But for as much as Aristotle shews that from the end of one circulation another begins while pursuing this Argument he saith Ex Tyrannis rursus ad Plebem he that will consider in Rome those forms of government which for their small continuance I have omitted shall find plainly that even in those also there hath been a manifest circulation For after the Regall under Romulus it came to be a free estate under Brutus from that to be a government of a few under the decemviri lastly to be in the hand of a tyrant under Appius Claudius after whose death she recovered againe her liberty and then passing under the Power of a few setled at last in a Tyranny under Augustus and if there hapned afterward no new circulation the reasons thereof shall be shewed in another discourse But conceiving it to be the fittest course for examining of these revolutions to proceed by shewing the causes of them thereby to make men the better see that the events of former times have not been casuall and hapned by chance and also the better be able to prevent the like accidents that may hereafter happen I will therefore make my beginning at the Power Regall with which it ought not to seem strange that Rome at first was governed seeing it hath been the like in the foundings almost of all Cities as both Salust witnesseth Igitur Initio Reges nam in terris Nomen Imperii id primum fuit and Justin Principio rerum Gentium Nationumque Imperium penes Reges erat and also Aristotle Fuerat enim antiqua civitatum gubernatio paucorum Regia and besides these there are many examples in the holy Scripture that shew it to have been so Cain before the flood was founder of the first City that ever was in the World and he as S. Austin writes was a King as also his successours likewise after the flood the great City Babylon was scarce built when Nintrod as the Scripture saith Coepit esse Potens in terra There being therefore no doubt of the case having so many and great authorities to confirme it the next thing is to search out the causes amongst which the first may be taken from the first founding For Cities are sometimes founded by one alone and he a Private man as Rome by Romulus sometimes by one alone but he a Lord of other Cities as Constantinople by Constantine oftentimes by many joyning together and those many either all of one Country who for shunning of danger assemble themselves into one City as the Athenians did at Athens or else such as quite leave and forsake their ancient habitations which may happen either in time of peace when men are forced by the great overswarming of people to seeke new dwellings as the French did when they built Milan or else in time of warre when men flying from a Country wasted retire themselves into fresh places and this may happen under some one that is Head or Chieftaine or without Head without a Head as Venice under a Head as Lavinium Padoua and Athens the first built by Aeneas the second by Antenor the third by Theseus Now a City which is built by one alone whether he be a Private man or a King is no sooner founded but it comes presently to be under a Power Regall Those againe that are built by many joyning together whether it be that they fly by reason of warre or whether it be that in peace to enlarge themselves they seeke new countries These also fall presently under the power Regall because these things cannot well be done but where there is a superiour that is Head as Milan did under Bellovisus Padua under Antenor Lavinium under Aenaeas and Athens under Theseus But if a City happen to be built by many that are equals and have no chiefe amongst them in this case onely it may be that Cities have not their beginning under Kings of which there may be many occasions First when the end was not first publique to build a City but rather for private commodity where menmight place their persons and goods in safety which in other places by reason of warres they could not do and in case of such danger many building houses now one and then another have thereby made as it were a Village and at last a City Which having beene built insensibly and by fits is therefore not governed by Regall power which it would have been if it had been built at once by a number of people united together a thing impossible to happen where there is not a Head as Plato in his Dialogue of Lawes hath learnedly taught And therefore Venice having beene founded in the foresaid manner hath beene able to begin is and will be able to maintaine it selfe a free City there concurring together with the wisedome of him that built it the valour of him that governes it Secondly this may happen thorough the condition of those who without a Head joyne together to the founding of new Cities for if they be pious and religious of quiet dispositions not greedy of command and such as have had their education in a Common-wealth where they have learned rather to content themselves with equality then to aspire to soveraignty there is no doubt but they will rather set up a free estate then a Regall as it was at the founding of Venice Thirdly it may happen by reason of their weakenesse who were the founders amongst whom there being none fit or worthy to be a King they are all Commanders For this reason though falsely Tarquinius speaking to the Thoscans and Veientanes would have it that the City of Rome was become a Republique Se Regem augente bello Romanum Imperium a Proximis scelerata Conjuratione pulsos eos inter se quia nemo Vnus satis dignus Regno visus sit partes Regni rapuisse These are the occasions by which it happens that sometimes Cities in their beginnings are not governed by Kings but because it is a thing that seldom hapens we may well say that the first reason why the greatest part of Cities in their beginnings are governed by Kings is their founding which without a head can ill be done A second reason we may take from the Inhabitants who in the beginning being but few are apt to tolerate the Regall Power an instruction that Aristotle gives Propter paucitatem enim hominum non crat magmis memerus mediocriâ—… itaque pauci cum essent multitudine Institutione magis ferebant ab aliis gubernari and this certainely Livie meant when he said that if Brutus had deposed any of the first Kings while the multitude was yet unfit to beare any other government then the Regall the Common-wealth had thereby been Endangered Dissipatae res nondum adultae Discordia forent quas fovit tranquilla moderatio Imperii eoque nutriendo perduxit ut bonam frugem libertatis maturis jane viribus ferre possit A third reason and like unto this may be
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
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 afterward tooke away and he put them in halfe a servitude being himselfe superiour in all causes The
