preferred to the timerous 92 93. This boldness and rudeness have in some encounters been approved and sometimes succeeded 93 94. Those who are naturally so hardly correspond with an enemy but they easily go back against their Master 94. They are not fit to be near a Princes person their imployment is better at a distance 95 96. They love the state and their Country but hate dependance and subjection 96. They are good Governors of Provinces and good Guardians of a Frontier but they cannot be good Ministers of State or good Courtiers ibid. In business wherein they may chuse their side and wherein of many who offer themselves the fittest to manage them ought to be chosen they are commonly in one extreme or other 96 97. They are Enemies of all accommodation and are not acquainted with those tempers or adjustments which are so profitably used for the perfection of business 97 98. In a State which dyes of old age they would the same thing as if they governed a Republick newly established 98 99. Like Cato give sentence against Caesar 99. Such Maxims as to govern well they ought to learn 101. A man must not be too severe nor too ridged but must sometimes accommodate himself to times and seasons ibid. It 's unnecessary to make punctilio's on words and forms Great persons to blame upon that occasion 103 104. It 's better not to have so good and penetrating a sight in the discussion of Rights least we discover but too much Justice 106 107. There are some who to appear vertuous and incorrupted in Office rendred themselves ridiculous by an extravagant Probity 108. There are some who for fear of favoring any man disapprove blame and condemn all the world and most commonly without knowing why 109 110. Such men are not to be called to the counsels of Kings 110 111 Prudence A man may be imprudent with the consent of Prudence 60 R. REason Even the right and that which is most clear wanders often and the most able and the most intelligent men are subjects of deceit 51 Remedies though filthy are still remedies 102 Royalty is â—not compatible with subjection 138 S. SEcrâ—sie A singular example of a kept secret 146 Society Men can neither live well nor be men nor be happy the one without the other 2. Societies advantage above Solitude ibid. Solitude God onely enjoys a most happy solitude ibid. Stilicon unhappily ended his life having been too ambitious for his children 11 156 Subtilty Of those who entertain so vast and extended an intelligence who reason with excess 35. They are like extractors of essences ibid. It 's an error to think that wisdom cannot be couragious that it ought always to fear and tremble 70. Danger is to be invoked to the relief of danger and we must get out of one evil through another 70 71. The ill conduct of wise Ministers when some ill business happens some trouble or some rebellion in the State 71 72. They are often also friends to strangers and apprebend more to displease a neighbour King then to disserve the King their Master 74 75. If a sensible injury which cannot be dissembled oblige the State to a publick resentment they do not blame the thing in its principle but in its consequences and effects 75. They are like the Ministers of Carthage who never comforted themselves with Hannibals Victories in Italy 76. Such Ministers were the cause of the loss of two Empires they lost both Rome and Constantinople ibid. They would neither sell nor deliver up their Master but neither are they angry the world knows it 's in their power 77. They keep even sometimes intelligence with the Ministers of other Princes although it be even in open war 77 78. In particular affairs they only give good answers in general without precisely ever obliging any and thus they can tire out the pateince of Solicitors and often reduce them to despair 78 79. Nothing can be imagined more sweet or more quiet then their malice they strike as they say without lifting up the arm 80 81 Women the insolency of those who possess a powerful Favorite or Minister of State and how unhappy it renders a State 131 132. They are the Hereticks of State 35. There are speculatives in all Nations which afford more liberty then is fit to conjecture and suspition 36. Strange and ridiculous Visions produce in them a false subtilty,37 They presume too advantagiously of a man who often proves less then mean who possesseth but a quarter or one half of the reasonable part 39. Great Events are not always produced by great Causes Vide Events Evil Subtilty is the cause things are not effected 44. It 's not necessary for a Minister of State to have so much subtilty 35 44. A great mind alone is a great instrumentt to commit faults 48 Sobriety of knowledge and of knowing is a good thing 48 49. T. TImerousness is dangerous and prejudicial to a Minister of State or to a Favorite 144. 