common saying tyrannicallie it is then also to be distinguished for it may be so three waies and euery one requireth particular consideration The Heerof see aboue Chap. 4. in Chap. of tyrannie and rebellion one is in violating the lawes of God and nature that is to say against the religion of the countrie the commaundement of God inforcing and constraining their consciences In this case he ought not to yeeld any dutie or obedience following those diuine axiomes That we ought rather obey God than men and feare him more that commaundeth the intire man than those that haue power but ouer the least part Yet he ought not to oppose himselfe against him by violence or sinister meanes which is another extremitie but to obserue the middle way which is either to flie or suffer fugere aut pati these two remedies named by the doctrine of veritie in the like extremities 2. The other lesse euill which concerneth not the consciences but only the bodies and the goods is an abuse to subiects denying them iustice imprisoning their persons and depriuing them of their goods In the which case he ought with patience and acknowledgement of the wrath of God yeeld these three duties following honor obedience vowes and prayers and to be mindfull of three things that all power and authoritie is from God and whosoeuer resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God principi summum rorum indicium dij dederunt Subditis obsequij gloria relicta est bonos principes voto expetere quale scunque tolerare And Tacit. he ought not to obey a superior because he is worthie and worthilie commaundeth but because he is a superior not for that he is good but because he is true and lawfull There is great difference betweene true and good euery one ought to obey the law not because it is good and iust but simplie because it is the law 2. That God causeth an hypocrite to raigne for the sinnes of the people though he reserue him for a day of his furie that the wicked prince is the instrument of his iustice the which we ought to indure as other euils which the heauens do send vs quomodo sterilitatem aut nimios imbres caetera naturae mala sic luxū auaritiam dominantium tolerare Tacit. 3. The examples of Saul Nabuchodonoser of many Emperours before Constantine and others since him as cruell tyrants as might be towards whom neuerthelesse these three duties haue been obserued by good men and enioined them by the Prophets and learned men of those daies according to the oracle of the great Doctour of truth which inferreth an obedience to them which sit in the seate of gouernment notwithstanding they oppresse vs with insupportable burthens and their gouernment be euill The third concerneth the whole state when he would change or ruinate it seeking to make it electiue hereditarie or of an Aristocracie or Democracie a Monarchie or otherwise And in this case he ought to withstand and hinder their proceedings either by way of iustice or otherwise for he is not master of the state but only a gardian and a suertie But these affaires belong not to all but to the tutours and mainteiners of the state or those that are interessed therein as Electours of electiue states or Princes apparent in hereditarie states or states generall that haue fundamentall lawes And this is the only case wherein it is lawfull to resist a tyrant And all this is said of subiects who are neuer permitted to attempt any thing against a soueraigne Prince for what cause L. Cogitationis ff de poen L. Si quis non dicam c. de sacros Eccles soeuer and the lawes say that he deserueth death who attempteth or giueth counsell and which intendeth or only thinketh it But it is honorable for a stranger yea it is most noble and heroicall in a prince by warlike means to defend a people vniustlie oppressed and to free them from tyrannie as Hercules did and afterward Dion Timoleon and Tamberlaine prince of the Tartars who ouercame Baiazeth the Turkish Emperour and besieged Constantinople These are the duties of subiects towards their liuing soueraignes 12 Examinations of Soueraignes after their death But it is a point of iustice to examine their life after they are dead This is a custome iust and very profitable which benefiteth much those nations where it is obserued and which all good Princes doe desire who haue cause to complaine that a man handleth the memorie of the wicked as well as theirs Soueraignes are companions if not masters of the lawes for seeing iustice cannot touch their liues there is reason it taketh hold of their reputation and the goods of their successours We owe reuerence and dutie equallie to all kings in respect of their dignitie and office but inward estimation and affection to their vertue We patientlie indure them though vnworthie as they are We conceale their vices for their authoritie and publike order where we liue hath neede of our common help but after they are gone there is no reason to reiect iustice and the libertie of expressing our true thoughts yea it is a very excellent and profitable example that we manifest to the posteritie faithfullie to obey a Master or Lord whose imperfections are well knowne They who for some priuat dutie commit a wicked prince to memorie do priuat iustice to the publike hurt O excellent lesson for a successour if it were well obserued CHAP. XVII The dutie of Magistrates GOod people in a common-wealth would loue better to 1 For what cause Magistrates are allowed of inioy ease of contentment which good and excellent spirits know how to giue themselues in consideration of the goods of nature and the effects of God than to vndertake publike charges were it not that they feare to be ill gouerned and by the wicked and therefore they consent to be magistrates but to hunt and follow publike charges especiallie the iudgement seat is base and vile and condemned by all good lawes yea euen of the heathen witnesse the law Iulia de ambitu vnworthie a person of honour and a man cannot better expresse his insufficiencie than by seeking for it But it is most base and vile by briberie or money to purchase them and there is no merchandize more hatefull and contemptible than it for it necessarily followeth that he which buieth in grosse selleth by retaile Whereupon the Emperour Seuerus speaking against the like inconuenience saith Lamprid. That a man can not iustly condemne him which selleth that he bought Euen as a man apparrelleth himselfe and putteth on his 2 How a magistrate ought to prepare himself before he take the charge best habit before he departeth his house to appeare in publike so before a man vndertake publike charge he ought priuately to examine himselfe to learne to rule his passions and well to settle and establish his minde A man bringeth not to the turney a raw
of the wiues are kept apart and carrie in some places the titles of lawfull wiues in others of concubines and their children are onely pensioners The vse of repudiation in like sort is different for with 12 Repudiation diuers some as the Hebrewes Greeks Armenians the cause of the separation is not expressed and it is not permitted to retake the wife once repudiated but yet lawfull to marry another But by the law of Mahumet the separation is made by the Iudge with knowledge taken of the cause except it be by mutuall consent which must be adulterie sterilitie incompatibilitie of humours an enterprise on his or hir part against the life of each other things directly and especiallie contrarie to the state and institution of mariage and it is lawfull to retake one another as often as they shall thinke good The former seemeth to be the better because it bridleth proud women and ouer-sharp and bitter husbands The second which is to expresse the cause dishonoureth the parties discouereth many things which should be hid And if it fall out that the cause be not sufficientlie verified and that they must continue together poysonings and murthers doe commonly ensue many times vnknowne vnto men as it was discouered at Rome before the vse of repudiation where a woman being apprehended for poysoning of her husband accused others and they others too to the number of threescore and ten which were all executed for the same offence But the worst law of all others hath beene that the adulterer escapeth almost euery where without punishment of death and all that is laid vpoÌ„ him is diuorce separation of companie brought in by Iustinian a man whollie possessed by his wife who caused whatsoeuer lawes to passe that might make for the aduantage of women From hence doth arise a danger of perpetuall adulterie desire of the death of the one partie the offender is not punished the innocent iniured remaineth without amends The dutie of maried folke See Lib. 3. Cap. 12. CHAP. XLVII Of Parents and Children THere are many sorts and degrees of authoritie and humane power Publicke and Priuate but there is none 1 Fatherly power more naturall nor greater than that of the father ouer his children I say father because the mother who is subiect vnto hir husband cannot properly haue hir children in hir power and subiection but it hath not been alwayes and in all places alike In former times almost euery where it was absolute and vniuersall ouer the life and death the libertie the goods the honor the actions and cariages of their children as to plead to marie to get goods as namely with the Romans by the expresse law of Romulus parentum in liberos omne ius esto relegendi vendendi occidendi except only children vnder Dion Halic li 2. antiq Rom l. in â—uis ff de lib. post Aul. Gell. lib. 20. Lib. 8. Eth. cap. 20. Lib 6. Bel. Gal. Prosper Aquitan in Epist Sigism the age of three yeares who as yet could not offend either in word or deede which law was afterwards renued by the law of the twelue tables by which the father was allowed to sell his children to the third time with the Persians according to Aristotle the ancient French as Caesar and Prosper affirme with the Muscouits and Tartars who might sell their children to the fourth time And it should seeme by that fact of Abraham going about to kill his sonne that this power was likewise vnder the law of nature for if it had been against his dutie and without the power of the father he had neuer consented thereunto neither had hee euer thought that it was God that commanded him to do it if it had beene against nature And therefore we see that Isaac made no resistance nor alledged his innocencie knowing that it was in the power of his father which derogateth not in any sort from the greatnesse of the faith of Abraham because he would not sacrifice his sonne by vertue of his right or power nor for any demerit of Isaac but only to obey the commandement of God So likewise it was in force by the law of Moyses though somewhat Deut. 21. moderated So that we see what this power hath been in ancient times in the greatest part of the world and which endured vnto the time of the Romane Emperours With the Greeks it was not so great and absolute nor with the Egyptians neuerthelesse if it fell out that the father had killed his sonnes wrongfully and without cause he had no other punishment but to be shut vp three daies together with the dead bodie Now the reasons and fruits of so great and absolute a power 2 The reasons and fruits thereof of fathers ouer their children necessarie for the culture of good maners the chasing away of vice and the publike good were first to holde the children in awe and dutie and secondly because there are many great faults in children that would escape vnpunished to the great preiudice of the weale publike if the knowledge and punishment of them were but in the hand of publike authoritie whether it be because they are domesticall and secret or because there is no man that will prosecute against them for the parents who know them and are interessed in them will not discredit them besides that there are many vices and insolencies that are neuer punished by iustice Adde heereunto that there are many things to be tried and many differences betwixt parents and children brothers and sisters touching their goods or other matters which are not fit to be published which are extinct and buried by this fatherly authoritie And the law did alwayes suppose that the father would neuer abuse this authoritie because of that great loue which he naturally carrieth to his children incompatible with crueltie which is the cause that in stead of punishing them with rigour they rather become intercessours for them when they are in danger of the law and there can be no greater torment to them than to see their children in paine And it falleth out very seldome or neuer that this power is put in practise without very great occasion so that it was rather a scarcrow to children and very profitable than a rigour in good earnest Now this fatherly power as ouer-sharpe and dangerous is almost of it selfe lost and abolished for it hath rather hapned 3 The declination by a kinde of discontinuance than any expresse law and it beganne to decline at the comming of the Romane Emperours for from the time of Augustus or shortly after it was no more in force whereby children became so desperate and insolent against their parents that Seneca speaking to Nero Lib. 1. de Clem. sayd That hee had seene more paricides punished in fiue yeeres past than had beene in seuen hundred yeeres before that is to say since the foundation of Rome In former times if it fell out that the father killed his
execution These reasons must be of no force yea abhorred That right consisteth in force That the issue or euent decideth it That the stronger carieth it away But a prince must looke into the cause into the ground and foundation and not into the issue Warre hath it lawes and ordinances as well as peace God fauoreth iust warres and giueth the victorie to whom it pleaseth him and therefore we must first make our selues capable of this fauor by the equitie of the enterprise Warre then must not be begun and vndertaken for all causes vpon euery occasion non ex omni occasione quaerere triumphum And aboue all a Plin. in Pan. prince must take heed that ambition auarice choler possesse him not and cary him beyond reason which are alwaies to say the truth the more ordinarie motiues to warre vna ea Salust vetus causa bellandi est profunda cupido imperij diuitiarum maximam gloriam in maximo imperio putant Repere foedus impius lucri furor ira praeceps That a warre may be in all points iust three things are necessarie 19 Three things make an enterprise iust that it be denounced and vndertaken by him that hath power to do it which is only the soueraigne That it be for a iust cause such as a defensiue war is which is absolute iust being iustified by all reason amongst the wise by necessitie amongst barbarians by nature amongst beasts Cic. pro Milo I say defensiue of himselfe that is of his life his libertie his parents his countrie of his allies and confederates in regard of that faith he hath giuen of such as are vniustlie oppressed Qui non defendit nec obsistit si potest iniuriae tam est in vitio quà m si parentes aut patriam aut socios deserat These three In officijs heads of defence are within the bounds of iustice according to S. Ambrose Fortitudo quae per bella tuetur à barbaris patria vel defendit infirmos vel à latronibus socios plena iustitiae est Another more briefly diuideth it into two heads faith health Nullum bellum à ciuitate optima suscipitur nisi aut pro fide aut pro salute and to offensiue warre he puts two conditions Salust That it proceede from some former offence giuen as outrage or vsurpation and hauing redemaunded openly by a herald that which hath beene surprised and taken away post clarigatum Plin. l. 22. nat hist ca. 2. and sought it by way of iustice which must euer goe formost For if men be willing to submit themselues vnto iustice and reason there let them stay themselues if not the last and therefore necessarie is iust and lawfull iustum bellum Liuius quibus necessarium pia arma quibus nulla nisi in armis relinquitur spes Thirdly to a good end that is to say peace and quietnes Sapientes pacis causa bellum gerunt laborem spe otij sustentant vt in pace sine iniuria viuant After iustice commeth prudence whereby a man doth aduisedly 22 Prudence deliberate before by sound of trumpet he publisheth the warre And therefore that nothing be done out of passion and ouer-rashly it is necessarie that he consider of the points of forces and meanes as well his owne as his enemies secondly of the hazard and dangerous reuolution of humane things especiallie of armes which are variable and wherein fortune hath greatest credit and exerciseth more hir empire than in any other thing wherein the issue may be such that in an houre it carieth all simul parta ac sperata decora vnius horae Liuius fortuna euertere potest Thirdly of those great euils infelicities and publike and particular miseries which warre doth necessarily bring with it and which be such as the only imagination is lamentable Fourthly of the calumnies maledictions and reproches that are spred abroad against the authours of the warre by reason of those euils and miseries that follow it For there is nothing more subiect to the toongs and iudgements of men than war But all lighteth vpon the Chieftaine iniquissima bellorum conditio Tacit. haec est prospera omnes sibi vendicant aduersa vni imputantur All these things together make the iustest warre that may be detestable saith S. Augustine and therefore it standeth a soueraigne vpon not to enter into warres but vpon great necessitie as it is said of Augustus and not to suffer himselfe to be caried by those incendiaries and fire-brands of warre who for some particular passion are readie to kindle and enflame him quibus in pace durius seruitium est in id nati vt nec Pindar ipsi quiescant neque alios sinant And these men are commonly such whose noses do bleed when they come to the fact it self Dulce bellum inexpertis A wise soueraigne will keepe himselfe in peace neither prouoking nor fearing warre neither disquieting either his owne state or anothers betwixt hope and feare nor comming to those extremities of perishing himselfe or making others to perish The second head of militarie action is to make war whereunto are required three things Munitions Men Rules of war 〈…〉 The first is prouision and munition of all things necessarie for warre which must be done in good time and at leasure for it were great indiscretion in extremities to be employed about the search and prouision of those things which he should haue alwaies readie Diu apparandum est vt vincas celeriùs Now of the ordinarie and perpetuall prouision required for the good of the prince and the state at all times hath beene spoken in the first part of this Chapter which is wholly of this subiect The principall prouisions and munitions of war are three Monie which is the vitall spirit and sinewes of war whereof hath been spoken in the second Chapter 2. Armes both offensiue and defensiue whereof likewise heeretofore These two are ordinarie and at all times 3. Victualls without which a man can neither conquer nor liue whole armies are ouerthrowne without a blow strucken souldiers grow licentious and vnrulie and it is not possible to doe any good Disciplinam non seruat ieiunus exercitus Cassiod But this is an extraordinarie prouision and not perpetuall and is not made but for warre It is necessarie therefore that in the deliberating of warre that there be great store-houses made for victuals corne poudered flesh both for the armie which is in the field and for the garisons in the frontiers which may be besieged The second thing required to make warre are men fit to assaile and to defend we must distinguish them The first distinction 24 Men. is into souldiers and leaders or captaines both are necessarie The souldiers are the bodie the captaines the soule the life of the armie who giue motion and action wee wil speake first of the souldiers who make the bodie in grosse There are diuers sorts
