in the Monarchy of Cain in so many other places that we must needs beleeve this number to beare a great sway in changes generally as by others before me hath been observed yet considering it as to my purpose it hath not perhaps by any been observed but now by my selfe that to the foresaid causes of the change of government in Rome this of the number of seven may also be added seeing after seven Kings as every one knowes it came to be a free state yet I meane not that numbers can enforce but onely incline as instruments of that Almighty God who Omnia posuit innumero pondere Mensura A Parallell between the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar and that of Lucius Brutus against Tarquin whereby we may see why the one brought in libertie the other tyranny The third Discourse HAving shewed Rome at last came to be a free state by meanes of the conspiracy of Lucius Brutus against the Tarquines I conceive it necessary to examine why the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar having been moved with the same intention yet wrought not the same effect and no better way to come to know it then by comparing them together Many things are wont to concurre in favour of an action whereof some are antecedents and give it as it were birth other are concomitant and give it nourishment others againe are subsequent and procure it strength The action of Brutus in killing Tarquin was aided by the three foresaid things to make Rome a free state First the ordinances of Romulus which tended rather to bring in liberty then to preserve a Monarchy then the aptnesse of the Cittizens who now grown fit of themselves to governe could no longer endure to be governed by others and lastly the insolency and proud tyranny of Tarquin so extreamely distastfull to all the Citizens Thus Romulus set them in a way the perfection of the Cittizens made them fit and the insolency of the Tarquines made them desirous Now if we looke upon the action of Marcus Brutus in killing Caesar we shall finde there were all the three causes too but because they were contrary they therefore brought forth a contrary effect The first was the domination of Cinna of Sylla of Pompey and of Marcus Crassus who set the City in a way and made it plyant to tolerate Monarchy The second was the imperfection of the Citizens which was growne so great that where Rome had sometimes been a City much honoured for vertue it was now become through evill custome most abhominable Thirdly there concurred the great clemency and goodnesse of Caesar with which he had gotten and tied unto him the hearts of the people so as instead of the ordinances of Romulus to set them in a way of liberty there praeceded here the waies of Marius and others to lead them into servitude In stead of perfection of the Citizens which made them fit to live a free people there concurred here imperfection which made them good for nothing but to live in bondage and where in the one there concurred the cruelty and Pride of the Tarquines to make them desire liberty in the other there concurred the affability and clemency of Caesar to make them content with servitude Now againe if we come to speake of the causes concomitant there were three things concurred in ayd of the conspiracy against the Tarquins First the ravishing of Lucretia sufficient of it selfe as a publique injury to cause a publique insurrection And therefore Virginius speaking against Appius Claudius who would have ravished his daughter said to the people with a purpose to set them in commotion Illis enim quoque filias sorores conjuges esse sed quo impunitior sit eo effraenatiorem fore aliena calamitate documentum datum illis cavendae similis injuriae Secondly the just indignation of Lucius Brutus against Tarquinius Thirdly his acquainting the people with his intention letting them know the causes that moved him and so they having a part in the conspiracy could not choose but approve it and having a part in the danger not choose but maintaine it Thus the adultery committed with Lucretia gave a color to the conspiracy the just indignation of Lucius Brutus set a glosse upon the Authour the communicating it to the people made them a party in the cause and facilitated the action Now in the fact of Marcus Brutus against Caesar there concurred the many favours and graces which the Prince had alwaies shewed to all the many benefits which Marcus Brutus had received the murder committed in the Senate without the peoples knowledge and where the ravishing of Lucretia gave a colour to the banishing of the Tarquins the favours of Caesar discovered the ill intention of the conspirators and where in the one the offence done to Lucius Brutus set a glosse of praise upon the authour in the other the benefits bestowed by Caesar set a blot of ignominy upon Marcus Brutus and made him hatefull to all the people and where the Commons being made partakers of the conspiracy against the Tarquins conceived it was done for the publicke good here the Commons knowing nothing of the matter conceaved it was done for private profit Lastly if we looke to the things subsequent we shall also in them finde great contrariety For after the death of the Tarquins first there followed an easing the people of taxations and a maintaining them in plenty to the end they might tast the benefit of liberty secondly they put to death those Noblemen that had been adherents to the Tarquines to the end they might be made sure for making innovation Thirdly they extinguished the whole race of the Tarquins to the end they might be out of feare of the States ever comming to any of them againe And thus they secured themselves from the people from the Nobility and from the blood Royall Now after the death of Caesar all things were cleane contrary First where in that case the benefit of liberty was made appeare to the people Here Antonius with a most eloquent Oration reading Caesars Will wherein he had given a great Donative to the people made them sensible how much more it would be for their profit to have a Prince Secondly where in that case the partakers were all put to death here they were all left living Thirdly where in that case there were Armies levied against the line of the Tarquines to the end they might never be able to recover the government here Armies were levied in ayd of Augustus to the end he might more easily make himselfe Prince Let no man therefore marvell if where the intention was equall yet the successe was not equall by reason of the difference and inequa lity of the accidents I have omitted in this discourse some other differences that were between these two conspiracies meaning to speake of them in another place Pompeii Crassique Potentia cito in Caesarem Lepidi atque Antonii arma in Augustum cessere
the Father and the Sonne the beginning of the Holy Ghost yet neither the Father is cause of the Sonne nor the Father and Sonne cause of the Holy Ghost as Thomas Aquinas doth learnedly demonstrate In Philosophy seeing Aristotle in his Physicks and in his books of Generation and Corruption shews manifest difference between beginnings and causes But because Aristotle in distinguishing thē takes thē not alwaies in the sense that we take them and oftentimes also confounds them as in his Metaphysicks where he shewes that a cause and a beginning are as Ens and Vnum which are convertible one with the other and in another place affirmes that all causes are beginnings and in Divinity likewise the Greeke Fathers mingle oftentimes in the Persons of the Trinity the causes with the beginnings as Saint Gregory Nazianzen and others we therefore in this place will forbeare to speak of them either Philosophically or Theologically but will frame our Discourse by way of actions shewing into how great errors those men have runne who confound causes with beginnings a thing which Tacitus is not guilty of who in his History saying Struebat jam fortuna in diversa parte terrarum initia causas Imperii shewes plainly he knew that a cause and a beginning were not both one thing We may therefore take causes to be those that are in the understanding beginnings those by whose meanes that which is in the understanding is put in execution And so a cause comes to be the first in the intention and the last in execution a beginning the last in the