win the fauor of the people who had such men in estimation he had of them ordinarily with him For it is better that a prince should be an hipocrit than a despiser of good and vertuous things because such maner of counterfaiting and countenancing of good things doth secretly bring with it in time an affection of louing them and a willingnesse to accustome himselfe to them in earnest The emperor Adrian had vertuous and wise men and learned Philosophers alwaies about his person as well in time of peace as of warre because the wise men taught to liue well and the Philosophers to gouerne well For as Alexander Seuerus said of trusting too much to a mans owne wit commeth commonly labour and losse but of taking other mens aduise followeth ordinarilie verie great fruit Insomuch that whensoeuer hee had any matter to set in order concerning the common-weale hee consulted of it aforehand with men of skill and experience afore he did put it in execution and such maner of men did alwaies follow him among whom was one Vlpian a Lawier Yea and when he went a walking or a hunting he would neuer bee without three or foure of the greatest personages and best experienced of his house to the intent he would not be without counsell if any matter of importance should come suddenly vpon him and that the sight of such men neere about him might keepe him from presuming to doe any vnhonourable fact Antigonus the second was woont to say when Zeno the Philosopher was dead That he was bereft of the Theatre and stage of his honourable deeds because hee was woont to referre all his actions to the iudgement of that good man And if wee will descend into our owne histories we shall see what profit redounded to S. Lois by being conuersant with men of Religion For in so much as his mother had accompanied him with such folke from his infancie he ceassed not to hold on afterward in the same trade and maner of life wherein he had bin trained vp insomuch that all his whole life was nothing else but a mirrour of holinesse CHAP. XV. That the Prince which will be well obayed must shew good example in him selfe to his subiects THat which I haue spoken of Religion and Superstition is inough notwithstanding that it be too little as in respect of the things themselues Now remaineth the winding vp of the matter and to end this booke withall I am to shew in few words what it is that vpholdeth both the prince and his subiects in all honour and honestie especially in the case of Religion namely the good Example which the prince giueth vnto his subiects For it serueth him aboue all things in the world to make him to be obayed and therewithal accustometh him to the loue of all honest things though at the beginning he had no such will as I haue said afore And it prouoketh the subiects to follow their princes example whom they see to be giuen to all vertuous things and chiefly when he is giuen to religion For a prince cannot raigne if his subiects be without religion considering that in taking away religion ye take away obedience to the prince Therefore to hold the people in religion there is nothing like vnto Example And as a certaine Poet saith Lawes and proclamations haue not so great force to procure obedience as hath the life of the gouernour because the people being subiect to alteration doe chaunge with the prince If the prince be deuout and religious the people will be deuout also if he be superstitious they become superstitious too if he be giuen to vice so will they be also if he be good they abide good likewise because there is not any thing that doth so much induce vs to doe well as the innocencie and goodnesse of the prince or iudge as saith Cassiodorus For who will be afraid to doe wickedlie when he seeth his lord doe as himselfe dooth In vaine doth that prince foad himselfe with suretie of state who is couetous ambitious and vniust For men are then afraid to doe amisse when they thinke that it displeaseth their iudge And as Cicero saith in his third booke of Lawes A prince doth not so much harme in the very sinning although it be a great harme in deed as he doth in making others to follow the example of his vices And we see commonly that looke what alteration soeuer happens in the prince the same ensueth also in his people For the change of conuersation of life in great personages is wont to worke a change in the maners of the people for that they keepe not their vices alonly to themselues but doe shead them out vpon their subiects so as the hurt which they doe is not only in that they corrupt themselues but also in that they corrupt others doing more euill by their example than by their bare sinne For as much therefore as the well-aduised prince is as a cresset vpon a bushell or rather vpon a high towre to giue light to all parts hee ought to shine among his subiects and to excell them in all deeds of vertue and godlinesse For as saith Cicero in his Inuectiues he is to applie himselfe not only to their minds but also to their eies And like as a small