alluvione paulatim terra consumpta est quia surrepente paulatim infusione peccati terra cordis illius ad consumptionem defluxit A second cause is because in old age by reason of weaknesse the vertue of resisting feminine allurements failes which in youth by reason of vigour are easily resisted This cause Cajetan meanes when speaking of Salomon he saith Quamvis mulieres junctae fuerint Salomoni Iuveni non tamen diverterunt a Iuventute ad cultum Deorum sed in Senectute paulatim emollitus est animus ejus crescente amore deficiente virtute A third cause I would alledge my selfe and it is That all love is founded upon some interest either good or bad and seeing that of women can never be founded upon vertue by reason of the incapacity of that sex it happens oftentimes to be founded either upon beauty or upon profit For in women commonly there are two desires or to say better two affections one of rule the other of lust and when these faile then also their love ceaseth From hence it is that seeing an old man can never beleeve unlesse age hath taken away his braines that women can love him for beauty it follows necessarily he must beleeve they love him for profit of which if there be no hope neither can he hope they will ever love him And therefore when he knows he cannot satisfie their affection one way by reason of the weaknesse of his age he must of necessity seeke to satisfie it the other way and consequently agree to all their desires And therefore no marvell if Tacitus say that Augustus grown old was led away by women Concerning the second point before we come to examine which is the best age in a Prince for governing his people we must take notice that in men there are foure ages old age childhood youth and consistence or middle age Thus Hippocrates distinguisheth them which for the present shall passe without questioning the truth of the distinction Secondly it must be noted that I speake not of Princes that are by succession for they have their officers and Deputies by whom they may alwaies governe well but I speake of Princes that are by election and particularly in Kingdomes that stand in danger into which many by reason of age have fallen In this case it is not well that a Prince should be in his childhood whereupon our Lord God by the mouth of the Prophet Esay threatning the destruction of Hierusalem after saying Ecce enim Dominator Dominus exercituum auferet a Hierusalem a Juda validum fortem virum bellatorem omne robur panis omne robur aquae Judiceni Prophetam Ariolum senem he saith dabo pueros Principes eorum by whose government how great disorders were to grow is shewed in the processe of that Chapter and therefore Salomon in Ecclesiasticus cries out Vae tibi terra cujus Rex est puer The reason of this is because in a Governour there are foure things required the first is knowledge and prudence whereupon Salomon considering himselfe to be but a child prayed not to God for Riches or Honour nor yet for long life but for Wisdome to be able to judge rightly saying Ego autem sum puer parvulus ignorans egressum introitum meum Et servus tuus est in medio populi quem elegisti populi infiniti qui numerari supputari non potest prae multitudine Dabis ergo servo tuo cor docile ut populum tuum judicare possit discernere inter bonum malum Whereupon S. Gregory makes a good observation that in holy Scripture Princes and Prophets are called Videntes Seers as those that have need of Prudence and Knowledge that being to lead the blind they be not blind themselves for then will Cities go to wrecke and easily be destroyed as Esay saith Omnes bestiae agri venite ad devorandum Vniversae bestiae 〈◊〉 speculatores ejus caeci omnes The second thing required in a Prince is fortitude to be able to bridle the people and to beare the weight of the Scepter And therefore Salomon in Ecclesiasticus saith Noli 〈◊〉 fieri Judex 〈◊〉 valeas virtute irrumpere iniquitates ne fortè extimescas faciē Potentis ponas scandalum in 〈◊〉 tua And Job speaking of the burthen that lies upon Princes shoulders saith Sub quo curvantur qui portant orbem which S. Gregory upon that other place of Job Ecce Gigantes 〈◊〉 sub aquis expounds saying Gemero sub aquis meanes nothing else but to be oppressed with the weight of Subjects taking waters for people as the Angel in the Apocalyps delivers Aquae multae populi multi Whereupon not without great mystery our Lord God meaning to make Peter Prince of the people he called him first to walke upon the water Thirdly Princes ought more to regard the common good of their subjects then their owne private profit that they may not be like those of whom the Prophet Sophony speaketh Judices ejus lupi 〈◊〉 non relinquebant in Mane but like to the Apostle Paul who saith Non quaero quae vestra sunt sed vos Fourthly there is required Experience Qui non est tentatus quid scit saith Salomon in Ecclesiasticus Et qui non est expertus parva recognoscit And therefore the Ancients have a fable that Phaeton having taken upon him to guide the Horses of the Sunne was throwne downe headlong In asmuch then as a child through defect of age can neither have knowledge nor experience and thorough weaknesse of body can neither be strong nor constant and finally thorough time spent in pleasures will more regard his owne interest then the people there can be no doubt of his unfitnesse to govern others who without doubt is not well able to governe himselfe The other age contrary to this is old age in which as a thing most odious men commonly are subject to contempt Ipsa aetas Galbae saith Tacitus Irrisui fastidio erat And a little after Precarium sibi Imperium brevi transiturum But besides their being contemned oftentimes they governe ill because as Aristotle writes in his Politicks Habet etiam intellectus suam 〈◊〉 that the understanding also hath its old age seeing by weaknesse of naturall heate and want of radicall moysture they generate naughty blood from which consequently arise naughty spirits which passing to the Heart and from the Heart distributed to the senses makes them they can but ill 〈◊〉 their office And therefore in old men we see the senses are alwaies weakned as the Philosopher saith 〈◊〉 nostra intellectio ortum habet à sensu the understanding making use of the senses to understand by insomuch that they being grown old it may reasonably be said the understanding is growne old whereupon 〈◊〉 meaning to shew that Camillus though growne old was yet able to governe saith He had all his senses perfect Sed vegetum 〈◊〉 in
salvos See here that act which of its owne nature was most adulatory being used by S. Paul became vertuous and beneficiall and the reason of this can proceed from nothing but from the intention because as those other were moved with their proper interest So S. Paul was moved with the zeale of God Vt Judaeos lucrarer ut eos qui sub lege erant lucrifacerem ut omnes facerem salvos For there cannot a better way be found to reduce men to the right way then to counterfeit to be such as they are And even so doe many Physitians use to doe who oftentimes having a patient troubled with a melancholicke humour in the braine in such sort as that they thinke themselves to be earthen Pots they also feine themselves to be such to the end that they taking meat their patient also by their example may take meat and not die with hunger out of a conceit that earthen pots could not eate And in this manner oftentimes they heale their patients and feigning themselves to be fooles have cured them of folly Thus also did S. Paul who circumcised Timothy with a purpose to take away circumcision whereof Saint Chrysostome speaking saith Vide opus circumcidit ut circumcisionem tolleret Not without cause therefore did Marcus Tullius blame Cato that would not flatter the people with counterfeiting their fashions thereby to get the Consulship and have freed his Country from the imminent tyranny of Julius Caesar. And the rather it being a thing commended of God himselfe Cum perverso perverteris that is with wicked men one must feigne himselfe wicked to reduce them to goodnesse This Act which in S. Paul received alteration from the end may also in the contrary receive alteration from the circumstance and was used therefore by S. Peter who when he went to Antiochia was hindred by S. Paul himselfe Et in faciem restiti quia reprehensibilis erat although the Act of S. Peter was the same and done with the same intention that S. Pauls was yet by reason of one circumstance which was that by his example the Gentiles were drawne to Judaise he deserved reprehension To come then to the second head which is how many kinds of flattery there are I say first there may be an Act of its owne nature exceeding good and yet be apt to become a flattering act as to praise a man for something he hath done to the end he may with more boldnesse reprove him afterward is a good act and therefore S. Paul knowing that the Corinthians for the love they bore to certaine persons were fallen into schisme at first he praiseth them where he saith Gratias ago Deo meo semper pro vobis in gratia Dei quae data est vobis in Christo Jesu quia in omnibus divites facti estis in illo in omni verbo in omni scientia sicut testimonium Christi confirmatum est in vobis ita ut nihil desit vobis impulsus gratiae certainly a greater praise then this he could not possibly give but he addes afterward Obsecro vos fratres per nomen Domini nostri Jesu Christi ut id ipsum dicatis omnes non sint in vobis schismata see here after his praising them how sharply he reprehends them The contrary happens when one praising a man speakes the truth but with an ill intention for it is then true flattery and such a Prince should never endure to heare And therefore S. Paul passing with many others by a place where stood a maid possessed with a devill and hearing himselfe praised by that devill for a servant of God he made him hold his peace driving him out of the mayds body Factum est autem euntibus nobis ad orationem puellam quandam habentem spiritum Pythonem obviare nobis quae quaestum magnum praestabat Dominis suis Divinando haec subsecuta Paulum nos clamabat dicens isti homines servi Dei excelsi sunt qui annuntiant vobis viam salutis hoc autem faciebat multis diebus dolens autem Paulus conversus spiritui dixit praecipio tibi in nomine Jesu Christi exire ab ea exiit eadem hora. There is no doubt but the devill in praising Saint Paul and his companions said the truth but because he did it not with a good intent but to the end that another time he might tell a lie and be believed therefore S. Paul made him goe forth of the maids body And so ought it to be done to those who sometimes speake the truth but to the end that another time they may more securely flatter That such kind of praising is flattery may easily be proved For either it must proceed from friendship or from mildnesse or else from flattery But it proceeds not from friendship because a friend never praiseth out of interest nor it proceeds not from mildnesse because he by Aristotle is defined to be mild who exceeds in his praises to give contentment and differenceth him by this from a flatterer who praiseth for his owne interest So as we truely and upon good ground take this to be flattery the rather being defined by S. Chrysostome Adulatio est quando quosdam colit quispiam non propter quae colere oportet sed ad captandun terrena where this word Colit stands in place of the Genus as being common both to a friend and to him that is mild and these words Ad captandum terrena stand in place of the difference in which the essence of flattery consists Secondly there may be an action which of its own nature is neither good nor bad but from divers causes may receive a diverse forme And it is where vertue is indeed and truly in a Prince but is increased and made greater in the praising it The liberality that was in Tiberius being celebrated by the Senatours more then was cause not to the end he should encrease it for the publike good but to the end to make him privately the more their friend was flattery which could not be so called if it had been done for the publike good And therefore when Metellus was extolled for the great valour and prowesse he had shewed in managing the warre because it was done to the end he should continue and hold on his course as he did was no flattery but a good act and so recorded by Historians Thirdly there may be an act of its owne nature bad and flattering yet capable to become good from the intention and it is when a Prince is praised for those vertues and conditions which are not in him but which should be in him so long as he is not guilty of the contrary vices Fourthly and lastly there may be an act I will not say essentially flattering but which seldome and very hardly can change its nature and it is when a Prince is praised for a vertue being stayned with the contrary vice as to call one mercifull that is cruell
remaines entire seeing with one onely action the new forme will be taken away and the old will be introduced but if together with the Image the mould also should be taken away it would then be very hard to returne it to the old forme as requiring two actions one to breake the forme that is of new and the other to renew the form that was before Moreover this onely apparence of Magistrates besides that it facilitates the recovery of liberty causeth also a desire of liberty which if it doe no other hurt at least it puts them in mind of a Commonwealth a thing to Princes most pernitious and lastly it gives occasion to the principall men to assemble together without suspition and therefore if I be not deceived Julius Agricola told Tacitus oftentimes that the taking away these apparences of liberty had been very usefull for hindring the rebellions of the Irish. Saepe ex eo audivi legione una modicis auxiliis debellari obtinerique Hiberniam posse Idque etiam adversus Britanniam profuturū si Romana ubique arma velut è conspeetu libertas toleretur Thus in my opinion it is sufficiently proved that to leave the names of Magistrates although without authority is not a puffing up or a vanity that blinds the people but indeed a matter of great moment for regayning of liberty Yet I blame not Princes that take this course and especially those that are at this day who having no doubt of their people ought to allow them not onely the names of Magistrates but also Magistrates with some authority and as little doe I like that a man comming new to a Kingdome should take this course only I put them in mind that all they who have gone about to extinguish Magistrates have either been 〈◊〉 or banished except onely Cleomenes Tiberium Neronem maturum annis spectatum bello sed vetere atque insita Claudiae Familiae superbia multaque indicia saevitiae quanquam premantur erumpere Hunc prima ab infantia educatum in domo 〈◊〉 congestos Juveni Consulatus Triumphos ne iis quidem annis quibus Rhodi specie secessus exulem egerit aliquid quam Iram simulationem secretas libidines meditatum That Tiberius was part good and part bad How it happened that he fell not into dangers as Nero did Whether it be good to be brought up in the Princes House and finally how their secret vices may be knowne The one and twentieth Discourse TAcitus discoursing of the successours of Augustus whilst he laies open the vertues and vices of Tiberius shewes us also the capacity and incapacity that was in him for succession in the Empire his capacity was first by reason of his ripenesse in age being such as in our former discourse we required in a Prince then his ability in Military affaires and the long experience he had being brought up in Augustus his house and imployed continually in State businesses and seeing Princes ought to be able both to governe the people in peace and to rule them in warre I know not any man could be fitter for the Empire then Tiberius On the other side Tiberius was proud cruell and lascivious and seeing a Prince ought to governe with mildnesse to have care of the subjects lives and above all rather to defend their honour then oppresse it there is no doubt but Tiberius was more uncapable of such a dignity then any other because as being proud he could never be pleasing in his government and as being cruell he was readier to destroy his subjects then to preserve them and lastly as being lascivious he was likelier to dishonour his Citizens then to do them honour and thus as there were in him all those vertues that make a Prince admirable so there were in him all those vices that make a state miserable And because for the most part the good is overborne and suppressed by the bad we may justly say that Tiberius was altogether uncapable of the Empire his Experience being obscured by his pride his valour in warre by his cruelty in Peace and lastly his ripenesse in yeers by his greennesse in lustfulnesse Tiberius yet together with his many vices had also some vertues and therefore was not wholly good but part good nor wholly wicked but part wicked and this is the cause why he continued peaceably in his Empire which Nero did not because Nero had many vices and never a vertue Tiberius though he had many vices yet withall he had some vertues and a vice can never hold out long if it be not founded upon some vertue A lascivious man if he have not some temperance will never live ten daies to an end a Thiefe if he use not some meane in his robbing but will be stealing day and night secretly and openly he will quickly make his own Gallowes Therefore Saint Chrysostome saith Talis est natura mali ut non consistat nisi virtuti cuipiam 〈◊〉 Nam mala non habent naturam ut ex se possint subsistere nisi 〈◊〉 aliquid a virtutibus ceperint And Aristotle having an eye to this where teaching the way how to maintaine a tyranny saith that a tyrant ought at least to be part good and part bad Insuper moribus talis esse ut recte se habeat ad virtutem vel semibonus quidem sit non malus sed semi-malus This was one of the causes why Nero being cruel ruined himselfe and Tiberius being cruell kept himselfe safe because Nero was a cruell beast and Tiberius a cruell man He killed men out of greedinesse of the blood of others and this onely for security of himselfe the one used his cruelty foolishly and the other politickly or rather we may say wisely Est enim quaedam Prudentia falsa saith S. Thomas vel per similitudinem dicta cum enim Prudens sit qui bene disponit ea quae sunt agenda propter 〈◊〉 bonum finem ille qui propter malum finem aliqua 〈◊〉 congruentia illi fini habet falsam prudentiam in quantum illud quod accepit pro fine non est vere bonum sed secundum similitudinem sic dicitur aliquis bonus latro and that which followes But having said that in Tiberius there was vertue as well as vice but that Nero was all vice for which some man with no small colour of truth may reprehend me seeing in all Histories we find that Nero was perhaps more vertuous then any other of the Caesarean family I therefore thinke it necessary to advertise that all vertues are not vertues in a Prince But rather many a one no better then a vice Poesie Musicke Paynting and all those Sciences and Arts which depend upon sharpnesse of wit a Prince having need to procure himselfe a soundnesse of judgement and not a subtilty of braine for contemplating of those things which consist onely in Idaea therefore in these and such like a Prince ought to content himselfe with a
