their own worth consequently often changeth their manners into the worse but especially that it encreaseth their pride insolence As for his educatioÌ„ in a house of souerainty that might put into the heads of these censuring subiects thus much for certainly they liked neuer a iot the better of Tiberiê° for hauing bin brought vp in so high a Schoole of soueraignty as the house of Augustus First that what seeds soeuer of haughtines and pride were in him hereditary and which he possessed by vertue of his bloud were now also through long custome sprung vp wanted but the season of reigning to bring forth their vnpleasant fruit Secondly that hauing by experience vnder so learned a master in the Art of gouernment beene taught how to hold them vnder as much as himselfe should please they could not looke for any remissenesse to proceede from want of knowledge how to keepe them low and consequently were sure to find his gouernment euery way vneasie Neijs quideÌ„ annis quibê° Rhodi specie secessê° exulem egerit aliquid quam iram simulationem secretas libidines meditatum Neither those yeeres that he liued vnder colour of retiremeÌ„t in exile at Rhodes did he meditate anything but wrath dissimulation secret lust It is reported of Tiberius that at the first hee trauelled voluntarily to Rhodes but being there he was coÌ„manded to stay Howsoeuer it was he obtained the fairename of retirement to couer the ignominy of banishment A man would perhaps thinke that aduersity should rather quench or at least asswage those passions which haue their life especially from great prosperity as wrath dissimulation lust And so it doth when the aduersitie is so great that the hope is lost of reducing their meditations into act But otherwise it worketh a cleane contrary effect For wheras anger commonly dyeth where reuenge is despaired of dissembling is laid aside where the labor of it is vain imaginations of lust diminish where they can neuer be accoÌ„plished wheÌ„ aduersity is but such as they expect to ouercom it often falleth out that the hope which nourisheth such imaginations is enflamed thereby and men please their vicious fancies for the present with the coÌ„ceit of what they wil execute with effect hereafter when they shal haue the power This was the case of Tiberius and a cause of feare ceÌ„sure in those that were to liue in subiectioÌ„ vnder him Accedere matrem muliebri impotentiâ seruienduÌ„ foeminae duobê° insuper adolescentibê° qui Remp. interim premant quandoque distrahant That besides this there was his mother offeminine impotence that they were to serue a woman two yong men that would for the present oppresse the Commonwealth might hereafter rend it Next to the person of Tiberius they considered in him those of his Family that would also looke for seruice and obedience at their hands namely his Mother two sonnes Germanicus by adoption and his owne naturall sonne and thought them no small grieuance to the Commonwealth For it is a hard matter to serue and please well one Master but to please two or more when there is or may be betwixt them competition or iealousie leauing out that one of them is a woman is altogether impossible The cause hereof is not because the diligence and dexterity of a man cannot suffice for the quantity of seruice but because the quality of it will not permit for the seruice that the one will expect from you is most times this That you displease the other And this proceeds from the emulatioÌ„ of those that are in the way to autority that ofteÌ„ labor not so much to outrunne each other in the course as they do to trip vp one anothers heeles And the same emulation when they once draw neere the races end makes them snatch at the prize and fall to violence and warre and to distract and draw the CoÌ„monwealth into faction and sedition FINIS A DISCOVRSE OF ROME A DISCOVRSE OF ROME IN the sight of any place there bee two especial Obiects Antiquitie and Greatnesse both which none can sooner challenge then Rome in the very beginning noted for Soueraignty The continuance of which in such diuersity of gouernments as Kings Consuls Tribunes Dictators Emperors cannot but shew a diuine power for otherwise so many changes might in all likelihood haue bred confusion and so consequently suppressed their rising to so great an Empire which as the last so it may be truely stiled the greatest that yet the world euer knew or heard of obtained onely by the valour of this one Citie no Commander and for a long time no Souldier that came not out from thence So that it may bee said the people of this one place made themselues masters of the rest Wherevpon they might haue iust cause to esteeme Orbem in vrbe the world confined in their Citie In the height of whose Imperiality which was in Augustus raigne Christ came into the world This as then the chiefe Commandresse of the whole was the place where holinesse and religion aymed to haue their principall plantation where during the time of the infidelity of the Emperours till Constantine the great who was the first that maintained