him odious to his people and in the mean time fleece the poor miserable Subjects Therefore let every Officer provide himself to render an Account of his Administration to the People who are to give in Information to the King every ten yeares where they have been honestly dealt with and where not All False Witnesses also of whom the World is so full must likewise be severely punished and there must be care taken also that the Atturnies of the Exchequer may not force men by threatning words and sometimes by blowes too to be Witnesses for them But the best Course would be that the Law of Retaliation should be in force that the Complainant that makes not good his Accusation should suffer the same punishment that the other should have done if found guilty because that now adaies there are more Calumnies brought into Courts then Just Accusations And therefore any Lawyer that shall be found to have suborned any such Witnesse or any Judge that shall be proved to have taken any Bribe to pervert the Lawes should be debarred for ever after either from pleading at any Bar or giving sentence in any Court The King must also take care that Judges give sentence alwaies according to the Lawes and not according as Policy of State as they use to speak shall require and afterward either the King himself or his Viceroy or any other of the Kings Ministers may mitigate the Rigour of the Law as they shall see cause provided it be not in Case of High Treason that by this meanes they may gain the more upon the Peoples Affections And that untoward Custome is to be rooted out of the minds of Ordinary Judges which yet hath taken deeper root in the minds of the Superiour Judges also namely that although they know an accused person to be Innocent yet they will condemn him though it be in a matter of no Moment to the end that the fault may at last light upon Him after the businesse hath been a good while depending under the Judge that so as they use to say there may seem to have been Pregnant Reasons for the long depending of the Cause Whereas they should be so far from aggravating any fault as that they should rather lessen it as much as may be and so they should endeavour the rather to be really Just then to get an Opinion of being so to the great detriment of the People and also of the King himself who through the wickednesse of these Unjust Judges who are hated both by God and Himself is deprived of the Love and Affections of his People which is the main Prop of His Affaires and besides Good Men having lost their reputation desire to change their present state for a better as we see it usually comes to passe And no people have opportunity of offending more dangerously and closely then your Inferiour Officers have and besides these men the more in favour they are with the Prince the more grievously are they wont to aggravate mens crimes And therefore in this case there ought to be certain Commissaries at all times deputed and the same also to be maintained at the Charge of the said Ministers who shall yearly also lay down a certain summe of Mony to be kept in some Common place for the charges of the next Commissaries the following year that by these their Books of Accounts may be examined during the time of their being in Office or afterwards also if need be For by reason of the Corruption of these Inferiour Officers whole Provinces have many times heretofore fallen off from the Roman Empire especially when they have been found to be too ambitious and active in squeezing the Subjects either for the enriching of the Publick Treasury or else for the filling of their own private Coffers And for this reason it was that the Parthians having killed Crassus filled his mouth full of Melted Gold as a certain Spanish Grandee was also served by some Indians in the New World And certainly Covetousnesse and an open barefaced Desire of Gold was the reason that the Affaires of the Spaniards succeeded so ill in the New World into which at first they had so miraculous an Entrancâ— and that the other Nations there perceiving that humour in them stood upon their guard as well as they could against the Spaniard whose Government notwithstanding before they had not refused The same manner of proceeding also in the Netherlands was the cause of the ruining of the Spanish Affaires there Let all Criminal Causes in times of Peace be protracted as much as may be For No delay about the death of any man can ever be too long but this must not be in times of War As for Civil Causes they ought all to be without any demurring or delay heard and determined CHAP. XIV Of the Barons and Nobility of the Spanish Monarchy THe King of Spain to the end that so vast a Monarchy may not fall to decay hath need of such men as are excellent both for Learning and the practise of Armes whom He ought to reward afterwards with Baronies that so being from thenceforth made sharers as it were of the said Monarchy they may to their utmost power endeavour to maintain and make good the same to their Prince Which Baronies notwithstanding when they once fall into the hands of Unworthy persons are the cause of much mischief And they do fall into such hands when they come to be bestowed either upon Buffoons or perhaps such Exchequer Men as have found out new waies of oppressing the Subject or else when they have been conferred at first upon Wise and Valiant men whose Successors for all that may have proved to be Mean Inconsiderable persons or are else riotous and proud and such as laying aside all thought of their Ancestors Virtue take the full enjoyment only of that they have left them and having no worth of their own can onely boast of the Nobility of their Ancestors And hence it is that the King is in want so much of Persons of Worth whilest the number of such Uselesse Drones encreaseth in the Kingdom The Great Tuâ—k that he may prevent the latter of these Mischiefs putting by all such as are bottom'd only upon Others Nobility takes notice of such onely as are Eminent for some worth of their own Neither doth he suffer any son to succeed in the Estate or Goods of his Father by Right of Inheritance but he is to receive the same at his hands as a reward of his Service if so be he deserve it But in case he do not he must then serve him either in some Ignoble Art or else in some inferiour Office in his Wars The Former of these Inconveniences any King of Spain may prevent if he but confer these rewards upon such onely as are deserving Persons but the Remedy of the Second which is practised by the Turks cannot be made use of among Christians Onely let him be sure that many of these Baronies