without this course they were never able to live in peace So the Romans as long as the race of the Tarquins continued were never without warre And this is one of the causes I alledged why the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar had not so good successe as the conspiracy of Lucius Brutus against the Tarquins because in this they destroyed not onely the line of the Tarquins but all those that were of the name where in that of Caesar they onely cut downe the tree but left the roote behind from which sprung up Augustus who receiving nourishment and ayd from those very men that had killed his unkle in a short time he grew to be so great a Tree that he crushed them to pieces that went about to cut him downe For this very cause in Aegypt in Cappadocia in Soria in Macedonia and in Bythinia they often changed their Kings because they tooke no care to extinguish the line of the former Lords but onely to get their places And therefore Bardanus in Tacitus is justly blamed who instead of extinguishing Gotarze the former Lord stood loosing his time in besieging the City But these and a thousand other examples which for brevity I omit it may be held for a maxime of State that whosoever gets a Kingdome from another he ought to root out the whole line of him that was Lord before But this rule cannot be thus left without some aspersion of impiety and therefore for resolution I think best to distinguish because if we speake of a Christian Prince that hath gotten the state of another who is enemy of the faith he may justly doâ—… as best pleaseth him by any way whatsoever to take them away that can pretend to the State yet not so neither unlesse he find them so obstinate in their â—…ect that there is no possible meanes to remove them from their errour and so much our Lord God himselfe by the mouth of the Prophet Samuel appointed Saul to do to Amalech 〈◊〉 ergo vade percute Amalech demolire Vniversa ejus non parcas ei non concupiscas ex rebus 〈◊〉 aliquid sed interfice a viro usque ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 atque Lactantem But if we speake of a Christian Prince that by force gets possession of a State from one of the same faith let him never goe about to destroy the line of him that possessed it before for besides that it is a thing unworthy of a Christian it seemes to me to be rather their invention who meaning to live wickedly would be glad to have no bridle for if a Prince shall carry himselfe lovingly towards his Subjects using them as children and not as servants he need not be afraid of any whomsoever For this cause the Senatours of Rome having driven out the Tarquins had more 〈◊〉 to governe the City as fathers then to extinguish the line of him that had been Lord which was indeed incomparably more for their good as in the second booke of the first Decad of Livy every one may see Rather many times it is better to bestow honours upon them from whom a state is taken and to leave them a part thereby to reteine the rest more securely So did Cyrus who having taken Lydia and dispossessed Craesus who was Lord of it before he left him at least a part of his patrimony and gave him a City to be his owne And indeed if he had done otherwise he might easily have lost all therefore Justin saith Craeso vita patrimonii partes urbs Barce concessa sunt in qua 〈◊〉 non Regiam vitam tamen proximam Majestati Regiae degeret And then shewes the benefit that comes by it where he saith Haec Clementia non minus Victori quam victo utilis fuit quippe ex Vniversa Gracia cognito quod illatum Craeso bellum esset auxilia veliâ—…t ad 〈◊〉 extinguendum incendium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Craesi 〈◊〉 apud omnes urbes erat ut passurus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belluÌ„ Gracia fuerit si quid crudelius in Craesum consuluisset If the King of France had done thus when Ferdinand of Aragon would have yeelded up the Kingdome of Naples to him if he would have left him but Lord of Calabria perhaps he had not lost both the one and the other and in truth it had been his best way to have done so at least for so long time till he might have made himselfe sure and firme in the Kingdome of Naples and then for the other he might have taken it from him againe at any time So did David who tooke away halfe of the substance which Saul had given to Mephibosheth and gave it to his servant Siba for a doubt he had lest he should desire his fathers Kingdome This interpretation Procopius made of it when he said Vt substantiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsius dejiceret ne Regnum affectaret alias enim illum qui adversus Dominum suum mendacium dixerat quem punire potius debebat nequaquam participem cumeo fecisset Alexander the Great when he waged warre with Kings farre off from Macedonia he not onely when he had overcome them never sought to extinguish their line but which is more strange to them from whom he had taken a Kingdome he restored the same Kingdome againe A great act of Magnanimity and which may and ought to be used in the like case to that of Alexander Magnus that is when Countries farre remote from the Seate of the Kingdom and in customes Iawes habit and language very different are easily overcome and so much the rather when the warre is waged more for desire of glory then for getting of ground seeing it is alwaies better to seeke to hold that by a way of clemency which by a way of force can never be held But in case it be feared least leaving the former Prince in the Countries taken from him he should practise to make a revolution he may then have states given him to governe in other places So Cirus did who having overcome the Medes and deprived Astyages of his Kingdome he would not leave him in Media and yet would not deale hardly with him neither but he made him Governour of Hyrcania and although Justin say it was done because Astyages himselfe had no mind to returne to the Medes yet to my understanding it is more likely that Cyrus did it as fearing least he who had procured his nephews death to bring himselfe to the Kingdome being now deprived of it would never be quiet when any fit occasion should be offerd to him Another way there is which others have used and it is to keepe such about themselves and to hold them in esteeme of Kings so Herod the great had begun to doe with Aristobulus and with Hyrcanes but the cruelty of his nature made him fall at last to take the same course that others doe This counsell therefore was much better followed by David who leaving Sauls patrimony to Mephibosheth the sonne of Jonathan
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
not care much to be loved of any but onely of the good to which purpose Galba said it needed not trouble them to see Nero beloved of the wicked but this was a matter that needed regard to give no occasion he should be wished for againe of the good Nero a pessimo quoque desiderabitur Mihi ac tibi providendum est ne etiam a bonis desideretur Secondly the end of a Prince is as of an Oratour or of a Physitian who being to introduce a forme in another and not having it in their power to doe it yet they have discharged their office if they have applied fit meanes to introduce it no better a Physitian is he that heales then he that heales not nor any better Oratour he that perswades then he that perswades not so long as they use the fittest meanes he to heale and this to perswade So for our purpose seeing love is in him that loveth in such manner as honour is in him that honoureth a Prince shall have performed his charge and done as much as he need to doe as long as he hath used all fit meanes to procure his subjects love by doing good to all by maintaining them in plenty by shewing himselfe farre from cruelty by defending them from their enemies and finally by making it appeare that he loves them exceedingly seeing this is a sure rule He that will be loved must love Vnum esse Reipublicae Corpus atque nuius animo Regendum Whether an Aristocracy or a Monarchy be the more profitable for a City The nine and thirtieth Discourse ASinius Gallus having too sharply spoken to Tiberius and finding his owne errour and the Princes indignation meant with a flattering speech to cover the one and pacifie the other and therefore shewed that for an Empire to be well governed it was necessary it should be governed by one alone And because from this place of Tacitus many gather that he held the government of a Monarchy to be better then that of optimates I conceive it to be no digression from our purpose that I shew first according to my understanding the truth of this question and then declare how this place of Tacitus must be understood And herein no man need to marvell that I vary from the opinions or to say better from the approved opinions of many excellent men as though I meant to vilifie them but I desire they would take into consideration the River of Rhoâ—…e which although it seeme by his course as though it meant to drown the legitimate sons of the Celti yet indeed it exalts them and gives a true testimony of their legitimate birth to all that see it So it will be no small matter if I with my weaknesse can make the others worth appeare the greater To come then to the matter It is commonly held and all men almost are of opinion that a Monarchy is the better For proving whereof there being two waies one Authority the other Reason in each of these there will not be wanting meanes sufficient to make it plaine In considering authority the first that present themselves are the holy Fathers S. Chrysostome Justin Athanasius Gyprian S. Hierome and finally S. Thomas in many places Secondly come Philosophers naturall and morall Plato Aristotle Senâ—…ca Plutarch Herodotus and finally amongst Poets Homer If we come to reasons there present themselves an infinite number and first if we consider profit we shall finde as S. Thomas saith that a more profitable government cannot be found then that of a Monarch seeing the profit welfare of that which is governed that is of Cities and Provinces consists in nothing but in conserving of unity which we call peace at which they who governe must chiefly aime and seeing there is no government so fit to preserve peace as that of a King we cannot choose but give it the name to be the better and the more profitable Because peace consists in nothing but unity which certainely is better had in one who is by himselfe one as a King is then in those that are many as Optimates are as we see 〈◊〉 thing which is hot of it selfe is a more efficient cause of heating then that which is but hot by accident the state of Optimates being never good but in as much as they who govern it approach by accidentall union to be one But laying profit aside and entring into consideration which of them is most naturall who sees not that a Monarchy is the most seeing nature governes and moves all the parts of our bodies by one onely which is the heart likewise the sensitive soule is governed by the rationall and Bees naturally are governed by one that is King and if Artificiall things be so much the better as they imitate nature and the Artificers worke be so much the perfecter as it holds similitude with nature then certainely must every one needs yeeld that in the multitude of governments that State is the best which is governed by one alone Againe if we looke upon experience we shall find that in a house there is but one Master in a flocke but one Shepheard and in the old Testament the Israelites were alwaies governed by one alone whether under Kings or under Judges But laying also this aside and comming to examine the power who sees not that a Monarchy is farre more potent then an Aristocracy considering that of the foure Empires and powers of the World that is the Assyrians the Persians the Grecians and the Romans onely one of them was under Optimates Then if we consider order where is it more found then in a Monarchy where every one is subject but he onely that rules the rest there being no order betweene equals but onely betweene superiour and inferiour If then we consider duration and stability this certainely is most found in the government of one alone seeing Omne Regnum in se divisum desolabitur and every one knowes that division fals out more easily in an Optimacy then in a Monarchy as experience hath made it manifest in the Monarchy of Ninus which continued without interruption a thousand two hundred and ninety yeeres If then we consider which is furthest off from discords we may take example in Rome which was never without discords but when it was under Kings But laying all these considerations aside it will be proofe enough of this assertion to consider the similitude that is betweene the government of God and that of a Monarch because as he rules all the World so a King rules all his subjects By these reasons it might be concluded that a Monarchy as being most profitable most naturall most potent most durable most orderly most free from discords and finally most like to the government of God should without comparison be better then a State of Optimates But seeing there are many difficulties in the question I hope I shall have leave to examine the truth of it a little better And where it may be
from hearing metaphors finding the meaning of him that useth them But because Tacitus in saying that his Annals have little pleasure in them Caeterum ut profutura it a minimum oblectationis afferunt shewes to be contrary to this any opinion It is therefore to be knowne that for as much as concernes the present there may two kinds of pleasure be taken from a thing one of the senses another of the understanding as we may say in Musicke there are two pleasures may be taken one from the goodnesse of the voyces that sing another from the goodnesse of the songs that are sing the first is taken by the sense of hearing whereof the sound is object the second is taken by the understanding which finding the Composers cuming in making of Descants and helping of discords takes great delight The first pleasure is common to all that have eares the second of such onely as understand it The like happens also in painting where one kind of pleasure is taken from the daintinesse of the colours and the beauty of the picture and another that is taken from the due placing of the parts and resemblance of the Muasbles and of this the pleasure is so much the greater in that it cannot be taken but by one of understanding who therefore takes delight in anothers cunning because by it be discovers his owne Thus when Tacitus saith that his Annals are little pleasing he meanes in the pleasure which is taken by the sense and this appeares plainely by the words he addes where giving the reason why other Histories are more pleasing then this he saith Nam situs Gentium varietates Praeliorum Clari Ducum exitus retinent ac redintegrant legentium animos This difference of pleasure Seneca expressed when he said that Virgill affords one kind of pleasure being read by a Humanist and another being read by a Philosopher I conclude then that Tacitus is an Authour exceeding pleasing specially to those who studying the Histories with understanding little care whether the Latin be as good as that of Caesar. It remaines to advertise the Reader of these my Discourses that finding Hebrew or Greeke Texts cited in Latin he may be pleased to conceive I did it to avoyd cumbring the Leaves with allegations seeing if they had been brought in the foresaid Tongues they must have been againe translated for their sakes that understand not those Tongues I should I know have done more conformable to custome if I had cited them in Italian rather then in Latin but this also I avoyded that I might not take away the force of sense which the words beare in that Language Lastly I will not stand to contest with those who have a custome to be alwaies blaming because he that shall deale so with these my weake Discourses will find himselfe much deceived in his opinion for wherein he thinks to differ from me he will directly agree with me seeing I have printed them to no other end but to make my selse known a servant of the Serenissimo the Grand Duke who out of his benigne nature will be pleased to accept that little which a servant is able to present unto him Withall I advertise that to blame a Book may be the work of understanding men but to blame the Authors of Books the work of none but malignant men That I leave to every mans liberty This I conceive he deserves not that is not conceited of his owne wisdome The Contents of the severall DISCOVRSES Discourse the first OF the divers forms of government that Rome had and how it happens that Cities for the most part have their beginnings under Kings rather then under any other forme of government p. 1 Discourse second How the City of Rome came from being governed by Kings to be a free State and the difference is betweene a beginning and a cause p. 8 Discourse third A Parallell between the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar and that of Lucius Brutus against Tarquin whereby we may see why the one brought in liberty and the other tyranny p. 21 Discourse fourth That the power of a few cannot consist in any number better then three p. 25 Discourse fifth Of what kind of discord the Authour intends to speake p. 28 Discourse sixth Whether an externall warre with the enemies of the faith be the best meanes to hinder discords among Christians p. 30 Discourse seventh What is the fittest time to proceed in discords with the enemies of the faith p. 45 Discourse eighth What discords conserve States and what corrupt them p. 60 Discourse ninth Of concordant discord and how it ought to be mannaged for the good of Cities p. 61 Discourse tenth How hard and dangerous a matter it is to write Histories when the easiest time is to finde writers and which of them deserve most credit p. 67 Discourse eleventh From whence flattery proceeds how many kinds there are of it and which of them is hurtfull to a City p. 81 Discourse twelfth What things holpe Augustus to the Empire and what meanes he used to maintaine it p. 91 Discourse thirteenth How Princes may get the peoples love how a private man ought to make use of the peoples favour and what part it hath in bestowing the Empire p. 99 Discourse fourteenth How the Donatives which are given to Souldiers are profitable to raise a man and to maintaine him in the Empire and when it is that Military discipline is corrupted by them p. 107 Discourse fifteenth How much it imports a Prince for getting the peoples love to maintaine plenty by what meanes scarcity happens and how it may be helpt and how a Prince may make use of it p. 113 Discourse sixteenth What kind of ease it is that Tacitus speakes of and how it may be reconciled with some places in other Authours p. 121 Discourse seventeenth That Cities subject to another City better like the government of a King than of a Commonwealth and that every City would gladly have their Lord to live amongst them p. 125 Discourse eighteenth What meanes a Prince may use with safety to set them in a way that are to succeed them in the government p. 137 Discourse nineteenth That old men are apt to be carried away by women and of what age a Prince should be p. 145 Discourse twentieth That to maintaine and suffer Magistrates to continue although without authority is a matter of great moment p. 155 Discourse twenty one That Tiberius was part good and part bad how it happened that he fell not into dangers as Nero did Whether it be good to be brought up in the Princes house and finally how their secret vices may be knowne p. 159 Discourse twenty two How much it imports a Prince to be chaste p. 168 Discourse twenty three How and when the government of women is odious p. 171 Discourse twenty foure That at one and the same time to make knowne the death of the Prince and the assumption of the successour is