145 Timeroâ—s persons are placed in the number of Poysoners and Assassins how that 's to be understood 65. They are the last and worst of all â—â—wards ibid. A wiseman ought to expect without astonishment till ill fortune be come 67 Treaty It were expedient to quit somewhat our own reason and Honor rather then not to make a good and honest accommodation 106 Tyrants how they by degrees make and form themselves 117 118 W. WArs The quarrels of Valors often sets the world on fire and not their Masters interests 40. The war of the King of Persia against Greece was onely undertaken to bring home a Muontebank 41. Weakness of mind is a subject of consolation for our poor humanity to see that something of the man was in their Hero's 107.108 A Woman despised by a King obligeth her Husband to revolt for to revenge herself he being ignorant of what moved him thereunto 41 42 Wisdom the refutation of what some Philosophers say that a wise man needs no body and what is separate from him is to no puppose 1 2. Court-Wise men counsel themselves instead of counselling their Master 62 63. A wise man cannot warraut success but is to be responsible for his intentions and for his Advice 66 Our Prudent Polititians should imitate the courage and magnanimity of Cicero 67. Timerousness so possesseth their minds that they despair before they ought to be afraid 68. They regulate their deliberations as if all doubtfull actions must needs happen and commonly act not at all because they would act securely 68 69 They ought to consider that all that ill which might happen happen not always ibid. They do not always sound the bottom of things and seldom bring them to the last point 69. Their Wisdom is precipitate as soon as out of their souls and never comes to action 69 70. FINIS
given us for COVNSEL Beasts are carried away by the swift impetuosity of their natures and by the presence of the first object Men have the conduct of themselves by Deliberation and by Discourse Having the gift to seek and to choose they may instantly pass from the present to the future and from the first to the second and stop there if they so find it fit Pyrates make use of Counsel nor do the Savages live without it With far more reason is it therefore entertained amongst Civilized people But every-where wise men must borrow it from others because their own wisdom is to be suspected to them in things which respect themselves Man is so near himself that he can find no place betwixt both no free space for to debate the counsel he would give himself He cannot hinder those two Reasons which deliberate in him from confounding themselves in communication That which proposeth being too much mixed with that which concludes He who counsels therefore must be another person distinct from him who is counsell'd There must be a proportionable distance betwixt the objects and those faculties which judge of them And as the most quick-sighted can never see themselves so the most piercing Iudgments want perspicuity when it concerns their own interests What natural knowledge soever we have and what light soever comes down on us from above yet ought we not to reject humane means nor to despise this advantage of reason and this great illustration of the truth which is gained by Conference Let us acknowledge the imperfection of Man severed from Man and the prevalencie of Society above Solitude Since the Friend of God and the Conductor of his people although a miraculous cloud march'd before him by day although a Pillar of fire did the same by night placing themselves in the place where they were to encamp did not forbear to take a Guide to serve him in other difficulties which during the journey might occur should any man after this not ask for a Guide nor seek assistance Who is it that can trust so much to the advantages of his birth who is it that can so negligently sleep on those favors which he expects from heaven as to imagine that the assistance of others is useless as to believe that his fortune alone and his onely wisdom are sufficient for a good Government and a good Conduct Those who are raised far above the common condition of men have raised themselves by some degrees It is not Chance which cast them above others nor is it their own Vertue which hath done all They often meet with the services of some one person amongst the wonders of their lives And it 's visible through the course of all Ages that those Princes who have gotten most are those who have been the best seconded Of so many Examples a crowd of which are to be found in History I shall only make choice of that on which we yesterday discoursed and which oblig'd his Highness for this day to make me speak VEspasian had lived under the Tyranny of Nero and had saved himself from his hands by miracle But he contented not himself with his own safety after that Monster was dead He took heart and undertook greater matters for the publick good Observing that there were other Nero's which threatned the World and that new Monsters unchain'd themselves he hazarded himself to preserve the World by seising on the Empire He embraced the Protection of the people of Rome the glory whereof was almost all fallen either by the sword or by poison and the remnant which was left was daily exhausted to fill Islands and Dungeons He had stopped there at his good will and good intentions He had seen all the last Lights of the Senate extinguished and the Common-wealth perish before his face but for the powerful sollicitations and the vigorous pursuits of Mutius who as it were by force plac'd the Crowe on his head and in despight of him made him Emperor He at first stagger'd the mind of Vespasiar which was then fixed on present occurrents although he approved them not nor durst he be the Author of that Change which he desired And after having cast him into an irresolution he urged him with so many reasons and perswaded him with so much eloquence that he at last constrain'd him to make an end of the design and to engage himself in the Publick cause by an open Declaration Now it 's fit you should know that Mutius was not a man who engaged in a Party with fair words only and good wishes but presently he fortifies Vespasian with men and with money He acquired him Provinces and brought him Legions He spared not