understood that Augustus in the dissentions of the Pompeians and the Caesareans of whom he was Head made himselfe protectour of the people that there were dissentions between them is seen by that he saith Cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa neque Caesareanis partibus nisi Caesar Dux reliquus and that he had made the people his friend is knowne by those words Et ad tuendam Plebem Tribunitio jure contentum The summe of all I have said is this If a stranger in a civill discord seeke to make himselfe Lord I meane by civill that which is between Cities and Persons that are under the same Dominion if he have intelligence with them either it is in the beginning and then he shall not stirre but rather be a meanes of concord especially betweene those that are naturally enemies betweene whom it behoves him to foment discords to the end that being weakned his way may be eafie or else assaulting them with Armes be sure to have in his Army one of the blood but yet without power although in another discourse I shall shew that this is a weaknesse or else it is when discords are inveterate and consequently the Citizens wasted then every thing is like well enough to succeed We have also shewed that a stranger who seekes to get the Dominion of Cities which are at warre under divers Lords ought to foment the discords if they be of equall power so farre as that they may come to be unequall and then to take part with the weaker yet no further then only that they may be able to resist their enemies alwaies being carefull that the ayd be not so great as to weaken him that gives it unlesse when without excessive ayd they cannot prosecute the warre and that there be danger least they fall into their enemies hands for then it behooves to make it his owne cause but all in such sort that he give no cause of suspition to his friends I have said also that it is no small skill to foment discords and that no man ought to make use of a great power for his interest in war but only in peace when he is not offorce sufficient to be able to send it away againe And as for those that lie between greater Princes that are at variance let them as Laurence de Medici did use meanes to make them friends Weake Cities in my opinion should never intricate themselves in any warre and where there are two that stand in feare of a third if they will follow my counsell they shall never lead forth all their Forces Now if he be a Citizen who in the discords of the City seekes to make himselfe Lord of it let him know it will be hard to compasse when the discord is between the Nobility and the people but in this case the best way is if he can to make himselfe Head of the Commons If againe the discord be between the people amongstthemselves it is then almost impossible but easie when it is between Nobles and Nobles especially if he be Head of a Faction and if not then to stand neutrall What Discords conserve States and what corrupt them The eighth Discourse THus then we see that of those three distinctions there is one proper for conserving the Prince that is the discord betweene the Nobility and the Commons as sufficiently hath been shewed Now the state of the Optimates to returne to our purpose is easily preserved so long as there growes no discord between Nobles and Nobles because as we have said before the dissentions of the Nobility rest upon two Heads whereof the one soone prevailing over the other brings it within his power to make himselfe sole Lord so much the rather because in a State of Optimates there is alwaies discord between the Nobility and the Commons and so much that the people ill brooking the Senat will rather be willing to have a King We must therefore know that in a State of Optimates as the dissension betweene Nobles and Nobles is very hurtfull so that betweene the Nobility and the people is very profitable and greatly fortifies and upholds it so long as there concurre not with it discord between the Nobles The reason is because the people being at variance with the Nobles it will be a cause that they standing united will not incurre the danger before spoken of Thus we see the Romans after the expulsion of the Tarquins continued easily in their government because in that time there was perpetuall discord between the Nobility and the People In which discords when the people came to be oppressed the Nobles fell into Factions and then the City in a few yeeres came to be a Monarchy Of concordant discord and how it ought to be mannaged for the good of Cities The ninth Discourse THere is nothing more profitable for the concord and good government of a City then a discord between the parts a City being a body composed of many parts as our body is of 〈◊〉 foure Elements And as in this if it be well Organized in such sort that all the foure Elements be in a due proportion there will then need no discord to maintaine it there being none that seekes its own destruction and therefore it sweetly enjoyes a quiet rest so in a City there will be no unquietnesse if all the parts be equall I meane not equall simply for it were not fit that all in a City should be equall in dignity and riches being necessary some should be rich and some poore but equall in such manner as it is in the body whose good consists in this that all the members be equall for there are two kinds of good as saith S. Thomas one the good of the whole and the other of the parts and likewise two natures one universall the other particular the good of the whole consists in the entirity and in the distinction of the parts and therefore it is better for a man to have a Head Feet Hands and the other members then that all should be Head but the good of the part should be more good and perfect if it could attaine to the degree and perfection of the superiour part and therefore the Foot should be more Noble if it were a Head but the body should not be more perfect if it wanted a Foot so in a City it is sit there should be Plebeians and the equality that is required ought to be Geometricall and not Arithmeticall and where this is a City shall not need dissension to make it be well governed but because as Galen in his Method speaking of bodies that are in health simpliciter and absolutely saith This symmetry of humours consisting In Puncto is very hardly found and found impossible to be kept as also Hippocrates speaketh of those bodies that are in the height of healthfulnesse Neque enim in melius verti neque diu sistere valent reliquum est ut in deterius dilabantur so also a City is
from hearing metaphors finding the meaning of him that useth them But because Tacitus in saying that his Annals have little pleasure in them Caeterum ut profutura it a minimum oblectationis afferunt shewes to be contrary to this any opinion It is therefore to be knowne that for as much as concernes the present there may two kinds of pleasure be taken from a thing one of the senses another of the understanding as we may say in Musicke there are two pleasures may be taken one from the goodnesse of the voyces that sing another from the goodnesse of the songs that are sing the first is taken by the sense of hearing whereof the sound is object the second is taken by the understanding which finding the Composers cuming in making of Descants and helping of discords takes great delight The first pleasure is common to all that have eares the second of such onely as understand it The like happens also in painting where one kind of pleasure is taken from the daintinesse of the colours and the beauty of the picture and another that is taken from the due placing of the parts and resemblance of the Muasbles and of this the pleasure is so much the greater in that it cannot be taken but by one of understanding who therefore takes delight in anothers cunning because by it be discovers his owne Thus when Tacitus saith that his Annals are little pleasing he meanes in the pleasure which is taken by the sense and this appeares plainely by the words he addes where giving the reason why other Histories