uno oculorum tuorum in uno crine colli tui and S. Luke Sed capilli vestri numerati sunt and S. Gregory upon Job expounding that place of Deuteronomy Levitae tenentur radere pilos carnis suae expounds it id est cogitationes superfluas He then shall be accounted old and to have gray haires that is full of white thoughts whereupon Salomon saith Senectus venerabilis est non diuturna neque annorum numero computata cani autem sunt sensus 〈◊〉 aetas Senectutis vita Immaculata When our Lord God would have Moyses to choose persons that should assist him in judging the people he said not Choose out seventy old men but seventy whom thou knowest to be old where it plainely appeares that he speakes not of the old age of the body for that every one is able to know but of the old age of the mind and so S. Gregory expounds it in those words Congrega mihi septuaginta viros Israel quos tu nosti quòd Senes populi sunt While he saith In quibus senioribus quid aliud quam senectus cordis requiritur cum tales jubentur eligi quod senes esse sciuntur si enim senectus in eis corporis quaereretur a tantis sciri poterant a quantis videri ●…dum vero dicitur quos tu nosti quod senes populi sint profectò liquet quia senectus 〈◊〉 non corporis eligenda mintiatur For an old man that is gray by reason of yeeres may be a child in regard of conditions and therefore Esay saith Puer centum annorum moriatur whereupon it followes not to say a Prince is yong therefore he will governe ill a Prince is old therefore he will governe well because it oftentimes happens that the same man is in youth old and in age yong as Salomon who in his youth governed divinely well both himselfe and his state but afterwards in his old age he overthrowes himselfe and consequently his subjects So Nero in the beginning of his youth governed with so great prudence that he is rather to be imitated then that he can be surpassed but in processe of time he so perfidiously carried himselfe that sparing neither his schoolmasters nor his mother nor finally himselfe he cast himselfe and as much as he could the state into absolute ruine It will not then be from our purpose to search out the reason how it happens that many in their youth governe well and in their old age become cruell and throw themselves headlong into vices First then I say it happens by reason of age which as we have shewed before of its owne nature causeth contempt and the Prince doubting this and thinking to remedy it with cruelty plungeth himselfe in it to shew there is valour in him so did Tiberius who in his youth endeavoured by all meanes to hide his acts of cruelty but in his old age changing opinion he was never well but when he was talking of them and when he could say something to make it appeare that he was cruell for no other cause but that he thought this the onely way to keep him from contempt Wherupon if the Senatours had known this reason they would never have marvelled to heare him recite his acts the death of his nephew Drusus and although Tacitus ascribe this to his great confidence where he saith Penetrabat pavor admiratio callidum olim tegendis sceleribus obscurum eo confidentiae venisse ut tanquam dimotis parietibus oftenderet nepotem sub verberibus Centurionis inter servonum ictus extrema vitae alimenta frustra orantem yet I hold he did it rather in the sense aforesaid and I conceive that Tacitus in substance understood as much himselfe Secondly this is wont to happen because in the beginning men are not secure in their states and therefore seeke by good meanes to make themselves secure but once secured they then yeeld themselves wholy to be governed by sense and therefore David when he had vanquisht his enemies and made

the man and not the woman and the honours that are done to the women ought to passe by the way of their husbands and therefore it is said in Esay 〈◊〉 invocetur nomen tuum super nos This course Tiberius tooke most notably who when his mother made any suite in his name he presently granted it and more then so he many times at the suit of Livia required those things of the Senat which without blushing he could not have asked but when it was moved to give her honours immediately without passing by the meanes of Tiberius he then presently opposed it saying Moderandos foeminarum honores But if we speake of those Princes that live securely in peace and are well setled in their states as at this day many are in Italy then either those women that should governe together with the men are in judgement and understanding fit for it or else they are altogether unfit if unfit it may then be enough for them to looke to matters at home and Domesticall affaires but if fit I cannot then thinke any thing more just or more convenient or more profitable to a Prince then to call such women of his blood to beare a part of the burthens of government both because by their experience and prudence they may assist the Prince as much as any other and also because by reason of their owne interest and the singular affection they beare to their husbands their sonnes or nephewes there can be none found that with more sincerity and faithfulnesse and without any by-respects will helpe them to beare so great a burthen as a Kingdome is and so much more as they are alwaies like to be partakers as well of the dangers as of the profits of the Prince A thing which is not found in strangers and such as are mercenary whose profit oftentimes lookes another way and is divided from the Princes profit Whereupon S. 