from a friendlie hand from those whom a man is inclined to loue without this occasion and contrarily it is a griefe to be obliged vnto him whom a man likes not and to whom he would not willingly be indebted Such benefits also are welcome that come from the hand of him that is any way bound to the receiuer for heere is a kind of iustice and they bind lesse Those good deeds that are done in necessities and great extremities carie with them a greater force they make a man forget all iniuries and offences past if there were any and binde more strongly as contrarilie the deniall in such a case is very iniurious and makes a man forget all benefits past Such benefits likewise as may be requited with the like are more gladly receiued than their contraries which ingender a kind of hate for he that findeth himselfe wholly bound without any power or possibility of repaiment as often as he seeth his benefactour hee thinkes hee sees a testimony of his inabilitie or ingratitude and it is irksome to his heart There are some benefits the more honest and gratious they are the more burthensome are they to the receiuer if he be a man of credit as they that tie the conscience and the will for they lock faster keepe a man in his right memorie and some feare of forgetfulnesse and failing his promise A man is a safer prisoner vnder his word than vnder locke and keie It is better to be tied by ciuill and publicke bands than by the law of honestie and conscience two notaries are better than one I trust your word and your faith and conscience heere is more honour done to the receiuer but yet constraint fastneth solliciteth and presseth much more and heere is more safety to the lender and a man carrieth himselfe more carelesly because he doubteth not but that the law and those outward ties will awaken him when the time shall serue Where there is constraint the will is more loose where there is lesse constraint the will hath lesse libertie quod me ius coget vix a voluntate impetrem From a benefit proceeds an obligation and from it a benefit 16 Obligation the mother and daughter of a benefit or good turne and so it is both the child and the father the effect and the cause and there is a twofold obligation actiue and passiue Parents princes and superiours by the dutie of their charge are bound to do good vnto those that are committed and commended vnto them either by law or by nature and generally all men that haue means are bound to releeue those that are in want or anie affliction whatsoeuer by the command of nature Behold heere the first obligation afterwards from benefits or good turnes whether they be due and sprining from this first obligation or free and pure merits ariseth the second obligation and discharge whereby the receiuers are bound to an acknowledgement and thankfull requitall All this is signified by Hesiodus who hath made the Graces three in number holding each other by the hands The first obligation is discharged by the good offices of euerie one that is in anie charge which shall presentlie be discoursed 17 The first obligation and mother of in the second part which concerneth particular duties but yet this obligation is strengthened and weakned and lesned accidentallie by the conditions and actions of those that are the receiuers For their offences ingratitudes and vnworthinesse doe in a maner discharge those that are bound to haue care of them and a man may almost say as much of their naturall defects too A man may iustly with lesse affection loue that child that kinsman that subiect that is not onelie wicked and vnworthie but foule misshapen crooked vnfortunate ill borne God himselfe hath abated him much from their naturall price and estimation but yet a man must in this abatement of affection keepe a iustice and a moderation for this concerneth not the helpes and succors of necessitie and those offices that are due by publike reason but onlie that attention and affection which is in the inward obligation The second obligation which ariseth from benefits is that 18 The second obligation which is thankfulnes which we are to handle concerning which we must at this time set down some rules 1. the law of dutifull acknowledgement thankfulnesse is naturall witnesse beasts themselues not only priuat and domesticall but cruell and sauage among whom there are many excellent examples of this acknowledgement as of the Lion towards the Roman slaue Officia etiam ferae sentiunt Secondly it is a certaine act of vertue and a testimony of a good mind and therefore it is more to be esteemed than bountie or benefit which many times proceeds from abundance from power loue of a mans proper interest and very seldome from pure vertue whereas thankfulnesse springeth alwaies from a good heart and therefore howsoeuer the benefit may be more to be desired yet kinde acknowledgement is farre more commendable Thirdly it is an easie thing yea a pleasant and that is in the power of euery man There is nothing more easie than to doe according to nature nothing more pleasing than to be free from bands and to be at liberty By that which hath beene spoken it is easie to see how base and vilanous a vice forgetfulnesse and ingratitude is 19 Of ingratitude how vnpleasing and odious vnto all men Dixeris maledicta cuncta cum ingratum hominem dixeris It is against nature and therefore Plato speaking of his disciple Aristotle calleth him an vngratefull mule It is likewise without all excuse and cannot come but from a wicked nature graue vitium intolerabile quod dissociat homines Reuenge which followeth an iniury Senec. as ingratitude a good turne is much more strong and pressing for an iniurie inforceth more than a benefit altius iniuriae quà m merita descendunt it is a very violent passion but yet nothing so base so deformed a vice as ingratitude It is like those euils that a man hath that are not dangerous but yet are more grieuous and painful than they that are mortall In reuenge there is some shew of iustice and a man hides not himselfe to worke his will therein but in ingratitude there is nothing but base dishonesty and shame Thankefulnesse or acknowledgement that it may be such 20 Rules of thankfulnes as it should bee must haue these conditions First hee must gratiously receiue a benefit with an amiable and cheerefull visage and speech qui gratè beneficium accepit primam eius pensionem soluit Secondly he must neuer forget it Ingratissimus Senec. omnium qui oblitus nusquam enim gratus fieri potest cut totum beneficium elapsum est The third office is to publish it ingenui Idem pudoris est fateri per quos profecerimus haec quasi merces authoris As a man hath found the heart and the hand of another
penalties and punishments that the religion be neither changed troubled nor innouated This is a thing that highly redoundeth to his honour and securitie for all doe reuerence and more willingly obey and more slowly attempt or enterprise any thing against him whom they see feareth God and beleeue to be in his protection and safegard vna custodia pietas pium virum Mercur. Trism nec malus genius nec fatum deuincit Deus enim eripit eum ab omni malo And also to the good of the state for as all the wisest haue said Religion is the band and cement of humane societie The Prince ought also to be subiect and inuiolablie to obserue 2 To obserue the lawes of superiors and cause to be obserued the lawes of God and nature which are not to be dispensed with and he that infringeth them is not only accounted a tyrant but a monster Concerning the people he ought first to keepe his couenants 3 To keepe his promise and promises be it with subiects or others with whom he is interessed or hath to do This equitie is both naturall and vniuersall God himselfe keepeth his promise Moreouer the prince is the pledge and formall warrant of the law and those mutuall bargaines of his subiects He ought then aboue all to keepe his faith there being nothing more odious in a prince than breach of promise and periurie and therefore it was well said that a man ought to put it among those casuall cases if the prince do abiure or reuoke his promise and that the contrarie is not to be presumed Yea he ought to obserue those promises and bargaines of his predecessors especiallie if he be their heire or if they be for the benefit and welfare of the common-wealth Also he may relieue himselfe of his vnreasonable contracts and promises vnaduisedlie made euen as for the selfe-same causes priuat men are releeued by the benefit of the prince He ought also to remember that although he be aboue the law I meane the ciuill and humane as the Creator is aboue 4 To obserue the lawes the creature for the law is the worke of the prince and which he may change and abrogate at his pleasure it is the proper right of the soueraigntie neuerthelesse though it be in force and authoritie he ought to keepe it to liue to conuerse and iudge according vnto it and it would be a dishonor and a very euill example to contradict it and as it were falsifie it Great Augustus hauing done something against the law by his owne proper acte would needs die for griefe Lycurgus Agesilaus Seleucus haue left three notable examples in this point and to their cost Thirdly the prince oweth iustice to all his subiects and he ought to measure his puissance and power by the rule of 5 To do iustice iustice This is the proper vertue of a prince trulie royall and princelike whereof it was rightlie said by an old man to king Philip that delayed him iustice saying he had no leisure That he should then desist leaue off to be king But Demetriu sped not so well who was dispossest of his realme by his subiects for casting from a bridge into the riuer many of their petitions without answere or doing them iustice Finally the prince ought to loue cherish to be vigilant and carefull of his state as the husband of the wife the father of 6 To take care and affect the common good his children the shepheard of his flock hauing alwaies before his eies the profit and quiet of his subiects The prosperitie and welfare of the state is the end and contentment of a good prince vt respub opibus firma copijs locuples gloria ampla virtute Senec. honesta sit The prince that tieth himselfe to himselfe abuseth himselfe for he is not his owne man neither is the state his but he is the states He is a Lord not to domineere but to defend Cui non ciuium seruitus tradita sed tutela to attend to watch to the end his vigilance may secure his sleeping subiects his trauell may giue them rest his prouidence may maintaine their prosperitie his industrie may continue their delights his businesse their leisure their vacation and that all his subiects may vnderstand and know that he is as much for them as he is aboue them To be such and to discharge his dutie well he ought to demeane and carie himselfe as hath bin said at large in the second and third chapter of this booke that is to say to furnish himselfe of good counsell of treasure and sufficient strength within his state to fortifie himselfe with alliance and forraine friends to be readie and to command both in peace and war by this meanes he may be both loued and feared And to conteine all in a few words he must loue God aboue all things be aduised in his enterprises valiant in attempts faithfull and firme in his word wise in counsell carefull of his subiects helpfull to his friends terrible to his enemies pitifull to the afflicted gentle and curteous to good people seuere to the wicked and iust and vpright towards all The dutie of subiects consisteth in three points to yeeld due honor to their princes as to those that carie the image of 9 The dutie of subiects God ordeined and established by him therfore they are most wicked who detract or slaunder such were the seed of Cham and Chanaan 2. To be obedient vnder which is conteined Exod. 12. many duties as to goe to the warres to pay tributes and imposts imposed vpon them by their authoritie 3. To wish them all prosperitie and happinesse and to pray for them But the question is Whether a man ought to yeeld these 10 Whether it be lawfull to lay violēt hands vpon the person of a tyrant A double tyrant The entrāce three duties generallie to all princes if they be wicked or tyrants This controuersie cannot be decided in a word and therefore wee must distinguish The prince is a tyrant and wicked either in the entrance or execution of his gouernmēt If in the entrance that is to say that he treacherouslie inuadeth and by his owne force and powerfull authoritie gaines the soueraigntie without any right be he otherwise good or euill for this cause he ought to be accounted a tyrant without all doubt we ought to resist him either by way of iustice if there be opportunitie place or by surprise and the Grecians saith Cicero ordeined in former times rewards and honors for those that deliuered the common-wealth from seruitude and oppression Neither can it be said to be a resisting of the prince either by iustice or surprise since he is neither receiued nor acknowledged to be a prince If in the execution that is to say that his entrance be rightfull 2 In the execution three waies and iust but that he carieth himselfe imperiouslie cruellie wickedlie and according to the
vnmanaged horse neither doth a man enter into affaires of importance if he hath not beene instructed and prepared for it before so before a man vndertakes these affaires and enters vpon the stage and theater of this world he ought to correct that imperfect and sauage part in vs to bridle and restraine the libertie of affections to learne the lawes the parts and measures thereof wherewith it ought to be handled in all occasions But contrarily it is a ve-very lamentable and absurd thing as Socrates saith that although no man vndertaketh the profession of any mysterie or mechanicall arte which formerly he hath not learned yet in publike charges in the skill to command and obey well to gouerne the world the deepest and difficultest mysterie of all they are accepted and vndertake it that know nothing at all Magistrates are intermixed persons placed betweene the soueraigne and priuate men and therefore it behooueth 3 A generall description of magistrates them to know how to command and to obey how to obey their soueraigne yeeld to the power of superior magistrates honour their equals command their inferiors defend the weake make head against the great and be iust to all and therefore it was well said That magistracie descrieth a man being to play in publike so many parts In regard of his soueraigne the magistrate according to the diuersitie of the commands ought diuersly to gouerne 4 The dutie of magistrates as touching the soueraigne or readily or not at all to obey or surcease his obedience First in those commands which yeeld vnto him acknowledgement and allowance as are all the warrants of Iustice and all other where this clause or any equiualent vnto it if it appeare vnto you or which are without attribution of allowance iust and indifferent of themselues he ought to obey and hee may easily discharge himselfe without any scruple and danger 2 In those commands which attribute vnto him no acknowledgement but onely the execution as are warrants of command if they be against right and ciuill Iustice and that haue in them clauses derogatorie he ought simplie to obey for the soueraigne may derogate from the ordinarie law and this is properly that wherein soueraigntie consisteth 3 To those which are contrarie to right and conteine no derogatorie clause but are wholly preiudiciall to the good and vtilitie of the common-wealth what clause soeuer it hath and though the magistrate knoweth it to be false and inforced against right and by violence he ought not to yeeld readily in these three causes but to hold them in suspence and to make resistance once or twice and at the second or third command to yeeld 4 Touching those which are repugnant to the law of God and nature he ought to dismisse and acquit himselfe of his office yea to indure any thing rather than obey or consent and he need not say that the former commands may haue some doubt in them because naturall Iustice is more cleere than the light of the Sunne 5 All this is good to be done in respect of the things themselues But after they are once done by the soueraigne how euill soeuer they be it is better to dissemble them and burie the memorie of them than to stirre and lose all as Papinian did frustra niti mihi aliud nisi odium quaerere extremae dementiae est In respect of priuate subiects magistrates ought to remember that the authority which they haue ouer them they 5 As touching priuate men haue but at a second hand and hold it of the soueraigne who alwaies remaineth absolute lord and their authoritie is limited to a prefixed time The magistrate ought to be of easie accesse ready to heare and vnderstand all complaints and sutes hauing his gate open to all and himselfe alway at hand considering he is not for himselfe but for all and seruant of the common-wealth Magna seruitus magna fortuna And for this cause the law of Moyses prouided that the Iudges and iudgement seats were Deut. 16. held at the gates of the cities to the end euery man might haue easie accesse thereto He ought also indifferently to receiue and heare all great and little rich and poore being open to all Therefore a wise man compareth him to an altar whereto a man repaireth being oppressed and afflicted to receiue succour and comfort But he ought not to conuerse and be familiar with many but with very few and those very wise and aduised and that secretly for it debaseth authoritie it diminisheth and dissolueth the grace and reputation thereof Cleon called to the gouernment of the common-wealth assembled all his friends and there renounced and disclaimed all intimation or inward amitie with them as a thing incompatible with his charge for Cicero saith he depriueth himselfe of the person of a friend that vndertaketh that of a Iudge His office is especially in two things to vphold and defend the honor the dignitie and the right of his soueraigne and 5 Cic. lib. 1. Officior of the weale publike which he representeth gerere personam ciuitatis eius dignitatem decus sustinere with authority and a milde seueritie Then as a good and loyall interpreter and officer of the Prince he ought exactly to see that his will be performed that is to say the law of which he is the minister and it is his charge to see it diligently executed towards all therefore he is called the liuing law the speaking law Although the magistrate ought wisely to temper mildenesse with rigour yet it is better for a magistrate to be seuere and cruell than gentle facill and pitifull and God forbiddeth to be pitifull in iudgement A seuere Iudge holdeth subiects in obedience of the lawes a milde and pitifull makes them to contemne the lawes the magistrates and the Prince who made both To be briefe to discharge well his office there is required two things honesty and courage The first hath need of the second The first preserueth the magistrate free from auarice respect of persons of bribes which is the plague and smotherer of truth Acceptatio munerum praeuaricatio est veritatis from the corruption of iustice which Plato calleth an hallowed virgin Also from passions of hatred of loue and others all enemies to right and equity But to carrie himselfe well against the threatnings of great men the importunate intreaties of his friends the lamentations and teares of the poore distressed which are all violent and forceable things and yet haue some colour of reason and iustice and which maketh sometimes the most resolute to relent he had need of courage Firme and inflexible constancie is a principall qualitie and vertue in a magistrate to the end he may not feare the great and mightie and be not mooued and mollified with the miserie of another though it cary with it some shew of goodnesse But yet it is forbid to haue pitie of the poore in iudgement CHAP. XVIII The dutie of the great
