Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A06858
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Politicall observations upon the fall of Seianus. Written in Italian by Gio. Baptista Manzini. And translated into English by Sr. T.H.; Della peripetia di fortuna. English
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Manzini, Giovanni Battista, 1599-1664.; T. H., Sir (Thomas Hawkins), d. 1640.
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1634
(1634)
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STC 17293; ESTC S120752
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18,559
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54
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so many friends besieged by so many enemies not defended by any persecuted by all I confesse to be no small matter yea such that not injuriously men sought to cover it with supernaturall power constituting an imaginary Deity to predominate over these exorbitances of motion But what should a Prince doe speaking naturally seeing himselfe oppressed betrayed entrapped by a force which takes all force from his favour which in stead of gratefully acknowledging him seekes perfidiously to ruine him If the chastisement of so great a disorder be committed to fortune what assurednesse of strength defends him If a great one depose not a lesser who offends him what is this greatnesse And if this bee not naturall to what purpose did nature put into us that motion of anger towards revenge That friends in these calamities abandon the deposed is not accidentall but necessary The preservation of the Individuum is the most principall among all the effects of nature Who seeth not that a private man following the adherence to a Rebell against a Prince of necessity is a companion of his crimes and fortune Hee wrongs no man who vertuously maketh use of his Reason It is the naturall reason of every one who is borne what he can to ayd preserve and defend his owne life and even thus much is granted which sometimes hath happened that to preserve it without any fault men have been killed and this thelawes admit under the care of which is the preservation of each mortall how much more lawfull then is it without offence to any for a good Courtier to abandon a friend not friendship and to retire from perill not from love That in one and the same time a thousand are discovered to be enemies who have flattered thee is no wonder man being promptly disposed to arrive by what meanssoever to his own ends The place thou emptiest hath need to be replenished That the subject flatters his Prince is not against nature That revenge expects occasion is not unusuall They who now are thy enemies were never thy friends Vertue admits no change That enemies offend thee is no mervell it were strange if they help thee That Sejanus was precipitated from so exalted a Condition of felicity into so deep a dungeon of misery is not to bee called an effect of fortune for if the causes as we saw before be of nature how can the effects bee supernaturall Man is that silke worme which hath woven a prison and bands for it self and when crimes cometo incorrigible terms they incur by divine permission those chasticemēts which naturally follow bad beginnings Who sees not that ruine waiteth on him who plaies over it Every Autumn concludeth in Winter Mirth endeth in teares The Souldier is reserved to the Sword the Marriner to the waves It is not ascribed to Fortune that a Butterfly bold to dally with the fire at last is wasted in the flame and is it to be called an accident of fortune that that man who is not able to governe himselfe fals oppressed under the weight of the government of a whole world and that which is more considerable of another mans world As if it were lesse naturall to returne backe then to depart from to descend than to climbe Fortunate is that Courtier who to gaine the favour of his Lord makes vertue the instrument Happy he who having obtained it retires that he may not lose it The end attained he who further pretendeth provoketh misery He commits himselfe to aiery vanity to gaine the certainty of a Center who descendeth from a height not expecting to bee throwne headlong The measure of the foot is more safe than of the eye Favour is not inaccessible but to preserve it is impossible or difficult The prize is gotten at the end not at the beginning of the race The end of good events is the beginning of bad He who trusteth to himselfe is rash who confideth in the favour of another is meerely mad The last day of servitude is the first of libertie Liberty in a generous and vertuous minde is a pledge which assureth thee that such shall be thy fortune as thou canst make it or desire it This is as much as I can say to thee O Courtier The favour of great men is an alluring Syren which hath poyson on the tongue and a sword in hand Let Sejanus be thy master not thy guide for very fond is he who walketh on ruines and remembers not hee may fall IUVENAL Qui nimios optabat honores Etnimias poscebat opes numero sa parabat Excelsae turris tabulata unde altior esset Casus impulsae praeceps immane ruinae FINIS