same and apply what Counsells are here given the King of Spain to their own Affaires For if it be good counsel for the King of Spain to take To procure and maintain a perfect Vnion among his own subjects at home but on the Contrary To sow the seeds of Division among his Enemies abroad the same must be as good Counsel for the King of France also to take or any other Prince or Potentate what ever If it be good Counsel to the Spaniard Never to trust so much to any peace made with an Enemy as thereupon quite to lay aside his Armes it is altogether as good Counsel for any other Prince And the same may be said of any other of the General Maxims of Policy delivered here by our Author But as for what in Particular concerns the Advancement of the Spaniard and his Designs in order to the bringing about of his Universal Monarchy whether the Rules by our Author laid down were in sufficient to do the businesse or whether hough they were every way as full and proper as could be yet having not been precisely observed the businesse hath miscarried and the Spaniard hath not as yet arrived and perhaps now is never like to arrive to the end of his Desires all this needs not hinder but that thou shouldest look upon this Author as a man of a most clear wit Judgment and prize him as one that was full of knowledge and experience in the Affaires of the World and a most industrious and studious person In the Third and last place thou art to take notice as concerning this Translation that we have therein dealt so fairely nd Ingenuuosly with our Author as that we have perfectly and entirely preserved his own sense unto himâ— Neither have we stopt his foul mouth where he hath either used ill Language toward any of the Protestant Princes or cast dirt into the faces of the first Reformers Luther Calvin c. For to what end should we falsifie our Original by making our Author more Civil then he had a mind to be seeing we are never a whit the worse for being so miscalled by him nor is he himself a jot the wiser for using us so And to say the Truth we our selves take the same Liberty towards them and therefore for ought I see Hanc Veniam petimusque damusque vicissim We must even be content to allow each other this Liberty on both sides An Index of the CHAPTERS CHAP. I. Of the Causes of Humane Principalities Page 1. II. The Causes of the Spanish Empire p. 4 III. Of the first Cause of Empires namely God p. 6 IV. Of the Spanish Empire considered according to the First Cause p. 9 V. Of the Second Cause namely Prudence 15 VI. How the Clergy are to be dealt withal 25 VII What may be further added concerning Prudence and Opportunity 30 VIII The Causes by which the Spanish Monarchy may be enlarged and become lâ—sse 31 IX Of the King 32 X. What Sciences are required in a Monarch to render Him admired by all 45 XI Of Lawes both good and bad 50 XII Of Counsel 52 XIII Of Justice and its Contrary 57 XIV Of the Barons and Nobility of the Spanish Empire 60 XV. Of the Souldiery 66 XVI Of the Treasure of Spain 81 XVII Of the Peoples Love and Hate as also of Conspiracies 93 XVIII Of Preachers and Prophâ—sies 105 XIX Of such Kingdomes as are properly belonging to the King of Spain and of such also as arâ— his Enemies and of these which are in League with each other and which not 115 XX. Of Spain 125 XXI Of Italy 129 XXII Of Sicily and Sardinia 136 XXIII Of Germany 139 XXIV Of France 144 XXV Of England Scotland and Ireland 155 XXVI Of Poland Muscovia and Transylvania 162 XXVII Of Flanders and the Lower Germany 165 XXVIII Of Africk 185 XXIX Of Persia and Cataia 194 XXX Of the Great Turk and his Empire 197 XXXI Of the Other Hemisphere and the New World 211 XXXII Of Navigation 223 The Authors Preface THe Universal Monarchy of the World begining from the East and so coming at length to the West having passed through the hands of the Assyrians Medes Persians Greeks and Romans who were divided by the Imperial Eagle into Three Heads is at length come down to the Spaniard upon whom after so long Slavery and Division it is wholly conferred by Fate and that with greater Splendour then on any of his Predecessors to whom also according to the Vicissitude of Humane Affaires it did of right belong Now although I had not any Intention to write any thing touching either the Government or the Enlargement of the Spanish Monarchy which you most Noble Alfonso have desired me to do yet being at length delivered from my Tedious Sicknesse and my Ten years Afflictions though I am utterly deprived of the help of any Books and am as it were shut up as a Prisoner in this my Cell I shall notwithstanding in a brief and Compendious way give your Lordship an account what my Iudgment is concerning this Subject and shall give in the Causes of each several Point in General first not after a Natural nor a Theological but after a Political way and shall afterwards also descend to treaâ— more Particularly of the same Tho. Campanella A DISCOURSE TOUCHING The Spanish Monarchy CHAP. I. Of the Causes of Humane Principalities IN the acquiring and managing of every Dominion and Principality there usually concur three Causes that is to say God Prudence and Occasion All which being joyned together are called by the name of Fate which is nothing else but a concurrence of all the Causes working by vertue of the First And hence also is Fortune sprung which is the Successe of Earthly things whether it be good or evil whichâ— if it be rightly known is called Prudence but if otherwise it is then called Fate Fortune or Chance As for example if a man find that which he had long sought after it is called Vnderstanding and Prudence but if he light upon a thing which he did not seek after nor knew where it was it is called Chance or Fortune Among these three Causes One sometimes prevailes in the ruling of things more then Another and perhaps more then the Other two Yet notwithstanding if we will confesse the truth they are all Three Politically concurring in the businesse Do but take notice of the Kingdome of the Iewes wherein God was the Principal Agent who by sending Moses and Aaron furnished out the Other Two Causes For Moses was a person of extraordinary Wisdome and Knowledge not onely in Divine but in Humane things also for he was well versed in all the Learning of the Egyptians and managed a War for King Pharaoh against the King of Ethiopia whom he vanquished in the War and whose daughter also he took to Wife as both Flavius Iosephus and Philo testifie And yet for all this he despised not the advice of Iethâ—â— his Father-in-law touching
