a few persons that it may be the more active and absolute and its operation the more nimble and efficacious But that the goodness of this order may appear the better and th' advantages that accrew to a State where it is observed to be the more evident It may not be amiss to demonstrate it by the comparison of other formes of Government which are more disunited and where the Authority to resolve businesse is more dilated for the things of this world do appear best by opposition the shadow quickens the colours and the Lights Recovery from sicknesse is more agreeable then health and there 's no good that would not lose one halfe for its just price if there were no evill contrary to it I will say upon the subject in hand a word of the Republique of Venice of that of the Suisses and of the Government of the Polaques which is a mixt kind of Government and composed of Aristocracy and Monarchy I think that no Republique was ever established with so great Wisdome or that received Orders more apt to attain th' ends of a civill life which is the happinesse of Inhabitants then that of Venice 'T is not but that some have made a greater noyse in the world and whose Empire hath been more enlarged Dominion more glorious But as the greatest bodies and of highest stature are not ever the soundest and as the vastest buildings are not alwaies the firmest so the good policy of a State and the goodnesse of its Composition is not to be judged by th'extent of the Country it enjoys by the great quantities of Earth and Sea it commands so whosoever considers the duration of the Republique of Venice and its quiet for 1200 years and observes that it hath never been strongly agitated within and hath felt but a leight intestine sedition may easily conclude that the Noble parts have been very sound and that the Foundations are very deep and solid And though of late it may seem that her Forces are diminished that her best condition is past and that the violence of some strange cause hath blasted the beauty of her Countenance there 's no matter of astonishment nor any great wonder that old Age should produce wrinckles that what is mortall should be sometimes sick that the strong should offend the weak and that Prudence should not alwayes be Mistress of Fortune nor good events the necessary effects of good Counsels Though this be thus yet there 's some change to be wished as to the manner of their Treating and resolving th' affaires of that Republique and 't is a great mischief that they are carryed through so many Assemblies and pass by so many Heads whereof the Senate is composed the Secret which is never very safe with a multitude hath much ado to be there preserved Length is unavoydable there and many times Fortune flies away and good occasions are lost whilst they deliberate and before they have concluded Heretofore in pressing-matters and where dispatch was requisite and Secrecy extraordinarily necessary they were treated and resolved in a Councell which they called of Ten with the same force and Authority as in the Senate But they have since judged that the supream Authority attributed to Ten persons in matters regarding the whole State was of too dangerous a consequence and that that Order might in time by th' Ambition and by th'Artifices of particular persons degenerate into a pure Aristocracy and corrupt th' essence of their Government which is blended of three others From thence may be seen the fatality of humane things that the good is ever accompanied with some evill and that nothing is so well accomplished as not in some part to be defective Of all sorts of Government under which the world rowls the most excellent are not exempt from spots 'T is not but that they who invented them foresaw th'inconveniences but that they could not do better nor provide a Remedy where none was to be had Prudence is not so often imployed in choosing the greatest Good as in avoiding the greatest Evills and as we see in the Composition of the humane body that there are but a few parts capable of pleasure and which touch upon the pleasant Objects and that on the Contrary all parts are exposed to grief and to share Resentments so it happens that in all other things th'evill enters by more wayes then the good and finds more places to make its impression and exercise its violence If this be to be seen in all of Nature and if it be an experience which passeth even to Beasts it ought not to be thought strange if in a matter so mixed and so confused as States are and where Fancies so different and Inclinations so various do enter if the pure good be not there found nor such a perfection as no sort of vice can alter Let 's go on As to the Common-wealth of the Suisses 't is a sort of Government very loose and in some measure tumultuous The Bond that tyes them is not stronger than that which joyns the Leagues and there 's onely this difference that they do but ordinarily pass and have no durable cause that they are not good but to repell an Evill suddenly fallen upon some of the Confederates and which threatens the rest of them or to prevent some storm and inundation of some great approaching power But so soon as the danger is over or that th' oppression is taken away they fall of themselves and go out for want of aliment and matter Of this I will treat at length in the second Part of this Work But th' Union of the Suisses cannot perish nor dissolve but by an outward violence It hath an everlasting foundation which is jealousie of Liberty and though they dwell onely in Rocks and that poverty stirs not from their houses yet they would not change their Condition which appears not so ugly but that there 's great cause for them to be in love with it and to believe that the Wealth which Nature hath denyed their Country is plentifully repaired by the Independency wherein they have fixed themselves and by the Freedom under which they live Their Policy then which is at greater distance with Unity that that of the Venetians is by consequence more imperfect and hath greater Inconveniences Secrecy is not to be found in their Meetings the Convocation is made with extream tediousness Their Resolutions are not taken but very late And besides th' error which is common to all Assemblies To dispute much and conclude little 'T is certain the variety of Religions wherewith they are now in labour causeth that when the Dyets are composed of all the Cantons that interests more opposite and passions more opinionated are brought than heretofore were practised And it hath been seen and we have made very troublesome experiences that when our Forces were not fully known to us and that our Infantry was almost raised out of Suisses that the services were so slowly