are more pleasing then this he saith Nam situs Gentium varietates Praeliorum Clari Ducum exitus retinent ac redintegrant legentium animos This difference of pleasure Seneca expressed when he said that Virgill affords one kind of pleasure being read by a Humanist and another being read by a Philosopher I conclude then that Tacitus is an Authour exceeding pleasing specially to those who studying the Histories with understanding little care whether the Latin be as good as that of Caesar. It remaines to advertise the Reader of these my Discourses that finding Hebrew or Greeke Texts cited in Latin he may be pleased to conceive I did it to avoyd cumbring the Leaves with allegations seeing if they had been brought in the foresaid Tongues they must have been againe translated for their sakes that understand not those Tongues I should I know have done more conformable to custome if I had cited them in Italian rather then in Latin but this also I avoyded that I might not take away the force of sense which the words beare in that Language Lastly I will not stand to contest with those who have a custome to be alwaies blaming because he that shall deale so with these my weake Discourses will find himselfe much deceived in his opinion for wherein he thinks to differ from me he will directly agree with me seeing I have printed them to no other end but to make my selse known a servant of the Serenissimo the Grand Duke who out of his benigne nature will be pleased to accept that little which a servant is able to present unto him Withall I advertise that to blame a Book may be the work of understanding men but to blame the Authors of Books the work of none but malignant men That I leave to every mans liberty This I conceive he deserves not that is not conceited of his owne wisdome The Contents of the severall DISCOVRSES Discourse the first OF the divers forms of government that Rome had and how it happens that Cities for the most part have their beginnings under Kings rather then under any other forme of government p. 1 Discourse second How the City of Rome came from being governed by Kings to be a free State and the difference is betweene a beginning and a cause p. 8 Discourse third 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 liberty and the other tyranny p. 21 Discourse fourth That the power of a few cannot consist in any number better then three p. 25 Discourse fifth Of what kind of discord the Authour intends to speake p. 28 Discourse sixth Whether an externall warre with the enemies of the faith be the best meanes to hinder discords among Christians p. 30 Discourse seventh What is the fittest time to proceed in discords with the enemies of the faith p. 45 Discourse eighth What discords conserve States and what corrupt them p. 60 Discourse ninth Of concordant discord and how it ought to be mannaged for the good of Cities p. 61 Discourse tenth How hard and dangerous a matter it is to write Histories when the easiest time is to finde writers and which of them deserve most credit p. 67 Discourse eleventh From whence flattery proceeds how many kinds there are of it and which of them is hurtfull to a City p. 81 Discourse twelfth What things holpe Augustus to the Empire and what meanes he used to maintaine it p. 91 Discourse thirteenth 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 p. 99 Discourse fourteenth How the Donatives which are given to Souldiers are profitable to raise a man and to maintaine him in the Empire and when it is that Military discipline is corrupted by them p. 107 Discourse fifteenth How much it imports a Prince for getting the peoples love to maintaine plenty by what meanes scarcity happens and how it may be helpt and how a Prince may make use of it p. 113 Discourse sixteenth What kind of ease it is that Tacitus speakes of and how it may be reconciled with some places in other Authours p. 121 Discourse seventeenth That Cities subject to another City better like the government of a King than of a Commonwealth and that every City would gladly have their Lord to live amongst them p. 125 Discourse eighteenth What meanes a Prince may use with safety to set them in a way that are to succeed them in the government p. 137 Discourse nineteenth That old men are apt to be carried away by women and of what age a Prince should be p. 145 Discourse twentieth That to maintaine and suffer Magistrates to continue although without authority is a matter of great moment p. 155 Discourse twenty one That Tiberius was part good and part bad how it happened that he fell not into dangers as Nero did Whether it be good to be brought up in the Princes house and finally how their secret vices may be knowne p. 159 Discourse twenty two How much it imports a Prince to be chaste p. 168 Discourse twenty three How and when the government of women is odious p. 171 Discourse twenty foure That at one and the same time to make knowne the death of the Prince and the assumption of the successour is
taken from the difficulty to finde many in the first founding of a City that are of ability and fit to governe for which reason perhaps Aristotle saith Rex ab Initio repertus est quia difficile erat viros plures excellenti virtute reperiri And so much the more the City being then as Lucius Florus saith in her childhood and consequently wanton and given to pleasures and therefore had need of such a schoolmaster as a King is to keep them in awe whom liberty else would soone corrupt And to this purpose it is that Livie speaks and that of the liberty of Rome Quid enim futuâ—…m fuit si illa Pastoriâ—…m convenarumque plebs transfuga ex suis populis sub tutela Inviolati Templi aut libertateni aut certam impunitatem adepta soluta Regio metu agitare caepta esset Tribunitiis procellis No man therefore ought to marvell that our Lord God in the time of the Mosaicall Law never gave to the Hebrews a Common-wealth as long as either immediately by himselfe or else by the meanes of Kings or Judges he governed them in feare under severe lawes where of when men came to be more perfect he abated the rigour as Saint Austin excellently expresseth saying Deus Hebraeis diversa pro qualitate temporis imposuit Praecepta erant enim sub lege quast puert sub Pedguogo incluse and therefore Saint Paul saith Sub lege custodiebamur in Christo nutriens nos tanquam parvulos sub rigore Diseiplina The last reason is because a City in its Beginning hath need of Lawes which may better be given by one alone then by a multitude where of Aristotle gives the reason Quia Vnum nancisci paucos facilius est quam â—…ltos qui recfe sentiant possint leges condere jus constituere Now having shewed that not without just cause the City of Rome was in its beginning governed by Romulus it will not be amisse to examine the scituation of the City and therein to shew the Founders wisdome in the building it First therefore the scite of a City according to Aristotle ought neither to be too remote from the sea nor yet too neer it to the end that by too much remotenes it be not deprived of many commodities which the Sea is wont to bring in and by too great neernesse it be not exposed to the danger of suddaine assaults Secondly It ought to be in a good aire as the thing which of all other can most annoy us being continually not onely about us but taken into us Thirdly it ought to be in a place of plenty without which there can never accrew any greatnesse to a City