Authority as we find it testified by daily Experience Or else it may indeed be desired at the Popes hands that it should be so and it may also be declared that the King is willing to yield that in all Causes whatsoever there should be Appeales to the Pope if so be that it may be but every where allowed to appeal first to a Councel of Three Bishops or else that Appeales in all Causes of the Laity shall come at length to the Pope but passing first by degrees through a Councel consisting of two Bishops and the King and so to be referred afterward to a General Councel and last of all to come to the Pope for Appeals from General Councels are very seldome heard of and besides the very Name of a Councel is hateful to the Pope So that in conclusion the determination of all Causes will alwaies rest with the King who by this means shall be a Gainer where he seems to be a Loser CHAP. VII What may be ufrther added concerning Prudence and Opportunity THat Prudence ought in the first place to agree in all things with Divine Fate hath already been shewed it remaineth now that we speak of all the rest of the parts of Prudence and shew whitherto all its Vertues and especially Opportunity ought to be referred for as much as it is the property of Prudence to know how to make use of Occasion We have already also declared upon what Interests and under what Confederacy with the Pope the Monarchy of Spain ought to proceed at least as far as was fit to be committed to writing for the most secret Arcana and Mysteries of State are not thus to be made Publick It is therefore Manifest that the Occasion which the King of Spain hath consists chiefly in this that his Neighbouring Enemies are weak and at discord among themselves touching both Points of Religion and matters of State but his Remoter Enemies are more Powerful so that these if his weaker Neighbours were once overcome seem the more easily conquerable The Spaniard hath besides a Notable Occasion from the Extraordinary advantage of Navigation and by his having Dominion in all places round about the whole Earth in a Circle And it seems to me that the attaining to the Empire of the whole World is a very feasible businesse for Him to bring about if there could be such an Uniting of things together by degrees as I shall shew hereafter according to the General Rules of Politick Prudence Where we shall at length come to Particular Actions examined according to Nearer and Remoter Relations But first of all the Politick Relation of Spain at home is to be strengthened and afterwards the Forrain is to be looked after Thus therefore I proceed on to the businesse CHAP. VIII The Causes by which the Spanish Monarchy may be enlarged and become lesse THe Occasions by which the Spanish Monarchy may be kept up or perhaps be enlarged also are these First of all The Virtue of the King Secondly the Goodnesse of the Lawes thirdly the Wisdome of the Councel fourthly the Iustice of the Officers of State fiftly the Obedience of the Barons sixtly the Multitude and good Discipline of Souldiers and Commanders Seventhly a Full Treasury Eightly the Mutual Love of the People among themselves and toward their King Ninthly Good Preachers in their Sermons speaking for subjection to Kings Tenthly the Good Agreement betwixt his own Kingdomes and the Disagreement betwixt his Neighbours And on the contrary this Monarchy hath these things that may be the ruine of it as First A wicked King Secondly Bad Lawes Thirdly an Ignorant Councel Fourthly Vnjust Officers of State Fifthly a Disobedient Nobility Sixthly the Want of Souldiers and Commanders and those He hath not well disciplined Seventhly Want of Mony Eighthly The Mutual Hatred of the People among themselves and toward their King Ninthly False Prophets or else perhaps True ones that may rise up against Monarchy Tenthly The Discord of his Own Kingdomes and the Agreement among others All which things are Prudently to be considered and weighed seeing that the present Disagreement among the Enemies of Spain and his Power at Sea all over the World have rendred the Attempt not only of maintaining but of enlarging this so great a Monarchy very feasible CHAP. IX Of the King HE cannot govern the World that cannot govern an Empire neither can he rule an Empire that cannot a Kingdom nor he a Kingdom that cannnot a Province nor he a Province that cannot a City nor he a City that cannot a Village nor he a Village that cannot a Family nor he a Family that cannot a single house nor he a single house that cannot govern himself neither can he govern himself that cannot reduce his affections and bring them within the compasse of Reason which very thinâ— no man is able to do except he submit himself to the will of God For whosoever rebels against God who is the Supreme Wisdom against him shall all things that are subordinate to him rebel also and that justly and by the Law of Retaliation which is most just in all both Governments and Actions of Men. Having therefore weighed in onr mind and coâ—sidered all the Ideas and Formes of Humane Government we say that the King of Spains endeavours must be that He may arrive to the Highest pitch of Wisdom that may be For every Virtue is an Affection of the Mind consisting in a certain Mean beyound which if it arise or fall beneath it it comes to be a Vice Now it is Reason that constitutes this Mean And therefore we are to say that Actions alone do not render a man Vertuous but to this purpose there is required also a Natural Inclination in the Person which is derived both from the Complexion of his Parents from the Aire and from the Stars Seeing therefore that the Kingdom of Spain is not an Electtive one but descends by succession I say that the King ought to have but one wife for to have more is contrary to Reason it self which is to be of a tall Stature and she must be both fruitful and Eloquent and must excel all other women in the endowments both of Body and Mind Neither must he look after the Noblensse of her Family only for so she may chance to be barren or may some other waies be not so pleasing to Him and he should be overwhelmed with all those mischieifs that Henry the Eighth was or the Duke of Mantua Whence Francis the Duke of Tuscany might seem to deserve commendation if he had married Blanch only because he wanted an Heir to succeed him The King is likewise to exercise the Act of Copulation with his Queen under a Fortunate Planet onely and after Digestion is finished and besides he must not do this till after he hath abstained some reasonable time from the said Act to the end that his seed may be the more fruitful and when ever he hath any thing to do with his