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
Lucretia Now if this injury onely had beene the motive to Brutus certainly then as the injury came from a particular person so the revenge should rather have been taken upon that particular person then upon the power Regall and yet we see the contrary happened for Brutus in the oath which he caused his confederates to take made this one part not to suffer any to reigne not onely not the Tarquines but not any other person whatsoever Nec illos nec alium quemquam regnare Romae passurum A manifest argument that he had more desire to abrogate the regall Power then to vindicate the adultery So much more as the conspirators addressed themselves against the dignity rather then against the life of the offender The cause then of this alteration in the state of Rome was the Citizens spirits being grown to such perfection that they could no longer tolerate Kings and this no sooner then they were arrived at such perfection In signe whereof I consider amongst so many Kings as Rome had how onely Tully Ostillus the predecessor of Tarquinius superbus had the intention to make it a free state which certainly had taken effect if his death had not prevented it Ac tam moderatum Imperium tamen quia Vnius esset deponere eum in animo habuisse ni scelus liberandae patriae consilia agitanti interemisset Which because we cannot ascribe to the onely goodnesse of Tullus seeing Numa Pompilius a better man perhaps then he never had any such thought we must needs say that Numa seeing the Citizens unfit for a republicke set them in a way to that perfection to which arrived under Tullus It should be an easie matter for such Citizens to conserve that liberty which under a good Prince they had received And here experience shewes that which Aristotle speaking naturally knew well in matters politicke for assigning the cause why Power regall changeth oftentimes to a free State he alledgeth no other reason but the passing from imperfection to perfection saying thus Sed cum postea contingeret ut plures pari virtute reperirentur non amplius tolerarunt Regem sed commune quiddam quaerentes respublicas constituêre Moreover that the ordinances of Romulus had not been sufficient if with it there had not concurred a perfection in the Citizens will be easily conceived if we consider the case of Moses who was blamed by Jethro for ruling himselfe alone I doe not beleeve it was for that he did not judge well or for that he tooke too great paines but rather for that he shewed not to be more intentive to strengthen his owne power then to prepare for others the goodway of which this was the chiefe and first foundation Vt non aliter ratio constet quam si uni reddatur And therefore he appointed them a Senate which by their authority might serve to set the people in a way to know their owne good shewing them the way with which being once acquainted he might leave them afterward to walk in it of themselves in such sort that Moses no lesse then Romulus directed the Israelites the way to liberty but they never attaining to know the way as never comming I speake not in matters of Religion to that perfection to which the Romans attained as these could not endure Kings so those had no will to live in liberty for although they met with the same cause extrinsecall yet they had not the same cause intrinsecall which Moses well knew when perceiving his death to approach he made his prayer to God that he would provide them a leader to the end that as sheep not knowing the way if it be not shewed them by a shepheard they might be by him directed Provideat Dominus Deus spirituum omnis carnis hominem qui sit super multitudinem hanc ut possit exire intrare ante â—…os vel introducere ne sint sicut oves sine ductore And he that will more plainly see their imperfection let him confider that in the long absence of Moyses they never demanded any other leader there being none amongst them sit to governe them but onely desired that Aaron would make some Gods Facnobis Deos qui nos pracedant Whereupon for all the many beginnings the Israelites had from which they might have taken occasion to erect a Commonwealth yet they never did it because as causes be not sufficient if with them there concurre not beginnings so beginnings aâ—…e of no force if they come not accompanied with causes and causes availenot neither if they be not good The death of Caesar was a beginning from which a Common wealth might have been erected but because it was grounded upon a cause that was not politicall proceeding rather from the hatred and spleene against the Prince then upon any mature judgement or judicious counsaile it was not therefore sit to bring them to a be free State So when the Senatours killed Romulus they had by that a beginning of liberty but it hapning upon the same occasion as that of Caesar they hardly had so much braine to agree among themselves to choose a King So as when there concurre not causes beginnings oftentimes are left unpursued that I cannot but say if Lucretia had been â—…avished by Romulus yet Rome for all that had never gotten liberty It behooves therefore to take great heed when there be occasions first not to give the least cause of a beginning and therefore the Ifraâ—… being moved to demand a King upon a very great occasion namely their unfitnesse to suffer liberty they tooke for a beginning a most weake cause namely the old age of Samuel and yet for all he could doe in shewing them the burtheus of tyranny telling them as a Prophet that instead of a King they should have a tyrant he could never perswade them to leave demanding a King And therefore David after his great sinne knowing he had given the people great cause to rebell avoyded all occasions from which they might take never so weake a beginning and for this cause forbare to punish Joab though provoked to it by just indignation and left the revenge of it to his successor Whereupon we may beleeve that Tarquinius Superbus and his sonne shewed little discretion seeing so many worthy men desirous of liberty that they would give them occasion of beginning it The one by taking away all authority from the Senat and other and that more hainously by ravishing Lucretia considering that the insolency of the sonnes makes alwaies the Prince himselfe odious as Guicciardine relates of John Bentivoglio And hereof we have a like example in the holy Scripture of Hemor Hevaeus Prince of the Sichemites who lost his Kingdome thorough the ravishment his sonne Sichem committed upon Dyna the daughter of Jacob and Lea whereof the holy text in Genesis saith Egressa est autem Dyna filia Leae ut videret mulieres regionis illius quam cum vidisset Sichem filius Hemor Hevaei Princeps
in the Monarchy of Cain in so many other places that we must needs beleeve this number to beare a great sway in changes generally as by others before me hath been observed yet considering it as to my purpose it hath not perhaps by any been observed but now by my selfe that to the foresaid causes of the change of government in Rome this of the number of seven may also be added seeing after seven Kings as every one knowes it came to be a free state yet I meane not that numbers can enforce but onely incline as instruments of that Almighty God who Omnia posuit innumero pondere Mensura A Parallell between the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar and that of Lucius Brutus against Tarquin whereby we may see why the one brought in libertie the other tyranny The third Discourse HAving shewed Rome at last came to be a free state by meanes of the conspiracy of Lucius Brutus against the Tarquines I conceive it necessary to examine why the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar having been moved with the same intention yet wrought not the same effect and no better way to come to know it then by comparing them together Many things are wont to concurre in favour of an action whereof some are antecedents and give it as it were birth other are concomitant and give it nourishment others againe are subsequent and procure it strength The action of Brutus in killing Tarquin was aided by the three foresaid things to make Rome a free state First the ordinances of Romulus which tended rather to bring in liberty then to preserve a Monarchy then the aptnesse of the Cittizens who now grown fit of themselves to governe could no longer endure to be governed by others and lastly the insolency and proud tyranny of Tarquin so extreamely distastfull to all the Citizens Thus Romulus set them in a way the perfection of the Cittizens made them fit and the insolency of the Tarquines made them desirous Now if we looke upon the action of Marcus Brutus in killing Caesar we shall finde there were all the three causes too but because they were contrary they therefore brought forth a contrary effect The first was the domination of Cinna of Sylla of Pompey and of Marcus Crassus who set the City in a way and made it plyant to tolerate Monarchy The second was the imperfection of the Citizens which was growne so great that where Rome had sometimes been a City much honoured for vertue it was now become through evill custome most abhominable Thirdly there concurred the great clemency and goodnesse of Caesar with which he had gotten and tied unto him the hearts of the people so as instead of the ordinances of Romulus to set them in a way of liberty there praeceded here the waies of Marius and others to lead them into servitude In stead of perfection of the Citizens which made them fit to live a free people there concurred here imperfection which made them good for nothing but to live in bondage and where in the one there concurred the cruelty and Pride of the Tarquines to make them desire liberty in the other there concurred the affability and clemency of Caesar to make them content with servitude Now againe if we come to speake of the causes concomitant there were three things concurred in ayd of the conspiracy against the Tarquins First the ravishing of Lucretia sufficient of it selfe as a publique injury to cause a publique insurrection And therefore Virginius speaking against Appius Claudius who would have ravished his daughter said to the people with a purpose to set them in commotion Illis enim quoque filias sorores conjuges esse sed quo impunitior sit eo effraenatiorem fore aliena calamitate documentum datum illis cavendae similis injuriae Secondly the just indignation of Lucius Brutus against Tarquinius Thirdly his acquainting the people with his intention letting them know the causes that moved him and so they having a part in the conspiracy could not choose but approve it and having a part in the danger not choose but maintaine it Thus the adultery committed with Lucretia gave a color to the conspiracy the just indignation of Lucius Brutus set a glosse upon the Authour the communicating it to the people made them a party in the cause and facilitated the action Now in the fact of Marcus Brutus against Caesar there concurred the many favours and graces which the Prince had alwaies shewed to all the many benefits which Marcus Brutus had received the murder committed in the Senate without the peoples knowledge and where the ravishing of Lucretia gave a colour to the banishing of the Tarquins the favours of Caesar discovered the ill intention of the conspirators and where in the one the offence done to Lucius Brutus set a glosse of praise upon the authour in the other the benefits bestowed by Caesar set a blot of ignominy upon Marcus Brutus and made him hatefull to all the people and where the Commons being made partakers of the conspiracy against the Tarquins conceived it was done for the publicke good here the Commons knowing nothing of the matter conceaved it was done for private profit Lastly if we looke to the things subsequent we shall also in them finde great contrariety For after the death of the Tarquins first there followed an easing the people of taxations and a maintaining them in plenty to the end they might tast the benefit of liberty secondly they put to death those Noblemen that had been adherents to the Tarquines to the end they might be made sure for making innovation Thirdly they extinguished the whole race of the Tarquins to the end they might be out of feare of the States ever comming to any of them againe And thus they secured themselves from the people from the Nobility and from the blood Royall Now after the death of Caesar all things were cleane contrary First where in that case the benefit of liberty was made appeare to the people Here Antonius with a most eloquent Oration reading Caesars Will wherein he had given a great Donative to the people made them sensible how much more it would be for their profit to have a Prince Secondly where in that case the partakers were all put to death here they were all left living Thirdly where in that case there were Armies levied against the line of the Tarquines to the end they might never be able to recover the government here Armies were levied in ayd of Augustus to the end he might more easily make himselfe Prince Let no man therefore marvell if where the intention was equall yet the successe was not equall by reason of the difference and inequa lity of the accidents I have omitted in this discourse some other differences that were between these two conspiracies meaning to speake of them in another place Pompeii Crassique Potentia cito in Caesarem Lepidi atque Antonii arma in Augustum cessere
understood that Augustus in the dissentions of the Pompeians and the Caesareans of whom he was Head made himselfe protectour of the people that there were dissentions between them is seen by that he saith Cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa neque Caesareanis partibus nisi Caesar Dux reliquus and that he had made the people his friend is knowne by those words Et ad tuendam Plebem Tribunitio jure contentum The summe of all I have said is this If a stranger in a civill discord seeke to make himselfe Lord I meane by civill that which is between Cities and Persons that are under the same Dominion if he have intelligence with them either it is in the beginning and then he shall not stirre but rather be a meanes of concord especially betweene those that are naturally enemies betweene whom it behoves him to foment discords to the end that being weakned his way may be eafie or else assaulting them with Armes be sure to have in his Army one of the blood but yet without power although in another discourse I shall shew that this is a weaknesse or else it is when discords are inveterate and consequently the Citizens wasted then every thing is like well enough to succeed We have also shewed that a stranger who seekes to get the Dominion of Cities which are at warre under divers Lords ought to foment the discords if they be of equall power so farre as that they may come to be unequall and then to take part with the weaker yet no further then only that they may be able to resist their enemies alwaies being carefull that the ayd be not so great as to weaken him that gives it unlesse when without excessive ayd they cannot prosecute the warre and that there be danger least they fall into their enemies hands for then it behooves to make it his owne cause but all in such sort that he give no cause of suspition to his friends I have said also that it is no small skill to foment discords and that no man ought to make use of a great power for his interest in war but only in peace when he is not offorce sufficient to be able to send it away againe And as for those that lie between greater Princes that are at variance let them as Laurence de Medici did use meanes to make them friends Weake Cities in my opinion should never intricate themselves in any warre and where there are two that stand in feare of a third if they will follow my counsell they shall never lead forth all their Forces Now if he be a Citizen who in the discords of the City seekes to make himselfe Lord of it let him know it will be hard to compasse when the discord is between the Nobility and the people but in this case the best way is if he can to make himselfe Head of the Commons If againe the discord be between the people amongstthemselves it is then almost impossible but easie when it is between Nobles and Nobles especially if he be Head of a Faction and if not then to stand neutrall What Discords conserve States and what corrupt them The eighth Discourse THus then we see that of those three distinctions there is one proper for conserving the Prince that is the discord betweene the Nobility and the Commons as sufficiently hath been shewed Now the state of the Optimates to returne to our purpose is easily preserved so long as there growes no discord between Nobles and Nobles because as we have said before the dissentions of the Nobility rest upon two Heads whereof the one soone prevailing over the other brings it within his power to make himselfe sole Lord so much the rather because in a State of Optimates there is alwaies discord between the Nobility and the Commons and so much that the people ill brooking the Senat will rather be willing to have a King We must therefore know that in a State of Optimates as the dissension betweene Nobles and Nobles is very hurtfull so that betweene the Nobility and the people is very profitable and greatly fortifies and upholds it so long as there concurre not with it discord between the Nobles The reason is because the people being at variance with the Nobles it will be a cause that they standing united will not incurre the danger before spoken of Thus we see the Romans after the expulsion of the Tarquins continued easily in their government because in that time there was perpetuall discord between the Nobility and the People In which discords when the people came to be oppressed the Nobles fell into Factions and then the City in a few yeeres came to be a Monarchy Of concordant discord and how it ought to be mannaged for the good of Cities The ninth Discourse THere is nothing more profitable for the concord and good government of a City then a discord between the parts a City being a body composed of many parts as our body is of 〈◊〉 foure Elements And as in this if it be well Organized in such sort that all the foure Elements be in a due proportion there will then need no discord to maintaine it there being none that seekes its own destruction and therefore it sweetly enjoyes a quiet rest so in a City there will be no unquietnesse if all the parts be equall I meane not equall simply for it were not fit that all in a City should be equall in dignity and riches being necessary some should be rich and some poore but equall in such manner as it is in the body whose good consists in this that all the members be equall for there are two kinds of good as saith S. Thomas one the good of the whole and the other of the parts and likewise two natures one universall the other particular the good of the whole consists in the entirity and in the distinction of the parts and therefore it is better for a man to have a Head Feet Hands and the other members then that all should be Head but the good of the part should be more good and perfect if it could attaine to the degree and perfection of the superiour part and therefore the Foot should be more Noble if it were a Head but the body should not be more perfect if it wanted a Foot so in a City it is sit there should be Plebeians and the equality that is required ought to be Geometricall and not Arithmeticall and where this is a City shall not need dissension to make it be well governed but because as Galen in his Method speaking of bodies that are in health simpliciter and absolutely saith This symmetry of humours consisting In Puncto is very hardly found and found impossible to be kept as also Hippocrates speaketh of those bodies that are in the height of healthfulnesse Neque enim in melius verti neque diu sistere valent reliquum est ut in deterius dilabantur so also a City is