his own person when he thought it fit he laid his life at stake and would needs be the Executor of most of those things which he counselled Princes which are to be made cannot be without such persons and Princes already made have great use of them There never was any One so strong who by his own strength could bear the burthen of the whole Government Never was there any so jealous of his Authority as to be able to reign alone and to be indeed a Monarch to take the word in the rigor of its meaning Neither is it other then a pastime and invention of the Platonians to slatter Royalty and place it above humane condition to say That God endowed Kings with two spirits that they might govern well Plato often sports himself after this manner He philosophiseth poetically and mixeth Fable with his Theologie This double spirit is of his concession And it were better to explicate it of the Kings spirit and of that of his Counsellor then to have recourse to Miracles which must never be made use of but in case of necessity not even for the honor and for the glory of Kings It is certain they have a burden so disproportionable to the weakness of One that did they not trust to the support of many they would from the very first step which they took catch but a most certain fall Did they not call their friends to their succor and did they not divide the Globe of the Earth they would soon be punished for the temerity of their Ambition and sink under the weight of their own Fortune That multitude of Cares which from all parts assaults them would not afford them a free respiration The crowd of Affairs would stifle them at the very first Audience they gave There are several degrees of Servants which all have a place in the Administration of a State There are Spirits of a mean capacity which untangle which prepare and dispose affairs These are fit to begin the work they make way and take away the difficulties which embroil things These Spirits are employed by the Prince for every day and he dischargeth himself on them only of the grosser functions of his Royalty There are other Spirits of a higher elevation which he may trust in more important employments
Millan to our last Kings and had Demosthenes been of their Councel he would have counselled them to have refused the Present for fear of doing wrong to the Rights they had to the Dutchy He would rather have kept his just pretentions and have consolated himself with the hopes of the future then to have enjoyed the advantage of the present and to have accepted the possession of a second Crown upon such terms as he did believe were not worthy of the first In the wicked world wherein we live when they execute Justice on us do we fancy it an act of Grace Let 's not be avaritious of terms and of appearances so as the essential part remain Let them carry away some Pictures and Weathercocks so as they leave us the Walls and the Roof Let them call it a Present a Favor an Alms if they please when the piece is ours we may easily give it a fairer name and that which may please us better Let us with honor have those Islands which belong to us but let us have them at any rate Let us rather applaud our selves for a little wrong we have suffered then complain to posterity of a great injustice inflicted on us It were better not have a good and piercing sight in the discussion of ones Rights lest we should therein discover but too much Justice it were better not to be so able in a mans own business lest a man should be thereby over-perswaded This so subtil and delicate a sence of the injuries which we have received is no very convenient thing when the reparation we require is concerned So high an opinion of the merit of the cause with difficulty submits it self to the Judgement and Decision of another All this serves onely to render that impossible which we haue a design to do to amuse a man in a place out of which he ought to go as soon as possible these are not means to act these are hindrances of action these are not means to level the difficulties of a course they are stones which lye before the end of it They are in effect elevated qualities which commonly accompany Nobleness of heart and Generosity But they commonly do more hurt then good At least they are not for every days use and those who are weak cannot use them profitably against those who are more strong I know not how they understand it But methinks a Treaty cannot be more unhappily concluded or have a more sad success for the one of the parties then when after along Negotiation after an infinite many words thrown in the wind and writings which must be cast into the fire it 's obliged To appeal to another Age and must bring home again all its Reason and all its Honor It were far better to quit some of this Reason and of this Honor Why not consent to an accommodation which were reasonable in consideration of what 's profitable and which will be no ways dishonest in the necessity of times whereto Generosity it self and Nobleness of heart ought to accommodate themselves LEt us not be blinded therefore with the Reputation of the Wisdom of the Grecians let neither the one nor the other of the Orators of Athens perswade us the Country the Antiquity the merit of those which have fail'd instead to justifie their faults renders them only the more visible and the more remarkable Let 's once in our lives make use of the liberty of our Judgement which ought not always to be subalternate to that of the Grecians and Romans it 's a cause of consolation for our poor humanity to seeâ— that