by Humilitie The lowly heart and repentant soule are an acceptable sacrifice vnto God as witnesseth vnto vs the parable of the Publicane who went home iustified by humilitie and for acknowledging himselfe a sinner in accusing himselfe to God of which accusation ensewed immediatly reward cleane contrarie to the iudgements of men vvho vpon accusation and confession doe by and by giue death And therfore that we may be iustified vve be commanded to tell our sinnes and in old time as Macrobius reporteth the priest afore he made sacrifice to his idols confessed that he vvas a sinner and thereat began his ceremonies as we also doe in our religion Our Lord commaunded his disciples to say that vvhen they had done all maner of good they vvere vnprofitable seruants to the end they should not seeme to haue any trust in their good vvorks Wherewith agreeth the doctrine of Plato the heathen Philosopher Whosoeuer saith he vvill be good must beleeue that hee is euill Philo expounding the lawes of Moses which ordaine aboue all things That men should abstaine from Pride telling vs that it is only God that inableth vs to vtter our power saith that he which hath receiued strength and power of Gods meere gift and bethinketh himselfe of the weakenes that was in â—im afore he enioied that grace wil put away that prowd stomack and yeeld thanks to him that is the cause of his better state Now then the mind that acknowledgeth the grace that is giuen vnto him is enemie to pride whereas the vnthankfull is linked in with pride Salomon forbids vs to iustifie our selues before the Lord likewise Dauid shunneth to enter into iudgement with the Lord saieng that no man shal be iustified before him which is to be vnderstood of trusting to any other thing than only Gods mercie Humble your selues saith S. Iames in the presence of God and he will exalt you And S. Peter Be ye apparelled with humilitie for God resisteth the prowd and giueth grace to the lowly Philo sayth That the prowd person prouoketh God to wrath Also Moses giueth him no temporall punishmeÌ„t but reserueth him to Gods iudgement because Pride is a sinne of the soule which is not seene and perceiued but of God If we speake of the righteousnesse that is to be vsed towards men it is hard for a prince to applie himselfe thereto vnlesse he be humble For this vertue maketh a prince meeke readie to heare poore mens requests and to doe them reason and loath to giue eare to flatterers and tale-bearers it skorneth not any man but maketh account both of poore and rich behauing it selfe louingly and gently towards both giuing easie accesse vnto either of them Iob among his complaints protesteth that he neuer despised the iudgement of his seruants were they man or woman but esteemed of them as of himselfe But hee that is too high-minded will heare none but slatterers and tale-bearers hee regardeth no counsell he despiseth the poore he disdaineth euery man and easily taketh leaue to do wrong and iniurie according to this saieng of Dauid The froward are set on fire through their pride to trouble the lowly that maketh small account of himselfe To be short hee is full of vainglorie enuie and trouble according vnto this saieng of Salomon Among the prowd there is alway debate Plato in his Lawes sayth That hee which is prowd of his riches honour burneth with a glorieng in himselfe as though he needed no prince or guide beating himselfe on hand that hee is able enough of himselfe is by and by forsaken of God and so left and then finding as verie fooles as himselfe hee triumpheth and turmoileth all things seeming vnto many not to be a man to be despised But within a while after being punished by Gods iust iudgement he ouerthroweth himselfe his house and his whole common-weale Also there is another spice of pride wheÌ„ yoong men despise their elders beleeue not their couÌ„cell For it is a yoong mans dutie saith Cicero in his booke of Duties to yeeld honor to his auntients which thing was inuiolably obserued in Aegypt and Lacedemon whervpon rose the prouerb It would doe a man good to be old in Sparta Of the said vice springeth the disobedience of some yoong folkes to their fathers and mothers contrarie to Moses precept which commaundeth the honouring of the father and mother with promise of reward In the temple of Eleusis there were but three precepts set downe to be read of all men the first concerned the praising of God the second the honoring of father mother and the third the forbearing to eat flesh And as Cicero saith in his Duties youth is first of all to be enioyned modestie and kindnesse towards their father and mother Plato in his fourth booke of Lawes doth in honor such as seeke to please God in two things first in worshipping God with praiers sacrifices and secondly in honoring their father and mother and he saith That the child ought to beleeue that all that euer hee hath belongeth to those that bred and brought him vp so as he ought to succour them with al his goods whether they be of fortune of the bodie or of the mind and to recompence them in their old age for the things which they haue endured for them in their yonger years to be short that they ought to yeeld them reuerence both in word and deed and to giue place vnto them in all their doings both in word and deed and to thinke that a father is not anâ—rie without a cause when he perceiueth that his sonne doth him wrong Generally we may well say That all disobedience and all mis-behauior commeth of pride as S. Iohn Chrisostome witnesseth in his 45 Homilie and S. Luke speaking of the rich man who was damned for taking too much delight in his riches and braue apparell and for his despising of the poore Salomon in the 17 of the Prouerbs saith That proud froward and skornfull are the names of him that dealeth arrogantlie with anger For bloudshed is in the report of the proud and their curse is greeuous to heare saith Ecclesiastiâ—us As for Ambition no doubt but it proceedeth of Pride for it is nothing else but a desire to be great and to be had in honor Antonie the meeke said It was vnossible for that man to gouerne a countrie well which was atteinted with pride and ambition My meaning is not in speaking of pride and ambition to take from a yoong man the desire of honour and a vertuous emulation that may make him to glorie and delight in his wel-doing For as saith Theophrast by the report of Plutarch in the life of Agis vertues doe bud and flourish in that age and take the deeper root for the praises that are giuen vnto them proceeding still in growing and increasing after the measure of the growing of their care and courage But wheras too much is dangerous of itselfe
vncorrupted as also by her most prouident motherly gouerning of hir people with all iustice clemencie to their greatest trāquilitie benefit and welfare Wherupon hath also ensued Gods most mightie and miraculous protection of her mastiesties most roiall person her realms dominions and subiects from exceeding great perils both forreine ciuil and domesticall such and so fitly contriued by the sleights of Satan satanicall practisers as but by the wonderfull and extraordinarie working of the diuine prouidence could not haue beene found out and much lesse preuented auoided or escaped an assured token of Gods speciall loue and fauor towards both soueraigne and subiects To be short so many and so great are the benefites which we haue receiued and still receiue by and from our most gracious soueraigue lady Queen Elizabeth that I know not how to conclude her Maiesties most iust deserued commendation more fitly than with the verses of a certaine auncient Poet written long since in commendation of that renowmed prince of Britaine the noble king Arthur the which verses I haue put into English with small alteration of some words but no alteration at all in matter and sense after this maner Hir deeds with mazeful wōderment shine euerywher so bright That both to heare and speak of thē men take as great delight As for to tast of honycombe or honie Looke vpon The doings of the noblest wights that heretofore be gone The Pellan Monarch fame cōmends the Romās highly praise The triumphs of their emperors Great glory diuerse waies Is yeelded vnto Hercules for killing with his hand The monsters that anoid the world or did against him stand But neither may the Hazel match the Pine nor stars the sun The ancient stories both of Greeks and Latins ouerrun And of our Queene Elizabeth ye shall not find the peere Ne age to come will any yeeld that shall to her come neere Alone all princes she surmounts in former ages past And better none the world shall yeeld so long as time doth last What remaineth then but that all we her natiue subiects knitting our selues togither in one dutifull mind do willingly and chearfully yeeld our obedience to her gratious maiestie with all submission faithfulnes and loialtie not grudging or repining when any things mislike vs but alwaies interpreting all things to the best not curiously inquisitiue of the causes of hir will but forward and diligent in executing her commandements euen as in the sight of God not for feare of punishment but of verie loue and conscience Which things if we doe vnfeinedlie then no doubt but God continuing his gracious goodnesse still towards vs will giue vs daily more cause of praise and thanksgiuing multiplying her maiesties yeares in health and peace and increasing the honour and prosperitie of her reigne so as our posteritie also may with ioy see and serue her manie yeares hence still reigning most blessedly which are the things that all faithfull subiects doe and ought to reioice in and desire more than their owne life and welfare and for the which we ought with all earnestnes to make continuall praier and supplication vnto God But while I am caried with the streame of my desire to encourage my selfe and my countreymen to the performance of our dutie towards her maiestie wherein neuerthelesse I haue ben much breefer than the matter requireth I feare least I become more long and tedious than may beseeme the tenour of an epistle dedicatorie And therefore most humbly submitting my selfe and this my present translation to your honourable censure and acceptation I here make an end beseeching God greatly to increase and long to continue the honor and prosperitie of your good Lordship and of your noble house Written the xxvii of Ianuary 1595. Your Honors most humble to commaund Arthur Golding To the King SIr forasmuch as it hath pleased your maiestie to command the states of your realme and to inioine all men without exception to shew vnto you whatsoeuer they thinke to be for the benefit and preseruation of your state and the comfort of your subiects And I see that euery man straineth himselfe to giue you the best aduice he can surely I alone ought not to be idle and negligent nor to forslow the duetie wherby I am naturally bound vnto you The which thing hath caused me to gather these matters of remembrance which should haue ben better polished ere they had ben presented to your maiestie if the state of your affairs and the time would haue permitted it You haue voutchsafed me the honour to be neer about your person and to do you seruice in such cases as it hath pleased your maiestie to imploy me and specially in following the warres where I haue the good hap to be a witnesse of the victories that you haue fortunatly obtained to the great reioycing of all christendome And surely sir this maketh me to hope that you will accept this mine attempt in good part as a testimonie of the good will and great desire which I haue alway had and will haue to spend my goods and life in the seruice of your most christen maiestie beseeching God to keepe mee euer in this commendable deuotion and dutifull good will and to giue vnto your highnesse a most happie long life From Paris the 28. of October 1588. Your most humble seruant and subiect Iames Hurault lord of Vieul and Marais The Contents of such Chapters as are contained in this Booke The first Part. OF Office or dutie and of Policie or Estate Pag. 1. 2 Of a Prince a King an Emperour and a soueraigne Lord. 4 3 Of the three sorts of gouernment and which of the three is the best 13 4 Whether the state of a kingdom or the state of a Publike weale be the antienter 24 5 Whether it be better to haue a king by succession or by election 26 6 Of the education or bringing vp of a Prince 30 7 Of the end whereat a good Prince ought to aime in this life 36 8 What is requisite in a Prince to make him happie 45 9 Of Vertue 56 10 Of the Passions of the mind 65 11 Whether Vertue and Honestie be to be separated from profit in matters of gouernment or state 76 12 That a prince ought not to falsifie his faith for the maintenance of his state 89 13 Of Truth 104 14 Of Religion and Superstition 107 15 That the prince which will be well obeyed must giue good example in himselfe to his subiects 138 The Contents of the second Part. 1 Of Wisdome and Discreetnesse 149 2 That the good gouernor must match learning and experience together 162 3 Of Iustice or Righteousnesse 170 4 That a Prince ought to be liberall and to shun nigardship and prodigalitie 212 5 That Gentlenesse and Courtesie be needfull in the orderering of affairs the contraries whereunto be slernenesse and roughnesse 236 6 That modestie or meeldnesse well beseemeth a Prince and that ouer statelinesse is hurtfull vnto him 259
7 Of fortitude valiancie prowesse or hardinesse and of fearefulnesse and cowardlinesse 275 8 Of Magnanimitie 286 9 That Diligence is requisit in matters of state 291 10 Of Temperance 298 11 That he that will dispatch his affairs well must be sober 310 12 Of continencie and incontinencie 319 13 Of refraining a mans tongue of such as be too talkatiue of liars of curious persons of flatterers of mockers of railers and slaunderers and of tale-bearers 333 14 That princes must aboue all things eschue choler 353. The Contents of the third Part. 1 Of Leagues 371 2 Of Gouernours sent into the frontires of countries and whether they should be changed or suffred to continue still 376 3 Of a lieutenant-generall and that it behoueth no mo but one to commaund an armie 379 4 Whether the chiefe of an armie should be gentle or rigorous 381 5 Whether it be better to haue a good armie and an euill chieftaine or a good chieftaine and an euill armie 386 6 Of the order which the men of old time did vse in setting their people in battell ray 389 7 What he ought to do which setteth himself to defence 391 8 Whether it be better to driue off the time in his own countrie or to giue battell out of hand 396 9 Whether it be possible for two armies lodged one neere an other to keepe themselues from being inforced to fight whether they will or no. 404 10 Whether the daunger be greater to fight a battell in a mans owne countrie or in a straunge countrie 408 11 Of the pitching of a campe 416 12 How to giue courage to men of warre afore a battell or in a battell 423 13 Of Skirmishes 430 14 Whether it be better to beare the brunt of the enemes or to drowne it at the first dash 432 15 Of a battell and of diuerse policies to be practised therein 434 16 Of the pursuing of victorie 451 17 Of the retiring of an armie and how to saue it when it is in a place of disaduauntage 455 18 Of Ambushes 462 19 Of the taking of towns 470 20 Of the defending of towns 480 21 Of diuerse policies and sleights 488 FINIS CHAP. I. ¶ Of Office or Duetie and of Policie or Estate IT is manifest that the dutie of ciuill life consisteth in dealing one with another and that therevpon both honours and empires do depend so as princes kings emperours and soueraigne lords doe practise the ciuil life their Dutie lieth in the exercise thereof their welfare commeth thence and therevpon dependeth their preseruation For policie is the verie soule of the publicke-weale and hath like power there as wisdome hath in the bodie of man and as Plutarch saith in the life of Marcus Cato It is a maxime or principle confessed of the whole world that a man cannot atchieue a greater vertue or knowledge than Policie is that is to say than is the skil to gouerne and rule a whole multitude of men the which is the thing that we call Estate to the knowledge whereof mans nature is so well disposed that it seemeth to be borne with him And the men of old time called the goddesse Pallas by the names of Polemike and Politike as who would say That the gouernours of nations ought to haue both chiualrie and lawes iointly together And therfore in treating of the maners that are most beseeming in princes and purposing by that mean to set their wise sayings and politike doings in order I haue vsed the word Dutie as a terme most fittest to the matter I haue in hand For vertuous deeds and good works are called Duties by the Philosophers whereof Cicero hath made three goodly books wherin he declareth at large in what things euery mans dutie consisteth For as he saith there is not any part of our life be it in matters publicke or priuat that can be without Dutie as wherein consisteth the whole honour of our life and likewise the dishonour through the forslowing therof insomuch that an honest man will rather put himselfe in danger and endure all maner of aduersitie and paines than leaue his Dutie vndone And therefore afore we speake of princes it wil be good for vs to decide what a Duty is to the end that men may vnderstand wherof we treat We call that a Dutie to the doing whereof we be bound as to a thing that our vocation or calling requireth as for example The dutie of a Til-man is to till the ground well the dutie of a Iudge is to iudge mens causes vprightlie without accepting of persons the duetie of a housholder is to gouerne well his house likewise the duetie of a prince or king is to gouerne well his people to minister good iustice vnto them and to keepe them from taking wrong and generally the duetie of man according to Aristotle in his first booke of Morals is the inworking of the mind conformed vnto reason or at least wise not alienated from reason as when the crafts-man hauing purposed some peece of worke employeth his skill and labour to bring his worke to a perfect end so as the end and vtmost point of his honest and vertuous action is his Dutie Cicero in his booke of Duties maketh two sorts thereof the one he termeth right and perfect which is matched with true vertue and is peculiar to the discretion of the wise as when it is demaunded what is wisdome iustice valeantnesse or temperance or what is profit or what is honestie The other he tearmeth meane which consisteth in precepts whereby a man may stablish an honest trade of life as when it is demaunded why one thing should be done rather than another and what difference there is betwixt one thing and another because the thing that well beseemeth a yong man doth ill beseeme an old man and that which well beseemeth a magistrate or a prince doth ill become a priuat person and that which becommeth well a priuat person doth ill become a prince But these two sorts may be reduced into one euen by the saying of the same Cicero who confesseth that these two sorts of duties tend both of them to the soueraigne good and aime not at anie other end than that sauing that the one belongeth to the wise who aime not at any other law than onely vertue and the other serueth for the directing of the common conuersation in respect wherof it needeth the helpe of lawes precepts And as touching vs that are Christians we may well say that all our dueties tend to the soueraigne good and are perfect vnlesse ye will exact that exquisit perfection which our Sauiour taught the yoong man whē he said vnto him That if he would be perfect it behoued him to sell all that he had and to deale it vnto the poore and to follow him Therefore to know what is the duetie of euery man both prince and priuat noble and vnnoble our law-maker teacheth it vs in two precepts