difficulty and this perhaps Livy meanes when speaking of such Writers he saith Etsi non flectere à vero solicitum tamen efficere possunt And Polybius to give the greater authority to his History labours to shew that the story of the first warre of the Romans with the Carthagenians written by Fabius Pictor a Roman and by Philo a Carthagenian was by those Authours each of them in favour of his owne Country stuffed with lies And indeed it is not unlike but they might vary from the truth and yet out of no corrupt affection but that each of them writ as he believed though not as it was seeing things to which men are affected seem alwaies in the good greater and lesse in the evill according to that rule of Aristotle Intus existens prohibet Extraneum and therefore to an eye looking through a greene Glasse every thing seemes greene So to the palate offended with choler every thing tasts bitter and therefore David made his prayer to God to keep him as the Apple of his eye Custodi me Domine ut pupillam oculi which as it hath in it no colour and therefore sees things as they are so he desired to be without affections that he might know the truth of things Whereuppon it appeares we may conclude that they who write of their owne times and have not the vertue of the apple of the eye may easily vary from the truth not onely by malice but sometimes also by ignorance it being impossible that a man should be an eye-witnesse of all he writes and should be present at all Actions and Counsels in such manner as not to need the information of others and even those who are present at any action do seldome all of them agree in the relation On the other side it appeares there is more credit to be given to an Historian that writes of his owne time and of those things at which he hath himselfe been present then to others seeing they are forced to stand to that which is left them by the ancients either written in History or preserved in memory as Plutarch well observes And because it is seldome but there is more then one Writer of the same History and for him that will relate them he must necessarily make use of those who have formerly given the information it is an easie matter in such a number of writings for an Historian to be confounded and be able but as a blind man to give advertisement of things whereof he is himselfe to be advertised Besides those first writings or memories of which this Historian makes use they also may have been written out of affection Lastly there are not wanting reasons to prove that he who writes a History of his own time though he have them but by relation is the more worthy of credit because in such the difficulties that are found in the others are abated seeing by not having been present and had no part in the actions they relate they are also voyd of those affections which make Historians speake lesse truth and by writing of their owne time they are not tied to stand to the bookes of others who never agree with one another And therefore the holy fathers from this difficulty have drawne an Argument to prove the truth of the Gospell because four Writers agree in all points Neither by this example is my opinion abated but rather strengthned it being necessary that to make foure men write agreeingly in all things there must be one onely to instruct them all which is the Holy Ghost But neither is this kind of Historians without difficulty rather as I conceive in greater then any other as partaking himselfe alone of all those difficulties which we in the two first observed because although he be not present at the things yet he is present at the time and this hath force to stirre affection even in those that are not neere the time as every one finds by experience in himselfe Secondly he who gives the information may be moved by some passion himselfe and then he will the lesse care for writing a lie when he hath his intent and the blame anothers Thirdly if he take more then one to give him information he will fall into the same difficulties as he that writes Histories of the times past seeing it is seldome seene that two agree in their relation and oftentimes one alone is contrary to himselfe And thus there is difficulty we see in all manner of times and of Writers whether they write of the time past or of their own times and whether they write by relation from others or as eye-witnesses themselves For resolution we may conclude that more credit is to be given to those things which are related by Historians that have beene eye-witnesses of things done in their own time so long as the Writers be honest men Whereupon we give more credit to the Histories of Argentone relating accidents at which he was himselfe present then we doe to Jovius who writ by relation from others when himselfe perhaps was all the while at his Bishopricke Yet I say not that Jovius is not worthy of credit seeing it is not my profession to lay blame upon any This Argentone hath made us know this difference while enterlacing the Histories of Lewis the eleventh with those of England he useth much cunning to make us beleeve him as one that was not present at the things done and therefore for the most part names the persons who gave him information that from the greatnesse and credit of his informers he might winne credit to his owne writings And this was the very case of S. Luke who writing in his Gospell the life of our Saviour because he had not himselfe been present therefore to procure himselfe credit at his very beginning he saith he had it by relation from persons that were present Sicut tradiderunt nobis qui ab initio ipsi viderunt ministri fuerunt sermonis but when he was to write the Acts of the Apostles at which he had been present then without making any Promise or Proaeme he begins with saying Primum quidem sermonem feci de omnibus O Theophile and this for no other cause but because he knew how much a History hath more credit when things are written by one that hath seen them It is no marvell then that S. John for gayning himselfe credit saith Ego vidi testimonium perhibui quia hic est filius Dei And therefore it was Gods will that the Apostles should beare witnesse of him Et vos testificamini de me quoniam ab initio mecum estis And S. Peter in the Acts when he would perswade the resurrection of Christ to be believed saith Qui simul edimus bibimus cum illo Whereupon S. Chrysostome considering why S. John names himselfe where he saith Sequebatur autem Petrus alius Discipulus gives the reason in these words Et sui meminisse coactus est ut
intelligas ea caeteris diligentius quae in Principis aula facta sunt enarrare utpote quia aderat As for the objection made before it is plainly cleered if the Writer be an honest man For in a good Historian there are two things required an ability and a will and one of these parts he that writes of things himselfe hath seen hath certaine in him more then others which is that he is more able to write the truth then any other and as for the will to doe it it cannot be wanting in him if he be honest and if he be not honest then no doubt another that writes of times past may be worthy of more credit then he Donec gliscente Adulatione deterrerentur From whence flattery proceeds how many kinds there are of it and which of them is hurtfull to a City The eleventh Discourse COncerning flattery there have been discourses morally written by infinite writers and in such manner that they have given cause rather to admire them then left any place to adde any thing unto them I therefore as I use to do will handle it as a Politician briefly and yet perhaps in such a way as hath not beene done by any Shewing first that Princes themselves are the cause of flatterers Secondly how many kinds of flatterers there are Thirdly in what the essence of flattery consists And lastly which of them are hurtfull to Cities Concerning the first it is in common experience that flatterers are the ruine of Princes and yet it is easie to shew that Princes are themselves the forgers of this their ruine because if they were furnished with vertue and goodnesse flatterers could find no matter in them to worke upon and so either there would be no flattery at all or at least not hurtfull And therefore those wise virgins who stood waiting for the Bridegroome by night having Oyle for themselves which in the Scripture is often taken for praise Oleum 〈◊〉 nomen tuum as Lyranus interprets it they needed not procure from others the Oyle of flattery Et Oleum peccatoris non impinguet caput meum so as Princes themselves being the cause of flattery and not the Subjects all the fault of it ought to be laid upon them Whereupon it is no marvell that in the Acts while Herod making an oration to the people was flattered of them calling his voyce the voyce of a God suddenly an Angell stroke him and he was eaten up of wormes Statuto autem die Herodes indutus vestitu Regio sedens super Tribunal concionabatur ad Illos populus autem clamabat vox Dei statim autem illum percussit Angelus Domini what fault was it in Herod that the people applauded him calling his voyce the voyce of God and yet he was stroken and not the People We may say then that our Lord God by this example would shew that Princes themselves are more cause of the peoples flattery then the subjects are which as a Penne writes such things as he that moves it drawes of which it is but the instrument and no efficient cause Before I come to the other two heads that is how many kinds of flattery there are and which of them be hurtfull to a City I am forced to premise a little doctrine of which I shall have use in the explication of the one and the other We must therefore know that flattery is a morall action one of its contraries being friendship which is a morall vertue and because contraries as witnesseth the Philosopher are all under the same genus as white and blacke under colour therefore flattery also must be under the genus of morall actions of which there are many so bad that nothing can make them good as adultery and such like This opinion was held by the master of the sentences by the authority of S. Austin where he saith Bonum est continentia malum est luxuria inter utrumque indifferens ambulare capitis naribusque purgamenta projicere sputis rheumata jacere hoc nec bonum nec malum est sive enim feceris sive non feceris nec justitiam habebis nec injustitiam Thirdly an action may in his owne nature be good yet so as by meanes it may become bad as to fast to pray to sacrifice and the like Qui enim de rapina Deo sacrificium offerunt saith S. Austin idem facit ac si filium in conspectu patris victimet Lastly an action may be given which of its owne nature is bad and yet by some other cause may become good Murther is a wicked thing yet Elias in killing the false Prophets did a good worke and shewed himselfe zealous of the honour of God Those actions then which are subject to alteration may receive it from three things first from the object a carnall act performed with a wife is good but if with another mans wife is wicked Secondly from the circumstance the Sacrifice which Saul made because it wanted the due circumstances was not accepted of God Thirdly it may receive this alteration from the end that is from the intention but because the end may comprehend under it both the object and the circumstances therefore we must know that it may be considered three waies First as it is an object that terminates the act and then it is called an intrinsecall end Secondly as it happens to some act as a circumstance Thirdly as it is in nature of a cause and then it is called Cujus gratia when therefore we say that an action may receive goodnesse or badnesse from the end we meane it the third way The action in which flattery consists is such as may receive alteration from the intention or from the object or from the circumstances What action of its owne nature more adulatory then to feigne ones selfe crook-backt with one that is crook-backt as Platos schollers did or to stammer with one that is stammering as Aristotles did or to fiegne himselfe wry-neckt with one that is so as the Courtiers of Alexander the great did or to feigne ones selfe poore blind with one that is poore blind as the flatterers of Dionysius did It is indeed the greatest kind of flattery as Plutarch accounts it that can be and yet these and the like actions Saint Paul did as he writes himselfe with the Jewes he feigned himselfe a Jew with those that are weake to be weake and in short with all he feigned himselfe all Et factus sum Judaeis tanquam Judaeus ut Judaeos lucrare iis qui sub lege sunt quasi sub lege essem cum ipse non essem sub lege ut eos qui sub lege erant lucrifacerem iis qui sine lege erant tanquam sine lege essem cum sine lege Dei non essem sed in lege essem Christi ut lucrifacerem eos qui sine lege erant factus sum infirmus infirmis ut infirmos lucrifacerem omnibus omnis factus sum ut omnes facerem
mediocrity of knowledge not for his owne practice but onely to enable him to taste the pleasure from them that doe practise them Sunt enim quaedam e liberalibus scientiis saith Aristotle quas usque ad aliquid discere honestum sit penitus vero sese illis tradere atque usque ad extremum 〈◊〉 velle valde noxium est Philip King of Macedon hearing his sonne Alexander play excellent well on an instrument reproved him saying It is a shame for a Prince to play so well it is onely fit for him to be able to take delight when he heares them doe it that make it their profession And seeing this delight cannot be taken without being intelligent of the Art therefore this censure of Phillip seems not much different from my opinion that a Prince if it be possible should know all Arts and Sciences but not practise them Nerva composed verses and finding it a profession not fit for a Prince he gave it over Sed cohibet vires saith Martial speaking of him ingeniumque pudor Seeing then Nero was vertuous and excellent in these kinds of Arts and Sciences in which it is not for a Prince to be too conversant we may justly say that he was vitious in vertues a thing which 〈◊〉 happens to those that are too greedy of getting knowledge Whereupon Tacitus commended Agricola that he could bridle this greedinesse Retinuitque quod est 〈◊〉 ex sapientia modum For this desire to know more then is fit is neither Politically nor Morally nor Theologically good Quemadmodum omnium 〈◊〉 saith Seneca sic literarum etiam intemperantia laboramus And S. Paul Noli sapere plusquam sapere oportet sed sapere ad sobrietatem That which Tacitus cals To hold a meane in studies Seneca cals to be temperate and S. Paul to be sober It comes into my mind now that we are in this di gression to give another reason why Tiberius maintained himselfe in the Empire and Nero perished in it and it is that Nero scorned fame and Tiberius much esteemed it And if a Divine should object that the contemning of fame in this world is a necessary vertue in all good men I would answor as it is true that to contemne worldly fame is one of the best things a Christian can doe so it is one of the worst things a Heathen or a wicked man can doe because there will be no vice or villany which he will not dare to doe if he regard not fame as was seene in Nero who not regarding fame left no wickednesse unattempted But to returne to our purpose and principall intent which is to shew the meaning of that place in Tacitus upon which we have undertaken to discourse I say that many from that text make it a rule that one who hath been brought up in the Princes house should not be made Prince because of Tacitus his saying Hunc primum ab infantia 〈◊〉 in domo Regnatrice and their reason is because in such places he learnes to be proud and insolent First I doe not thinke that Tacitus mislikes a successour should be brought up in the Princes House neither that he makes it a cause of pride absolutely because not onely it is commendable but in a manner necessary that Princes should be brought in their Houses to whom they are to succeed seeing that though a Prince be of the same state and of the same blood Royall which ought to succeed in the Crowne yet if he should be brought up any where but in his owne house it would be cause enough to make him odious to all his