internall the one proceedeth from without it is called by diuers names aduersitie affliction iniurie vnhappinesse euill and sinister accidents The other is inward in the mind but caused by that which is outward These are hatefull and hurtfull passions of feare sadnesse choler and diuers others We must speake of them both prescribe meanes and remedies to ouercome suppresse and rule them These are the arguments and counsels of our vertue fortitude and valour It consisteth then heere of two parts the one of euils or ill accidents the other of passions which proceed thereof The generall aduice against all good and euill fortune hath beene declared before we will speake heere more specially and particularly thereof CHAP. XX. The first part of outward euils VVE will consider these outward euils three waies in 1 The distinction and comparison of euils by their causes their causes which shall be declared in this chapter afterward in their effects lastly in themselues distinctly and particularly euery kinde of them And we will giue aduice and meanes in them all by vertue to be armed against them The cause of euill and hatefull accidents which happen to vs all are either common and generall when at the same instant they concerne many as pestilence famine warre tyranny And these euils are for the most part scourges sent of God and from heauen or at least the proper and neerest cause thereof we cannot easily know Or particulars and those that are knowne that is to say by the meanes of another And so there are two sorts of euils publike and priuate Now the common euils that is to say proceeding of a publike cause though they concerne euery one in particular are in diuers kinds more or lesse grieuous weightie and dangerous than the priuate whose causes are knowne More grieuous for they come by flockes and troopes they assaile more violently with greater stirre of vehemencie and furie they haue a greater concurse and traine they are more tempestuous they bring foorth greater disorder and confusion Lesse grieuous because generalitie and communitie seemeth to mitigate and lessen euery mans euill It is a kinde of comfort not to be alone in miserie it is thought to be rather a common vnhappinesse where the course of the world and the cause is naturall than personall affliction And indeed those wrongs which a man doth vs torment vs more wound vs to the quicke and much more alter vs. Both these two haue their remedies and comforts Against publicke euils a man ought to consider from whom and by whom they are sent and to marke their cause 2 The aduice against publicke euils Prouidence Destinie It is God his prouidence from whence commeth and dependeth an absolute necessitie which gouerneth and ruleth all whereunto all things are subiect His prouidence and destinie or necessitie are not to say the truth two distinct laws in essence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither are they one The diuersitie is only in the consideration and different reason Now to murmure and to be grieued at the contrarie is first of all such impietie as the like is not elsewhere found for all things doe quietlie obey man only torments himselfe And againe it is a folly because it is vaine and to no purpose If a man will not follow this soueraigne and absolute mistris willinglie it shall cary all by force ad hoc sacramentum adacti sumus ferre mortalia nec perturbari ijs quae vitare nostrae potestatis non est in regno nati sumus deo parere libertas est Desine fata deûm flecti sperare querendo There is no better remedie than to applie our willes to the will thereof and according to the aduice of wisdome to make a vertue of necessitie Non est aliud effugium necessitatis quà m velle quod ipsa cogat In seeking to contend or dispute against it we doe but sharpen and stirre the euill Laeto animo ferre quicquid acciderit quasi tibi volueris accidere debuisses enim velle si scisses ex decreto Dei fieri Besides we shall better profit our selues we shall do that which we ought to do which is to follow our generall and soueraigne who hath so ordeined it Optimum pati quod emendare non possis deum quo authore cuncta proueniunt sine murmuratione comitari Malus miles est qui imperatorem gemens sequitur And without contestation to allow for good whatsoeuer he will It is magnanimitie of courage to yeeld vnto him Magnus animus qui se Deo tradidit It is effeminacie and dastardlines to murmure or complaine pusillus degener qui obluctatur de ordine mundi male existimat emendare mauult Deum quà m se Against those priuat euils which do proceed from the act of another and which pierce vs more we ought first well to 3 The distinction Of priuat euils distinguish them lest we mistake them There is displeasure there is offence We often conceiue ill of another who notwithstanding hath not offended vs neither in deed nor will as when he hath either demaunded or refused any thing with reason but yet was then hurtfull vnto vs for such causes it is too great simplicitie to be offended since that they are not offences Now there are two sorts of offences the one crosseth our affaires against equitie this is to wrong vs the others are applied to the person who is contemned by it and handled otherwise than it ought be it in deed or in word These are more grieuous and harder to be indured than any other kind of affliction The first and generall aduice against all these sorts of euils is to be firme and resolute not to suffer himselfe to be lead by 4 The aduice against them in generall common opinion but without passion to consider of what weight and importance things are according to veritie and reason The world suffereth it selfe to be perswaded and lead by impression How many are there that make lesse account to receiue a great wound than a little blow more account of a word than of death To be briefe all is measured by opinion and opinion offendeth more than the euill and our impatience hurts vs more than those of whom wee complaine The other more particular counsels and remedies are drawne first from our selues and this is that we must first 5 Particular aduisements drawne from our selues looke into These pretended offences may arise of our owne defects and weaknesse This might be a follic grounded vpon some defect in our owne person which any one in derision would counterfait It is follie to greeue and vex himselfe for that which proceedeth not from his owne fault The way to preuent others in their scoffes is first to speake and to let them know that you know as much as they can tell you if it be that the iniurie hath taken his beginning by our default and that we haue giuen the occasion of this abuse why should we be offended
the eagle of Montroyall the spheare of Sapor King of the Persians and that of Archimides with his other engins Now art and inuention The praise of inuention seeme not onely to imitate Nature but to excell it and that not only in the indiuiduum or particular for there is not any bodie either of man or beast so vniuersally well made as by art may be shewed but also many things are done by art which are not done by nature I meane besides those compositions and mixtures which are the true diet and proper subiect of art those distillations of waters and oiles made of simples which Nature frameth not But in all this there is no such cause of admiration as we thinke and to speake properly and truly there is no inuention but that which God reuealeth for such as we account and call so are but obseruations of naturall things arguments and conclusions drawen from them as Painting and the art Opticke from shadowes Sun-dials from the shadowes of trees the grauing of seales from precious stones By all this that hath before beene spoken it is easie to see 15 The Spirit very dangerous how rash and dangerous the spirit of man is especially if it be quicke and vigorous for being so industrious so free and vniuersall making it motions so irregularly vsing it libertie so boldly in all things not tying it selfe to any thing it easily shaketh the common opinions and all those rules whereby it should be bridled and restrained as an vniust tyranny it will vndertake to examine all things to iudge the greatest part of things plausibly receiued in the world to be ridiculous and absurd and finding for all an appearance of reason will defend it selfe against all whereby it is to be feared that it wandreth out of the way and loseth it selfe and we can not but see that they that haue any extraordinary viuacity and rare excellency as they that are in the highest roofe of that middle Classis before spoken of are for the most part lawlesse both in opinions and maners There are very few of whose guide and conduct a man may trust and in the libertie of whose iudgements a man may wade without temeritie beyond the common opinion It is a miracle to finde a great and liuely spirit well ruled and gouerned it is a dangerous sword which a man knowes not well how to guide for from whence come all those disorders reuolts heresies and troubles in the world but for this Magni errores non nisi ex magnis ingenijs nihil sapientiae o diosius acumine nimio Doubtlesse that man liues a better time and a longer life is more happie and farre more fit for the gouernment of a Common-wealth sayth Thucydides that hath an indifferent spirit or somewhat beneath a mediocritie than he that hath a spirit so eleuated and transcendent that it serues not for any thing but the torment of himselfe and others From the firmest friendships do spring the greatest enmities and from the soundest health the deadliest maladies and euen so from the rarest and quickest agitation of our soules the most desperate resolutions and disorderly frensies Wisdome and follie are neere neighbors there is but a halfe turne betwixt the one and the other which we may easily see in the actions of madde men Philosophie teacheth that Melancholy is proper to them both Whereof is framed the finest follie but of the finest wit And therefore sayth Aristotle there is no great spirit without some mixture of follie And Plato telleth vs that in vaine a temperate and sound spirit knocketh at the doore of Poetrie And in this sense it is that the wisest and best Poets doe loue sometimes to play the foole and to leape out of the hindges Insanire iucundum est dulce desipere in loco non potest grande sublime quidquam nisi mota mens quamdiu apud se est And this is the cause why man hath good reason to keepe it within narrow bounds to bridle and binde it with Religions 16 It must be bridled why Lawes Customes Sciences Precepts Threatnings Promises mortall and immortall which notwithstanding yet we see that by a lawlesse kinde of libertie it freeth it selfe and escapeth all these so vnruly is it by nature so fierce so opinatiue and therefore it is to be led by art since by force it can not Natura contumax est animus humanus in contrarium atque arduum nitens sequiturque faciliùs quam ducitur vt generosi Seneca nobiles equi melius facili fraeno reguntur It is a surer way gently to tutor it and to lay it asleepe than to suffer it to wander at it owne pleasure for if it be not well and orderly gouerned as they of the highest classis which before we spake of or weake and soft and pliant as those of the lower ranke it will lose it selfe in the libertie of it owne iudgement and therefore it is necessary that it be by some meanes or other held backe as hauing more need of lead than wings of a bridle than of a spurre which the great Lawyers and Founders of States did especially regard as well knowing that people of an indifferent spirit liued in more quiet and content than the ouer-quicke and ingenious There haue been more troubles and seditions in ten yeeres in the only citie of Florence than in fiue hundred yeeres in the countreys of the Heluetians and the Retians And to say the trueth men of a common sufficiencie are more honest better citizens more pliant and willing to submit themselues to the yoke of the lawes their superiours reason it selfe than those quicke and cleere sighted men that can not keepe themselues within their owne skinnes The finest wits are not the wisest men The Spirit hath it maladies defects tares or refuse as well 17 The defect of the spirit as the body and much more more dangerous and more incurable but that wee may the better know them we must distinguish them Some are accidentall and which come from Accidentall proceeding from three causes elsewhere and those arise from three causes the disposition of the bodie for it is manifest that the bodily maladie which alter the temperature thereof do likewise alter the spirit and iudgement or from the ill composition of the substance of 1. The body the braine and organs of the reasonable Soule whether it be by reason of their first formation as in those that haue their heads ill made either too round or too long or too little or by accident of some blow or wound The second is the vniuersall contagion of vulgar and erroneous opinions in the 2. The world world wherewith the Spirit being preoccupated tainted and ouercome or which is worse made drunken and manacled with certain fantasticall opinions it euer afterwards followeth iudgeth according to them without regard either of farther enquiry or recoiling backe from which dangerous deluge all spirits haue not
the root of all euill And truly he that shall see the Catalogue of those enuies and molestations which riches ingender within the heart of man as their proper thunder-bolt and lightning they would be more hated than they are now loued Desunt inopiae multa auaritiae omnia in nullum auarus bonus est in se pessimus There is another contrary passion to this and vicious to hate riches and to spend them prodigally this is to refuse 4 The counterpassion to couetousnesse the meanes to doe well to put in practise many vertues and to flie that labour which is farre greater in the true command and vse of riches than in not hauing them at all to gouerne himselfe better in abundance than in pouertie In this there is but one kinde of vertue which is not to faint in courage but to continue firme and constant In abundance there are many Temperance Moderation Liberalitie Diligence Prudence and so forth There more is not expressed but that he looke to himselfe heere that he attend first himselfe and then the good of others He that is spoiled of his goods hath the more libertie to attend the more weightie affaires of the spirit and for this cause many both Philosophers and Christians out of the greatnesse of their courage haue put it in practise He doth likewise discharge himselfe of many duties and difficulties that are required in the good and honest gouernment of our riches in their acquisition conseruation distribution vse and emploiment but he that quitteth himselfe of his riches for this reason slieth the labour and businesse that belongs vnto them and quite contrary doth it not out of courage but cowardize and a man may tell him that he shakes off his riches not because they are not profitable but because he knoweth not how to make vse of them how to vse them And not to be able to endure riches is rather weaknesse ofminde than wisdome sayth Seneca CHAP. XXII Of carnall Loue. CArnall Loue is a feuer and furious passion and very dangerous 1 It is strong naturall and common vnto him that suffereth himselfe to be carried by it For what becomes of him He is no more himselfe his bodie endureth a thousand labours in the search of his pleasure his minde a thousand helles to satisfie his desires and desire it selfe increasing growes into furie As it is naturall so is it violent and common to all and therefore in the action thereof it equalleth and coupleth fooles and wise men men and beasts together It maketh all the wisdome resolution contemplation operation of the soule beastly and brutish Hereby as likewise by sleepe Alexander knew himselfe to be a mortall man because both these suppresse the faculties of the soule Philosophie speaketh freely of all things that it may the better finde out their causes gouerne and iudge of them so 2 Why ignominious doth Diuinitie which is yet more chaste and more strait And why not since that all things belong vnto the iurisdiction and knowledge thereof The Sunne shines on the dunghill and is neither infected nor annoyed therewith To be offended with words is a token either of great weaknesse or some touch or guilt of the same maladie Thus much be spoken for that which followeth or the like if it shall happen Nature on the one side with violence thrusteth vs forward vnto this action all the motion of the world resolueth and yeeldeth to this copulation of the male and female on the other side it causeth vs to accuse to hide our selues to blush for shame as if it were a thing ignominious and dishonest We call it a shamefull act and the parts that serue thereunto our shamefull parts But why shamefull since naturall and keeping it selfe within it owne bounds iust lawfull and necessarie Yea why are beasts exempted from this shame Is it because the countenance seemes foule and deformed Why foule since naturall In crying laughing champing gaping the visage is more distorted Is it to the end it may serue as a bridle and a stay to such a kinde of violence Why then doth Nature cause such a violence Or contrariwise Is it because shame serueth as a spurre and as sulfure or that the instruments thereof mooue without our consent yea against our willes By this reason beasts likewise should be bashfull and many other things moue of themselues in vs without our consent which are neither vicious nor shamefull not only inward and hidden as the pulse motion of the heart arteries lungs the instruments and parts that serue the appetite of eating drinking discharging the braine the bellie and their shuttings and openings are besides nay many times against our willes witnesse those sneesings yawnings teares hoquets and fluxions that are not in our owne power and this of the bodie the spirit forgetteth remembreth beleeueth misbeleeueth and the will it selfe which many times willeth that which we would it willed not but outward and apparant the visage blusheth waxeth pale wanne the bodie groweth fat leane the haire turneth gray blacke white growes stands on end without and against our consent Is it that hereby the pouertie and weaknesse of man may be the more truely shewed That is as well seene in our eating and drinking our griefs wearinesse the disburdening of our bodies death whereof a man is not ashamed Whatsoeuer the reason be the action in it selfe and by nature is no way shamefull it is truely naturall so is not shame witnesse the beasts Why say I beasts The nature of man sayth Diuinitie mainteining it selfe in it first originall state had neuer knowen what shame was as now it doth for from whence commeth shame but from weaknesse and weaknesse but from sinne there being nothing in nature of it selfe shamefull The cause then of this shame not being in nature we must seeke it elswhere It is therefore artificiall It is an inuention forged in the closet of Venus to giue the greater prise to the businesse and to inkindle the desire thereof the more This is with a little water to make the fire burne the cleerer as Smithes vse to doe to inflame the desire to see what it is that is hidden to heare and know what it is that is muttered and whispered For to handle things darkly as if they were mysteries and with respect and shame giueth taste and estimation vnto them Contrariwise a loose free and open permission and commoditie derogateth from the worth and taketh away the true relish and delight thereof This action then in it selfe and simply taken is neither 3 In what sense vitious shamefull nor vitious since it is naturall and corporall no more than other the like actions are yea if it be well ordered it is iust profitable necessarie at the least as it is to eat and drinke But that which doth so much discredit it is that moderation is seldome kept therein and that to attaine thereunto we make great stirres and many times vse bad meanes