the faith it is infinite to comprehend the tyrannizing ouer Christians the martyrdomes they endured so many that it is hard to name any who sealed not his faith with his bloud But now Constantine was conuerted to see the ill effects so good a cause produced cannot but breed admiration For the Ambition of the Bishops of Rome made this their first step to greatnesse and subuersion of the Empire How grounded vpon this donation I cannot imagine nor I thinke they yet well defend but this was the true Originall by which in succession of time the Empire was translated The zeale of this and some succeeding Emperours was so well taken hold of by the Prelates of Rome that by degrees they assumed more authority to themselues then was due the other in a manner before they were aware losing all at Rome but the title From which pretended power the Popes now take to themselues supremacie in all causes through all Kingdomes in the world and those which were before their superiours to bee as it were subiect and created by them that were their creatures Which shewes a great contrariety to the pretended arguments of Romanists for superiority and rather may bee returned vpon them that this their greatnesse hath more risen by encroachment then right Why therefore Princes haue beene so blinded with their pretences for greatnesse I cannot tell wherevnto to attribute it except to the fate of this place that hath euer beene or aymed to bee the Mistris of the world First by their wisedome and power and then vnder colour of Religion and Saint Peters Keyes And now to the description of Rome as I saw it In which I will neither goe beyond mine owne knowledge and fly to the reports of others nor yet so strictly
likely Rome should not haue beene suffered to haue encroched so fast on her neighbours Now we haue seene the times in which this Citie was built let vs next view how many Kings successiuely reigned ouer it and how long this gouernment continued â—â—râ—t Romulus began and there succeeded him after one yeeres interregency Numa Pompilius then Tullus Hostilius after him Ancus Martius his successor was Tarquinius Priscus next to him Seruius Tullius and last of all Tarquinius Superbus All whose reignes being gathered together amount to the number of 240. yeeres and hath beene compared by Florus to the infancy of a man and commonly accounted the infancy of Rome though I cannot finde that they were much vnder the Rod till this last Kings Reigne who to his cost found them already growne too stubborne The next gouernment of this State was Consulary Libertatem Consulatum Lucius Brutus instituit Liberty and the Consulship Lucius Brutus brought in Euery one that hath read the Roman Histories can tell how much this act of Lucius Brutus hath beene magnified insomuch as they instituted in the honour of it an Holiday by the name of Regifugium and how the imitation of it drew another of the same race and name into such another action who came not off with the like applause though otherwise with the like fate But I shall neuer thinke otherwise of it then thus ProsperuÌ„ foelix scelus Virtus vocatur For it was but a priuate wrong and the fact not of the King but the Kings Sonne that Lucretia was rauished Howsoeuer this together with the pride and tyranny of the King gaue colour to his expulsion to the alteration of gouernment And this is by the Author entitled Liberty not because bondage is alwayes ioyned to Monarchy but where Kings abuse their places tyrannize ouer their Subiects and wink at all outrages and abuses committed against them by any either of their children or fauorites such vsurpation ouer mens estates and natures many times breakes forth into attempts for liberty and is hardly endured by mans nature and passion though reason and Religion teach vs to beare the yoke So that it is not the gouernment but the abuse that makes the alteration be termed Liberty This Consulary gouernment began about Anno Mundi 3422. not long after the beginning of the second generall Monarchy which was of the Persians amongst whom reigned Cambyses Xerxes and Artaxerxes all within the space of fiftie yeeres or thereabouts And in the Athenian State liued Themistocles and Aristides in those dayes famous Now during this Consulary gouernment there were others intermixt Dictaturae ad tempus sumebantur Dictators were chosen but vpon occasion This Magistrate for power was limited onely by his owne will For time hee had limits from the Senate and those so short that their power could doe little hurt and bred little ambition They had now authoritie like absolute Kings and by and by had no more then a King in a Play But when it came to the hands of such as could not easily be constrained to lay it downe they found it of that power that by the colour thereof the people were bereaued of their liberty and enthralled to Sylla during pleasure and to Caesar during life But the Dictatorship is not to bee accounted another forme of gouernment but onely an Office in the Common-wealth though for the time supreme Neque Decemviralis