intention and the first in execution This Polybius well understood where he saith Causae omnibus in rebus primae sunt Principia verò ultima causarum equidem ita existimo Principia dici Primas omnium actiones in rebus quae judicatae as deliberatae sunt causas verò quae judicium deliberationemque praecedant And thereupon excellently well he saith That the cause of the second warre of the Carthaginians with the Romans was the indignation of Amilcar Hannibals father who though he were not overcome by Land of his enemies the Romans yet the Carthaginian Forces being put to the worse by them he thought it his best course to make peace and to lay downe Armes for the present reserving in his mind a perpetuall indignation which cncreased afterward by their threatning of warre at such time as the Carthaginians distracted with other discords and thereby not able to withstand them lost Sardinia Whereupon Amilear incensed with a new indignation had an intention to make warre upon them many yeeres before Hannibal passed into Italy These were the causes of the warre but the beginnings of it were afterward the siege of Saguntum and Hannibals passing over the River Hiber So you see the beginnings were not at the same time but were long before preceded by the causes To roturne now to our purpose concerning the alteration of States it is seldome seen that the cause and the beginning happen both at one time The cause that moved Caesar to change the State in Rome was an impatience of equality which being borne and bred with him was hastened in him by the threatning of his enemies pressing him to give over his Consulship and to give an account of what he had done a thing of great difficulty and danger in Common-wealths as was seen in the case of Scipio of Furius Camillus and others But the beginning was his passing over the river Rubicon So likewise the change which the Israelites made in the time of Samuel from Judges to Kings had a beginning diverse from the cause there being in their hearts sometime before a desire of Kings through an impatience of liberty as writers hold which afterward tooke beginning from the injustice of the sons of Samuel The cause then that Rome came to be a free State was Romulus and the Citizens growing to perfection Romulus because he being sole King made such lawes and ordinances in the State that shewed he had more regard to prepare the Romans for liberty then to establish the Monarchy to his successors seeing he reserved to himselfe no other authority but to assemble the Senat nor other charge but to command the Army in time of warre It may be said then that either Romulus shewed but small signe of wisdome to make ordinances contrary to himselfe whereof being afterward aware he meant with a greater error to take from the Senat that authority which being now established was soone after the cause of his death Or we may say and better that Romulus as having no children had no desire to leave Rome under a Regall government and the City having none in it but imperfit men he had no power to leave it a free State untill by being governed first by one alone they should learne to be able of themselves to hold that which to come to know they needed first to be guided by a King Just as swimming masters use to doe who beare a hand over them they teach untill such time as they grow able to governe themselves and then they leave them at their owne liberty This made Tyberius as Dion reports praise Augustus so much though not without flattcry saying he had imitated those Physitians who barring their Patient the ordering of his own body they first restore the Body to health before they allow him the ordering of it Insomuch that after the death of Romulus the people not yet grown to perfection there was not one man that once spake of liberty but all agreed to desire a King Regem tamen omnes volebant saith Livy libertatis dulcedine nondum experta It was not thus at the time of the Tarquins for the people being then growne to perfection there was in the City good store of Common wealths men fitter to governe then to be governed And so came up this government most agreeable to nature which is as the Philosopher saith that he be commander of others who is wiser then others And therefore Numa Pompilius needed no guard to safeguard his life seeing governments that are naturall are a guard to themselves From hence it was that our Lord God the first time he gave a King as the holy Scripture saith Non erat similis ei in Israel meaning to shew that he is not worthy to be ruler over others who is not wiser then others There being then in those times such excellent men in the City of Rome as ought rather to give then to take lawes from the Tarquines they had in them an ardent desire to obtaine that liberty in possession which they had now prevented with merit And therefore it appeares that Junius Brutus even from his youth had this intention for going with the sonnes of Tarquin to the Oracle to aske which of them should be Lord of Rome and the Oracle answering he that first should kisse his mother he presently kissed the Earth and yet he knew not then that Tarquin should ravish
Lucretia Now if this injury onely had beene the motive to Brutus certainly then as the injury came from a particular person so the revenge should rather have been taken upon that particular person then upon the power Regall and yet we see the contrary happened for Brutus in the oath which he caused his confederates to take made this one part not to suffer any to reigne not onely not the Tarquines but not any other person whatsoever Nec illos nec alium quemquam regnare Romae passurum A manifest argument that he had more desire to abrogate the regall Power then to vindicate the adultery So much more as the conspirators addressed themselves against the dignity rather then against the life of the offender The cause then of this alteration in the state of Rome was the Citizens spirits being grown to such perfection that they could no longer tolerate Kings and this no sooner then they were arrived at such perfection In signe whereof I consider amongst so many Kings as Rome had how onely Tully Ostillus the predecessor of Tarquinius superbus had the intention to make it a free state which certainly had taken effect if his death had not prevented it Ac tam moderatum Imperium tamen quia Vnius esset deponere eum in animo habuisse ni scelus liberandae patriae consilia agitanti interemisset Which because we cannot ascribe to the onely goodnesse of Tullus seeing Numa Pompilius a better man perhaps then he never had any such thought we must needs say that Numa seeing the Citizens unfit for a republicke set them in a way to that perfection to which arrived under Tullus It should be an easie matter for such Citizens to conserve that liberty which under a good Prince they had received And here experience shewes that which Aristotle speaking naturally knew well in matters politicke for assigning the cause why Power regall changeth oftentimes to a free State he alledgeth no other reason but the passing from imperfection to perfection saying thus Sed cum postea contingeret ut plures pari virtute reperirentur non amplius tolerarunt Regem sed commune quiddam quaerentes respublicas constituêre Moreover that the ordinances of Romulus had not been sufficient if with it there had not concurred a perfection in the Citizens will be easily conceived if we consider the case of Moses who was blamed by Jethro for ruling himselfe alone I doe not beleeve it was for that he did not judge well or for that he tooke too great paines but rather for that he shewed not to be more intentive to strengthen his owne power then to prepare for others the goodway of which this was the chiefe and first foundation Vt non aliter ratio constet quam si uni reddatur And therefore he appointed them a Senate which by their authority might serve to set the people in a way to know their owne good shewing them the way with which being once acquainted he might leave them afterward to walk in it of themselves in such sort that Moses no lesse then Romulus directed the Israelites the way to liberty but they never attaining to know the way as never comming I speake not in matters of Religion to that perfection to which the Romans attained as these could not endure Kings