whereof the first consisteth in the worshipping of God and in the louing of him with all our heart for it is reason that we should yeeld him faith and alleageance for our creatiō and for the great number of so many good things which we receiue dailie at his hand seing that we peculiarly of all other liuing wights are beholders of the heauenly things that are aboue The other is for the instruction and stablishment of the common conuersation wherein consisteth the dutie of a christian which is to loue his neighbour as himself For as saith S. Paule to the Romanes it is a fulfilling of the law of God and a confirming of the law of nature which will not haue a man to doe that to an other which he would not haue done to himselfe And he that keepeth this precept cannot do amisse For it is very certaine that no man hateth his own flesh ne procureth any euill to himselfe and therfore he vvill not do any such thing to his neighbour Now then we need not to be taught what is Vprightnesse Valeantnesse and Staiednesse for he that keepeth the said precept will not do any vnright But forasmuch as our own nature by reason of the corruption thereof maketh vs to step out of the right vvay if vve will come into the true path againe it be houeth vs of necessitie to peruse the law and the commaundements and to treat of the vertues which are termed Cardinall namely Wisedome Vprightnesse Valeantnesse and Temperance or Staiednesse and of the branches depending vpon them the which S. Austine doth allegoricallie terme the foure streames that watered the earthly Paradise in old time and daily still watereth the little world of them that liue well and to see how good princes haue practised them and how euill princes for want of making account of them haue found themselues ill apaid to the end vve may make our profit of histories and not make them as a matter of course but as a good and wholsome instruction Howbeit ere we enter into that matter it behoueth vs to know vvhat a Prince a King an Emperour and a soueraigne Lord is CHAP. II. Of a Prince a King an Emperour and a soueraigne Lord. WE cannot enioy the goods which God hath giuen vs on this earth except there be a iustice a law and a prince as Plutarch teacheth vs in his booke concerning the education of princes Iustice is the end of the law law is the workmanship of the prince and the prince is the workmanship of God that ruleth all who hath no need of a Phidias For he himselfe behaueth himselfe as God And like as God hath set the Sunne and the Moone in the skye as a goodly resemblance of his Godhead so a Prince in a common-weale is the light of the common-weale and the image of God who vvorshipping God maintaineth iustice that is to say vttereth foorth the reason of God that is to weet Gods minde A Prince then is a magistrate that hath soueraigne power to commaund those ouer vvhom he hath charge And vnder this generall terme of Prince I comprehend kings emperours dukes earles marquises and gouernors of cities and common-weales The men of old time called him a Prince which excelled other men in discretion and wisedome For like as to make a fortunate voyage by sea there behoueth a good Pilot that is a man of courage and good skill so to the well gouerning of subiects there behoueth a good Prince And therefore we may say that that prince is the chiefe and most excellent of all which for the preheminence of his wisdome and worthinesse commaundeth all others It is the first and chiefest law of nature that he which is vnable to gard and defend himselfe should submit himselfe to him that is able and hath wherewith to do it and such a one doe we tearme a chiefe man or a prince who ought to be esteemed as a God among men as Aristotle saith in his third booke of matters of state or at least wise as next vnto God as Tertullian saith vnto Scapula and such a one ought all others to obay as a person that hath the authoritie of God as saith S. Paule Homer termeth princes Diogenes and Diotrophes that is to say Bred and brought vp of Iupiter And Cicero in his common weale saith That the gouerners and keepers of townes and citties doe come from heauen and shal returne thither againe when they haue done their dueties And in another place describing a good Prince he saith that he ought to despise all pleasures and not yeeld to his owne lust nor be needy of gold and siluer For the needinesse of the Prince is but a deuiser of subsidies as the Empresse Sophia said to Tiberius Constantine Also he ought to be more mindfull of his peoples profit than of his own pleasure And to conclude in a word a prince ought to imprint in his heart the saying of Adrian the emperor to the Senate namely That he ought to behaue himselfe after such a sort in his gouernmēt as euerie man might perceiue that he sought the benefit of his people not of himselfe Also men cal them Princes which are of the blood royal stand in possibilitie to succeed to the crowne and generally all soueraigne magistrats as dukes marquises earles and other chiefe lords of which sort there are in Italy and Germanie which haue soueraigne authoritie and owe no more to the emperour but only their mouth and their hands But the greatest and excellentest magistrats are the kings and emperours An Emperour is a terme of warre borrowed of the Romanes for in their language the word Imper◠signifieth to commaund And albeit that in their armies the Romanes had captaines whom they called Emperors which commaunded absolutely and were obayed as kings yet did not any man vsurpe or take to himselfe that title of Emperor vnlesse he had done some notable exploit of warre Insomuch that Crassus was counted a man but of base minde and small courage and of slender hope to atchieue any great or haughty matters that could finde in his heart to be named emperor for taking a silly towne called Zenodotia Afterward when the state of the common weale was chaunged by reason of the ciuill warres and reduced into a Monarchie the successors of Iulius Caesar knowing how odious the name of king was to the Romanes would not take that title vnto them but contenting themselues with the effect therof they named themselues Emperors which among vs is as much to say as chiefe leaders or Generals of an armie or host of men Plato in his booke of Lawes teacheth vs seuen sorts of ruling or commanding the first is that the father commaundeth his children the second that the valeant noble-minded commaund the weake and baseminded the third that the elder sort command the yoonger the fourth that the maisters commaund the seruants the fift that the mightier commaunds the feebler
the sixt which is the greatest dignitie is that the wise commaund the ignorant and the seuenth is that which commeth by lot and by the grace of God so as he that is chosen by lot commandeth and raigneth and he that faileth of it is bound to obay Cicero speaking of Pompey saith that a good emperor that is to say a good Generall of a field must haue the skill of chiualrie and feats of arms vertue authoritie and felicitie He must be painfull in affaires hardy in daungers skilfull in deuising things quicke in performing and of good prouidence to foresee Titus Liuius saith that the great Captaine Hanniball was wonderful hardy in putting himselfe to the perils of warre and very resolute in the middest of danger that neither his body nor his minde were fore-wearied with trauel that he patiently abode both heat and cold alike that he measured his eating and drinking rather by naturall appetite than by pleasure that for sleeping or waking he made no difference betweene day and night but looke what time remained vnto him from doing of his businesse he bestowed it in taking his rest not vpon a soft featherbed in some place far from noise but ordinarily lying vpon the ground couered with a souldiers cassocke among the warders the whole troops of the men of armes When he went among the horsemen or the footemen he marched alwaies formost and was the first that gaue the onset and when the fight was ended he was the hindermost in the retreit Plutarch treating of Sertorius saith that in matters ciuile he was gentle and courteous and in matters of warre he was of great fiercenesse and forecast He was neuer seene surprised with feare or ioy but like as in most perill he was void of feare so in his prosperity he was very moderate He gaue not place in hardinesse to any of his time nor for valiantnesse in fighting nor for setled resolution in all suddaine aduentures When any enterprise was to be done that required good aduise or skill to choose the aduantage of some place of strong scituation to lodge in or to giue battell or to passe a riuer or to shift off some mishap that for the doing thereof there behoued great sleight or the working of some policie and the giuing of some gleeke to the enemie in due time place he was a most excellent crafts-maister Besides all this he was liberall magnificent in rewarding honorable deeds of arms and meeld and mercifull in punishing misdeeds He was not subiect to his bellie neither did he drinke out of measure no not euen when he had no businesse to do In time of most vacation he was wont from his very youth to put himselfe to great trauell to make long iourneis to passe many nights together without sleepe to eate little to be contented with such meats as came first to hand And whē he was at leisure he was alwaies either riding or hunting or running or walking abroad in the fields I haue inserted this the more at length to the intent it may serue for a patterne to Princes that intend to prosper and to performe their charge happily Now let vs come to a king The Latine word Rego whereof commeth Rex which betokeneth a king signifieth to rule or gouerne And so a king is nothing else but a ruler or gouerner of people Likewise Homer termeth him sometime the Garnisher and sometime the heardman or sheepheard of the people because he ought to be carefull for his people as the sheepheard is for his sheepe and to watch ouer them as the sheepheard doth ouer his flocke that no man doe them wrong And as Plutarch saith a good prince is like a sheepheards dogge which is alwaies in feare not for himselfe but least the wolfe should fall vpon the sheepe and so is a good Prince in feare not for himselfe but least any euill should befall his subiects Aristotle in his third booke of matters of State saith There are foure sorts of kingdomes the first is where the king hath no soueraigne authoritie further than in matters of warre and in sacrifising of which sort were the kings of Sparta or Lacedemon and this maner of kingdome is as a perpetuall captaineship matched with souereigne authoritie of life and death such as Agamemnon had who did put vp iniuries when he sate at counsell but had power to put whom he listed to death when he was in armes And of such kingdomes some goe by inheritance and other some by election The second sort of kingdomes are those that goe both by inheritance and election the which notwithstanding approcheth vnto tyrannie sauing that the keeping thereof is king-like that is to say the kinges are garded by their owne subiects whereas the tyrants are garded by strangers And the kings commaund by law and are obayed with good will wheras the tyrants raigne altogether by constraint Insomuch that the one sort are garded by their owne citizens or countrimen and the other by strangers against the countrimen The third is Barbarous not for that it is against law but for that it is not in custome of which sort was the gouernment of the Mitylenians which chose Pittacus against their banished persōs And the fourth sort is that which was vsed in the time of the noble princes whom the Greeks called Heroes who vsurped not dominion by force but had it bestowed vpon them by the people of good will deliuered ouer afterward lawfully to their successors They intended to the warres and to church-matters and therewithall iudged matters of controuersie Of these foure sorts of kingdomes he maketh a fift which is when one commaundeth absolutely This kind agreeth most to our time specially in this country where the king commaundeth absolutely howbeit without infringing the law for then were it not king-like but tyran-like And according to Aristotle when a Prince reigneth without law it is all one as if a wild beast reigned A King then is a soueraigne Prince that reigneth ouer a people not seeking his own peculiar profit but the profit of his subiects This maner of reigning is like to houshold gouernment for although the maister of the house do ouer-rule his traine and his seruaunts at his pleasure yet notwithstanding he regardeth aboue all things the welfare of his familie euen so a good king is to haue an eye most principally to the welfare and benefit of his houshold namely of his subiects For vpon them dependeth his owne welfare as the welfare of the maister of a household dependeth vpon his meiny and seruants One being asked vpon a time what a prince was to doe that he might raigne wel said He must commaund his subiects as a father commaundeth his children for the father commaundeth not his children any thing but that which is for their welfare In this respect Homer called Iupiter Father of Gods and men according to the saying of our Lord who hath taught vs to call the soueraigne
time as Charles the fift was regent of France the same king of Nauar being vnderpropped by certain seditious persons of Paris forbare not to make warre vpon the said Charles for all his wisdome puissance and good gouernment In the time of Charles the sixt no such distresses aduersities had befaln in France but for the iarres that were betweene the houses of Burgundie and Orleans And therefore we must not impute the misfortune so much to the vnskilfulnesse of the king as to priuat quarrels and to the troublesomnesse of the time wherein he raigned which was such that if they had had neuer so sage a prince he should haue found himselfe very sore cumbred After that Charles the seuenth had recouered all France he was not so greatly redouted nor so setled in peace but there remained vnto him some small ciuill warres Lewis the eleuenth was a prince of sufficient wisdome forecast and age to guide himselfe and yet he could not turne away the warres from the common weale which had not hapned vnder princes of vnripe years For the gouernors of a yoong prince durst not to haue despised the greatmen openly nor to haue defeated the antient officers as he did whereof insued euill vnto him What would haue been said of the war in Germanie if it had happened vnder a simple witted Emperour seing it befell vnder a prince of gouernment fortunat puissant and well aduised Men haue imputed our warres to the minoritie of the late king But had he been much elder than he was he could not haue preuented them seing that to the discontentment of most men the case stood vpon the state of religion a matter sufficient being so intermedled both with matters of state and with priuat quarrels to maintaine the tragedies that we haue seene Therefore it behoueth vs to yeeld vnto custome and to say with S. Paul That the power of a king commeth of God and likewise with Salomon in his Prouerbs That the heart of a king is in the hand of God as is the course of waters and that he inclineth them which way he listeth Some men like well of the kingdome that goes by Election and othersome mislike not of the kingdome that goes by Inheritance Both in the one and in the other there be diuers inconueniences and reasons enow both to commend them and to discommend them CHAP. VI. Of the Education or bringing vp of a Prince LYcurgus the Law-maker of Lacedemon being desirous to make his countriemen to loue vertue and intending to shew them to the eye as it were with his finger that nature and custome be the means to atteine therto vpon a time when they were assembled altogether in a place to consult of the affaires of the citie brought foorth before all the companie a couple of dogges of one litter of one dam and of one syre the which he had kept vp so diuersly that the one of thē being altogether giuen to hunting was extreamly sharp set vpon the prey and the other being accustomed to the kitchin and to licke the dishes had no desire at all to hunt For proofe wherof when he had set before thē a platter of porrage and a quicke Hare by and by the one of them ran after the Hare and the other stept to the porrage Whereupon he said Ye see here O ye Lacedemonians how these two dogges being both of one dam yet diuersly brought vp do resemble their bringing vp euen so trainment and custome are means of great importance to engender vertue in mens hearts Which thing we cannot but rightly say of the education of princes which ought to be better learned than other men and to beleeue that they cannot be vertuous if they be not learned but are like to a peece of ground which being neuer so good becommeth barren if it be not husbandred and contrariwise doth bring forth good fruit being well tilled and composted though of it selfe it be very bad The bodie that is strong forgoeth his strength for want of exercise and contrariwise the man that is feeble and of weake complexion becommeth strong by continuance of exercise and trauell Plutarke in his booke of the bringing vp of children saith That to make a man perfect in vertue there behoueth three things to concurre namely Nature Reason that is to say instruction or teaching and Custome or Excercise It is no wonder therfore though such as haue treated of the qualities that are requisit in Princes hauing begun at their very cradle trained them vp from their first infancie For the time most fit and conuenient for the doing thereof is while they be yet tender easie to bend of that first Education of theirs wil they haue a tast euer after For as Horace saith The bottle that hath licour of good sent put into it at the first wil keepe the tang therof a long time Among the authors of our time Francis Petrarch hath written very largely therof teaching of the nursing of a prince of his keeping of company of his tutors and teachers of the maner how to make him a god horseman and consequently of good horses of running of wrestling and of other exercises of the body of shooting of hunting of hawking and consequently of the nature of hawkes of playing at tennis and other pastimes of husbandry of Geographie and of Cosmographie But my intent is not to traine vp a prince from his cradle to his tombe but to gather such doings of theirs as may serue them for good example to the well gouerning of their people Therefore as touching their bringing vp I referre me to the things which are written by the said Petrarke and afore him by Zenophon Isocrates Plutarch and many others Only thus much I say That the prince which hath children ought to be carefull to bring them vp well in lerning and vertue For as Plutarch affirmeth in the comparison of Agis and Gracchus good Education moderateth and stayeth a mans mind not only in things of pleasure by keeping him from passing the bounds of honesty and honor in word or deede but also in matters of anger and in the greatest heats of ambition and of desire of honor Philip king of Macedon vowed his sonne vnto Aristotle as soon as he was borne and afterward did put him happily into his hands and he trained him vp in Philosophie For good Education not only fashioneth a man but also altereth his nature as we read of Socrates whom a professor of Phisnomie deemed to be full of all vices and when the man was blamed for his misdeeming Socrates answered that he had not failed in his Art for by nature he said he was such a one as he reported him to be but diligent heed and good Education had made him altogether another man The schoolemaister of Themistocles beholding his ready and quicke wit told him aforehand that he should one day doe either some great good or some great harme to his
And as Xenophon saith in is Education of king Cyrus It is no time for a prince to make his prouision when necessitie is come vpon him but he must lay for his matters afore-hand afore necessitie come Now that he may be the readier in all things and especially in men of warre it behoueth him to haue a good number of men well trained aforehand after the manner that the Macedonians had their Siluer-shields the Romans their Legionaries the Souldans of Aegypt their Mamelukes the Turks their Ianissaries Francis and Henrie kings of France the old bands of Piemount and the emperour Charles the fift the Spaniards Besides this a prince ought to inure himselfe and his subiects together to all exercises of armes as to run well with a lawnce to mount on horseback handsomly and to manage him cunningly to traile the pike to shoote in long-bow crosse-bow and gun to vault to leape to wrestle and to handle all manner of weapons so as they may serue their turne in time and place For such things do not only procure skilfulnesse but also make mens bodies the more strong and nimble and the better able to endure trauell And therefore the Romanes could well skill to practise them in a certaine place which was called Mars his field where all such exercises were put in vre I know well that among them that haue the managing of the state in France it is held for an heresie to say that the common people are to be trained to the warres but I find the reasons of Seissell and William Bellay to bee of more force than the reasons that are commonly alleaged to the contrarie specially in France where the king behauing himselfe as a king is honoured feared and beloued And we may see plainly that this people as vntrained as they be are so well fleshed one against another that they forbeare not to enter into armes to their owne destruction and call in strangers to finish this worke and that with so great losse that it were much more for the behoofe of the realme that they themselues were better trained to warre and more inured to it long afore-hand that they might forbeare the strangers For if it should happen the king to loose one battell in his realme he should find what a hinderance it would bee vnto him that he were not able to make vp his army againe otherwise than of strangers It is well knowne in what danger the Carthaginenses fell oftentimes by reason of strangers who meant to haue ouerthrowne their state by rebelling against them and that if the Carthaginenses themselues had bene trained to the warres Scipio had not defeated them so easily as hee did no more than it lay in the power of Pyrrhus to defeat the Romanes For when hee had ouercome them in two battels hee sayd he had bene vndone if he had had one other battell more to win of the like price considering that his men were so greatly diminished by those battails that hee grew vveake euen to the view of the eye because he had no meane to make vp his armie againe with othermen whereas on the contrarie part the Romanes did easily supplie their armie with new souldiers whome they caused to come from their citie when need was as from a quicke spring whereof they had the head in their own house The Switzers Almains being called into Italy one while by the Pope and Italians and otherwhile by the Frenchmen ouermastred those that waged thē through their wilfulnes made them to lose the whole countrie in short space by their returning home or by their fighting against the will of the Generall of the host There is yet one other kind of exercise which serueth gretly to the state of souldierfare for it inureth the body to paine and therewithall acquainteth men with the natures and scituations of places which is profitable two waies first men learn thereby to know their own countrie and by that mean to discerne the platforme of any other place that differeth not from it for the knowledge of one countrie is a great furtherance to the practise of another Plutarch writeth that when Sertorius found any leisure he rode continually a hunting and coursed vp and downe the fields whereby he got great experience and furtherance in skill to shift himselfe handsomly and readily from shrewd passages when he was pressed by his enemies and on the other side to enclose them when hee had the aduantage of them and to discerne where a man might passe away and where not Philopemen prince of Athens during the times that he had peace did set his mind wholy vpon such means as it behoued him to vse in time of war propounding to his friends as hee trauelled on the way by what means he might assaile his enemies if they were incamped neere hand thereabouts and in what order he were to pursue or to retyre And in deuising after this manner he heard their opinion and told them his setting downe all the accidents that could happen in a campe by means whereof he attained to a certaine resolutnesse and readinesse in feats of warre Likewise Bookes doe woonderfull seruice to a prince in that behalfe as shall be sayd in another place And in any wise he must propose to himselfe some excellent personage as a paterne to follow after which maner Alexander proposed Achilles for his patterne Iulius Caesar proposed Alexander and Scipio proposed Cyrus To conclude a prince must vnderstand ciuil affairs that he may doe euery man right and keepe the weaker sort from being troden vnder foot by the mightier And he must haue skill in martiall deeds that he may defend his people from strangers and maintaine his own estate CHAP. VIII What is requisit in a Prince to make him happie FOr as much as I haue begun to shew the end whereat a Prince should aime it behoueth me to prosecute this end to perfection and to make the Prince happie whom we treat of For commonly all our actions tend vnto blessednesse and felicitie which is the ground and foundation of all good things and is set afore vs for a crowne and reward of our hope as saith S. Iohn Chrisostome vpon the first Psalme of Dauid Neuerthelesse in seeking this happinesse we be often beguiled taking those to be happie which indeed are vnhappie for want of knowing wherein that blessed felicitie consisteth Wherein I mind not to follow the Diuines which place the souereigne good and likewise the cheefe euill without the compasse of this life because this life is turmoiled with so many mischiefs that it is not possible to find the souereigne good in this world and to attaine vnto the true felicitie by our own industrie and diligence For as the Psalmist sayth The thoughts of men are vaine and so doth also S. Austine teach vs in his 19 booke of the citie of God where he disputeth against all the Philosophers of old time which placed the souereigne good