potestas vltrabiennium The Decemviri passed not two yeeres After the people had deliuered themselues from the authority of Kings and came themselues to vndergoe the cares of gouernment they grew perplexed at euery inconuenience and shifted from one forme of gouernment to another and so to another and then to the first againe like a man in a feuer that often turneth to and fro in his bed but finds himselfe without ease and sicke in euery posture They that could not endure one King were soone weary of ten Tyrants and for their extreame ambition vexation and cruelty as also because of the liceÌ„tious and barbarous lust of Appius Claudius one of the number who for the satisfying of his appetite had iudged a free womaÌ„ to slauery they soon extirped that authority but indeed the thing they most feared was that they saw those who possessed the power for the present would not giue it ouer but sought to make it personall and perpetuate it to themselues They were iealous of their liberty and knew not in whose hands to trust it and were often at the point to lose it but at this time licentious and inordinate lust gaue them once more an occasion to shake off the yoke As afore the Tarquins so now the Decemviri suffer for the same offence They for the rauishing of a Wife these for the intended deflowring a Virgin the first acted and her selfe reuenging it on her selfe by her owne hand the second purposed but preuented by a Fathers hand in the murther of his owne Daughter This alteration in gouernment began 58. yeeres after the expulsion of Kings about Anno Mundi 3500. And 19. yeeres after this time began the Peloponnesian warres In these times liued Pericles Alcibiades and Thucidides in the State of Athens Neque Tribunorum militum Consulare ius diu valuit Neither did the Consularie authority in Tribunes of the Souldiers remaine long in force After the Decemvirate they returned againe to Consuls they were not long content with them but bestowed the same authority on Tribunes of the soldiers and weary of these they had againe recourse vnto the Consulship For the State at that time being young and weake loued change variety of gouernments but the emulation of the Commons to equalize the Nobility did giue the principall occasion to these alterations For on whomsoeuer the commons conferred the supreme authority the Senate and Nobility still gained in all suites and offices to be preferred before them which was the cause of most of the seditions and alterations of the State Non Cinnae non Sullae longa dominatio The domination of Cinna Sulla did not long endure It is true that these men attained vnto supreme power by violence force but yet I cannot think that to haue beene the cause why their power was so soone at an end For though violence cannot last yet the effects of it may and that which is gotten violently may bee afterwards possessed quietly and constantly For Augustus also tooke vpon him the Monarchy by force and yet he so settled it as the State could neuer recouer liberty These tooke no order and it may be had no intention to reduce the State of the Commonwealth to a Monarchy more then for their owne times else they might peraduenture haue found waies how to haue mollified or extinguished the fiercer allured the gentler sort prepared the whole State to a future seruitude and what they had obtained by armes haue assured to themselues by politike prouisions which not doing was the cause that their authoritie came
receiued Caius and Lucius the chil-of Agrippa into the Caesarean familie and seeming to refuse most ardently desired to haue them while they were yet but boyes to bee called Princes of the youth and to bee designed for the Consulship His sisters sonne Marcellus being dead and hauing now of his own off-spring to succeed him hee desires that the people would be pleased to take notice of them betimes and in his life time to put them into some possession of their future dignity Hee would therefore now whilst they were in their minority haue them honoured first with the title of Princes of youth This title did imply as much as Heyres apparant of the Empire And to giue it was to admit and openly consent that the State should be not only the possession of Augustus for his owne life but also the inheritāce of his descēdents for euer Secondly with being Consuls elect that they might haue some command of importance as soone as their age could beare it Though Augustus had force to bring this to passe yet hee was loth againe to irritate the minds of his new subiects and therefore hee would not openly so much as make shew of this his desire touching his Grand-sonnes lest they who were content to obey him for his owne time vpon this offering them a Successor as the perpetuation of their seruitude might turne desperate and do some such act as might displease him But he turnes to dissimulation which was in those times held an inseparable accident of a politique Prince Hee makes shew of refusing and yet most ardently desires it and that desire must also appeare by the refusall