so those had no will to live in liberty for although they met with the same cause extrinsecall yet they had not the same cause intrinsecall which Moses well knew when perceiving his death to approach he made his prayer to God that he would provide them a leader to the end that as sheep not knowing the way if it be not shewed them by a shepheard they might be by him directed Provideat Dominus Deus spirituum omnis carnis hominem qui sit super multitudinem hanc ut possit exire intrare ante â—…os vel introducere ne sint sicut oves sine ductore And he that will more plainly see their imperfection let him confider that in the long absence of Moyses they never demanded any other leader there being none amongst them sit to governe them but onely desired that Aaron would make some Gods Facnobis Deos qui nos pracedant Whereupon for all the many beginnings the Israelites had from which they might have taken occasion to erect a Commonwealth yet they never did it because as causes be not sufficient if with them there concurre not beginnings so beginnings aâ—…e of no force if they come not accompanied with causes and causes availenot neither if they be not good The death of Caesar was a beginning from which a Common wealth might have been erected but because it was grounded upon a cause that was not politicall proceeding rather from the hatred and spleene against the Prince then upon any mature judgement or judicious counsaile it was not therefore sit to bring them to a be free State So when the Senatours killed Romulus they had by that a beginning of liberty but it hapning upon the same occasion as that of Caesar they hardly had so much braine to agree among themselves to choose a King So as when there concurre not causes beginnings oftentimes are left unpursued that I cannot but say if Lucretia had been â—…avished by Romulus yet Rome for all that had never gotten liberty It behooves therefore to take great heed when there be occasions first not to give the least cause of a beginning and therefore the Ifraâ—… being moved to demand a King upon a very great occasion namely their unfitnesse to suffer liberty they tooke for a beginning a most weake cause namely the old age of Samuel and yet for all he could doe in shewing them the burtheus of tyranny telling them as a Prophet that instead of a King they should have a tyrant he could never perswade them to leave demanding a King And therefore David after his great sinne knowing he had given the people great cause to rebell avoyded all occasions from which they might take never so weake a beginning and for this cause forbare to punish Joab though provoked to it by just indignation and left the revenge of it to his successor Whereupon we may beleeve that Tarquinius Superbus and his sonne shewed little discretion seeing so many worthy men desirous of liberty that they would give them occasion of beginning it The one by taking away all authority from the Senat and other and that more hainously by ravishing Lucretia considering that the insolency of the sonnes makes alwaies the Prince himselfe odious as Guicciardine relates of John Bentivoglio And hereof we have a like example in the holy Scripture of Hemor Hevaeus Prince of the Sichemites who lost his Kingdome thorough the ravishment his sonne Sichem committed upon Dyna the daughter of Jacob and Lea whereof the holy text in Genesis saith Egressa est autem Dyna filia Leae ut videret mulieres regionis illius quam cum vidisset Sichem filius Hemor Hevaei Princeps
to equality but also they will not suffer any other to doe it resting satisfied in this that as themselves have many unequals their superiours so those have the Prince unequall and their superiour and in this at least they shall be equall that they are all of them inferiour to one But because obedience is hardly found especially in new states if there be not force concurring whereupon the Throne of Salomon which by Writers is taken for obedience was compassed about with twelve Lyons seeing they who desire to be obeyed ought together with generosity have force also to make them be obeyed and therefore the holy Ghost in the mouth of Salomon saith Sicut Turris David collum tuum quae aedisicate est cum propagnaculis mille clypei pendent ex ea omnis armatura fortium This Towre hath so many defences because it is put for a figure of obedience meaning to shew that they who desire to preserve obedience have need of all sorts of Armes to defend it for these causes Augustus knowing this and having an Army in his hand able to make him be obeyed by force if need should be he made the Souldiers sure to him by donatives of which they are most greedy whereupon it may be said that Augustus maintained his Empire neither by the Nobility nor by the people nor by the souldiers neither by love nor yet by force but by all of them together Et ad tuendam plebem Tribunitio Iure contentum ubi Militem donis Populum annona cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit How Princes may get the peoples love how a private man ought to make use of the peoples favour and what part it hath in bestowing the Empire The thirteenth Discourse AS safety is not enough to give the people satisfaction if it be not accompanied with plenty and therefore the Israelites though they lived safe under their leader Moyses yet when plenty failed they desired againe the servitude of Pharao so neither doth plenty give satisfaction if it be not accompanied with peace as was plainly seene in that people for when those men returned whom Joshua had sent into the Land of Promise to make known the fruitfulnesse of the Countrey yet when they heard there were in it great store of Gyants onely for this they liked better to stay in the Wildernesse in peace then to goe to a Land flowing with Milke and Honey with warre the desire of living quietly prevailing more with them than the enjoying of plenty Three things then are required in a people to make them absolutely happy safety from being oppressed by those at home peace with those abroad and plenty Whereupon our Lord God meaning to shew the happinesse in which his people should live expresseth these three things by the mouth of his Prophet Esay where he saith Sedebit populus meus in plenitudine pacis here is peace In Tabernaculis fiduciae here is safety In requie opulenti here is plenty Such a like happinesse Tacitus shewes that Rome had or to say better the people of Rome under the Dominion of Augustus where he saith Et ad tuendam plebem Tribunitio jure contentum see here by making himselfe protectour of the people he made them safe from oppressours at home Vbi populum Annona see here plenty Cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit see here the safety from forraine enemies which is peace for by the word Otium in this place as I shall shew in another discourse he meanes nothing else but peace But because many gather from this place seeing Augustus obtained and maintained his Empire by the love of the people that therefore this is the true way for all others to rise from a private man to be a Prince and the rather because a place in Aristotle confirmed by many examples seemes to concurre in this opinion where he saith Et profecto antiquorum Tyrannorum plurimi ex popularibus hominibus facti sunt I shall be forced in discoursing of this matter to proceed with distinction as finding many places directly contrary to this and particularly in the foresaid Tacitus who in another place shewes that the peoples favour is rather a ruine than a fortune to great men where in the third of his Annals he saith Breves Infaustos Rontani populi amores I say then that he who is in the peoples favour either he hath a mind to make himselfe Prince or he hath not if he have no such mind he shall doe better to avoyd those demonstrations with safety which without any benefit makes him runne into danger seeing a good intention is not sufficient where it is equally dangerous to have such imputation whether wrongfully or justly as Tacitus well saith Si objiciantur etiam insontibus periculosa because Princes as soone as they see the peoples favour enclining to another presently have him in suspition and therefore David began to be hated of Saul as soone as he knew the people loved him whereupon in the booke of the Kings the holy Spirit saith