common-weale let vs graunt to Xenophon that there is not a sweeter thing than to heare a mans owne praises But in my iudgement there is no present sight no memorie of things past no delightfull conceit that yeeldeth so great pleasure as the contemplation of the things that are done in a publick-weale as in an open spectacle The pleasure then of euery gentlemanly heart and especially of a prince teÌ„deth to honor to glory to reputation that his name may be spread abroad with renowne ouer all the earth and that he may be esteemed wise and vertuous And to shew that the pleasure of a good renowne passeth all other things Salomon saith That a good name excelleth all the precious ointments in the world And in other places the holy scriptures termeth a good name a sweet sent or sauor as who would say there were not a sweter or pleasanter thing in the world than that As touching the report to be a good warrior it cannot bee common to all because it dependeth vpon fortune and is gotten oft times by doing wrong But as for the renowne of being vertuous the more certaine and rare it is the more also is it to be sought Euery man cannot haue the good fortune of Sylla and of Augustus nor be a conqueror as was Alexander but euery man may be vertuous that will take paine to attaine vnto it Ferdinand king of Naples was woont to say That to be a king is a thing that most commonly dependeth vpon Fortune but to be such a king as may be reported in all respects to bee the welfare and felicitie of his people that dependeth alonly vpon himselfe and vpon his owne vertue Plutarch saith that Lucullus did more esteeme desire the praises that proceded of goodnesse iustice and clemeÌ„cie than the praises that sprang and proceeded of hault and great deeds of chiualrie because that in these his armie had one part and fortune had another part as well as he but the other were peculiar to himselfe alone Againe in them he receiued the fruit he had deserued so winning the hearts of his enemies by his behauior that many of them did willingly put themselues and all their goods into his hands We see how Alexander was curious in procuring himselfe that report and that all princes both good and bad without exception couet the reputation of good and vertuous men but the euill princes cannot obtaine it because they be not the same that they would be taken to be whereas the meane to atteine to perfect praise is as Socrates saith to be such a one in deed as a man would be esteemed to be And Antisthenes saith there is but one way to attaine to immortall fame and that is to liue vprightly and religiously For how faire a face soeuer a man setteth vpon the matter in the end he is discouered and nothing is so hidden which shall not be laid open And like as a Phisition is not the more esteemed for being a doctor in phisicke if he haue no skill in phisicke nor an Aduocate for his doctorship in the law if he want knowledge experience and practise in the law euen so it is not to be thought that a prince can be had in estimation if he be not a good man and such a one as endeuoreth to rule his people well For if a prince be not the same that he would seeme to be it is all one as Cirus said to Cambyses his sonne as if one being no good Tilman no good Phisition no good Musition nor skilfull in any other art or trade will neuerthelesse needs seeme to be such a one For besides the paine that he shall procure to himselfe in practising with his friends to giue him commendation and renowne and in prouiding the instruments fit for euerie of these Arts he may perchance deceiue the world for a time but in the end when he commeth to the proofe of his skill he shal be laughed to skorne as an ignorant boaster Nero and Tiberius were counted vertuous princes in the beginning of their raigns but in the end they were taken for vnkindly monsters wicked and vnworthie to be had in remembrance among men Wherefore if a prince will haue pleasure it behoueth him to be vertuous for otherwise he will loose his pleasure that is to say his honor wherof he is so zealous and which is preferred by Salomon before all the things in the world There is store inough of euill princes which haue intitled themselues Fathers of the people good vertuous and such other like and which haue caused those stiles of theirs to be grauen in stone and brasse against whom their people taking iust displeasure haue neuerthelesse defaced those titles of theirs but the memorie of their wicked dealings haue abidden ingraued in the hearts of their posteritie On the contrarie part such as were good men haue not only beene esteemed but also worshipped as Gods as Theseus Hercules and others Insomuch that Plinie saith That the God of men is a helper of men and that to doe good vnto men is the way to attaine to endlesse glorie the which way the greatest personages of Rome walked and that the name of the other Gods came of the deserts of men And afore him Cicero in his first booke of the nature of Gods saith that because much good and much hurt commeth of man vnto man and it is the propertie of God to doe good therefore if a man doe vs any good or rid vs out of any great danger because in so doing he resembleth God he is commonly said to haue beene a God vnto him whom he hath so gratified and he concludeth that the very beasts were canonised for the pleasures that they had done vnto men as for example the Aegyptians worshipped the Storke and diuers other birds and beasts And Iuuenall esteemeth a benefactor as a God saying If some God or some like vnto God or some man better than the Gods should giue thee a thing Likewise the Shepheard in the Eglogues of Virgil maketh Augustus a God because he gaue him leaue to feed his cattell where he would In the same respect the oath which the Scithians made by the wind and the sword was as great among them as if they had sworne by God because the wind giueth breath to liue by and the sword cutteth off life And to shew that nothing pleaseth a gentlemanly heart so much as praise Let vs consider what Themistocles did to attaine therunto Aforetime he had bin vicious and had no care either of vertue or of feats of arms But when once he had heard the praise that was giuen to Miltiades for the battell of Marathon he neuer ceased after vntill he became the chiefe of all Athens And one day when his companions asked him What had so altered him and what had made him so vigilant he answered That the Ensignes of Miltiadâ—s victorie suffered him not to sleepe or take rest Afterward
in examining his life notwithstanding that there is no comparison betweene mouable goods and a friend For a friend may helpe a prince both with counsell and comfort and also greatly aduance his profit as Zopirus did vnto king Darius vnto whom he recouered Babilon And therefore Darius said That he had leuer haue one Zopirus than to take tenne Babilons and that he wished hee had as many Megabisusses as there be kernels in a Pomgarnet For this cause were Pilades and Orestes exalted to the skies by the Poets and Damon and Pithias Pithagorians by the Historiographers And among others we must not let passe the friendship of Seruius Terentius towards Brutus For when Brutus should haue beene put to death this Terentius affirmed himselfe to be he and would haue bin killed for him in the darkenesse of the place neuerthelesse being discerned who he was he was suffered to liue whether he would or no. Neither is the wiâ—ely loue of one Hostes the wife of a Moore to be passed ouer in silence who seing hir husband dead absteined from food nine daies together that she might be buried with him Timagenides seing the citie of Thebes besieged for his sake chose rather to yeeld himselfe to the rest of the Greeks who were desirous of him than to abide the burning spoiling and sacking of his country Also there were a couple of Lacedemonians which offered to goe to the king of Persia to be put to torture for the rest of their countriemen who had killed the kings Embassadors But yet the loue of certaine Frenchmen towards their country shall put to silence the fables of Orestes and Pilades and whatsoeuer is reported of the Curtiusses and Deciusses of Rome When the king of England refused to take Callis to mercie except they would deliuer him six Burgesses of the towne with halters about their necks to doe his pleasure with them the people being assembled into one place and hearing this sentence fell to weeping Then stept vp among them one Eustace of S. Peters one of the richest men of all the town and told them that he would not suffer such a number of people to perish but would rather giue himselfe to the death for their safety than see them die for hunger or be slaine with the sword After him followed another named Iohn Daire and foure mo of the richest in Calis who vowed themselues euerychone to the death for the safegard of their people S. Ambrose in his second booke of Virgins reporteth a notable storie of a maid and a young souldier who offered themselues to die either for the other The maid was condemned either to doe sacrifice to the idols or else to be made a brothel in the stewes She vtterly refusing to doe sacrifice to the idols was led forthwith to the stewes where after she had made hir praiers vnto God there was brought vnto hir a young souldiour who altering his former purpose which he had to haue defiled her praied her to take his apparell and he would put on hirs that by that means shee might go hir waies vnknowne and so be saued When she was departed out of the brothel-house there came in other yoong men in hope to haue had their pleasure of that faire damsel But in hir stead they found the man and thought shee had bene turned into that shape by miracle In the end when the conueiance was discouered the yoong man was carried to be punished wherof the mayd hearing presented hirselfe to baile him body for body that he might escape but the yoong man would in no wise heare of that affirming that iudgement was giuen against him and not against hir The maid replied that he was there but as a pledge and that the sentence which was giuen against him ought to be executed vpon hirselfe To conclude they disputed so wel the one against the other that with their consents they were both put to death Let this be spoken as by the way because occasion thereof was offered He that is desirous to see more let him read Aristotles Morals Lucians Toxaris and Ciceros Laelius Now let vs proceed to Hope which is an affection wel beseeming a Prince When Alexander hauing of a bountifull mind giuen all to his friends was asked what should remaine to himselfe Hope quoth he because he hoped to get much more And this Hope is grounded vpon a certaine noblenesse of courage I know well inough that some Hope is but the dreaming of a man when he is awake for commonly we misse of the thing that we behight our selues Neuerthelesse I say that the valiant and well aduised prince sildome fayleth of his hope when it is grounded vpon reason and good fortune Philo sayth that Hope is the fountaine of all sorts and trades of life The merchant traffiqueth in hope of gaine the marener in hope to benefit himselfe by his sayling the ambitious in hope of glorie and honour and to attaine to these ends euery of them doth take maruellous pains The hope of the happie state draweth men to vertue But indeed the true and only hope is to hope in God as in him that is our Creator and is sufficient of himselfe alone to keepe vs safe and sound Afterward commeth Despaire or Distrust the contrary to Hope which may bee taken doublewise either as when a prince hauing lost a battell and broken his force letteth all go without consulting or taking aduice what to do through Despaire seeketh no remedie which oft befalleth for want of courage to maintaine the which nothing is comparable to stoutnesse of mind The other sort is not properly Despaire but a behauior proceeding of humilitie which maketh vs that we be not ouer-hastie in hoping for great and high things the which is conuenient enough for a prince for it restreineth him from hazarding himselfe and from vndertaking too great and hard things after the maner of Dauid who reioiceth that hee had not enterprised things ouer-great and exceeding his power In this case both Hope and Distrust are well befitting a king For the one maketh him to enterprise great things the other to moderat them in such sort as he vndertake not any thing aboue his abilitie or aboue that which he ought for to do so proceedeth either of vndiscreetnes or of rage or of some other inordinat passion Fearfulnesse and Foole-hardinesse are the two faultie extremities which inclose Prowes or valeantnesse of courage wherof I will speake more largely hereafter For whosoeuer through the greatnes of his courage doth put himselfe in perill yea euen of certaine death for a good cause he is to be esteemed hardie valeant and manly-minded And surely the Fearefull is worse than the Foole-hardie For as Thucidides saith Feare doth not only bereaue a man of his memorie but also of his strength and impeacheth the execution of the thing that he had determined Neuerthelesse the feare to do euil is euermore wel-beseeming according to this saying of
be sterne and somtimes to be meeld and after a sort to abay the people at least wise so it be with some maiesty to heare and see disorders to put vp wrongs without saying any thing to them and to say as Antigonus said to his sonne Art thou ignorant my son that our raigning is nothing else than a certaine glorious bondage Among the sumptuous he must be bountiful and with the moderat hee must vse moderation as Alcibiades could well skill to doe who by applying himselfe vnto the behauiors of all men and to the customes of all nations did purchase to himselfe their friendship Brutus plaied the disard to the intent that men should haue no mistrust of him nor be priuie to the greatnesse of his courage Clowis in not punishing a certaine souldier out of hand that had denied him the vessell of S. Remy did wisely for feare of a mutinie among the men of warre but yet he punished him afterward howbeit after a barbarous fashion in that he slew him with his owne hand Lewis the eleuenth did now and then heare himselfe il spoken of and wisely dissembled it Such dissimulation is needfull for a king and is expressed in the first booke of the Iliads of Homer vnder the person of Chalcas the soothsayer who durst not tell the truth before king Agamemnon nor from whence the plague proceeded that was as then in the campe of the Greeks vntill Achilles had vndertaken to warrant him For when a king quoth he is angrie although hee make no outward countenance thereof but dissemble it for the present time yet will he not faile to be auenged afterward When any great and princely personage Is stird to choler be it nere so small Though for the present he suppresse his rage Yet in his heart to the heat therof at all Abateth not no winke of sleepe can fall Within his eies vntill he doe espie Conuenient means to be reuenged by It is another maner of thing to pretend to be a man of honestie and to promise that which he intendeth not to performe for that is called guile or deceit and not dissimulation I know well that a prince for want of aduisement and consideration may make some oth which it were much better for him to breake than to keepe As for example Herod at the feast of his birth-day sware that he would giue his daughter whatsoeuer she would aske and she by hir mothers counsell asked the head of S. Iohn Babtist The king being sory that he had sworne but yet daring not falsifie his oth caused his head to be smitten off But had he bin a good man he would in that case haue broken his oth For in swearing to giue her any thing of how great value soeuer it were he meant not to giue hir the life of any good man And although he had so said yet was not the oth to haue bin of any value or effect being made against good behauior For the vow that is made against vpright and iust dealing is no vow at all neither ought it in any wise to be kept or performed In all cases where two incoÌ„ueniences offer theÌ„selues alway the least is to be chosen And therfore he should haue answered the faire lady as Agesilaus answered a friend of his that charged him with his promise in an vnreasonable thing that he demanded who refusing to graunt his request said If the thing that you require be rightful I promised it if it be vnrightful I promised it not And when it was replied that a prince ought to performe whatsoeuer he promiseth no more quoth he than the subiect ought to demaund any thing that is vnreasonable Herod therfore was no more bound by his generall promise to deliuer Iohn Baptists head than Agetus was to deliuer his wife to his friend Ariston vnder pretence of his oth For Ariston being in loue with the wife of Agetus a woman of excellent beautie found this fraud to get hir out of hir husbands hands He promised Agetus to giue him any one thing that he would chuse of all that euer he had praying him to doe the like for him againe Agetus not mistrusting that Ariston being a maried man would haue left his owne wife to take another mans agreed to his request and sware it Ariston discharged his owne promise out of hand and when it came to his turne to make his demaund he required the wife of Agetus who therupon affirmed that his meaning was to giue him any thing sauing hir Neuerthelesse although he was thus circumuented yet deliuered he hir for his oths sake making more account of his oth than did a certaine Romane in the like case who hauing sworne that he would neuer put away his wife did put hir away afterward being taken in adultrie howbeit not afore he had obtained a dispensation of his oth at the hands of the emperor Vespaâ—ian Which things serue well to shew in what estimation an oth was had in time past seeing that men would performe it notwithstanding that they were beguiled in the making therof Much lesse then is he to be excused which hauing aduisedly and vpon good deliberatioÌ„ granted a thing doth falsifie his promise vnder colour that it is against the benefit of his realme True it is that as Cicero saith in his books of duties if a man be drawne by deceit or driuen by feare to make any promise he is discharged therof but otherwise he ought to keepe it And he shall find that his affaires shal prosper better by keeping touch than by vsing deceit which illbeseemeth all men and chiefly those that are of greatest calling For as saith Thucidides deceit is alwaies more foule and shamefull than violence because violence is wrought by a kind of vertue and by authoritie but deceit proceedeth of very malice and mischieuousnesse CHAP. XIII of Truth FOr as much as I haue spoken of falshood and deceit against the which Mercurie the great opposeth truth to the intent we may be the more prouoked to keepe our faith and to performe our promises This place inuiteth me to speake a word or twaine by the way in commendation of Truth the which Plato termeth The wel-spring of all good things For as Plato saith in his Timaeus Like as without being there is no generation so without Truth there is no faithfulnesse And therefore Dauid doth ordinarilie take Truth for that same stedfastnesse which we haue in keeping our promise which wee call Faithfullnesse My meaning is not to speak here of the original truth for that resteth alonly in God accordingly as our Lord told the Iews That he was the light and the truth And this truth cannot be known of any but only of the father of Truth who is the euerlasting God as saith Origen For none but the father knoweth the son neither doth any but the sonne know the father And Mercurie in his chapter of Generation saith That the truth is a