turn Priests or Friers or Renegadoes and so to serve as Souldiers in other Countries And therefore it would be much the better course to use them more Courteously and to take this for a most certain Truth That Mony doth not give Men Dominion over their Enemies but rather exposeth them as a Prey to others And therefore the Spaniard is in a very great Errour as we shall hereafter shew while he thinks that Mony hath the Command of All the World Whereas in truth it is thy Vassals and thy Souldiers that must make Thee Lord over thine Enemies and not thy Mony For the Only Use of Mony is to procure and maintain Souldiers with it It is much better therefore that Souldiers should bear rule over any Country then Mony for by this means mutual Amity and friendship will be the better preserved betwixt the Souldier and the Subject And to this purpose it would be much a safer course if there were a Law made both in Spain and other places that the Eldest Sons only should inherit their Fathers Estates and the rest should all serve the King and be Pensioners to Him then so severely to squeeze out of the People such vast Summes of Mony as the Kings Ministers do In the second place I would have some course to be taken for the promoting of Peoples Marrying by the denying of some certain Honours and Priviledges to all such who being arrived to the Age of One and Twenty years unlesse they be Souldiers do not marry for by this means the summes required for Virgins Portions in Marriage which â—ath now rendred the Condition of Matrimony very hard will be abated And this is one of the Principal Elements of advancing a Common-Wealth and was much made use of by the Romans It would do very well also if a Law were made that the daughters of no Tradesmenâ— or Husbandmen should bring above a Hundred Crowns to their Husbands for their Portions and that within the compass of this Law should be included all those also who have in former timeâ— ever been Tradesmen or Mechanical persons For now adaies when any one hath scraped together but a Hundred Crowns he presently puts the same out to use and looks ever after to be called a Gentleman quite bidding Adieu to his Profession and thus the Kings Tributes are diminished not without the losse and detriment of the rest of their fellow Subjects But a Circumspect and wise Law-maker will be able to provide well enough against all these things Thirdly let the King give leave to his Souldiers to seize upon Women in the Low-Countries England and Africk and carry them away with them by force which they may afterwards make their Wives according as any of them shall be invited to do so by Mutual Love and these Women thus caught up I would have to be maintained at the Kings Charge who for this cause must enlarge the Souldiers pay But all these things are to be so ordered that the Dutch Women be married to Spaniards and the African Women either to Germans or Low-Dutch and the Spanish Women to Italians For this the Law of Nature seems to require that the Heat of the Spaniaâ—d should be rendred more fruitful by the German Juycinesse and that the Fiery Temper of the African should be attempered and allayed by the Cold and Moyst Constitution of the Netherlander that so both Venereal Desires and Fecundity too may be the more excited and procured as I have formerly shewed in My Philosophy And as concerning this Temperament the Italians are good for both And from hence will arise two Advantages the First whereof is that these Women will embrace the Christian Faith for a Woman will never be of any other Religion then that which her Husband whom she loves so dearly is of As your Northern Women who are naturally coldâ— love their South-Country Husbands who are hotâ— and the Sabine Young Women made peace betwixt the Romans their Ravishers and the Sabines their Parents that came to demand them of the Romans and to have them home again And St. Paul saith that the Unbelieving Wife is sanctified by her Believing Husband and so on the contrary The Second Advantage is that by this meanes the King shall never be without good store of Souldiers while He shall alwaies have his Souldiers Sons also to make Souldiers of When therefore He shall once come to abound in Souldiers by reason of this course taken to promote Fructification which I have now laid down it will be a means to inflame the Souldiers minds and will exceedingly encourage them to go on against any Garrisons or Fortified places of the Enemy that so they may get themselves handsome women for their Wives and afterward may lye still and take their ease And this was a Secret of Plato's finding out that Souldiers should be stirred up and encouraged to fight for Love I would also have a Law made that such Souldiers as have taken away more Women then one should be placed in some strong Holds and keep Garison there and not be forced to follow the Camp in like manner as at Naples all those Souldiers that are married are put into the Forts there and it would do very well if such were sent away into some New Colonies of the New World Fourthly let Him cause to be erected in each of his several Dominions as namely in Spain Naples the Low-Countries c. two or four Seminaries of Souldiers into which shall be put poor Mens Sons only and Bastards which shall be here trained up to the Exercise of Armes acknowledging the King for their father and none else and these after they are once grown up to be listed for Souldiers shall go and seize upon Women where they can in an enemies Country which they may make their Wives And this will be a means to encourage poor people to get children as fast as they can as being certainly provided of one that will breed them up for them and the King also shall by this means be sure to have faithful Souldiers But in Forreign Nations let Him erect for every several Nation a several Seminary as for Example let there be one for the Moors and another for the Sons of the Low-Dutch all which He shall cause to be brought up in Military Discipline as the Great Turk doth his Ianizaries And besides there should be certain poor women maintained in the said Seminaries at the Kings Charge who shall make the Souldiers beds or may Spin and Weave cloath for the making of Sailes or the like Then again that such as are too near of kin may not marry contrary to the Orders of the Church and withal that those Marriages that are made may prove the more fruitful I would have Italian Women to be married to those that are of the Seminaries of the Low-Countries or of Spain For by this means also there will not so many Idle persons enter themselves into Religious Orders as there do who