blemish in a mans face disgraceth him more than a great scarre in all the rest of his body euen so a small fault sheweth it selfe great in a prince whose life men behold in the open light And as Saluian Bishop of Marsels saith The offence is the greater where there is the greater prerogatiue That is the cause why Dauid was punished by the death of his sonne after that God had taken away his sinne namely as the text saith For that he caused the enemies to blaspheme the name of the Lord. So great is an offence in a publike person For he that doth euill without giuing cause of offence vnto others damneth but himselfe but he that giueth euill example vnto others and causeth mo for to sinne must beare their penaltie because he is the cause of their euill Plato in his Lawes saith That nothing doth more easily change laws than the example of princes so that a tyrant may in short time alter the lawes For whether he intend to lead to vertue or to vice he himselfe must first trace the way vnto others by allowing the one and disallowing the other and by dispising such as obay him not And therefore he said in another place That such as kings and gouernors are such are their people Wherein he agreeth with Ecclesiasticus who saith That such as the iudge of a people is such are his ministers and such as the ruler of a citie is such are his citizens Varia Mesa writing to Heliogabalus admonished him after this maner To reforme others it behooueth you first to reforme your selfe and to chastise others you must first chastise your selfe For euerie person be he
not be all of one mind and moreouer there would alwaies be some one or other that would attempt to controle the rest which thing would breed dissention among them and finally the ruine of the State And therfore he was of opinion that of all the kinds of gouernment ther was not a better than the Monarchie The which aduise of his all the rest of the princes followed Of a verie truth we see that neither the State of Aristocracie nor the State of Democracie haue atteined to like greatnesse as kingdoms haue sauing onely Rome for the largenesse of empire and Venice for continuance of time For as for Lacedemon and Athens their dominions extended but a little way notwithstanding that the one of them made their power to be seene in the lesser Asia and the other became terrible to the Persians But aboue all other the popular gouernment is most vnweeldie because it is full of ignorance and confusednesse of people whose nature as said Bellifarius is to moue by rage rather than by reason and who as saith Guicciardine grounding themselues vpon deceitfull and vaine hopes being furious in their dealings when danger is far off and quite out of courage when peril doth approch are not in any wise to be ruled or restrained And as Philip of Nauar was wont to say there is not any certain stay in a coÌ„munaltie for that cause he would not trust the Parisians nor come within their citie what shew of good will soeuer they were able to make persuading himselfe that he could not be in sufficient suretie among so great a number of people of so diuers humors Which thing the Senat of Rome considering chose rather to giue their people Tribunes than to giue vnto them the reines of authoritie without a magistrat For although the power of the tribunes was ouer-great yet thought they it better than the ouer-vehement and boistrous power of the people who become more tractable when they haue a head than when they be without one For a head considereth the danger but the people cast no perill at all The popular gouernment is hard to be dealt with for it is a beast with many heads which doth good vnto them that would it euill and requite euill to them that doe it good As the Athenians did to Miltiades whom in recompence of the good which he had done them in deliuering them from a dangerous siege and in vanquishing ten hundred thousand Persians himselfe hauing but ten thousand men they amerced at a great fine keeping him in prison till he had fully paid it and finally banished him out of the country They did as much to Themistocles Aristides Alcibiades and other good captaines of their citie whereof anon after ensued their owne decay We know how Iames of Arteuill gouerned the people of Gaunt in his time and what power and authoritie he had ouer them and how he was beloued of all and yet neuerthelesse they put him to death vpon a small suspition and would not so much as heare his reasons They did as much to Iohn Boulle one of their captains because that without cause and without likelihood they had wrongfully surmised of him that he had brought them into an ambush vpon secret compact with the earle of Flaunders and he was not permitted to shew his reasons and excuses For without hearing him they drew him out of his lodging into the street and there hewed him into small peeces euerie man carying away a peece that could come by it Therefore Demosthenes who was banished Athens as others had been considering how Athens was