Posuitque eum Saul supra viros belli acceptus erat in occulis Vniversi populi maximeque in 〈◊〉 famulorum Saul and a little after Non rectis ergo oculis Saul respiciebat David a die illa deinceps Likewise when the mysticall David Christ was seene to the Jewes to enter triumphantly into Hierusalem on Palme-sunday with great applause of the people they presently began to conspire against him The like hapned to Germanicus whose case was much like that of Aristobulus both of them being gracious with the people young men of goodly presence both both of them next to the Crowne under most cruell tyrants Herod the great and Tiberius Nero both of them for the same causes put to death by fraud one bewalled counterfetly of Herod the other feignedly of Nero by whom in truth they came to their deaths Of these then it may be said Breves 〈◊〉 populi amores But if he that is in the peoples favour have an intention to make himselfe Prince we must then distinguish for either the peoples favour towards him growes out of a discontentment towards the Prince or it comes out of anger arising from some suddaine accident if in the first case he that will make use of their favour if he be able to hide it which is a difficult thing shall doe well to wait for some good occasion seeing he may assure himselfe that as discontentment encreaseth by little and little and is nourished in minds once discontented so it is hard or rather impossible it should vanish on a sudden and therefore if he stay for a good beginning where there hath preceded a good occasion as I have shewed in another discourse there can be no doubt of having good successe Princes therefore must take heed they give the people no such occasions which are so much more dangerous as they are lesse violent because in such cases men are not moved with every light wind but wayting for
I say that the people are not the whole cause of raising one to a Royalty but only concurre as a cause in part neither yet the people together with the Nobility sufficient to make an alteration where there are Souldiers and therefore not without cause Tacitus saith Breves infaustos populi Romani amores because the City of Rome was never without Praetorian souldiers Of this there is a plaine example in the whole siege of Nola in Livy and to speake of our owne times in Verona where the people having a mind to rise in favour of the Venetians yet because the souldiers of the King of France and of the Emperour were within it they were not able to doe any thing of moment We may therefore conclude that the people alone can never be an absolute meanes to raise a man to a Principality if it be not upon a suddaine and that there be no Souldiers in the place for against them there is no good to be done although they should have the Nobility to assist them but the people together with the souldiers may easily raise one to the Empire and when Tacitus saith Breves infaustos populi Romani amores he means it of the people alone but in this present place he speakes of the people and souldiers together which plainly appeares because having said Et ad tuendam plebem Tribunitio jure contentum he addes Vbi militem donis shewing he well knew that together with the people the souldiers must concurre And Aristotle differs not from Tacitus nor yet from my opinion but rather confirmes both the one and the other seeing where he gives a reason how it happened that in ancient times the favourites of the people came to be Lords he saith that the same man who was powerfull with the people was also Leader of the Army and so had both people and souldiers of his side And addes withall that whosoever of late time hath attempted any thing relying only upon the people hath never brought his purpose to any good passe A manifest argument that the people concurre as a cause in part if the souldiers joyne with them Vetustis quident temporibus saith he quando idem erat potens in populo ac Bello Dux Popularis Respublica in Tyrannidem mutabatur profecto antiquorum Tyrannorum plurimi ex popularibus hominibus facti sunt causa autem cur tunc fierent non autem nunc illa est quod qui tunc in populo maxime poterat ex iis erat qui bello 〈◊〉 Ubi Militem donis How the Donatives which are given to souldiers are profitable to raise a man and to maintine him in the Empireâ—… and when it is that Military discipino is corrupted by them The fourteenth Discourse THere are two things chiefly that move men to follow the warres Acquiring of honour and encrease of riches and both these are in Donatives for Donatives as to the thing it selfe is an encrease of wealth and comming from the Princes hand as a testimony of the souldiers valour they are an encrease of Honour It is therefore no marvell that Augustus not only at his entrance into the Empire but even from his childhood used with Donatives to winne the souldiers love seeing they are able to corrupt the wisest and best men as our Lord God in Exodus hath left written Nec accipies munera quae etiam excaecant prudentes subvertunt verba justorum Whereupon not without cause S. John in the Apocalyps cals them by the name of Witchcraft where speaking of Rome under the figure of Babylon he saith Quia mercatores tui erant Principes terrae quia in venesiciis tuis erraverunt omnes Gentes Where S. John intends to shew according to the opinion of some that Rome by meanes of guifts as it were with sorcery had drawne the greatest part of the world to the adoration of Idols Tiberius therefore knowing what power there is in them when Junius Gallus had moved in the Senat that Gifts and Honours should be bestowed upon the souldiers of his Guard he sharply reproved him saith Tacitus veluti coram rogitans quid illi cum militibus esset quos neque ditu Imperatoris neque Praemia nisi ab Imperatore accipere par esset Yet the introduction of Donatives was to the Commonwealth of Rome of exceeding great damage First they have been as I shall shew in fit place in great part the cause why the City of Rome freed once from tyranny by Lucius Brutus was never afterward able being oppressed by the House of the Caesars to recover its liberty the Donatives having put the election into the souldiers hands and they not to lose so great a gaine would alwaies rather have an Emperour for their private profit than a Commonwealth for the publike benefit Secondly because having an Army in their hand on which the election and safety of the Emperours depended as men greedy of money they were moved to stand for him who offered most in such sort that at last they came to set it at who gives more and because as Aristotle in his Politicks well observes when Honours are bestowed in a City in regard of riches it is an easie matter for every Plebeian to become Honourable and therefore no marvell that Elius Pertinax an Hostlers sonne came to be chosen Emperour It is therefore a cleere case that these Donatives were the ruine of the City of Rome from whence also may be inferred that they were hurtfull to the Prince whose profit depended upon the welfare of the City But because the contrary happens where tyrants governe I shall be forced to examine whether the introduction of Donatives were for the Emperours benefit or no. Many approve the affirmative part as moved not onely by the said place of Tacitus where he sheweth they were to Augustus a speciall helpe but by the example also of Caesar who by this meanes both obtained and maintained the Empire And it availes not to say that he was there slaine because seeing one mans indignation was enough to make a Prince be murthered the difference that may be taken from the one 's well and the others ill governing for conserving the Empire ought not to be taken from a violent death but rather that death being revenged and the antient successours replaced in their states I see not how there can be a greater signe of proceeding with judgement for his owne security being able even after his death with his only name to procure his revenge and to settle the Empire in his owne family a hard matter oftentimes for the best Princes to obtaine who yet have the favour of God to die a naturall death This example therefore to omit many others of which Histories are full is an evident proofe that Donatives to the Souldiers were profitable to the Roman Emperours not only to attaine the Empire but also to maintaine them in it Neverthelesse for the Negative part there want not examples to the