And for the space of the first six hundred threescore and ten yeares they builded vp temples and chappels to their gods but there was not in them any image or figure of God as who would say they thought it sacriledge to haue the mind to resemble or liken the Godhead to earthly things considering that it is not in any wise possible to attaine to the knowledge of the Godhead otherwise than by means of the vnderstanding And that was agreeable to the doctrin of Pithagoras who was of opinion that the first cause was after a sort conceiuable in vnderstanding but yet vtterly inuisible and vncorruptible As touching an oth I haue alreadie shewed in what estimation it was among the infidels and how they abhorred periurie to our great shame For surely to take God to witnesse in a lie is a verie great wickednesse And as touching the taking of one day in the weeke to respit both men and beasts from worke and trauell Hesiodus the antient Poet commaundeth it in his booke of Workes and Daies and Plato saith in his booke of Lawes that the gods pittying men least they should ouer-worke themselues haue giuen-them a release of their labor by leauing them holi-daies ordained in their honor Thus ye see how many of the men of old time at the beginning of the law of nature did well enough practise the law of God had not the deuill thrown them into the wretched abhominable sin of idolatrie and that some certaine persons had not turned all vpside downe by the inuention of idols as is written in the xiij and xiiij chapters of the booke of Wisdome For that hath caused men to be wholly giuen to earthly things bearing themselues on hand that an image made by mans hand was their God and therefore worshipping it as God by offering sacrifices of beasts vnto it as though it tooke pleasure in the smokiâ— sent of the multitude of burnt offerings and had need of oxen goats and sheep But in the end God sending his owne son into the world hath made vs to know that which many prophets and especially Dauid in his fifteeth and three and fifteeth Psalms hath said namely That the true sacrifice is to praise the true and inuisible God to yeeld him thanks for all his benefits to lift vp our minds vnto him to pray vnto him with all deuotion and humilitie and to offer vnto him in sacrifice a pure and cleane heart adorned with feare and obedience according to this saying of S. Paul That we must offer vnto him a liuing host that is to say our bodies without blemish and as Philo saith Can there be found a goodlier sacrifice than the soule that is well minded towards God Who shall goe vp into the Lords hill but he that is of pure and cleane heart considering that not he which saith Lord Lord but he that doth the Lords will shal enter into the kingdome of heauen For as Persius saith When we bring vnto God from the closet of our soule holinesse and from the bottome of our heart a pure and obedient mind and a meeke affection seasoned with goodnesse vertue and honestie then may we boldly offer vp our praiers and sacrifices vnto him but otherwise it behoueth vs to be well ware that we presume not vnto him For the sacrifice of the wicked is lothsome vnto God saith Salomon And Plato in his fourth booke of Lawes saith That God accepteth not ne regardeth not the gifts of the wicked and that their pains in that behalfe are in vaine but that on the contrarie part he doth willinglie receiue the gifts of the holie And as Philo saith in his third booke of the life of Moses If the person that offereth be euill and vnrighteous his sacrifices are no sacrifices his halowed things are vnholie and his prayers turne to the contrarie procuring him misfortune in steed of good This honouring of God with heart and mind we call Godlines and Religion which is the meane betweene vngodlinesse wherof alonly we ought not to make mention and Superstition Of Religion and Superstition Cicero in his third booke of the Nature of the gods speaketh in this wise Our worshipping saith he with a pure cleane sound and vncorrupted mind and voice For not only the Philosophers but also our ancestors haue seperated religion from superstitioÌ„ For such as praied all the day that their children might ontliue them were called superstitious and they that were diligent in doing the things that pertaine vnto the worshipping of the gods were called Religious Of the word Religio which signifieth to bind-ouer because Religion bindeth men to the performance of their dutie towards God And so of the ij things betokened by the two words of Religion Superstition men haue made the one a vice and the other as vertue So then we call those superstitious which are ouer-religious and leauing the true vse of the praiers that are to be made vnto God doe busie themselues in babling and in requiring vaine things at his hand as those sillie soules did which ceassed not to be importunat vnto God that their children might â—uruiue them whose so doing hath giuen vnto their faultie religioÌ„ the name of Superstition whereto full many do giue themselues at this day pratling vncessantly vnto God not knowing what they aske notwithstanding that our Lord hath commaunded vs to seeke Gods kingdome and righteousnesse promising that all temporall things shal be added as an income to our praier and inioining vs as a pattern of praieng to say the praier that euery man hath in his mouth namely the Lords praier wherein our only speech is of the honoring of God and our praieng is for the forgiuenes of our sins for strength to withstand them and for our ordinarie food Generally we terme all those superstitious which of a misbeleefe are astonished at euery extraordinary thing that they see For as Plutarch sayth in the life of Alexâ—nder Superstition droppeth downe continually into the hearts of them that are cast down and ouerwhelmed of feare as for example those that are afrighted at the eclipse of the sun or the moone at the howling of woolues at the noise of the Scriech-oule or of the night-rauen or at the flying of certaine birds and such other like things In all the which the Romanes were too too superstitious as is to be seene by a procession of theirs wherin they caused the Reliks of their gods to bee borne vpon barrowes on horse-backe through the citie wherein because the Carter had taken the horse by the reine with his left hand they appointed the procession to be begun new againe And sometimes for one poore flie that is to say for a thing of nothing they made some one sacrifice to be begun twentie or thirtie times Some of the men of old time tearmed this maner of dealing an exact Righteousnesse and we call it a fond and foolish Superstitiousnesse howbeit that wee must needs confesse that
win the fauor of the people who had such men in estimation he had of them ordinarily with him For it is better that a prince should be an hipocrit than a despiser of good and vertuous things because such maner of counterfaiting and countenancing of good things doth secretly bring with it in time an affection of louing them and a willingnesse to accustome himselfe to them in earnest The emperor Adrian had vertuous and wise men and learned Philosophers alwaies about his person as well in time of peace as of warre because the wise men taught to liue well and the Philosophers to gouerne well For as Alexander Seuerus said of trusting too much to a mans owne wit commeth commonly labour and losse but of taking other mens aduise followeth ordinarilie verie great fruit Insomuch that whensoeuer hee had any matter to set in order concerning the common-weale hee consulted of it aforehand with men of skill and experience afore he did put it in execution and such maner of men did alwaies follow him among whom was one Vlpian a Lawier Yea and when he went a walking or a hunting he would neuer bee without three or foure of the greatest personages and best experienced of his house to the intent he would not be without counsell if any matter of importance should come suddenly vpon him and that the sight of such men neere about him might keepe him from presuming to doe any vnhonourable fact Antigonus the second was woont to say when Zeno the Philosopher was dead That he was bereft of the Theatre and stage of his honourable deeds because hee was woont to referre all his actions to the iudgement of that good man And if wee will descend into our owne histories we shall see what profit redounded to S. Lois by being conuersant with men of Religion For in so much as his mother had accompanied him with such folke from his infancie he ceassed not to hold on afterward in the same trade and maner of life wherein he had bin trained vp insomuch that all his whole life was nothing else but a mirrour of holinesse CHAP. XV. That the Prince which will be well obayed must shew good example in him selfe to his subiects THat which I haue spoken of Religion and Superstition is inough notwithstanding that it be too little as in respect of the things themselues Now remaineth the winding vp of the matter and to end this booke withall I am to shew in few words what it is that vpholdeth both the prince and his subiects in all honour and honestie especially in the case of Religion namely the good Example which the prince giueth vnto his subiects For it serueth him aboue all things in the world to make him to be obayed and therewithal accustometh him to the loue of all honest things though at the beginning he had no such will as I haue said afore And it prouoketh the subiects to follow their princes example whom they see to be giuen to all vertuous things and chiefly when he is giuen to religion For a prince cannot raigne if his subiects be without religion considering that in taking away religion ye take away obedience to the prince Therefore to hold the people in religion there is nothing like vnto Example And as a certaine Poet saith Lawes and proclamations haue not so great force to procure obedience as hath the life of the gouernour because the people being subiect to alteration doe chaunge with the prince If the prince be deuout and religious the people will be deuout also if he be superstitious they become superstitious too if he be giuen to vice so will they be also if he be good they abide good likewise because there is not any thing that doth so much induce vs to doe well as the innocencie and goodnesse of the prince or iudge as saith Cassiodorus For who will be afraid to doe wickedlie when he seeth his lord doe as himselfe dooth In vaine doth that prince foad himselfe with suretie of state who is couetous ambitious and vniust For men are then afraid to doe amisse when they thinke that it displeaseth their iudge And as Cicero saith in his third booke of Lawes A prince doth not so much harme in the very sinning although it be a great harme in deed as he doth in making others to follow the example of his vices And we see commonly that looke what alteration soeuer happens in the prince the same ensueth also in his people For the change of conuersation of life in great personages is wont to worke a change in the maners of the people for that they keepe not their vices alonly to themselues but doe shead them out vpon their subiects so as the hurt which they doe is not only in that they corrupt themselues but also in that they corrupt others doing more euill by their example than by their bare sinne For as much therefore as the well-aduised prince is as a cresset vpon a bushell or rather vpon a high towre to giue light to all parts hee ought to shine among his subiects and to excell them in all deeds of vertue and godlinesse For as saith Cicero in his Inuectiues he is to applie himselfe not only to their minds but also to their eies And like as a small blemish in a mans face disgraceth him more than a great scarre in all the rest of his body euen so a small fault sheweth it selfe great in a prince whose life men behold in the open light And as Saluian Bishop of Marsels saith The offence is the greater where there is the greater prerogatiue That is the cause why Dauid was punished by the death of his sonne after that God had taken away his sinne namely as the text saith For that he caused the enemies to blaspheme the name of the Lord. So great is an offence in a publike person For he that doth euill without giuing cause of offence vnto others damneth but himselfe but he that giueth euill example vnto others and causeth mo for to sinne must beare their penaltie because he is the cause of their euill Plato in his Lawes saith That nothing doth more easily change laws than the example of princes so that a tyrant may in short time alter the lawes For whether he intend to lead to vertue or to vice he himselfe must first trace the way vnto others by allowing the one and disallowing the other and by dispising such as obay him not And therefore he said in another place That such as kings and gouernors are such are their people Wherein he agreeth with Ecclesiasticus who saith That such as the iudge of a people is such are his ministers and such as the ruler of a citie is such are his citizens Varia Mesa writing to Heliogabalus admonished him after this maner To reforme others it behooueth you first to reforme your selfe and to chastise others you must first chastise your selfe For euerie person be he
of neuer so meane degree doth commonly take example at that which he seeth done by his superiours and especially by the prince who is a looking-glasse to all his subiects And in deed we see how the Aegyptians gaue themselues to the Mathematicall sciences because the most part of their kings loued those sciences Because the kings of Asia gaue themselues to all delicacies the people of that countrie were verie delicat and effeminate Because Nero loued plaiers of enterludes singing-men and plaiers vpon instruments there was not that Senator whose child studied not those arts In the time of Marcus Aurelius his house was ful of wise and modest seruants In the time of his sonne Commodus the palace was full of naughty-packs folk of lewd conuersation And the said good emperor Marcus Aurelius was wont to say That such as the prince is such will his houshold be such as his houshold is such will his court be and such as his court is such will his kingdome be We see in France how the people haue euermore followed their prince King Francis loued learning and his people gaue themselues wholy therevnto He was sumptuous in apparell and much more they that came after him At this day there is not any thing omitted for the well and rich attiring of folk and for the delicate entertaining of them with all sorts of the choisest meats Lewis the eleuenth and the emperour Charles the fift went modestly apparelled and mocked such as decked themselues in rich attire and their subiects did the like That example of theirs did more in their time than all the statutes of apparell could do that haue bin made since And that good time coÌ„tinued vnto the reigne of king Francis who begun to tread out the way to the inordinate and excessiue chargablenesse which ouerwhelmeth vs at this day The booke entituled the Courtier maketh mention of a Spaniard that held his necke awry as Alfons king of Aragon did who setting that aside was a prince of very good grace of purpose to follow the kings fashion and to counterfait him in all that he could For this cause Plato in his Lawes will haue old men who ought to giue example to yoong men to behaue themselues discreetly when they be in the companie of yoong folke and to take good heed that no young man see them doe or heare them speake any vnhonest thing For the best counsell that can be giuen to yoong or old is not to taunt or checke them but to shew and expresse the same thing in a mans whole life which he would haue said in checking and blaming them Which order Cicero following in his Duties doth vtterly forbid an old man to giue himselfe to excesse beause it bringeth double harme first in that it procureth him shame and secondly in that it maketh the loosenesse of yong folk more impudent For yoong folks should be gouerned by the discretion of the old And euen so is it between subiects and their princes For if princes giue them not good example it wil be hard to amend them afterward Which thing euen the wickeddest princes perceiuing haue pretended to make account of vertue as I haue shewed in Tiberius in Nero and in Denis who entertained the Sophists 〈◊〉 win the peoples fauour But in the end the truth bewraied it seâ—fe as indeed nothing is so secret which shall not be reuealed â—nd they fell into the disfauour contempt and hatred of their people Wherefore there is nothing to be compared to open walking without any maner of counterfaiting and to the giuing of good example throughout that a prince may be the better followed and the more beloued and esteemed of his people As for example Piscennius Niger Caracalla Maximine Alexander Seuerus and many other emperors that were warriors did eate of the same bread that their souldiers did which thing made them beloued of all and gaue example to euery man to doe as they did For there is not a better exortation nor a more effectual way to persuade than when a prince doth the same things himselfe which he would haue other men to doe Agesilaus commaunded not his souldiers to doe any worke to the which he himselfe did not first set his hand And to giue example to yoong men to endure cold hee was seene to goe all the winter without a cloake therby to allure the yoong men to do the like when they saw that their prince being old and readie to passe out of the world was not afraid of the cold Xenophon in his first booke of the Education of Cirus bringeth in Cambises telling Cirus that to be first at worke himselfe serued greatly to win his souldiers therunto Is it your meaning then quoth Cirus that a prince ought in all things to endue more than his subiects Yea surely quoth Cambises but plucke vp a good heart and consider with your selfe that the prince and the subiect take not pains both with one mind For the honor that a great lord receiueth assuageth his paine for so much as all that euer he doth is knowne Plutarch saith in the life of Cato of Vtica That his souldiers honoured him exceedingly and loued him singularly because he was wont to be the first that did set hand to any worke that he commaunded and in his fare apparell and going abroad made himselfe equall rather to the meanest souldiers than to the captaines and yet in greatnesse of courage surmounted the best captains of all Alexander in pursuing his victorie against Darius became verie thiâ—stie and when one of his souldiers offered him watâ—â— in a Morion he refused it saying That he would not by â—â—s drinking increase the thirst of others Whervpon his men seeing the noblenesse of his courage cried out aloud vnto him that he should hardily lead them on still saying that their owne wearinesse and thirst was quite and cleane gone and that they thought not themselues to be mortall any more so long as they had such a king The like befell to Cato of Vtica in Affrik who being almost at the point to die for thirst as likewise all his armie was being then in the middest of the sands of Lybia when as the small quantitie of water which was in his host was all offered vnto him not only refused it but also spilt it on the ground to the end that by his example all the souldiers in his armie might learne to indure the thirst Albeit that Dauid longed to drinke of the water of a certaine well that was in the possession of his enemies and three of his armie brought therof vnto him with great danger of their liues yet would he not drinke therof when it was brought vnto him but vowed it vnto God for the safety of the three that had gotten it for him On a time when Alfons king of Aragon and Sicilie was in a place where he could get no victuals and a souldier of his brought him a morsell of bread and
told him that his enemies had many more ships than he And how many ships quoth he thinke you my presence may counteruaile As who would say it is a great sway to the victorie when a valeant prince is present which can skill how to gouerne The Numantines had obtained many victories of the Romanes vntill in the end Scipio was sent thither to haue the commaunding of the armie whose arriual there made the chance of the warre to turne For euer after the Numantines went by the worst neuerthelesse their captains bad their souldiers that they should not be afraid for the Romans were but the very same people whom they thēselues had vanquished so oft afore True it is indeed said one among them they be the same sheepe but they haue another maner of shepheard Antigonus hearing by some prisoners that Eumenes was sicke as he was indeed and therupon coniecturing that he should with small adoe discomfit his armie in his absence made all the hast he could to giue battell But when he came so neere that he might well and plainly descry the order behauior of his enemies who were so well ranged in order of battell as possibly could be he staied a long while altogether distroubled and as it were astonished in the which time he perceiued the horslitter of Eumenes passing from the one side of the battell to the other and therewithall he began to say Yon same in mine opinion is the litter that maketh vs war and offereth vs battel And with that word he caused the retreit to be sounded and conueyed his men backe into his camp Iulius Caesar did put himselfe in great perill by going to find his armie that was distressed by the Gauls and by his only presence did rid them of the distresse giuing them courage to fight so greatly was his name redouted of his enemies Cabades king of Persia seeing his men repulsed from the citie Damida vvhich he had surprised and scaled and hovv that many of them began to come dovvne the ladders because the men of the citie made them to leape dovvne from aboue stepped to the foote of a ladder vvith his svvord dravvne and threatned to kill as many of them as came dovvne And so the presence of the king caused many to mount vp the ladders againe and many that had begun to giue ouer fell so lustily to scaling againe that in the end they tooke the citie The prince of Wales to giue courage to his men of vvarre vvas personally at the castle of Remorentin by vvhose presence the Englishmen gaue such a forcible assault that they vvhich vvere vvithin vvere faine to yeeld themselues Henrie king of Castile seeing his armie begin to scatter assembled them againe three times and with his incouraging of them made them to endure the battell a long time so as they durst not any more flee for shame when they saw their lord and king fight so valiantly and speake so amiably Ferdinand king of Naples perceiuing the Neapolitans to rebell at the change of his fortune at such time as Charles the eighth subdued all vnder his obedience departed suddenly from Capua and drue streight to Naples As soone as he arriued there euery man laying downe his weapon came to welcome him with singular affection ceasing their vprores in all places Consalua being brought to distresse at Barlette and yet cheerefully ouerpassing all pains matched vvith great scarcitie of victuals and of all other things needfull did by his example hold in the Spaniards a long time who were forewearied with trauell and in the end got the vpper hand of the Frenchmen At such time as king Henrie the second was fiercely assailed in his own realme at two places at once and could not put garrisons in all the towns on the frontiers the admirall Hannibalt being aduertised that the enemies made towards Fere with ful assurance to get possession thereof conueid himselfe into it with a few men and saued the towne by his presence For the enemies thought that so great a lord vvould not shut vp himself vvithout a good companie and othervvise they esteemed him to be a vvise captaine as hauing had triall of him afore at Mesieres at Petone and at Laundersey hovv greatly the presence of a good captain auaileth vvhich maketh weake towns impregnable The end of the first booke The second Booke CHAP. I. ¶ Of Wisedome and Discreetnesse IN old time when by Gods sufferance Oracles had place the citie of Delphos was renowned through the whole world for the prowd and stately temple there which was dedicated and consecrated to Apollo whereunto folke resorted frō al parts of the world to aske counsell and to heare the answers that were giuen by his image At the enterance of this goodly Temple were written these words KNOW THY SELFE In the interpretation of which words many haue erred imagining that a man knows himselfe when he can skill of the things that concerne his duetie or office and his mysterie trade of liuing or profession as when a Surgion can skill to launce a sore or a Phisition to heale a disease or a Shoomaker to make a Shoe But none of all these is the knowing of a mans selfe And though a man beheld all the parts of his bodie yet knew he not himselfe the more for all that For as Plato saith He that knoweth his bodie knoweth that which is his but he knoweth not himselfe So that neither Phisition nor handicraftsman knoweth himselfe but their knowledge is of things that are separated from themselues Wherefore to speake properly none of them according to their art can bee said to be wise Likewise hee that hath a care of his owne body mindeth that which is his and not himselfe And vvhosoeuer loueth a man cannot bee deemed to loue his bodie but his soule Therefore vvhen we say a man must know himselfe it is as much to say as hee must haue a care of his soule to prepare it to the knowing of God his maker after whose image it is created that hee may as it were in a looking glasse behold the inuisible Godhead the efficient cause of wisedome and of all good things and that by the knowledge of the vertues which God hath giuen vnto him he may consider how greatly he is indetted vnto God and that he hath not any thing of himselfe but that all commeth of God And when he knoweth what he is that is to wit a reasonable creature then lifteth he vp his heart as is soong in the church that is to say he lifteth vp his mind to the author of his welfare Now then to know God it behooueth to haue the knowledge of our selues that is to wit of our inward man which is framed of diuine essences to the intent we despise not the heauenly vnderstanding and mind that was giuen to man in his creation for want of knowing it aright and for want of considering the vertue and power thereof least through want