dedicated to Minerua said O Pallas what meanest thou to enterteine so wicked and foule beasts as a night-owle a dragon and a popular gouernment for vnto Pallas were these things dedicated And Aristides the best man of life that euer was in Athens vpbraided the Athenians with their rashnesse who had condemned him for excecuting his charge faithfully in not suffering the common treasure to be robbed spoiled and had had him in great loue and estimation when he winked at the pilfries which he saw committed as though he had then worthily faithfully discharged his duty For a multitude is hard to be ruled and other counsel is there none with them than such as they bring of theÌ„selues misconceiued misvnderstood misiudged by passions neither is there any thing so vnequall in a common-weale as that is which they call equalitie of persons All is there equall and euen sauing their minds which are as farre at oddes as may be And yet notwithstanding because things goe by the number of voices without weighing them otherwise they passe alwaies with the most number that is to say with the foolishest opinion By reason whereof Anacharsus said that in the citie of Athens wise men propounded matters and fooles iudged of them And Phocion whâ—neuer agreed in opinion with the common people hauing in open assembly deliuered an opinion that was liked of the whole multitude insomuch that all the standers-by yeelded to his aduise turned himselfe to his friends and asked them whether some fond thing had not escaped him in his speech vnawares As touching the common-weale of Rome albeit that the Romanes had conquered the whole world by battell yetnotwithstanding they were oftentimes ill gouerned for all their good policie For after that the kings were once expulsed the citie was neuer without quarels some while against the ten coÌ„missioners another while the people against the Senat and the Senat against the people one while against the tribunes and another while against the consuls and nothing did euer vphold and maintaine the citie so much and so long as the forreigne wars which caused them to compound their quarrels at home without the doing wherof they could neuer haue continued for as soone as they had any vacation from forreigne warres by and by they lost their libertie and found from that time forth that the opinion of Scipio Nasica was grounded vpon great reason when he would not that Carthage should haue been destroyed that it might haue kept Rome stil in hir rigoâ—t wirs for in very deed their couetousnesse and ambition bred cruell dissentions among them which in the end did bring the ouerthrow of their State And therefore I will not say but that disagreements are often times necessarie in a house a kingdome or a coimmon-weale and that as Onomademus said after the rebellon of the Island Chios it is not behooffull to make cleane riddance of ell enemies for feare least there should be dissention among friends I am fully persuaded it is not amisse to suffer some enemies to spight one another as well for the reason aforementioned as also for that the enemies by their crossing one another doe discouer their owne lewdnesse couetousnesse and ambition to the benefit of the prince and of the common-weale and yet notwithstanding are afraid to doe euil least men should espie their doings and
in examining his life notwithstanding that there is no comparison betweene mouable goods and a friend For a friend may helpe a prince both with counsell and comfort and also greatly aduance his profit as Zopirus did vnto king Darius vnto whom he recouered Babilon And therefore Darius said That he had leuer haue one Zopirus than to take tenne Babilons and that he wished hee had as many Megabisusses as there be kernels in a Pomgarnet For this cause were Pilades and Orestes exalted to the skies by the Poets and Damon and Pithias Pithagorians by the Historiographers And among others we must not let passe the friendship of Seruius Terentius towards Brutus For when Brutus should haue beene put to death this Terentius affirmed himselfe to be he and would haue bin killed for him in the darkenesse of the place neuerthelesse being discerned who he was he was suffered to liue whether he would or no. Neither is the wiâ—ely loue of one Hostes the wife of a Moore to be passed ouer in silence who seing hir husband dead absteined from food nine daies together that she might be buried with him Timagenides seing the citie of Thebes besieged for his sake chose rather to yeeld himselfe to the rest of the Greeks who were desirous of him than to abide the burning spoiling and sacking of his country Also there were a couple of Lacedemonians which offered to goe to the king of Persia to be put to torture for the rest of their countriemen who had killed the kings Embassadors But yet the loue of certaine Frenchmen towards their country shall put to silence the fables of Orestes and Pilades and whatsoeuer is reported of the Curtiusses and Deciusses of Rome When the king of England