Truth and that hath been confirmed by long experience that He that can make himself Master of the Sea shall give Lawes to the Continent and command it and shall be able to Land men whensoever and wheresoever he pleases and shall find it convenient to do so which the King of France should he be invited into Italy could not be able to do It will be a good course therefore for the King of Spain to be in League with his Neighbours the Switzers and the Grisons and let Him chuse out of these Nations Thirty Thousand Souldiers to whom He shall in the mean time allow half pay till such time as He shall have Occasion to use them according as the Venetians are wont to do and this Army let him make use of for the repelling of any powerful Enemy assaulting him But yet lest these people encreasing their numbers should themselves invade the Duchy of Millan which thing we know to have happened heretofore in the time of the Romans I would have this Army to be divided and some part of it to be sent into the Netherlands and another to Naples and there may some of them also be sent abroad as far as the West-Indies that so serving him abroad in His Wars they may at length be all destroyed And certainly should this People but keep at home and not go so much abroad to Wars as they do but should unite their forces together it would be a very easie matter for them to subdue all Italy but now whiles that they serve some of them under this Prince and some under that in their wars there is no great reason to fear any such thing of them However it would be a very good way to divide them as we have shewed and to send them abroad several waies The second thing that the Italians are wont to threaten the Spaniard with is that perhaps They may enter into a League with the Pope and the King of France to the Prejudice of Spain But this conceipt of theirs also the King of Spain may easily elude because no one of them dares do any thing without the Pope and the King of France as being not able of himself to defend himself much lesse to attempt any thing against others unlesse it be by chance and by taking some extraordinary Advantage as the Venetians did heretofore at what time the Popes were at War with the Emperours and when the Transalpines made bold to march over into Italy And therefore if so be the King of Spain have but the Pope on his side He hath no need at all to fear the Princes of Italy neither indeed is there any Change made in any State or Dominion in Italy without the Pope and the Pope alone hath been the cause of all the Mutations that have happened in the Kingdom of Naples And in case the Pope should take up Arms against any Party or against any Common-Wealth in Italy He would presently prove the Conquerour by having recourse immediately to his wonted Helps such as are His giving out Indulgences against it and his absolving the subjects from the Oathes they have taken to be true to the same and by calling in others to His Assistance as Pope Julius the second did at that time when He Excommunicated the Venetians at which time they were utterly crushed by him Now my Counsel to the King of Spain is that He would yeeld to the Pope and do whatsoever He would have and that He would give His Commands abroad as Constantine the Emperour heretofore did namely that the Pope shall have supream Authority in Last Appeals and so likewise that Two Bishops with the King who then holds the place of a Clergy man be Judges in all causes that shall be devolved unto them by way of Last Appeals And let it be agreed upon betwixt him and the Pope that what Princes soever shall refuse to submit hereto they shall be deprived by their Authority For if some of the Princes of Italy or indeed if all of them should fall off from the Pope the King of Spain who is the Vindicater of the Pontifical Authority being assisted by Croisados and other Aides from the Pope would by degrees ruin them all one after another or else bring them in Subjection under himself and thus whiles he yields to the Pope He is sure to have both His Affections surely united to Him and His power assisting him and he shall withal make himself Master of the Princes of Italy's Dominions And this may possibly hereafter come to passe although as matters now stand all that the King can do is to make it his businesse to keep these Princes at difference amongst themselves and to make either the Duke of Parma or some other of them Sure to Him and then He need care but little for any of the rest Let him also give the Venetians the Tittle of being The Fathers of Italy and let him desire of them the favour to have some of the Principal of them sent to him whom he may imploy as Judges in the Netherlands because that this Nation doth more willingly admit of Italians then Spaniards and of all Italians of the Venetian rather then any other and upon These Venetians so imployed by him let him confer the Dignities of Barons And seeing that it is known to every man that the Venetians are both very Just and also free from Ambition and so the fitter to be made use of if not for the gaining of any New Dominions yet certainly for the keeping of what are already gotten let the King so order the matter as that the Hollanders may be brought to desire Lawes to be prescribed them by the Venetians of which I shall say more hereafter And if by these Arts He could so far prevaile with them as to get them to give over their travelling to Alexandria and Syria to traffick there and to take up a trade of Merchandise with those in the West-Indies as the Portuguez have done He would by this meanes in time make Himself Lord of the Venetians as He hath already of the Genoeses Now that he may also secure himself in the mean time from the Venetians it would be his best Course to provide himself of such a Navy as I spake of before and He should likewise do well to make use of the Archduke of Carinthia and His Neighbours the Grisons in his wars by this meanes to fright the Venetians the more And besides let him give entertainment to all such persons as are banished by the Florentines or by the Venetians and receive them into his service in his wars and he may do well to bestow extraordinary rewards upon them too that by this meanes he may draw others of them also over to him who may serve under him if neeed be even against their owne Native Country Which indeed was the frequent practise of the Duke of Millan and also many times of the King of France when for the same reason he