Fourthly it ought to be in a place easie for carriage and bringing in of commodities Fiftly and lastly it ought to be in a place of advantage for assaulting its neighbours and difficult it selfe to be assaulted Now that Rome was scituated according to these rules of Aristotle is related by Livie where he saith Non sine causa Dii hominesque hunc urbi condendae locum elegerant saluberrimos colles here he shewes the goodnesse of the ayre Flumen optimum quo ex Mediterraneis locis fruges advehantur Here he shewes the facility of cariage either by Land or Water Mare vicinum ad commoditates nec expositum nimia propinquitate ad pericula classium externarum Nationum Here he shewes a neerenesse to the sea in respect of profit and a remotenesse in respect of danger Italiae Medium ad Incrementuan urbis natum unice Here he shewes the difficulty for being assaulted by people farre off being in the midst of Italy and by people neere hand by reason of its own strength We may therefore conclude that a City built to grow great cannot possibly have a more excellent scituation according to Aristotle then Rome had Libertatem Lucius Brutus Instituit How the City of Rome came from being governed by Kings to be a free State and what the difference is betweene a beginning and a cause The second Discourse HAving shewed the causes for which the City of Rome was in her first beginning governed by Kings I conceave it to be no lesse necessary to make inquiry how it hapned that leaving that kind of government it came under Brutus to be a free State and seeing of the causes that may be alledged setting them aside that are supernaturall some are Philosophicall and some Politicall these consisting in the things done those in the order of number and influences of the Heavens I say first speaking as a Politician There are many of opinion that this alteration of government in Rome was caused by the ravishing of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius which opinion Aristotle seemes not much to decline while speaking of the causes by which Monarchies and States come to be changed he omits not to name for one the lust and lasciviousnesse of the Prince which as he shewes by many examples have been the cause of change in all kinds of Commonwealths and Monarchies Others may say that this change of government in Rome proceeded from this that Tarquinius had taken away all authority from the Senators and had by devises procured the utter abolishing of the Senate which also was the cause that the Monarchy of Rome passed afterwards from the house of the Caesars into that of Galba The cause likewise of the change in Syracusa from a Monarchy to a popular State when Hieronymus not following the steps of his grandfather Hieron devested the Senate of all authority and was therefore by conspiratours most miserably slaine For as the stomacke which is the seat of naturall heat as long as it hath in it any little nourishment leaves the body in peace and quiet but if it be altogether without it then drawes nourishment from the head and thereby oftentimes destroyes the body so if the Senate have but some little authority left it it then rests satisfied and contented but if it be wholly deprived of all authority it then turnes head upon their head and fals upon the Prince and oftentimes becomes the ruine of the City And even this is one reason that Octavius Augustus after the death of Caesar was able to continue in his Empire because he left to the Senate part of that authority which Caesar had before abolished at least had plotted to abolish By the examples hitherto brought I conceave it may be gathered that these were the true Politicall causes why the City of Rome changed its regall government to a free State but because to say but this would be to confound beginnings with causes it is necessary to expatiate a little that so returning backe I may leave no man uncapable of this truth We must therfore know that between a beginning and a cause there is great difference not speaking of them either Philosophically or Theologically although in each of them it might easily be shewed In Theologie because the Father is the beginning of the Sonne and
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
too wary who concealing their thoughts are apt to make conspiracies and the flatterer being of this sort a concealour of his thoughts gives the Prince just cause to feare him And therefore Tiberius an understanding man neither liked those that flattered too much nor those that spake too freely unde Augusta lubrica Oratio saith Tacitus sub Principe qui libertatem metuebat adulationem oderat And in another place speaking of flattery he saith Quae moribus corruptis perinde auceps si nulla ubi Nimia est Postquam Bruto Cassio coesis nulla jam publica arma Pompeius apud siciliam oppressus exutoque Lepido interfecto Antonio ne Julianis quidem partibus nisi Caesar Dux reliquus posito triumviri nomine consulem se ferens ad tuendam plebem Tribunitio Jure contentum ubi Militem donis Populum annona cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit What things holpe Augustus to the Empire and what meanes he used to maintaine it The twelfth Discourse COrnelius Tacitus not onely in these words but also in a good part of the first Book entreating of Augustus labours to shew what meanes he used to attaine the Empire and what to uphold him having attained it And my meaning is to follow his course and punctually to examine all things dividing my Discourse into two parts the first to shew the waies which Augustus used to attaine the Empire the second the waies by which he maintained it The ordinary waies as experience and men teach us to come to a Principality are either by fortune or by vertue or by wickednesse or by craft or by election or lastly by succession Augustus then came to the Empire by fortune which holpe him three waies the first that when Brutus and Cassius who were his enemies were dead and that Lepidus and Antonius his partners in greatnesse were extinguisht he only remained of the Caesarian faction and therfore Tacitus speaking in what manner fortune ayded him saith Postquam Bruto Cassio caesis nulla jam publica arma Pompeius apud siciliam oppressus exuto Lepido Interfecto Antonio ne Julianis quidem partibus nisi Caesar Dux reliquâ—…s and so following This onely ayd of fortune is the ablest way to raise one to a Principality and therefore Pericles as Plutarch in his life relates by this onely meanes became Prince of Athens Postquam Aristides vita decessit Themistocles exulatum abiit Cimonem bella plerique citra Graeciam detinuere ibi demum Pericles populo se dedit But thisalone did not serve Augustus but fortune in another manner gave him assistance for the stoutest Citizens being part banished and part slaine in battailes it was an easie matter to attaine the Empire without any let This second ayd of fortune Tacitus expresseth where he saith Insurgere paulatim munia Senatus Magistratum legumque in se trahere nullo adversante cum ferocissimi peracies aut proscriptione cecidissent Not lesse apt then the first is this ayd to make a change in States seeing the people of Tarantum onely because the greater part of the Nobility were dead in warre was easily able to change the state whereupon Aristotle saith Contingit vero quandoquidem id the change of the State per fortunam veluti apud 〈◊〉 cum superati praetio a Lampigensibus