And those that saw him thus refuse durst doe no other then force his consent and put these honors on his Grand-sonnes whether hee would or not Tiberium Neronem Claudium Drusum priuignos Imperatorijs nominibus auxit integra etiam dum domo sua And his owne house not yet failing hee adornes with imperiall titles Tiberius Nero and Claudius Drusus his wiues children Augustus to make the succession certaine and not to haue it depend vpon the liues onely of two and those but young aduanceth also the sonnes of his wife men of mature yeares and seene in the warres and honoured them with imperiall titles that if his owne issue failed hee might leaue a succeeder such as his owne affection should make choyce of This course in the generall is to be esteemed in a Prince both a prouident one for himselfe and also in a manner necessary for the publike good of his subiects considering the bloudy and fearfull warres that haue followed vpon the death of such as haue not prouided a successor before their decease But yet it falleth out otherwise in some particulars then according to the intention of him that so nominateth his succeeder as it did in this for had Augustus thought it should so much haue preiudiced his owne bloud to aduance those of his wiues he would I thinke haue left them in obscurity Therefore it is not good for a Prince in appointing his succeeders to leaue the reuersion of the State to such as may haue power and meanes to subuert the first heyres thereof Thus farre he hath beene tying the knot of succession which now Liuia his wife beginneth on one part to vntye or rather cut asunder for the strengthening of the other Vt Agrippa vita concessit Lucium Caesarem euntem ad Hispanienses exercitus Caium remeantem Armenia et vulnere invalidum mors fato propera velnouercae Liuiae dolus abstulit Assoone as Agrippa was dead Lucius Caesar going to take charge of the Army in Spaine and Caius comming from Armenia vntimely Death by fate or else by the trechery of their Step-mother Liuia tooke away As the watchfulnesse of a faithfull and wise Counsellor about a Prince often checketh the very thoughts towards treason so on the contrary the death of such a one wonderfully facilitates the designes of a traytor When Agrippa was dead his sonnes did not long out-liue him and though Tacitus heere doth not accuse Liuia directly of their death yet there may bee gathered these presumptions against her First her ambitious and plotting humor Then their hasty and opportune death as if fate if their death were meerly naturall had beene of Counsell with her And lastly the benefit which thereby accrewed vnto her owne sonnes This last is of much importance in the iudgement of men for to whomsoeuer comes the profit of strange and vnexpected accidents to him also for the most part is imputed the contriuing and effecting of them if they be thought able To Liuia appertaineth the suspicion of their death because it was good for her that they should dye when they did and shee was also generally suspected in that kinde of euill Druso pridem extincto Nero solus è priuignis erat Drusus being before dead Nero was onely left of his sonnes in Law This was the fruit reaped by the death of Augustus his Grand-sonnes for hereby her sonne Nero remained the onely man that was likely to succeed in the Empire For his brother Drusus dyed of a fall from his horse two yeares before So that now hee had no competitor neither of his owne kindred nor of the house of Augustus to oppose him saue onely Agrippa Posthumus who for causes hereafter to be mentioned was not of much respect Illuc cuncta vergere filius Collega Imperij Consors Tribunitiae potestatis adsumitur omnesque per exercitus ostentari non obscuris vt antea matris artibus sed palam hortatu All enclined that way hee is made his sonne his Collegue in the Empire his companion in the Tribunitiall power shewne to all the Armies not by the secret artifice of his Mother as before but by open perswasion Euery man that followed Augustus in his strength now in the declining of his age turne their eyes vpon the next change for those who had fortunes vnder Augustus desired the conseruation of them at the hand of the next those that had none began now to hope for estates and honors vnder his Successor All men being of this condition that desire and hope of good more affecteth them then fruition for this induceth satiety but hope is a whetstone to mens desires and will not suffer them to languish It was wisdome in Augustus to make manifest one certaine successor thereby not to giue occasion to the ambition of many But that Tiberius should bee the man rather then his owne Grand-sonne that was certainly the wisdome of his Wife for not many men would depriue their owne off-spring of so faire an inheritance without greater cause then is expressed to conferre it on the issue of another If Liuia had loued her owne no better the house of Caesar might haue continued much longer then it did The honour Augustus gaue to her sonne was to adopt him for his which was to giue him sole power for the future after the death of Augustus