was well versed in all the Learning of the Egyptians and managed a War for King Pharaoh against the King of Ethiopia whom he vanquished in the War and whose daughter also he took to Wife as both Flavius Josephus and Philo testifie And yet for all this he despised not the advice of Jothro his Father-in-law touching the taking in of a certain number of persons to assist him in the Administration of the Government over the People of Israel And indeed They being sore oppressed and labouring under their Egyptian Slavery took Occasion by his means of shaking that Yoak off their necks whence they were inclined to hearken the more willingly to Him and to follow him whither he would lead them the Occasion also taken from the Wickednesse of those of Palaestine concurring with their Inclinations Besides the Great Monarch of all the Earth God of his own accord and free grace gave Wisdom to his People as he did likewise to the Apostles and to the Bishop of Rome which was also assisted by Occasion which is nothing else but to know how to make right use of the Time whence followed the Division of the Romane Empire but the utter Subversion of the Jewish Yet notwithstanding where the Power of Man only appeared Outwardly there was a concurrence and co-operation of the finger of God though not so visibly seen And thus the Assyrians for some secret Causes were possessed of the Monarchy of the World which Causes notwithstanding have been sometimes apparent as we see in Nabuchodonosor whom God rewarded with the spoyles of Egypt because he had made use of Him against the ingrateful Hebrewes and against Tyre And in Isaiah God reproveth the King of the Jewes for that when by his aide his enemies had been slain and put to flight He notwithstanding had ascribed all to his Own strength Now the Occasion of this was the Wickednesse of the Nations who were governed by no Prudence In the Monarchy also of the Medes the same Occasion carried a great stroke in the businesse when as God as it appears out of Daniel came forth upon the stage and raised up Arbaces the Praefect of Media who was a very wise man against Sardanapalus who wallowed in all Luxury and Womanish delights In the Persian Monarchy the Valour and Courage of Cyrus appeared and Media being destitute of a Successour for the Kingdome afforded him the Occasion of shewing it and God himself in Isaiah calling Cyrus his Anointed instructed him how he should bring the Nations under his Yoake Who makes any doubt of the Prudence and Wisdome of Alexander the Great and knowes not that the Divisions of the Grecians at home and the Loosenesse of Life that the Eastern Nations had at that time given themselves up unto administred unto him an Occasion of making use of it Wherein the Divine Power was most evidently manifested for as much as as the Prophet Daniel testifies the Angel of the Kingdome of Greece laboured much in the businesse In the Roman Empire also Prudence and Valour did very much but Italy's being divided into several Common-Wealths and the Carthaginians Factions among themselves were the Occasion And commonly to that Part that dissolves any great Empire all the rest of the Principalities of the World do incline And certainly God himself was the chiefest Cause of the Prosperity of the Romans because of their Moral Virtues as it is proved by St. Augustine in his book De Civitate Dei Yet no place doth more evidently shew what Occasion can do then Sicily at what time it called forth Peter of Arragon against those of Anjou whence sprang the Proverb of those most famous Vespers Although it cannot be denied but that he was assisted very much in that Undertaking not only by the Pope but also by his own Innate Prudence And truly although Historians seldome make any mention at all of these Three Causes yet the Books of the Kings of the Jewes and the Successions therein laid down before us do sufficiently confirm the same and make it appear that which way soever the Prophesies and the Valour of the Persons inclined that way also did the Fortune of the Kingdom look CHAP. II. The Causes of the Spanish Monarchy THe same Three Causes therefore have concurred in the Spanish Monarchy For after that It had by the Assistance of Almighty God happily maintained War against the Moors for near 800. years space together It at length brought forth such Valiant Commanders and Souldiers that being so fortified both by Strength and Prudence and having overcome the Barbarians they then turned their Armes another way and proceeded on to greater Undertakings And afterwards being as it were by Divine Instinct assisted by the Pope with a great Treasure of Indulgences and Croisados and the King being also honoured by the Title of Catholick that is to say Vniversal It arrived to so great a reputation and glory of Valour that the Genueses were so much the more willingly and readily drawn in to their assistance in the making themselves Masters of the New World And lastly it is most certain that whilest Wars were made with Launces and Horses the Gaules Goths and Lombards enlarged their Dominions but when the Sword was the chief Weapon the Romans then carried all afore them But in after times when Subtlety and Craft was of more Prevalence then Valour and that Printing and Guns were now found out the Chief Power then fell into the hands of the Spaniards who are a People that are both Industrious Active Valiant and Subtle For then did Occasion joyn the King of Arragon with Isabella Queen of Castile who had no Issue Male to succeed her and at the same time also was added to him the Imperial Line of the House of Austria to which likewise through defect of Issue Male in the Burgundian Family there was added a very considerable Inheritance of many Lordships and Provinces in the Low-Countries and in other places Then followes the Discovery of the New World made by Christophorus Columbus and another accession also by the joyning of the Kingdom of Portugal to Spain All which rendred the Monarchy of Spain both Illustrious and Admirable and also besides other things made Her Lady of the Seas to which Advantages was also added the Troubled Condition of the French English and Dutch who were at Variance among themselves about certain Points of Religion by which meanes the Spaniard so easily arrived to this height of Power and Greatnesse it now is in And the King of Spain might grow more Powerful yet and might attain to the Dominion of the Whole World if he would but endeavour the Overthrow of the Turkish Empire as Alexander heretofore did of the Persian and the Romans of the Carthaginean For that Empire got up to this height for the Sins of the Christians and the Angel of that People hath yet the upper hand For while the Imperialists have been at variance with the Pontificians the French with the English
Kings Subjects when they are hardly dealt withal by the Prelats may appeal to the Supreme Councel of Spain Which Assertion is certainly both an unworthy and an Heretical one and is of dangerous consequence also to the King for it tends to the rendring Him odious to his people and diminisheth rather then encreaseth His Authority as we find it testified by daily Experience Or else it may indeed be desired at the Popes hands that it should be so and it may also be declared that the King is willing to yield that in all Causes whatsoever there should be Appeales to the Pope if so be that it may be but every where allowed to appeal first to a Councel of Three Bishops or else that Appeales in all Causes of the Laity shall come at length to the Pope but passing first by degrees through a Councel consisting of two Bishops and a King and so to be referred afterward to a General Councel and last of all to come to the Pope for Appeals from General Councels are very seldome heard of and besides the very Name of a Councel is hateful to the Pope So that in conclusion the determination of all Causes will alwaies rest with the King who by this means shall be a Gainer where he seems to be a Loser CHAP VII What may be further added concerning Prudence and Opportunity THat Prudence ought in the first place to agree in all things with Divine Fate hath already been shewed it remaineth now that we speak of all the rest of the parts of Prudence and shew whitherto all its Vertues and especially Opportunity ought to be referred for as much as it is the property of Prudence to know how to make use of Occasion We have already also declared upon what Interests and under what Confederacy with