Statues to the side of his Masters and th' overthrow of that Colossus who had commanded all th' Earth 'T is not sayeth Aristotle that Valour is the first of all Virtues or that Justice is not to be preferred before it but that it acts with more boldness then other Virtues and is exercised in surmounting of dangers and in despising of death 'T is reasonable that the Recompence that is due to it from abroad be the greater and the more eminent that it be Crowned with Glory and they that give their Lives to the service of their Princes and to the good of their Country obtain another life not subject to perish and to be preferred in the memory of men and to flourish alwaies in the mouthes of the Renowned Though these things here do raise admiration and that the spirit of man which attends naturally actions of Eminency layes out excessive love upon them though a Minister of State ought to esteem them highly and honour the Conduct when it shall be necessary yet he ought to proceed further and know that there are more silent and concealed operations which are better then th 'others because they are more usefull for the publique and want of that outward recompence Time onely discovers them in regard that secrecy is their principall Condition and the wise onely consider them according to their merit because they make but little noyse touch not upon the senses which make up the reason of the people They resemble the Rivers which running gently from the womb of their Center fill the fields with fruitfulness and Cities with abundance or the motions of the Heavens whith being almost undiscernable turn upon the Earth the power of the Sun and the wealth of the Stars To foresee th'evills which may befall a State to prepare preservatives to hinder their growth to suppress the Causes before they have produced their Effects are things very little considered And yet a greater Obligation is due to a Physitian that preserves the health from all sorts of Alteration than to him that restores the health when it is lost A greater Debt is due to him that hinders a person from falling then to him that draws him from a precipice And 't is a better and more difficult thing to preserve a State then to Conquer it The preservation of the Creatures is as noble and excellent a work of God's as their Creation They are both of the same price and th' one is but the continuation of th' other But it is not the same in Conquests and preservation of States The first are not gained but by pieces one Province is added to another and there 's need of severall Ages and of great Revolutions of things before a Monarchy can attain the Greatness that composeth it But the second takes notice of the whole frame of an Empire no part is exempted and the pieces which have been made one after another ought to move together as in a Watch and to point out th' hours The glory of Conquests is derived from many Causes many Persons contribute to it Fortune interposeth as well as Virtue and the faults committed by Enemies do advance them as much as the Conduct of the persons that obtain them But the conservation is th' effect of a single person or the work of a few persons Imprudency enters not there but to destroy and confound and the door of Hazard and so all th'Avenues of Fortune is as strongly shut as it can be locked It Conquests force mingles with prudence and the Body acts with th'understanding but in Conservation Reason onely is employed and Wisdom the noblest of her habits In a word great Princes have found the last of these things more difficult then the first Augustus endured much labour before he could confirm the Empire his Uncle left him and it was not done without changing the face of the world and without seeing all Nations armed against one another That he reunited the body that was divided into three pieces But he was so much troubled to maintain that Composition and to govern that Frame when he became absolute that he had it in deliberation amongst his friends whether he ought to strip himselfe of so weighty a greatness or bear it with the inseparable Cares and Thorns that are fastned unto it Some have been found who having tryed the weight and rusted the bitterness have chosen rather to abandon it cast themselve upon the quiet of a private life then alwaies to be encumbred with a multitude of Persons and croud of Businesse There are some who have given the lie to that common opinion which Ambition hath invented That an Empire can no more receive a Companion than the World two Sunt and have permitted others to share with them in a thing so full of jealousie as Commands and so incommunicable as Soveraignty The Conduct of Tiberius for peace hath not been lesse admired nor th'Artifices he used in his Age lesse exactly observed by the Historians then the Wars he made in his youth and th'evidences of Valour which he gave in his most flourishing time The life of one of our Kings Which deserved the Sirname of Wise is not less considerable then the life 's of them who have carried the Titles of Conquerors and a Prince our Neighbour hath given him this praise that no King ever raised fewer Armies and that no person ever gave him so much disturbance The Difficulties wherewith he was assaulted both within and without th'Artifices he was constrained to resist the Conspiracies from which he was to be secured and th'Enterprises of strangers which he made uselesse by his prudence delivered him to posterity worthy of a Title which hath been given to meaner persons as that of the Great Few Princes had greater Affairs in hand then Lewis the eleventh or more Enemies His principal Officers betrayed him the Princes of the blood forsook him He saw England Burgundy Flanders and Bretany in confederacy for his Ruine and yet his dexterity surmounted those difficulties He overcame his Enemies without conducting of Armies or giving of Battails and without making much noyse of eminent Attempts He defeated all that was raised to destroy him but never person was more to be feared in the Cabinet nor had done greater things abroad without stirring from home then Philip the second From th' Escuriall where he had shut up himselfe He governed two Worlds with three fingers of Paper He was also as absolute in Peru as in the Kingdom of Castile with three words he changed the Governours and deposed the Magistrates in America and in Japan And 't is certain that never Prince was lesse seen of his subjects nor more respected by them than he was According to what hath been said 't is not possible to suppose a more eaven Conduct or more intelligent then that of of Sr. the Cardinal 's He never offends against the conveniencie of things and his Intelligence is so pure and Reason so cleare