of such vnderstanding thereof in steed of being wise and wel aduised and in steed of chusing the good way wee follow the woorser and as Dauid saith Become like the horse and mule for not considering what God hath bestowed vpon man Therefore it standeth vs on hand to consider from whence we be and to what end we be created that by beholding the excellencie which we haue receiued of God we may submit our selues wholy vnto him and to his wisedome which inuiteth vs thereunto as is to bee seene in fiue hundred places of the booke of Wisdome Those then which refer al their actions to the said first cause we call Wise men according to the writings both of the Bible and also of the Heathen authors specially of the great Mercurie Plato and Cicero who affirme That the first point of wisedome is to know a mans selfe And by this knowledge a man shall perceiue wherat he ought to leuell himselfe and so he shall foresee the impediments that may hinder annoy him He then which hath not wisdome cannot discerne what is his or what is well or ill done neither can we know what is ours vnlesse we know our selues And he that knoweth not what is his is also ignorant what is another mans and consequently he is ignorant what belongeth to the commonweale and so shal he neuer be good housholder or good common-weales man because he knoweth not what he doth By reason wherof he shall walke on in error wandering and mistaking his marke so as he shall not atchieue any thing of value or if he doe yet shall he be but a wretch For no man can be happie or gouerne happily vnlesse he be good and wise because it is only he that discerneth good from euill Now if this saying may be verefied of al mē much more without comparison doth it agree to princes than to other men because they haue authoritie aboue all and to execute authoritie well it behoueth to haue Discretion and Wisedome For reason would that the wise should commaund the ignorant according to the saying of Ecclesiasticus That the free-borne shall serue the bondmen that are wise And as Dennis of Halicarnassus saith It is a law common to all that the better sort should commaund the worser It is they therefore to whom the said goodly precept is chiefly appointed to the end they should know the being and state of their soule the force and power wherof consisteth in wisdome whose ground is truth For it is the propertie of wisdome to discerne the truth of all things whereby the darknesse of ignorance is driuen out of our mind and light is giuen vnto vs. In this respect Iacob hauing gotten wisdome by trauel is said in Genesis to haue had the sight of God because that to the actiue life he had also ioyned the contemplatiue In so much that we may say that the wise man is the cleeresighted and hath iudgement reason to discerne good from euil that he may keepe himselfe from being deceiued For nothing is more contrarie to the grauitie of a wise man than error lightnes and rashnesse And although Wisdome and Discreetnesse doe well beseeme all men because it is the propertie of man to search the truth as who being partaker of reason gathereth the cōsequencies of things by considering their principall causes and proceedings yet notwithstanding Wisdome is an essentiall thing in princes and gouernors For nothing doth so firmly stablish a principalitie as a wise man who as saith Ecclesiasticus instructeth his people and the faithfull are the fruits of his vnderstanding The wise man shal be replenished with blessednesse and as many as see him shall commend him And in the third chapter of Salomons Prouerbs it is said That the purchace of Wisdome is more worth than all that euer a man can gaine by the trafficke of gold and siluer and all that euer man can wish is not comparable vnto hir For that very cause there was a writing in the foresaid temple of Delphos which commaunded men to honor Wisdome and iustice whom Hesiodus and Pindarus faigned to sit at Iupiters side Wherefore we may well say That Wisdomes is the mother of all good things and the tree of life that was in the earthlie Paradise as saith S. Austine in his thirteenth booke of the citie of God And to shew the excellencie therof yet more Ecclesiasticus saith That Wisdome is a greater aid and strength to a wise man than ten gouernors are to a country And therefore in the 16 of the Prouerbs it is said That Prophesie is in the lips of a king which thing is meant of a wise king After which maner he saith in another place that the delight of a king is in a wise seruant which is to be vnderstood of a good and wise king For commonly els such men are not welcome to princes But as Aesop saith either a man must please a king or els he must not come at him Bion was wont to say That Wisdome goeth before the other vertues as the sight goeth before the other sences and that without wisdome there is no vertue at all For how were it possible for the iust man to yeeld vnto euery man that which belongs to him if Wisdome had not taught him what is due to euery man Therfore afore wee enter into the morall vertues it is requisite by the way to speake a word of the contemplatiues namely of Wisdome and Discreation because that without contemplation ioyned with skill a man can doe nothing that is beautifull and good The Stoiks make no difference betweene these two vertues sauing that Wisdome consisteth in the knowledge of things belonging both to God and man and Discreetnesse consisteth only in things belonging to man For both of them be contemplatiue vertues proceeding from the mind and vnderstanding But yet one of them is meerely contemplatiue that is to wit Wisdome which after the opinion of antient Philosophers is occupied but in contemplation of the heauen the earth and the stars respecting nothing but such things as are euerlasting and vnchanged and because they be not subiect to any alteration man needeth not to scan of them And as Aristotle saith in his sixt booke of Morals It behooueth a wise man not only to vnderstand whatsoeuer may be gathered of principles but also to vnderstand the principles themselues truly and to speake truly of them And as a Geometrician scanneth not whether a triangle haue three angles made by the meeting and closing together of three right lines but holdeth it for an vndoubted certaintie so the contemplatiue vnderstanding doth not so much as dreame of any thing that admitteth any alteration neither is it subiect to consulting and deliberating But Discreetnesse which is cumbered with things vntrue erronious and troublesome and is to deale with casuall aduentures is driuen to consult of things doubtfull and after consultation to put it selfe in
enemies by sleights and policies than to encounter them valiantly at the swords point And Blondus in his triumph at Rome saith That the chiefe of an armie should fight by discretion and policie rather than by boldnesse and valiancie because there is no comparison betweene wisdome and strength of bodie For he that thinks there is no good to be done but by hand-strokes is so farre off from being valiant that he is rather to be esteemed rash hare-braind and furious Cicero in his booke of inuention saith That there are of discreetnesse three parts Memorie Skill and Fore-cast Memorie whereby things past are called to mind againe Skill which knoweth and vieweth things present and Fore-cast which considereth what may happen afore it come Others doe set downe eight parts of discreetnesse to wit Remembrance Fore-cast Skil Reason Quickenesse of wit Teachablenesse Experience and Warinesse I count him a discreet man that is sufficient to gouerne others For the doing wherof foure things are to be considered first the good wherunto the discreet man leadeth others wherein it behoueth him to haue remembrance and fore-cast The maner of gouerning for the which it behooueth him to bee a man of skill and reason In his leading of other men he must haue cunning and liuelinesse of wit and he must be teachable and easie to beleeue good counsell And in respect of all those whome hee gouerneth he must be of good experience and wel-aduised that he may refuse the euill and chuse the good The contrarie to discreetnesse is vndiscreetnesse or wilfull ignorance when a man neither knoweth nor will learne to know any thing which is the thing that most troubleth the life of man and as Plato saith in his Lawes That man is ignorant which musliketh the good and loueth that which is noughtworth And when the will is bent against skil and reason which naturally beareth chiefe sway Discreetnesse then is a vertue of the mind proceeding from a good vnderstanding and iudgement which is encreased by knowledge and experience and consisteth in the looking into things to the end that men may find them easie and readie to be delt with afore they goe in hand with them foreseeing what may or should ensue by things already past And because the euents of things as saith Aristotle yeeld not themselues vnto our wils we must apply our wils to the euents howbeit so as our wils be ruled by discretion For mans life is like a game at tables where if a man meet with a cast of the dice that he would not haue he must amend it by his cunning in play as good table-players doe The effects of discreation are to take deliberation to discouer good and euill and whatsoeuer els is to be followed or shunned in this life to vse all maner of goods honestly to be of good conuersation with all men to foresee occasions and aduentures and to haue experience of good and profitable things As touching memorie and quicknesse of wit experience and knowledge either they be helps to discretion as experience and memorie or els they make a part of discretion as skill and quicknesse of wit Thus you see what wisdome is the which Aristotle speaking of the vertues doth rightly terme the queen of al other vertues as which sheweth vs the order that we ought to keepe in all things which driueth away all incumberance and feare out of our mind maketh vs to liue in tranquilitie and quencheth all the heat of lust and couetousnesse S. Iohn Chrysostome vpon the thirteenth Psalme calleth it the lanterne of the soule the queene of thoughts and the schoolemistresse of good and honest things It is a vertue royall in deed and the helme and helue of kings without the which they cannot gouerne well This is it that made kings at the beginning as I haue said heretofore and chose them out of the people as most discreet and worthie of all the multitude By wisdome men dispose of things present foresee things to come By it we bridle our affections purchase honour as Salomon saith in the fourth of the Prouerbs It maketh vs to gouerne orderly both in matters of peace and war and suffereth vs not to fall nor to be surprised vnawares It maketh vs to doe the good and to eschew the euill For Wisdome as Alexander of Aphrodyse saith is the skil what is to be done and what is to be left vndone Therefore only the wise man is worthy to gouerne And as Plato saith happie be those common-weales and kingdomes where Philosophers are kings or the kings be Philosophers For the wise man or Philosopher hath this prerogatiue aboue othermen that he liueth after the rule of vertue without musing vpon lawes because he vseth reason for his law as Antistâ—enes and Aristippus said insomuch that if all lawes were abolished yet would he not cease to liue vprightly as one that knoweth what is honest and what is vnhonest Aristotle being demaunded what profit he reaped of Philosophie answered That I doe those things vncommaunded which other men doe for feare of lawes For the law is not set downe for the righteous but for the vnrighteous saith S. Paul And therefore if he that raigneth be not wise his kingdome cannot be happie Cursed is that kingdome where a babe raigneth because the babe wanting the vse of reason cannot order his affaires with aduised Discretion Cirus was woont to say That no man ought to take vpon him the charge of commaunding vnlesse he were better than they whom hee is to commaund For he that is a good man and commaundeth well is commonly well obayed When one had said that Lacedemon had bin vpheld by the skilfulnesse of the kings to commaund well nay quoth Theopompus but rather by the skill of the inhabitants to obay wel For the coÌ„mandement of the prince the obedieÌ„ce of the subiects are answerable either to other For commonly men mislike to obay those which haue no skil to coÌ„maund wel Insomuch that the faithful obedieÌ„ce of the subiect dependeth vpon the sufficiencie of a good prince to commaund well For he that well guideth causeth himselfe to be well followed And like as the perfection of the art of riding and of the rider consisteth in making the horse obedient and in subduing him to reason euen so the principall effect of a kings skill is to teach his subiects to obay well Antonie the Meeke was a vertuous and wise emperor and so well aduised in all his doings that he neuer repented him of any thing that he did Wherat a Senator of Rome marueling asked him how it came to passe that his affaires had so good successe that he neuer repented him of any thing that he did that he was neuer denied any thing that he asked and that he neuer commaunded any thing which was not obayed It is quoth he because I make all my doings conformable to reason I demaund not any
thing which is not rightfull and I commaund not any thing which redoundeth not more to the benefit of the commonweale than to mine own profit To conclude Wisdome is a shield against all misfortune Men in old time were wont to say that a wise man might shape his fortune as he listed supposing that misfortune be it neuer so ouerthwart is wonderfully well ouer ruled by the discreation of a wise and sage person And as Plutarch saith in the life of Fabius The Gods doe send men good lucke and prosperitie by means of vertue and discreation notwithstanding that the euents of fortune be not all in our power as said Siramnes who being demaunded why his so goodly so wise discourses had not euents answerable to their deserts because quoth he to say and to doe what I list is in mine owne power but the sequele and successe thereof is altogether in fortune and in the king Therefore when Phocion the Athenian had resisted Leosthenes in a certaine case wherof notwithstanding the euent was prosperous and saw that the Athenians gloried of the victorie which Leosthenes had gotten I am well contented quoth he that this is done but yet would I not but that the other had bin councelled Iulius Caesar gloried in his good fortune but yet his bringing of his great enterprises to passe was by his good gouernment and experience in feats of warre To be short the wise and discreet man findeth nothing strange neither feareth he any thing no not though the whole frame of the world as Horace saith should fall vpon him The reason wherof is that he had minded it long time aforehand and had fore-considered what might happen vnto him and had prouided remedie for all by his foresight and discreation For as Salomon saith The mind of the wise shall not be attainted no not euen with feare Such folke are not subiect neither too great greefe nor too excessiue ioy they neuer waÌ„t hope neither do they quaile for any misfortâ—ne so that they be hard to be ouercome because they be fully resolued of all things that may betide them and do take order for all things aforehand by their wisedome For wisedome saith Salomon is to his ownour as a liuely fountaine as a deepe water and as a flowing streame And as a ioint of timber closed together in the foundation of a building cannot be disioined so also cannot the heart that is stablished in the thoughts of discretion And as S. Austin sayth Wisdome teacheth vs to continue at one stay both in prosperitie and aduersitie like vnto the hand which changeth not his name but is alwaies one whether it be held out or gathered vp together And albeit that wisdome be a gift of God and come of a well disposed mind and of a good vnderstanding yea and of a body that is well tempered as witnesseth Galen in his first booke of Temperatures where he sayth That the first action of a man of good temperature is Discretion yet is it gotten by learning and discipline For the true desire of discipline is the beginning of wisdome Also it is gotten by long experience and knowledge of things past and by continuall exercise in dealing with sundrie affairs For as Afranius sayd by report of Aulus Gellius Wisedome is begotten by vse and conceiued by memorie meaning thereby that it consisteth in bookes which put vs in remembrance of things past and in experience which is the vse and practise of wisedome In so much that neither he that hath but only learning nor he that hath but only experience is able to attain vnto wisdome but he that will deale perticularly and vniuersally in all affairs must haue them both as well the one as the other And as Aristotle saith there are three things needfull to the obtainment of Wisdome namely Nature Learning and Exercise For it is in vaine to striue against Nature Learning must be had at learned mens hands and Exercise is the perfection of learning And therefore it will not be amisse to treat of Learning and Experience CHAP. II. That the good gouernour must match Learning and Experience together AS the body is made the more strong and better disposed by moderat exercise so mans vnderstanding groweth and encreaseth by learning and becommeth the stronger and better disposed to the managing of affairs In which respect Demetrius Phalareus counselled Ptolomie king of Aegypt to make diligent search for such bookes as treated of kingdoms and declared the qualities that are requisit for the well and due executing of the office of a king And Alexander Seuerus neuer sat in counsell vpon any case of importance or vpon any matter of state and war but he called such to counsell as bare the name to be well seene in histories Bias would not haue any man chosen a gouernour in his common-wealth but such as were of skill saieng that the want of skill is the cause of great inconueniences Philip commaunded Alexander to obey Aristotle and to be a good student to the intent quoth he that ye do not many things whereof ye shal repent you afterward Adrian as well in peace as in warre had of the skilfullest Philosophers alwaies about his person and among others he had two great lawyers Saluius and Neratius Plutarke in the life of Coriolan sayth that the greatest fruit that men reape of the knowledge of good learning is that therby they tame and meeken their nature that afore was wild and fâ—erce so that by vse of reason they find the Meane and leaue the Extream When one asked Alfons king of Arragon wherfore he did so greatly loue learning Because qd he by reading I haue learned war and the law of arms acknowledging therein that no wit be it neuer so good can fashion it selfe wel and become worthie of the charge which it shall vndertake without learning and doctrine Like as the fattest ground in the world can beare no corne except it be well tilled so nature of it selfe draweth and prouoketh vs by giuing vs a desire of knowledge and skill as Cicero saith in his books of Duties but Ignorance which wee find fault with as with the thing that darkeneth and defaceth mans vnderstanding cannot be done away but by learning My meaning is not to make a prince perfectly skilful in all sciences but only in that kind of learning which concerneth histories and precepts of good life according to the counsell of Demetrius and Isocrates who said that the wisdome which is proper to kings consisteth in Learning and Experience of which two Learning teacheth the way to doe well and Experience teacheth the meane how to vse Learning well And albeit that Traian who was one of the best princes of the world gaue not himselfe to learning for any commendation therof that Plutarke made vnto him saieng that the gods immortall had not made him to turne ouer the leaues of bookes but to deale with martiall affairs yet was he not
