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
a tyrant that should live amongst them than a good Prince that should be farre of Another way is no wadaies used by Princes for peopling such places and it is by confining some petty delinquents thither because if they live they encrease the number of the inhabitants and if they die the Prince receives no losse by it This invention whether good or bad is yet most ancient and we have an example of it in Tacitus himselfe Actum de 〈◊〉 Aegyptiis 〈◊〉 pellendis factunque 〈◊〉 consultum ut quatuor millia libertini generis superstitione infecti queis Idonea aetas in insulam Sardiniam 〈◊〉 coercendis illic latrociniis si ob gravitatem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vile damnum If the defect grow in the third case that is from smalnes of Territory where the people are many the remedy here used hath been to send forth Colonies so Pericles did to help a dearth that was at Athens In this case Plutarch in the life of Numa gives a counsell which is that in such a City care must be taken that Trades be in account and that idle persons be punished but the best course of all will be that the Prince spare no cost to fetch Corne where it may be best had so a thousand times did Tiberius and so Nero who not regarding the great charge he had been at by Sea nor the great losse he had in Tyber with infinite expenses provided that the price of Corne might not be raysed This course was notably followed by the Serenissimo Cosmo second great Duke of Thuscany who by the way of Livorno and other places procured at his infinite charges a perfect plenty and sometimes out of his owne purse hath kept of Almes six thousand persons I forbeare to say that many yeeres together he spent of his owne to keepe down the price of Corne above a hundred thousand Crownes An act that exceeds any act whatsoever of the Ancients seeing that which moved them was their owne interest and matter of state but that which moved him was only the office of a Prince and the zeale of a Christian. In the fourth case provision will be made from other Countries by such waies as have been shewed In the other two cases where dearth may happen by reason of warres caused by sieges and by incursion of enemies the Commonwealths of the Swizzers have found out an excellent way who in places under ground have in store for many yeeres all things belonging to victuals and also to Trades which course with great prudence the Commonwealth of Lucca hath taken to imitate But above all the Prince must take heed that he be not himselfe a cause of the dearth by making merchandise and by engrossing nor yet by suffering others to doe it for then the fault will be laid upon the Prince and the Subjects will have just cause to complaine Likewise that when the people are in want he continue not feasting and feed upon dainties as shewing to take little care of his Subjects misery a thing most pernitious to Princes who should alwaies take such part as the people doe thereby to encourage them the more contentedly to beare their labours This in the old Testament our Lord God teacheth us who when the Israelites were in the Wildernesse and like Shepheards dwelt in Tabernacles he also would dwell in Tabernacles himselfe afterward when changing their course they entred into warre under their Judges and Kings and their Army used Tents he also would then dwell in Tents too and when David desired to build him a Temple he would not suffer him untill such time as there being peace under Salomon every one might dwell in his own house and then he was contented to have a house also built for him All this is expressed in the Booke of Kings where he saith Neque enim habitavi in domo ex die illa qua eduxi filios Israel de terra Aegypti usque in diem hanc sed ambulabam in Tabernaculo in Tentorio per cuncta loca quae transivi cum omnibus filiis Israel But because this course was not imitated by Augustus who when the people died in the streets for hunger himselfe made a sumptuous banquet where as Suetonius relates the guests sate in form of Gods and Goddesses and he in shape of Apollo the people infinitely distasted it and was moved to great indignation Auxit caenae rumorem summa tunc in civitate penuria ac fames acclamatumque postridie est frumentum omne Deos coniedisse But if he shall be no occasion of the dearth and much lesse shew himselfe to rejoyce at it he may then convert it to his owne profit either by getting of money or encreasing his authority or otherwise by winning the love of his people Pharao King of Aegypt by meanes of a dearth and Josephs counsell became Lord of all Aegypt Emit igitur Joseph omnem terram Aegypti vendentibus singulis possessiones suas prae magnitudine fantis subjecitque eam Pharaoni cunctos populos suos a novissimis terminis Aegypti usque ad extremos fines ejus which purchase was not distastfull to the people for the cause aforesaid but rather they accounted themselves obliged to the King for it saying Salus nostra in manu tua est respiciat tantum nos Dominus noster laeti serviemus Regi Whereupon I conclude that when a great famine was in Rome and the Senatours had fetched Corne from Sicilie then had been a fit time to take the authority from the people which they had usurped This Coriolanus in Livy well knew whose conceit yet was not approved of others not because it was not sufficient being used with lesse violence to take away that authority but because it was not sufficient to maintaine it seeing the Senatours having a purpose to augment the Common-wealth and consequently to make use of the peoples Armes they might conceive that those Magistrates who had left their authority in time of dearth would afterward the dearth ceasing resume it againe by force A dearth then thus managed will be a means to get the Prince both authority and riches and the love also of his Subjects As we see in Herod the great who being a Prince the most hated of his people that ever any was yet onely by relieving them with Corne in a time of dearth he made himselfe beloved obliged and freed from a thousand dangers Cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit What kind of ease it is that Tacitus speaks of and how it may be reconciled with some places in other Authours The sixteenth Discourse IN these words Cornelius Tacitus shews us that Augustus by meanes of procuring ease got himselfe the love of all men And because he as a new Prince ought rather to have sought how to maintaine himselfe in his Empire then how with his own danger to procure delights to his Subjects it seemes he might for this be reproved there being a precept of Aristotle in his
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
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