th' eyes of their subjects There 's nothing so easy as to passe them from Love to Disdaine and from Disdaine to Hatred and to Revolt The Life of Henry the third is an illustrious example of this Truth and th' Inconveniences wherein he fell after he had attained the Crowne make it appeare what foundation is to be laid upon the will of the people and upon th' inclinations of that beast which stirrs and his thrâ—st and which after it had adored the Duke of Anjou persecuted the King of France and dared to make War with him On th' other side it may be said that no Emperour is furer nor power better established than that which is founded upon Love And 't is certain that things are conserved by the same causes and with the same meanes which give them birth there 's also no doubt but that the soveraigne Authrority is the firmer when it is supported by the good will of the people from whence it took its Originall In the second place no violent thing is durable its proper force consumes it or some other that resists it and which is greater And 't is true that every sort of Chaine save that of Love weighes upon the spirit of man and that every sort of yoak if it be not voluntary opresseth it To conclude to raigne only by severity is to renounce the peace of the spirit 't is to charge upon himselfe the passion given to another 't is t' expose himselfe to an eternall necessity of distrusting all persons and to make them Enemies whom he would not suffer to love him for fear of not being sufficiently feared 'T is to fall into the the same mischiefs which traverse jealous husbands and in over-straining his subjects to be faithful to give them a will to rebell and to quit their obedience which would not be trusted to their vertue and to their inclination To the first Answer may be given that severity alone conserves very ill the power of a soveraigne and that t' employ violence against th'evills of a State 't is to use nothing but passion and fire against all the Maladies of the body and every sort of Ulcers That if great persons sometimes have affected an austere and hard humour and seem thereby to maintain themselves in Authority That effect neverthelesse proceeds from another cause And insomuch that that terrible conduct hath not been alone and was found in the Company of many great vertues that have tempered it It hath not done th'evill it was accusstomed to do This was observed in the life of Torquabes of Mariust of Sylla of Corbulon and of many others of the Ancients And of the Moderne in the Life of the duke of Alva of the Marquess of the Holy Crosse who left such cruell Markes of his Humours to the Terceres of the County of Fuentes and Wailstaine of this time who was so absolute in th' Armies he commanded that the name of the Emperour was but th' Image of the Soveraigne power He exercised If these great persons I say had known onely how to comand the setting up of Gallowses and to send men to death they had not been followed by their Souldiers in the occasions of glory and they had been unknown to us but a examples of Misfortune whereinto severity doth precipitate It may be also aswered to the second that Indulgency is a Means as little safe as facile to give power to raigne or to compell obedience that if the first men of the past and moderne ages seem to have neglected severe wayes and th' Examples of Rigour the better to subsist in the spirits of their subjects or of their souldiers 'T is that in effect they had extraordinary Qualities and I know not what of admirable in their persons which appeared in their face and countenance and inspited respect with love into the souls of them who came neer them such were Alexander Scipio Caesar Germanicus such Gaston of Foix Don John of Austria Ferrant Gonsalve and the two last Dukes of Gaise whose single presence-bewitched the world forced the wills of men in spight of Reason and constrained their Enemies to change their passion or to suspend it at the sight of them From this discourse I draw two Instructions which may be applyed to th' other matters of Policy The first is That for th' use of gentleness and severity and generall Rule cannot be Resolution must be taken upon th' Occasion Consultation had with the nature of Affairs with the condition of the times with the Quality of the persons and leve the disposition of th' event to fortune and t' other causes which are without us The second That although the difference brought of th'inclinations of divers people requires or the most part a very different application of the Means which are to be used for governing of them so 't is that as in the Oeconomy of th' humane body and dispensation of th' humours which compose it there 's of course one that predominates and which serves for a law to Physick and for a that 't is necessary sometimes to keep under that commanding Humour and that predominant Quality To raise others alter their order and change the course of certaine Occurences and according to the nature of the diseases which happen or threaten 'T is the very same with th' Humours of the People and Complexions of States There 's a certaine Conduct which is as naturall to them but it ought not to be inviolable A Minister of State ought not to be a slave He may quit it provided that he doth not abandon it and may resume it and a Minister of State is sometimes constrained to go out of th' high way t' avoide an ill passage or an Ambush There are people who are to be retained with Rigour and whose obedience is not ascertained but under a severe Empire But that ought not to be eternall 'T is good sometimes to gaine them and not alwayes to subdue them To bend them and not alwayes to break them and occasions doe happen wherein 't is of necessity to flatter them and to stroake them for feare of affrighting them lest they take the Bridle in their teeth and Carry him away that ought to Lead them The Seaventh Discourse That a Minister of State ought to treate in a different Manner with strangers as they are powerfull and free A Minister of State ought not onely to conforme his conduct to th' Inclination of the people which he governes or with whom he treats But he ought also to adjuste it to their power and to their weaknes He ought t' Imitate that wise Physician who considers as much the strength of the sick person as the virtue of the Remedy and seeks the proportion of that which actes with that which suffers There are States whose Greatness is in themselves which subsist upon their owne weight which can passe-by all others which have very little to feare from without and can hardly fall but bu their owne