ruine by it But Agrippa pacified the whole matter by his eloquence and brought the people backe to obedience when they had alreadie banded themselues in companies Pisistratus handled the Athenians so cunningly with the finesse of his toung that he made himself king of Athens Such as were sent by Cinna to haue slaine Antonie the Orator were so surprised with his eloquence that when they heard him speake they had no mind at all to kill him The eloquence of Cicero caused the disanulling of the law for the diuiding of lands whereof the people of Rome had conceiued so great liking and which had bene so often propounded in so much that when they had heard him speake they vtterly abolished it for euer whereof Plinie maketh a wonder The like grace of speech enforced Iulius Caesar to pardon Ligarius whome he was resolutly determined to haue put to death To be short it is a thing of so great power that a prince who hath many vnder his charge can in no wise forbeare it And if he fortune not to be eloquent inough of himselfe it would behoue him to haue some good orator about him as Moses tooke Aaron to persuade the people and to preach vnto them because he found himselfe vnfit for that purpose For it is to no purpose for a man to haue goodly conceits vnlesse he put them forth For according to the saieng of Themistocles Eloquence is like a peece of tapistrie wrought with figures and imagerie which shew themselues when the cloth is vnfoldâ—d and are hidden when it is lapped vp together and euen so a man cannot shew the goodly conceits of his mind vnlesse hee haue eloquence to vtter them Cicero saiih in his Orator that by the eloquence and persuasion of such as could handle their toungs well the people that were scattered abroad in the wild fields and forrests were first brought into cities and townes It is of such force that it maketh the things to be beleeued that were incredible and smootheth things that were vnpolished And as the mind is the beautie of a man so is Eloquence the beautifier of the mind The same author in the second booke of the Nature of gods saith thus A beautiful and diuine thing soothly is Eloquence for it maketh vs to learne the things we know not and to teach the things we know by it we persuade and comfort the sorrowfull by it we encourage them that bee dismaied by it we strike them dead that are too lustie by it we pacifie the angrie and kill folks lusts that is it that hath drawne vs into fellowship into societie into cities to liue according to equitie and law Yet is it not inough to haue learning and eloquence vnlesse they bee also matched with experience Bias in his lawes would haue a Prince to be chosen of the age of fortie yeares to the end he should gouerne well by good discretion and experience For it is well known that neither Phisitions nor Generals of war be they neuer so well instructed with precepts can well discharge their duties without experience And as the emperor Adrian was wont to say in the generall ordering and managing of matters of State One yeares experience is better woorth than ten yeares learning And for that cause he preferred Antonie to the Empire before Marcus Aurelius as making more account of Antonies experience than of Marks lerning Agamemnon desired not so much to haue learned and eloquent men of his counsell as to haue such as Nestor was that is to say men of great experience Plutarke saieth that the wise and valeant captaine Philopemen presuming that his skill which he had in ordering a battel vpon the land would also serue him alike vpon the sea learned to his cost what sway experience beareth in matters of chiualrie and how great aduantage they haue in all things which are well experienced The skill how to gard and defend a mans selfe is not learned saieth Thucidides by talking but accustoming himselfe to pains-taking and to handling of his weapon One asked Zeuxidamus why the Lacedemonians had no lawes written because quoth he they should rather enure themselues to the doing of noble and honorable things than to read of them Panthoidas said the same to the Anthenians that asked him what he thought of the Philosophers which had disputed before him assuring them that they had spoken goodly things but to themselues vnprofitable whereby he meant to doe the Athenians to vnderstand that they had vertue in their mouths but not in their deeds The knowledge that is gotten serueth to the ordering of mens affairs but if it be without practise it is like a body without a soule Very vnwise therfore was he which by his sophistrie would haue made Iphicrates beleeue that the Philosopher is the onely good captaine And we may well say with Anaxippus that such discoursers doe shew themselues wise in words but in effect are starke fooles Now therefore we conclude with Aristotle that such as will deale in matters of state must aboue all things haue experience and this experience is gotten by practise and exercise which is the perfecter of Learning For we see that by exercise a weake man becommeth strong and doth better away with trauell than he that being strong doth not vse exercise as Socrates sayth in Xenophon Againe they that bee practised in all things deeme truly of duties and vnderstandeth what belongeth to euery man And as saith Musonius Vertue is a science that consisteth not only in vnderstanding but also in action For euen as in Phisicke or Musicke it is not sufficient to be skilfull of the art but there must also be a practise of the actions that depend vpon the art and science so in the science of Gouernment a prince must be practised in that which concerneth action rather than in that which concerneth contemplation Can he thinke himselfe to be of good skil which when he is to go in hand with his worke findeth it cleane contrarie to his imagination Surely as Terence sayth there was neuer yet any man so well aduised afore-hand in his determinations whome age experience haue not crossed with some strange encounter so as he hath found himselfe to seeke in the things wherein he thought himselfe most skilfull and when he came to the execution hath reiected that which he thought to bee best afore he began to go in hand with it And that is allegorically the very tree of the knowledge of good and euill after the opinion of S. Austen in his thirteenth booke of the citie of God For in matter of State it is very dangerous to take white for blacke and to thinke a mans selfe to know that which hee knoweth not Therefore it behooueth a prince to be a dealer in his owne affairs and to exercise his mind at times in reading of bookes without forgetting to exercise his body He must so counterpeise his mind and his body as
our footsteps in the right path is so gracious vnto vs by the intercession of his welbeloued son that for his sake our sins are not imputed to vs. Wherfore this vertue consisteth in praising God in worshipping him in giuing him thankes in obeieng him and in doing his coÌ„mandements For Gods commandements and testimonies are righteousnes truth saith Dauid in the 119 Psalme and they doe bring vs forth humilitie patience innocencie trustinesse and all manner of vertues Another sort of Righteousnes is called naturall because it is borâ—e with vs as for example to honour and serue our fatherâ—s mothers to cherish our children to do good to theÌ„ that doe good to vs are properties of nature and whosoeuer doth otherwise is esteemed an vnkind monster For as saith Cassiodorus Euen they that are ignorant of law do neuerthelesse acknowledge reason and truth because that so to doe is not peculiar to man only but also is coÌ„mon to the brute beasts to whom nature hath giuen such inclination For we see that all kinds of beasts do cherish their yong ones wherto they be led and taught by nature and therfore the lawyers call it the Law of nature The Storke cherisheth his syre and his dam when they be old and therfore the acknowledging recompencing of kindnesse with like kindnesse againe is called in greeke Autipelargia as ye would say A Counterstorking The brute beast knoweth him that feedeth him and is mindful of him that doth him good as appeareth by a certain lion which could well skill to requite the pleasure that a slaue had done him in taking a thorne out of his foot For he fed the slaue a long time in the caue where he had hidden himselfe afterward when both of them were by chance taken and carried to Rome and the slaue being condemned to death for robbing his master was cast vnto the lions to be deuoured by them this lion being there among the rest knowing him saued him and defended him from hurt yet the time was past long afore that the slaue had done him the said pleasure Now then it is a naturall thing to do good to them that do vs good The third kind of righteousnesse is that which we call ciuill which consisteth in yeelding vnto euery man that which beloÌ„geth vnto him in gouerning cities and countries in maintaining coÌ„mon society in such like things The fourth is called Iudiciall which belongeth to those that haue charge to iudge of controuersies betweene parties according to lawes For the maintaining of these lattertwaine it behoueth to haue magistrats and therfore they beloÌ„g properly to princes kings soueraign magistrats may be reduced both into one considering that iudges do but supply the roomes of their soueraigns Also the law which serueth for the executing of iustice in giuing vnto euery man that which is his right is called of the lawyers the Ciuil Law and not the Iudiciall Law By these diuisions a man may see what the dutie of a prince is in case of iustice for the worthy executing wherof he must aboue al things be religious and feare God as I haue said afore and therefore I will speake no more thereof Also I will omit the naturall Righteousnes because it is common to all liuing creatures but the ciuill and iudicial Righteousnes is peculiar to kings and gouernours of countries and consisteth first in well keeping the lawes of their countries and in causing them to be well kept secondly in taking good order in cases of controuersie and strife between partie and partie by themselues in their owne persons or by chusing fit persons to doe iustice Thirdly in doing right to the iudges themselues and to the other officers whom the prince hath set in authoritie namely in honoring and rewarding them according to their deserts and likewise in punnishing them for their misdoings and lastly in doing iustice among their men of warre As touching the first point which concerneth the maintaining of the written lawes it is so necessarie that it may well be said that the honor of a countrie dependeth therevpon according to the wise answere of Pittacus who being demaunded of Craesuâ— king of Lidia wherin consisted the honor and maiestie of a kingdome answered Vpon a little peece of wood meaning the laws written in tables of wood as who would say that where law hath his force and strength there the realme florisheth For the law is the stickler betweene right and vnright punishing the bad and defending the good saith Cicero in his xij booke of Laws And Plato saith in his common-weale that that common-weale goes vtterly to wrecke where the law ouer-ruleth not the magistrats but the magistrats ouer-rule the law On the coÌ„trarie part al goeth well where the law ouerruleth the magistrats and the magistrats are obedient to law It belongeth to magistrats to keepe the lawes and to beare in mind that the lawes be committed to their custodie saith Cicero in his books of duties Aristotle saith in his matters of state that they which would haue law to reigne in a citie or common-weale would haue God to reigne there Aliamenes being asked why he would not receiue the presents of the Messenians Because that if I should haue receiued them quoth he I could not haue had peace with the lawes For to say truth the lawes are as the pillers of a state vpholding it as pillers vphold a house so as the casting down of them is the ouerthrow of the house Wherefore men ought to take good heed how they breake lawes which hold one another together like the links of a chaine For by vndoing one all the rest follow after And euen so befalleth it in lawes when men fal to dispensing with them Not without good cause therefore did Adrian the emperour ordaine that no man should bring vp any straunge custome in Rome And as Plutarch reporteth in the life of Paulus Aemilius men forsake the keeping of the chiefe foundations of the state of a publick-weale when they refuse the care of the diligent keeping of the ordinances thereof be they neuer so little and small And Plato in his common-weale forbiddeth the chaunging of any thing yea euen of so much as the plaies that young children are wont to vse because the chaunging of them changeth the manners of youth without feeling and maketh folke to make no account of antient things and to couet and esteeme of new things a matter very dangerous to any state And anon after he saith againe in these expresse words I tell you that all manner of alteration except it be in euill things is very dangerous both in diet of the body and in manners of the mind And I see not but that the yoong folke which are permitted to haue other plaies games and pastimes than haue bene accustomed aforetimes will also differ in behauior from the youth of old times and being come to such difference they will also seeke a differing
too soft nor too rigorous inpunishing but as the cause deserueth For he must not affect the glorie of meeldnesse or of seueritie but when he hath wel considered the case he must doe iustice as the case requireth vsing mercie and gentlenesse in small matters and shewing seueritie of law in great crimes howbeit alwaies with some temperance of gentlenesse For as Theodorike was woont to say It is the propertie of a good and gracious prince not to be desirous to punish offences but to take them away least by punishing them too eagerly or by ouerpassing them too meeldly he be deemed vnaduised and carelesse of the execution of iustice S. Iohn Chrysostome saith That iustice without mercie is not iustice but crueltie and that mercie without iustice is not mercie but folly And to my seeming Suetonius hath no great likelihood of reason to commend Augustus for mercifull in that to saue a manifest parricide from casting into the water in a sacke as was wont to be done to such as had confessed themselues guiltie of that fault he asked him after this maner I beleeue thou hast not murthered thy father For he that iustifieth the wicked and hee that condemneth the guiltlesse are both of them abhominable to the Lord saith Salomon in his Prouerbs And aboue all things as saith Cicero in his booke of Duties he must beware that the punishment be not too great for the offence and that where many bee partakers of one crime one be not sore punished and another sleightly passed ouer CHAP. IIII. That a prince ought to be liberall and to shun niggardship and prodigalitie THus much in few words concerning iustice the which Cicero diuideth into two namely into that which is tearmed by the generall name of Righteousnesse into that which is tearmed Liberalitie accordingly as the holy scripture doth ordinarily take righteousnesse for the liberalitie that is vsed towards the needie the which we call Alms or Charitie He hath dispersed giuen vnto the poore saith the Psalmist and his righteousnesse endureth for euer that is to say He will continue still to shew himselfe righteous and he shall haue wherin to execute his liberalitie all the daies of his life And S. Paule in his second Epistle to the Corinthians prayeth God to encrease the reuenues of their righteousnesse that is to say of their liberalitie or bounteousnesse And in the one and twentith of the Prouerbs He that followeth righteousnesse and mercie saith Salomon He that is kind-hearted and pitifull to the poore shall find life righteousnesse and glorie And in the same place The righteous giueth saith he and spareth not Now therfore I must speake more particularly of the distributiue righteousnesse which is called Liberalitie and is as it were the meane betwixt niggardlinesse and prodigalitie a vertue well-beseeming a rich man For as saith Plato He that hath store of goods if he make others partakers with him is to be honoured as a great man but specially it most beseemeth a prince as who is better able to put it in vse than any priuat persons For Liberalitie vndoeth liberalitie because that the more a man vseth it the more he abateth his abilitie of vsing it towards many A king who hath great reuenues may honourably vse it in his life without abating the meane to doe good to such as deserue it Therefore Plutarch in his booke of the Fortunatnesse and vertue of Alexander saith That as the fruits of the earth grow faire by the temperatnesse of the aire euen so good wits are furthered by the liberalitie honourable countenaunce and courtesie of a king and that on the contrarie part they droope and decay through his niggardship displeasure and hard-dealing For the very dutie of a king said Agesilaus is to doe good vnto many Ptolomaeus Lagus said It was a more goodly and princely thing to enrich other men than to enrich himselfe according to S. Paules saying That it is better to giue than to take And Fabricius had leuer to haue at commaundement men that were well monied than the monie it selfe Dennis the tyrant of Siracuse offered presents to the ambassadours of Corinth the which they refused saying That the law of their countrie forbad them to take ought of any prince whatsoeuer Wherevnto hee answered Surelie yee doe amisse O yee Corinthians in that yee bereaue princes of the best thing that they haue For there is not any other meane to take away the misliking of so great a power than by courtesie and liberalitie Alexander was woont to say That there was not a better hoording vp of treasure than in the purses of his friends because they will yeeld it him againe whensoeuer hee needeth it Now then this vertue doth maruellously well beseeme a prince because he hath wherwith to put it in vre and yet neuerthelesse it ceasseth not to be in the mind of a poore man also For a man is not to be deemed liberall for his great gifts but for the will that he hath to do good For a poore man may be more liberall than a rich although he giue far lesse without comparison than the rich because liberalitie like as all other vertues proceedeth chiefly from the disposition or inclination that a man hath to giue As for example the poore widow that did put the two mites into the offering box was esteemed to haue giuen more than al the rich men though the thing she gaue was nothing in cōparison of the gifts of other men For liberalitie consisteth not in the greatnes of the gifts but in the maner of the giuing And he is liberall which giueth according to his abilitie vnto good men and vpon good causes This vertue represseth nigardship and moderateth prodigalitie causing a man to vse his goods and his money aright The meane to vse these well consisteth in three points The first is in taking a mans owne money where he ought to take it and hereunto maketh the good husbanding of him that spareth his reuenue to spend it to good purpose For he that hath not wherewith to maintain his expenses doth amisse in making large expenses at other mens cost and he that hath it doth amisse if he spend it not because there is not any thing that winneth a prince so much the fauor of his people as liberalitie doth Dennis the tyrant intēding to try his son furnished him with much costly stuffe iewels and vessell both of gold and siluer of great price And when long time after he had espied that the plate remained with him still he taunted him saieng that he had not a princely hart sith he had not made him friends with his plate hauing such abundāce for he was of opinion that such gifts would haue gotten his son good will at all mens hands For as Salomon saith in the xix of the prouerbs euery man is a friend to the man that giueth And in the chapter going afore he saith That a mans