they were as publike protestations that he had deserued death and to be sacrificed as those beasts were without which there had neuer been any bloodie offerings or propitiatorie and expiatorie sacrifices Secondly because of the basenesse of the purpose and intent which was to thinke to appease flatter and gratifie God by the massacre and blood of beasts and of men Sanguine non colendus Deus quae enim ex trucidatione immerentium voluptas est It is true that God in those first ages yet the feeble infancie of the world and nature remaining simple did well accept of them at the hands of religious men euen for their deuotion or rather Christ his sake Respexit Dominus ad Abel ad munera eius taking in good part that which was done with an intent to honour and serue him and also afterwards the world being as yet in it apprentiship sub paedagogo was wholly seasoned in this opinion so vniuersall that it was almost thought naturall I touch not heere that particular mysterie of the religion of the Iewes who vsed them for figures that is a point that belongs to religion and with whom it was common to conuert that which was humane or naturall and corporall to a holy and sacred vse and to gather from thence a spirituall fruit But this was not because God tooke pleasure in them nor because it was by any reason in it selfe good witnesse the Prophets and the cleerest sighted amongst them who haue alwayes freely sayd Sivoluisses sacrificium dedissem vtique holocaustis non delectaberis sacrificium oblationem noluisti holocaustum pro peccato non postulasti non accipiam de domo tua vitulos c. and haue called backe and inuited the world to another sacrifice more high spirituall and woorthie the Diuinitie Sacrificium Deo spiritus aures autem perforasti mihi vt facerem voluntatem tuam legem tuam in medio cordis mei Immola Deo sacrificium laudis misericordiam volo non sacrificium At the last the sonne of God the Doctor of Truth being come to secure and free-denize the world did abolish them wholly which he had not done if it had beene a thing in it selfe and essentially good and that it had pleased his father for contrarily Pater non tales quaerit sed tales qui adorent in spiritu veritate And to say the trueth it is one of the goodliest effects and fruits of Christianitie after the abolition of Idoles And therefore Iulian the Emperour his capitall enemy as in despight of him offered more sacrifices than euer any other did in the world attempting to set them vp againe with idolatrie Wherefore let vs heere leaue them and let vs see those other principall parts of religion The Sacraments in a matter base and common bread and Sacraments wine and an outward action as base are they not testimonies of our pouertie and basenesse Repentance the vniuersall remendie Repentance of our maladies is a thing in it selfe shamefull feeble yea euill for to repent to be sorry to afflict the spirit is euil though by consequent it be good An oath what is it but a An oath symptome and shamefull marke of distrust infidelitie ignorance humane infirmitie both in him that requires it that giues it that ordaines it Quod amplius est a malo est See then how religion healeth our euils by meanes not only small and feeble our weaknesse so requiring stulta infirma mundi eligit Deus but such as by no meanes are of any value nor are good in themselues but good in that they serue and are employed against euill as medicines are they sprang from an ill cause yet they driue away ill they are good as gibbets and wheeles are in a Common-wealth as vomits and other discharges proceeding from ill causes are to the bodie to be briefe they are such good things as that it had beene farre better we had neuer had them and neuer had we had them if man had beene wise and preserued himselfe in that estate wherein God had placed him neither shall he haue them any more so soone as he is deliuered from this captiuitie and arriued to his perfection All this sheweth how great this humane weaknesse is to any 11 In euill thing that is good in Policie Iustice Veritie Religion towards God but that which is more strange is that this weaknesse is as great in what is euill for man though hee be willing to be wicked yet hee can not be wholly such but when he hath done his woorst there will be more to doe There is alwayes some remorse and fearefull consideration that mollifieth the will and maketh it relent and still reserueth something to be done which hath beene the cause of the ruine of many although perhaps they made it a proiect for their safetie This is imbecillitie and sottishnesse and from hence did arise that Prouerbe at their cost That a man must not play the foole by halfes A speech vttered with iudgement but that may haue both a good and an ill sense To say that a man when hee is once in must still proceed to woorse and woorse without any reseruation or respect it is a very pernitious doctrine and the Prouerbe saith well against it The shorter follies are the better But yet in some certaine cases the middle way is verie dangerous as when a man hath a strong enemie by the throat like one that holdeth a woolfe by the eares he must either win him altogether by courtesie or vtterly vndo him extinguish him which was alwayes the practise of the Romans and that very wisely among others concerning the Latines or Italians at the exhortation of Camillus Pacem in perpetuum parere vel seruiendo vel ignoscendo for in such a case to doe things by halfes is to lose all as the Samnites did who for want of putting in practise that counsell giuen them by an olde weather-beaten souldier concerning the Romans whom they had then enclosed and shut vp payd dearly for it aut conciltandus aut tollendus hostis The former course of courtesie is the more noble honourable and rather to be chosen and wee ought not come to the second but in extremities and then when the enemie is not capable of the first By this that hath beene said is shewed the extreame imbecillitie of man in good and euill and that good or euill which hee either doth or flieth is not purely and entirely good or euill so that it is not in his power to be wholly depriued of all good nor altogether wicked Let vs likewise note many other effects and testimonies of 12 Reprehensions and repulses humane weaknesse It is imbecillitie and pusillanimitie not to dare or not to be able to reprehend another or to be reprehended hee that is feeble or courageous in the one is so in the other Now it is a strange kinde of delicatenesse to depriue either himselfe or another of so
fained to be such as not to be aduanced in honour greatnes riches as cuckoldship sterility death for to say the truth there is nothing but griefe it selfe that is euill and which is felt And though some wise men seem to feare these things yet it is not for their owne sakes but because of that griefe which sometimes doth accompany them afterwards for many times it is a fore-runner of death and sometimes followeth the losse of goods of credit of honour But take from these things grief the rest is nothing but fantasie which hath no other lodging but in the head of man which quits it selfe of other businesse to be miserable and imagineth within it owne bounds false euils besides the true employing and extending his miserie in stead of lessening and contracting it Beasts feele not these euils but are exempted from them because nature iudgeth them not to be such As for sorrow which is the only true euill man is wholly borne thereunto and it is his naturall propertie The Mexicanes 5 He is borne to sorrow thus salute their infants comming forth of the wombe of their mother Infant thou art come into the world to suffer endure suffer and hold thy peace That sorrow is naturall vnto man and contrariwise pleasure but a stranger it appeareth by these three reasons All the parts of man are capable of sorrow very few of delight The parts capable of pleasure can not receiue more than one or two sorts but all can receiue the greatest number of griefs all different heat colde pricking rubbing trampling fleaing beating boiling languishing extension oppression relaxation and infinite others which haue no proper name to omit those of the soule in such sort that man is better able to suffer them than to expresse them Man hath no long continuance in pleasure for that of the bodie is like a fire of straw and if it should continue it would bring with it much enuie and displeasure but sorrowes are more permanent and haue not their certaine seasons as pleasures haue Againe the empire and command of sorrow is farre more great more vniuersall more powerfull more durable and in a word more naturall than that of pleasure To these three a man may adde other three Sorrow and griefe is more frequent and falles out often Pleasure is rare Euil comes easily of it selfe without seeking Pleasure neuer comes willingly it must be sought after and many times we pay more for it than it is woorth Pleasure is neuer pure but alwayes distempered and mingled with some bitternesse and there is alwayes some thing wanting but sorrow and griefe is many times entire and pure After all this the worst of our market and that which doth euidently shew the miserie of our condition is that the greatest pleasures touch vs not so neere as the lightest griefs Segnius homines bona quà m mala sentiunt we feele not so much our soundest health as the least maladie that is pung it in cute vix summa violatum plagula corpus quando valere nil quenquam monet It is not enough that man be indeede and by nature miserable 6 By memorie and anticipation and besides true and substantiall euills he faine forge false and fantasticall as hath beene saide but hee must likewise extend and lengthen them and cause both the true and false to endure and to liue longer than they can so amarous is he of iniserie which he doth diuers waies First by the remembrance of what is past and the anticipation of what is to come so that we cannot faile to be miserable since that those things which are principally good in vs and whereof wee glorie most are instruments of miserie futuro torquemur praeterito mult a bona nostra nobis nocent timoris tormentum memoria reducit prouidentia anticipat nemo praesentibus tantùm miser est It is not enough to be miserable but wee must encrease it by a continual expectation before it come nay seeke it and prouoke it to come like those that kill themselues with the feare of death that is to say either by curiositie or imbecillitie and vaine apprehension to preoccupate euils and inconueniences and to attend them with so much paine ado euen those which peraduenture will neuer come neere vs These kinde of people will be miserable before their time and double miserable both by a reall sense or feeling of their miserie and by a long premeditation therof which many times is a hundred times worse than the euils themselues Minùs afficit sensus fatigatio quà m cogitatio The essence or being of miserie endureth not long but the minde of man must lengthen and extend it and entertaine it before hand Plùs dolet quà m necesse est qui antè dolet quà m necesse est Quaedam magis quaedam antequam debeant quaedam cùm omninò non debeant nos torquent Aut augemus dolorem aut fugimus aut praecipimus Beasts do well defend themselues from this follie and miserie and are much bound to thanke nature that they want that spirit that memorie that prouidence that man hath Caesar said well that the best death was that which was least premeditated And to say the truth the preparation before death hath beene to many a greater torment than the execution it selfe My meaning is not here to speake of that vertuous and philosophicall premeditation which is that temper whereby the soule is made inuincible is fortified to the proofe against all assaults and accidents whereof we shall speake heerafter but Lib. 2. ca 7. of that fearefull and sometimes false and vaine apprehension of euils that may come which afflicteth and darkeneth as it were with smoke all the beauty and serenity of the soule troubleth all the rest and ioy thereof insomuch that it were better to suffer it selfe to be wholly surprised It is more easie and more naturall not to thinke thereof at all But let vs leaue this anticipation of euill for simply euery care and painfull thought bleating after things to come by hope desire feare is a very great misery For besides that we haue not any power ouer that which is to come much lesse ouer what is past and so it is vanity as it hath been said there doth stil remain vnto vs that euill and dammage Calamitosus est animus futuri anxius which robbeth our vnderstanding and taketh from vs the peaceable comfort of our present good and will not suffer vs to settle and content our selues therein But this is not yet enough For to the end man may neuer want matter of misery yea that he may alwaies haue his 7 By vnquiet search full he neuer ceaseth searching and seeking with great study the causes and aliments of misery He thrusteth himselfe into businesse euen with ioy of heart euen such as when they are offered vnto him he should turne his backe towards them and either out of a miserable disquiet of mind or to the end
so high as when it is most deiected So that it must needs be miserable because to be happy it must be as it were lost and without it selfe This toucheth not in any sort the diuine disposition for God can to whom and when it pleaseth him reueale himselfe man in the meane time continuing setled in his sense and vnderstanding as the scripture makes mention of Moyses and diuers others 16 To conclude can there be a greater fault in iudgement than not to esteeme of iudgement not to exercise it and to preferre the memory and imagination or fantasie before it We see those great goodly and learned orations discourses lectures sermons bookes which are so much esteemed and admired written by men of greatest learning in this age I except some few what are they all but a heape and collection of allegations and the labours of other men a worke of memory and reading and a thing very easie being all culled and disposed to their hands and heereof are so many bookes composed with some few poynts handled with a good instruction or two a worke of imagination and heere is all This is many times a vanity and there appeareth not in it any sparke of iudgement or excellent vertue so likewise the authours themselues are many times weake and common in iudgement and in will corrupted how much better is it to heare a countrey swaine or a merchant talking in his counting-house discoursing of many goodly propositions and verities plainely and truely without arte or forme and giuing good and wholesome counsell out of a sound strong and solide iudgement In the will there are as many or rather more miseries and 11 Of the Will more miserable they are without number among which these following are some few of them 1 To be willing rather to seeme an honest man than to be and rather to be such to another than to himselfe 2 To be farre more ready and willing to reuenge an offence than to acknowledge a good turne in such sort that it is a corsiue to his heart to acknowledge pleasure and gaine to reuenge a proofe of a malignant nature gratia oneri est vltio in quaestu habetur 3 To be more apt to hate than to loue to slaunder than to commend to feede more willingly and with greater pleasure vpon the euill than the good of another to enlarge it more to display it more in his discourse and the exercise of his stile witnesse Lawyers Oratours and Poets who in reciting the good of any man are idle eloquent in euill The words inuentions figures to speake ill to scoffe are farre otherwise more rich more emphaticall and significant than to prayse or speake well 4 To flye from euill to doe what is good not properly for the good effect by naturall reason and for the loue of vertue but for some other strange consideration sometimes base and idle of gaine and profit vaine-glory hope feare of custome company and to be briefe not simply for himselfe and his duty but for some other outward occasion and circumstance all are honest men by occasion and accident And this is the reason why they are such vnequally diuersly not perpetually constantly vniformely 5 To loue him the lesse whom we haue offended and that because we haue offended him a strange thing and which proceedeth not alwayes from feare that he will take occasion to be reuenged for it may be he wisheth vs neuer the worse but it is because his presence doth accuse vs and brings to memory our fault and indiscretion And if the offendour loue not the offended the worse it is because the offence he committed was against his will for commonly he that hath a will to offend loues him the lesse whom he hath offended Chi offende mai non perdona He that offends neuer forgiues 6 As much may be sayd of him to whom we are much bound for courtesies receiued his presence is a burthen vnto vs he putteth vs in minde of our band and duty he reprocheth vnto vs our ingratitude and inabilities and we wish he were not so we were discharged of that duty Villaines by nature Quidam quo plus debent magis oderunt leue aes alienum debitorem facit graue inimicum 7 To take pleasure in the euill hurt and danger of another to greeue and repine at his good aduancement prosperitie I meane when it is without cause of hatred or priuate quarrell for it is another thing when it proceedeth from the ill desert of a man I speake heere of that common and naturall condition whereby without any particular malice men of indifferent honestie take pleasure to see others aduenture their fortunes at sea and are vexed to see them thriue better than themselues or that fortune should smile more vpon others than them and make themselues merry with the sorrow of another this is a token of a malitious seed in vs. To conclude that I may yet shew you how great our 12 The conclusion of these spirituall miseries misery is let me tell you that the world is replenished with three sorts of people who take vp much roome therein and carry a great sway both in number and reputation the superstitious formalists Pedanties who notwithstanding they are in diuers subiects iurisdictions and theaters the three principall religion life or conuersation and doctrine yet they are all of one stamp weake spirits ill borne or very ill instructed a very dangerous kind of people in iudgement and touched with a disease incurable It is lost labour to speake to these kind of people or to perswade them to change their minds for they account themselues the best and wisest in the world opinatiue obstinacie is there in his proper seate he that is once stricken and touched to the quick with any of these euils there is little hope of his recouery Who is there more sottish and withall more braine-sick and heady than these kind of people Two things there are that doe much hinder them as hath been spoken naturall imbecillitie and incapacitie and afterwards an anticipated opinion to do as well and better than others I do heere but name them and point them with the finger for afterwards in their places heere quoted their faults shall be shewed more at large The Superstitious iniurious to God and enemies to true religion couer themselues with the cloke of pietie zeale and 1 Superstitious See Lib. 2. Cap. 5. loue towards God euen to the punishing and tormenting of themselues more than is needfull thinking thereby to merit much and that God is not only pleased therewith but indebted vnto them for the rest What would you do to these kind of people If you tell them that they do more than they need and that they receiue things with the left hand in not vnderstanding them aright they will not beleeue you but tell you that their intent is good whereby they thinke to saue themselues and that they do it for deuotion Howsoeuer they