And neverthelesse nothing of that could bend them They resisted the prayers of the Pope The miserable Condition of Christendome touched them not and that fatall obstinacy cost him besides the blood of his Children The losse of Rhodes and the diminution of the fairest portion of Hungary Popes have not onely lent their endeavours to Christendome to determine the Quarrells of those Princes But have also often aided in securing it from the Ruine that threatned it or to revenge its affronts or recover its Losses had it not been for their Mediations and Offices the Protestants had finished the defacing of it or the Turks had subdued it and God who hath chosen them to be the visible Cheifs of the Church hath also ordained that they should be sometimes the Liberators of the Country where the Church is preserved and th'Instruments of temporall conservation to the people that do acknowledge her The most famous League the world ever saw was formed in the Councill of Clermont at th'Instance of Peter th' Hermite and by th' Authority of Urban the second Four hundred thousand fighting men put themselves under the command of Godfrey of Buillon for the conquest th' Holy Land Christianity never overflowed so largely as at that time It never obtained such Eminent successe and never so great a Number of adventurers and voluntary Souldiers were so long together for the same designe and with so much courage But not to go from th' Age past and from the things hapned in the times of our fathers Who knows not that Paul the third was Author of the League was made betweene the Venetians and Charles the Fifth to beat back Soliman who threatned Italy and to chastise Barbarosse who robbed the Coasts That if the Christians suffered the victory t' escape which they had in their hands if they would have taken it If the Maritime power of the Turke was not abated at that stroake If Barbarosse was not destroyed at Prevese as he might have been The cause must be attributed t' Andre Doria as I have said in another place It seemed that these two Pirates had shared th' Empire of the Sea and th' one desired not the ruine of th' other for feare of being lesse considerable to his Master when he had defeated his Enemies and to lose credit with the losse of exercise Barbarosse also repayed the Courtesie and gave the revenge to Doria neere Villa Franca where he would not destroy him as it was easie for him after a Wrack nor pursue his Ships which the Tempests had scattered It may be also there was some hidden Cause and some concealed Motive from th' Emperour for which reason he sought not Victory in the League we speak of but the retrayte of his enemies and cessation of the War I will treat of this matter in the second part in the treaty of Leagues Pius the fourth layed the foundation of the League for the reliefe of Cyprus which was concluded under Pius the fourth That if it was not fortunate enough If th' hopes conceived faild of their principall End and if Cyprus was lost for want of reliefe The delayes the Spaniards bring t' all their undertakings The tempests that were frequent that year upon the Sea The Plague which emptied the vessels of the Venetians and a secret disposition of th' Heavens that afflicted the Republique were the causes of that Disgrace The League neverthelesse was profitable and past-ages nor all the powers of th' ancients did not produce upon the Levant Sea any thing so memorable as the Battail of Cursolary That if the Christians had not betrayed themselves If the would have made use of the victory and have followed the fortune Constantinople and the Levant offered them we had been largely repaired for the losses we have lately received We ware Masters of the Mediterranean Sea the Turke was reduced to the Land and the Virtue of Don John of Austria might have given hopes to Spain not t' envy France the glory of its Godfrey and the good successe of it's Armies But the distrust the Venetians had of the Spaniards and th' Experience they had made under Charles the fifth in the taking of Chasteauneuf how unjust observers they were of th' agreements of Leagues On the other side the jealousie the Spaniards had that the Ruine of the Turk was the greatning of the Venetians That they would gather the best pieces of his overthrow and the principall fruit of the Warre That having no cause to fear the forces of the Turk they would the lesse consider the Spanish strength and becomming more powerfull they might the more crosse them in their designes for Italy That I say corrupted the victory and frustrated th' hopes of Christendome and th' attempt of the World They that know the humours of Princes what the reasons of State are and the nature of Leagues will not think that strange which I have now said However we have drawn two notable advantages from the victory of Lepantha Th' one is that if we have not been wise enough to make profit of the Good offered us we have been sufficiently happy in avoiding th'Evills which threatned us if the forces of the Turke had not been shatter'd and that formidable Fleet dissipated which covered all the Gulfe of Venice with Crescents and the lower Sea of Italy Th' other advantage is that we have given him to understand that if his forces are greater then those of a single Prince they are inferiour to the forces of united Christendome And if by a designe worthy the name they beare they combine together against him his Greatnesse in a small time would be humbled the Crescent shattered and himselfe sent to the bottome of Soythia from whence he took his originall The continuation of the League and the good Fortune of Christendome dyed with the Life of Pius the fifth and if his successor had had as much Zeal as he to maintain it He was not happy enough to support it for he had the displeasure to know that the Venetians had broken it and was agreed with Selim without the knowledge of their Confederates whether they had Reason or not I will discourse in the Second part where I will examine the Causes of the Treaty of Moncon which we made some yeares past upon the business of the Valtoline For what concernes the warrs at Land T is very well known what Popes have done against the Common enemy of Christians and against Heretiques In the second Expedition of Soliman against Vienna and in th' heat which possessed him to purge off the shame of the first Expedition It was necessary that Christendome should employ all her forces That her rest was to be set up and oppose its greatest power to a Conquerour whom Spight and Ambition animated to her Ruine It must be confessed that in this Occasion Charles the fifth was truly the Caesar of Christians and that he fought for Religion in defending his patrimony But it must also be confessed that the