day who are so distracted and divided by several Heresies that the Assyrians were of old to the Iewes who by faction were divided into the Kingdomes of Iudah and Israel except the Good Angell of Spain afford us his assistance as I have elsewhere shewed CHAP. III. Of the First Cause of Empires namely God IT is very evident that neither Prudence alone nor yet joyned with Occasion is sufficient for the attaining to or governing a Kingdome for as much as we know that the Freedom of the Will consists only in the Will it self and not either in Action or Passion For it may so fall out that a man may over night purpose the next morning to go to Sea or to study or to go to plow or to do any other businesse and yet upon a sudden the falling of Rain or unexpected tempestuous and foul weather may crosse that so wise counsel of his so that he must be forced to do not according to his own determination but according as matters shall fall out So that he that knowes how so to order his Counsels and Determinations as that they shall alwaies be subordinate to the Superiour Causes his affaires shall seldom fail of succeeding prosperously Wisemen therefore make it their businesse to labour after the knowledge of these Superiour Causes of God and His Divine Will on which the whole Chain and Series of future things depends And hence it is that some have sought for God in the Stars who hath also answered some by the Stars as namely the Magi or Wisemen at our Saviours Nativity And perhaps a Rainy Morning may have done no hurt at all to this or that Astrologer because they foresaw this Rain and so probably ordered their affaires accordingly having regard to the Will of God herein who out of his singular goodnesse will be found there where we seek him with a sincere heart Nay when the businesse so requires he answereth even those that do not seek him with a sincere heart as we see in Balaam whom he answer'd perhaps when he was not askt And so likewise in King Saul who was informed by Samuel what the Event of things should be though he had by Witchcraft consulted the Divel and not Samuel as Tho Aquinas also is of opinion in his 2.2 4.140 And therefore we also ought to believe that the True God gave answer to the Diabolical Superstitions of the Romans Graecians and Chaldeans by the Ministry of the peculiar Angel of each of these several Empires For the Inevitable Decree of his Will sometimes exalted and again sometimes depressed and clouded the Majesty of those Monarchies Therefore the Chaldeans and so likewise the Medes whensoever their own Wisdom failed them made their Invocations upon God by the Stars as the Greeks did by their Oracles at Delphos the Romans by their Auguries and Observations of Birds and as the more Sound Philosophers sought Him in the Works of Nature as Pythagoras also did in Numbers which are as a certain Ray of Divinity disseminated and diffused throughout the whole Universe But much more rightly did the Iewes seek after him by the Prophets which were sent unto them Which custome of theirs the Christians also followed when as the Archangel Michael had gone over from the Iewes to the State of the Christians For in all probability we ought to believe that when any Empire is overthrown the Angel of that goeth over to the Conquerour And this is a Secret which was not unknown to the Romans who for this very reason would not have their Tutelar Angel to be known to the end that he might not be invoked by other Nations And therefore we may probably believe that either the Angel of Persia yeelded to that of Greece or else that He went over from the Persians to the Greeks and so consequently that the Angel of Constantinople does at this time fight for the Turks or else having removed his station stands now for Germany and hath joyned himself to Her Angel Now where there are the more of these Tutelar Angels There there is the greater growth and stronger confirmation of Power And therefore being instructed hereto out of the Scriptures I affirm that if at any time God appear to treat either favourably or else contrarily with any Monarchy we are to understand this in reference not to that present Monarchy only but to the succeeding also For unlesse this were so God should not have revealed the Knowledge of Future things to his Church by the Prophets which is an absurd thing to believe and it would also follow that this Knowledge was to be sought for by the Stars or some other things Which things seeing they are partly also forbidden by the Pope we are necessarily to believe that all things are otherwise sufficiently provided for Wheresoever therefore God speaks of the Babylonish Empire we are to understand it as said also of the Persian Grecian and Roman which in their turns succeeded It. And hence it is that St. Iohn calls Rome Babylon And so likewise what is said of the Kingdom of the Iewes the same is to be understood also of the Church of Rome which hath received the Keyes of David and the Name of Ierusalem according to that which is said to the Angel of Philadelphiae Now Philadelpâ—ia is Brotherly Love as Roma Rome by turning the Letters backward is Amor Love And God oftentimes threatens his Church I will remove thy Candlestick out of its place unlesse thou repent For in like manner the Angel of God may be said to remove from one Church to another as for example from Heretical England to Catholick Borussia as from one Kingdom to another And so what is pronounced by Ezechiel Ieremy and Esay concerning the Prince of Tyre is sometimes to be taken as spoken of the Prince of the Angels that fell from Heaven and were cast out of their Kingdom there Where that also which is said How art thou fallen O Lucifer which is spoken of the King of the Chaldaeans is to be taken as by way of similitude spoken of his Successors and of the Aerial so called Empire of the Great Divel For both Empires and all other Earthly things bear a similitude to the Heavenly as those of the Sea do to them of the Land Whence it is that you have your Bishop-fish your Sea-calf and the Calamary or Sea-Clark for as much as all of them have their dependance from the Prime Reason or the Divine Idea which is the Eternal Word Whence I seem to my self to have found out a Key by which I may find out a passage to the knowledge of the Original Government and end of the Kingdome of Spain by the First Cause which God hath laid open in the Prophets and by which we may proceed on further to discover the Prudence herein requisite and the Occasion which the Spaniard ought to lay hold on CHAP. IV. Of the Spanish Empire considered according to the First Cause IT is evident that