the line thirtie on that that is to say all that part which is betwixt the two tropicks or somewhat more where are the hot and Southerne countries Africke and Aethiope in the middle betwixt the East and the West Arabia Calicut the Moluques Ianes Taprobana towards the Orient Peru and the great Seas towards the Occident The other middle part hath thirtie degrees beyond the Tropicks both on this side the line and on that towards the Poles where are the middle and temperate regions all Europe with the Mediterrane Sea in the middle betwixt the East and West all Asia both the lesse and the greater which is towards the East with China Iapan and America towards the West The third which is the thirtie degrees which are next to the two Poles on both sides which are the cold and Icie countries the Septentrionall people Tartary Muscony Estotilan Magelan which is not yet throughly discouered Following this generall partition of the world the natures of men are likewise different in euery thing body soule religion 3 Their natures maners as wee may see in this little Table For the  Northerne people are Middle are Southerne are 1 In their Bodies High and great phlegmaticke sanguin white and yellow sociable the voyce strong the skin soft and hairie great eaters and drinkers puissant Indifferent and temperate in all those things as neuters or partakers a little of those two extremities participating most of that region to which they are nearest neighbours Little melancholicke cold and dry blacke Solitary the voyce shrill the skin hard with little haire and curled abstinent feeble 2 Spirit Heauy obtuse stupid sottish facill light inconstant Ingenious wise subtile opinatiue 3 Religion Little religious and deuout Superstitious contemplatiue 4 Manners Warriers valiant painfull chast free from iealousie cruell and inhumane No warriers idle vnchast iealous cruell and inhumane All these differences are easily prooued As for those of the bodie they are knowne by the eye and if there be any exceptions 4 The proofes of these differences of the Body they are rare and proceed from the mixture of the people or from the winds the waters and particular situation of the place whereby a mountaine is a notable difference in the selfe-same degree yea the selfe-same countrie and citie They of the higher part of the citie of Athens were of a quite contrary humor as Plutarke affirmeth to those that dwelt about the gate of Pyreus and they that dwell in the North side of a mountaine differ as much from those that dwell on the South side as they do both differ from those in the valley As for the differences of the spirit we know that mechanicall 2 The spirit and manuall artes belong to the North where men are made for labour Speculatiue sciences came from the South Caesar and other ancients of those times called the Aegyptians ingenious and subtile Moyses is said to be instructed in their wisdome and Philosophie came from thence into Greece Greatnesse began rather with them because of their spirit and subtiltie The gards of Princes yea in the Southerne partes are Northerne men as hauing more strength and lesse subtiltie and malice So likewise the Southerne people are indued with great vertues and subiect to great vices as it is said of Hannibal The Northerne haue goodnes and simplicitie The lesser and middle sciences as policies lawes and eloquence are in the middle nations wherein the greatest Empires and policies haue flourished As touching the third point religions haue come from the South Egypt Arabia Chaldea more superstition in 3 Religion Africke than the whole world besides witnesse their vowes so frequent their temples so magnificent The Northerne people saith Caesar haue little care of religion being whollie giuen to the warres and to hunting As for manners and first touching warres it is certaine that the greatest armies artes military instruments and inuentions 4 Manners haue come from the North. The Scythians Gothes Vandals Huns Tartarians Turks Germanes haue beaten and conquered all other nations and ransaked the whole world and therefore it is a common saying that all euill comes from the North. Single combats came from them The Northerne people adore a sword fastned in the earth saith Solinus To other nations they are inuincible yea to the Romans who hauing conquered the rest of the world were vtterly destroyed by them They grow weake and languish with the Southerne winds and going towards the South as the Southerne men comming into the North redouble their forces By reason of their warlike fiercenes they will not endure to be commanded by authority they loue their libertie at leastwise electiue commanders Touching chastitie and iealousie in the North saith Tacitus one woman to one man yea one woman sufficeth many men saith Caesar There is no iealousie saith Munster where men and women bathe themselues together with strangers In the South Polygamie is altogether receiued All Africke adoreth Venus saith Solinus The Southerns die with iealousie and therefore they keepe Eunuches as gardians to their wiues which their great Lords haue in great number as they haue stables of horses Touching crueltie the two extreames are alike cruell but the causes are diuers as we shall see anon when we come to speake of the causes Those tortures of the wheele and staking of men aliue came from the North The inhumanities of the Moscouites and Tartars are too well knowne The Almanes saith Tacitus punish not their offenders by lawe but cruelly murther them as enemies The Southerns flea their offenders aliue and their desire of reuenge is so great that they become furious if they be not glutted therewith In the middle regions they are mercifull and humane The Romans punished their greatest offenders with banishment The Greeks vsed to put their offenders to death with a sweet drugge made of a kinde of Hemlocke which they gaue them to drinke And Cicero saith that humanitie and courtesie were the conditions of Asia minor and from thence deriued to the rest of the world The cause of all these corporall and spirituall differences is the inequalitie and difference of the inward naturall heate 5 The cause of the aforesaid differences which is in those countries and peoples that is to say strong and vehement in the Northerns by reason of the great outward cold which incloseth and driueth the heate into the inward parts as caues and deepe places are hot in winter so mens stomacks ventres hieme culidiores Weake and feeble is the Southerns the inward heate being dispersed and drawne into the outward parts by the vehemencie of the outward heate as in Sommer vaults and places vnder the earth are cold Meane and temperate in the middle regions From this diuersitie I say and inequalitie of naturall heat proceed these differences not only corporall which are easie to note but also spirituall for the Southerns by reason of their cold temperature are melancholike and therefore staied constant
the bosome and lap of a woman or being spent about young children But is it not a goodly sight nay a great losse that he that is able for his wisdome and policie to gouerne the whole world should spend his time in the gouernment of a woman and a few children And therefore it was well answered by a great personage being sollicited to marry That he was borne to command men not a woman to counsell Kings and Princes not little children To all this a man may answere that the nature of man is 3 The answere to the aforesaid obiections Cap. 4. not capable of perfection or of any thing against which nothing may be obiected as hath elsewhere beene spoken The best and most expedient remedies that it hath are in some degree or other but sickly mingled with discommodities They are all but necessarie euils And this is the best that man could deuise for his preseruation and multiplication Some as Plato and others would more subtillie haue inuented meanes to haue auoided these thornie inconueniences but besides that they built castels in the aire that could not long continue in vse their inuentions likewise if they could haue been put in practise would not haue been without many discommodities and difficulties Man hath been the cause of them and hath himselfe brought them forth by his vice intemperancie and contrarie passions and we are not to accuse the state nor any other but man who knowes not well how to vse any thing Moreouer a man may say that by reason of these thornes and difficulties it is a schoole of vertue an apprentiship and a familiar and domesticall exercise and Socrates a doctor of wisdome did once say to such as hit him in the teeth with his wiues pettish frowardnes That he did thereby learne euen within his owne dores to be cōstant and patient euery where else and to thinke the crosses of fortune to be sweet and pleasant vnto him It is not to be denied but that he that can liue vnmaried doth best but yet for the honour of mariage a man may say that it was first instituted by God himselfe in Paradise before any other thing and that in the state of innocencie and perfection See heere foure commendations of mariage but the fourth passeth all the rest and is without replie Afterwards the Sonne of God approued it and honored it with his presence at the first miracle that he wrought and that miracle done in the fauour of that state of mariage and maried men yea he hath honored it with this priuiledge that it serueth for a figure of that great vnion of his with the Church and for that cause it is called a mysterie and great Without all doubt mariage is not a thing indifferent It is either wholly a great good or a great euill a great content or 4 Wholly good or wholly ill a great trouble a paradise or a hell It is either a sweet and pleasant way if the choice be good or a rough and dangerous march and a gauling burthensome tye if it be ill It is a bargaine where truly that is verified which is said Homo homini deus aut lupus Mariage is a worke that consisteth of many parts there must be a meeting of many qualities many considerations 5 A good mariage a rare good besides the parties maried For whatsoeuer a man say he marieth not only for himselfe his posteritie familie alliance and other meanes are of great importance and a greeuous burthen See heere the cause why so few good are found and because there are so few good found it is a token of the price and value thereof it is the condition of all great charges Royaltie is full of difficultie and few there are that exercise it well and happily And whereas we see many times that it falleth not out so luckely the reason thereof is the licentious libertie and vnbridled desire of the persons themselues and not in the state and institution of mariage and therefore it is commonly more commodious and better fitted in good simple and vulgar spirits where delicacie curiositie and idlenesse are lesse troublesome vnbridled humours and turbulent wauering minds are not fit for this state or degree Mariage is a step to wisdome a holie and inuiolable band an honorable match If the choyce be good and well ordered 6 A simple description and summary of mariage there is nothing in the world more beautifull It is a sweet societie of life full of constancie trust and an infinite number of profitable offices and mutuall obligations It is a fellowship not of loue but amitie For loue and amitie are as different as the burning sick heate of a feuer from the naturall heate of a sound bodie Mariage hath in it selfe amitie vtilitie iustice honor constancie a plaine pleasure but sound firme and more vniuersall Loue is grounded vpon pleasure only and it is more quicke piercing ardent Few mariages succeede well that haue their beginnings and progresse from beautie and amorous desires Mariage hath neede of foundations more solid and constant and we must walke more warily this boyling affection is worth nothing yea mariage hath a better conduct by a third hand Thus much is said summarily and simplie but more exactly to describe it we know that in Mariage there are two 7 A descriptiō more exact things essentiall vnto it and seeme contraries though indeed they be not that is to say an equalitie sociable and such as is betweene Peeres and an inequalitie that is to say superioritie and inferioritie The equalitie consisteth in an entire and perfect communication and communitie of all things soules wills bodies goods the fundamentall law of Mariage which in some places is extended euen to life and death in such sort that the husband being dead the wife must incontinently follow This is practised in some places by the publick lawes of the countries and many times with so ardent affection that many wiues belonging to one husband they contend and publicklie pleade for the honor to goe first to sleepe with their spouse that is their word alleaging for themselues the better to obtaine their suite and preferment heerein their good seruice that they were best beloued had the last kisse of their deceased husband and haue had children by him Et certamen habent lethi quae viua sequatur coniugium pudor est non licuisse mori Ardent victrices flammae pectora praebent Imponuntque suis ora perusta viris In other places it was obserued not by publicke lawes but priuate compacts and agreements of mariage as betwixt Marc. Antony and Cleopatra This equalitie doth likewise consist in that power which they haue in commune ouer their family whereby the wife is called the companion of her husband the mistris of the house and family as the husband the master and lord And their ioint authoritie ouer their family is compared to an Aristocracie The distinction of superioritie and inferioritie
freedome and libertie to all those that were of their religion in such sort that about the twelue hundred yeare there were almost no slaues in the world but where these two religions had no authoritie But as the number of slaues diminished the number of beggers and vagabonds increased for so many slaues being 7 The increase of poore people and vagabonds set at libertie come from the houses and subiection of their Lords not hauing wherewithall to liue and perhaps hauing children too filled the world with poore people This pouertie made them returne to seruitude and to become 8 Returne to seruitude voluntarie slaues paying changing selling their libertie to the end they might haue their maintenance and life assured and be quit of the burthen of their children Besides this cause and this voluntarie seruitude the world is returned to the vse of slaues because the Christians and Turks alwaies mainteining warres one against the other as likewise against the Gentiles both orientall and occidentall although by the example of the Iewes they haue no slaues of their owne nation yet they haue of others whom though they turne to their religion they hold slaues by force The power and authoritie of masters ouer their seruants is not very great nor imperious and in no sort can be preiudiciall to the libertie of seruants only they may chastise and correct them with discretion and moderation This power is much lesse ouer those that are mercenarie ouer whom they haue neither power nor correction The dutie of Masters and Seruants See lib. 3. cap. 15. CHAP. XLIX Of the State Soueraigntie Soueraignes HAuing spoken of priuate power we come to the publicke 1 The description and necessitie of the state that of the state The state that is to say Rule dominion or a certaine order in commanding and obeying is the prop the cement and the soule of humane things It is the bond of societie which cannot otherwise subsist It is the vitall spirit whereby so many millions of men doe breath and the whole nature of things Now notwithstanding it be the piller and prop of all yet it is a thing not so sure very difficult subiect to changes arduuin 2 The nature of the state Tacit. subiectum fortunae cuncta regendi onus which declineth and sometimes falleth by hidden and vnknowne causes and that altogether at an instant from the highest step to the lowest and not by degrees as it vseth to be long arising It is likewise exposed to the hatred both of great and small wherby it is gauled subiect to ambushments vnderminings and dangers which hapneth likewise many times by the corrupt and wicked manners of the soueraignes and the nature of the soueraigntie which we are about to describe Soueraigntie is a perpetuall and absolute power without constraint either of time or condition It consisteth in a power 3 The description of soueraigntie to giue lawes to all in generall and to euery one in particular without the consent of any other or the gift of any person And as another saith to derogate from the common law Soueraigntie is so called and absolute because it is not subiect to any humane lawes no not his owne For it is against nature to giue lawes vnto all and to command himselfe in a thing that dependeth vpon his will Nulla obligatio consistere potest quae a voluntate promittent is statum capit nor of another whether liuing or of his predecessors or the countrie Soueraigne power is compared to fire to the sea to a wilde beast it is a hard matter to tame it to handle it it will not be crost nor offended but being is very dangerous potestas res est quae moneri docerique non vult castigationem aegrè ferat The marks and properties thereof are to iudge the last appeales to ordaine lawes in time of peace and warre to create 4 The properties and appoint magistrates and officers to giue graces and dispensations against the law to impose tributes to appoint money to receiue homages ambassages oathes But all this is comprehended vnder the absolute power to giue and make lawes according to their pleasure Other marks there are of lesse weight as the law of the sea and shipwracke confiscation for treason power to change the tongue title of Maiestie Greatnes and Soueraigntie is so much desired of all because all the good that is in it appeareth outwardly and all the ill is altogether inward As also because to commaund others is a thing as beautifull and diuine as great and difficult and for this cause they are esteemed and reuerenced for more than men Which beliefe in the people and credit of theirs is very necessarie and commodious to extort from the people due respect and obedience the nource of peace and quietnes But in the end they prooue to be men cast in the same mould that other men are and many times worse borne and worse qualified in nature than many of the common sort of people It seemeth that their actions because they are weightie and important doe proceed from weightie and important causes but they are nothing and of the same condition that other mens are The same occasion that breeds a brawle betwixt vs and our neighbour is ground enough of a warre betwixt Princes and that offence for which a Lackey deserues a whipping lighting vpon a King is the ruine of a whole prouince They will as lightly as we and we as they but they can do more than we the selfe-same appetites moue a flie and an elephant Finally besides these passions defects and naturall conditions which they haue common with the meanest of those that doe adore them they haue likewise vices and discommodities which their greatnes and soueraigntie beares them out in peculiar vnto themselues The ordinarie maners of great personages are vntamed 6 The maners of Soueraignes pride durus est veri insolens ad recta flecti regius non vult tumor violence too licentious id esse regni maximum pignus putant si quicquid alijs non licet solis licet quod non potest vult posse qui nimium potest Their mott that best pleaseth them is Senec. Tacit. quod libet licet suspition icalousie suapte natura potentiae anxij yea euen of their owne infants suspectus semper inuisusque dominantibus quisquis proximus destinatur adeo vt displiceant etiam ciuilia filiorum ingenia whereby it falleth out that they are many times in alarum and feare ingenia regum prona ad formidinem The aduantages of Kings and soueraigne Princes aboue 7 The miseries and discommodities their people which seeme so great and glittering are indeed but light and almost imaginarie but they are repayed with great true and solid disaduantages and inconueniences The name and title of a soueraigne the shew and outside is beautifull pleasant and ambitious but the burthen and the inside is hard difficult and yrksome There