refused to take Callis to mercie except they would deliuer him six Burgesses of the towne with halters about their necks to doe his pleasure with them the people being assembled into one place and hearing this sentence fell to weeping Then stept vp among them one Eustace of S. Peters one of the richest men of all the town and told them that he would not suffer such a number of people to perish but would rather giue himselfe to the death for their safety than see them die for hunger or be slaine with the sword After him followed another named Iohn Daire and foure mo of the richest in Calis who vowed themselues euerychone to the death for the safegard of their people S. Ambrose in his second booke of Virgins reporteth a notable storie of a maid and a young souldier who offered themselues to die either for the other The maid was condemned either to doe sacrifice to the idols or else to be made a brothel in the stewes She vtterly refusing to doe sacrifice to the idols was led forthwith to the stewes where after she had made hir praiers vnto God there was brought vnto hir a young souldiour who altering his former purpose which he had to haue defiled her praied her to take his apparell and he would put on hirs that by that means shee might go hir waies vnknowne and so be saued When she was departed out of the brothel-house there came in other yoong men in hope to haue had their pleasure of that faire damsel But in hir stead they found the man and thought shee had bene turned into that shape by miracle In the end when the conueiance was discouered the yoong man was carried to be punished wherof the mayd hearing presented hirselfe to baile him body for body that he might escape but the yoong man would in no wise heare of that affirming that iudgement was giuen against him and not against hir The maid replied that he was there but as a pledge and that the sentence which was giuen against him ought to be executed vpon hirselfe To conclude they disputed so wel the one against the other that with their consents they were both put to death Let this be spoken as by the way because occasion thereof was offered He that is desirous to see more let him read Aristotles Morals Lucians Toxaris and Ciceros Laelius Now let vs proceed to Hope which is an affection wel beseeming a Prince When Alexander hauing of a bountifull mind giuen all to his friends was asked what should remaine to himselfe Hope quoth he because he hoped to get much more And this Hope is grounded vpon a certaine noblenesse of courage I know well inough that some Hope is but the dreaming of a man when he is awake for commonly we misse of the thing that we behight our selues Neuerthelesse I say that the valiant and well aduised prince sildome fayleth of his hope when it is grounded vpon reason and good fortune Philo sayth that Hope is the fountaine of all sorts and trades of life The merchant traffiqueth in hope of gaine the marener in hope to benefit himselfe by his sayling the ambitious in hope of glorie and honour and to attaine to these ends euery of them doth take maruellous pains The hope of the happie state draweth men to vertue But indeed the true and only hope is to hope in God as in him that is our Creator and is sufficient of himselfe alone to keepe vs safe and sound Afterward commeth Despaire or Distrust the contrary to Hope which may bee taken doublewise either as when a prince hauing lost a battell and broken his force letteth all go without consulting or taking aduice what to do through Despaire seeketh no remedie which oft befalleth for want of courage to maintaine the which nothing is comparable to stoutnesse of mind The other sort is not properly Despaire but a behauior proceeding of humilitie which maketh vs that we be not ouer-hastie in hoping for great and high things the which is conuenient enough for a prince for it restreineth him from hazarding himselfe and from vndertaking too great and hard things after the maner of Dauid who reioiceth that hee had not enterprised things ouer-great and exceeding his power In this case both Hope and Distrust are well befitting a king For the one maketh him to enterprise great things the other to moderat them in such sort as he vndertake not any thing aboue his abilitie or aboue that which he ought for to do so proceedeth either of vndiscreetnes or of rage or of some other inordinat passion Fearfulnesse and Foole-hardinesse are the two faultie extremities which inclose Prowes or valeantnesse of courage wherof I will speake more largely hereafter For whosoeuer through the greatnes of his courage doth put himselfe in perill yea euen of certaine death for a good cause he is to be esteemed hardie valeant and manly-minded And surely the Fearefull is worse than the Foole-hardie For as Thucidides saith Feare doth not only bereaue a man of his memorie but also of his strength and impeacheth the execution of the thing that he had determined Neuerthelesse the feare to do euil is euermore wel-beseeming according to this saying of