even in Hero's there hath been somewhat of the Man How much good it doth me an excellent man formerly told me to see that Hero's have fled that wise men have committed follies that that great Orator made use of an ill term that so great a Polititian hath delivered an ill opinion These examples of weakness and infirmity were the spectacles and pass-times which sometimes were the divertisements of this excellent Man who derided Demosthenes and his ridiculous point of Honor but he mocked Cleon far more with his extravagant Probity This Man having been called to the Government of the Republick would signalize his coming to his Place by I know not what kinde of good which was new and strange the next day after his promotion he sent to desire his friends to come to him where being come and every one with the hopes of sharing with him in his good fortune he entertained them with a Discourse which was unexpected to them all and had almost made them all fall to the ground He told them That he had assembled them in his house to drive them thence and to declare unto them that truly as a private man he had been their friend but being become Magistrate he thought himself obliged to renounce their Friendship He thought this Declaration was an original of Vertue an act of heroick Probity the fairest thing which could have been done at Athens since the foundation of the Town since Theseus his time to that of Cleon He did believe that a States-man was a publick Enemy and that for the first essay of his â—igor he was to dispatch himself of all his inclinations and of all his friendships That he was to break all the bonds of Nature and of Society I have seen some of these counterfeit Just men on this side and beyond the mountains I have seen some who to make their integrity admired and to oblige the world to say that Favour could work nothing on them take up a strangers interest against one of his Kindred or against a friend although the reason was on his Friends or Kinsmans side They have been ravished at the loss of a cause which was recommended to them by their Nephew or Cousen German and the worst office which could be done a good business was such a recommendation When divers Competitors pretended to one and the same Office they demanded it for one they knew not and not for him whom they judged worthy of it I protest again that I do not enlarge the business I am not an Exaggerator like him who related nothing but Prodigies to Your Highness and had seen nothing of what he spake I give you an account my Lord from my own experience and I could name those I speak of I have seen some who were so afraid of favouring any body that they disapproved that they blamed that they condemned all the world and most commonly without knowing wherefore In them it was rather extravagancy then cruelty rather intemperance of tongue and choler which exhaled it self then premeditate malice or a design of harming any man conceived in the Mind and digested by time and by discourse They would have called Julius Caesar a DRUNKARD although an hour before they had said of him THAT A SOBER MAM HAD NEWLY RUINED THE REPUBLICK Your Highness hath heard of that Counsellor who commonly gave his opinion to the death
and afford a more noble share in his designs These govern under him and with him nor are they evil Pilots in the sweet seasons nor on those seas which suffer but little agitation But how happy is that Prince and how is he lov'd by Heaven if in his time he meets with spirits of the first rank souls equal with Intelligences in light in force in sublimeness Men whom God creates expresly and whom he extraordinarily sends to prevent or force the evils of their Ages to divertor to calm the storms of their Countries They are the Tutelar Angels of Kingdoms and the Familiar spirits of Kings They are the Seconds to the Alexanders and to the Caesars They ease the Prince in all his toils They with him partake saving Disquiets without which there would be no Tranquility in the World If in the States wherein we live there are such persons let us bless their Watchings which are so necessary to the Publick Repose under whose protection we sleep securely and at ease These excellent Watches are they not the cause my Lord for which the Grecian Poeâ—s gave the Night the name of Wise and Counsellor For so I fancie it and the Grammarians do somtimes give the Poets furtherfetch'd explications The Poets Your Highness knows it better then I were the first antient Preceptors of Humane kind they taught them the first Principles of Policie and of Morality Here then as elswhere they have discovered and pointed out the Truth unto us The Philosophers have since displaid it and brought it to its full light Having acknowledged this necessity of Society and the defects which accompany Solitude besides their Jupiter the Counsellor and their Minerva the Counsellor besides the Gods and Demons who alwayes went in company of their Hero's they have yet besides that given them Men to assist them in their enterprises or other Hero's to undertake and act with them Whilst Hercules cuts off the heads of the Hydra Iolas applies fire to it to hinder them from springing up again Diomedes doth nothing without Vlysses Agamemnon's actions arise from the counsels of Nestor And this Prince being to make a wish which might comprehend all others desires neither more powerful forces then his own nor that wealth he had not nor the destruction of the Empire of Asia nor the greatening of that of Greece but only Ten men which were like unto Nestor