is honor enough but little rest and ioy or rather none at all It is a publicke and honorable seruitude a noble miserie a rich captiuitie Aureae fulgidae compides clara miseria witnesse that which Augustus Marcus Aurelius Pertinax Diocletian haue said and done and the end that almost all the first twelue Cesars made and many others after them But because few there are that beleeue this but suffer themselues to be deceiued by the beautifull shew I will more particularly quote the inconueniences and miseries that accompanie great Princes First the great difficultie to play their part and to quit themselues of their charge for can it be but a great burthen 8 1 In their charge to gouerne so many people since in the ruling of himselfe there are so many difficulties It is an easier matter and more pleasant to follow than to guide to trauell in a way that is alreadie traced than to finde the way to obey than to command to answere for himselfe only than for others too vt satius multo iam sit parere quietum quà m regere imperio res velle Adde heereunto that it is required that he that commandeth must be a better man than he that is commanded so said Cyrus a great Commander How difficult a thing this is we may see by the paucitie of those that are such as they ought to be Vespasian saith Tacitus was the only Prince that in goodnes excelled his predecessors and another sticks not to say that all the good Princes may be grauen in a ring Secondly in their delights and pleasures wherein it is thought they haue a greater part than other men But they 9 2 In the pleasures and actions of their life are doubtlesse of a worse condition than the pleasures of priuate men for besides that the lustre of their greatnes makes them vnfit to take ioy in their pleasures by reason that they are too cleare and apparent and made as a butt and subiect to censure they are likewise crost and peered into euen to their very thoughts which men take vpon them to diuine and iudge of Againe the great ease and facilitie that they haue to do what pleaseth them because all men applie themselues vnto them takes away the taste sowreth that sweet which should be in their pleasures which delight no man but those that taste them with some scarcitie and difficultie He that giues no time to be thirstie knowes not what a pleasure it is to haue drinke Sacietie is noysome and goes against the stomacke Pinguis amor nimiumque potens in taedia nobis Vertitur stomacho dulcis vt esca nocet There is nothing more tedious and loathsome than abundance yea they are depriued of all true and liuely action which can not be without some difficultie and resistance It is not going liuing acting in them but sleeping and an insensible sliding away The third inconuenience that followeth Princes is in their 10 3 In their marriages marriages The marriages of the vulgar sort are more free and voluntarie made with more affection libertie and contentment One reason heereof may be that the common sort of men finde more of their degree to chuse whereas Kings and Princes who are not of the rout as we know haue no plentifull choice But the other reason is better which is that the common sort in their marriages looke but into their owne affaires and how they may accommodate it best vnto themselues but the marriages of Princes are many times inforced for publike necessity they are great parts of the State and instruments seruing for the generall good and quiet of the world Great personages and Souereignes marrie not for themselues but for the good of the State whereof they must be more amourous and iealous than of their wiues and children for which cause they many times hearken vnto marriages where there is neither loue nor delight and matches are made betweene persons who neither know nor haue seene one another much lesse affect yea such a great man takes such a great ladie whom if he were not so great he would not take but this is to serue the weale-publike to assure the States and to settle peace amongst their people The fourth is That they haue no true part in the attempts that men make one against the other in emulation of honour 11 4 Attempte of honour and valour in the exercises of the minde and of the bodie which is one of the most delightfull things in the commerce and conuersation of men The reason heereof is because all the world giues place vnto them all men spare them and loue rather to hide their owne valour to betray their owne glorie than to hurt or hinder that of their Souereigne especially where they know he affects the victorie This to say the trueth is by force of respect to handle men disdainfully and iniuriously and therefore one said that the children of Princes learned nothing by order and rule but to manage a horse because in all other exercises euery one bowes vnto them and giues them the prise but the horse who is neither flatterer nor Courtier casts as well the Prince to the ground as the Esquire Many great personages haue refused the praises and approbations offered them saying I would accept and esteeme of them and reioyce in them if they came from free men that durst say the contrarie and tax me if there were cause The fift is that they are depriued of the libertie to trauell in the world being as it were emprisoned within their owne 12 5 Libertie of trauell countries yea within their owne palaces being alwaies enclosed with people suters gazers and lookers on and that wheresoeuer they be and in all actions whatsoeuer prying euen through the holes of their chaire whereupon Alphonsus the King said that in this respect the estate of an asse was better than the condition of a King The sixt miserie is that they are depriued of all amitie and mutuall societie which is the sweetest and perfectest fruit of 13 6 Mutuall and hartie amitie humane life and cannot be but betwixt equals or those betwixt whom the difference is but small This great disparitie puts them without the commerce and societie of men all humble seruices and base offices are done vnto them by those that cannot refuse them and proceed not from loue but from subiection or to increase their owne greatnes or of custome and countenance which is plaine because wicked Kings are as well serued and reuerenced as the good they that are hated as they that are beloued there is no difference the selfe-same apparell the selfe-same ceremonie Wherevpon Iulian the Emperour answered his Courtiers that commended him for his iustice Perhaps I should be proud of these praises if they were spoken by such as durst to accuse me and to dispraise my actions when they shall deserue it The seuenth misery worse perhaps than all the rest and
14 7 Ignorance of things more dangerous to the weale-publicke is that they are not free in the choice of men nor in the true knowledge of things They are not suffered truly to know the state of their affaires and consequently not to call and employ such as they would and as were most fit and necessarie They are shut vp and beset with a certaine kind of people that are either of their own bloud or by the greatnes of their houses and offices or by prescription are so farre in authoritie power and managing of affaires before others that it is not lawfull without putting all to hazard to discontent or in any sort to suspect them Now these kind of people that couer and hold as it were hidden the Prince do prouide that all the truth of things shall not appeare vnto him and that better men and more profitable to the state come not neere him lest they be knowne what they are It is a pitifull thing not to see but by the eyes not to vnderstand but by the eares of another as Princes doe And that which perfecteth in all points this miserie is that commonly and as it were by destinie Princes and great personages are possessed by three sorts of people the plagues of humane kinde Flatterers Inuenters of imposts or tributes Informers who vnder a faire and false pretext of zeale and amitie towards the Prince as the two first or of loyaltie and reformation as the latter spoile and ruinate both Prince and State The eight miserie is that they are lesse free and masters of their owne wills than all other for they are inforced in their 15 8 Not maesters of their wills proceedings by a thousand considerations and respects whereby many times they must captiuate their designments desires and wills in maxima fortuna minima licentia And in the meane time in stead of being plaintiffes they are more rudely handled and iudged than any other For men will not stick to diuine of their designes penetrate into their hearts and inuentions which they cannot doe Abditos principis sensus si quid occultius parat exquirere illicitum anceps nec ideo assequare and looking into things with another visage where they vnderstand not sufficientlie the affaires of the state they require of their Princes what they thinke should be done blame their actions refusing to submit themselues to what is necessarie they commonly proceed in their businesse rudely enough Finally it falleth out many times that they make a miserable end not only tyrants and vsurpers for it belongs to 16 9 A miserable end them but such as haue a true title to their Crowne witnes so many Romane Emperours after Pompey the Great and Caesar and in our time Mary Queene of Scotland who lost her life by the hand of an executioner and Henry the third wilfullie murthered in the middle of fortie thousand armed men by a little Monke and a thousand the like examples It seemeth that as lightning and tempests oppose themselues against the pride and height of our buildings so there are likewise spirits that enuie and emulate greatnes below vpon earth Vsque adeo res humanas vis abdita quaedam Obterit pulchros fasces saeuasque secures Proculcare ac ludibrio sibi habere videtur To conclude the condition of Soueraignes is hard and dangerous Their life if it be innocent is infinitly painefull 17 The conclusion of their miseries if it be wicked it is subiect to the hate and slaunder of the world and in both cases exposed to a thousand dangers for the greater a Prince is the lesse may he trust others and the more must he trust himselfe So that we see that it is a thing as it were annexed to soueraigntie to be betrayed Of their duty See the third booke Chap. 16. CHAP. L. Magistrates THere are diuers degrees of Magistrates as well in honor as power which are the two things to be considered in 1 The distinction the distinction of them and which haue nothing common the one with the other and many times they that are more honorable haue lesse power as Counsellors of the priuie Counsell the Secretaries of the state Some haue but one of the two others haue both and that of diuers degrees but they are properly called Magistrates that haue both The Magistrates that are in the middle betwixt the Soueraigne the particulars in the presence of their Soueraignes haue no power to command As riuers lose both their name and power at the mouth or entrance into the sea and the starres their light in the presence of the sunne so all power of Magistrates is but vpon sufferance in the presence of their Soueraigne as also the power of inferiours and subalternate Magistrates in the presence of their superiours Amongst equals there is neither power nor superioritie but the one may hinder the other by opposition and preuention All Magistrates iudge condemne and command either according to the law and then their sentence is but the execution of the law or according to equitie and such iudgement is called the office or dutie of the Magistrate Magistrates can not change nor correct their iudgements except the Soueraigne permit it vnder paine of iniustice they may reuoke their commands or make stay of them but not that which they haue iudged and pronounced with knowledge of the cause Of the dutie of Magistrates See lib. 3. CHAP. LI. Lawyers Doctours Teachers IT is one of the vanities follies of man to prescribe lawes and rules that exceed the vse and capacitie of men as some Philosophers and Doctors haue done They propose strange and eleuated formes or images of life or at leastwise so difficult and austere that the practise of them is impossible at least for a long time yea the attempt is dangerous to manie These are castles in the aire as the Common-wealth of Plato and More the Oratour of Cicero the Poet of Horace beautifull and excellent imaginations but he was yet neuer found that put them in vse The soueraigne and perfect Lawgiuer and Doctor tooke heed of this who both in himselfe his life and his doctrine hath not sought these extrauagancies and formes diuided from the common capacitie of men and therefore he calleth his yoke easie and his burden light Iugum meum suaue onus meum leue And they that haue instituted and ordered their companie vnder his name haue very wisely considered of the matter that though they make speciall profession of vertue deuotion and to serue the weale-publike aboue all others neuerthelesse they differ very little from the common and ciuill life Wherein there is first great iustice for there must alwaies be kept a proportion betwixt the commandement and the obedience the duetie and the power the rule and the workmaster and these binde themselues and others to be necessarilie in want cutting out more worke than they know how to finish and many times these goodly Law-makers are
others prouokes them to enuie extreame iealousie furie despaire and to attempt fortunes Plato calleth them the plagues of a Common-wealth But which of the two is the more dangerous is not thorowly resolued amongst all According to Aristotle it is abundance for a State needs not doubt of those that desire but to liue but of such as are ambitious and rich According to Plato it is pouertie for desperate poore men are terrible and furious creatures for wanting either bread or worke to exercise their arts and occupation s or too excessiuely charged with imposts they learne that of the mistresse of the schoole Necessitie which of themselues they neuer durst to haue learned and they dare because their number is great But yet there is a better remedie for these than for the rich and it is an easie matter to hinder this euill for so long as they haue bread and emploiment to exercise their mysteries and liue they will neuer stir And therefore the rich are to be feared for their owne sakes their vice and condition the poore by reason of the imprudencie of gouernours Now many Law-makers and great States-men haue gone 2 Against the equalitie inequalitie of riches about to take away these two extreamities and this great inequalitie of goods and fortunes and to bring in a mediocritie and equalitie which they called the noursing-mother of peace and amitie and others likewise haue attempted to make all things common which could neuer be but by imagination But besides that it is impossible to establish an equalitie by reason of the number of children which increase in one familie and not in another and that it can hardly be put in practise although a man be enforced and it cost much to attaine thereunto it were also inexpedient and to small purpose and by another way to fall into the same mischiefe for there is no hatred more capitall than betwixt equals the enuie and iealousie of equals is the seminarie of troubles seditions and cruell warres Inequalitie is good so it be moderate Harmonie consisteth not of like sounds but different and well according Nihil est aequalitate inaequalius This great and deformed inequalitie of goods proceedeth from many causes especially two the one is from vniust lones as vsuries and interests whereby the one eat the other and grow fat with the substance of another qui deuorant plebem sicut escam panis The other from dispositions whether amongst the liuing as alienations donations endowments in mariages or testamentaries by reason of death By both which meanes some doe excessiuely increase aboue others who continue poore The heires of rich men marrie with those that are rich whereby some houses are dismembred and brought to nothing and others made rich and exalted All which inconueniences must be ruled and moderated by auoiding excessiue extremities and in some sort approching to some mediocritie and reasonable equality for to haue either entire is neither possible nor good nor expedient as hath beene sayd And this shall be handled in the vertue of Iustice FINIS OF WISDOME THE SECOND BOOKE Conteining the generall instructions and rules of Wisdome THE PREFACE Wherein is conteined a generall portrait of Wisdome and the summe of this Booke HAuing in the First Booke layd open vnto man many and diuers meanes to know himselfe and our humane condition which is the first part and a great introduction to Wisdome we are now to enter into the doctrine and to vnderstand in this Second Booke the generall rules and opinions thereof reseruing the more particular to the Third and last Booke It is worthiest consideration and as a Preamble to the rest to call man vnto himselfe to taste sound studie himselfe to the end he may know and vnderstand his defects and miserable condition and so make himselfe capable of holsome and necessarie remedies which are the aduisements and instructions of wisdome But it is a strange thing that the world should take so little care of it owne good and amendment What wit is it for a man to be vtterly carelesse that his businesse be well done Man would only liue but he eares not to know how to liue well That which a man should especiallie and only know is that which he knowes least and cares least to know Our inclinations designments studies are as we see from our youth diuers according to the diuersitie of natures companies instructions occasions but there is not any that casteth his eies to the other side that indeuoreth to make himselfe wise not any that ruminateth hereupon or that doth so much as thinke thereon And if perhaps sometimes he do it is but by chance and as it were passing by and he attendeth it as newes that is told which concerneth him not at all The word pleaseth some well but that is all the thing it selfe is neither accounted of nor sought for in this world of so vniuersall corruption and contagion To vnderstand the merit and worth of wisdome some kind of aire or tincture of nature is necessarie for men are willing to vse studie and indeuor rather for those things that haue their effects and fruits glorious outward and sensible such as ambition auarice passion haue than for wisdome whose effects are sweet darke inward and lesse visible O how much doth the world erre in this account it loueth better the wind with noise than the bodie it selfe the essence without it opinion and reputation than veritie Man as hath been said in the first booke is nothing but vanitie and miserie vncapable of wisdome Euery man hath a taste of that aire which he breatheth and where he liueth followeth the traine and custome of liuing followed by all how then should he aduise himselfe of any other We follow the steps of another yea we presse and inflame one another we inuest our vices and passions one into another no man stayes vs or cryes hola vnto it so much do we faile and mistake our selues We haue neede of some speciall fauour from heauen and withall a great and generous force and constancie of nature to note that common error which no man findeth in aduising and consulting of that which no man considereth and resoluing our selues quite contrarie to the course of other men There are some though rare I see them I vnderstand them I smell them with pleasure and admiration but what they are all Democrites or Heraclites the one sort do nothing but mock and gibe thinking they shew truth wisdome enough in laughing at error and follie They laugh at the world for it is ridiculous they are pleasant but not good and charitable The other are weake and poore they speake with a low voice their mouths halfe open they disguise their language they mingle and stuffe their propositions to make them passe more currantlie with so many other things and with such arte that they are hardly discerned They speake not distinctly clearely assuredly but doubtfully like oracles I come after them and vnder