haue slender wits Therefore we call him a glutton which eateth either too much or too hastilie or oftener than he needeth besides his ordinarie meales or that seeketh delicate and daintie meats And we call him a drunkard which drinketh out of measure For to drinke wine moderatly is not forbidden And as Anacharsis said The first draught serueth for health the second for pleasure the third for shame and the fourth for madnesse For as Herodotus saith Drunkennes putteth a man out of his wits and makes him mad Moyses forbiddeth the priests to drinke wine or any other drinke that may make men drunken during the time that they were in their course of sacrifising Plato in his common-weale forbiddeth magistrats wine during the time of the executing of their office and also children vntill they be eighteene yeares old for feare of putting fire to fire For great heed ought to be taken that we driue not youth into a setled disposition of furie And after that time he will haue them to vse wine moderatly And when they be come to fortie years then they may drinke the more liberally as a remedie against the waywardnesse of old age And in the same booke He that is full of wine sayth he both draweth and is drawne hither and thither And therefore a drunkard as a man besides himselfe is vnmeete for generation because it is likely that his procreation shall be vnequall crooked and vnstable as well in members as in maners And therefore he saith That a drunkard being set in any state of gouernment whatsoeuer it be vndoeth and marreth all whether it be ship or armed chariot or any other thing whereof he hath the guiding and gouernment The Carthaginenses prohibited wine to their magistrats and men of warre and so doth also Mahomet to all those that hold of his law It was felonie for the magistrats of Locres to drinke wine without the licence of a Phisition And the yong Romans dranke no wine afore they were twentie yeeres old Atheneus saith That the Greeks neuer dranke wine without water and that sometimes they put fiue glasses of water to one of wine and sometime but two of water to foure of wine Hesiodus will haue men to put three parts of water to one of wine Sophocles mocked the poet Aeschylus for that he neuer wrote but when he was well drunken For although he write well saith he yet writeth he vnaduisedlie Aristophanes termed wine the milke of Venus because it prouoketh men to lecherie And Horace saith That a cup of wine is the companion of Venus And for that cause a certaine Iewish sect called Esseans who were holier and of better conuersation than the Pharisees or than the Saduces who were heretikes abstained from wine and women as witnesseth Iosephus in his Antiquities Osee saith That wine and fornication bereaue men of their harts that is to wit of right vnderstanding and discretion For wine hideth and darkeneth wisdome And Salomon in the the 23 of the Prouerbs saith That the drunkard and the glutton shall become poore And in another place Who saith he haue misfortune who haue sorrow who haue trouble who haue sighing who haue stripes without cause and who haue â—aintnes of eyes Euen they that sit at the wine and straine themselues to emptie the cuppes Wine is alluring but in the end it stingeth like a serpent and leaueth his sting behind him like an aspworme At that time thine eies shall see strangers and thy hart shall vtter fond things Plinie in the 14 booke of his naturall Historie saith among other things that it maketh the eies water the hands quiuering the nights vnquiet lewd dreames a stinking breath in the morning and vtter forgetfulnesse of all things Moderate wine helpeth concoction and the sinewes and abundance thereof hurteth them Esau by his gluttonie lost his birthright Noe by his drunkennesse became a laughing stocke to his owne children and Lot delt shamefully with his owne daughters Betweene a drunken man and a mad man is small difference And as Crysippus saith Drunkennesse is a peti-madnesse as we read of Alexander who in his drunkennesse was commonly furious And as Strabo saith Like as a small wind doth easily carie him away that is swaieng forward alredie so a little greef doth easily make him mad that hath taken in too much wine And Sophocles saith A drunken man is easily caried away with choler and hath no vnderstanding whereby it commeth to passe that when he hath rashly discharged his tongue he is constrained afterward whether he will or no to heare of it at their hands of whom he railed in his lustinesse For who so euill speaketh saith Hesiodus shall shortly after heare more of it than he had spoken Theognis saith That as gold is tried by fire so is a mans mind by wine For wine bereaueth him of all knowledge and consequently of all aduisement and meane to dissemble so as it is ill done to commit anie secrets to a drunkard If a drunkard offended in his drunkennesse Pittacus would haue him punished with double punishment that he should the rather abstaine from drunkennesse The Romans did put