he held him alwaies about himselfe in great honour and all succeeded exceeding well And in case all these courses seeme to be difficult either thorough the undanted spirit of him that was Lord before or by reason of the extraordinary affection the people beare him in this case the best course is to send them into banishment for some long time as the Pope did in Bolognia But to returne to our purpose Tiberius not without cause stood in feare of Agrippa which is plainely to be seen by this that not onely Agrippa but one onely servant forging and taken upon him his name was like to have raised no small insurrection in the people and Senatours of Rome and because Tiberius could not put this Agrippa to death without incurring an exceeding blot of cruelty he therefore had recourse to that remedy so much used by Princes which was to feigne that Augustus had commanded it So also did the Emperour Adrian who would have it beleeved that all the murthers he committed were done by his predecessours command which not onely abates the hatred and name of being cruell but converts it also into piety as done for executing the will of the dead And yet in this there would be no blame if such murthers were committed out of zeale of justice out of which zeale David being willing that Joab should be punished for two murthers and Semei for the injury he had done him to take away the hatred that for this might fall upon Salomon he commanded him at the time of his death to doe it to the end that he afterward putting it in execution might seem rather as in this indeed he was a just King and a pious executour of the will of his deceased father then a cruell Prince But because Ludovico Moro taking to him that state which belonged not to him by meanes of his Nephews death hath much resemblance to Tiberius I am willing to shew it a little more cleerely by a Parallell Augustus being dead Tiberius succeeded in the Empire and caused Agrippa Posthumus to be put to death to whom the succession of right belonged Ludovico Moro succeeded in the Dutchy of Milan and caused as it is beleeved John Galeozzo the true heire to whom that Dutchy of right belonged to be put to death Tiberius doubted that because Augustus was gone to visit Agrippa he would appoint him to be Emperour Ludovico Moro feared that because Charles the eighth was gone to visit John Galeozzo he would make him Duke of Milan Tiberius would have it beleeved that he was elected by the Senate and not through the wickednesse and plots of his mother Livia Ludovico Moro would have it beleeved that he was made Duke of Milan by the people for the good of the state and not through his owne villanies Tiberius made a shew as though he were unwilling to take upon him the Empire Moro also dissembled the like In one onely thing they differed that to the one it proved safety to the other ruine and it is that where Tiberius as soone as he came to the Empire he presently put Agrippa to death Ludovico stayed so long from putting his nephew to death that he was forced for putting it in execution to call in the King of France to his manifest and utter ruine A Parallell betweene Tiberius and Salomon The six and twentieth Discourse SEeing in these Discourses and particularly in the next before we have spoken of Tiberius and brought also many examples of Salomon I have thought it no unfit curiosity to compare them together Tiberius was borne of Livia who was taken by Augustus from Nero. Salomon was borne of Bersabee who was taken by David from Vrias Bersabee was with child although by David when he tooke her to wife Livia also was with child when she went to be married to Augustus Augustus had many neere of kinne to whom to leave the Empire as Agrippa for one David had his sonne Adoniah to whom by right of age as being the elder the Kingdome belonged Finally Augustus growne old at the suit of Livia appointed Tiberius to be his heire and David growne old at the perswasions of Bersabee ordained Salomon to succeed him Salomon being come to the Crown killed Adoniah to whom the right of it belonged Tiberius being come to the Empire caused Agrippa to be put to death who was rightfull heire of the Empire Both the one and the other governed with great judgement in the beginning but at last Salomon loosing Bersabee and Tiberius Livia both the one and the other plunged themselves into all kinds of lustfulnesse Whereupon there rebelled against Tiberius Sejanus the deerest servant he had and against Salomon Jeroboam the most inward friend he had Tiberius used to speake darkly Salomon also used the like speaking as may be seen by his Parables and Proverbs Nuntianti Centurioni ut mos Militiae factum esse quod imperasset neque imperasse sese rationem facti reddendam apud Senatum respondit Quod postquam Sallustius Crispus particeps Secretorum is ad Tribunum miserat codicillos comperit metuens ne reus subderetur juxta periculoso ficta seuvera promeret monuit Liviam ne arcana domus c. That it is a dangerous thing to obey Princes in services of cruelty and tyranny The seven and twentieth Discourse SAllust had taken order and provided all due means for putting Agrippa Posthumus to death by the commandement of Tiberius but he desirous to shew he had no hand in the fact denied to the Centurion who was the executioner of it that it was done by any command of his saying that for what he had done he must give account not to him but to the Senat. Which Sallust seeing and doubting least the mischiefe might fall upon his head Veritus as Justin saith speaking in the person of Arpagus in the like case 〈◊〉 infantis necati ultionem quam a patre non potuisset a ministro exigeret he began to counsell Livia Ne arcana Domus ne consilia amicorū ministeria militum vulgarentur The conceit of Tiberius was good that he would have as I imagine the Centurion goe to the Senate to tell them he had executed the Commandement of Augustus about the death of Agrippa but yet that of Sallust likes me better because there is no likelihood it would ever be beleeved that Augustus appointed the death of a Nephew for security of a son in law seeing as he could get nothing by it so he might loose much because the Prince shewing he cared not to have his death known there is no doubt but men would talke of it with more boldnesse from which talke there oftentimes grow ill affections against the Prince whereas if Tiberius had passed it as he did in silence it would not have come to many mens eares they that would have heard it would have kept it secret as knowing how dangerous a thing it is to discover talk of that which Princes would have
extinguish the factions of Romagna after most tyrannically he had made himselfe Lord of it and had obtained his purpose not without bringing upon himselfe the infinite hatred of all his subjects at last he cut in pieces that miserable minister of his to the end the hatred of his subjects might be turned upon him and the like did Tiberius to Sejanus and of such examples Histories are full Rather indeed tyrants ingrosse to themselves such fellowes to the end that when the scores of seditions shall be cast up they may excuse themselves and make the people wreck their anger upon the servant Fifthly such servants runne a hazzard because the foundation upon which they build their Lords favour is soone ended the cause of their favour being onely the hatred that is borne to another which ceaseth as soone as he is dead and consequently the affection ceaseth which was borne for putting the murther in execution so much Tacitus intimates speaking of Plancina who after the hatred to Germanicus was ended was her selfe in danger Vbi odium Gratia desit jus valuit But these waies never bring forth any good effect to a Prince First because it is false that they can ever cancell the remembrance of such villanies out of their minds seeing their owne conscience is too great a witnesse against them Whereupon although our Lord God as Theodoret saith tooke away the life of that sonne of David which was borne in the adultery with Bersabee that it might not remaine a shame to him for the â—…inne he had committed Vivus erat futurus argumentum sceleris ac iniquitatis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regis