sword into their hands and hath Commanded that they should have power to punish not onely the Criminalls of their states but also to revenge th' injuryes done them and require reason themselves of other Soveraignes which had offended them since they have no superiours as particular persons who do the wrong I speak here of the wrongs which one Soveraigne doth to another For what concernes the Soveraigne to the subject t is a business which other Soveraigns have nothing to do with but to behold as not submitted to the Jurisdiction of any person and what God hath reserved for his Tribunall and for his Justice when the power is Legitimate th' use may be violent without being Lawfull for any person whatsoever t' alter it with force The people who are oppressed have nothing but prayers to divert it or Patience to suffer it Beyond that there 's no Resistance just nor exception to be admitted The Duty regardes not the person of Princes but th' Authority God hath put into their hands The bad as the good possesse it and therefore he wills that we acknowledge them equally and reverence as th' Image of his power them whom we cannot love as th' Image of his bounty The result of what hath been said is that a Soveraigne may sometimes strip another Soveraigne without injustice That the states of th' one may be the price and matter of Reparation for another that hath been offended or of th' Expence which he hath made in the pursuit and that there 's nothing Committed against th' order of things if Innocent subjects suffer for the faults of their Masters That they partake of his Evills as of his Benefits and receive the badas good influences of the head whereof they are members But for what concernes Popes and the Patrimony of th' Holy Chair The Considerations is very different They have Priviledges which are not Common t'other Princes nor t'other States God extends to them a Certain propriety by reason of Jesus Christ for whose Love they have been given which renders them unalienable which are not to be usurped without sacriledge and above the Right of Nations and those universall Lawes to which all Nations have consented for the Generall Good of the world And t is not alwayes true That the things which change Master cannot change Condition and take the Qualities of the last possessor which they had not with the former If the waters attract the virtues of the Mineralls by which they passe If the goodness of the soile communicates it selfe to the plants which are brought thither and gives them a grouth they had not in another If the proprieties of a Crowne descend upon the Members which are united to it And if Bretanny be subject to the Salique Law since it was incorporated into France why should not the dignity of th' Holy Chair infuse some what of particular to the States which are belonging to it Why should it remaine Barren why should it be without virtue and action in that behalfe Why should not Holy things have some exemption above the prophane and the Reflexion which is made towards Jesus Christ obtaine some Respect from Christian Princes which they give not t' one another and some speciall Distinction I say in the third place when the Pope quits the functions of his Charge and that of Father which he ought to be becomes th' Enemy of his Children when he breaks unjustly the Calme of Christendome and carries the warr to the States of other princes They may preserve for their defence and make use of th' offensive by way of Diversion and prevention provided that neither th' one or th' other tend to Conquest but onely to Conserve and passe not the designe of a lawfull Defence So the Duke of Alva did exercise it in the warr he made against Paul the fourth He stayed not to make his defence just till th' Ecclesiastique and French Armies were joyned and made Incursions into the Lands of his Master He drew into the field whilst they were preparing Enterd the Lands of the Church took many places and gave Terrour to Rome And if he would have forced the Victory as farr as he might he had seen it crowned with the taking of the Chiefest Towne of the world But his designe was t' affright the Pope and not to hurt him To shew lightning and restraine the Thunder to constraine him whom he could not bend and to bring him back to his duty by violence who voluntarily estranged himselfe from it So after we had received affronts before Civitella and before other places by the fault of the Caraffes After that our Army was Constrained to draw back and might have been defeated If the Duke of Alva had been disposed to have gained bloody Victories and not to have prepared bridges for his Enemies In their Retraite He made an Accommodation with Paul and an Accord which I preferre before the greatest Victory Spaine ever obtained He restored all the places he had taken He confessed his error He was at Rome to make his submissions to the Pope He demanded pardon for the fault'he had committed so Rome received him as in Triumph He had th' honour t' eate with his Holiness and merited of his bounty the praise of being the defender of the Holy Chair whilst he made warr with it And since when after six yeares of service and for a matter of nothing as I have else where expressed Philip the second sent him a Prisoner to his house in the Country Gregory the third interceded for him and endeavoured to gaine him his Liberty In the representing to him the long and great services which he had rendred to Spaine and to the Church and particularly the Moderations h' used in behalfe of th' Holy Chair when it was in his power t' have defaced ir unpuni shed to make use of the priviledges of a Conquerour and t' exercise Advantages which force gives to them that have it This proceeding is worthy of th' Approbation of all Ages and th' Imitation of all Princes Th' Action of Charles the fifth in the same subject is very different from th' other Let us represent it as it is and in its naturall posture Le ts take away the policies and painting wherewith the Spaniards have disguised it Le ts not flatter a Monster which cannot be formed too hideous and that so scandolous and black a Crime rest not unpunished in the Memory of Men. I am Content that the taking of Rome by Bourbon should be taken to be a Blow from th' hand of God and an effect of his provoked Justice and that the warr inclined it to that side against th' Intention of Charles and that Treaty which Moncado made with Clement was done without supecery and with Designe to Cause it to be observed by Bourbon and to suffer the Pope t' enjoy the Truce of five Months which had been accorded unto him And that th' Army of Bourbon took the bridle in the teeth and marched