them out of the Senate that were drunkards In old time a man could not put away his wife except she had beene an adultresse a witch or a wine drinker To eschue this vice we will take the remedie of Anacharsis who counselled them that were subiect to that vice to behold how drunken men behaued themselues or rather as Pithagoras said to bethinke them of the things that a drunken man hath done That was the cause why the Lacedemonians made their bondslaues drunken that their yong folk might learne to hate drunkennesse when they saw those poore soules out of their wits and scorned at all hands Furthermore it is to be considered what mischiefs haue come of drunkennesse whereof all stories are full as how the armie of Thomiris was discomfited by Cyrus for that they hauing drunke too much were laid downe and falne a sleepe How the citie Abida in Mesopotamia was lost by drunkennesse because the men that were set to gard the tower of Hipponomethere hauing drunke too much were falne into so deep a sleepe that they were surprised by their enemies and slaine afore they could awake In general for frugality we must haue the vertue of Temperance before our eies which warneth vs to follow reason and to eschue superfluitie of eating and drinking vnder colour that we haue whereof to make good cheere and say as Alcamenes did who being vpbraided that he liued so sparingly and poorely for the riches that he had said That he which hath great reuenues ought to liue according to reason and not at his pleasure For frugalitie doth alway well beseeme a Prince so long as it proceed not of nigardship Our former kings lost their kingdome through following their delights King Charles the seuenth who was woont to sup with three yong pigeons
not that one should su◠for it but made the suters themselues to come to his presence as well to gratifie them himselfe as also to know whom he gratified For he that receiueth not the benefit at the princes owne hand thinketh himselfe beholden to none but vnto him by whome he had it as wee haue found by experience in this our realme of Fraunce within this fiftie or threescore yeares LEt vs come now to the iustice of war which ought to be like the same that we haue spoken of and consisteth in penalties and rewards namely in punishing the wicked and in recompensing the good and valeant men with honour and regard For honour nourisheth the liberall arts and vertue In which behalfe the emperor Adrian did so greatly excell that he was both feared and loued of all his men of war feared because he chastised them and beloued because he paid them well Vpon a time one demaunded of Lisander What maner of common-weale hee liked best That qd he wherein both the valeant and the cowards are rewarded according to their deserts as who would say that vertue is furthered by reward and that men of no value are spurred vp to doe well by the shame and reproch which they receiue by doing amisse and in being despised Ennius Priscus demaunded of Traian What was the cause that hee was better beloued of the people than his predecessors Because qd he that commonly I pardon such as offend me and neuer forget them that doe me seruice But afore I speake of rewarding or recompensing we must know what is the law and discipline of arms wherof the first and principall point that is to wit to doe no man wrong dependeth vpon naturall iustice And yet-notwithstanding this seemeth so strange among vs that the cheefe and principall point of warlike behauiour seemeth to consist in pilling swearing rauishing robbing and that a souldier cannot be esteemed a gallant fellow vnlesse he be furnished with those goodly vertues Contrariwise if the Romans had any souldiers that were neuer so little giuen to loosenesse they would not vse their seruice no not euen in most extreme necessitie as is to be seen by the doings of Metellus in Affrike and of Scipio in Spain making more account of one legion that liued after the law and order of war than of ten that were out of order Now the lawes of armes were diuers according to the diuersities of the captains that haue had the leading of Armies The first consisteth in the obedience of the men of warre For as saith Plato it auaileth not to haue a good captaine vnlesse the souldiers bee discreet and obedient because the vertue of well-obeieng hath as great need of a gentle nature and of the helpe of good trainment as the princely vertue of commaunding All other precepts tend generally to naturall iustice the which will not haue wrong done to any man Alexander being aduertised that two souldiers which serued vnder Parmenio had rauished the wiues of certaine souldiers strangers wrate vnto Parmenio to informe him therof charging him that if he found it to be so he should put both the souldiers to death as wild beasts bred to the destruction of men When the Romanes marched vnder the leading of Marcus Scaurus there was found in their trenches at their departure thence a tree hanging ful of fruit so great conscience made they to