Agamemnon shewing us thereby That the fear he was in to lose Nestor in respect of his extreme age made him apprehend he should want men to substitute in his place And Homer makes it appear That one Nestor may sometimes be found in an Age but that ten Nestors are only to be wished This wish did nothing wrong the memory of Agamemnon Greece never reproach'd him for having suffered himself to be governed by Nestor Nor was the King of Kings esteemed for that less wise or less worthy of the Soveraign authority On the contrary it is an Axiom in the Politicks which passeth for the Proposition of an eternal truth and is as old as Policie it self THAT AN UNABLE PRINCE CAN NEITHER BE WELL COUNSELL'D NOR WELL SERV'D If to receive Counsel presupposeth some advantage to him who gives it the inferiority on the other side of him that receives it forbears not to have its merit He in his turn is the Superior He retakes the first place when he sets his hand to the work and when by the execution of deliberated things he changeth Rules into Examples and fair words into good effects For although it hath been sometimes said in Rome That Lelius was the Poet and that Seipio was the Actor And that it should be true That he who composeth Verses act more nobly then he who recites them yet is it not therefore true That that person who executeth glorious undertakings produceth a less relevated operation then he who only counsels them The Counsellor preserves his advantage but during the beginning of things but loseth it in their event and even in the commencement of them he hath it not entirely Nor doth he who is counsell'd remain useless and without motion during that time the Counsellors action lasts Nature seems to prove what we say and hath form'd I know not what lineaments in the soul of man where the Intellect which we call the Patient which is the seat of Learning although it be enlightned by the light of the Intellect-Agent yet suffers not in that manner but that it acts also of it self It judgeth of the Knowledge which it hath received it revolves it removes it displays it disperseth in it self this Knowledge After having compared it with others it from thence recollects consequences and conclusions And so we may say it works in company and if it suffer it 's with the fairest kind of passion which neither spoils nor corrupts as that of a Wound or Burn but finisheth and perfects as that of Illumination in the Air and of the Reception of Images in the Eyes Let us speak less subtilly and in a more popular phrase Let us conclude that it 's necessary to have hands that one may profitably make use of tools and to have Prudence to use as one ought that of another man's Wisdom it self is irresolute and but little assured when she wants approbation and is reduced to her own testimony A concerted Reasoning despoils us not at all of the first apprehension we have of the truth of things And our Aristotle hereupon tells us That Salt doth not at all harm Sea-fish and that Oil seasons Olives A stupid and interessed Courtier puts affairs in disorder and ruines in stead of building up But a wise and faithful Minister who equally divides his affection between the King and the State renders the greatest services to both of them and with reason according to my opinion may call himself The Temperament of the power of One and the Common good of the Republick But my particular opinion were slight nor would it have force sufficient to form and conclude this Discourse did I not confirm it by the acknowledgments of the Publick towards persons so useful to the general good of the world and by those resplendent proofs of affection and esteem which Princes themselves have rendred to the wisdom and fidelity of their Ministers I omit Greece where they have reigned with their Kings I forbear Persia where their Kings rul'd by them and where they were called The Kings eyes That is to say as an excellent person explicates it The Kings eyes which are always open and always watching for the Kingdoms safety which at one and the same time look forwards backwards to the right and to the left I shall only insist on Rome where the Emperors to correct that bitterness which is to be found in the words of Servitude and Subjection have honored such like Servants with the title of Friends They have call'd them their Companions sometimes the Companions of their cares the Companions of their wars and
which he color'd his Enterprise withall This was the truth of the business A Grecian Physitian the Queens Domestick having a mind to review the Port of Pyreum and to cat the figs of Athens put this fancy of War into his Mistresses head and got her to engage her Husband in the Design So that the King of Kings the powerful and redoubted Xerxes raised an Army of Three hundred thousand Combatants cut the Mountains dryed up Rivers overburthen'd the Sea for nothing but to bring back a Mountebank into his Country methinks this gallant person might well have gone the journey with less expence and with a less numerous company But there presents it self to my memory my Lord another thing which deserves to be known which you will find nothing ungrateful It happen'd in the Kingdom of Macedonia more then fourscore years before the birth of King Philip at the time of that famous Conspiracie which of one State made two and divided the Court the Towns and Families It was Melcagers Wife Governor of a Frontier-town and General of the Cavalry who oblig'd her Husband to revolt and that for a very worthy subject The King having heard of