subjects And therefore Tacitus saith of Vonone that although he were of the blood Royall of the Parthians yet because he had beene brought up in Rome his subjects would not endure him Quamvis Gentis Arsacidarunt ut externum aspernabantur They therefore deceive themselves who favouring either brothers or sons of the great Turk have a hope to settle them in the Ottomane Empire for though they be of the blood Royall yet they will alwaies be accounted strangers and thereupon rejected Whereof continually we have heard and seene examples no other good having ever come of it but that it hath shewed the Christian piety of those Princes who in zeale to God have given shelter to such persons Secondly he being commonly of an intolerable carriage who from a servant comes to be a master as well because he passeth from one extreme to another as because to be a servant abaseth the spirit as was seen in Tigranes of whom Tacitus saith that he therefore lost his Kingdome Cum advenit Tigranes a Nerone ad capessendum Imperium dilectus Cappadocum ex Nobilitate Regis Archelai nepos sed quod diu obses apud urbem fuerat usque ad servilem patientiam dimissus neque consensu acceptus And therefore our Lord God would not that his Captaine and Leader of the Israelites Moyses should be as others were a servant to Pharao but would have him bred and brought up in the Kings house and for this it was that the Parthians expelled Vonone Si mancipium Caesaris tot per annos servitutem perpessum Parthis Imperitet Thirdly because being in some part raised above equality as they are who live in Princes houses they are with lesse envy of the subjects taken to be their Prince Whereupon Servius although as some thinke he was the sonne of a bondwoman yet because he had been brought up in the Princes house he was accepted for King The Lacedemonians also when they wanted a King they tooke Laconicus onely because he had been brought up in the Kings house Fourthly because in such places there is no doubt but they may better learne how to governe and be set in a way of managing affaires and therefore Dion in the life of Adrian would have a speciall regard to be had of this in choosing a Prince and our Lord God meaning to fit David for being a King made him in Sauls life time to goe to live in the Kings Pallace to the end he might learne the customes of a King and be made to know the degree before he tooke it where if suddenly upon Sauls sinne he had been made King he should have come unknown to all the people It is not therefore to be found fault withall that he who is to rule others should be brought up in his house that rules neither in my opinion had Tacitus any such meaning or to say better he whose words Tacitus reports For they doe not simply and absolutely finde fault with Tiberius his education in Augustus his house neither yet that he had so great dignities and honours conferd upon him for these did rather prepare him to governe well then to make him proud but the fault they find is this that in his youth and whilst he lived in the Princes house he was raised to so many and to such a number of Offices The fault therefore was not that he was brought up
he held him alwaies about himselfe in great honour and all succeeded exceeding well And in case all these courses seeme to be difficult either thorough the undanted spirit of him that was Lord before or by reason of the extraordinary affection the people beare him in this case the best course is to send them into banishment for some long time as the Pope did in Bolognia But to returne to our purpose Tiberius not without cause stood in feare of Agrippa which is plainely to be seen by this that not onely Agrippa but one onely servant forging and taken upon him his name was like to have raised no small insurrection in the people and Senatours of Rome and because Tiberius could not put this Agrippa to death without incurring an exceeding blot of cruelty he therefore had recourse to that remedy so much used by Princes which was to feigne that Augustus had commanded it So also did the Emperour Adrian who would have it beleeved that all the murthers he committed were done by his predecessours command which not onely abates the hatred and name of being cruell but converts it also into piety as done for executing the will of the dead And yet in this there would be no blame if such murthers were committed out of zeale of justice out of which zeale David being willing that Joab should be punished for two murthers and Semei for the injury he had done him to take away the hatred that for this might fall upon Salomon he commanded him at the time of his death to doe it to the end that he afterward putting it in execution might seem rather as in this indeed he was a just King and a pious executour of the will of his deceased father then a cruell Prince But because Ludovico Moro taking to him that state which belonged not to him by meanes of his Nephews death hath much resemblance to Tiberius I am willing to shew it a little more cleerely by a Parallell Augustus being dead Tiberius succeeded in the Empire and caused Agrippa Posthumus to be put to death to whom the succession of right belonged Ludovico Moro succeeded in the Dutchy of Milan and caused as it is beleeved John Galeozzo the true heire to whom that Dutchy of right belonged to be put to death Tiberius doubted that because Augustus was gone to visit Agrippa he would appoint him to be Emperour Ludovico Moro feared that because Charles the eighth was gone to visit John Galeozzo he would make him Duke of Milan Tiberius would have it beleeved that he was elected by the Senate and not through the wickednesse and plots of his mother Livia Ludovico Moro would have it beleeved that he was made Duke of Milan by the people for the good of the state and not through his owne villanies Tiberius made a shew as though he were unwilling to take upon him the Empire Moro also dissembled the like In one onely thing they differed that to the one it proved safety to the other ruine and it is that where Tiberius as soone as he came to the Empire he presently put Agrippa to death Ludovico stayed so long from putting his nephew to death that he was forced for putting it in execution to call in the King of France to his manifest and utter ruine A Parallell betweene Tiberius and Salomon The six and twentieth Discourse SEeing in these Discourses and particularly in the next before we have spoken of Tiberius and brought also many examples of Salomon I have thought it no unfit curiosity to compare them together Tiberius was borne of Livia who was taken by Augustus from Nero. Salomon was borne of Bersabee who was taken by David from Vrias Bersabee was with child although by David when he tooke her to wife Livia also was with child when she went to be married to Augustus Augustus had many neere of kinne to whom to leave the Empire as Agrippa for one David had his sonne Adoniah to whom by right of age as being the elder the Kingdome belonged Finally Augustus growne old at the suit of Livia appointed Tiberius to be his heire and David growne old at the perswasions of Bersabee ordained Salomon to succeed him Salomon being come to the Crown killed Adoniah to whom the right of it belonged Tiberius being come to the Empire caused Agrippa to be put to death who was rightfull heire of the Empire Both the one and the other governed with great judgement in the beginning but at last Salomon loosing Bersabee and Tiberius Livia both the one and the other plunged themselves into all kinds of lustfulnesse Whereupon there rebelled against Tiberius Sejanus the deerest servant he had and against Salomon Jeroboam the most inward friend he had Tiberius used to speake darkly Salomon also used the like speaking as may be seen by his Parables and Proverbs Nuntianti Centurioni ut mos Militiae factum esse quod imperasset neque imperasse sese rationem facti reddendam apud Senatum respondit Quod postquam Sallustius Crispus particeps Secretorum is ad Tribunum miserat codicillos comperit metuens ne reus subderetur juxta periculoso ficta seuvera promeret monuit Liviam ne arcana domus c. That it is a dangerous thing to obey Princes in services of cruelty and tyranny The seven and twentieth Discourse SAllust had taken order and provided all due means for putting Agrippa Posthumus to death by the commandement of Tiberius but he desirous to shew he had no hand in the fact denied to the Centurion who was the executioner of it that it was done by any command of his saying that for what he had done he must give account not to him but to the Senat. Which Sallust seeing and doubting least the mischiefe might fall upon his head Veritus as Justin saith speaking in the person of Arpagus in the like case 〈◊〉 infantis necati ultionem quam a patre non potuisset a ministro exigeret he began to counsell Livia Ne arcana Domus ne consilia amicorū ministeria militum vulgarentur The conceit of Tiberius was good that he would have as I imagine the Centurion goe to the Senate to tell them he had executed the Commandement of Augustus about the death of Agrippa but yet that of Sallust likes me better because there is no likelihood it would ever be beleeved that Augustus appointed the death of a Nephew for security of a son in law seeing as he could get nothing by it so he might loose much because the Prince shewing he cared not to have his death known there is no doubt but men would talke of it with more boldnesse from which talke there oftentimes grow ill affections against the Prince whereas if Tiberius had passed it as he did in silence it would not have come to many mens eares they that would have heard it would have kept it secret as knowing how dangerous a thing it is to discover talk of that which Princes would have
contrary to the first and I doubt is at this day more used then is fit and it is to give eare and heare what every one sayes and to take any mans counsell that will give it which thing be it spoken with others leave seemes to me not onely to be subject to confusion but also to contempt because every one will then pretend to counsell the Prince who hearing continually such diversity of opinions must needs be confounded in himselfe and despised of others whereupon in the Histories of Tacitus when it was debated to send Embassadours to Vespatian Elvidius Priscus was of mind that men of great wisedome and judgement should be sent who might helpe the Prince with good advises but Marcellus Epirius was of another mind as knowing it to be a most distastefull thing to give a Prince counsell without being required Whereupon although Plato commend Cyrus for giving leave to any of his subjects to speake his opinion in any thing that was to be done yet to me it seemes a thing dangerous for him that gives it and more for him that takes it And therefore Claudius hearkning once to counsell in this manner was confounded not knowing what he should doe turning himselfe sometimes to one mans counsell and sometimes to anothers Ipse modo huc modo illuc ut quemque suadentium audierat and at last finding his errour he called a counsell A Prince therefore in my opinion ought alwaies to have about him him a Band of experienced men In quibus sit veritas qui oderint avaritiam by truth is meant wisdome which according to the Philosopher is nothing else but a knowledge of the truth and by covetousnesse are understood all vices because as the Scripture saith Avaritia est Principium omnium malorum if then they have wisedome they will be able to give counsell and if they be free from vice they will give it but yet I hold it not fit that at their owne pleasure without being called by the Prince they should fall a counselling which perhaps Sallust knowing was the cause he durst not give Tiberius counsell about the death of Agrippa Sed monuit Liviam ne arcana domus consilia amicorum ministeria militum vulgarentur an arrogancy not sufferable in a servant to presume to give his master counsell without being called And who knowes but this presumption in Sallust might be the cause of his fall seeing he was out of the Princes favour before he died as Tacitus relates Amasias being reproved by the Prophet answered Nunquid Consiliarius regis es by which it appeares that those Kings used not to be counselled but by their Counsellours But if it be arrogancy in a servant to give counsell not being asked it as is much indiscretion in a Prince not to aske it This is that I would have Princes to doe have alwaies about them a Band of choice counsellours to aske their advice in all his affaires so did Nerva so Salomon teacheth to doe when in his Proverbs he saith Gloria regum est investigare sermonem that is a Prince ought not to stand expecting he should be counselled but rather it is fit he should go and seek after counsell After a Prince hath heard the opinions of his counsellours it may be doubted whether he ought to deliver his owne opinion and when and in what manner he should doe it As farre as I can judge I thinke it not fit he should deliver his owne either first or last or in the midst For if he doe it first all the rest will presently consent and if he doe it last every one will come about to his opinion as it happened to Henry the third who as Historians relate deliberating about the death of the Duke of Guise called foure to counsell of whom when two had spoken their opinions the King had scarcely heard them out when he delivered his owne cleane contrary to theirs whereupon the two that were to speake after presently fell to be of the Kings opinion and the two that had spoken before retracting their former advice consented to that the King had determined which determination was the ruine afterwards of France and of the King himselfe So in Spaine when it was deliberated about making peace betweene Henry the fourth King of France and the King of Spaine after Il Moro had spoken and the Kings sonne being present replied the contrary all the rest came presently to be of his opinion Whereupon not without great judgement Cneius Piso in Tacitus when Tiberius would deliver his opinion in a certaine cause said Quo loco censebis Câ—…esar si post omnes vereor ne imprudens dissentiam si primus habebo quod sequar Therefore Tiberius another time commanded Drusus that he should be the first to deliver his opinion The Prince therefore should be silent and finding his Counsellours of different opinions let them debate the matter betweene themselves that he may see who gives the best reasons so he shall avoyd contempt by not suffering himselfe to be counselled without asking it and he shall not be flattered if concealing his owne opinion the truth is made manifest by lâ—…tting them debate it betweene themselves and lastly he shall shew himselfe more learned and more wise then the other if of himselfe without any others direction intervening he shall determine the matter All these things in my opinion are comprised in that place of Ecclesiasticus Audi tacens simul quâ—…rens how can he be still that askes and heares but onely as I have explained it to aske counsell in all things to heare counsels and in hearing them to be silent and after of himselfe to determine as reason adviseth In this regard the ancient Poets feigned that Jupiter tooke counsell to be his wife meaning to shew that it is necessary for Princes to be counselled and after that his wife being great with child he swallowed her up and became himselfe great with child in his head and at the due time was delivered of Pallas which is wisdome to shew that counsell would be ruminated in the mind and that a Prince ought not to suffer his counsellours to be delivered themselves but ought by swallowing them up to make that to be his owne issue which was anothers That a Prince ought to determine of himselfe and ought not to determine of himselfe that is determine with counsell is the best of those that are given him and so not of himselfe seeing the counsels are other mens and yet of himselfe seeing the determination proceeds from his owne judgement I conceive it is sufficiently expressed in the booke of the Kings where Salomon saith Dabis ergo servo tuo cor dooile having said before Da mihi sapientiam For explanation of which passage we must know that understanding can have no knowledge of things but such as either it invents of it selfe or learnes of others To the finding them of it selfe is required a sharpnesse of wit and being
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