the Pope the Monarchy of Spain ought to proceed at least as far as was fit to be committed to writing for the most secret Arcana and Mysteries of State are not thus to be made Publick It is therefore Manifest that the Occasion which the King of Spain hath consists chiefly in this that his Neighbouring Enemies are weak and at discord among themselves touching both Points of Religion and matters of State but his Remoter Enemies are more Powerful so that these if his weaker Neighbours were once overcome seem the more easily conquerable The Spaniard hath besides a Notable Occasion from the Extraordinary advantage of Navigation and by his having Dominion in all places round about the whole Earth in a Circle And it seems to me that the attaining to the Empire of the whole World is a very feasible businesse for Him to bring about if there could be such an Uniting of things together by degrees as I shall shew hereafter according to the General Rules of Politick Prudence Where we shall at length come to Particular Actions examined according to Nearer and Remoter Relations But first of all the Politick Relation of Spain at home is to be strengthened and afterwards the Forrain is to be looked after Thus therefore I proceed on to the businesse CHAP. VIII The Causes by which the Spanish Monarchy may be enlarged and become lesse THe Occasions by which the Spanish Monarchy may be kept up or perhaps be enlarged also are these First of all The Virtue of the King Secondly the Goodnesse of the Lawes thirdly the Wisdome of the Councel fourthly the Justice of the Officers of State fiftly the Obedience of the Barons sixtly the Multitude and good Discipline of Souldiers and Commanders Seventhly a Full Treasury Eightly the Mutual Love of the People among themselves and toward their King Ninthly Good Preachers in their Sermons speaking for subjection to Kings Tenthly the Good Agreement betwixt his own Kingdomes and the Disagreement betwixt his Neighbours And on the contrary this Monarchy hath these things that may be the ruine of it as First A wicked King Secondly Bad Lawes Thirdly an Ignorant Councel Fourthly Vnjust Officers of State Fifthly a Disobedient Nobility Sixthly the Want of Souldiers and Commanders and those He hath not well disciplined Seventhly Want of Mony Eighthly The Mutual Hatred of the People among themselves and toward their King Ninthly False Prophets or else perhaps True ones that may rise up against Monarchy Tenthly The Discord of his Own Kingdomes and the Agreement among others All which things are Prudently to be considered and weighed seeing that the present Disagreement among the Enemies of Spain and his Power at Sea all over the World have rendred the Attempt not only of maintaining but of enlarging this so great a Monarchy very feasible CHAP. IX Of the King HE cannot govern the World that cannot govern an Empire neither can he rule an Empire that cannot a Kingdom nor he a Kingdom that cannnot a Province nor he a Province that cannot a City nor he a City that cannot a Village nor he a Village that cannot a Family nor he a Family that cannot a single house nor he a single house that cannot govern himself neither can he govern himself that cannot reduce his affections and bring them within the compasse of Reason which very thing no man is able to do except he submit himself to the will of God For whosoever rebels against God who is the Supreme Wisdom against him shall all things that are subordinate to him rebel also and that justly and by the Law of Retaliation which is most just in all both Governments and Actions of Men. Having therefore weighed in our mind and considered all the Ideas and Formes of Humane Government we say that the King of Spains endeavours must be that He may arrive to the Highest pitch of Wisdom that may be For every Virtue is an Affection of the Mind consisting in a certain Mean beyound which if it arise or fall beneath it it comes to be a Vice Now it is Reason that constitutes this Mean And therefore we are to say that Actions alone do not render a man Vertuous but to this purpose there is required also a Natural Inclination in the Person which is derived both from the Complexion of his Parents from the Aire and from the Stars Seeing therefore that the Kingdom of Spain is not an Electtive one but descends by succession I say that the King ought to have but one wife for to have more is contrary to Reason it self which is to be of a tall Stature and she must be both fruitful and Eloquent and must excel all other women in the endowments both of Body and Mind Neither must he look after the Noblensse of her Family only for so she may chance to be barren or may some other waies be not so pleasing to Him and he should be overwhelmed with all those mischieifs that Henry the Eighth was or the Duke of Mantua Whence Francis the Duke of Tuscany might seem to deserve commendation if he had married Blanch only because he wanted an Heir to succeed him The King is likewise to exercise
subjects also and the Revenues of the Crown are by this means diminished neither will any Nation that is Populous endure to hear of the Spaniards who for the same cause endeavouring this way to bring into the Netherlands also became most hateful among them And this Course is the King of Spain at this day fain to take in Naples and Sicily for he hath not above five Thousand Spaniards to keep those so large Kingdomes in Obedience And indeed those Dominions are upheld and made good to the Spaniard meerely through Opinion onely And for this very reason are they forced to disarme the People which causeth them to suspect Tyranny and Inhumanity from them and which makes many also forsake their Country as Solon told Periander the Tyrant of Corinth Besides seeing they are necessitated to treat the Subjects hardly they are therefore fain to get Switzers about them for their Life-guards as not daring to trust their persons with those whose hatred they have for these reasons contracted which was also the discourse of the same Solon to the aforesaid Tyrant of Corinth Another meanes and cause why Spain should want Souldiers is because that the Spaniards when ever they conquer any Country that abounds with all manner of delights they do so give themselves up to the full injoyment of those delights that they thereby soften and enervate themselves and laying aside all their Innate fiercenesse and yet withal securety relying upon their own strengths alone they are easily driven out thence again For this cause the Romans when they saw their Army ro be grown Effeminate and much weakned by lying in Campania and enjoying the Pleasures thereof they presently reformed it And at Naples they never had any Native for their King by reason of the Delicacy of the Aire there and Venereal Pleasures whereby all their Manly Courage and Gallantry of Spirit is softened and taken down Neither could any Forreigners ever keep it long because that in processe of time they became cheap in the Peoples Eyes and so became a prey to other Forreigners as the Viscardians were to the Suevians the Suevians to those of Anjou and those of Anjou to the Arraganians and at length to the French and the Castilians who afterwards under the Command of the Great Captain drove the French out of the said Kingdom of Naples The like hath also happened to all those Fierce Nothern Nations that have heretofore possessed themselves of any Southern Countries for through the softnesse and delights of the said Countries