Knighthood to be bestowed upon Idle Persons that the King may not alwaies be forced to make use of Auxiliary Seamen or else to imploy Mercenaries such as the Genois are In sâ—ch Islands as these the Barons ought to have a stricter hand held over them then any others because that the Conveniency of the situation of such places may tempt them to take an occasion of Rebelling here rather then in any other places these men being indeed Naturally inclined to be Rebells And therefore the best way would be to send Barons from out of some other Countries into these Islands and of all other those of Spain are the fittest the rather because they lye all in the same Climate and these should be put in trust with all Offices and Seafaring Affaires with whom may be joyned some Transalpines partly to assist them as Souldiers and partly for Procreation of Children Neither ought any Noble men of the Natives to be intrusted with any of the stronger Holds or Castles for these are most commonly the Authors and Ringleaders of all Rebellions as they have alwaies proved against the French especially And yet these men have been since very faithful to the Arragonians by reason of their likenesse both in Temper and Manners In a word there is nothing more Necessary for the making a Prince to reign happily then that he throughly understand the Nature Temper and Inclination of his Subjects For according as He finds these to be so must He order his Government CHAP. XXIII Of Germany COmming now to speak of such Nations as are Enemies to the King of Spain to some of which notwithstanding He hath some Title the Germans first offer themselves unto us whom yet the King needs not fear seeing that the House of Austria is the most powerful in all Germany being now raised up to so great a height of Greatnesse and Power by continual Marriages with great Princes and Hereditary Successions and great Alliances as we see it at this day For Maximilian had the Provinces of the Lower Germany falling to him by Mary his wife who was daughter to Chaâ—les the last Duke of Burgundy and Philipâ— Maximilians Son became possessed of Spain with all its Appurtenances by the marriage of Ioan he daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella in which Kingdomes his Son Charles succeeded And in these our daies King Philip the most worthy Son of so worthy a Father hath had Portugal with all its Appurtenances which certainly are very great fallen to Him by the death of his Mother Isabella from which very house is derived the Title of King of Both Spains Now we are to understand that the house of Austria is in league with none save only Catholick Princes such as is the Duke of Bavaria with the German Archbishops Bishops and some few others and therefore it is very necessary that these should still be more and more closely united to each other not only in Religion but also by Marriages into one anothers families and other like ties and bonds of Friendship which as it is the Justest course that can be taken so it is also the safest and is much more firm and durable then any other whatsoever But there must be all the care taken that may be to sow continuallâ— the seeds of discord and dissention between the Marquesse of Brandenburg the Landgrave of Hessen the Duke of Saxony the Duke of Brunswick the Count Palatine of the Rhine and also the Duke of Wirtemberg and those other Petty Common-wealths in Germany which may easily be effected by reason of those State Divisions and Emulations that frequently trouble these Republicks and fill them with suspicions and Jealousies of each other Anâ— hence it comes to passe that they never come in with their Aiâ—es to the Emperours in any seasonable time First because they conceive the Emperours businesse and design to be to bring Hungary in subjection not to the Roman Empire but rather to the House of Austria and then again they are afraid lest the Emperour when he is now grown to so great a height of Power should endeavour to put a yoak upon their necks also and keep them in subjection And therefore they do acknowledge Him to be indeed the Head of their Union but yet they will not yeeld Him any Homage but themselves order matters as they see cause among themselves both in reference to the abolishing of old Lawes and enacting New as also in doing the like in matters of Religion a sufficient example whereof we have both in Norimberg Spires Strasbourg and Frankford Yet I shall here add that this Dissension among the German Princes is in one respect Advantageous to the King of Spain and in an other Prejudicial as it usually proveth to be in reference to all Forreign Powers For the Turk hath already taken away Bosnia Croatia and Hungary from the House of Austria and it is to be feared that possibly he may some time or other force his way even into Austria it self also And then if Germany should find it self to suffer thus under the Protection of this House possibly they may reject â—t and elect some Heretick to be their Emperour which certainly would prove to be the cause of many Greater Mischeifs And therefore I conceive the King of Spain ought to labour as much as in him lies to bring either the Emperour himself or else his brother Maximilian to enter into a League with the Duke of Transylvania or else with the Muscovites and that they should joyn all their force and strength together to ruin the Turk I would have the Emperour also to engage Himself faithfully both to the Protestant Princes and Free Cities of Germany and also to the Duke of Bavaria that what places soever He shall take in in his Wars they shall be all reckoned as Parts added to the Empire and not be accounted as Additions to his Own House only Then again I would have him during the time of the War to confer upon all such persons of Eminency as shall be sent to his assistance by the Free Cities Lands and Lordships and the like Gratuities by this means to oblige them the more to His service rather then to that of their own Native Country in like manner as Caesar engaged His Army even against Rome it self But this must be the businesse only of some one of the House of Austria that shall be a Person both of great Valour and Wisedom neither can any meaner man undertake it And then having conquered the Turks He must next march with his Forces against Germany calling in to his assistance some â—paniards also and Italians For unlesse He do so there is some reason to fear that the King of Spain may receive some prejudice thereby He must therefore take care and to the same end deal both with the Emperour and the Popeâ— that the Right of Election of the Emperour may be put into the hands of such only as are his Friends such as are the