〈◊〉 upon that place of Esay Pater filiis notam faciet veritamet saith Non revelatur servo veritas quia servus nescit quid faciat Dominus ejus sed nec Mercenarius rapitur ad contemplandam veritatem quia propriam quaerit utilitatem And therefore Augustus a most wise Prince had often conference with Livia Numa Pompilius with Aegeria Cyrus with Aspas●…a Tarquinius with Tanaquill and Justinian with his wife Theodosia Princes therefore ought not to despise the counsels of women of their blood but to hold them in great account whereof in my opinion there is in Genesis a Golden Text Sara having spoken to Abraham to send away Agar and Ismael it seemes he was not very willing to give credit to the words of a woman which God knowing said unto him Omnia quae dixerit tibi Sara audi vooem ejus Moreover when our Lord God made the woman he said Faciamus ei Adjutorium simile sibi and why then should we seeke after other helpers and not take those who are made of purpose for our ayd According to this my opinion was decided the controversie in Tacitus betweene Valorius Messalina and Caecina where it was concluded that in governments which stand in danger it is not fit to bring in women but very fit in governments that are peaceable and secure In which I say more that a Prince who is yong cannot doe better then not onely to be counselled a thing in part also fit where States are dangerous but to suffer himselfe also to be governed by women Theodatus King of the Ostrogothes in the beginning of his Raigne carried himselfe with great moderation as long as he agreed with his wife but when he left to follow her advice he filled with injustice all his Kingdome The Emperour Constantinus Sestus never governed well but when he suffered his mother Irene to direct him And Salomon never runne into disorderly courses as long as his mother Bersabe●… lived of whom he scorned not to be taught as himselfe in the Proverbs saith Filius fui patris mei tenellus Vnigenitus coram matre mea docebat me atque dicebat suscipiat verba mea cor tuum custodi praecepta mea vives And therefore S. Chrysostome upon S. John saith Nihil potentius muliere bona ad instituendum informandum virum quodcunque voluerit neque tam leniter anticos nec magistros patietur ut conjugem admonentem atque consulentem habet enim voluptatem quandam admonitio uxoria cum plurimum amet cui consulit multos possum afferre viros asperos immites per uxorem mites redditos mansuetos Who knowes not that Tiberius never plunged himselfe so much into all kinds of wickednesse as after his mothers death And the reason which all men alledge to prove women unfit for government is of no force of force I know in generall but that in particular women should not be as fit as men I hold it a great folly to thinke having my selfe although but yong not onely found written in Histories but seene in experience many women able to have governed the whole World and to these the frailty of their sexe is so farre from being a hinderance that rather they are worthy of the more praise for overcomming naturall defects with supply of vertue Vix dum ingressus Illyricum Tiberius properis matris literis excitur neque satis compertum est spirantem adhuc Augustum apud urbem Nolam an exanimem repererit acribus namque custodiis domum vias sepserat Livia laetique interdum 〈◊〉 vulgabantur donec 〈◊〉 quae tempus monebat simul excessisse Augustum rerum potiri Neronem eadem fama detulit That at one and the same time to make knowne the death of the Prince and the assumption of the successour is a thing very profitable for States that stand in danger The foure and twentieth Discourse THere is nothing makes me more beleeve that Tiberius had given order to his mother to poison Augustus then his very being far off from Rome at the time of his death an invention followed by all those who by such meanes have taken away the life of great personages So did Piso after he had as is said poysoned Germanicus so did Lodowick Sforza who knowing that his Nephew had taken poyson and could not long be living he would not stay in Milan but went to Piacenza to the King of France The cause as I thinke why they do so is to the end the World may not suspect they had any hand in their deaths and although they cannot but thinke that men of understanding will suspect them the more yet this is nothing to the Prince who seeks but to a voyd the heat of the people who without any judgment are carried through love or hatred to doe such things as men of judgement would never doe Tiberius was then in Slavonia when his mother sent him word of Augustus his sicknesse who as may be thought was dead before Tiberius came to Nola yet he oftentimes gave forth he had good

the Senat be at concord with the people then no doubt the Election will be excellent as being made by a number of understanding men and therefore we see that Numa Pompilius who was thus chosen proved one of the best Kings the Romans ever had there concurring in his Election the choyce of the Senat and consent of the people It is true such Election is hardly made because few would like to 〈◊〉 another to that degree which hee aymes at himselfe And if any man should object that it proves well in Venice where the Election of their Duke is alwayes made by the Senat I would answer taking no notice of the kind of that Dignity that this happens because that Election is made by most understanding men who ayme more at the Common-wealths profit then at their own But if the Senat or Magistrate that is to make the Election be it selfe corrupt wee may then expect a choyce betweene good and bad because a very good one they would not choose for feare least out of his precisenesse he should reforme