they have at length become Effeminate and broken in their strength And by this meanes the Herulians became a Prey to the Goths and the Goths to the Grecians as the Lombards were to the French and as at length it befell to the Vandalls also and Hunnes Thus the Tartarians in like manner became the Laughing-stock and Scorn of the Turks but indeed the Turk now defends himself by his Guards of these Northern People after this manner After He had once perceived that the Courage of his own Nation began to cool He presently erected certain Seminaries of Souldiers they call them Seragli that is to say Cloysters or Enclosures into which he shut up all the likeliest and ablest-bodied young boyes of all the Nations that he had conquered where they should be taken off from acknowledging their own Parents and should be accustomed to reverence and own the Grand Signiour only as their Father and here they are also instructed in all Military Arts and in the Turkish Religion and out of these doth the Great Turk choose his Janizaries for the guard of his own Person and of these same Janizaries doth He afterwards make his Bashawes that is his Commanders and Counsellours in his Wars as also the Presidents of his Provinces and Baronies and such of these as He finds to be studiously inclined and fit for the Book he chooseth out of them the Mufties and the Cadies that is to say the Priests and Judges So that although the race of the Turks should faile yet will he never be unprovided of an able Souldiery seeing that He takes such an order to have such brought up thus for his service in every Province by the Presidents of the said Provinces And the Romans of old to the end that they might never want Souldiers proposed great rewards and Honours for all such as should approve themselves Valiant in War Hence we read that Ventidius Marius and other Valiant and Wise persons arrived to so great a height of Renown among them till at length by this means they made themselves Masters of the Whole World The King of Spain therefore to the end that He may remove from his Souldiery these two Evils which It chiefly laboureth under must make use of these two Arts especially First He must presently take away from all People that he shall conquer all their Immovable Goods and must allow them only food and cloathing and so set them to manure the ground and as for their Sons He may make them either Souldiers or Husband men according as he shall find them fittest for either of these Imployments And this will be best done in such Countries as He shall have brought into his Subjection upon some certain Occasion according as Joseph did in Egypt who taking his advantage by Occasion of the unexpected Dearth that arose there to the end that the People might the better be furnished with Corn he caused them to put all they had into their King Pharaohs hands from whom the Turks also have learnt this Art But there will be need of a very Wise Man that may be able to bring this about in our Country by taking good and plausible Occasions of doing the same Or else the King may constitute some Third Person as an Intermediate Lawgiver such as Joseph was in Egypt or Plato who was sent for into Sicily by Dionysius the Tyrant by whose means He may in each several Province reforme the Politie of three or five Cities there the examples whereof the rest will afterwards follow of their own accord when they shall but once take notice of the Benefits and Advantages that such a Reformation brings along with it And therefore for this end and purpose there must be care taken especially for the providing of Wise and Able Preachers for these places and I my self have a certain Secret to communicate which would much promote this businesse which I shall reserve for the Kings own Ear. Or if the King of Spain have a purpose and resolution of prosecuting the Course already begun although it seems not to be so proper a one for the New World my Opinion is that considering the Multitude of his conquered Vassals there and the Small Number of his Souldiers in comparison of them He ought to take this Course First of all let Him shew himself bountiful to the People by remitting their Taxes by mitigating the severity of the Lawes and by removing all occasions that the Inferiour Officers
A DISCOURSE TOUCHING The Spanish Monarchy WHEREIN VVe have a Political Glasse representing each particular Country Province Kingdome and Empire of the World with wayes of Government by which they may be kept in Obedience AS ALSO The Causes of the Rise and Fall of each Kingdom and Empire VVritten by Tho. Campanella Newly translated into English according to the Third Edition of this Book in Latine LONDON Printed for Philemon Stephens and are to be sold at his Shop at the Gilded Lion in Paul's Church-Yard 1654. The Translator to the Reader Courteous Reader SEeing that we are fallen into an Age of Translations that swarm more now then ever partly by reason that there are so many that as things now stand have hardly any other Trade of life to take to and partly also through the Natural Itch that most men have to appear to the world some way or other especially since they find so good reception from such Readers as either cannot or will not take the pains to peruse Authors in their Originals I have also adventured to present thee here with a Translation which if thou understand it thou wilt thank me for if thou dost not thy censure concerns me not But first before I put thee upon the reading of the Book it self I shall by the way take liberty to give thee some little but necessary Information touching these three following Particulars viz. 1. The Author of this Piece 2. The Use that may be made of it and 3. Of this present Translation of it into English First as for the Author He was a man that was as famous for his Sufferings as for his Learning for notwithstanding that he was a Roman Catholick nay a Frier and withal so eager and hearty an Asserter and Maintainer of the Roman Catholick Sea and Its Interests yet for all this do we find him in the Inquisition and so terribly tormented there as that the Learned J. Gaffarel a Frenchman being at Rome where our Author was then in Duresse and having a desire to see him he went with some friends to the Place where he was where he found him as he expresseth himself in his Curiositez Inouyes cap. 7. ayant le gras des jambes toutes meurtries les fesses presque sans chair la luy ayant arrachée par morceaux asin de tirer de luy la confession des crimes dont on l'accusoit with the Calves of his Legs beaten black and blue all over and with scarsely any flesh at all upon his buttocks it having been torn from him peice-meal to force him to the confession of such crimes as they had accused him of Niether were these his sufferings of any short Continuance as appears out of his own words as in other places so in this Book of his now in our hands where we have him intimating unto us as I conceive these his sufferings and calling them Decennalem Afflictionem his Ten years Affliction in his Preface to this Book and in the last Chapter of it Decennalem miseriam his Ten years misery But of the reason of these his sufferings I am not at present able to give thee any very good Account only the afore cited J. Gaffarel there tells us that there was at that time an Expectation abroad of A ful Relation of his whole life for saith he Mais un seavant Altman faira voir en peu de temps l' histoire de ses malheurs de sa vie A certain Learned