towards Rome in spight of his Generall I speak not of the raising of 14000 furious Lutherans and burning with the first Zeale of that Heresie t' employ them in a Warre where th' Holy Chaire had so great a part But after that Rome was taken that dreadful accident was hapned by the course wherewith it was guided After that th' Holy Citty had served for spectacle to the World of the justice and of th' Impiety of Men After that the Pope was besieged in the Castle of St. Angelo Why did not th' Emperour cause the scandall to cease at the first news he heard of it Why did he not deliver Rome of that heretique Garrison which abused th' holy things who prophaned the most sacred Mysteries of our Religion and added to all the kinds of cruelty all the kinds of sacriledge Why did he suffer the Pope to be put to Ransom to redeeme himselfe with Money from the vexation of victorious Heretiques and that Ostia and th' other strong place of th' Ecclesiastique State were the Price of his liberty and th' Arguments of his servitude I know well that some answer may be made in his favour and for his discharge That 't is permitted to make use of th' Advantage which we have not sought but fortune hath offer'd That 't is lawfull to draw good from th'evill which happens against our intentions That 't is the destiny of the things of this World That the prosperity of some is raised by th' Adversity of others and that th' affairs of State are like those of Merchandize wherein the greatest secret is to know when to make right use of the time and t' employ th' occasions to profit when they are offered To that I answer first that the evills which I have spoken of and those dreadfull Accidents were the sequells of the breach of many treaties made with Clement and of the violation of publique faith in his person And therefore that the effects could not become Lawfull whose causes were so notoriously unjust That the River cannot be very sound if the Spring be poysoned That conclusions retain alwaies the conditions of the principles fâ—om which they arise and partake of their spots and weaknesses and that they who have been the promoters of some Evill or have not diverted it when they were obliged are bound to repaire it and ought to be security for th' ill consequences they bring with them In the second place I answer that the person of the Pope and the dominions of th' Holy Chaire are priviledged-things and of right are not subject t' all th'Inconveniences and t' all the disgraces to which the Person and States of other Princes are exposed for the Reasons above given and which shall not here be repeated As to th' affliction th' Emperour seemed to declare at the News of th'Accident and the Demonstrations he published of an eminent grief As to the mourning he put on to make his Displeasure visible and to the Processions he made upon that occasion And the Rejoycings for the birth of his Son He caused to cease To weep th' ill fortune of the Pope All that was but illusion and Comedy So that false sadnesse suddenly disappeared and that vain shew of griefe was presently belyed by the proceedings above mentioned And moreover Francis the first reproached him in one of his Manifests that he had dared to think to send Clement into Spain and conceived that monstrous vanity To have at the same time in his hands the two principall persons of the World and two so great prisoners as a Pope and King of France The Spaniards answerd that if Charles had had the will who could have hindred him to have executed it And who are strong enough to oppose his designes in a time when Fortune refused nothing to his desires when his prosperities gave feare t' England and Italy was amazed at the blow which it had newly received When France was mortified for th'Imprisonment of its King and th'heretiques of Germany made brags of the purging of Rome from its abominations and abating the Pope dome under th' Authority of a Catholique Emperour To that Answer may be made with Francis the first That Charles was diverted from that designe by th' Horror the proposition raised to all Spaine That the people murmured and the Clergy raged when there was speech of leading the Vicar of Jesus Christ in Triumph and to make a Prisoner of th' head of the Church Though it be very hard to justifie the truth of this fact to make visible a matter so darke 't is better to leave it in darknesse and to suspend herein ones beliefe for the honour of a Prince that hath much merited of the Church in divers occasions and to whom the glory of beating back Soliman cannot be denyed and th'assuring of all Christendome in the defence of his patrimny and the States of his brother At least 't is certain that if he was a sinner he was a Penitent and that he washed his faults with the teares of three years which he poured out in his retraite from the world before death tooke him away from it Others aggravated this fault by th'Evills which Fortune raised t' interrupt his prosperities and by the diverse faces which she shewed to them of his Race They mentioned the disgraces of his Brother The Route of his Armies at Ezechio and at Bude and th' other Victories which Valour did not so much give to the Turk as th' ill Fortune of Ferdinand and the Cowardise of his Captains They did not conceale th' occasions wherein he saw his designes overthrown and his person in danger The sinking of his Fleet in th'haven of Algiers and that fearfull losse which hath not been equalled by any losse made by Christians on the Sea but by that which his Son made in the Sleev of England They represent the successe which the second League had against him in Germany The Chase which Maurice Duke of Saxony gave him And the necessity whereunto he was reduced to save himselfe by night and the sixth person at Isburg and to consent to the peace of Passo so injurious to Religion and so unworthy of th' Empire And to conclude they adde th' ill successe of the Enterprize of Provance and the shame of the siege of Mets which was the last deceit fortune put upon th' Emperour and th' accomplishment of the designe he meditated to put himselfe out of her power in quitting the World where she is so soveraign I will not affirme that all these Evills befell him in revenge of the sacking of Rome and th' affront offered to th' Holy Chaire It might happen that God sent or permitted them for that subject And it might fall out also that they sprang from other reasons and were th' effect of another cause Insomuch that according to the judgements that are made upon that Matter and th'Examples which are alleadged of them whom God hath punished for offending of Popes There 's