qui erat Propheta curant gerens Dominus non sinit eum vivere yet it served not to remove the gnawing of his conscience as he saith Peccatum moum coram me est semper Secondly this is no sufficient way to keepe their crimes from being knowne Nihil occultum quod non reveletur neque coopertum quod non sciatur And if it be not knowne at other times at least it shall not be hidden at the day of judgement Thirdly it is no fit way to make the people beleeve that the cruelties executed by servants were done without the Princes consent and although it have sometimes succeeded well yet this hath not beene because the people beleeved it but as I said before upon the place of Justin because when the people cannot wreake their anger upon the Prince they will for the present upon his ministers and afterward when time serves upon the Prince himselfe as it happened to Valentinus Sometimes also the people make a shew to beleeve that the villanies committed were done without the Princes consent to the end that to preserve this good opinion of himselfe he may after the death of such ministers give over his cruelty and lastly it saves them not from being slaine for if they be not by them they are by others and oftentimes by themselves as it happened to Otho This way therefore doth no good at all and is the worst wicked course that can be imagined being nothing but a meere multiplying of villanies It is true if a Prince should imploy a servant to kill a delinquent and so both of them should juridically deserve death in this case he should commit no errour in putting also the servant to death but herein he should imitate our Lord God who oftentimes makes use of the wicked to punish the wicked and they once punished he then as a loving father having corrected his child casts the rod which was the instrument of correction into the fire and more then this he oftentimes punisheth those whom he hath used for executing his anger Vae Assur virga furorismei baculus ipse est saith the truth in the mouth of Esay So our Lord God made use of the King of the Assyrians and of his Army to punish the people of Israel for their sinnes and that done he punished also the Assyrians themselves in such sort that he destroyed them all There is no doubt but our Lord God did it all with exceeding great justice and providence punishing justly those Assyrians who besides their being a most persidious people they fell upon the Israelites as Theodoret expounds it not for any zeale of executing Gods justice but onely for the hatred they bore to that Nation To returne to our purpose I conclude that Sallust had an excellent braine not to suffer the cause to be brought before the Senate which if it had beene there agitated and Tiberius not discover himselfe all the mischiefe would have lighted upon him and they would have beene revenged upon the servant when upon the Prince they could not So it happened to Piso who having beene imployed by Tiberius to kill Germanicus and the cause brought before the Senate Tiberius shifted it off from himselfe and it fell to Pisoes lot to suffer for it Not without cause therefore did Sallust Monuit Liviam ne arcana domus ne consilia amicorum ministeria militum vulgarentur Monuit Liviam ne arcana domus ne consilia amicorum ministeria militum vulgarentur That Princes ought not to reveale the secrets of their State and how it happens that oftentimes men are drawne to speake some things which ought to be concealed The eighth and twentieth Discourse ALI States whether they be Commonwealths or Kingdomes have certaine foundations or as we call them secrets by which they governe themselves both for conservation and augmentation And therefore they endeavour in such sort to conceale them that they may not be knowne to any but their successours So did Augustus in giving instructions to Tiberius so did David acquainting Salomon with them at the time of his death so finally did Charles the fifth teaching them to Philip the second when he renounced the Empire for if these secrets by which they governe should be publiquely knowne it would be a great advantage against them for loosing their states And therefore Sosybus understanding that Cleomenes the Spartan was informed of all the most inward secrets of Ptolomey would not suffer him to goe out of Aegypt for feare as Plutarch relates he should raise some sharpe warre in that Kingdome whereupon finally he put him to death We may see also that the Romans never were in greater danger to be overthrowne then when by Coriolanus their owne Citizen consequently acquainted with all their secrets they were assaulted This praecept was so well observed by the ancient Romane Commonwealth that though we have all the Histories of those times yet to this day we know not otherwise then by some conjecture by what means it was that they maintained their government and augmented it Justly therefore did Sallust advise Ne arcana domus vulgarentur that is that those secrets of State upon which the Empire is founded should not be made knowne to any but to the Prince And Salomon in his Proverbs observes as much where he saith Coelum sursum terra deorsum
labour and to carry the yoake upon his shoulders Two things remaine to be advertised the one that when I say a Prince ought to doe all principall things himselfe I meane not things of the Law which consist in the judiciall part where onely particular things and of private interest are handled and have nothing to doe with the maine of the state but I meane it in the deliberative part where publique matters of the Kingdome are handled and such businesses in which consists the foundation of the state and therefore with good reason is by Aristotle preferred for the judiciall part Secondly and lastly I advertise that this my discourse is not meant of Princes that are unfit for as those Princes that are judicious cannot doe worse then to suffer themselves to be ruled by their ministers so those that are of little judgement cannot doe better then to do all things by faithfull and prudent ministers as Nero in his beginning did under Burrhus Seneca and Corbulo men fit to have ruled the whole World and whom as long as he imployed his state was so managed that justly a wise Emperour said no Prince how judicious and wise soever could possibly governe better then Nero at his beginning did but as soone as he left to be ruled by those worthy men it may as truely be said No Prince how foolish and wicked soever could possibly governe worse then Nero did Nam Tiberius cuncta per Consules incipiebat tanquam vetere Reipublica ambiguus Imperandi Why Tiberius made a shew he would not be Emperour and that to make Princes discover things they would have concealed is dangerous The one and thirtieth Discourse TIberius after the death of Augustus as though he were doubtfull to take upon him the Empire as a burthen too heavy for his shoulders made a shew he would restore it to the Commonwealth Se in partenâ—… onerum vocatum a Divo Augusto experiendo didicisse quam arduum quam subjectum fortunae Regendi cuncta onus But to the Praetorian souldiers he gave watchwords as Emperour Signum Praetoriis cohortibus ut imperator dederat Lastly he made it be spread in the Army that he was already elected Emperour by the Senate Dabat famae ut vocatus electusque potius a Republica videretur quam per uxorium ambitum senili adoptione irrepsisse And because these were three waies all of them in my opinion used with great mystery I will search into them a little narrowly First then Tiberius made a shew he would restore liberty whereof one reason Tacitus alledgeth where he saith Postea cognitum est ad introspiciendas Procerum voluntates inductam dubitationem as though he would say He was moved to doe thus thereby to see whether the chiefe men either desired liberty or otherwise distasted his Dominion to the end that comming to know every ones mind he might worke his owne ends and security accordingly This reason if Tacitus bring it as a popular reason may passe but if he bring it as the true intention of the Prince it is very unlikely as not at all suiting with Tiberius subtilty and if it be Tacitus his owne invention it comes farre short of his great wit For two kinds of Noblemen may be considered in the Senate The one of men eminent for judgement