the spirit and gallantry of that woman he had a mind to see her one day privately It was nothing difficult for him to obtain a favor which she easily granted to lesser great Lords and to less civil persons then himself She accustom'd not herself to tire the constancie of her Lovers nor to cause any of them to die for despair The King being come to the place assign'd and by misfortune finding her to be no such thing as he had fancied her he at first sight witness'd his disgust and went away presently with very little satisfaction This affront was so briskly resented by her who took it and who had no ill opinion of her own merit that from that very hour she vowed revenge And being unable to effect it better then by corrupting her Husbands fidelity and debauching him from the service of his Master she to that end imployed all the charms both of her mind and countenance She on so credulous a spirit made use of the most subtile inventions which an artificial soul is capable of And you need not doubt but in the heat of her revenge she would have had an infinite many Husbands to have engag'd an infinite number of Enemies against the King and to have demanded satisfaction with more swords of the offence which she believ'd she had received Thus did Meleager quit the service of his King and imbark himself in the Party of a Tyrant without knowing what motion â—â—rove him nor what passion he reveng'd He acted a person he understood not He was his Wives soldier and thought himself one of the chief Heads of the League So easie you see it is for a man to deceive self in the judgment which he makes of the actions of men since men themselves who act are themselves he first deceiv'd the true cause being not always known unto them They are often blind instruments and are without knowledge of the interests or passions of another The Speculatives of Macedonia forbore not to publish palusible and specious reasons for Meleagers revolt Some say that a reproach which the King cast on him in presence of the Thessalian Ambassadors did so deeply strike him to the heart and made so wide a wound that it could never be cur'd That the caresses and favors which he receiv'd since that were useless plaisters applied to his wounded heart and the remembrance of an injury took from him the sense of a thousand benefits Others alleage the refusal of an Office he had demanded for his Son which indeed was not given to another but was suppress'd to keep him from entring into his family There were some who excused this his change by the love he bore his Country and his zeal for the antient Religion which pretence the Tyrant took to make war with the King All Histories hereupon exercise their subtilities and were all salâ—ly ingenious and subtile They sought the source of this ill some on this side and some on that and none found it None of them spoke of Meleager's Wives diâ—dain which was the onely cause of her Husbands defection which indeed was never discovered till by the after-age and long after the Kings the Tyrants and Meleager's death THese two Inrodes which we have made into Greece and Macedon were in our way and I dare believe they were nothing displeasing to Your Highness But I believe further That You judge as well as I that it 's much more fit to divulge Visions in History then at the Council and that Subtility when it 's amiss is less dangerous when it relates things done then when we deliberate what is to be done And here that we may say nothing which can be worse It 's the cause why things are not done at all The People of Athens are too able to deceive the People of Thebes Those plant their nets so high and these flie so low that they must do something extraordinary to be taken I say moreover The Athenians sometimes employ their subtilities to make themselves believe so and thereby deceive themselves From their false Principles they must necessarily draw false Conclusions and can never negotiate happily nor ever bring their Adversaries about to them keeping themselves always in terms so far from them and coming so little near them that they are so far from joyning together that they cannot so much as know one another It 's hard to hear better Orators or to see Opinions better debated But you must look for no more They therein place all their care and all their industry They make it so much their study as if Discourse were the principal end of Deliberation and somewhat above Action it self They had rather make their Eloquence appear to the ruine of the State then to preserve it without speaking word They esteem it a greater advantage to bear away the bell in Council from the rest of their Companions then to beat their Enemies in the field So that they accompt as nothing the disgraces of War hoping always to have their revenge at the next Treaty And yet there they meet with some Mind of seel which is incapable of perswasion which will cut what it cannot untie and with a firm and constant Negative break all their snares and all their wiles without troubling it self to unravel them Witness that Governor of Figeac who being at a Conference which Queen Catherine held with the Deputies of the King of Navar and the Huguenot Party which was to make them quit before the time agreed on those Places of security which had been put into their hands She had brought from Paris a man almighty in words to whose Rhetorick nothing till then had been impossible He from the beginning makes himself admir'd by the Assembly In pursuit he raiseth sweeter passions in the hearts of the Deputies and after