must excuse your selfe to him and deale in such sort as you may recompence your ouer-sight with doing some good For as Cicero saith in his booke of Duties Liberalitie is to be vsed as may profit a mans friends without preiudice to any person because liberalitie is accompanied with iust dealing And as toâ—ching the giuing of monie and the bestowing of benefits they ought to be done vnto the distressed and needie rather than to others the contrarie wherof is done most commonly For lightly men giue where they may hope for some good againe though there be no need at all But this is rather couetousnesse than liberalitie because it is but a putting of a small fish vpon a hooke therwith to catch a greater Likewise liberalitie consisteth in redeeming prisoners and in giuing to the poore in which behalfe Cicero speaketh like a Christian. And this maner of liberalitie is called Alms Pitie and Charitie Salomon in the xxij of the Prouerbs saith He which is pitifull shall be blessed because he hath giuen bread to the hungrie And in the xxviij Who so giueth to the poore shall not want but he that turneth his eies from them shall haue much miserie In the third of Ecclesiasticus it is said that as water quencheth the burning fire so alms withstandeth sin and God will haue consideration of him that sheweth pitie for he will be mindfull of him in the time to come and he shall find assurance in the day of his death Againe in the seuenth chapter Reach out thy hand to the poore saith he that thou maist be throughly blessed and reconciled Againe in the xvij chapter A mans alms-deed saith he is as a purse with him and preserueth a mans fauor as the apple of an eie And againe in the xxix Lay vp thine alms-deed in the bosome of the poore and it shall make thee to be heard against all euill There is another sort of liberalitie approching to pitie which is called Hospitalitie for which Abraham Lot were highly commannded and had the honor to receiue angels when the houses of rich men are open to entertaine honest strangers Among the men of old time the almightie God whom they named Iupiter was called the Harberor so is he termed of Homer Virgil. Cimo of Athens made a house with his owne hands to lodge strangers in Plato saith That the offences which are done against strangers are greater than those that are coÌ„mitted against a mans ownâ—â—â—untrimen for in as much as a stranger hath no kindred nor friends men ought to be the more pitifull towards him The Almans made so great account of those with whom they had eaten and drunke that they imparted their houses vnto them And the Lucans had a law that coÌ„demned that man to be fined which suffered the stranger to passe vnlodged after the sun was downe There is also another branch of liberalitie called Treatablenes which is when a man is not rough in requiring that which is borrowed of him but is easie to be delt with in all bargaining whether it be of buying or of selling and will not sticke sometime to forbeare yea and release some part of his right as is to be seene in the end of Ciceroes second booke of Duties where he treateth of it largely inough and that in such sort as he may seeme to haue drawn it out of our books of diuinitie which coÌ„maund vs to be charitable to our neighbors rather in doing good to the poore than to the rich and especially in doing the spirituall works wherof I will speake briefly herafter when I come to treat of kindnesse referring the residue to Diuines who haue made so goodly treatises so pleasant wholsom discourses that it is not possible to do more There is another kind of liberalitie which coÌ„sisteth not in giuing but in despising mony gifts the same is directly contrarie to couetousnes wherof we haue Pericles for an example who was not in any wise to be corrupted with gifts neither could couetousnes in any wise weigh with him insomuch that although he was the prince of Athens yet notwithstanding he inriched not himselfe one halfe peny And also Phocion who refused 600000 crowns at Alexanders hand though he was both poore needy neither wold he take ought of Antipater though he was his friend insomuch that Antipater said that he had two friends in the citie of Athens namely Phocion Demades of whoÌ„ he could neuer cause the one to take any thing nor giue the other inough to satisfie him The Philosopher Xenocrates sent back 500 talents vnto Alexander when he had giuen him theÌ„ saieng That so long as he liued in such sort as he did he should neuer need so great a sum of mony Fabricius the consull did as much to Pirrhus refusing the gold and siluer that he offered him These men could not giue because they themselues were needie but yet had they a liberall nature in that they made none accout of worldly goods and yet were contented to part from that which they had Artaxerxes king of Persia was wont to say That liberalitie consisteth not only in giuing but also in taking as when a man through a kind of couetousnesse doth courteously accept the gifts that are offered him though they bee but of small estimation and value For therby the prince doth men to vnderstand what account he maketh of small things in that he receiueth them and it is an occasion for him to requite it with very great vsurie And although king Lâ—wis the eleuenth doe say that a man ought neither to bind a prince nor to be affraid to aske of him and to make himselfe indebted vnto him and that his so doing maketh the prince the forewarder to do for him because the noblenesse of the princes courage is such that he loueth them most which are most bound vnto him and naturally we loue the things that are of our owne making as saith Aristotle where he demaundeth why benefactors are more inclined towards such as are bound vnto them than towards such as are not yet notwithstanding a subiect ought not to be affraid to offer a present to his prince in witnesse of his seruice and good will Neither did king Lâ—wis the eleuenth meane it concerning presents or gifts but of seruices done by subiects wherof they had no recompence For therof the prince is ashamed and therfore is loth to see them Contrariwise he loueth liketh and aduanceth those that are made by him euen through a certaine naturall reason which makes vs loue the things that come of our selues and which we haue brought foorth whether it be by nature or by wit or by good doings But the wel-aduised subiect bestoweth not any gift vpon his prince as vpon one that hath need or therby to bind his prince but as in way of duty or submission to do him seruice And therfore of such a present a prince must accept very gladly
the comming in of riches doth the more sharpen the desire of hoording vp and of coueting stil to haue The Scithians on a time said thus to Alexander What need hast thou of riches which do enforce thee to couet euer more and more Thou art the first that of abundance hast made penury insomuch that the more thou possessest the more eagerly doest thou couet that which thou hast not Plutarch in his booke of Couetousnes saith that all other lusts doe helpe toward the assuaging of thēselues but this vice doth euer withstand it For there was neuer any glutton that through gluttony forbare the pleasant morsels that hee liked nor drunkard that through drunkennesse forbare the good wine but the couetous mā through couetousnes forbeareth to touch his monie which is as strange a thing as if we should see a man refuse to put on a good gowne because he quaketh for cold or to refuse meat because he is ready to die for hunger Couetousnes cōpelleth men to get and forbiddeth them to enioy that they haue gotten it stirreth vp the appetite and bereaueth the pleasure In so much that the couetous person wanteth as well that which he hath as that which he hath not And he likeneth them to mules which though they carrie great store of gold and siluer on their backs yet they themselues doe feed vpon hay Yet dooth not this import that a man should not make account of money and prouide therwith for his necessities but that it ought to be done after a reasonable maner and of purpose to bestow it wel in due time and place And herevnto relieth the answer of Simonides of whome when one demaunded why he hoorded vp money towards the end of his old age Because quoth he I had leauer to leaue my goods to mine enemies when I am dead than to haue need of the reliefe of my friends while I am aliue To the same purpose Bion the Boristhenit said that riches are the sinews of mens deeds and that as it is said in the prouerbe Without goods goodnesse is maimed that is to say it cannot well shew it selfe But yet must a man beware that he set not his heart too much vpon them ne vse them too basely in banishing the pleasure of them to indure all the miserie For it is the vse that maketh riches If you take your part of them they be yours if you reserue them for your heirs vntill that time they be none of yours For he that is a slaue to his money can haue no good of his riches But a man of vnderstanding taketh the present vse of his goods and hee that will not vse them is needie of all things And as Plutarch saith in his booke of the Desire of riches Richnesse consisteth in the not hauing of superfluous things For niggardlinesse commeth of an inordinat coueting to haue and we see how such as somtime had neither bread nor drinke nor house nor home as soone as they came to bee rich haue occupied their minds about gold and siluer horsses and hounds changing the desire of things needfull into the desire of things dangerfull rare hard to be gotten and vnaccustomed Therefore whosoeuer possesseth more than is be hooffull for him and is still desirous of more it is neither gold nor cattell nor horses that can cure his disease but he hath need of a vomit and a purgation For his disease commeth not of penurie but of vnsatiable loue of riches proceeding of a corrupt iudgement Of this vice proceedeth robberie a foule and filthie sin expresly forbidden of God in the ten commaundements howbeit that Licurgus permitted it to the Lacedemonians to the intent they should be the warier in keeping their things but yet they were punished for it if they were taken with the fact There are that excuse their couetuousnesse by the multitude of their children And soothly it is a sufficient cause to restraine ouer-great expenses and to hold a mans hand from selling for feare he should leaue them poore But to pine a mans selfe for their sakes and to hoord vp heape vpon heape to make them rich I count it neither husbandrie nor thriftinesse but the very desire of hauing which we call Couetousnesse And for that cause doth Plutarch in the same treatise of the Desire of riches say thus Why desire we so great riches for our children Surely to the end that they also should conuey them ouer to their children after the maner of conduit-pipes which keepe not any liquor resting in them but conuey it foorth from pipe to pipe vntill some backbiter or some tyrant come that cutteth off this good keeper and breaking his conduit-pipe conueieth the water-course of his riches another way vntill the veriest vnthrift and naughtipacke of all his race come and deuour all those goods alone For as the emperor Constantine said All the treasures that are hoorded vp by the couetous shall be spent by the hands of the prodigall But for as much as of couetousnesse commeth the desire of riches and there is no man but he esteemeth it a great happinesse to be rich it were for our behalfe to know what richnesse is and what is the meane to become rich This question is not now first of all demaunded for it was demaunded on a time of Socrate◠Whom he esteemed to be the richest man Euen that man quoth he that needeth fewest things meaning that richnesse is to be measured by the vse of riches And he said That a man was thē rich whē he had sufficient wherwith to liue honestly accounting those to be most poore which hauing store of goods wanted wit and will to vse them For pouertie consisteth not in the small quantitie of goods but in the vnsatiablenesse of the mind Cicero saith in his Paradoxes That the fruit of riches is in the aboundance of them and that sufficednesse sheweth that there is aboundance and that to be contented with the goods a man hath is the surest richnesse One demaunded of Alcamenes What means a prince should vse to keepe well his realme The best quoth he is not to set his mind vpon mony nor to make his reuenue ouer-great Plutarch in the life of Marcus Cato saith There is not a more needfull prouision for them that intend to deale with the gouernment of a common-weale than riches but yet there is a sufficiency which being contented with it selfe without desiring particularly things superfluous doth by that means neuer distract the partie that hath it from minding and intending the publike affairs Anacharsis said That the couetous person and the nigard is vnable either to conceiue any good doctrine or to giue any good and wise counsell Lucrece said It is great riches when a man liueth trimlie of the little that he hath because that of that little there is not any want Horace in his twelfth Ode saith That a man may liue well and merrily of a little without breaking
his sweet sleepe through feare or hope For the affectionat minding of riches saith Ecclesâ—asticus pineth the flesh and the carke therof bereaueth a man of sleepe The same Horace writing to Crispus Salustius saith That that man is rich not which is a great king but which hath his lusts in subiection and that the thirst of him which is diseased with the dropsie is not to be stanched but by drawing the waterie humor out of the veins and by remouing the cause out of the disease Here by it is easie to decide the other question namely By what means a man may become rich For Socrates teacheth it in one word saying Ye shal easily become rich if you impouerish your lusts and desire Epicurus said That he that will make a man rich must not increase his goods but diminish his lusts For there is no riches so great as contentment And therfore the Philosopher Crates beholding how folke did buy and sell in the market said These folke are counted happie because they doe things contrarie one to another and I thinke my selfe happie that I haue rid my hands of buying and selling The true way then to become rich is to couet nought and to be vnmindfull of gaine specially of vnhonest gaine for that is no better than losse as saith Hesiodus For like as the liberall man is loued of all men according to this saying of Salomon in the nineteenth of his Prouerbs Euery man is a friend to him that giueth so the couetous person is hated of all men For the one helpeth the poore with his goods the other is loth to giue any thing In this respect Socrates said that a man must not require either talke to a dead man or a good turne of a nigard But there is nothing so royall and princely as to doe good vnto many as saith Cicero in his booke of Duties And it is found that there is more pleasure in giuing than in taking as saith S. Paul and also Hesiodus in his booke of Works and Daies And Ecclesiasticus saith Let not thy hand be open to receiue and shut to giue Dauid esteemeth him happie that lendeth and hath pitie of the poore saying That he shall euer haue wherwith to doe good without failing but he that stoppeth his eares at the cry of the needie shall crie himselfe and not be heard The same doth Salomon also say in the xxj of the Prouerbs And the Psalmist saith thus I haue bin young and now am old yet saw I neuer the righteous man forsaken nor his seed driuen to begge their bread but hee is still giuing lending and releeuing and his of-spring is seene to grow in good fortune and foyzon On the contrarie part The vnrighteous shall be driuen for verie hunger to borrow and not be able to pay but the righteous shall haue wherwith to shew their burning charitie Virgil in his sixth booke of Aenaeas putteth those persons in hell which haue done no good to their friends kins-folke and neighbours but haue bin wholly wedded to their riches without imparting them to other folks Acheius king of Elis was slaine by his owne subiects for couetousnes for his ouer-charging them with impositions Ochus king of Persia was blamed for that by reason of couetousnes he would neuer go into the country of Persland because that by the law of the realme he was bound to giue to euery woman that had born children one French crowne and to euerie woman with child two The only vice that Vespasian had was that he was extreamly couetous deuised many taxes moreouer bought things to sell theÌ„ again dealing more neerly for gain than a poore man would haue done which was great pitie for this emperors other vertues were defaced by that vice wherof princes ought to be wel ware For as Plutarch saith neuer shall any ciuil matter proceed wel without iustice without refraining from the lust desire of getting Hereby we see that as liberalitie is called iustice so couetousnes is nothing els but vniustice the which Bion the Sophist termed the principall towne of all vngratiousnes And Timon said That couetousnes ambitioÌ„ are the grounds of al mischiefe S. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothie calleth it The root of all euill saith That such as are wedded to it are falne from the faith Whosoeuer hath an ambitious or a couetous mind saith Euripides sauoreth not of any iust thing neither desireth he it and moreouer he is cumbersome to his friends and the whole citie where he dwelleth I am of opinion saith the same Euripides in his Heraclides that the righteous man is borne â—o the benefit of his neighbour but as for him that hath his heart turned away vnto gain he is vprofitable to his friends and hard to be delt with Salomon is the 15 of his Prouerbs saith That he which is giueÌ„ to couetousnes troubleth his own house but he that hateth gifts shall liue for gifts do blind the wise And in the 29 he saith That vnder a good king the land shall â—lourish but vnder a king that is couetous or loueth impositions it shall soon be destroied And in the xxiij againe he saith Labor not to be rich neither cast thine eies vpon the riches which thou caÌ„st not haue For they make theÌ„selues wings like eagles and flie vp into the aire that is to say they vanish away Againe in the xxviij he saith The faithfull man shall haue aboundance of blessings but he that hasteth to be rich shall not be guiltlesse neither knoweth he what want shall befall him The oracle of Apollo had foretold that Sparta should not perish but by couetousnesse and so it came to passe In like maner befell it to the citie of Athens For about the end of the wars of Peloponnesus Amintas began to corrupt the iudges with bribes and thence foorth they neuer prospered No other thing was the ruine of Rome Which thing Iugurth perceiuing who had bribed a great part of the senat with his monie said this O faire citie set to sale if a chapman were to be found for thee Plutarch in the life of Coriolane saith That after that bribes began once to preuaile in the election of officers it passed from hand to hand euen to the senators and iudges and from the iudges to the men of war insomuch that in the end it caused the common-weale to be reduced to a Monarchie and brought euen the men of arms themselues in subiection to monie so as the Pretorian souldiers sold the empire to them that paid faire gold for it and proceeded so far as to set it to open sale by the drum to him that offered most and was the last chapman CHAP. V. That Gentlenesse and Courtesie be needfull in the ordering of affairs the contraries whereunto be sternnesse and roughnesse OF Liberalitie proceedeth courtesie and Gentlenesse or rather Liberalitie proceedeth of kind-heartednesse and good will for as saith S. Paul in
see that as charitie extendeth further than gentlenesse so enuie extendeth further than hatred which seemeth contrarie to loue and charitie For enuie as Plutarch teacheth vs in his booke of Enuie and Hatred neuer departeth from those whom it hath once caught hold of neither in prosperitie nor in aduersitie wheras hatred vanisheth away in the extremitie of either fortune Furthermore when a man is persuaded that he hath receiued no wrong or taketh an opinion that those whom he hateth as wicked persons are become honest men or if they haue done him some such plesure as is a cause to dissolue the former iniurie the hatred ceasseth But as for the enuious person although no man do him harme yet ceasseth he not to be spitefull And if he see an honest man or a man of good qualities or if he receiue a good turne it doth but prouoke him the more to enuie so as he is exasperated by the things wherby hatred is assuaged Enuie is vndeterminable and resembleth diseased eies which are offended at all brightnesse and light But hatred is determinable and is alway founded and setled vpon certaine grounds in respect of it selfe By enuie came death into the world for through Satans enuie were we deceiued through that deceit became we disobedient and through that disobedience came death vpon vs. It is a very perilous vice which seazeth not only vpon mens states and liuings but also vpon their liues as wee read of Abell who was murthered through the enuie of Cain and of Ioseph who was sold through the enuie of his bretheren Saint Iohn Chrisostome in his 44 Homilie saith That this vice in respect of other vices is vnexcusable for the lechor excuseth himselfe by lust the theefe by pouertie and the man-slear by choler but the enuious man can find no excuse at all God commaundeth vs to loue our enemies and the enuious man hateth euen his friends And in his fiue and fortith Homilie and likewise vpon the one and twentith of Genesis he saith That as the worme marreth the timber wherin it breedeth afore it goe out euen so doth enuie marre the man Antisthenes said That as rust eateth yron so the enuious are consumed by the fretting of their owne enuie For the enuious saith Horace pineth away at the prosperitie of another And Alexander said vnto Meleager That the enuious man carrieth his owne torment with him Salomon in the fourteenth of the Prouerbs saith That as a sound heart is the life of the bodie so enuie is a consumer of the bones Plutarch likeneth enuie to smoke For afore the flame breake out it mounteth vp great but as soone as the flame sheweth it selfe the smoke vanisheth by little and little and in the end is no more seene Plato in his booke of Lawes saith That the enuious man imagining to vaunt himselfe the more by finding fault with others can neuer attaine to true vertue and is a hinderer of those whom he spighteth by the wrongfull slaunders which hee reporteth of them Plutarch in the life of Lisander saith that in the pursute of vertue the enuious and ambitious men doe hold those for their aduersaries whome they might and ought rather to serue and helpe in the doing of great and goodly things For through their iealousnesse of glorie they commonly enuie their like Wherevpon commeth this saying of Martiall That there no account is made of them that are aliue It is Enuie that causeth vs to esteeme more of men of old time than of men now liuing And as Ouid saith We take no pleasure in reading mens books vntil the authours of them be dead because enuie hath accustomed vs to wound the liuing with venemous tooth For enuie feedeth vpon vs so long as wee be aliue but be we once dead she ceasseth and then is praise giuen according to desert Some man will say that this discourse may well be directed to common persons but princes are out of enuies reach For if a prince be enuied it cannot hurt him and therewithall he is too great to beare enuie to his subiects The enuie that Saule had vnto Dauid for fighting with Goliah sheweth sufficiently that kings are not exempted from enuie For albeit that he receiued right great good by that deed of Dauids yet notwithstanding for as much as he was blinded and as it were drunken with enuie he held him being his benefactor as his enemie Abimelech was a king and a great lord and yet when he saw Isaak a stranger prosper and grow rich in his realme he draue him out When Laban saw Iacob his son in law growne richer than himselfe he could not afterward giue him a good looke Wherfore it is not to be douted but that a prince may be enuious also be enuied therby receiue harme For man whatsoeuer he be the more goods power he hath the more enuie beareth he on his back Denni the tyraÌ„t kept himselfe not only froÌ„ his enemies but also froÌ„ his friends yea euen from the wisest of theÌ„ saying that there was none of them which had not rather raign than serue Had Dâ—on Iulius Caesar done as he did it had bin the better for theÌ„ but they said they had leuer die than to distrust their friends And ye must not thinke that a prince can be priuiledged froÌ„ being enuious as who wold say there were no person whoÌ„ he could or ought to enuie for enuie is a disease of the mind as wel as iealousie is The iealous person forgoeth not his iealosie by hauing a discreet wife that giueth him no occasion to misdout her for he is iealous of all that he seeth euen so the enuious man must needs feed his own fancie though there be no apparent matter wherwith Othanes said that kings do enuy good men yea hate them deadly that vertue is coÌ„monly hated of kings His so saying was to serue his turne in pleading against regalitie as I haue said in the 1 booke For a good king loueth vertue vertuos folk but an euill king doth both hate enuie theÌ„ And as Manlius said in Titus Liuius Enuie serueth but to speake euil of vertue to deface the honor therof and to bereaue it of reward Plutarch saith in the life of Cato That all the great men were enemies to Cato because they saw him to be vpright in iustice they were ashamed of their own vniustice This was but an enuie that they bore vnto Cato therfore they were enemies vnto him Caligula was desirous of his own ease yet was he enuious toward those that were at ease as wel as he In the voiage that he made into Germany so hastilie that the ensigns were folded vp caried vpon sumpter-horses that the baÌ„ds might march with the more speed albeit that himselfe went in a goodly couch and made plain paths all the way that he went yet notwithstaÌ„ding he wrat vnto Rome that seeing he was in such danger