and valour the other of men little experienced and lesse witted If Tiberius had any doubt or feare it could be of none but of those eminent men for as for ther est either they will never dare to attempt any thing against the Prince or if they attempt never succeed And for this it is we said before that Augustus had great lucke to finde the City full of such men Cum ferocissimi per acies aut proscriptione cecidissent I say then that if any were moved to lay himselfe open and discover his mind upon Caesars words It must needs be they were of those of little judgement because men I say not of great but of any meane understanding would never be brought to beleeve that a man so greedy of the Empire and that by plots and wiles had procured his owne mothers death and the death of Augustus himselfe would after attaining it with so much labour relinquish it againe and restore them to liberty So that if Tiberius by this meanes did discover the mind of any Senatour it must needs be of those of whom as he could justly have no feare so it should be absurd without any benefit to take revenge For this cause Marcus Lepidus gave counsell in the Senate that Lutorius should not be put to death VitaLutorii in integroest qui neque servatus in periculum Reipublicae neque interfectus in exemplum ibit Studia illi ut plena vaecordiae ita inania fluxa sunt Nec quidquant grave ac serium ex eo metuas qui suorum ipse flagitiorum proditor non virorum animis sed muliercularum adrepit It is not therefore likely that Tiberius a man so wise and of so great judgement would ever be moved upon such slight grounds to cover his intention we must therefore looke out some other reason that may be more likely There were two things of which Tiberius might be afraid First of the Senate least not brooking his government they should rise in Armes against him secondly of Germanicus least having a powerfull Army in his hand and withall the favour of the people he should with a little danger prevent a succession that was uncertaine To meete therefore with both these difficulties he feigned in the Senate and with the people that he was unwilling to be Emperour to the end that if the Senatours should make any demonstration against him the people might beleeve they were not moved to it for the publik good but onely for their private hatred seeing to seeke to kill a Prince that would reftore liberty is a signe they love not liberty I would therefore construe it that when Tacitus said Vt introspiceret Procerum mentes he meant that Tiberius before he declared himselfe to accept the Empire desired to see first whether any in the Senate made any opposition that so as I have said before by using the name of liberty he might the better prevent such mischiefe and the rather as not having omitted any other essentiall things for strengthning of himselfe as I shall shew hereafter The second reason why Tiberius was moved to such feigning is set downe by Tacitus in those words Cansa praecipua ex formidine ne Germanicus in cujus manu tot legiones immensa sociorum auxilia mirus apud populum favor habere Imperium quam expectare mallet Tacitus then saith that Tiberius feigned to be unwilling to accept the Empire because he doubted Germanicus would pretend uâ—…to it in truth he that should take these words in an ordinary sense must needs make it one of the poorest reasons that can be given for what hath the not accepting the Empire to doe with
Errour which was intimated in the beginning consists in this that Augustus in his will naming many of his enemies to be his heires seemed by this as it were to encourage them to oppose those of his own blood that so they might come to that of which his will had given them a hope And it would not be reasonable to say that he was moved to doe it as at this day in some places is used as not thinking hee should dye to the end that they seeing themselves made his heires might not longer be his opposites but rather be tyed to be at his service an invention which hath no other effect but to make him that useth it be knowne for a man of little braine with prejudice to his Posterity This reason therefore is in it selfe of little strength and squares not with Augustus seeing his will was made in secret and of as little strength is that Reason which Tacitus brings in these words Iactantia Gloriaque apud Posteros which is that Augustus did it to get himselfe glory in aftertimes as much as to say that hee preferd publick profit before private hatred and that hee made no reckoning of the injuries done him no doubt a great Glory but yet not such as was worthy of Augustus his Consideration We may say then that Augustus not without great cunning tooke this course to secure both himselfe and his successour seeing that if any were likely to conspire against the Prince it was those principall men whom hee named in his will whereupon by this demonstration of affection he thought to bind their hands because beleeving the Prince did truly love them men being apt of themselves to beleeve they deserve to be loved and more to beleeve those demonstrations which being made in a Iast will seeme to be farre from flattery they could not chuse but lay away all hatred and though they should be suspitious though aware of the devise yet they should have no meanes to conspire against the Prince seeing the people they might bee sure would be against them as they who looking to the apparence of things take no notice of fictions and hate ungratefulnesse and this was it that spoyled the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus because the people understood that hee was adopted by Caesar to be his sonne and named in his Testament and for him to conspire against him was such an ingratitude that they were easily perswaded to take revenge so much is that accursed vice detested Non aliud Discordantis patriae remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur That corrupt Common-wealths have need of a Monarch to Reforme them The five and thirtieth Discourse IF Agis the Spartan had knowne the foresaid reason brought by Tacitus in excuse of Augustus he would certainely have attained the end he aimed at which was to restore his Country to the first Ordinances and lawes that the most wise Lycurgus had made but his fault was that he sought to doe that by many which he was to have done himselfe alone which Cleomenes perceiving and advised by the wife of Agis whom after his death he tooke to wife himselfe and having heard her a thousand times relate the case of her deceased husband he came to know that Non aliud patriae Discordantis remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur whereupon though wickedly he put down the Magistracy of the Ephori and easily brought the City to such termes that within a few dayes he was able without any feare of the Citizens to leave his Country and goâ—… person to the warre and if the City in the meane time ran a hazard it was not by any default of Cleomenes but for want of money as Plutarch witnesseth where he saith Quemadmodum exercitatione robur membrorum adepti Athletae spatio temporis opprimunt at que superant agiles artificiososque Ita Antigonus magnis opibus instructus his que bellum reficiens defatigavit tandem superavitque Cleomenem vix habentem unde tenuiter 〈◊〉 mercedem civibus alimenta suppeditaret and therefore was forced to give him battaile where if he could have stayed but onely two dayes Antigonus must of necessity have returned back into Macedon and Cleomenes had remained Lord of all Greece It is therefore held by all Experienced Politicians for an infallible Rule that not onely for the founding of Common-wealths but also for the Reforming of them the Government of one alone is necessary and this Romulus knowing though wickedly as for the Act killed his brother and was cause of the death of his Compagnion So Cleomenes as we have said before desiring to reform his Country of 〈◊〉 which was at the last Cast of Ruine no lesse wickedly then Romulus killed all those that might oppose his Power and gave them new lawes and new ordinances for reformation of the City And not unlike to these was Hiero the Syracusan who seeing his Country in a neere degree of ruine was forced to make use of those Armes to make himselfe Lord of the Country which he had received for