take any thing that was not their owne And if any man went aside in any field farme or grange at such time as the campe marched he was punished immediatly and it was demaunded of him if he could find in his heart that a man should doe as much in his lands Whersoeuer Bellisarius went with his armie he restrained his men from doing wrong to laborers and husbandmen insomuch that they durst not eat the apples and peares that hung vpon the trees After the death of Campson the Soldan of Aegypt Selim king of Turks being possessed of Damasco and the rest of the cities of Syria would not suffer his men of war to come within them but lodged his camp by the wals of the towne and of all the time that he was there there was not any guard set to keepe the goodly and fruitfull Gardens that were without the citie because the rigorous iustice that Selim executed restrained the Turks from misdoing wherthrough the whole armie found themselues well apaid For they neuer wanted victuals but had plentie and aboundance of all things Traian caused a captaine to be banished for killing a husbandmans Oxen without need and awarded the husbandman for amends to haue the captaines horse and armor and also his quarters wages Tamerlane king of Tartarians made a souldier of his to be put to death for taking but a cheese from a poore woman Totilas was so seuere in the discipline of war that he would not leaue any one misdeed vnpunished He that rauished any woman was punished with death or at least wise forfaited his goods the which were giuen to the partie that was outraged Insomuch that he passed by the cities and townes that were in friendship and league with him without doing them any harme saying that kingdomes and empires were easily lost if they were not maintained by iustice Which thing Iustinian found to be very true who through the vniustice and disorder of his captaines lost the empyre of Italy Paulus Emilius was a sterne obseruer of the law of arms not seeking to purchase the loue of his souldiers by pleasing them but shewing them himselfe from point to point how auailable the ordinances of war were And this his austeritie and terriblenesse towards them that were disobedient and transgressed the law of arms vpheld the commonweale vnappaired For he was of opinion that to vanquish a mans enemies by force of arms is as ye would say but an accessorie or income in comparison of the well ordering and winning of a mans countrymen by good discipline The Lawes of arms haue bin diuerse according to the diuersitie of captaines the which we may learne in one word of the best and most valeant emperours that euer haue bin Iulius Caesar would make countenance as though he saw not the faults of his souldiers and let them goe vnpunished so long as they tended not to mutinie or that they forsooke not their ensigne and in those cases he neuer pardoned thē Insomuch that in the time of the ciuil wars he cashed a whole legion at once notwithstanding that he stood as then in great need of them and ere euer he would admit them againe he ceassed not till he had punished the misdoers Among the Aegyptians they that had disobayed their captains were noted with a reproch worse than death Augustus was so seuere towards such as recoiled in battel or disobayed his commaundements that he would put euery tenth man of them to death and vnto them that had done lesse faults he would giue barly bread in steed of wheaten
So also did Marcellus cause barly to be deliuered in steed of wheat to the bands that first turned their backs vnto Hanniball Antonie tithed the Legions that had forsaken their trench at a sallie that was made vpon them by the Persians out of Phraata And vnto those also which remained of that tithing was barly giuen in steed of wheate for their food to liue by Licinius the consull being sent against Spaertaâ—us chiefe leader of the bondmen that had rebelled tythed to the number of a 4000 men and yet failed not for all that to obtain the victorie At such time as Timoleon was minded to giue battell to the Carthagineans who were ten to one ther were a thousand of his men that recoiled backe and would not fight wherof Timoleon was well apaid that they had bewraied themselues in good time because that else they had done him more harme than good But when he had once woone the field and was returned vnto Syracuse he banished them euerichone out of Sicilie with expresse commaundement that they should get them out of the citie before the sun went downe Lucullus laid a reprochfull infamie vpon such as had fled in a certaine skirmish against Mithridates causing them to dig a pit of twelue foot all vnapparelled in their shirts the rest of their company standing by to see them doe it Traian would not suffer any souldier to be put to death for any fault committed in war except it were for blaspheming God for treason for flying in battell for rauishing of women or for sleeping in the watch and in those cases he pardoned not any man whatsoeuer he were Albeit that Pirrhus