German will ere long give us the historie of his Misfortunes and of his Life Now whether any such Discourse of Campanella's Life ever came forth or not I know not I confesse it never came to my hand So much for the Authors Sufferings And as for his Learning whosoever would understand how large and General that was must not stay upon this our present Treatise but may have recourse to other Tracts of his that are written of Several Subjects both in Divinity Philosophy Politicks Astrology and what not which the shops will every where furnish him with As for this present Discourse touching the Spanish Monarchy I confesse I cannot yet discover in what Language it was first written by the Author but I find that the Latine which is now Lately come abroad and goes under the name of the Last Edition and is set forth by Lodwick Elzivir at Amsterdam is the Third Edition of it and pretends to the mending of what was amisse and corrupt in the two former Editions And seeing that we have now in a manner found a kind of an Accomplishment of some Counsels of his that were given long ago as namely touching a war with the Dutch it would not be amisse to examine about what time this Book was written Now though the very time of the writing of it is now here precisely set down yet there are some Circumstances let fall here and there in the Book that may serve to guide our Conjecture by And I therefore conceive it to have been written about 53 or 54 years since For it is plain that it was written in Queen Elizabeths time and after 88. and indeed when the Queen was now grown very Old and that King James was in daily expectation of the English Crown falling to Him But this does not do the businesse we can bring it yet nearer home then so for in his Chap. XXIV of France speaking of Henry IV. King of France he sayes that Jam in declivi aetate est nec successorem nec nxorem habet He now begins to be an old man and hath neither successor nor Wife Now the time here pointed out I conceive to be the year of our Lord 1599. or the following year 1600. for in the first of these years King Henry was divorced from Margaret his former Wife and he married the year following Catharine de Medicis by whom he afterwards had issue Lewis the XIII c. In one of these years therefore I suppose the Author to have written this book 2. For the Use of it we have here laid down both in a Methodical and copious way a perfect Model both of the Original and Principles of Government For here weare instructed both how Princes ought to treat their Subjects at home and also how to manage their Affaires abroad towards other Forreign Kingdomes and Republicks We have here as it were a Political Glasse wherein we have presented unto us a view of each particular Country Province Kingdom and Empire through the whole World as also by what waies of Government whether by strict Justice or Lenity a strait or a loose Rain they are to be governed and kept in obedience as likewise the Causes of the Rise and Fall of each severall Kingdom and Empire together with the Dangers and Hazards they were exposed to and the Advantages they had to boast of and all this Illustrated and confirmed by several examples taken both out of Profane and Sacred Writers Now although this be designed wholly and modelled
out in reference to the Spanish Monarchy only and the support of the Papacy yet may all wise Judicious men make very good use of the same and apply what Counsells are here given the King of Spain to their own Affaires For if it be good counsel for the King of Spain to take To procure and maintain a peferct Vnion among his own subjects at home but on the Contrary To sow the seeds of Division among his Enemies abroad the same must be as good Counsel for the King of France also to take or any other Prince or Potentate what ever If it be good Counsel to the Spaniard Never to trust so much to any peace made with an Enemy as thereupon quite to lay aside his Armes it is altogether as good Counsel for any other Prince And the same may be said of any other of the General Maxims of Policy delivered here by our Author But as for what in Particular concerns the Advancement of the Spaniard and his Designs in order to the bringing about of his Universal Monarchy whether the Rules by our Author laid down were in sufficient to do the businesse or whether hough they were every way as full and proper as could be yet having not been precisely observed the businesse hath miscarried and the Spaniard hath not as yet arrived and perhaps now is never like to arrive to the end of his Desires all this needs not hinder but that thou shouldest look upon this Author as a man of a most clear wit Judgment and prize him as one that was full of knowledge and experience in the Affaires of the World and a most industrious and studious person In the Third and last place thou art to take notice as concerning this Translation that we have therein dealt so fairely nd Ingenuuosly with our Author as that we have perfectly and entirely preserved his own sense unto him Neither have we stopt his foul mouth where he hath either used ill Language toward any of the Protestant Princes or cast dirt into the faces of the first Reformers Luther Calvin c. For to what end should we falsifie our Original by making our Author more Civil then he had a mind to be seeing we are never a whit the worse for being so miscalled by him nor is he himself a jot the wiser for using us so And to say the Truth we our selves take the same Liberty towards them and therefore for ought I see Hanc Veniam petimusque damusque vicissim We must even be content to allow each other this Liberty on both sides An Index of the CHAPTERS CHAP. I. OF the Causes of Humane Principalities Page 1. CHAP. II. The Causes of the Spanish Empire p. 4 CHAP. III. Of the first Cause of Empires namely God p. 6 CHAP. IV. Of the Spanish Empire considered according to the First Cause p. 9 CHAP. V. Of the Second Cause namely Prudence 15 CHAP. VI. How the Clergy are to be dealt withal 25 CHAP. VII What may be further added concerning Prudence and Opportunity 30 CHAP. VIII The Causes by which the Spanish Monarchy may be enlarged and become lesse 31 CHAP. IX Of the King 32 CHAP. X. What Sciences are required in a Monarch to render Him admired by all 45 CHAP. XI Of Lawes both good and bad 50 CHAP. XII Of Counsel 52 CHAP. XIII Of Justice and its Contrary 57 CHAP. XIV Of the Barons and Nobility of the Spanish Empire 60 CHAP. XV. Of the Souldiery 66 CHAP. XVI Of the Treasure of Spain 81 CHAP. XVII Of the Peoples Love and Hate as also of Conspiracies 93 CHAP. XVIII Of Preachers and Prophesies 105 CHAP. XIX Of such Kingdomes as are properly belonging to the King of Spain and of such also as are his Enemies and of these which are in League with each other and which not 115 CHAP. XX. Of Spain 125 CHAP. XXI Of Italy 129 CHAP. XXII Of Sicily and Sardinia 136 CHAP. XXIII Of Germany 139 CHAP. XXIV Of France 144 CHAP. XXV Of England Scotland and Ireland 155 CHAP. XXVI Of Poland Muscovia and Transylvania 162 CHAP. XXVII Of Flanders and the Lower Germany 165 CHAP. XXVIII Of Africk 185 CHAP. XXIX Of Persia and Cataia 194 CHAP. XXX Of the Great Turk and his Empire 197 CHAP. XXXI Of the Other Hemisphere and the New World 211 CHAP. XXXII Of Navigation 223 The Authors Preface THe Universal Monarchy of the World begining from the East and so coming at length to the West having passed through the hands of the Assyrians Medes Persians Greeks and Romans