He had surpassed all the Moderne Captaines Considerations upon the principall things which the King hath done since the Landing of th' English in th' Ile Rhé which will declare some Conditions necessary for a Minister of State The third Book The First Discourse Of what Importance Care and Vigilancy are for a Minister of State and that nothing is to be neglected principally in Warre CAre Labour and Vigilancy are not things purely spirituall The body seems therein to have the best part and if they derive their Originall from th' understanding they determine in the matter and sensible objects do bind them They are the neerest causes of execution and without them a Minister of State may peradventure be wise but can never be happy On the contrary there 's no difficulty nor resistance which may not be forced by their aide with them fortune is constrained to follow Good counsells are assured Bad are corrected Things are supported and overthrown and that form is almost given to businesse which is proposed 'T is then of great Concernment to neglect nothing that may be profitable That no accident is to be esteemed smal if it may incommodate That every moment ought to be of precious esteem if it be necessary for us And that the Maxim of Morality be remembred That evill is raised out of the least defect in things and that Good to be such requires that every part be entire and sound Above all in great misfortunes in the violence of fortune that all advizes must be heard and all things attempted though they seem impossible For then much must be hazarded provided that it be not all unlesse we are constrained thereunto and cannot save our selves but in ruming a course to destroy our selves Moreover we ought t' Imitate the Wise Physitian who will never ordain dangerous Remedies and whose operation is doubtfull but they will trye diverse of whose goodnesse they may not be fully assured but that they shall not kill if they heal not and will not make th' evill worse if they do not ease it In a word 't is not to be believed what great and incredible effects are produced by an exact care by a constant diligence by an infatigable contest and by that prudent inquietude which alwaies acts which forgets nothing which never gives it selfe liberty and forceth at last what holds too fast and draws what will not follow Caesar was incomparable in these Qualities as in all other that forme a great Captain No person ever took more pains in the Warre or exercised more functions together in his Army nor that more desired to be present in all occasions or that was more obstinate t' execute his resolutions not to retire when he was once advanced and not to stand in the midst of an enterprize 'T is true that he deliberated much before he undertook any thing and did not cast himselfe blindly upon any designe He did not prepare to make war after he had begun to make it The provisions answered alwaies to the time he had forecast to make them continues and th' execution never deceived his providence But after that he lost not a moment of time nor an occasion of advantage and never remitted to the next day what he might execute the same day He seldome trusted but to his eyes and judgement and for the most part he went in person to view the Country he would assault and th' enemies he was to fight When th' occasion prest he made incredible Marches He passed Rivers by swimming t' avoid going about to gain Bridges He crossed the Seas in small Vessels to make the more diligence and chose rather to sayl in Storms then suffer his businesse to run hazard and to put his person in danger rather then his fortune And it must not be a wonder if in his profession he left all the men in the world behind him And if it hath been doubted To whom the victory had remained if Alexander had made Warre to the growing Common-Wealth No Question can be made but he was inferiour to Caesar who destroyed it in its most vigorous Age and in th' excesse of its force and made it fall from th' height of its greatnesse and from the top of its Power On the contrary the reason why the Reputation of so many Men is seen to passe with the time and their glory t' extinguish 'T is the diminution of Labour and the default of Vigilancy This diminution default proceed from severall causes The first is that as in the condition of particular persons a mans fortune doth not alwaies advance with equall pace and with an uniforme progresse That it stops toward th' end or moves slowly though it come with impetuosity and swiftnesse Insomuch that he who burnt with impatience in the beginning to quit poverty and laboured with Zeal to become Rich So soon as his desire is satisfied and that he sees himselfe in plenty H' abates of his cares and would enjoy with rest th'fruits of his industry So the man whose spirit is possessed with the passion of glory and meditates the great actions which do beget it when he hath attained his end That he hath filled the World with the reputation of his vertue and hath formed in himselfe a great opinion of himselfe Th' hunger of honour which pressed him at first becomes moderate and by consequent his first contest weakens and his ordinary diligence diminisheth A second cause of this diminution is Age and 't is no wonder if the body which destroyes it selfe grieves the Soul and if it operate not with the same vigour as it did when th' Organs are spoyled and th'instruments of use weare out This rule neverthelesse is not absolutely true and hath its exceptions as I have said elsewhere A third cause are the diseases which produce the same effects and more dangerous then Age because they produce them more suddenly and with more violence and 't is not possible that in the griefe of the body and weaknesse of nature a man can intend things that are without him and at the same time contest with the disease and businesse Besides what hath been said before of Phillip the second The Spaniards have also observed that their affaires in the Low Countryes declined with th' health of the Prince of Parma and began to change when he began to be sick and neverthelesse being of a very vast spirit and active humour He would not abate any thing of his accustomed occupations He would do more then he could He would retain the same authority in businesse as when he had his health He could not ease himself upon the cares of another and thought that nothing was well done but what was done by his Orders When he was hurt before Candebu He put the command of th' army into the hands of his Son and in regard he was but a young Prince and to whom experience was wanting and that sort of Capacity which comes not from study or nature He