defence of the Country It is therefore no marvell that Augustus seeing Rome so full of Discords so much degenerated from the antient lawes and customes and so deepely plunged in a thousand kinds of wickednesse did imitate Romulus in being the cause of his Companions death did imitate Cleomenes in putting many Senatours to death that might have opposed his greatnesse and lastly did imitate Hiero the Syracusan in turning those Armes against the Common-wealth which he had received of the Common-wealth to defend it against Anthony as knowing well that to rectifie the City and reduce it to reformation there was no other way but onely for himselfe to governe alone For having a purpose to set up an Aristocracy he was first as Aristotle in his Ethicks teacheth us to bow the staffe the contrary way to make it afterward streight and if in doing this hee used violence it was because it was impossible to doe it otherwise And therefore Plato in his book of lawes saith that it is impossible to passe from the Government of a few to a good Common-wealth because it is seldome seene that they who are in authority will yeeld to any of their fellowes to reforme them where Plato shewing the difficulty of reforming a Common-wealth sheweth withall that it must be done by reducing the government into one mans hand And if Augustus afterward did not pursue his purpose and left not the Citty in liberty it was because he saw the Citizens were not fit for it as Galba in the oration he made at the Adopting of Piso said Imperaturus es hominibus qui nec totam libertatem nec totam Servitutem pati possunt and 〈◊〉 this cause it was that Augustus made himselfe sole Lord Non aliud Discordantis 〈◊〉 remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur and therefore hee gave them halfe a liberty leaving a great authority in the Senatours and not a little in the people which Tiberius
therefore when after the Romans had entred Afia and had gotten some victories an Ambassador comming to Scipio from Antiochus to demand peace he was answered by Scipio Quod Romanos omnes quod me ad quem missus es ignoras minus miror cum te fortunam ejus à quo venis ignorare cernam Lyfimachia tenenda erat ne Chersonesum intraremus aut ad Hellespontum obfistendum ne in Afiam trajiceremus fi pacem à sollicitis de belli eventu petituri eratis concesso vero in Afiam tranfitu non solum fraenis sed etiam jugo accepto quae disceptatio ex aequo cum imperium patiendum fit relicta est And finally he gave him this counsell Nuntia meis verbis bello abstineat pacis conditionem nullam recuset For this cause the Etolians did ill to speak so boldly after they were brought to the last cast and that they would not accept of such conditions of peace as the Romans offered them seeing it is a meer foolery to stand upon termes with a Conquerour as they at last perceived when the Consul bringing out his Forces they were glad to humble themselves and abate their boldnesse Tunc fracta Phaneae ferocia Aetolisque aliis est tandem cujus conditionis essent sensere Phaneas se quidem qui adfint Aetolorum scire facienda esse quae imperentur There is therefore in such cases no better course than to lay conditioning aside and to put ones selfe into the victors hand who no doubt will remit the more when he findes it is left in his power to do it so Alorcus counselled the Saguntines to do that seeing they had now no hope left they should rather put themselves into the victors hand than stand upon conditioning Haud despero cum omnium potestas ei à vobis facta fit aliquid ex his rebus remissurum which when the Saguntines would not do they were all put to fire and sword I cannot omit by way of digression to speak of a custome the Romans had which at first sight seemes to have been a great errour and it is that they offered the same conditions of peace in the uncertain beginning of a War as after they had gotten an absolute victory as by the answer of Scipio to the Ambassadours of Aniochus may appear Romani ex his quae in deorum immortalium potestate erant ea habemus quae dii dederunt animos qui nostrae mentis sunt eosdem in omni fortuna gessimus gerimusgque neque eos secundae res extulerunt nec adversae minuerunt ejus rei ut alios omittam Annibalem vestrum vobis darem testem nifi vos ipsos dare possem posteaquam Hellespontum trajecimus prius quam castra regia prius quam aciem videremus cum communis Mars incertus belli eventus esset de pace vobis agentibus quas pares paribus forebamus conditiones easdem nunc victores victis ferimus This way of doing served it seemes to no other purpose but to encourage their Enemies to cyment their fortune till they should be brought to extremity and I make no doubt but that Antiochus having before him the Example of the Carthaginians would never be brought to accept conditions of peace till he was brought upon his knees with the War To take away this difficulty it would not suffice to answer as Scipio said that it came from generousnesse of spirit that they altered not for fortune seeing little praise can be given to such a dangerous and prejudiciall Generousnesse and therefore I should rather attribute the cause to too great a greedinesse of getting that which is anothers seeing the Romans made war with Antiochus and with the Carthaginians as thinking they could not be quiet if the one were Lord of this side the mountain Taurus and the other were possest of Africke and this being their motive there is no doubt but the War would neverend till they had triumphed both over Africa and over Asia Whereupon when War is waged with such people we must make account either to get the victory or otherwise to be absolutely destroyed and therefore when Samuel meant to shew Saul that God intended to root out his House to the end he might know he would not pardon him till he were utterly destroyed he called our Lord God by the Name of Triumpher Porro Triumphator in Israel non parcet as though he would say as they who fight to triumph do not pardon till they have utterly destroyed their Enemies so O Saul will our Lord God do with thee But to returne to our purpose if they who would come to amity were friends before and are afterward become Enemies they must then come with blushing and with great humblenesse at least if they can shevv no just occasion but let them not then stay til they come to extremity for then they vvil never be accepted therefore the Capuans did ill not to open their Gates to the Romans vvithin the time given them for vvhen they vvere come to extremity it availed not then to open their Gates but all of them vvere miserably put to the svvord The last case is of him that demands amity and comes to excuse himselfe as having never committed any fault alvvayes really been a friend and never done them any vvrong and such an one may or rather must speak boldly Such a one vvas Segestes vvho speaking of himselfe Memoria bonae societatis impavidus never asked pardon Such then may speak vvith confidence and ought to be hearkened to of the Prince vvith patience and this vvay vvas a great helpe to Terentius in Tacitus vvho being accused for having had friendship with Sejanus he confessed it boldly shewing not onely that he was his friend but that he had laboured much to come to be so as seeing him a Companion of Caesar in his Consulship a Kinsman an inward friend and a stay of the Empire and this constancy of his prevailed so far that not onely he was pardoned but his accusers also were ill intreated Saul must pardon me if I thinke him in this case a more Tyrant than Tiberius seeing when Abimelech the Priest was accused for giving David meat and the sword of Goliah and was charged for it by Saul he made the like ansvver as Terentius did Et quis in omnibus servis tuis sicuti David fidelis gener Regis pergens in imperium gloriosus in domo tua But the boldnesse and innocency of Abimelech vvas not so great but the cruelty of Saul was greater vvho for this cause put him to death certainlya most perfidious act seeing as I have said and say still He that is innocent comes without fault both ought to speak with boldnes and ought to be heard with patience and herein Princes should imitate our Lord God who takes pleasure in such disputes as S. Austin witnesseth in his exposition of those words in the Psalme Jucundum fit ei eloquium meum