who were divided by the Imperial Eagle into Three Heads is at length come down to the Spaniard upon whom after so long Slavery and Division it is wholly conferred by Fate and that with greater Splendour then on any of his Predecessors to whom also according to the Vicissitude of Humane Affaires it did of right belong Now although I had not any Intention to write any thing touching either the Government or the Enlargement of the Spanish Monarchy which you most Noble Alfonso have desired me to do yet being at length delivered from my Tedious Sicknesse and my Ten years Afflictions though I am utterly deprived of the help of any Books and am as it were shut up as a Prisoner in this my Cell I shall notwithstanding in a brief and Compendious way give your Lordship an account what my Judgment is concerning this Subject and shall give in the Causes of each several Point in General first not after a Natural nor a Theological but after a Political way and shall afterwards also descend to treat more Particularly of the same Tho. Campanella A DISCOURSE TOUCHING The Spanish Monarchy CHAP. I. Of the Causes of Humane Principalities IN the acquiring and managing of every Dominion and Principality there usually concur three Causes that is to say God Prudence and Occasion All which being joyned together are called by the name of Fate which is nothing else but a concurrence of all the Causes working by vertue of the First And hence also is Fortune sprung which is the Successe of Earthly things whether it be good or evil which if it be rightly known is called Prudence but if otherwise it is then called Fate Fortune or Chance As for example if a man find that which he had long sought after it is called Vnderstanding and Prudence but if he light upon a thing which he did not seek after nor knew where it was it is called Chance or Fortune Among these three Causes One sometimes prevailes in the ruling of things more then Another and perhaps more then the Other two Yet notwithstanding if we will confesse the truth they are all Three Politically concurring in the businesse Do but take notice of the Kingdome of the Jewes wherein God was the Principal Agent who by sending Moses and Aaron furnished out the Other Two Causes For Moses was a person of extraordinary Wisdome and Knowledge not onely in Divine but in Humane things also for he
the Venetians with the Genueses God hath raised up the Turks and hath sent them into both Empires because that the Christians were too gently and lightly punished for their sins by the Arabians Tartars and other forreign Nations as I have already shewed in my Papal Monarchy And the Turk is the same to us at this day who are so distracted and divided by several Heresies that the Assyrians were of old to the Jewes who by faction were divided into the Kingdomes of Judah and Israel except the Good Angell of Spain afford us his assistance as I have elsewhere shewed CHAP. III. Of the First Cause of Empires namely God IT is very evident that neither Prudence alone nor yet joyned with Occasion is sufficient for the attaining to or governing a Kingdome for as much as we know that the Freedom of the Will consists only in the Will it self and not either in Action or Passion For it may so fall out that a man may over night purpose the next morning to go to Sea or to study or to go to plow or to do any other businesse and yet upon a sudden the falling of Rain or unexpected tempestuous and foul weather may crosse that so wise counsel of his so that he must be forced to do not according to his own determination but according as matters shall fall out So that he that knowes how so to order his Counsels and Determinations as that they shall alwaies be subordinate to the Superiour Causes his affaires shall seldom fail of succeeding prosperously Wisemen therefore make it their businesse to labour after the knowledge of these Superiour Causes of God and His Divine Will on which the whole Chain and Series of future things depends And hence it is that some have sought for God in the Stars who hath also answered some by the Stars as namely the Magi or Wisemen at our Saviours Nativity And perhaps a Rainy Morning may have done no hurt at all to this or that Astrologer because they foresaw this Rain and so probably ordered their affaires accordingly having regard to the Will of God herein who out of his singular goodnesse will be found there where we seek him with a sincere heart Nay when the businesse so requires he answereth even those that do not seek him with a sincere heart as we see in Balaam whom he answer'd perhaps when he was not askt And so likewise in King Saul who was informed by Samuel what the Event of things should be though he had by Witchcraft consulted the Divel and not Samuel as Tho Aquinas also is of opinion in his 2.24.140 And therefore we also ought to believe that the True God gave answer to the Diabolical Superstitions of the Romans Gracians and Chaldeans by the Ministry of the peculiar Angel of each of these several Empires For the Inevitable Decree of his Will sometimes exalted and again sometimes depressed and clouded the Majesty of those Monarchies Therefore the Chaldeans and so likewise the Medes whensoever their own Wisdom failed them made their Invocations upon God by the Stars as the Greeks did by their Oracles at Delphos the Romans by their Auguries and Observations of Birds and as the more Sound Philosophers sought Him in the Works of Nature as Pythagoras also did in Numbers which are as a certain Ray of Divinity disseminated and diffused throughout the whole Universe But much more rightly did the Jewes seek after him by the Prophets which were sent unto them Which custome of theirs the Christians also followed when as the Archangel Michael had gone over from the Jewes to the State of the Christians For in all probability we ought to believe that when any Empire is overthrown the Angel of that goeth over to the Conquerour And this is a Secret which was not unknown to the Romans who for this very reason would not have their Tutelar Angel to be known to the end that he might not be invoked by other Nations And therefore we may probably believe that either the Angel of Persia yeelded to that of Greece or else that He went over from the Persians to the Greeks and so consequently that the Angel of Constantinople does at this time fight for the Turks or else having removed his station stands now for Germany and hath joyned himself to Her Angel Now where there are the more of these Tutelar Angels There there is the greater growth and stronger confirmation of Power And therefore being instructed hereto out of the Scriptures I affirm that if at any time God appear to treat either favourably or else contrarily with any Monarchy we are to understand this in reference not to that present Monarchy only but to the succeeding also For unlesse this were so God should not have revealed the Knowledge of Future things to his Church by the Prophets which is an absurd thing to believe and it would also follow that this Knowledge was to be sought for by the Stars or some other things Which things seeing they are partly also forbidden by the Pope we are necessarily to believe that all things are otherwise sufficiently provided for Wheresoever therefore God speaks of the Babylonish Empire we are to understand it as said also of the Persian Grecian and Roman which in their turns succeeded It. And hence it is that St. John calls Rome Babylon And so likewise what