Of them then who give over at the first successes they obtaine and stop at th' Entry of their prosperity some of them are astonished at their happinesse and insomuch that they have been forced into th' Haven and that they did not bring themselves thither They dare not any more put forth to Sea They content themselves with what they have gained They will not put their Reputation to Reference and resemble certaine persons who having leapt over by night or in th' excesse of a passion a very large ditch or some very dangerous passage are ravished with what they had done upon sight thereof by day or that their souls are sunk and are not bold enough t' attempt the same Action after the consideration of it Others will taste of the good which is hapned to them and rejoyce in the victory and consider not that in that time th' Occasions steale away from them fortune retires and th' Enemies gather strength which hinders them to march on There are some that decline not to do well so much by distrust of their virtue or by the weakeness of their Courage as for feare of Envy and had rather possesse in peace a Moderate reputation than provoke that maligne passion which causeth us to be more afflicted for the good of others then for our owne ills and that even friends cannot behold the glory of their friends if it be very high nor suffer their Brightnesse if it be very lively Th' examples of what I have said are but too ordinary The Grecians have very often committed such faults and 't is certaine that the Batteli of Salamina opened unto them the dore for the Ruine of Persia and for the Conquest of Asia if they had known their advantages or if they had not been glutted with their successe The victory of Lepantha brought nothing to the Christians which they had not before that warr The most famous Battell that was ever gained upon the sea was unfruitfull in their hands all the gaine of the victorious was not to have been overcomed The price of so memorable an action determined in it selfe and gained nothing from abroad that Crowned it and was its Recompense Charles the fifth also as Great a person as he was forgot himselfe after the journey of Pavia an if in the Consternation wherein France was fallen for th' Imprisonment of their King and for a stroak so little expected He had assaulted our frontiers He had not met with any Resistance He had not it may be left Rivalls to his nephews and had paid himselfe by his hands the ransome of his prisoner The King did not handle it so after the reliefe of Râ—é nor corrupt the fruits of that victory for want of pursuite It was truly much to have performed an action which was held almost for a miracle and to gaine an end of what was esteemed Impossible It was much to have revenged so many affronts th' English had heretofore done us and purged the shame of the losses of Creci of Poitiers after two ages But it had not been enough for the King if he stayed there and though th' Effect was great It was not reasonable for a Prince to retire whose forces were strong to whom so much remained to be done The second Consideration and which is a necessary sequel of the first is th' Incounter of the time the King made choice of very seasonable for that siege The choice it may be of the time is the greatest secret in Affaires and most powerfull Meanes to make them prosper Caesar did supremely possesse it and it was one of the words of Charles the fifth and of Philip his son I and the Time to Two others These words may admit of too Interpretations Th' one is to know how t'order a man selfe in the time of ill fortune To strike saile when the Tempest is too strong not t' oppose ones selfe to the violence of a destiny provoked T' avoid the stroakes with dexterity which cannot be resisted in a streight line To put them by to cast ourselves on Quarter and t' observe th' occasion of some favourable Revolution and of a better adventure Charles the fifth gives that Counsell to his son in th' instruction he left him and the Spaniards have been accustomed to make better use of it then any people in the world He practised it at the peace of Passo which had been shamefull to th' Empire if the Necessity had not rather made it then th' Inclination of th' Emperour He practised it at the peace of Soissons where the want of money interrupted the prosperity of his armes and he was constrained to offer himself for Hostage to the Germans who without that had a designe to seize upon him The Spaniards practised it also some two yeares since at the peace of Suza and they diverted in flying the storme which did threaten them and restrained the Thunder which was ready to fall on them if they had not humbled themselves The Truce which we made the last yeare at Carignan when the plague defected our armies and that the warr was the least of the Flailes of th' anger of God was a stroake of that addresse and gave us meanes to prepare for the Reliefe of Casal and to save Italy Th' other Interpretation is to know how to make choice of the best time to make an Enterprize For 't is true there 's a certaine Moment in time and a certaine Encounter of causes in affaires which being passed they returne no more together and 't is to no purpose t' attend th' Effect when the Causes cease Th' Italians have called it very aptly Conjuncture but it was not possible to find a more favourable then that under which the siege of Rochell was formed That towne was almost without a Garrison th' English had emptied it of Victualls Holland durst not send it but a desavoured Releese and by Consequent weake England which we had so ill handled could not send any but fearefull persons and the Rebells were reduced t' expect more from th' Elements then from Men and from out Impatience then from their Force The third Consideration is th' Enterprize of the Ditch and th' Acceptation of the proposition which was then made It must be Confessed that there was use of an extraordinary virtue for a worke without Example and there was not lesse need of Light and understanding to Comprehend the possibility then of fire and Courage to propose the Means of reducing it in Act and t'overcome the difficulties which were not ordinary Tyre and Antwerpe have nothing seen of like whatsoever is said unlesse it may be they will Compare the Mediterranean Sea with th' Ocean and a straight and quiet Channell with a Channell extreamly Agitated and unmeasurably Large In the Matter of these novelties There are that doe generally reject all of them by reason of the vanity that is found in many and who had rather beleeve nothing then expose themselves to the shame