reiection putting backe or rebuke was neuer discouraged or troubled Metelius hauing only of a great number of senators refused vpon perill of his life to be sworne to a wicked law that was proclaimed by Saturnius a tribune of the people said vnto his friends that accompanied him That to doe euill was too easie and too loitering a thing and that to do well where no danger is was too common a thing but to doe good where danger is that was the propertie of a man of honour and vertue Cicero in the second booke of his Orator saith It is a great commendation to endure aduersitie wisely and not to be discouraged by mis-fortune but to hold a mans selfe vpright and to reteine his dignitie in the time of distresse For there is not a thing more beseeming a noble minded man than to be of great courage and loftie in aduersitie the which would ill-beseeme him in prosperitie And as Plutarch saith like as they that walke with a statelie gate are accounted vain-glorious and yet notwithstanding that maner of marching is allowed and commended in them that goe to battell euen so he that aduanceth his mind in aduersitie is deemed to be of excellent and vnuanquishable courage as hauing a braue port and stout countenance to encounter aduersitie which in prosperitie would ill beseeme him For we reade that he which is of great courage despiseth and maketh none account of all that may befall to man ne esteemeth any worldly thing in comparison of himselfe They therefore that are endued with a great and loftie courage are alwaies happie as who doe know that all the turmoilings of fortune and all the changes of matters and times are light and weake when they come to encounter against vertue Magnanimitie or noblemindednes is the meane betweene bacemindednes and ouerloftines For he that applieth himselfe to great things is called nobleminded and he that dareth not aduenture vpon them is called baceminded Likewise he that aduentureth vpon all things though he can doe nothing aright is called foolehardy The nobleminded man aduāceth not himselfe for honor riches or prosperity neither maketh he the greater account of himself for them if he fall from his degree or loose his goods he stoopeth not for it for he is vpheld with a certain force stoutnes of mind Contrariwise the baceminded or faintharted man becommeth wonderfully vainglorious of euery little peece of good fortune or aduauncement that befalleth him and at euery little losse that betideth him he shrinketh and is cast downe like an abiect as if he had lost al because he hath not the force of mind to beare his fortune either good or bad The foolehardie is of the same stamp sauing that without reason he aduentureth vpon the things which the other dareth not vndertake The nobleminded man hath six properties the first is that he thrusteth not himselfe into perils rashly and for small trifles but for great matters whereof he may haue great honor and profit As for example Alexander liked not to haue the honor of winning the wager at the gaming 's of Olimpus because there were no kings to encounter with him This came of a noble and princely mind But when he was to goe to the assault of a towne or the giue battell he was euer one of the foremost The second propertie of the nobleminded is to reward vertuous persons and such as haue imploied themselues in his seruice Wherunto a king ought to haue a good eie as I haue said in the title of righteousnes The third propertie of the nobleminded is to do but little and not to hazard his selfe at all times For a man cannot do great things easily and often The fourth property is to be soothfast and to hate lying and all the appurtenances therof as flatterers talebearers and such others which ought to be odious most cheefly vnto princes who should be a rule to other men as I haue said alreadie in speaking of truth and shal speake againe hereafter in discoursing of vntruth The fifth property of the nobleminded is that he is no great crauer nor no great borower assuring himself that nothing is so deerly bought as that which is gotten by intreatance Wherefore as for the emperors that hild out their hands at their court gates to receiue presents and newy earsgists of the people they were so far off from being princely minded that they were rather to be esteemed inferior to rogues and beggars and al such like rascals The sixt propertie of the nobleminded is that he passeth not whether he be praised or dispraised so long as he himselfe do well of which sort was Fabius Maximus who regarded not to be called a coward but went forward continually with his platform of the ouerthrowing of Hannibal without giuing him battell of hazarding any thing Pericles what outcries so euer men made vpon him forbare not to go vnto the multitude but did like the good pilot of a ship which giueth order for all things in the ship without staying at the teares and shriekings of the passengers tormenting themselues with the terror of the storm For magnanimitie cōsisteth not only in despising death but also in not regarding the vaine discourses and turmoiles of such as vnderstand not what the matters meane In which behalfe Pompey made a great fault when he yeelded so easily to go to battel least he should displease the yoong captains of his army and had leuer contrarie to his own determination to hazard the victory which was as good as sure vnto him without stroke striking than paciētly to here the wrōgful railings that were cast forth against him CHAP. IX That Diligence is requisit in matters of state FOrasmuch as valeantnes or prowesse commeth of a constant mind that is ready to aduenture without regard of danger and magnanimitie spareth not it selfe in any thing so honor may ensue ne regardeth what men say or doe so she may compasse hir affairs for the attaining whereunto she forbeareth not any pains me thinks it is reasonable to treat here of that braunch of Prowesse and magnanimitie which is called Diligēce a vertue very wel beseeming a prince as without the which he cannot raigne happily And as Xenophon saith in his first booke of the Trainemnt of Cyrus It is agreeable to reason that such should prosper in their affairs as are skilfull in them and be diligent in going forward with them rather than they that are ignorant and flouthfull And a little after he sayth That a prince ought to indeuor to passe his subiects not in sloth and idlenes but in discretion and diligence Plutarch sayth That as water corrupteth that is not resored to so the life of idle folke is corrupted and marred by slothfulnes because none are helped by them Thucidides reporteth Alcibiades to haue said That a citie giuen to idlenes did marre and corrupt of it selfe but did vphold and amend it self in experience of many
Antonine did put the Talebearers to death which could not proue their sayings And if they proued them then gaue he them their hire but yet did he declare them to be infamous The punishment of fals-accusers is written in the Digests and in the bookes of Moyses where all men may see them CHAP. XIIII That princes must aboue all things eschue Choler THe fourth sort of temperance consisteth in moderating anger the which Mercurie said to be vnseperatly matched with rashnesse And therfore Socrates said It was lesse danger to drink foule and muddie water than to stanch a mans choler with reuenge The contrarie thereof is meeldnesse clemencie or meekenesse which is the meane betweene anger and blockishnes or sheepishnes and moderateth the passions that rise in vs by reason of some wrong or euill spoken or done vnto vs the which we would punish more than reason will admit if we should suffer our choler to go vnbridled And as a wise and mild man must not be angry at euery word so not to be angry at any time and to leaue malefactors vnpunished for feare of being angry is ill done And we may offend as well in too litle as in too great desire of punishing crimes For it is meet we should be angry in due time with such as deserue it prouided that reason accompany our anger the which taking from anger the eagernes of reuenge as Plutarch sayth doth the more safely and more profitably punish the partie that deserueth it without putting a mans selfe or the partie in danger as choler often doth For as Salomon saith he that is vnpatient shal beare the paine of it Meeldnes neither seeketh reuenge of the faults that are committed ne leaueth great faults vnpunished Whereof all such ought to take good heed as are in authoritie least they passe the bounds of meeldnes and gentlenesse through too rigorous correction or lay away the rigour of correction through too much meeldnes and lenitie as Saint Gregorie sayth in his morals Aristotle in the fourth booke of his morals sayth that as inordinat anger is a vice so is also the vtter want of it For when there is a heinous crime a man ought to be angry and they that in such case are not angry seeme ignorant misaduised and carelesse to encounter the faults that are committed Cicero in his Duties sayth There is not any thing more commendable than meeldnesse nor more beseeming a great lord and yet must it be with condition that seuerity be matched with it without the which no common-weale can be wel gouerned Aristotle in his Rhetoriks calleth meeldnesse a pacifying of choler and differeth from clemency in that clemencie is a gentlenes in punishing proceeding from the superior to the inferior wheras meeldnesse is common to all men according to the distinction of S. Thomas of Aquine Anger is a boiling vp of the blood about the hart which as saith Aristotle in his booke of the Soule worketh an eagernes to punish the offender or else as he saith in his Rhetoriks it is a desire of reuenge appearing with a greife or an eager disposition to reuenge or else as Plutarch saith a certaine enforcing of the courage vnmeasurably swelling with the affections that prouoke a man to reuenge Chrisostome in his third Homily saith It is a certaine violentnesse void of reason Cicero in his Tusculanes saith it is a certaine eagernes and inordinat desire to punish a party whom we deem to haue done vs wrong Let vs speake first of meeldnesse and afterward of Anger Meeldnesse is commended of all men and numbred by Saint Mathew among the eight points of blessednesse And yet notwithstanding he that is meeld and mercifull faileth not to be angry For else he should be blockish and without any feeling But he is angry with reason he is angrie at the vice and not at the person And that is the meaning of the Psalmist where he saith Be angrie and sinne not After that manner was Saint Paule angrie at the horrible wrong done by Elymas the Magician and Saint Peter at Saphyra Moyses was counted the meeldest man of his time and yet he made men oftentimes to passe the edge of the sword For his meeldnesse was no impeachment to iustice and to the punishing of sin Meeldnes then is a vertue that neither seeketh reuenge of all faults nor leaueth the great faults vnpunished In which behalf many deceiue themselues calling a prince mercifull when he pardoneth one that hath coÌ„mitted a wicked murder or some other notable mischiefe But as Archidamus saith this is to be counted cruelty against good men Mercie is occupied in pardoning not the faults done against the publick-weale but the faults commited against our selues as Titus did who forgaue them that had conspired against him and Agesilaus who by his benefits made his enemy his friend and likewise Augustus who pardoned Cuma a traitor and banished Timagenes that did but slaunder him without hurting him There was one Caelianus accused vnto him to haue spokeÌ„ euil of him Proue it qd Augustus then shall ye see that I haue a toung that I can speak euill of him also Tiberius wrate vnto him that one railed vpon him and he answered it was inough for him that no man did him harme Alexander said it was a princely thing to be ill spoken of for well doing Philip did so much good vnto one that railed vpon him incessantly that he wonne him to be a faithfull seruant and a trumpet to sound abroade his praises And when he had enquired of his friends that had counselled him to punish the railer whether he had ben as outrageous in his words as he was wont to be or no and vnderstood by them that he spake good of him euery where Lo quoth he ye see it is in our owne power to haue good or bad report The same Philip hauing one of his eies striken out at the siege of Modon when he was possessed of the town delt neuer a whit the worse with the townsmen for it Antigonus walking abroad in his campe heard certaine souldiers speaking euill of him wherupon lifting vp the tent he shewed himself vnto them and said Ye shall weepe for it if yâ— go not further of to speake euill of me Pirrhus was easie to pardon whensoeuer any man had angred him insomuch that one day as Plutarch sayth in his life when certaine yong men were brought vnto him that had spoken many outtrageous words against him he asked them if they had spoken those words or no. Yea sir qd one of them had spoken many mo but that our wine failed vs. At which saying he smiled and pardoned them The same prince being counselled to banish a tailer that spake euil of him answered it is better that he should raise an ill report of vs among a few by tarying here stil than that he should sow abrode his railing here and there by driuing him â—urther of
this celler or warehouse whatsoeuer he listeth to choose For it is farre easier to take in one place the wares that come from diuerse parts of the world than to go seeke them a farre off and in places dispersed And yet is it to no purpose to seeke them all in one place vnlesse they be sorted out aforehand so as a man may put his hand to whatsoeuer he requireth For that cause it behoued me to vse a method in referring euery hystorie to his proper place There are many other points of warre to be found in hystories the which my hast to make an end of this my discourse causeth me to let alone and to content my selfe for this present to haue declared vnto you the things that I haue drawn out of Plutarch Thucidides and some other authours that came to my remembrance Also I haue left many which you may see in the Mounsieur de Langies Discipline of warre Of others I will say as an euil painter That they lie hid behind the Cipres cloth As touching the feats of warre of our dayes I will not presume to speake of them because they which are yet aliue haue seene the practising of a great part of them and can better and more particularly report them than they be written And to say the truth when I considered the feats of warre of these times I find them so honorable that they be nothing inferior to those of old time But it is better to leaue the reporting of them to those that were at the doing of them than to speake of them like a clearke of armes for feare least it be said vnto me That the things were not so done as they be written The which I doubt not but men will thinke euen of those also which I haue here alledged But they be drawne out of such authors as for their antiquitie and authoritie haue purchased prescription against all reproches FINIS †Alexander the great Arist. lib. 9. of matters of gouernment Isocrates in his Panathe What Policie is Cicero in his booke of the ends of good and euill Our life cannot be without Dutie Cicero in the ends of good and euil men The definition of Dutie Two sortes of Duetie Men are beholders of heauenlie thinges Cicero in his second booke of the nature of the Gods The louing of our neighbor is the fulfilling of the law â—n his 13 book of the citie of God Histories â—erue for good instruction The definition of a Prince Plutarch in the life of Pelopidas The prince is as a God among men A prince should not be bare of treasure What an emperour is The qualities of a good emperour Kings are heardmen and sheepheards of their people What a king is A king must commaund his subiects as a father doth his children * The iust coÌ„maundement of the prince and the iust obedience of the subiects are answerable either to other cannot be separated The marke of a tyrant A Kingdome Tyrannie The way to winne loue Vniustice is the cause of the alteration of states The kingdome that is maintained by friendly dealing is stronger than that which is vpheld by force No castle so strong as good will The best Bulwarke is the peoples loue The praise of Aristâ—cracie Kings do not so easily resâ—st their lusts as priuat persons doe The coÌ„mendation of the state of a kingdome Sole gouernment maketh men insolent Kingdomes haue passed al other states of gouernment both in largenesse of dominion in length of time A commendation of the popular state People are more tractable hauing a head than being without a head The reward of such as serue in popular state In the citie of Athens wise men propouÌ„d and fooles iudge Whether dissention be requisite in a common weale or no. The friendship of Caesar and Pompey was the ouerthrow of the common-weale Great dissention between ouer-great personages is dangerous to a state The absolute gouernment is best and most certain The Athenians had many Captains Kingdomes haue been of longer continuance and made greater conquests than any other state of gouernment Of a Tyrant A Tyrant sildome leaueth his kingdom to his posteritie Why Tyrants are murthered rather than priuat householdâ—rs being both of them wicked Nembroth the first King Elections are causes of great warres In the kingdome that goes by inheritance there is no cause of warre A King that is vnder age ruleth by his counsell Wicked kings are sent of God for the sins of the people The state of the time and of affaires causeth ciuill warres Priuat quarrels caused the wars vnder Charles the sixt The hearts of kings are in the hand of God Princes cannot be vertuous vnlesse they be learned Good bringing vp moderateth mens affections Good Education altereth a mans euill disposition Wild horses become good by well handling Good Education in youth is the root of all goodensse A young prince of neuer so good a nature shall hardly doe any great thing being not trained vp in vertue By what means a yong prince is to be drawne to learning and vertue The rod and correction giue wisdome Why many princes begin well and end ill Children are to be kept from the company of flatterers The hating of lies The best way to learne rule is first to obay Euery man is desirous to be the chiefe of his profession The pains that Demosthenes tooke to become an Orator The way to learning is to descend into a mans selfe A prince ought to consider his owne abilitie A prince must be affable retaining the maiestie of his person and state A prince ought to be a Warriour The enemies of peace are ouercome by warre Warre must not be made but for to establish peace Kings haue lost their states for want of applying themselues to the warres Captains despise them that loue not chiluarie It is no reason that the man that is well armed should yeeld to him that is vnarmed The things that are to be done in war are to be learned afore haÌ„d at leisure Princes must inure themselues their subiects to the exercise of arms Whether the common people be to bee trained to the wars or no. A profitable discourse concerning Philopoemen What the souereigne good is Wherin the happinesse of princes may consist To become happy we must seeke perfection Felicitie lieth in all vertuous actions Riches without vertue be like a feast without any man to eat it Which are the true riches Of profit Of Pleasure Pleasure is to be considered by hir going away The pleasure that commeth of the beholding of the things that are done in a Common-weale A good name is a sweet sent or sauor The wise saying of king Ferdinand All princes are iealous of their honor Men must be such as they would seeme to be A doer of good to others is esteemed as a God The pleasure of princes consisteth in honor A definition of Vertue A diuision of Vertue Vertue is the Art of al our whole life