is said of the Kingdom of the Jewes the same is to be understood also of the Church of Rome which hath received the Keyes of David and the Name of Jerusalem according to that which is said to the Angel of Philadelphia Now Philadelphia is Brotherly Love as Roma Rome by turning the Letters backward is Amor Love And God oftentimes threatens his Church I will remove thy Candlestick out of its place unlesse thou repent For in like manner the Angel of God may be said to remove from one Church to another as for example from Heretical England to Catholick Borussia as from one Kingdom to another And so what is pronounced by Ezechiel Jeremy and Esay concerning the Prince of Tyre is sometimes to be taken as spoken of the Prince of the Angels that fell from Heaven and were cast out of their Kingdom there Where that also which is said How art thou fallen O Lucifer which is spoken of the King of the Chaldaeans is to be taken as by way of similitude spoken of his Successors and of the Aerial so called Empire of the Great Divel For both Empires and all other Earthly things bear a similitude to the Heavenly as those of the Sea do to them of the Land Whence it is that you have your Bishop-fish your Sea-calf and the Calamary or Sea-Clark for as much as all of them have their dependance from the Prime Reason or the Divine Idea which is the Eternal Word Whence I seem to my self to have found out a Key by which I may find out a passage to the knowledge of the Original Government and end of the
invited in to him all the Banished Genoeses and Florentines And for the same reason also the Strozza's Piccolominies and the Lord Peter de Medicis might in these our times strike no small terrour into the Great Duke of Florence If therefore the King would have these Princes of Italy to continue at variance among themselves let him take heed how he strikes any fear into them for Fear is the onely meanes to unite them together and therefore let him beware that he discover not at all that He is angry with them Now there ought not any meanes to be used for the causing of any Division amongst them through differences in Religion neither indeed can any such thing possibly be effected but this must be done only by bestowing Rewards upon some of them as we have said before And if any one of the House of Austria should chance to be elected Pope Italy were then quite undone It would do very well also if the King would give way that Others might have liberty to come and Traffick at Genna as His Subjects do for Genoa is as it were the King of Spain's Treasury and He makes use of them to keep the Princes of Italy in awe And besides the Genois assist Him very much in poynt of Navigation and Seafaring businesses as hath been said before But yet these Genois are to be treated handsomely and cunningly that they may not seem to be forced to do what they do but only by Love and Fair Usage to be brought about to be so Serviceable and Obedient to the King of Spain Yet would I have the King pay his Debts to them as soon as might be and he may either pawn or else sell them some few Townes or Fortified Places least if by chance there should be any General Rising in Italy the Genoises Banners might also march along with them for company Let Him therefore continually have a Vigilant eye upon the two most Flourishing States of the Venetians and the Genueses yet of the two the Vnetian doth far excell the Genuensian both in Dignity and Power The reason whereof is because that the Venetians by maintaining a Free Trade of Merchandise with other Nations have reasonably well improved every man his own particular Estate but have advanced the Publick infinitely whereas the Genois by being chiefely great Bankers and Mony-Masters have infinitely enlarged their own Private Estates but the Publick hath much suffered thereby Which being considered the King in his Transactions with these two different Commonwealths must proceed in a different manner CHAP. XXII Of Sicily and Sardinia THe Sicilians and Sardinians being both Islanders and also somewhat near Neighbours to Africk ought for these reasons to have stricter Lawes imposed upon them then the Italians and a good way to keep them within the bounds of Obedience would be for the King to secure all their Havens and Fortified places lying upon the Sea Coast And these places would very easily be rendred secure if the King had but such a Navy continually in a readinesse as I spake of before which I would not have to lye all together in a body but to be divided into severall Squadrons which should lye round about Italy and these Islands and so keep them safe from all Invasions of Enemies the Souldiers of which Fleet if they should be set over the Countrymen would do much more hurt then good and besides the number of them must then be enlarged Whereas by this meanes the Prizes that they take from the Moors and Turks would be sufficient to maintain them and the King would also be thereby enriched and the Coast of Affrick made safe and secure And if it should chance that those of Algier and Tunis should at any time cause any tumult in favour of the Christians there should be Souldiers alwaies in a readinesse to come into their assistance by sayling over into the Kingdome of Oran with which people they may Traffick by carrying into them Silks Wheat and other Commodities so long as the Adriatick Sea is Scoured and made Safe by the Venetians so that there would be no need of fearing either the Turks or Pirats In these Islands there may very convenient Seminaries be erected for the breeding up of Souldiers of such Children as with their Mothers shall be taken from the Turks and Moors and in these may be also taught the Arabick tongue and there may be Monasteries for Friers erected also as we have hinted before And here we are to give a Caution that whensoever any Merchants put in at either of these Islands either from England Turky or Africk there ought to be present some or other of the Clergy lest the inhabitants should be infected with some Forreign Heresy For Islands by reason of their Commodiousnesse for the reception of People of all sorts are very subject to such Mutations and Changes which is also observed by Plato himself Those that live near the Sea Coast by reason of their so constant Conversation with Forreigners for which reason Plato called the Sea the Schoolmaster of all Wickednesse are Crafty subtle and Circumspect and such as know very well what belongs to Trading and Merchandise But on the contrary the Inlanders are sincere upright and just and content with a little The King might also make very good use of Great Cities such as is Syracuse in Sicily which as Cicero here tofore said of it had it been divided into four parts would very well have made as many handsome Cities And such as at this day also is Palermo in the same Island which is adorned with Stately Churches and Palaces wherein there are two things worthy to be taken notice of the one is a stately street that runs all along the whole breadth of the City and divides it in a manner into two parts and is both very streight long and broad and withal adorned with very fair buildings so that I do not know whether all Italy can any where shew the like of it or no The other is a vast Pile or Banke raised up by an infinite expence of mony against the Sea by meanes whereof the City is accommodated with a very fair capacious Haven which is a work that is really worthy of the Ancient Roman Magnificence Islands as Plato saith were for the most part the Nests of Tyrants But touching such Havens as are necessary in case of such fears and likewise of Navigation and Sea voyages I shall have occasion to speak in its proper place And as concerning these Islanders they ought not to be kept short and to be defrauded of things necessary or to be held to too hard meat but they have need rather that such Usurers as lye lurking amongst them and also the Publick prisons should be inquired into and visited as we have said before There may also be erected some Seminaries for Sea-men to which may be yearly sent in Gallies young men to be instructed in the Art of Navigation as the Custome is