thereto because that every one of them would have some hope hereby of attaining to the Crown himself And if this should once come to passe it would prove a very great Weakning to the Kingdom of France for during the Vacancy of the Crown there must needs arise very great and long Dissentions amongst them and possibly the King of Spain also being called in by some or other of the Princes might come to have a finger in the businesse Now for as much as Elective Kings are for the most part not much given to trouble themselves about the enlarging the Bounds of their Kingdome because that they know very well that their Sons are not their Successours therefore neither will they expose themselves to danger upon the Account of another mans Interest And this is the onely reason why the Emperours of Germany nâ—ver trouble themselves about the enlarging of their Empire as neither do the Kings of Poland unlesse they chance to be Persons of a high Warlick Spirit as King Steven was surnamed Battorius and Sigismund both which maintained Wars with the Mâ—scovites Tartarians and others about the Principality of Prussia and some other Territories because they hoped that their Sons should at least have succeeded them in those This Course is of very good use to a Prince for the acquiring of Military Glory and through the Multitude of Victories and the affection of his Souldiers for the bringing his own Country under his subjection which Course I before shewed was to be taken by the Emperour of Germany according to the Example of Iulius Caesar. Yet notwithstanding this piece of Craft being well understood by the French hath been the cause that they have now laid aside all desires of enlarging their Territories meerly to avoid that Suspition And This Suspition is the reason why the Venetians do not send Commanders of their Own into their Wars but rather chuse to make use of Forraign Commanders whom a Little Mony contents well enough for their Pay For as to this particular it was no small hazard which they heretofore run under Carmagnolaâ— and Ludovicus Vrsinus And Francis Sforza who was but a Mercenary Souldier under the State of Venice returning home a Conquerour made himself Duke of Millan For this very cause the Romans heretofore hated the Tarquins their Kings who till that time had alwaies been Elective and this very thing also was the Ruine of the Duke of the Athenians that was Elected at Florence Neither are Opportunities at this time wanting of setting the French together by the ears among themselves for although their Peace is not at this time at all disturbed by any Forraign Enemies yet they being naturally of an Impatient Unquiet spirit are alwaies rising up one against another although it be perhaps but upon their quarrel about the Heresie of the Calvinists and I know not what New Gospel which wheresoever it is preached it bringeth not Joy but Mourning not Peace but horrid Wars and filleth the Minds of Men not with Good Will but with rage and Madnesse This Mischief therefore ought to be taken in due time and have a stop put to it for this Contagion hath already infected above two hundred thousand persons in France For if so be it should spread further and should infect the Nobility also and Peers of the Kingdom it would be much to be feared that there would never be any end of the Troubles of France which is now the Condition of Germany by means of the Dukes of Saxony Hessen and others For as we see such Kingdomes as abound with Nobles are made in a manner Immortal as we may evidently perceive by the examples of France and Persia. For when France was heretofore in a manner all subdued and brought in subjection by the King of England yet it was afterwards through the Industry and by the endeavours of the Nobility and Gentry wholly asserted restored again to Its first Natural Lord. And so likewise the Kingdome of Persia which is one while annoyed by the Tartarians and again another while by the Saracens is yet so well defended by the Peâ—sian Nobility as that It is kept from falling under either of their Power and Obedience But yet on the contrary side again the very same Kingdomes are by reason of their Nobility also obnoxious to most unavoidable and miserable Calamities seeing they are able at any time either to assist or protect all such as endeavour to introduce any Innovations either in the State or Religion CHAP. XXV Of England Scotland and Ireland ALthough the English seem the least of all to affect an Vniversal Monarchy yet notwithstanding they have been a very great hinderance to the King of Spains designs that way several examples whereof may be gathered from the proceedings of the aforesaid Queen Elizabeth of England who appeared both against the Catholick King in the Low-Countries and against the most Christian King in France by fomenting the corrupt Humours in the subjects of both these Princes and in assisting the Hereticks both with her Counsels and Forces For they possesse an Island that is excellently well furnished both with Shipping and Souldiers and by this means they rob the King of Spain in all places in the North wheresoever he hath any thing and also wander out abroad as far as to the New World where although by reason of the Fortifications made upon the Sea Coast they cannot lay the foundation of any Kingdome yet do they do the Spaniards no small harme there For that same famous Englishman Captain Drake following the example of Magellan who bad done the same before him sailed round about the whole World more then once and it is noâ— impossible but that the Kingdom of Bacalaos which lies somewhat near to the English and is very convenient for them by reason of the temperatenesse of the Air may be some time or other seazed upon by them However it is most certain that if the King of Spain could but once make himself Master of England and the Low-Countries He would quickly get to be sole Monarch of all Europe and of the greatest part of the New World But seeing that He is not able to reduce this Island under His Obedience because that It is so exceeding strong by reason both of its Situation and multitude of Inhabitants who Naturally hate the Spaniard and are quite different from them both in their Manners and also their Religion it will concern Him therefore to defend himself as well as he can and to fortifie and set strong Guards upon all such places of His Dominions as lye open to their Incursions least otherwise the English should chance to seaze upon them And such are the Haven Corugna and all the Sea Coast of Galicia Leon Biscay and all the Kingdomes that lie in the other Hemisphere as shall be shewed hereafter But this he must make his cheifest businesse namely to weaken the Power of the English for the effecting of which design it would