of the whole Country and then by possessing goods there they will take occasion after the victory to make themselves the Lords or else not conquering the whole Country the contrary part will still be growing and then they not to loose the reward given them will either proceed slowly in the warre or else turne to that side that hath the better This Guicciardine attributes to Prospero and Fabritius Colonna who having beene rewarded by the King of France with Dukedomes and Castles in the Kingdome of Naples when they saw the Aragonesian side get the better they went and tooke pay of Ferdinand Therefore Princes shall do well to reward them in other states where they have not warred and where their reputation is not in Fame and thus I have knowne it many times done in our time Also they shall doe well not to put them into choller although faulty perhaps in other things so long as it is not in matters essentiall and proper to their places So did David with Ioab bearing with many Insolencies and murthers committed by him to the end he should not fall into choller and make Insurrection Concerning the suspition which the Prince may shew to have of a Generall and which is wont to be followed with rebellion It will be an easie matter to remedy that if the Prince will not fall to suspect for trifles which is the quality of base persons as Isocrates intimates in his Euagoras or else if suspecting him he conceale his suspition till hee remove him from the Army So did Domitian with Agricola So did Tiberius with Germanicus who removing him out of Germany sent him into Africk with Cueius Piso. And this the Queene Teuca in Polybius not observing was cause that Demetrius her Generall in Slavonia understanding that the Queene was by his Adversaries incenst against him and fearing her Indignation he sent to Rome to deliver into their hands the Citie the Army and all he had under his charge The third cause alledged before was the pride and reputation which victory brings with it for remedy whereof in particular and of the rest in generall there have beene advertisements given by many in divers manners The first way is for a Prince to goe himselfe in person and for a Common-wealth to send thither their Principall Magistrate so the Turke in times past hath used to doe to goe himselfe in person So the Common-wealth of Rome used to doe sending forth the Consul or Dictatour But in truth in this way the Remedy seemes to mee more dangerous then the evill because if the Prince goe himselfe in person hee must be sure to have alwayes the victory for otherwise if hee loose hee will either bee slaine or taken prisoner If â—…aine as was Charles of Burgundie what hinders but the victour may enter upon the State at least make spoyle of it If taken prisoner as was Francis King of France and Syphax King of Numidia I see not but his State will bee as much in danger and therefore of this mans State it was easie for Massinissa to get possession and for the other his Repuration and state and life were all Endangered We may then conclude that this way of encountring disorders is a dangerous way A second way is every yeere to change the Generall as the Ancient Romans used to doe and as at this day the Common-wealth of Venice in their Maritime Navy useth to doe But yet in this way also there may infinite disorders happen First if the Army chance to mutinie which is commonly the Correlative of an Army In this case a man new come not beloved not feared will be little fit to appease such tumults Secondly they that make warre in this manner are like to doe but little good because the Souldiers can have no confidence in such a one and it is the confidence in their Captaine that for the most part is the cause of victory For confirmation whereof wee may see in Livie that the same Army which under other Captaines was alwayes beaten when it came to be commanded by Furius Camillus had alway victory and this by reason of the great confidence the Souldiers had in him Thirdly there appeares another danger not inferiour to any and it is that when a Generall knowes he shall be changed at the yearâ—…s end either hee will not with any great heat begin that which he knowes he cannot finish or else beginning it and impatient that another should bee companion of his victory he will rashly and precipitantly hazard both the Army and himselfe which hath beene the cause that the Romans have lost whole Armyes as it happened at Trebia against Hanniball where Cornelius the then Consul to the end hee might have all the glory himselfe unadvisedly stroke battaile with Hanniball and was with much danger to the common-wealth utterly defeated of whom Livie saith Stimulabat tempus propinquum Comitiorum ne in novos Consules differretur O occasio in se unum vertendae gloriae But granting this Captaine should have made a good beginning and have prepared a faire way for victory yet certainely when he heares a successour is to come though he praecipitate not himselfe as Cornelius did at least he will doe all he can to hinder that another shall not rcape the benefit of his labours or otherwise will not stick to make any shamefull Peace as Marcus Attilius did who having beaten the Carthaginians by Sea and land and upon the point of obtaining a Compleate victory yet when hee heard another Consull was to come into Africk to the end the fruit of his labours should not be reaped by him he presently fell to a Treaâ—…ie of peace So Scipio one time by occasion of Tiberius Claudius another time of Cneius Cornelius precipitated the victory with making peace Ferunt postea saith Livie Scipionem dixisse Tiberii Claudii primum Cupiditatem deinde Cnei Cornelii fuisse in mora quo minus idbellum exitio Carthaginis finiretur There bee some that have hindred their successours from victory by overthiowing of purpose all that themselves had well begun such a one was Quintus Metellus who having very neere subdued Spaine when hee heard that Pompey the Consull was to come in his place he disbanded al his Souldiers gave all his provision of victualls to the Elephants and broke up the Army So also in Numidia hearing that Marius was to come his successour he endevour'd all he could to marre the Enterprise Others againe although their predecessours have done nothing to hinder them but have endeavoured to leave them the victory in a manner prepared yet to the end all should be attributed to themselves have refused to make use of the wayes and courses their predecessours had used Whereupon our Lord Christ when he would doe the Miracle of wine he rather made use of water a thing already created then of any new matter whereof Saint Chrysostome saith It was a manifest argument that he who made wine of water was
the same God who had made water of nothing Nam si ipsi Deo contrarius Opifex fuisset non utique alienis usus esset Christus ad propriae virtutis demonstrationem And Saint Ambrose speaking of the first miracle which Christ did on the Sabboth saith Et bene Sabbatho coepit ut ipsum se ostenderet Creatorem qui Opera Operibus intexeret prosequeretur Opus quod ipse jam coeperat And thus when a Generall is changed the Instruments also and all other things are changed with him and therefore Cneius Pompeius being sent Successor to Lucullus in Asia altered all that Lucullus had done for not only it is the nature of men that succeeding another in any office they will seldome follow their predecessours courses but in this case there is another reason for it also to the end It may not be thought that getting the victory they get it more by their Predecessours carriage then by their owne and therefore no mervaile that Drusus tooke contrary courses in Germany to those which Germanicus before him had begun I conclude then These Generalls to whom a successour is sent are either needy of glory or else they have gotten glory enough If they be needy they will then precipitate the Army and themselves to get it as Cornelius did with Hanniball at Trebia if they have glory enough already they will then endevour to make a Peace that they may not hazard their Reputation with a successour as Corbulo did when hee heard of one that was to come in his place Corbulo meritae per tot annos gloriae non ultra periculum faceret But there are two oppositions may in this place be made which I cannot omit I ought not to shun The first is that the Romans changed their Generalls every yeere and yet they alwayes got the victory as in the first Decad of Livie may be seene The second that the Venetians men of so great valour and prudence that they may serve for an example to all the world have alwayes taken this course and alwayes it hath succeeded well To these reasons it is no hard matter to give an answer And first for that of the Romans it may be said that this happened thorough the weaknesse of their neighbouring Nations with whom they had war Secondly and perhaps better that although in the Roman Army they sent yeerely a New Consull yet there were many others in the Army who had beene Generalls themselves before a thing which at this day is not possible seeing every one thinks scorne to goe a private Souldier not onely if he have beene a Generall but if he have been but onely a simple Corporall before Thirdly the warres they had then were at the gates of Rome were such warres as were finished I say not in one yeere but oftentimes in one day But when they came to have warres farre off and that lasted long they then suffered their Generalls to continue many yeeres and grow old in their places From hence it was that at one and the same time having warre with Hanniball in Italy and with Asdrubal in Spaine they very often changed their Generalls in Italy but Cneius Pompeius that was their Generall in Spaine they never stird So as when they had to doe against Powerfull Armies in places far off they were then forced to send a Scipio Africanus or a Caesar or some such as knowing how much it importeth the maine of the warre to have one sole commander As to the Particular of Venice It is no mervaile that they in their Fleets at Sea doe every yeere change their Generalls seeing the warre and the Generalls Office end both at once because actions at Sea are begun and ended all at one time but when they make warre by land they change not then their Generalls every yeere as in Histories may be seene Lastly in the Common-wealth of Venice one reason there is and in Rome there was which makes the matter the lesse dangerous and it is because that Common-wealth hath so many in Sea matters so expert and excellent that they might easily change their Generall eveâ—y day without any danger which I cannot say ever happened to any other then to the Common-wealth of Rome and to that of Venice and the reason is because in these Common-wealths men of valour are rewarded A third way to secure a Prince from his Generalls of Armies is to send Persons of trust of his own blood as Tiberius did in sending Drusus and Germanicus but neither doth this course like me First because Princes have not alwayes of their blood that are fit to be Generalls Secondly although they have yet it seemes to me so much the more dangerous as the Army is in a mans hand of more Power and specially one not far from the Crowne and for this cause Ludouicus Sforza chose rather to leave the Castle of Milan in the custodie of a stranger who afterward betrayed it then of his owne brother And it availes not to say he is a neere kinseman seeing as I have else-where said Jnvidia Regni etiam inter Domesticos infida omnia facit there being few qui malint expectare quam accipere Imperium And therefore Jsocrates in his Oration concerning the Government of a Kingdome saith that a Prince should bestow the highest Honours upon those of his blood but the solidest Honours upon those that love him When Vespasian was made Emperour his Son Domitian had the honour but Mucianus the Authority Caesar Domitianus Praeturam cepit ejus Nomen Episrolis Edictisque praeponebatur Vis penes Mucianum by all meanes there was care taken to order it so that hee might not usurpe the Empire The like course Otho took Profecto Brixellum Othone honor Imperii penes Titianum fratrem Vis ac Potestas penes Proculum Praefectum If afterward it succeeded well with Tiberius It was because Vterque filius legiones obtinebat A fourth way is when a Generall hath gotten Reputation by some victory then presently to remove him before hee grow too famous and use him in the warres no more So did Pharao by Moses when imploying him against the King of Aethiopia he no sooner got the victory in a battaile but he presently called him backe into Aegypt So did Anthony with his Captaine Ventidius after he had overcome Pacorus So did the King of Spaine in calling home Gonsalvus But neither doth this course like me for either the victory will make an end of the warre and then there will be no need of calling him home and yet the Prince not without danger seeing one victory alone if it be finall will be sufficient to get the Generall a Name and make him presume And if that one victory end not the warre the Prince then that takes this course will have little will to proceed any further for the reasons before alleadged and if by ill luck Fortune should chance to turne he will be forced with shame and danger to
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
another sense in the Hebrew is rendred in Latin Lucem vultus mei non abiiciebant that is they despised not my mirth So as Feare is so necessary that Domitian although terrible to the Senat as governing with feare yet after his death he was wished for againe of all men seeing with that feare he kept his owne officers in awe whereupon it happens sometimes to bee worse for a Prince with too much mildnesse to make himselfe be loved and therefore the Kingdome of France under Charles the simple and Charles the grosse was as an Authour writes most miserable on the contrary at the end of Francis the first it was a flourishing Kingdome although they were milde and he a sharpe and terrible King afterward againe in the time of Henry his sonne a most gentle Prince the treasury was all wasted Pertinax and Heliogabalus with their mildnesse had brought the Empire almost to ruine when afterward Severus Africanus and Alexander Severus raised it up againe with incomparable Severity It is not therefore enough for a Prince to be loved but hee must be feared also Concerning the second point which is that feare alone is pernicious to a Prince is easily proved first from that place in Genesis where Noe with his sonnes going out of the Arke our Lord God said unto him Tremor Timor vester sit super cuncta Animalia terrae as though he would say you must make your selves be feared of beasts not of men And therefore Moyses comming downe from the Mount with a horny splendour and finding that it made his face strike the people into feare he covered it with a vaile whereby he shewes plainely that a Prince ought not to make himselfe onely to befeared This also our Lord Christ shewes who amongst the first precepts he gave his Apostles gave this for one that they should carry no Rod with them where S. Ambrose well observes that a Prince ought to governe more with love then feare And in another place he saith David Rex cum omnibus aequabatsuam militiam fortis in praelio mansuetus in Imperio Ideo non cecidit quia charus fuit 〈◊〉 diligi a subjectis quam timeri maluit Timor enim temporalis tutaminis servat excubias nescit diuturnitatis custodiam And therefore it is said in the Psalme Memento Domine David omnis mansuetudinis ejus Whereupon S. Bernard upon those words of the Canticles Dilectus meus mihi ego illi qui pascitur inter Lilia amongst those Lillies where the Spouse feedeth reckons gentlenesse and love by which he reigned Specie tua saith the Prophet pulchritudine tua intende prosperè procede Regna Therefore love alone is not good because it causeth contempt and feare alone is not good because it begets hatred This the Ancients meant to signifie by the Fable of Jupiter who at the Frogs desire to have a King gave them a Blocke and he not stirring the Frogs despised him whereupon Jupiter changed their King and gave them a Storke but he eating them up they hated him more then they despised the other by this they meant to shew that a King should not be so gentle to have more of the blocke then of the man nor yet so severe as to resemble a beast in sucking the blood of his Cittizens A Prince therefore ought to joyne the one with the other which how easie and necessary it is may easily be knowne if we distinguish feare into two kinds one a feare which is but a reverence as a filiall feare is whereof the holy Text in Job saith Vir rectus timens Deum The other a feare which is a terrour and this is that feare which Adam had when he heard the voyce of our Lord God Adam ubies and he answering said Vocem â—…uam Domine audivi abscondime timui quia nudus essem Secondly we must distinguish of men that some are perfect and some unperfect which is common also to all Cities whether great or small I say then that if the men be imperfect it is fit to make them feare not the filiall but the servile feare and therefore Esay saith Sola vexatio tantum dabit intellectum auditui and Jeremy Per omne flagellum dolorem erudieris Hierusalem And Salomon in his Proverbs saith In labiis sapientis invenitur sapientia virga in Dorso ejus qui indiget corde by the Rod is meant feare and by Ejus qui indiget corde are meant the wicked who are said to be without heart as Osee the Prophet saith Factus est Ephraim quasi Columba seducta non habens cor With these men therefore it is fit to use a Rod of Iron to make them feare being the onely meanes to returne the heart into its place The Ninivites had removed their hearts out of their proper places and our Lord God with his Rod Ad quadraginta dies Ninive subvertetur brought them againe into their right places Because as Aristotle in his Physicks saith Every thing that is made proceeds from its like but every thing that is borne from its contrary Quodlibernon non fit a quolibit sed a suo contrario So to beget love where it is not we must not use Love but its contrary which is feare and as in Generation the Contrary departs when the thing is generated so when Love is once generated the feare departs whereupon Saint Bernard and Saint Austin Compare feare to the Needle and love to the Thread because the Needle brings in the threed and having brought it in departs away A Prince therefore ought to make himselfe be feared even with Servile feare by the wicked It remaines to shew how a Prince ought to carry himselfe towards men that are good and perfect but having shewed before that love alone begets contempt and feare hatred it is fit he make himselfe be loved and feared both at one time but not with that servile Feare which for the most part is cause of Rebellions as was seene at the time when our Lord God appeared to the Jsraelites upon the Mount which begetting in them a great feare there followed a Rebellion but with that fâ—…are which is a vertue For knowing of which feare it is to be knowne that feare may have two objects the one is some terrible mischiefe the other is the Person who hath power to doe the mischiefe as Saint Thomas saith and because our purpose is not in this place to speake of the first object but onely of the second as speaking of a Prince I say that he may be considered in as much as he hath power to hurt or in as much as he hath will to hurt if we consider him in as much as he hath will to hurt in this manner he ought not to make himselfe be feared but leave the subjects to feare him of themselves So our Lord God would be feared and not be feared So Saint Paul to the Philippians saith Cum metu tremore vestram