let Souldiers be tempted by large Pay to leave the service of the Rebel Netherlanders and these should be sent away to the King 's other Armies abroad and the Spaniards should do well to inveagle and fetch away Women out of Their Quarters into their own where they should be married to Spaniards And I would also have Women of Quality from among the Dutch Hereticks to be chosen out and married to some of the Catholick Nobility for as I have shewed before these Women would willingly yeild to love such Husbands And indeed it is a wonderful thing to imagine how Advantageous a matter it is to such Princes as have conquered any Nations to have their Subjects contract Marriages with the Women of the said Nations For Alexander the Great himself marrying Roxane a Persian Lady and giving to others of his Army a hundred other women of the same Nation for Wives got Himself a great deal of good Will among the Persians who hereupon perswaded themselves that they should find Alexander a very courteous and loving Prince to them And Livy writes of those of Capua that nothing did more hinder them from joyning with Hannibal then the Affinity that had been contracted betwixt them and the Romans Ninthly let Him endeavour to weaken the Heads of their Factions by making War upon them from several parts at once and let all diligent care be used that they may be more distracted every day then other and divided among themselves that so through their own dissentions and their envy at the mutual Concord and Prosperity of their Enemies they may even despond and lose all heart and courage And this course of making your own Advantages out of your Enemies Sufferings is a most useful one and was very much practised by Queen Elizabeth of England Tenthly seeing that it is only the fear they have of the Spaniard and especially the hatred they bear to the Pope that keeps them at Unity among themselves because they do all unanimously agree in this that the Pope is Antichrist though in all other of their Tenets they are at sufficient difference among themselves there must therefore care be taken that all fear of War being removed That Controversie only be proposed to be publickly disputed on for upon this do all the rest depend Neither would I have any other Nice or Frivolous Questions to be at all proposed to them to be discussed but only that one Touching the Novelty of the Papal Authority as I have touched before and whereof I treated sufficiently in my Dialogue against These Men. In the Eleventh place it must be Unanimously and stoutly maintained against them that All Commentaries whatsoever that have been written upon the Bible whether by Catholicks or Hereticks ever since S. Augustin's time are to be suspected and not to be trusted to and that the only Authors that are to be received are S. Clemens Romanus S. Cyprian Clemens Alexandrinus S. Chrysostome Basil and Tertullian For the Heresie of Denying Free Will and the like are to be better understood out of the Ancients to whom also these people are most of all addicted then out of Later Writers whom they cannot endure to hear of as appears plainly out of Clemens Romanus I would have that controversie therefore to be discussed touching the Original of that Evil that moved Epicurus and some others to deny that there was a God for they perswaded themselves that He was excluded by reason of Evil. Others there were that believed there were Two Gods of which number were Manes and perhaps Pythagoras too Others as the Libertines have boldly declared that their Opinion was that there was no such thing as either Evil or Sin Others have taught that God is the Authour and Cause of all Evil and that he is a Tyrant and of this Opinion are Calvin Zuinglius Bullinger Luther and Beza namely while they will have God to be the Authour of All Things Which Opinion certainly as both Cicero and Plato teach must needs tend to the disturbance of every Well Ordered Common-Wealth for as much as it deprives Men of all Freedom of doing either well or ill and so in effect destroyes all Law and Discipline And the long Canvasing and dwelling upon the Examination of this Opinion hath made all those on the other side the Alpes Atheists and Epicureans who have therefore denied that there is a God because they would not assent to yield Obedience to the Pope of Rome And therefore my judgement is that in disputing with these men in the presence of Learned men they should have Political and Natural Arguments urged against them And again before the Common People they should be required to give an account whence they had their Calling as I have shewed more at large in my Dialogue and my Political and Theological Questions written against These Men. For the Multiplying of Books and the Spinning out of Controversies do but add Authority to a Bad Cause and besides also shew like a kind of Victory Twelfthly these Hereticks after they had put forth New Bibles into the World and wresting all the Fathers and Historians as they pleased put such interpretations upon the same as they thought good they then began in order thereunto to apply themselves to the study of the Hebrew and Greek Tongues and started a thousand Grammatical Niceties wherewith they have filled up many great Volumes in so much that the whole North in a manner makes a Grammatical War upon us rather then a Spiritual whereas We have long since laid aside the study of the Languages ever since we overcame the Hebrews Greeks and Latines and have made them submit themselves to Christianity or else have devested them of the power of discharging all Political and Sacerdotal Administrations as it is with the Jewes at this day And therefore we intend not now to trouble our selves any further with Petite Sophistical Niceties and Grammatical Quirks but relying only upon our own strength of Wit we let alone all Prolixe Courses of Disciplines and the tediousnesse of writing huge Volumes mean while that these men spend their time herein and we ary us out almost with their Cavillings although they do not get the better of us I conceive therefore that these men should be taken off from these their Grammatical Heresies namely by some New Arts and Sciences and such wherein we are excellent our selves And to this end the King should erect certain Schools in all the Principal Cities wherein the Arabick Tongue should be taught that so by this meanes there may be such among his subjects as shall be able to dispute with the Turks Moors and Persians who by the use of that Tongue spread their Mahumetanisme as We do Christianity by the Latine Tongue and so by this meanes our Intestine Wars may be laid aside and our Armes turned against Forreign Enemies There should also Schools be erected for the Mathematicks and Astrology unto which these Northern People should be invited