many things to the undoing of the wicked and a very bad one they would not choose for feare least hee should be the undoing of the Kingdome To which purpose are those words of Tacitus Exoptimis periculum sibi expessimis dedecus publicum metuebat I here advertise that neither the Reasons alleadged at first nor yet this last are in any opposition to the Kingdomes that are at this day whereof the greatest part goes by succession for there is great difference betweene speaking of times in which were Tyrants and times in which are civill Princes who have so many Counsells so many orders and Consultations that it is impossible but they must governe well No man therefore ought to take my Discourse as a taxing of Princes in these times but whether it be Election or succession I hold that way alwayes to be best in a City which hath formerly beene used Lastly for resolution of those Arguments which in the beginning were brought against Election Those against succession being tacitely already answered I say that either wee speake of choosing a private man to bee Prince and then those difficulties will bein force or else we speake of choosing one who is already mounted to the height of a Prince and then those difficulties will be laid asseepe and this we see notably observed at this day in places of Election as in creation of the Pope which can never fall upon a person that is not first a Cardinall It being fit that one should first come out from Equality before he should rise to the highest degree of superiority and that he should first be taken into part of affaires who is to come afterward to governe the whole So likewise in Election of the Emperours we see alwayes Princes of such blood to be chosen that comming to the Empyre they seeme not to come to any new greatnesse Tiberius therefore to come to our purpose having beene chosen by Augustus that was a Tyrant had reason to have it beleeved that he was chosen by the Senat rather then by old Augustus Comparatione deterrima or per 〈◊〉 ambitum but if Augustus had beene an excellent King I beleeve hee would then have rather had it thought that he was chosen by the Prince So did Salomon who comming to the Crowne after David would have it knowne that hee was made successour by his father Vt notum fiat universo Populo Regem eum a Patre Declaratum Nihil primo Senatus die agi passus nisi de supremis Augusti cujus Testamentum inlatum per virgines Vestae Tiberium Liviam haeredes habuit Livia in familiam Juliam Nomenque Augustae adsumebatur In spem secundam Nepotes Pronepotesque Tertio gradu Primores Civitatis Scripserat plerosque invisos sibi sed Jactantia gloriaque ad Posteros Whether Tiberius did ill in causing Augustus his will to bee read and why Augustus in the third place made many his heires that were his Enemies The foure and thirtieth discourse ONe of the first things that Tiberius did in the Senat was the causing Augustus his will to be read where Livia and himselfe were made his heires in the first place In the second his Nephewes and Grand-children In the third place the principall men of the City many of whom were known to be his enemies In this there are two things wee may wonder at one that Tiberius would have this will of Augustus to bee read openly the other that Augustus had set many in his will that were his Enemies Beginning with the first I say that Tiberius not belonging to Augustus by any respect of blood but onely by being his Sonne in law to be preferd by Augustus will before Agrippa Posthumus that was his Nephew to whom by Right of kinred the Empyre belonged It seemes that in true politick consideration Tiberius did ill to cause a thing so odious to be published which he ought rather if it had beene possible to have hidden as was seene in Claudius who by his Testament making his Sonne in Law Nero his heire and preferring him before Britannicus his true and legitimate Sonne Agrippina a suttle woman after the death of Claudius would not suffer his will to be read least the people should mutiny to see a sonne in Law preferd before a Sonne I estamentum tamen haud recitatum Ne antepositus filio privignus Injuria Jnvidia animos vulgiturbaret By this example related by the same Tacitus we must necessarily say that one of them either Agrippina or Tiberius did ill or else we must bee driven to shew some difference betweene these two cases which may be and is in many things First because Britannicus was Claudius his Sonne and Agrippa Augustus his Nephew but by the line of women Secondly because Agrippa was farre off and perhaps dead when Augustus his will was read Britannicus was living and present there in Rome and so by his presence might have given occasion to the people of making in 〈◊〉 which Tiberius needed not to feare and lastly Tiberius was a man of ripe age experienced in the warres and conversant in affaires of state where Nero was but a child had hitherto given no proofe of himselfe at all and besides it caused much lesse envy to see a Sonne in Law of so excellent qualities preferred before a Nephew rude and foolish and full of Indignation then it would have done to see a rude Sonne in Law preferd before a Sonne of so great expectation and because to be made heire by the former Prince is a great helpe for being accepted by the Subjects as by the Example of Salomon and others I have elsewhere shewed Tiberius knowing that those things would be no trouble to him which to Nero would have been pernicious he therefore did very wisely and with great Judgement to make it knowne to all men that Augustus by his will had left him his heire The other