many Diverse sounds make but one sound of which order Saint Chrisostome in admiration saith Et est videre mirabilem rem in multis unum in uno multa And then if they will consider the unaptnesse it hath to Discords let him take the City of Venice for an example which for many ages together hath never had any And it availes not to say that where many are they may be at ods betweene themselves but one cannot be at oddes with himselfe for I answer with Aristotle Quod studiosi viri sunt omnes ut Ille unus And the Example of Rome is of no force because when the Discord entred betweene the Nobility and the People It was not then an Optimacy but a mixt Estate and by reason of the predominating Element might be called a Popular state and if ever it were an Optimacy it was in the beginning in which they lived in exceeding great concord untill the state came to be corrupted rnd here we must advertise that when we compare a Monarchie with an Optimacy wee compare them in their perfection and not in their corruption because it is of the Essence of an Optimacy that all in it should be good men for else we should dispuâ—…e Aequivocally But to let many other things passe who knowes not that a City will be better governed by Optimates then by a Monarch seeing the most virtuous Governes best and a King being but one virtuous and the Optimates many vertuous seeing many know more then one although that one in some thing may exceed those many as Aristotle excellently shewes in his Politicks yet if you grant that the Optimates be all vertuous men you must withall grant that they are able to governe better then any King whatsoever and the rather because a King deserves then most praise when he is governed himselfe by good counsellours and consequently in as much as he is ruled by many in the manner of Optimates So our Lord God appointed Moses that he should rule by the counsell of Iethro And this me thinkes might serve to make men capable that an Optimacie is better then a Monarchie yet there is a further Reason For not onely an Optimacy may Governe betâ—…er as being more vertuous but as being more then a King who not being able himselfe alone to governe all the state Solus illud non poteris sustinere he must of necessity commit it to officers and who knowes not 〈◊〉 how much more love and Iustice the people are governed by the Lords themselves being vertuous then under a King by officers that are strangers they governing their owne and these another mans and therefore Aristotle speaking against Plato saith that Propriety a thing being ones ownâ—… is a speciall cause of love and makes the greater care be taken of it Nam de propriis maxime Curant homines and if men as he shewes use little diligence in things that are common they will use much lesse in things that are neither common nor proper as we see it daily though it be but a homely instance that a husband-man will till land better that is his owne possession then that which he is hired to till as in that regarding his owne particular profit in this the Common in the one the present onely in the other the present and the future both And if it be answered that a King may have good officers I say that when we grant the government of a King to be good wee 〈◊〉 that he be good himselfe but it followes not that a good King must necessarily have good Officers seeing it is not a thing essentiall to him and though we should grant it to be essentiall yet it is not constituent but onely consequent though I rather thinke it is neither one nor other but for the present let it it be as it will This is most certaine that in Optimacy for all to be good is both essentiall and constituent for otherwise as I have said we shall but labour in Aequivocals Also secrecy gives an Optimacy right to be preferred before a Monarchy for proofe whereof the example of onely the Venetians may suffice who as Guicciardine relates have alwaies kept their counsels secret a thing which Princes cannot doe who being to consult with persons not interressed in the affaires that are handled can never be sure but that they may reveale them And though none of these reasons were sufficient to winne perswasion to this opinion yet this certainly must needs be sufficient to shew how much the government of God is more like to an Optimacy then to a Monarchy and this will be easily shewed because our Lord God operates Immediatione virtutis and is in all things Iâ—…diatione suppositi to which kind of operating and being the Optimates approach neerer then the Monarch who must of necessity make use of Officers as not able being but one to be himselfe in all places whereby it often happens that a State is more governed by the Officers vertue then by the vertue of the Prince But the Optimates being many may all together doe that of themselves which a Prince doth together with officers and may governe the State by their owne vertue and consequently operate Immediatione virtutis yet I meane it in the manner that a second cause can operate knowing well not onely in Theologicall verity but also in Philosophicall doctrine that all vertue proceeds from Heaven as Aristotle in his Meteors teacheth us where he saith Oportet hunc mundâ—…m inferiorem superioribuâ—… lationibus esse contiguum and therefore in a certaine manner the government of Optimates is more like to that of God And it availes not to say that our Lord God is but one alone that governes the whole world because in him is one Essence indeed one Will one Soule one Intellect onely but then in three Persons really distinct in three Suppositi in three Hypostases in three Substances as substance is distinct from Accidents which are In alio tanquam in subjecto And finally in three Subsistences as subsistence signifies Essentiam per se subsistentem which three Persons doe in such sort governe the universe that although the workes of Creation be attributed to the Father the workes of Wisedome to the Sonne the workes of Love and Grace to the Holy Ghost yet all the three concurre equally in all workes ad extra which are common to them all The Universall therefore is governed by three Persons with one will alone and the Divine Unity is an unity of end in plurality of Persons such as we have shewed the unity of Optimates to be And this is that unity which our Lord Christ desires should be in us as being like his owne as he sheweth in S. John where he saith Pater Sancte serva eos in nomine tuo speaking to his Father quos dedistâ—… mihi 〈◊〉 sint unus sieuti nos And a little after Non pro eis rogo tantum sed pro eis
be taken The six and fortieth 〈◊〉 Germanicus returning from collecting the taxes found the Legions in mutiny demanding that the veteran souldiers might have leave to go home and to have their pay increased and also to have the Legacy left them by Augustus and he to quiet them yeelded to many of their demands for which he was by many much blamed as in the vvords here alleaged appeares By occasion vvhereof vve purpose to examine vvhat courses are fit to be taken vvhen Armies are in Rebellion I say then that all mutinies and insurrections require not one kinde of Remedy but according to the divers times in vvhich they happen to the divers occasions upon vvhich they happen and lastly to the di vers Captaines under vvhom they happen a divers remedy is to be applied For if the Generall be a man of vvhom the Army stands in avve he may expose himselfe to any danger vvithout any danger and have all things succeed vvell The Macedonians in Afia being quite tired with the War and far from their Counâ—…ry fell to mutiny under Alexander Magnus standing upon the like termes as they in Germany did where Cicatrices ex vulneribus verberum notas exprobrant so here Omnes fimul missionem postulare coeperunt deformia or a cicatricibus canitiemque capitum ostentantes whereupon Alexander calling the souldiers together to hear him speak no sooner ended his speech but he thrust into the midst of those infuriated beasts and caused the most insolent of them to be taken and not a man of them durst offer to make resistance Defiluit deinde saith Quintus Curtius frendens de Tribunali in medium armatorum agmen se immifit notatos quoque qui ferocissime oblocuti erant fingulos manu corripuit nec ausos repugnare tredecim asservandos custodibus corporis tradidit quis crederet saevam paulo ante concionem obtorpuisse subito metu cum ad supplicium videret trahi nihil ausos graviora quam caeteros And thus this brave Resolution in a Generall of whom they stood in fear sufficed to pacifie this great insurrection But if a Captain be onely loved and not feared let him never put himselfe upon such adventure or thinke in such sort to cyment the matter for it will undoubtedly be his death whereupon we see that Germanicus though he exposed himselfe to no danger yet was not far from losing his life as by reading Tacitus we may perceive And the reason of this difference is because as Choller overcomes Love so Fear overcomes Choller which as Aristotle saith being with hope of Revenge as far as is possible that Hope is taken away by Fear and in the place of it enters Sorrow as Avicen excellently shews in his Book De Anima And for this cause also it happens that more Armies mutiny under Captaines that are loved than under Captaines that are feared as was seen in the Army of Alexander the Great and in that of Annibal Captaines that were feared the contrary in the Army of 〈◊〉 and in that of Scipio Captaines that were loved It is very clear that Germanicus was never able to take any of these violent Resolutions yet I commend not the course he took to pacifie the mutiny of his Army by yeelding to them in so many things because being suspected of the Prince any course had been fitter for him than this by which he corrupted military discipline and by giving of his own he as it were bought the Army and therefore where Tiberius heard in what manner he had pacified them it troubled him not a little Nuntiata ea Tiberium laetitia curaque adfecere gaudebat oppressam seditionem sed quod largiendis pecuniis missione festinata favorem militum quaesivisset bellica quoque gloria Germanici augebatur And so much more as there wanted not other wayes to have appeased the sedition and the first way for him being so well beloved had been that which in matters of love is of such force and that is by making them jealous he would leave them and go to some other Army shewing how little he regarded this mutinous Army and in truth if any notice might have been taken of such conditionall propositions I verily thinke the sedition by it selfe only would have bin appeasâ—…d and there are two things that move me to thinke so One the Example of Alexander the Great who in a mutiny making shew as though he regarded not his Macedon souldiers by taking Persians for the Guard of his Body and doing them other Honours all the Macedonians prostrated themselves and in most humble manner sued unto him whereof Quintus Curtius saith Postquam vero cognitum est Perses ducatus datos barbaros in varios ordines distributos atque Macedonica iis imposita nomina se vero ignominiose penitus rejectos esse non jam amplius conceptum animis dolorem perferre potuerunt sed concursu in Regiam facto interiori duntaxat retenta tunica arma ante januam poenitentiae signum projecerunt ac prae foribus stantes intromitti se sibique ignosci suppliciter atque flentes orabant utque Rex suppliciis suis potius saturet se quam contumeliis ipsos nisi venia impetrata non discessuros See here the fruit of jealousie The second thing that makes me beleeve this way would have succeeded well with Germanicus is the Example we have in the very mutiny it selfe of the same Army wherein when the granting them so many things would not yet pacifie the sedition then Germanicus not to this end but to set them out of danger was sending away his Wife and Children to be out of the reach of this tumultuous Army which the souldiers perceiving and thereupon growing jealous that any other strange people should keep their Captaines Wife safer than Roman Legions to the end he should not send her away they presently grew quiet Sed nihil aequè flexit saith Tacitus quam invidia in Treueros orant obsistunt rediret maneret pars Agrippinae occursantes plurimi ad Germanicum regressi And if the departing of his Wife onely could prevail so much what jealousie would they have had at the departing of their beloved Captain certainly without making them any other promises this alone would have pacified the sedition and in case this jealousie alone had not been sufficient he might then have gone to the other Army and sent messengers to let them know that if they delivered not up into his hands the heads of the Rebellion he would come and cut them in pieces good and bad a thing which without doubt would have done much good as was seen when at last he was forced to use such termes with his souldiers under Caeciua At Germanicus quanquam contracto exercitu parata in defectores ultione dandum adhuc spatium ratus si recenti exemplo 〈◊〉 ipsi consulerent praemittit literas ad Caecinam venire se valida manu ac ni supplicium in malos praesumant
usurum promiscua caede This once heard by the souldiers they presently cut them all in pieces that were guilty of the mutiny and if this way yet would not have been sufficient seeing this tumult was grown out of idlenesse and he was not willing to use violence he might have taken the other Army and put himselfe in the way to go against the Enemy this course Caesar took who when the Army in France rebelled he took one Legion which he specially favoured with him and gave leave to the mutinous Legions to go home to Rome which once seen there vvas not a souldier that left not presently his mutinying follovved him a most easie vvay for if any thing hinder an Army that is in mutiny I mean not out of hatred from pacifying and appeasing it is a fear they have to be punished vvhich fear ceaseth as soon as they are taken to go against the Enemy every one hoping by some notable deed to cancell the blot of their Rebellion and therefore as soon as those first Legions vvere quieted they presently demanded to be led against the Enemy Puniret noxios ignosceret lapsis duceret in hostem Whereupon we see that after such mutinies Armies commonly shew more valour than at any time before as Livie shews in a thousand places and this Germanicus knew full well who after the slaughter the souldiers of Caecina had committed led them presently out against the Enemy Truces etiam tum animos cupido involat â—…undi in hostem piaculum furoris nec aliter posse placari Commilitonum manes quasi si pectoribus impiis honesta vulnera accepissent sequitur ardorem militum Caesar. And further if Germanicus were not willing to depart from the Army being in mutiny yet the mutiny having beene caused by a sudden motion he needed not have beene so hasty to seeke the appeasing of so new a mutiny but might have given the Souldiers deliberation and then reason taking place hee might without doubt have quieted them at his pleasure Our Lord Christ in a parable would not have the tares to be rooted out with the corne as long as it was in blade and greene but appointed to stay till they were dry and then dividing them cast the tares into the fire so should he doe with Armies that are in mutiny that seekes to preserve them and not to destroy them all He had another excellent way and most worthy for a Generall to follow and it was to threaten that whosoever did not follow him should be counted a Rebell and as a Rebell should be proceeded against a way of exceeding great force and especially in tumults where there is not a head and where they are all equally stub borne and every one feares for himselfe as was seene in Saul who being declared King was yet not followed but onely of some few whereupon an occasion falling out for relieving the Citie of Jah to the end the whole Army should follow him he caused two Oxen to be cut in pieces and be spread about all the borders of Israell threatning that whosoever did not follow him should have all his heards of cattell cut in pieces as those Oxen were Quicunque non exierit secutus fuerit Saul Samuel sic fiet bobus ejus and where the Israelites before would not all follow him now out of feare of the particular punishment there was not a man that did not follow him Invasit ergo it followes in the holy Text Timor Domini populum egressi sunt quasâ—… vir unus Now that it had beene easie for Germanicus by taking this course to have quieted the tumult is very evident seeing Menius onely by this course brought one of those Legions to returne backe into their Quarters where finding a particular punishment was designed where before they had a purpose to kill him now every one readily was content to follow him Raptum vexillum ad ripam fi quis agmine discessit pro desertore fore clamitans reduxit in Hyberna turbidos nihil ausos Germanicus also might have used another excellent way and it is he should have caused some trusty Centurion or Souldier to declare to this mutinous multitude the danger into which they were fallen and the errour they had committed for such people commonly give credit to men of such ranke as was seene in Iulius Arufpex who shewing to the people of Germany the danger they should incurre by rebelling against the Romans he easily quieted them though he had Iulius Valentinus that opposed him At Iulius Aruspex 〈◊〉 primoribus Remorum vim Romanam pacisque bona dissertans sumi bellum etiam ab ignavis strenuissimi cujusque periculo geri jamque super caput Legiones sapientissimum quemque reverentia fideque juniores periculo ac metu continuit Valentini animum laudabant confilium 〈◊〉 sequebantur So Cerealis also speaking to the Treviri after that manner appeased them as by the processe of that Oration he makes in Tacitus may be seene The very same manner Drusus used with the Legions of Illyricum imploying one Clement a Centurion in grace with the Souldiers for his meanes to pacifie that sedition Accitur Centurio Clemens 〈◊〉 qui alii bonis artibus grati in vulgus in Vigiliis stationibus custodiis portarum se inserunt spem offerunt metum intendunt And that this way would have beene available also to Germanicus is evident seeing Caecina making use hereof with two of those Legions he so wrought them that they spared not to punish the chiefe of the sedition Another way also he might have used and that was to have pretended himself their Captain in the Sedition or if not himselfe which in many respects was not fit for Germanicus at least to have caused some other principall man to feigne himself to be of their opinion and all other remedies fayling I suppose this might have stood Germanicus in great stead because men commonly give great credit to their counsels who are interessed in the matter as beleeving they speak sincerely For this cause David caused his trusty friend Chusci the Arachite to feigne himselfe of Absaloms side to the end he might hinder the counsell of Achitophel and it happily succeeded So Gamaliel standing amongst the Priests was a meanes to save Peters life Spurinna being in Placentia for defence of that Citie and seeing the Souldiers bent to fight with the Vitellians who farre exceeded them in number and in all advantages 〈◊〉 himselfe to be of their opinion seeing them in such a tumult and thereupon leading them forth hee easily made them see their errour and perceive the danger and shewing them good reasons he reduced them to obedience Fit 〈◊〉 alienae comes Spurinna primo coactus mox velle 〈◊〉 quo 〈◊〉 authoritatis inesset confiliis si seditio mitesceret And a little after Ipse postremo Spurinna non tam culpam exprobrans quam ratione ostendens relictis exploratoribus caeteros Placentiam