then either Agrippa or Tiberius For Liberty they had no hope at all but yet that was also talked of for men haue generally this infirmity that when they would fall into consideration of their hopes they mistake and enter into a fruitlesse discourse of their wishes such impression doe pleasing things make in mans imagination As for warre it was both feared and desired by many according as their fortunes required it for without doubt those whose estates were whole would bee afraid though such as had not a fortune able to sustaine their inordinate expence thereby to seaze the wealth of other men would much wish for it Lastly touching a Monarch as it was most credible to come to passe so which of the two it should be was now become the coÌ„mon talke of the greatest part of men who censuring their persons gathered arguments thence of their succession and of the wel-fare of the estate vnder them and vsed liberty in their speech of them more boldly though neuerthelesse priuately then in the times that came next after they could safely haue done Thus farre the state of those times wherein Augustus was come to the last Scene and ready to quit the Stage of this great Empire And now Tacitus comes to the opinion conceiued of those that were next to enter Trucem Agrippam atque ignominia accensum non aetate neque rerum experientia tantae moli parem That Agrippa was cruell and kindled with his disgrace and neither of age nor experience sufficient for so great a burthen By the weight of these censures I should hardly thinke they proceeded from the common people but rather that they sprung out of the Authors owne meditation or else that he means by pars multo maxima the greatest part of the Nobility and men of knowledge in great affaires Age and experience are necessary for the gouernment of a great Empire therefore the want of these in Agrippa was of much importance against him so also was the fiercenesse of his disposition the absence of which fault is more desired by subiects in their Prince then of any other vice whatsoeuer that concerneth onely morality But that other note giuen to Agrippa that hee was ignominia accensus is a farre greater exception against him then all the rest The great men had most of them no doubt approued his banishment and he liued thereby in contempt of them all so that he could not choose but hold himselfe generally iniuried though his ignominie proceeded but from a few and opinion of contempt is a frequent cause of cruelty and tyranny If now therefore they had chosen him for their Prince they had then giuen him full power to make his reuenge according to his owne cruell inclination and done contrary to the custome of humane nature for men more willingly trust him with their liues and fortunes that hath done them iniury then one that hath beene or holds himselfe iniuried by them for from these they can expect nothing but reuenge from the other they may hope for amends But this is not alwayes the best course considering on the other side another generall disposition of mankinde which is apter to remit to such as are vnder their power an iniury receiued then to make satisfacton to them for one committed because for the first they shall haue thanks and the second is held but for a debt After the censure of Agrippa falleth in that of Tiberius Tiberium Neronem maturum annis spectatum bello sed vetere atque insita Claudiae familiae superbia multaque inditia saeuitiae quanquam premantur erumpere That Tiberiê° Nero was of ripe years and of reputation in the warres but he had in him the old hereditary pride of the ClaudiaÌ„ family many signes of cruelty brake forth in him though he stroue to smother them Ability to gouerne is not all that is to be wisht for in a Gouernour Tiberius was heere thought too able that is likely to hold the reynes of gouernmeÌ„t too hard especially ouer a people so lately weaned from liberty for such are euer more sensible of euery restraint and pressure of Monarchicall rule then others are that haue beene so accustomed There are not two more tyrannicall qualities in the world then pride and cruelty whereof the former imposeth intolerable commands the later exacteth immoderate punishments They argued Tiberius his pride both from his ancestors and education and of cruelty himselfe made demonstration Men deriue their vertues and vices from their ancestors two wayes either by nature or imitation By the former are deriued all that depend on the temper of the body the rest are by imitation and do seldome faile For the reuerence that naturally men doe beare to the qualities of their ancestors begetteth a liuely imitation of theÌ„ in their posterity And so pride may passe thorow a Stock by imitation not that men would imitate that but by error vnder the name of Magnanimity Then for his cruelty by how much the more he endeuoured to hide it and could not by so much the more it was feared and abhorred in him For a passion that can be mastered is nothing so dangerous as one that