Nobilitatis magnam partem amississent But fortune not content with this neither gave Augustus another ayd also to make himselfe Emperour which was that he found the Common-wealth wearied with discords and the Provinces oppressed by Magistrates which Tacitus describing saith Cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa nomine Principis sub Imperium accepit and of the Provinces he addes Neque Provinciae illum rerum statum abnuebant suspecto Senatus populique Imperio and that which followeth This way was the onely cause that brought Visconte to be Lord of Milan and Bentivoli to be Lord of Bologna Yet fortune by all these waies had not power her selfe alone to bring Augustus to the Empire though as we have shewed each of them of it selfe were apt to doe it but secondarily there concurred with them his own valour which he shewed in so many battels and lastly in that Navall fight by meanes whereof he came to be Emperour And although this alone had beene sufficient to bring him to the Empire as was seen in Vitellius who by getting the victory onely in one battaile against Otho made himselfe Lord of Rome yet Augustus besides fortune and his owne vertue brought himselfe forward by desert as having enlarged the Roman Empire Mari Oceano haud amnitibus longinquis septum Imperium by this way have many come to be Princes as Saturnius and others And Aristotle himselfe approves it where he saith Praeterea ob beneficia accepta Reges Creavere Which Saint Thomas expounding saith Vel quia pugnavit contra 〈◊〉 pro illis vel invenit artem aliquam iis necessariam But besides fortune vertue and merit Augustus brought himselfe forward by wickednesse and perfidiousnesse also which ayded him two waies First by making use of those armes to oppresse his Countrey which he had received to defend it Arma quae in Antonium caeperat contra Rempublicam versa and indeed there cannot be a greater wickednesse then when benefits are turned against him of whom they are received and therefore our Lord God meaning by the mouth of Esay to shew the ungratefulnesse wickednesse of the Hebrew people saith Filios enutrivi exaltavi ipsi autent spreverunt me Where the Chaldee paraphrase saith Tulisti de auro meo atque de Argento meo quae dedi tibi fecisti tibi Imagines Masculinas This way was also followed by Hiero the Syracusan who imployed that Army to oppose the Common-wealth which he had received to defend it But neither did this wickednesse of Augustus serve his turne in committing so many murthers as Tacitus describes where he saith Pietatemerga parentem tempora Reipublicae obtentui sumpta And againe Cassii Brutorum exitus paternis 〈◊〉 datos deceptos post Antonium Tarentino Brundusinoque faedere nuptiis sororis illeptum subdole affinitatis poenas mortis exolvisse But not onely this wickednesse with so many other causes spoken of before concurred though this alone were enough to bring a man to a Kingdome as it did Agathocles the Sicilian and Cleomenes the Spartan and many others a way unworthy to be imitated not onely of Christians but even of Barbarians But besides all these that which ayded Augustus was craft and policy for being called in by his owne Citizens and they divided into Commons and Nobility The Commons by reason of oppression by the great ones the Nobles by reason of common diffension desired rather to have a King and be safe then to have liberty and be in danger So as Augustus Ad tuendam plebem tooke upon him the dignity of a tribune and to be ayded by the Nobility advanced them in honours and riches who Novis ex rebus
cleare that a woman cannot beare rule directly and properly that is in that kind of ruling which is called judging but yet may in that which is said to be commanding and especially in the third way with sonnes and other men As to the second point whether the Dominion of women be odious or no we may distinguish it thus either we speake of women alone and by themselves or else of women accompanied with men If we take it the first way there is nothing more odious nothing more abhorred of men then to be commanded by a woman as being a thing repugnant to reason contrary to Gods commandement and most contrary to the law of nature Our Lord God said to the woman Sub viri potestate eris Aristotle saith that naturally the more perfect beares rule over the more imperfect and the better over the worse whereupon the woman as Aristotle in a thousand places witnesseth being more imperfect then the man and being by Pythagoras placed in the number of evils and man of good it would certainely be a monster in nature that the perfect should be servant to the imperfect the good to the evill and especially that sex being I say not alwaies but for the most part voyd of prudence and of valour full of pride and fuller of lust and consequently most unsit to governe of whom Tacitus saith Non solum imparem laboribus sexum sed si licentia adsit saevum ambitiosum potestatis avidum The government therefore of women when they rule alone not onely is odious but is also most miserably administred neither can the example of Debora whereof I spake before be justly objected but rather I may my selfe make use of that example in confirmation of my own assertion for if she governed well it was because she was a Prophetesse and if her government were not odious it was because a man commanded for our Lord God being willing the Israelites should be ruled by a woman and knowing that by reason of their naturall imbecillities they are not fit to rule he infused into Debora a Propheticall spirit and meaning she should be received without distast knowing how distastfull a thing it is to men to be governed by women he appointed her Barak for a companion in the government to the end that commanding by his assistance it might not be thought as of her self alone the command of a woman I will here forbeare to speake of infinite Kingdoms and States that by the government of women have been utterly overthrowne of which all ancient and moderne Histories are full as well for that it is a thing so well knowne as for that it is not much to our purpose For when Tacitus saith Serviendum foeminae he meanes not that a woman should command alone either as Judge or as Princesse but he meanes the third way together with men seeing he speakes of Livia who having been the cause of Tiberius his comming to the Crowne it might be doubted whether she also were not to governe as well as he That which we are to examine is this what authority ought to be given in such cases by men to women and whether their government in this sort be odious or no For answer whereto we must proceed with distinguishing either we speake of States not well setled where the men are stout and warlike or else of States that live quietly and in peace and are governed by a Prince secure If we be in the first case I am absolutely of opinion that the Dominion of women is most odious and therefore Semiramis as knowing this durst not venture to take upon her the Empire openly Haec saith Justin nec immaturo puero ausa tradere Imperium necipsa Imperium palam tractare tot ac tantis gentibus vir patienter uni viro nedum foeminae parituris And the reason of this is nothing else but that those Subjects being stout and warlike would never have consented to be governed by her if they had knowne her at first to be a woman Which we may well thinke seeing with these very subjects it was enough for