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
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
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
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 like conceit had Galba when he made himselfe sole Lord of the Empire as in the foresaid oration every one may see Augustus therefore is no more to be reproved then Cleomenes and Galba and Hiero are and if his purpose tooke not effect it is not to be attributed to his fault but to the ill fortune of his successour seeing as long as he lived himselfe till he came to his decrepit age he maintained the City in great quiet and the whole world in Peace Nulla in praesens formidine dum Augustus aestate validus seque Domum Pacem sustentavit And if to Romulus there had succeeded Tarquinius Superbus and to Augustus Numa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thinke the City of Rome had in her beginning beene ruined and after by Augustus beene restored And as after him the City of Rome fell to a Tyrant and the power of the Caesars ended in Nero so also the Power of Romulus ended in Tarquinius Superbus the Power of Cleomenes in himselfe that of Hiero in his nephew Hieronymus and finally that of Galba presently after his death fell to a Tyrant and all these Powers except that onely of Cleomenes came to ruine by wicked successours The reason why these mens power was not able to hold out long and to conserve their Cities in tranquillity is by some assigned to the accommodations which either are so ordered that all the parts of the City rest contented and then it will last or else the Accommodation 〈◊〉 founded upon the Person who by his authority makes it apt to continue and then it will last no longer then while he lives or at most till it fall into the hands of a wicked successour this in my opinion David knew well when in a Psalme he said Deus Iudicium tuum Regi da 〈◊〉 tuam filio Regis as though he would say it is not enough for the continuance of an empyre that the first King be good but it is necessary his successours be good also and then it is like to last a long time 〈◊〉 cum sole ante lunam in Generatione Generatione but because after Salomon there followed a wicked successour the Kingdome was in part dissolved So the Kingdome of Romulus succeeded well with him because there came after him Numa Pompilius who by giving good lawes filled it with Religion but afterwards in Tarquinius Superbus it came to ruine So also that of Hiero came to nothing through a wicked successour So the reformation which Augustus made of his Country succeeded ill to him because there came after him a Tiberius a Caius a Claudius and lastly a Nero who abrogating Lawes Religion it could not choose but come to ruine The reformations therefore are ill founded and never last long that are founded upon the Authority of one seeing the City is eternall the Prince mortall but then are reformations like to continue when they are founded upon those that receive them Wherein for another reason I would helpe my selfe with a doctrine of S. Thomas where he saith That when a forme comes to be perfectly received of the matter although the Agent that introduced the forme be removed yet the forme remaines in the matter still if Fire be introduced in Wood by another Fire though the agent be removed yet the Fire remaines in the Wood still but when a forme is introduced unperfectly or to use the word of S. Thomas Inchoative there If the Agent be removed either it lasts but little as water that is heated or else goes wholly away with the agent as the enlightning the aire by the departing of the Sun So likewise when a Prince hath perfectly introduced good Ordinances in the matter of a City although he die himselfe yet they will still remaine but if they be introduced but unperfectly that is not fully established then certainly either they will last but little as water heated or with his death that introduced them will die also as the enlightning of the Aire To returne to our purpose I said before that the City of Rome was not capable of liberty and therefore that Augustus was not too blame for not giving it liberty that it was not capable is manifest seeing in processe of time the Empire comming into the hands of such persons as more regarded the good of their Countrey then their owne dignity such as Trajan Antoninus Pius Marcus Aurelius and others were if they had knowne that it had been for the good of the City of Rome to have had liberty they certainly would have given it I have beene willing to give examples of Hiero as being indeed most like to Augustus For he being a Citizen of Syracusa had in his hand an Army for defence of his Countrey and by devises cut them all in pieces that were not for his turne and afterward with those very Armes he made himselfe Lord of Syracusa in which government he raised not himselfe above equality ruling with much prudence and contents of the Subjects as also he enlarged the Dominion of Syracusa and lastly intended to leave it in liberty but that he did it not there were two impediment the first because the City was not fit for it and therefore Livie saith Syracusaeque cum breve tempus affulsisset in antiquam servitutem reciderant And in the same booke speaking of the people of Syracusa he saith Aut servit 〈◊〉 aut superbe dominatur Libertatem quae media est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 modice nec habere sciunt A second impediment were the women who through desire of rule wrought so with him that he left his Nephew Hieronymus his successour a most perfidious and cruell man and farre differing from the conditions of his unkle Augustus likewise was a Citizen of Rome and had in his hand an Army for defence of his Countrey when he put all those to death that were able to oppose him and then turning those very Armes against his Countrey he made himselfe 〈◊〉 Lord in which government he used great equality shewed great prudence enlarged the Empire and lastly had a purpose to leave it in liberty whereof he had often speech with 〈◊〉 and Agrippa and if he left it not in liberty it was long of two things one because the City was not capable of liberty Non 〈◊〉 discordantis 〈◊〉 remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur and as Galba said of the Romans Nec totam libertatem nec totam servitutem pati possunt A second cause was Livia who having besotted the old man Augustus perswaded him to leave Tiberius his successour a cruell man and one that was no more of kinne to Augustus his conditions then to his blood as Tacitus shewes where he saith 〈◊〉 Tibero morum via And thus it appeares that Augustus and Hiero were very like but yet in one thing they had very unlike fortune for the Empire of Augustus ended not