caÌ„not especially in Tiberiê° that knew best of all men how to dissemble his vices Those things that Tiberius would dissemble were euil and those euils he could not dissemble were great ones therefore for such cruelty as himselfe was not able to couer hee was iustly to be feared And yet it is no easie thing to dissemble ones vices I mean if the dissimulatioÌ„ must be of long coÌ„tinuance for for once a man may ouercome the most violent passion that euer was but difficile fictam ferre personam diu Seneca Trag. Hunc prima ab infantia eductuÌ„ in domo regnatrice congestos iuueni consulatus triumphos That the same man was brought vp from his infancy in the house of Soueraignty that be had CoÌ„sulships triumphs heaped on him while he was yet but a youth This is another argument of the haughtines of Tiberius drawn from his education Honors somtimes be of great power to change a mans manners and behauiour into the worse because men coÌ„monly measure their own vertues rather by the acceptance that their persons find in the world them by the iudgement which their own coÌ„science maketh of theÌ„ neuer do or think they neuer need to examine those things in theÌ„selues which hath once found approbation abroad and for which they haue receiued honor Also honor many times coÌ„firmeth in men that intention wherwith they did those things which gained honor which intentioÌ„ is as often vicious as vertuous For there is almost no ciuil action but may proceed as well froÌ„ euill as froÌ„ good they are the circuÌ„stances of it which be onely in the mind and coÌ„sequently not seen honoured that make vertue Out of all these things I suppose may be gathered that honor nourisheth in light and vain men a wrong opinion of
not looke vpon the cause but the Bribe the right but the power the truth but the greatnesse of the greater Aduersary Again it addes confidence to the poorer sort whē they see that equity not fauour procures the sentence and so by this means are conserued frō oppressiō And if it were not for this in what a miserable case were these lower degrees of mē subiect to be trod vnder feet by their imperious Aduersary then to haue no means left for redresse Fiftly it is the greatest honor and reputation a Kingdom or cōmonwealth can be ambitious of enioy to haue Iustice iustly distributed and people obedient to Lawes Iustice guarding the people by correcting cutting off such as giue ill example to the rest And in what Commonwealth soeuer this is neglected it breeds cōfusion amongst thēselues giues aduantage to their enemies causeth their disreputation to spread through the world Next to the honor of a Kingdome it is the safety of the King who being reputed to be as the fountain of justice so Iustice keeps the fountaine free from corruption infection or danger prescribing rules for feare it corrupt ascribing Antidotes for feare of infection preseruing his person reputation both frō sensible insensitiue danger wheras if Lawes bee neglected his person is more subiect to the attempts of Traitors his life to the tongues of malice and detraction his reputation to perpetuall infamy And lastly this is it that enriches and secures the subiect in all Kingdomes giues him his right protects him from wrong increaseth commerce and proclaimes traffique throughout all the world whereas if Iustice were not duely administred there would follow a diminution of our substances a generall disconsolatiō in our life a certain separation frō all trade with strangers And mark but narrowly and you shall seldom find that God euer blessed that Coūtry where Iustice was either neglected or abused Those therfore if any such insensible creatures be that dislike therestraint striue declaime against obedience to Lawes which may be truely termed the wals of gouernment nations they make themselues so cōtemptible as no obiection of theirs can be worthy the answering for a generall dissolution of Lawes in a ciuill body is the same with the conuulsion of the sinnewes in a naturall decayes and dissolution being the immediate and vnauoidable succeeders And yet a man had better choose to liue where no thing then where all things be lawfull which is the reason why all men haue thought it more dangerous to liue in an Anarchy then vnder a Tyrants gouernment for the violent desires of one must necessarily bee tyed to particulars in a multitude they are indefinite The first degree of goodnes is obedience to Lawes which be nothing else but vertue and good order of life reduced vnto certain rules and as reason hath the predominant power in our naturall bodies so the body Politick cānot subsist w th out soule to inanimate to gouerne to guide it that is Law proceeding from the reason counsels iudgemēt of wise men For where Lawes be wanting there neither Religion nor life nor societie can be maintained There be three branches that mens Lawes do spread themselues into euery one stricter then other The Law of Nature which we enioy in common with al other liuing creatures The Law of Nations which is common to all men in generall