owne designements All that are of the contrary part must needs be wicked and of contrarie conditions yea and they that speake anie good or descrie anie good thing in them are likewise suspected to be of their part Can it not possiblie be that a man honest in all things else or at least in some thing may follow a wicked person maintaine a wicked cause It is enough that passion enforce the will but that it cary likewise the iudgement and make that a foole this is too much It is the soueraigne and last part that should alwaies maintaine it owne authority and we must ingenuouslie and in good sooth acknowledge the good that is in our aduersaries and the euill that is in those whom wee follow The ground and foundation of the controuersie being laid aside we must keepe moderation and indifferency and out of the businesse it selfe banish all choler all discontent And thus we see the euils that this ouergreat affection to any thing whatsoeuer bringeth with it of all yea of goodnesse and wisedome it selfe a man may haue too much But for a rule heerein we must remember that the principle 12 An aduisement and most lawfull charge that we haue is in euery man the conduct and guide of himselfe The reason why we are here is that we should maintaine our selues in tranquillitie and libertie And to do this the best remedie is to lend our selues to others and to giue our selues to none but to our selues to take our affaires into our hands not to place them in our hearts to take businesse vpon vs but not incorporate them into vs to be diligent not passionate not to tie our selues but to a few but rather alwaies to reserue our selues vnto our selues This counsell condemneth not those offices due to the weale-publike to our friends our neighbour yea it is so farre from it that a wise man must be officious and charitable applie vnto himselfe the customes of other men and the world and the rather to do it he must contribute to publike societie those offices and duties which concerne him Qui sibi amicus est hunc omnibus scito esse amicum But I require a double moderation and discretion heerein the one that a man applie not himselfe to all that is presented vnto him but to that which is iust and necessarie and that is not hard to be done the other that it be without violence and trouble He must desire little and that little moderately busie himselfe little and that peaceably and in those charges that he vndertaketh employ his pase his speech his attentions his sweatings his meanes and if need be his blood his life but yet without vexation and passion keeping himselfe alwayes to himselfe in health and tranquillitie A man may performe his dutie sufficiently without this ardencie and this so great contention of will And they deceiue themselues very much that thinke that a businesse is not well done and there is no maner of affection if it be not done with tempest clamour and clatter for contrariwise it is that that hindreth and troubleth the good guide and conduct thereof as hath been said O how many men hazzard their liues euery day in those warres which no way concerne them and thrust themselues into the danger of that bartell the losse whereof doth no way trouble their sleepe and all to the end they may not faile in their dutie whilest there is another in his owne house that dares not enter the danger or looke the enemie in the face is more affected with the issue of that warre and hath his mind more troubled than the souldier that aduentureth his blood and life in the field Finally we must know how to distinguish and separate our selues from our publike charges euery one of vs playeth two parts two persons the one strange and apparent the other proper and essentiall we must discerne the skinne from the shirt An actiue man will performe his charge and yet withall not leaue to iudge of the follie vice deceit that is therein he will conforme himselfe to euery thing because the custome of his countrey requireth it it is profitable to the weale-publike the world liues so and therefore it must be done A man must serue and make vse of the world such as he findeth it in the meane time he must likewise consider it as a thing estranged from it selfe know how to keepe and carie himselfe apart and to communicate himselfe to his owne trustie good howsoeuer things fall out with himselfe CHAP. III. True and essentiall honestie the first and fundamentall part of wisdome HAuing prepared and disposed our scholar to wisdome by these precedent aduisements that is to say hauing purified and freed him from all euils and placed him in a good estate of a full and vniuersall libertie to the end he may haue a perfect view knowledge and power ouer all things which is the priuiledge of a wise and spirituall man spiritualis omnia dijudicat it is now time to giue him instructions and generall rules of wisdome The two first shall be as preambles and foundations whereof the first and principall is honestie or probitie It will not be perhaps any matter of difficultie to make good this proposition That honestie is the first principall and fundamentall part of wisdome for all whether in truth and good earnest or in outward shew for shame or feare to say the contrarie doe applaud it they alwayes honour it in the first place confessing themselues seruitours and affectionate followers thereof but it will cost me some labour to shew and perswade which is that true and essentiall probitie we heere require For that which is in authoritie and credit wherewith the whole world contenteth it selfe that which is only knowne sought for and possessed I alwaies except some few of the wiser is bastardly artificiall false and counterfeit First we know that many times we are lead pricked forward 2 Masques of honestie to vertue and honorable actions by wicked and condemned meanes by default naturall impotencie by passion and vice it selfe chastitie sobrietie temperancie may be in vs by reason of our corporall imbecillitie the contempt of the world patience in aduersitie constancie in danger proceede many times from want of apprehension and iudgement valor liberalitie iustice it selfe from ambition discretion prudence from feare from auarice And how many beautifull actions hath presumption and temeritie brought forth So that the actions of vertue are many times no other but masques they carie the outward countenance but they haue not the essence they may very well be termed vertuous in consideration of another and of the visage they cary outwardly and in publike but in truth and with the actor himselfe they are nothing so for it will appeare at the last that profit glorie custome and other the like strange causes haue induced him to do them Sometimes they arise from stupiditie and brutish sottishnes and therefore it is said
and pourtraites as lesser lights thereunto But before we enter thereinto let me heere say in generall and by way of preface that of so many diuers religions and maners of seruing God which are or may be in the world they seeme to be the most noble and to haue greatest appearance of truth which without great externall and corporall seruice draw the soule into itselfe and raise it by pure contemplation to admire and adore the greatnesse and infinite maiestie of the first cause of all things and the essence of essences without any great declaration or determination thereof or prescription of his seruice but acknowledging it indefinitly to be goodnes perfection and infinitnes whollie incomprehensible not to be known as the Pythagoreans and most famous Philosophers do teach This is to approch vnto the religion of the angels and to put in practise that word of the sonne of God to adore in spirit and truth for God accounteth such worshippers the best There are others on the other side and in another extremitie who will haue a visible Deitie capable by the senses which base and grosse error hath mocked almost all the world euen Israel in the desert in framing to themselues a molten calfe And of these they that haue chosen the sunne for their god seeme to haue more reason than the rest because of the greatnes beautie and resplendent and vnknowne vertue thereof euen such as enforce the whole world to the admiration and reuerence of itselfe The eye seeth nothing that is like vnto it or that approcheth neere vnto it in the whole vniuerse it is one sunne and without companion Christianitie as in the middle tempereth the sensible and outward with the insensible and inward seruing God with spirit and body and accommodating itselfe to great and little whereby it is better established and more durable But euen in that too as there is a diuersitie and degrees of soules of sufficiencie and capacitie of diuine grace so is there a difference in the maner of seruing of God the more high perfect incline more to the first maner more spirituall and contemplatiue and lesse externall the lesse and imperfect quasi sub paedagogo remaine in the other and do participate of the outward and vulgar deformities Religion consisteth in the knowledge of God and of our selues for it is a relatiue action betweene both the office 15 Diuers descriptions of religion thereof is to extoll God to the vttermost of our power and to beate downe man as low as low may be as if he were vtterly lost and afterwards to furnish himselfe with meanes to rise againe to make him feele his misery his nothing to the end he may put his whole confidence in God alone The office of religion is to ioyne vs to the author and principall cause of all our good to reunite and fasten man to his first cause as to his roote wherein so long as he continueth firme and setled he preserueth himselfe in his owne perfection and contrariwise when he is separated he instantly fainteth and languisheth The end and effect of religion is faithfullie to yeeld all the honor and glorie vnto God and all the benefit vnto man All good things may be reduced to these two The profit which is an amendment and an essentiall and inward good is due vnto poore wretched and in all points miserable man the glory which is an outward ornament is due vnto God alone who is the perfection and fulnes of all good whereunto nothing can be added Gloria in excelsis Deo in terra pax hominibus Thus much being first knowen our instruction to pietie is 18 An instruction to pietie 1. To know God first to learn to know God for from the knowledge of things proceedeth that honor we do vnto them First then we must beleeue that he is that he hath created the world by his power goodnesse wisdome and that by it he gouerneth it that his prouidence watcheth ouer all things yea the least that are that whatsoeuer he sendeth vs is for our good and that whatsoeuer is euill proceedeth from our selues If we account those fortunes euill that he sendeth vs we blaspheme his holy name because naturally we honour those that do vs good and hate those that hurt vs. We must then resolue to obey him and to take all in good part which commeth from his hand to commit and submit our selues vnto him Secondly we must honour him and the most excellent 19 2. To honor him and deuoutest way to doe it is first to mount vp our spirits from all carnall earthly and corruptible imagination and by the chastest highest and holiest conceits exercise our selues in the contemplation of the Diuinitie and after that we haue adorned it with all the most magnificall and excellent names and praises that our spirit can imagine that we acknowledge that we haue presented nothing vnto it woorthy it selfe but that the fault is in our weaknesle and imbecillitie which can conceiue nothing more high God is the last endeuour and highest pitch of our imagination euery man amplifying the Ideaa according to his owne capacitie and to speake better God is infinitly aboue all our last and highest endeuours and imaginations of perfection Againe we must serue him with our heart and spirit it is 20 3. To serue him in spirit the seruice answerable to his nature Deus spiritus est si Deus est animus sit tibi pura mente colendus It is that which he requireth that which pleaseth him Pater tales quaer is adoratores The most acceptable sacrifice vnto his Maiestie is a pure free and humble heart Sacrificium Deo spiritus An innocent soule an innocent life Optimus animus pulcherrimus Seneca Lactan. Merc. Trism Dei cultus religiosissimus cultus imitari vnicus Dei cultus non esse malum A wise man is a true sacrifice of the great God his spirit is his temple his soule is his image his affections are his offerings his greatest and most solemne sacrifice is to imitate him to serue and implore him for it is the part of those that are great to giue of those that are poore to aske Beatius dare quà m accipere Neuerthelesse we are not to contemne and disdaine the 21 4. To serue him with our bodies outward and publike seruice which must be as an assistant to the other by obseruing the ceremonies or chnances and customes with moderation without vanity without ambition or hypocrisie without auarice alwaies with this thought That God wil be serued in spirit and That that which is outwardly done is rather for our selues than for God for humane vnitie and edification than for diuine veritie quae potius ad moremquam ad rempertinent Our vowes and prayers vnto God should be all subiect 22 5. To pray vnto him vnto his will we should neither desire nor aske any thing but as he hath ordeined hauing alwayes for our bridle
acquired and gotten by an outward cause ex auditu Quomodo credent sine praedicante engendreth honestie which we haue shewed should proceed from nature from that law and light which God hath put into vs from our first beginning This is an inuerted order These men will that a man be an honest man because there is a Paradise and a hell so that if they did not feare God or feare to be damned for that is often their language they would make a goodly peece of worke O miserable honestie What thankes deseruest thou for that thou doest ô cowardly and idle innocencie quae nisi metu non placet Thou keepest thy selfe from wickednesse because thou darest not be wicked and thou fearest to be beaten and euen therein art thou wicked Oderunt peccare mali formidine poenae Now I will that thou dare but yet that thou wilt not though thou be neuer chidden I will that thou be an honest man not because thou wouldest goe to paradise but because nature reason God willeth it because the law and the generall policy of the world whereof thou art a part requireth it so as that thou canst not consent to be any other except thou goe against thy selfe thy essence thy end Doubtlesse such honestie occasioned by the spirit of religion besides that it is not true and essentiall but accidentall it is likewise very dangerous producing many times very base and scandalous effects as experience in all times hath taught vs vnder the faire and glorious pretext of piety What execrable wickednesses hath the zeale of religion brought foorth Is there any other subiect or occasion that hath yeelded the like It belongeth to so great and noble a subiect to worke great and wonderfull effects Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum Quae peperit saepe scelerosa atque impia facta Not to loue him yea to look vpon him with a wicked eie as a man should looke vpon a monster that beleeueth not as he beleeueth To think to be polluted by speaking or conuersing with him is one of the sweetest and most pleasing actions of these kind of people Hee that is an honest man by scruple and a religious bridle take heed of him and account of him as he is And he that hath religion without honestie I will not say he is more wicked but farre more dangerous than he that hath neither the one nor the other Omnis qui interficiet vos putabit se obsequium praestare Deo not because religion teacheth or any way fauoureth wickednesse as some very foolishly and malitiouslie from this place do obiect for the most absurd and falsest religion that is doth it not but the reason is that hauing no taste nor image nor conceit of honestie but by imitation and for the seruice of religion and thinking that to be an honest man is no other thing than to be carefull to aduance religion they beleeue all things whatsoeuer be it treason treacherie sedition rebellion or any other offence to be not onlie lawfull and sufferable being coloured with zeale and the care of religion but also commendable meritorious yea worthy canonization if it serue for the progresse and aduancement of religion and the ouerthrow of their aduersaries The Iewes were wicked and cruell to their parents vniust towards their neighbors neither lending nor paying their debts and all because they gaue vnto the temple thinking to be quit of all duties and reiecting the whole world by saying Corban Math. 15. 5. Marc. 7. 11. 6. Hierom. I will then to conclude this discourse that there be in this my wise man a true honestie and a true pietie ioyned and maried together and both of them compleat and crowned with the grace of God which he denieth none that shall aske it of him Deus dat spiritum bonum omnibus potentibus eum as hath been said in the preface article the 14. CHAP. VI. To gouerne his desires and pleasures IT is a principall dutie of a wise man to know well how to moderate and rule his desires and pleasures for wholly to renounce them I am so farre from requiring it in this my wise man that I hold this opinion to be not only fantasticall but vitious and vnnaturall First then we must confute this opinion which banisheth and whollie condemneth all pleasures and afterwards learne how to gouerne them It is a plausible opinion and studied by those that would seeme to be men of vnderstanding and professors of singular 1 The first part sanctitie generally to contemne and tread vnder-foote all sorts of pleasures and all care of the bodie retiring the spirit vnto it selfe not hauing any commerce with the bodie but eleuating An opinion of the contempt of the world it selfe to high things and so to passe this life as it were insensiblie neither tasting it nor attending it With these kind of people that ordinarie phrase of passing the time doth very well agree for it seemeth to them that well to vse and employ this life is silently to passe it ouer and as it were to escape it and rob themselues of it as if it were a miserable burthensome and tedious thing being desirous so to slide through the world as that not only recreations and pastimes are suspected yea odious vnto them but also naturall necessities which God hath seasoned with some pleasure They come not where any delight is but vnwillinglie and being where it is they hold their breath till they be gone as if they were in a place of infection and to be briefe their life is offensiue vnto them and death a solace pleasing themselues with that saying which may be as well ill taken and vnderstood as well vitam habere in patientia mortem in desiderio But the iniquitie of this opinion may many wayes be shewed First there is nothing so faire and lawfull as well and 2 Reiected duly to play the man well to know how to leade this life It is a diuine knowledge very difficult for a man to know how he should lawfully enioy his owne essence leade his life according to the common and naturall modell to his proper conditions not seeking those that are strange for all those extrauagancies all those artificiall and studied endeuors those wandring wayes from the naturall and common proceede from follie and passion these are maladies without which whilest these men would liue not by playing the men but the diuines they play the fooles they would transforme themselues into angels and they turne themselues into beasts aut deus aut bestia homo sum humani à me nihil alienum puto Man is a bodie and a soule and it is not well done to dismember this building to diuide and separate this brotherlie and naturall coniunction but contrariwise we should renue it by mutuall offices the spirit must awaken and reuiue the heauie bodie the bodie must stay the lightnes of the spirit which many times prooues but a trouble-feast the spirit must