Officers interpret alwayes too largely the power given them to inflict punishments so they should interpret too narrowly the power given them to bestow benefits whereupon he thought it not enough to say Nolite nocere terrae mari and therefore added neque arboribus so also in Esay our Lord God commanded that the Israelites should be humbled by the King of the Assyrians and he intended to destroy them God commanded him to tread upon them and he went about to put them all to the sword This therefore is an ordinary thing with Officers to restrain favours and inlarge punishment which growes upon this because as building their fortunes upon the Princes treasure and honours they thinke every thing lost to themselves which is given to another and therefore alwayes interpret favours narrowly and punishments largely as well to second the Prince in his anger and make him the more gracious to themselves as taking to heart the wrongs that are offered him as also to make the delinquents faults seem greater than they are to the end the Prince seeing them so cruell to them that so perfidiously had vvronged him may take notice hovv faithfull they are in his service and hovv much they resent his injuries Iunctoque Ponte tramittit duodecim millia E legionibus sex viginti socias cohortes octo Equitum Alas quarum 〈◊〉 seditione intemerata modestia suit Whether an Army be apter to rebell that consists of one Nation onely or that which consists of many The nine and fortieth Discourse BY occasion of auxiliary Souldiers vvhich for any thing can be gathered from the forealleaged vvords of Tacitus stood alvvayes quiet and kept themselves in good order vvhen the Roman Legions oftentimes sell into seditions Iam dravvn to think that Armies composed of divers Nations are lesse apt to be mutinous than those which are all of one Nation having a manifest Example thereof in the Army of Hannibal which being composed of an infinite number of Nations differing in Language in customes in Religion yet they never mutinyed nor rebelled although they had a thousand times occasion by the many wants they suffered which Livy wondred at saying Quippe qui cum in hostium terra per annos tredeâ—… jam procul à domo varia fortuna bellum gereret exercitu non suo civili sed mixto ex colluvione omnium gentium quibus non lex non mos non lingua communis alius habitus alia vestis alia arma alii ritus alia sacra alii prope dii essent ita quodam uno vinculo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut nulla nec inter ipsos nec adversus ducem seditio 〈◊〉 The reason of this is because being of divers language they do not so easily accord and if one part should happen to mutiny it is easie to oppose it with another which either through emulation or some other cause can seldom times be brought to agree together besides it happens because if one of those Nations chance to mutiny and abandon the Army yet the Army will not be much weakened by it as a thousand times hath been seen in Flanders in the King of Spaines Armies and other places When Hannibal meant to passe into Italy the Carpetani forsook him and he making shew he had given them leave made no matter of it and his Army was not thereby vveakened vvhere if his Army had consisted of one Nation he had never been able to passe into Italy And this Ludovico Il Moro found against whom vvhen his Army rebelled vvhich consisted all of Swisâ—…ers he vvas forced to 〈◊〉 his state and be taken prisoner But if by ill fortune an Army consistâ—… of divers Nations happen to mutiny as it is hard to happen so if it happen it is impossible to appease it of vvhich the Carthaginians had a notable experience vvhen having an Army of that sort they vvanted not much of loosing their whole state and Carthage it selfe The reason is because there cannot be speeches made to the whole Army when it consists of divers Languages as there might be if it consisted but of one An Army then if onely one Nation is more apt to mutiny but is withall more easie to be quieted an Army of divers Nations is lesse apt to mutiny but if it mutiny is impossible to be quieted moreover it is to be known that as such Armies seldom grow tumultuous against their Commanders so amongst themselves there grow tumults often and of these cases Histories are full their being alwayes discord where there are divers Nations Rebeâ—…ca being great with childe by Isaak and having in her wombe Jacób and Esau she felt a great striving of these two sonnes which put her to much pain whereof complaining to our Lord God he answered 〈◊〉 gentes sunt in utero tuo duo populi ex ventre tuo 〈◊〉 as though he would say Marvell not if they strive together seeing they are two divers Nations which thou hast in thy body Alia Tiberio morum via sed populum per tot annos molliter habitum nondum audebat ad duriora vertere That to passe from one extreme to another is dangerous and how it happens that suâ—…cessours commonly take courses differing from their predecessours The fiftieth Discourse TO passe from one extreme to another without comming to the middle not only is dangerous but in many things is held impossible as in motion in such manner that some Divines deny that Angels can move from one extreme to another without passing by the middle so as Hippocrates with good reason in his book of Aphorismes mislikes the passing from a surfet to a diet and yet a surfet is bad a diet good but the passing from a surfet to a diet is most dangerous whereof Aristotle in one of his Problemes brings Dionâ—…sius the Tyrant for an Example who in the siege of his City forbearing to eat and drinke as he was wont by this passing from Intemperance to Temperance he fell into a Leprosie What is worse than a corrupt Common-wealth What better than a regall Government yet he that hath gone about to passe from the one to the other as it were at one jumpe either it hath not been succesfull or it hath not been durable whereupon we see that Musicians will not make a passage from a Discord as a seventh to a perfect Concord as a fifth without passing first to a sixth and when they mean to make good a second they go to a third and not to an eighth By 〈◊〉 degrees the Common-wealth of Rome came to a 〈◊〉 all power for from a Democracy it passed to an Oligarchy from that to the Government of One and this One not willing to make that jumpe contented himselfe to be called Dictator for if he had been called King he had run a manifest hazard as was plainly seen when Antonius would have put a Crown upon his head and indeed Cicero said that Anthonies tongue calling him King was more the occasion of Caesars death than
quaestus Adulationes miscebant Secondly because it is more easie to content the part oppressed then the part advanced as every one knows and thus much for this Simul Segestes ipse ingens visu memoria bonae societatis impavidus verba ejus in hunc modum fuere What course is to be used in demanding Peace and when is the fit time The one and fiftieth Discourse SEgestes boldly and without any feare being brought before Germanicus with great confidence delivers his Speech though it might bee doubted he had a hand in the death of Varro and of the three Legions that were with him and because this place of Tacitus containes in it many Arguments of Discourse I will first examine when it is a fit time for men to seek friendship with their Enemies and in what manner they ought to excuse themselves and though I may seeme to goe astray from this place of Tacitus yet I will not omit to explain the words it containes that we may see why Segestes speaking of himselfe spake with great boldnesse and comming afterward to speake of his sonne with great humblenesse craves pardon Pro Iuventa errore filii veniam precor Wherein wee may see how men that desire to cleare themselves of any thing laid to their charge ought to treat for procuring of Amity Such men therefore either they have committed some fault or they have not if they have committed any fault either they were at first friends and afterwards are become enemies or else they have been alwayes enemies If they have beene alwayes enemies either they have beene Principalls or but Adhaerents Beginning then with the last if these enemies that desire to become friends were onely Adhaerents they may then doe it by abandoning their friends in danger without any cause given them but then withall they must doe it with much blushing or else will never be accepted Seeing hee becomes for ever odious to the world whosoever is stained with such a blot as was seene in Bernardino Corte of Pavia who being left by Ludovico Moro to keep the Castle of Milan rendered it up to Lewis the twelfth and finding himselfe afterward blamed for it of the French themselves he died with griefe I cannot forbeare to relate an example of hatred that is borne to Traytors which Guicciardine reports in the person of Burbon whom the King of Spaine imployed to require a Captaine to deliver up his Pallace to the King of Spaine who answered he could not deny the King but that assoone as Burbon was gone out of it he would set it on fire as a place infected and unworthy to be inhabited by men of honour It is true that this answer in my opinion contained under it another mysterie which I cannot now examine as being out of my roade and therefore will leave it for the Reader to consider it of himselfe This at least is a cleare case that Traytours are odious even to those in whose favour they have done the Treason whereof many reasons may be given And first a reason taken from the danger they incurre who keepe such fellows about them and are like to do as much to them as they have done to others seeing a man that is growne infamous cannot do better then to make a gaine of his infamy as the Lawgiver said speaking of Harlots Secondly because Obligation is a heavy burthen which men willingly disburthen themselves of assoone as they finde any little colour likely to doe it A Prince therefore being obliged to one for becomming a Traytour for his service payes him willingly with becomming ungratefull for his reward and thinks the hatred that is borne to Traytors is colour enough for it A third reason may be taken from the pleasure men seeme to take in overcomming rather by Force than by Fraud and therefore oftentimes they kill the Traytors So the Sabines did to the daughter of Spurius Tarpeius who had opened to them the Castle of Rome Seu ut vi capta Arx videretur So the Romans taking the Fortresse of Tarentum by the treason of the Brutii put them all to the sword Brutii quoque multi interfecti seu per errorem seu vetere in eos infito odio seu ad proditionis famam ut vi potius atque armis captum Tarentum videretur Fourthly they are so odious that they are alwayes in danger in regard of the Example for if Princes should make much of them and hold them in any account they should give an Example to encourage others to doe the like to themselves This reason Livy also alleadgeth in the fore-said case of the Sabines Seu prodendi Exempli causa ne quid usquam fidum proditori esset Lastly Segestes saith of such Nam proditores etiam iis quos anteponunt invisos and in truth these reasons are so cleare that I should marvell there could be any Traytours if it were not for the force which particulars have to darken an understanding that is cleare in universals Secondly this may happen for some ill usage from them to whom he adheres and in such case he may speak without blushing but yet he ought not to staine his honest parting with taking reward And so much Indibile did when passing with his Souldiers from the Carthagenians to the service of Scipio he rather excused himselfe for abandoning his friends then expected thanks for the ayde he brought Whereof Livy saith Propiorque excusanti tranfitionem ut necessariam quam glroianti eam velut primam occafionem raptam Saire enim transfugae nomen execrabile veteribus 〈◊〉 novis suspectum esse neque enim se reprehendere morem hominum fi tam anceps odium causa non nomenfaciat Meriâ—…a deinde sua in Duces Carthaginenses memoraâ—…it avaritiam contra corum superbiamque omnis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in se atque populares Itaque corpus duntaxat suum ad id tempus apud eos fuisse animum jampridem ibi esse ubi jus ac fâ—… crederet coli se id Scipionem orarâ—… ut tranfitio â—…bi nec fraudi apud eum nec honori fit Likewise segestes in his speech to Germanicus amongst other principall things he saith this is one that he had not left his friends to get reward Neque ob praemium sed ut me perfidia exolvam but because knowing Peace to be more profitable he advised those people to give over warre and Anthony who by meanes of his faction prevailed thought the contrary therefore for his owne safety and that he might not be oppressed he had left that side and was come to the Romans The very like to this doth Livy relate of Appius Clausus who advised the Sabines not to enter into warre with the Romans and finding he was not able to withstand the â—…action which perswaded the contrary he went away to Rome Cum Pacis ipse Author à turbatoribus belli premeretur nec par factioni esset ab lacu Regillo magna clientium comitatus manu Romam
therefore when after the Romans had entred Afia and had gotten some victories an Ambassador comming to Scipio from Antiochus to demand peace he was answered by Scipio Quod Romanos omnes quod me ad quem missus es ignoras minus miror cum te fortunam ejus à quo venis ignorare cernam Lyfimachia tenenda erat ne Chersonesum intraremus aut ad Hellespontum obfistendum ne in Afiam trajiceremus fi pacem à sollicitis de belli eventu petituri eratis concesso vero in Afiam tranfitu non solum fraenis sed etiam jugo accepto quae disceptatio ex aequo cum imperium patiendum fit relicta est And finally he gave him this counsell Nuntia meis verbis bello abstineat pacis conditionem nullam recuset For this cause the Etolians did ill to speak so boldly after they were brought to the last cast and that they would not accept of such conditions of peace as the Romans offered them seeing it is a meer foolery to stand upon termes with a Conquerour as they at last perceived when the Consul bringing out his Forces they were glad to humble themselves and abate their boldnesse Tunc fracta Phaneae ferocia Aetolisque aliis est tandem cujus conditionis essent sensere Phaneas se quidem qui adfint Aetolorum scire facienda esse quae imperentur There is therefore in such cases no better course than to lay conditioning aside and to put ones selfe into the victors hand who no doubt will remit the more when he findes it is left in his power to do it so Alorcus counselled the Saguntines to do that seeing they had now no hope left they should rather put themselves into the victors hand than stand upon conditioning Haud despero cum omnium potestas ei à vobis facta fit aliquid ex his rebus remissurum which when the Saguntines would not do they were all put to fire and sword I cannot omit by way of digression to speak of a custome the Romans had which at first sight seemes to have been a great errour and it is that they offered the same conditions of peace in the uncertain beginning of a War as after they had gotten an absolute victory as by the answer of Scipio to the Ambassadours of Aniochus may appear Romani ex his quae in deorum immortalium potestate erant ea habemus quae dii dederunt animos qui nostrae mentis sunt eosdem in omni fortuna gessimus gerimusgque neque eos secundae res extulerunt nec adversae minuerunt ejus rei ut alios omittam Annibalem vestrum vobis darem testem nifi vos ipsos dare possem posteaquam Hellespontum trajecimus prius quam castra regia prius quam aciem videremus cum communis Mars incertus belli eventus esset de pace vobis agentibus quas pares paribus forebamus conditiones easdem nunc victores victis ferimus This way of doing served it seemes to no other purpose but to encourage their Enemies to cyment their fortune till they should be brought to extremity and I make no doubt but that Antiochus having before him the Example of the Carthaginians would never be brought to accept conditions of peace till he was brought upon his knees with the War To take away this difficulty it would not suffice to answer as Scipio said that it came from generousnesse of spirit that they altered not for fortune seeing little praise can be given to such a dangerous and prejudiciall Generousnesse and therefore I should rather attribute the cause to too great a greedinesse of getting that which is anothers seeing the Romans made war with Antiochus and with the Carthaginians as thinking they could not be quiet if the one were Lord of this side the mountain Taurus and the other were possest of Africke and this being their motive there is no doubt but the War would neverend till they had triumphed both over Africa and over Asia Whereupon when War is waged with such people we must make account either to get the victory or otherwise to be absolutely destroyed and therefore when Samuel meant to shew Saul that God intended to root out his House to the end he might know he would not pardon him till he were utterly destroyed he called our Lord God by the Name of Triumpher Porro Triumphator in Israel non parcet as though he would say as they who fight to triumph do not pardon till they have utterly destroyed their Enemies so O Saul will our Lord God do with thee But to returne to our purpose if they who would come to amity were friends before and are afterward become Enemies they must then come with blushing and with great humblenesse at least if they can shevv no just occasion but let them not then stay til they come to extremity for then they vvil never be accepted therefore the Capuans did ill not to open their Gates to the Romans vvithin the time given them for vvhen they vvere come to extremity it availed not then to open their Gates but all of them vvere miserably put to the svvord The last case is of him that demands amity and comes to excuse himselfe as having never committed any fault alvvayes really been a friend and never done them any vvrong and such an one may or rather must speak boldly Such a one vvas Segestes vvho speaking of himselfe Memoria bonae societatis impavidus never asked pardon Such then may speak vvith confidence and ought to be hearkened to of the Prince vvith patience and this vvay vvas a great helpe to Terentius in Tacitus vvho being accused for having had friendship with Sejanus he confessed it boldly shewing not onely that he was his friend but that he had laboured much to come to be so as seeing him a Companion of Caesar in his Consulship a Kinsman an inward friend and a stay of the Empire and this constancy of his prevailed so far that not onely he was pardoned but his accusers also were ill intreated Saul must pardon me if I thinke him in this case a more Tyrant than Tiberius seeing when Abimelech the Priest was accused for giving David meat and the sword of Goliah and was charged for it by Saul he made the like ansvver as Terentius did Et quis in omnibus servis tuis sicuti David fidelis gener Regis pergens in imperium gloriosus in domo tua But the boldnesse and innocency of Abimelech vvas not so great but the cruelty of Saul was greater vvho for this cause put him to death certainlya most perfidious act seeing as I have said and say still He that is innocent comes without fault both ought to speak with boldnes and ought to be heard with patience and herein Princes should imitate our Lord God who takes pleasure in such disputes as S. Austin witnesseth in his exposition of those words in the Psalme Jucundum fit ei eloquium meum