the Municipall Law of euery Nation which is peculiar and proper to this or that Country and ours to vs as Englishmen That of Nature which is the ground or foundation of the rest produceth such actions amōgst vs as are cōmon to euery liuing creature and not only incident to men as for example the commixture of seuerall sexes which we call Marriage generation education the like these actions belong to all liuing creatures as well as to vs. The Lawes of Nations bee those rules which reason hath prescribed to all men in generall such as all Nations one with another doe allow and obserue for iust And lastly the Peculiar Lawes of euery Country which mixe with the generall Lawes of all places some particular ones of their own this is that which the Romanes called amongst thēselues the Ciuill Law of their City and is indeed in euery Nation the Municipall Lawes of that Country as it were Lawes onely created for those Climates for those estates Take away the power of Lawes and who is it that can say This is my House or my Land or my money or my goods or call any thing that is his his owne Therfore euery mans state and fortune is more strengthened and confirmed by Lawes then by any will or power in those from whom wee receiue them for whatsoeuer is left vnto vs by the Testament of another it is impossible we should euer keepe it as our own if Law restrained not others claimes confirmed thē not vnto vs. In which respect Lawes be the strongest sinewes of humane societie helps for such as may be ouerborne and bridles to them that would oppresse So that we receiue much more benefit from Lawes in this kinde then from Nature for whereas men be naturally affected and possessed with a violent heate of desires and passions and fancies Lawes restrain draw them from those actions and thoughts that would precipitate to all manner of hazzards and ill which naturall inclination is prone enough vnto and do gouern direct alter dispose as it were bend them to all manner of vertuous good actions Wherfore Lawes be the true Physicions and preseruers of our peaceable life ciuill conuersation preuenting those il accidents that may happen purging and taking away such as haue broken forth sowing peace plenty wealth strength and all manner of prosperity amongst men And for those things that be ill but yet introduced by custome seuere and iust Lawes will readily correct for the force and power of Law doth easily dissolue an ill custome though it haue been of long continuance the excellency and praise of which Lawes can neuer be better illustrated then in that saying of Salomon Mandatum lucerna est lex lux via vitae increpatio disciplinae The commandement is a lampe and the law is light and reproofes of instruction are the way of life The dispensers and interpreters of the Law be the Magistrates and Iudges and all sorts and degrees of men whatsoeuer be tyed bound to the obseruance of the same To this purpose Solon being demāded What City was best gouerned answered That wherein the City obeyed the Magistrate and the Magistrate the Lawes and certainly that gouernment is better which vseth set and firme Lawes though not all of the best sort then that where the Lawes bee most perfect and exact and yet not obserued Lawes therefore ought to be the rulers of men and not men the masters of Lawes There is no doubt but that Lawes were at the first inuented as well to
the sooner to an end Pompeij Crassique potentia cito in Caesarem The power of Pompey and Crassus soon passed into Caesar This was an authority in the Romane State exercised without publike permissiō only out of their own priuate strength Of these Crassus was the most wealthy Pompey the best beloued of the Senate and Caesar of most power in the field Their ambition was equall but not their fortune nor their wisedome For Crassus was slaine in the Parthian warre the which hee vndertooke onely out of auarice Pompey though hee affected the Monarchie yet hee tooke not the course that was fittest for it for he then courted the State when hee knew his Riuall had a purpose to vse violence and to rauish it But Caesar knew the Republique to be feminine and that it would yeeld sooner to violence then flattery and therefore with all his power assaulted and ouercame it and so in him alone remained the strength of all the three till his death Likewise after the death of Iulius Caesar Lepidi Antonij armain Augustum cessere The forces of Lepidus and Antonius came into the hands of Augustus This was the last change of the Romane gouernment and was permanent for now Rome vtterly lost her libertie For Antony by occasion of Caesars slaughter beeing himselfe then Consul hauing taken armes which the State feared he would make vse of to serue his owne ambition and to set himselfe vp in Caesars roome the Senate gaue authoritie to Augustus to leuy an Armie and make head against him Which he did within a while after agreeing with Antony and taking Lepidus in for a stale established this Triumvirate which in the end was also wholly reduced to Augustus So that hence may