Sardanapalus that he had but the likenesse of a woman to make him despised and afterward be slaine Indignatus tali foeminae saith Justin of him in the person of Artabanus tantum virorum subjectum tractantique lanam ferrum arma portantes parere And this is the case which Tacitus meanes when he saith Serviendum foeminae shewing it would be odious in a warlike people as the Romans were and dangerous in a new Prince as Tiberius was to governe in company of a woman Now if we aske what authority should be given to women in such cases I say they should not be suffered to entermeddle in matters of judgement nor of the state themselves alone not so much for their incapacity as for the contempt they are apt to fall into though they should governe never so well And therefore the Roman Emperour Alexander a man most just and furnisht with all the qualites of a good Prince yet because he suffered his mother to meddle in matters of State though she did it with great prudence and justice he fell in short time into contempt and finally of the Souldiers was miserably slaine In truth a singular example to shew that warlike minds can never endure the government of women and that their honour is the Princes disparagement which Tiberius a wise man knew and could say Moderandos foeminarum honores and Tacitus no lesse wise then he gives the reason of it saying Muliebre fastigium in sui diminutionem accipiens Yet they must not altogether be left without honour but some authority it is fit they should have especially such as are the cause of the Princes comming to the Empire And therefore the wise Salomon who through the good meanes of his mother Bersabee with old David was assumed to the Royall dignity not onely honoured her exceedingly but would have her sit with him upon his Throne as is written in the Booke of Kings Venit ergo Bersabee ad Regem Salomonem ut loqueretur ei pro Adonia surrexit Rex in occursum ejus adoravitque 〈◊〉 sedit super Thronum suum positusque est Thronus matri Regis quae sedit ad dexteram ejus But yet I cannot finde in holy Scripture that ever she gave judgement or spake in counsell or gave audience in affaires at any time The authority and honour therefore that is to be allowed to women in States that are not secure ought not to be immediately in themselves but by assistance of their husbands And this counsell David gave to Salomon in the Psalm Eructavit speaking to his Bride where he saith Filia Tyri in numeribus vultum tuum deprecabuntur Where he saith not te but vultum tuum that is thy husband meant by the word countenance as Theodoret and S. Basil interpret it He then that is to be resorted to and to be sued unto must be
found a judgement to choose the good and refuse the bad and lastly a memory to retaine that which is imprinted To the learning them of others is required a perspicacity which is all one with docility makes the understanding apt to apprehend those things which are taught by others There is required also judgement to discerne good things from bad and lastly a memory to reteine them So as the memory is as the matter of the one and the other the judgement as the Forme of them both and perspicacity and acutenesse are as the differences Salomon desires Wisedome but not with acutenesse to invent things that is wisedome which consists in the sharpnesse of wit but he desires wisedome together with dociblenesse that is wisdome and perspicacity which is all one with dociblenesse perspicacity to be able to understand rightly the opinions and reasons of his counsellours and wisedome that is judgement to be able to discerne the good from the bad Salomon therefore shews that a Prince ought not to care for inventing of his owne head but to content himselfe with having dociblenesse to understand things invented by others and wisedome to know the truth and to discerne the good from the bad And therefore he saith well Da mihi sapientiam and after Dabis ergo servo tuo cor docile Where we must observe that though he say The Heart and not the Understanding yet he meanes the same thing seeing those faculties which Galen attributes to the understanding many others attribute to the heart and in holy Scripture it selfe the heart oftentimes is put for the understanding as in Esay it is said Excaeca cor populi hujus aures ejus aggrava oculos ejus claude ne sorte videant oculis suis auribus suis audiant corde suo intelligant Neve Tiberius vim Principatus resolveret cuncta ad Senatum vocando Eam conditionem esse Imperandi ut non aliter ratio constet quam si uni reddatur How Princes ought to make use of Magistrates and Officers The thirtieth Discourse SAllust counsels Tiberius to take heed that he remit not so many causes to the Senatours as thereby to weaken his owne soveraighty there being nothing so proper to a Prince as to be sole Commander A counsell worthy to be well considered by occasion whereof it will be â—…it to discourse First how Princes ought to order the remitting of causes to the Senate or to other Officers and then whether they should take the administration of all things into their own hands It seemes a thing impossible that one man alone can by himselfe be able to judge all causes which Jethro Moyses father in law considering and seeing him to take the reckonings of all the people of Israel without assistance of any and wondring at it he said Vltra vires tuas est negotium solus illud non poteris sustinere For Resolution then either we speake of giving Authority to a Senate or else of committing causes to other Officers If we speake of the Senate either the causes are great and weighty or else but of small moment If they be great then ought the Prince to reserve them for himselfe to determine if slight and of small value he may doe well to remit them to the Senate that so he may please them with a shew of liberty without any prejudice to himselfe This Tiberius well understood and therefore when the subject Provinces made suit for the continuance of certaine Franchises he remitted them to the Senate to the end that being matters of small moment the Senate might determine of them as they pleased which Tacitus expresseth where he saith Tiberius vim Principatus sibi firmans imaginem antiquitatis Senatui praebebat Secondly the affaires that are handled are either such as deserve reward and grace or else such as are odious and deserve punishment and censure If they be such as deserve reward the Prince ought to determine of them himselfe but if they be odious and deserve punishment he ought then to shift them of from himselfe and leave them to the Senate or if he cannot to the Senate at least to other Officers Honores autem saith Aristotle ipsemet tribuere debet poenas animadversiones per alios infligere per Magistratus 〈◊〉 per judicia So Simonides in Xenophon adviseth Hiero so Simonides in Dio Augustus Our Lord God when he punisheth he doth it by the ministery of others Immissiones per Angelos malos whereof Saint Chrysostome speaking saith Igitur quando servare oportet per seipsum hoc facit ita 〈◊〉 in salutem generis Humani 〈◊〉 tunc inquit 〈◊〉 Angelis congregate facientes iniquitatem projicite in Camino de justis vero dicit non sic sed qui vos suscipit suscipit me 〈◊〉 ligate illius manus pedes 〈◊〉 in tenebras exteriores videillic servos qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 autem beneficiis opus est seipsum Benefactorem vo cat Venite Benedicti Patris 〈◊〉 percipite 