was a stranger yet caused he the law of arms to be obserued straightly among the Tarentines and he punished those that failed Marius was a sore man in that behalfe but when he had once inured his souldiers to abstaine from offending and from disobaying then they found that his sternnesse in commaunding and his sharpnesse in punishing such as forgate their dutie was not only reasonable but also iust and wholesome The laws of the Switzers are such that such as slee and recoile in battell for feare and cowardlinesse shall be cut in peeces by their fellowes in the sight of the whole armie to the end that the greater feare should ouer-wey the lesser and that for dread of the violent death they should chuse the death that is honourable This caused the emperor Iulian in a certaine battell to slea ten of the first that fled away therby to compell the rest to turne againe vpon the enemie Captaine Franget was degraded from the order of knighthood proclaimed vnnoble both he and all his posteritie for yeelding Fontrabie to the Spaniards notwithstanding that he excused himselfe by a secret compact that Don Peter the sonne of the marshall of Nauar had made with the Spaniards because it was thought that although it were so yet he ought not to haue bin negligent in forseeing such coÌ„spiracie Auidius Cassius delt more cruelly thaÌ„ any others in executing the law of arms For he made all such to be crucified as had taken any thing from honest men in the selfe same place where the crime was coÌ„mitted Also he caused the arms legs to be cut off of al such as departed from the camp without pasport and he put them not to death saying that there was more exaÌ„ple to be seen in a miserable catif aliue than dead It happened vpon a time that a verie few of his men of war hauing discouered that the Sarmatians kept no good ward slew of theÌ„ to the nuÌ„ber of a three thousand And wheÌ„ his capteins sued for reward of their good exploit he made them to be al crucified saying it might haue happened that there had bin some ambush of enemies by that means the honor of the Roman empire might haue bin lost in doing wherof he followed the example of Torquatus the historie of whom is known well inough neuerthelesse in the one there was a breach of the prohibitioÌ„ but in this there was no such thing at all This crueltie was far differing froÌ„ the meeldnes of Scipio who said that a good generall of a field ought to deale like the good surgion which neuer vseth launcing but when all other remedies faile And as Plutarch saith in the coÌ„parison betweene Agis Gracchus It is not the propertie either of good surgion or of good gouernor of a state to set his haÌ„d to sword or launcer but only in extreame necessitie wheÌ„ there is no other remedie But to make a man of war obedieÌ„t refrain from doing wrong to any body he must be well paid And as Alexander Seuerus saith he must be wel apparelled well shod well armed well fed haue some mony in his purse For pouertie maketh men hartlesse The same thing was some cause that the soldiers of Macrinus rebelled against him For when they saw themselues so ill paid they fell to mutinie wherat Mesa taking occasion to lay hold of the opportunitie that was offered fell in hand with the men of war and by offering them to pay them of his owne treasures he made them so affectioned towards him that for his sake they set vp his little sonne Heliogabalus Iphicrates an Athenian captaine was content that his souldiers should be couetous amorous and voluptuous to the intent that they might hazard themselues the more boldly and aduenturously to all perils to haue wherewith to furnish their desires And Iulius Caesar would haue his souldiers faire and richly armed to the end they should fight valeantly for feare to loose them Finally to teach whatsoeuer belongs to a souldier to haue the epistle sufficeth which Dioclesian writeth thus to a certaine gouernour of a prouince If you will bee a Tribune saith he or rather if you intend to liue bring to passe that your souldiers meddle not with other mens goods that they take neither pullerie nor sheepe that they trample not downe other mens corne that they take not any mans oyle salt or wood vnpaid for that they find themselues of the booties of their enemies and not with the teares of your subiects that euery of them haue his armor neat and cleane that they be well shod and that they be well clad There is yet one rule more to be kept in the law of arms which is to keepe equalitie among men of war the which rule Adrian the emperor obserued very well and fitly For when he would haue any labour done in his campe all were put to the labour when any watching was al watched and he would not suffer any man to be exempted insomuch that he himselfe would be the formost among them Also there is consideration to be had in warfare how to make difference betweeen a camp and a garison For in a campe it is not amisse to take some respit that men may make merry so the time of feasting bee not ouer-long