appeare that it is a most dangerous ouersight to put Armes into such a mans hands for our defence as may aduance himselfe by conuerting them to our destruction To which purpose the Fable is also applyed of the Horse who suffering a rider and the bit for his assurance against the Hart that fed with him in the same pasture could neuer after recouer his former libertie Qui cuncta discordijs ciuilibus fessa nomine Principis sub imperium accepit Who when the whole Sate was wearied with ciuill discords receiued it vnder his gouernment with the Title of Prince The manifold miseries that doe accompany Ciuill Warres and the extreme weaknesse which followeth them doe commonly so deiect expose a State to the prey of ambitious men that if they lose not their libertie it is onely for want of one that hath the courage to take the aduantage of their debilitie And when a mighty and free people is subdued to the tyrannie of one man it is for the most part after some long and bloudie Ciuill Warre For ciuill warre is the worst thing that can happen to a State wherein the height of their best hopes can come but to this to venture hazzard their own to ouerthrow their friends and kindreds fortunes And they that are at the worst haue reason to bee content with and wish for any change whatsoeuer This was one occasion which Augustus laid hold of to establish the Monarchy they were weary their strength abated and their courages foyled Yet he would not presently take vnto him the Title belonging to Monarchy especially not the name of King but nomine Principis sub imperium accepit Euery man that hath an office of command though neuer so meane desireth a name that may expresse the full vertue of his place and most men receiue as great content from Title as substance Of this humour Augustus retained onely thus much at this time that hee tooke a title which signified not authoritie but dignitie before all the rest as if the people of Rome had beene to be numbred one by one hee thought himselfe worthy that they should begin with him Also hee knew that the multitude was not stirred to sedition so much with extraordinarie power as insolent Titles which might put them to consider of that power and of the losse of their libertie And therefore hee would not at the first take any offensiue Title as that of King or Dictator which for the abuses before done were become odious to the people And in a multitude seeming things rather then substantiall make impression But hauing gotten the mayne thing that he aspired vnto to giue them then content in words which cost him neither money nor labour hee thought no deare bargaine And this was but for the present neither For he doubted not but that the power which hee had in substance would in time dignifie any name hee should take aboue the name of King and in the meane space hee should keepe the loue of the people which is the principall pillar of a new soueraignty Hitherto the seuerall changes and alterations in the state of Rome and how the sway thereof after the space of almost 800. yeere being now arriued at her greatest strength remained wholly in the person of Augustus Caesar He therefore after much deliberation had whether he should restore it againe to the former libertie of a Common-wealth or conuert the gouernment into a Monarchy at length resolued on the latter The meanes he had and the deuices he vsed to bring the same to passe are now by the Author likewise touched and should follow in order But because Tacitus here digresseth to shew the faults of Historiographers and the vprightnesse he purposeth to vse in his owne story I will also take his words as they lye in my way and afterwards proceed with the History it selfe Sed veteris populi Romani prospera vel aduersa claris Scriptoribus memorata sunt But of the ancient people of Rome both the prosperous and aduerse estate hath beene recorded by renowned Writers It is a signe of too much opinion and selfe-conceit to be a follower in such an Historie as hath beene already sufficiently atchieued by others And therefore Cicero said well of the Commentaries which Caesar wrote of his owne acts and intended should bee but the notes and the ground of an History to bee written by some that should afterward vndertake that taske that though that were an acceptable and welcome worke to some arrogant persons yet that all discreet men were thereby deterred from writing So that as it was here to Tacitus it should also be cause enough to any man else to abstaine from the writing of those Histories which are already wisely and perfectly related The reason why the times of the Commonwealth haue been better Historified then those that came after seemeth to be the liberty that such a gouernment affordeth For where the gouernour who is alwayes the mayne subiect of the Annales of a Citie is not one man but a great many there personall tax breedeth not so often publique offence Temporibusque Augusti dicendis non defuere decora ingenia donec gliscente adulatione deterrerentur And there wanted not good wits to write