〈◊〉 vobis regnum quando loquendum cum Abraham ipse adest quando in Sodoma 〈◊〉 servos mittit iterum euge serve bone fidelis supra pauca fuisti fidelis supra multa te constituam tunc ipse benedicit 〈◊〉 autem 〈◊〉 non ipse sed servi 〈◊〉 By this you may see that a Prince ought to have no hand in punishments but leave all such distastefull things to Officers It was handled in the Senate to take order for restraining of luxury which was now growne excessive and beyond all measure and because there was scarce a man in the whole City free from this vice it was a thing exceeding 〈◊〉 as Tacitus shewes where he saith Nec ignoro in conviviis circulis incusari ista modum posci sed si quis legem sanciat poenas indicat iisdem illi civitatem verti splendidissimo cuique exitium parare nentinem 〈◊〉 expertum clamitabunt Tiberius therefore finding of what nature the cause was would not determine it selfe but cast it upon the Senate as Tacitus in his person saith Si quis ex 〈◊〉 tantam angustiam vel 〈◊〉 pollicetur ut 〈◊〉 obviam queat hunc 〈◊〉 exonerari laborum meorum partem fateor sin accusare vitia 〈◊〉 dein cum gloriam ejus rei 〈◊〉 sunt simultates 〈◊〉 ac mihi 〈◊〉 Credite P. C. me quoque non esse offensionis avidum Which the Senate perceiving they also remitted the cause to the Aediles and so it vanished In this point there is no Kingdome better governed then that of France which leaves all matters to the Parliament that might any way make the King distasted and matters of most importance the King himselfe in his Privy Counsels determines And thus much for giving Authority and remitting causes to the Senate Now if we speake how a Prince ought to serve himselfe of his Officers I say generally that the lesse he doth by their ministery the better whom he should use
in himselfe but was continued in Tiberius who also was able to elect a successour after him but with Hiero it was not so for his Kingdome ended in his Nephew Hieronymus who was miserably slaine And the reason of this is because Tiberius in company of many vices had some vertue as I said before speaking of Nero but Hieronymus without any vertue had all the vices of Tiberius Non aliud discordantis patriae remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur Why the City of Rome from a Regall power under Romulus recovered liberty under Tarquinius and from the Regall power of Augustus was never able to shake off servitude The six and thirtieth Discourse TO make that be better understood which we said before that the City of Rome in the time of Augustus was not fit to receive liberty I conceive it will be a good helpe to examine the reason why from the Regall power of Romulus it came to liberty under Tarquinius and afterward from the Regall power of Augustus it was never able to free it selfe from servitude The first is a generall reason and brought by all Writers that is the imperfection and corruption of the Citizens For liberty as I shall shew in my Discourse of Optimates requires men perfect and not corrupt at least so many as may be enow to make a Senate But surely this reason with leave of the many great men that alledge it may be of some force to prove that the City of Rome under Augustus was not capable to receive liberty but it is of no force to prove that from the Regall power of Augustus it might not as well recover liberty as it had done from that of Romulus Seeing the City of Rome was never so full of imperfect men in the time of Augustus as it was in the time of Romulus when there was in it indeed a nest of the scumme of the most wicked men that were in all Italy We may say then that both the one and the other of these Kings had an intention to set his Countrey in liberty as of both of them in divers discourses I have made it appeare but neither of them in his life time put this intention of theirs in execution And the reason is because when men are imperfect and not fit to tolerate liberty it is impossible that in the life of one Prince alone they can be brought to perfection in such sort as to be made fit to receive it but this must be wrought by the continuance of many good successours who may all of them intend to prepare the Citizens for it and because it was thus with Romulus therefore after him the Romans obtained liberty but being not so with Augustus who had many wicked successours after him therefore the City after him continued alwaies in most miserable servitude A Second reason was the slaughter of Caesar which not being sufficient to reduce Rome to liberty was therefore sufficient to make the Regall power unalterable For Augustus making himselfe Lord of the Empyre by force was able by the same force to secure himselfe in it the rather under the Excuse of Caesars slaughter and the corrupt times of the Common-wealth which served him for Engines to put many things in execution that fortified his Power Pietatem erga Parentem saith Tacitus tempora reipublicae obtentui sumpta whereupon the best Politicall instruction that in like cases can be given is this that when a Familie hath lost the authority it once had in a City It is better to yeeld it up with love then to strive by force to recover it with danger for this hath beene the cause that many Cities relapsed under Princes have never after beene able to recover liberty a relapse in all things being alwayes worse then the first Evill and of this there want not examples if there were need to bring them A third reason and of importance is because the Election was come into the hands of the Souldiers who by reason of the gaines they made and of the unmeasurable Donatives that belonged to them at the Coronation of Emperours would never be brought to give their consent for the introducing of liberty in which it is wont to be the first lesson He that labours not shall have no pay and so much more as Common-wealths that are good need no such guard Fourthly I conceive it to be of some moment that after the death of Nero in whom the house of the Caesars ended yet Rome was not then reduced to liberty seeing Galba being chosen every one of those great ones might begin to hope that it might be their turne at some time or other to come to the Empyre and consequently very likely they were not much discontented with that forme of Election and so much in my opinion did Galba himselfe expresse in the speech he made to Piso when he said Sub Tiberio Caio Claudio unius familiae quasi haereditas fuimus Loco libertatis erit quod Eligi coepimus finita Juliorum Claudiorumque domo optimum quemque Adoptio Jnveniet as if he would say Now that the line of the Caesars is extinct everyone may hope to attaine that degree which hope I conceive may be the cause that those potent men in whose hands it is to alter states like best of that forme in which the first degree they can hope to attaine is that of Excessive greatnesse and from hence perhaps it was that Caesar the Dictatour was never much troubled with the Conspiracy of Catiline but rather excused and defended it as lesse caring for the Cities liberty then that it should come under the Power of one alone which Power hee doubted not in time to attaine to himselfe Fifthly the greatnesse of the Romane Empire was it selfe in my opinion a great cause It could never returne to liberty because at the time of the 〈◊〉 being but in low estate it was more reasonable they should desire Equality which in small things is easily borne and because else they must have passed a thousand difficulties as the subduing of Ryvall Common-wealths the Conquering of Enemy Princes and the like where in the time of Augustus the City being growne great become mistresse of the world her Ryvalls spent and all things at Peace and quiet it was not now easie to support Equality and therefore from that time afterward there was no contesting but for the Empyre and a man will easily hazard both life and reputation where the reward that may be gotten by it is both great and secure but where the reward is but little full of toyle and danger there men are contented and glad to have company and therefore Brutus brought Rome to be a Common-wealth whereupon we see in our times that Venice excepted all other Common-wealths are of no great moment and all this as I conceive Tacitus very lively expresseth where he saith Vetus ac jampridem Jnsita mortalibus Potentiae Cupido cum 〈◊〉 magnitudine