really be made the absolute Lords of what they now possessed All which things ought to have their Accomplishment in the death of this Mahomet III. now Raigning seeing that That Number is Fatal The Great Turks Younger Sons also are to be seazed upon and conveigh'd away least the Eldest Brother should Murder them according to their usual Custome and this the Venetians may do conveniently enough by their Merchants or else the same may be committed to the Christian Slaves that are there to be done by them After that this Empire shall be thus weakned and divided it would be convenient then to send thether some Preachers who should endeavour to convince the Natives of their Error There should care also be taken by meanes for the bringing of Printing into Turky by meanes whereof that People may be taken off from the exercise of Arms and may apply themselves to Books and by being taken up with Disputations concerning Points of Divinity and Philosophy both of the Peripateticks Stoicks Platonists and Telesians they may be divided amongst themselves and so be the more weakned For those that give themselves to the study of Books onely usually become a Prey to such as apply themselves to the exercise of Armes and the study of the Arts too as we see in the example of Athens which became a Prey to the Lacedemoâ—ians both which Nations Philip King of Macedon by the force of his Armes afterwards subdued being first instructed by Epaminondas by what meanes this was to be effectd Cato was wont to say that the Romans would lose their Empire so soon as ever they should begin to apply themselves to the study of the Greek Tongue and Sciences This the Great Turk who is wiser then We are knew very well and therefore preferred rather the exercise of Armes and got him great Guns and Slaves I mean those Jewes that were sent to him by Ferdinand the last King of Arragon for he knew very well what and how great Advantage might be made by Slaves and that the Children that they should beget were to be brought up in the exercise of Armes and the knowledge of Military Affaires But then on the contrary He would not receive nor accept of those Printing-Presses and Letter â—or the Printing of the Arabick Tongue that were sent Him by the great Duke of Tuscany because he would not have his Dominions filled with Books because that would much take off the Military Valour of his Subjects and besides because that Mahumetanisme by frequent Disputations about it might easily in a short time have been overthrown It hath also been very prejudicial unto Us that we have had no Law made for the Injoyning of Silence whereby we should have been commanded to conceal some things from others which Law certainly would have been of very good use But now adaies in Germany all things are made Publick and laid open to the whole World and hence it is that we see every one there publisheth in Print a New Bible and that the Empire goes to ruine and that all places are overwhelmed with Luxury and Riot And had not the fear of the King of Spain's Armies kept the Netherlanders in Awe they also would by this time have been at Effâ—minate and Luxurious as the Germans are And the like would have befallen to the English also So that we might have hopes that unlesse there were a War maintained amongst them to keep them in exercise they would all quickly come to utter ruine after that they should but once come to be Effeminate Heart-lesse and at discord one with another as we have said formerly and that so much the rather because that the Heresie they professe seeing it denyes the Freedom of the Will is repugnant to all Principles of Policy Now all Heresies when they are once gone so far as to Atheisme are reduced again into the way of Truth by some Wise Prophet or other such as were in Italy Thomas Aquinas Dominicus Scotus and others For Herâ—sies also have their Periods as well as States which fall first from being governed by good Kings into the hands of Tyrants from their Tyranny into an Aristocracy from thence into an Oligarchy and so at length to a Democracy and in the end they shift about again and in a Circle as it were return again to their first form either of a Kingdom or a Tyranny CHAP. XXXI Of the Other Hemisphere and of the New World THe Admirable Discovery of the New World which was foreseen by St. Brigitt and expressely foretold by Seneca in his Medea and there lively set forth in its proper Colours and Names according as he had received the same from one of the Sibylls hath been the cause that this Hemisphere of Ours hath been thereby rapt into the greatest Admiration that can be For some of the Ancientest among the Philosophers of which number was Xenophanes were of Opinion that That Other Hemisphere lay all covered over with Water some others as Lactantius and St. Augustine thought that the Earth was not a Perfect Globe about which the Sun was carried in his Diurnal Motion And some others believed among whom was Dante that those Countries were Inhabited and were a certain kind of Earthly Paradise Some there were that doubted hereof amongst whom was Aristotle and again some others of them confidently affirmed that the Earth was an Absolute and Perfect Orbe or Globe and of this number were Platoâ— and Origen And therefore it is but for just cause that all the World admires the Spanish Monarchy as both very Daring and very Powerful seeing that It hath measured and overcome so many Seas and in a short space of time hath put a girdle about the vast Globe of the Whole Earth which neither Carthage nor Tyre were ever heretofore able to do nor yet the wisest of All Men King Solomon whose Fleet making its Voyage as far as Goa only and Taprobane spent alwaies three whole years in the same which yet Our Seamen now adaies perform in three Moneths time So that although the Vast distance of place that there is betwixt the several parts of the Spanish Monarchy seems to render It Weak yet doth their Admirable Skill in Navigation for the shortening of those Distances together with those other Means of Uniting these Parts which the Spaniards daily do make use of or may make use of when they please make the same most Illustrious and more Admirable then some perhaps do imagine However to the end that the King of Spain may not onely keep what He hath already gotten but may also enlarge his Empire I shall here give in a Catalogue of such Errours as have been heretofore committed in reference to the managing of his Affaires in the New World and shall shew that they ought with all speed to be corrected and taken out of the way laying down withal those waies and Means by which the Kings Power in those Parts may yet be enlarged When that the Spaniards directing