Salutem Operamini See here Saint Paul would have us to feare not of God that is that God hath not a will we should be saved for Deus vult ommes homines salvos fieri but hee would have us to feare least our actions be such as to provoke our Lord God to anger Therefore in the mouth of the Prophet Esay he saith Feare not Saint Paul saith we must feare Esay saith wee must not feare therefore Esay meanes that we must not feare Gods will and Saint Paul meanes that we must feare our owne workes So a Prince ought not to carry himselfe in such manner that there be feare of his will because his will should alwayes be for the good of his subjects but that there be feare in the subjects of their owne workes Againe if we consider the Prince the second way that is in as much as he hath power to hurt in this sense he ought so to carry himselfe that his Person may be feared because he that hath power to punish must have as Saint Thomas saith such eminent authority as can hardly be resisted for if it may casily be resisted it will be no cause of feare And therefore oftentimes though there be no feare of mischiefe from One in eminent authority yet the Reverence that is borne to eminency is justly called Feare So in Saint Luke accepit autem omnes timor magnificabant Deum So also that place of Saint Paul is to be expounded Reddite omnibus Debita cui Timorem timorem cui vectigal vectigal and he that will be feared in this manner must doe some great and wonderfull things that men admiring them may acknowledge his eminency aboue others whereupon our Lord Christ stroke a feare into the Jewes when they saw him doe such great miracles Repleti sunt timore dicentes quia vidimus Mirabilia hodie And the subjects though good need not be greeved to feare the Prince in this manner this being a vertuous feare which was in Christ also towards his father as witnesseth Saint Thomas in the foresaid place Alensis Bonaventure Gabriel and with them the whole Schoole of Divines So as a Prince ought to make himselfe universally to be loved and generally to be feared in confirmation whereof S. Gregory saith Talis debet esse dispenfatio Regiminis ut his qui praeest ea se circa subditos mensura moderetur quatenus arridens timeri debeat Iratus amari ut eum nec nimia laetitia vilem reddat nec immoderata severitas odiosum And in another place weighing those words of Job Cum sederem quasi Rex circumstante exercitis eram tamen moerentium consolator S. Gregory exhorts a Prince to doe as the Samaritan did who powred into his wound that was hurt upon the way Wine and Oyle Vt per vinum inordeantur vulnera per oleum faveantur And the Psalmist saith Virgatua baculus tuus ipsa me consolata sunt The Rod serving to strike and the staffe to defend This also was expressed in the Arke in which together with the Table of the Law was put the Rod with the Manna there being necessarily required for observing the Law love and feare In signe whereof our Lord Christ in his transfiguration upon the Mount Tabor appeared in the midst betweene Elias who to move men wrought by feare and Moyses who wrought all by love And therefore in the Scripture when the qualities of a Prince are spoken of alwaies with beauty to make him be loved there is joyned Power to make him be feared Whereupon in Salomons Epithalamium after he had praised the Bridegroome for his Beauty speciosus prae filiis hominum he praiseth him also for his strength Accingere gladio tuo super faemur tuum Potentissime So in Genesis in the Benediction of Juda and in Deuteronomy in the Benediction of Joseph Quasi primogeniti Tauri pulchrituâ—…o ejus cornâ—…a Rhinocerontis cornua illius And in the second of Kings Saul Jonathas amabiles decori in vita sua Aquilis velociores Leonibus fortiores And of God himselfe the Prophet saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est indutus est Dominus fortitudinem praecinxit se and in the Proverbs Fortitudo decor indumentum ejus and in the 28. Psalme Dilectus quemadmodum filius unicornium that is though as beautifull he is worthy to be loved yet as powerfull also he deserves to be feared A Prince then ought to make himselfe be feared of wicked men with a servile feare and this he shall doe if he duely punish them for their faults and he ought also to make himselfe be feared of good men with a reverentiall feare and this he shall doe if he give proofe of his valour by doing great actions as I have shewed before which justly make a Prince be feared with reverentiall feare And because above all things he ought to procure the love of his subjects we must know that never was any Prince so good whom some of his subjects did not hate nor ever any so bad whom some of his subjects did not love as may be seene in Tarquinius Superbus whom some of the principall youth of the City so much loved that they made a conspiracy in his behalfe So Nero as Galba witnessed had many that loved him Nero à pessimo quoque desiderabitur And this happens by reason of sympathy of conditions there being in all Cities whether little or great some men that are warlike and some peaceable some that are ignorant and some learned some that are good and some bad whereupon seeing a Prince must of necessity be either good or bad war-like or peaceable ignorant or learned it will follow that if he be learned he shall be hated of the ignorant if he be war-like of the peaceable if good of the bad And this is the work of contraries whose nature being to destroy one another it is as impossible that one of these should love the other as it is impossible that one should love his owne destruction The second difficulty which makes it hard for a Prince to procure himselfe to be beloved is justice which if it be not duely administred it makes a Prince odious to all good men and if it be duely executed either in civill or criminall causes it will be an occasion every yeere to get him the hate of many and even of those that are good there being few men that like of justice when it goes not on their side These many then whose hatred the Prince is like every yeere to incurre being multiplied many yeeres must needs at last make a mighty number and from hence as I conceive may be drawne an excellent reason how it happens in governments that the first yeere for the most part Governours are well beloved the second yeere they are hated and the third yeere detested as every one looking into it of himselfe may see Yet a Prince amidst all these difficulties must not be discouraged First because he need