crosses as a man would haue thought them their vtter ouerthrow and vndoing haue beene raised by the selfesame meanes to the highest pitch of their owne desires and contrariwise without that infelicitie had still remained vnder hatches as that great Athenian Captaine knew well when hee said perier amus nisi perijssemus A very excellent example heere of was Ioseph the sonne of Iacob It is true that these are blowes from heauen but the vertue and wisedome of man serueth as a proper instrument from whence came that wise saying of the Sages To make of necessitie a vertue It is a very good husbandrie and the first propertie of a wise man to draw good from euill to handle his affaires with such dexteritie and so to winne the winde and to set the bias that of that which is ill he may make good vse and better his owne condition Afflictions and aduersities proceede from three causes 10 It hath three causes and three effects which are the three authors workers of our punishments sinne the first inuentor which hath brought them into nature the anger and iustice of God which setteth them aworke as his Commissaries and executioners the policie of the world troubled and changed by sinne wherein as a generall reuolt and cruill tumult things not being in their due places and not doing their office all euils do spring and arise as in a body the disiointing of the members the dislocation of the bones bringeth great paine and much vnquietnesse These three are not fauourable vnto vs the first is to be hated of all as our enemie the second to be feared as terrible the third to be auoided as an imposture That a man may the better defend and quit himselfe from all three there is no better way than to vse their owne proper armes wherewith they punish vs as Dauid cut off Goliahs head with his owne sword making of necessity a vertue profit of paine and affliction turning them against themselues Affliction is the true fruit or science of sinne being well taken is the death and ruine thereof and it doth that to the author therof which the viper doth to his damme that brought him foorth It is the oile of the Scorpion which healeth his owne sting to the end it may perish by it owne inuention perijt arte sua patimur quia peccauimus patimur vt non peccemus It is the file of the soule which scoureth purifieth and clenseth it from all sinne And consequently it appeaseth the anger of God and freeth vs from the prisons and bands of Iustice to bring vs into the faire and cleare sun-shine of grace and mercy Finally it weaneth vs from the world it plucketh vs from the dug and maketh vs distaste with the bitternesse thereof like wormwood vpon the teat of the nurse the sweet milke and food of this deceitfull world A great and principall meane for a man to carrie himselfe well in aduersitie is to be an honest man A vertuous man 11 A generall aduice is more peaceable in aduersitie than a vitious in prosperitie like those that haue a feuer who feele and find more harme and violence in the heat and cold thereof and in the extreamitie of their fittes than such as are sound in the heat and cold of Summer and Winter And euen so they that haue their consciences sicke are much more tormented than they that are sound that are honest men For hauing the inward part whole and healthfull they can no way bee endamaged by the outward especially opposing against it a good courage Aduersities are of two sorts some are true and naturall as 12 An aduice more speciall sicknesse griefes losse of those things we loue others are false and fained either by a common or particular opinion and not in veritie That it is so man hath his spirit and body as much at command as before they hapned To these kind of men only this one word That which thou complainest of is neither painfull nor troublesome but thou makest it such and makest thy selfe to beleeue it As touching the true and naturall the more prompt and popular and more sound opinions are the more naturall and 13 Naturall more iust First we must remember that a man indureth nothing against the humane and naturall law since euen at the To endure is naturall and humane birth of man all these things are annexed and giuen as ordinarie In whatsoeuer doth afflict vs let vs consider two things the nature of that that hapneth vnto vs and that which is in our selues and vsing things according to nature we can receiue no tediousnesse or offence thereby For offence is a maladie of the soule contrarie to nature and therefore should by no meanes come neere vnto vs. There is not any accident in the world which may happen vnto vs wherein nature hath not prepared an aptnesse in vs to receiue it and to turne it to our contentment There is no maner of life so strait that hath not some solace and recreation There is no prison so strong and darke that giues not place to a song sometimes to comfort a prisoner Ionas had leasure to make his prayers vnto God euen in the bellie of the Whale and was heard It is a fauor of nature that it findeth a remedie and ease vnto our euils in the bearing of them it being so that man is borne to be subiect to all sorts of miseries omnia ad quae gemimus quae expauescimus tributa vitaesunt Secondly we must remember that there is only the lesser part of man subiect to fortune we haue the principall in our 14 It toucheth but the lesser part of man owne power and it cannot be ouercome without our owne consent Fortune may make a man poore sick afflicted but not vitious dissolute deiected it cannot take from vs probitie courage vertue Afterwards we must come to fidelitie reason iustice Many times a man complaineth vniustlie for though he be sometimes 15 It is not against reason and iustice surprised with some ill accident yet he is more often with a good and so the one must recompence the other And if a man consider well thereof he shall find more reason to content himselfe with his good fortunes than to complaine of his bad and as we turne our eyes from those things that offend vs and delight to cast them vpon greene and pleasant colours so must we diuert our thoughts from heauie and melancholike occurrents and applie them to those that are pleasant and pleasing vnto vs. But we are malicious resembling cupping-glasses which draw the corrupt bloud and leaue the good like a couetous man who selleth the best wine and drinks the worst like little children from whom if you take away one of their play-games in a furie they cast away all the rest For if any misfortune happen vnto vs we torment our selues and forget all the rest that may any way comfort vs yea some there are
a wise man 4 Wisely to examine all things whom I heere endeuour to describe to examine all things to consider apart and afterwards to compare together all the lawes and customes of the world which shall come to his knowledge and to iudge of them not to rule his obedience by them as hath beene said but to exercise his office since he hath a spirit to that end faithfully and without passion according to the rule of truth and vniuerfall reason and nature whereunto he is first obliged not flattering himselfe or staining his iudgement with error and to content himselfe to yeeld obedience vnto those whereunto hee is secondly and particularly bound whereby none shall haue cause to complaine of him It may fall out sometimes that wee may doe that by a second particular and municipall obligation obeying the lawes and customes of the country which is against the first and more ancient that is to say vniuersall nature and reason but yet we satisfie nature by keeping our iudgements and opinions true and iust according to it For wee haue nothing so much ours and whereof we may freely dispose the world hath nothing to do with out thoughts but the outward man is engaged to the publicke course of the world and must giue an account thereof so that manie times wee doe iustlie that which iustly we approoue not There is no remedie for so goes the world After these two mistresses Law and Custome comes the 8 Of Ceremonies third which hath no lesse authority power with many yea is more rough tyrannicall to those that too much tie themselues thereunto This is the ceremony of the world which to say the truth is for the most part but vanity yet holdeth such place and vsurpeth such authority by the remisnesse and contagious corruption of the world that manie thinke that wisedome consisteth in the obseruation thereof and in such sort do voluntarilie enthrall themselues thereunto that rather than they wil contradict it they preiudice their health benefit businesse libertie conscience and all which is a very great follie and the fault and infelicity of manie Courtiers who aboue others are the idolaters of ceremonie Now my will is that this my Wise-man do carefullie defend himselfe from this captiuity I doe not meane that out of a kind of loose inciuilitie he abuse a ceremonie for we must forgiue the world in some thing and as much as may be outwardlie conforme our selues to that which is in practise but my will is that he tie not and enthrall himselfe thereunto but that with a gallant and generous boldnesse hee know how to leaue it when he will and when it is fit and in such maner as that he giue all men to know that it is not out of carelesnes or delicacie or ignorance or contempt but because he would not seeme ignorant how to esteeme of it as is fit not suffer his iudgement and will to be corrupted with such a vanitie and that he lendeth himselfe to the world when it pleaseth him but neuer giueth himselfe CHAP. IX To carie himselfe well with another THis matter belongeth to the vertue of iustice which teacheth how to liue well with all and to giue to euery one that which appertaineth vnto him which shall be handled in the booke following where shall be set downe the particular and diuers opinions according to the diuersitie of persons Heere are only the generall following the purpose and subiect of this booke There is heere a two-fold consideration and consequently two parts in this Chapter according to the two maners of conuersing with the world the one is simple generall and common the ordinarie commerce of the world whereunto the times the affaires the voyages and encounters do daily leade and change acquaintance from those we know to those we know not strangers without our choice or voluntarie consents the other speciall is in affected and desired companie and acquaintance either sought after and chosen or being offered and presented hath beene embraced and that either for spirituall or corporall profit or pleasure wherein there is conference communication priuitie and familiaritie each of them haue their aduisements apart But before we enter into them it shall not be amisse by way of preface to giue you some generall and fundamentall aduice of all therest It is a great vice whereof this our Wise-man must take heed and a defect inconuenient both to himselfe and to another 3 Facilitie and vniuersalitie of humours to be bound and subiect to certaine humours and complexions to one only course that is to be a slaue to himselfe so to be captiuated to his proper inclinations that he cannot be bent to any other a testimonie of an anxious scrupulous mind and ill bred too amorous and too partiall to it selfe These kind of people haue much to endure and to contest and contrariwise it is a great sufficiencie and wisdome to accommodate himselfe to all I stud est sapere qui vbicunque opus sit animum possis flectere to be supple and manaiable to know how to rise and fall to bring himselfe into order when there is neede The fairest minds and the best borne are the more vniuersall the more common appliable to all vnderstandings communicatiue and open to all people It is a beautifull qualitie which resembleth and imitateth the goodnes of God it is the honor which was giuen to old Cato huic versatile ingenium sic pariter adomnia fuit vt natum ad id vnum diceres quodcunque ageret Let vs see the aduisements of the first consideration of the simple and common conuersation I wil heere set downe some 4 The first part Aduice touching simple and common conuersation whereof the first shall be to keepe silence and modestie The second not to be ouer-formall in not applying himselfe to the follies indiscretions and lightnesses which may be committed in his presence for it is an indiscretion to condemne all that pleaseth not our palat The third to spare and thriftily to order that which a man knoweth and that sufficiencie that he hath attained and to be more willing to heare than to speake to learne than to teach for it is a vice to be more readie and forward to make himselfe knowne to talke of himselfe and to shew all that is in him than to learne knowledge of another and to spend his owne stock than to get new The fourth not to enter into discourse and contestation against all neither against great men to whom we owe a dutie and respect nor against our inferiours where the match is not equall The fift to be honestlie curious in the enquirie of all things and knowing them to order them frugallie to make profit by them The sixt and principall is to employ his iudgement in all things which is the chiefe part which worketh ruleth and doth all without the vnderstanding all other things are blind deafe and without a soule it is least to know
the historie the iudgement is all The seuenth is neuer to speake affirmatiuely and imperiously with obstinacie and resolution that hurteth and woundeth all Peremptorie affirmation and obstinacie in opinion are ordinarie signes of senslesnesse and ignorance The stile of the ancient Romans was that the witnesses deposing and the iudges determining that which of their owne proper knowledge they knew to be true they expressed their mind by this word It seemeth it a videtur And if these did thus what should others do It were good to learne to vse such words as may sweeten and moderate the temeritie of our propositions as It may be It is said I thinke It seemeth and the like and in answering I vnderstand it not What is that to say It may be It is true I will shut vp this generall part in these few The conclusion words To haue the countenance and the outward shew open and agreeable to all his mind and thought couered and hid from all his tongue sober and discreet alwaies to keepe himselfe to himselfe and to stand on his gard frons aperta lingua parca mens clausa nulli fidere to see and heare much to speake little to iudge of all vide audi iudica Let vs come to the other consideration and kind of conuersation more speciall whereof the instructions are these 11 The second part of speciall conuersation The first is to seeke to conferre and conuerse with men of constancie and dexteritie for thereby the mind is confirmed and fortified and is eleuated aboue it selfe as with base and weake spirits it is debased and vtterly lost the contagion heerein is as in the bodie and also more The second is not to be astonished at the opinions of another for how contrarie soeuer to the common sort how strange how friuolous or extrauagant they seeme yet they are sutable to the spirit of man which is capable to produce all things and therfore it is weaknes to be astonished at them The third is not to feare or to be troubled with the rude inciuilitie and bitter speeches of men whereunto he must harden and accustome himselfe Gallant men beare them with courage this tendernes and fearefull ceremonious mildnes is for women This societie and familiaritie must be valiant and manly it must be couragious both to giue hard speeches and to endure them to correct and to be corrected It is a fading pleasure to haue to do with a people that yeeld flatter and applaud a man in all things The fourth is to aime alwaies at the truth to acknowledge it ingenuously and cheerefully to yeeld vnto it of what side soeuer it be vsing alwaies and in all things sinceritie and not as many especiallie pedanties by right or by wrong to defend himselfe and to quell his aduersarie It is a fairer victorie to range himselfe according to reason and to vanquish himselfe than to ouercome his aduersarie whereunto his own weaknesse doth many times help being farre from all passion To acknowledge his fault to confesse his doubt and ignorance to yeeld when there is occasion are actes of iudgement gentlenes and sinceritie which are the principall qualities of an honest and wise man whereas obstinacie in opinion accuseth a man of many vices and imperfections The fift is in disputation not to employ all the meanes that a man may haue but such as are best and fittest that are more pertinent and pressing and that with breuitie for euen in a good cause a man may say too much for long discourses amplifications and repetitions are a testimonie of ostentation desire to speake and tedious to the whole companie The sixt and principall is in all things to keepe a forme order and aptnes O what a troublesome thing it is to dispute and conferre with a foole a trifler that vttereth nothing but matter impertinent to the matter It is the only iust excuse to cut off all conference for what can a man gaine but torment that knowes not how or what to speake as he should Not to vnderstand the argument that is made to wed himselfe to his owne opinion not to answere directly to tye himselfe to words and to leaue the principall to mingle and trouble the conference with vaine amplifications to denie all not to follow the forme of disputation to vse vnprofitable prefaces and digressions to be obstinate in opinion and to mouth it out to tye himselfe to formes and neuer to diue into the bottome are things that are ordinarily practised by pedanties and Sophisters See heere how wisdome is discerned from follie this is presumptuous rash obstinate assured that neuer satisfieth it selfe is fearefull aduised modest this pleaseth it selfe goes foorth of the lists merrily and gloriously as hauing wonne the victorie when it neuer came neere it The seuenth if there be place of contradiction hee must take heede that he be not bold obstinate bitter for either of these three makes it vnwelcome doth more hurt himselfe than an other That it may winne good entertainment of the companie it must arise from that very houre of the controuersie that is handled from the present occasion and not from elsewhere nor from any former precedent ground neither must it touch the person but the matter onely with some commendation of the person if there be cause CHAP. X. To cary himselfe wisely in his affaires THis doth properly belong to the vertue of prudence whereof wee shall speake in the beginning of the booke following where shall bee set downe in particular diuers counsels and aduisements according to the diuers kindes of prudence and occurrents in our affaires But I will heere set downe the principall points and heads of wisedome which are generall common aduisements to instruct in grosse our disciple to carrie himselfe well and wisely in the trafficke and commerce of the world and the managing of all affaires and they are eight The first consisteth in vnderstanding that is well to know the persons with whom a man hath to deale their proper and 1 Knowledge of the persōs and affaires particular nature their humour their spirit inclinatino designement and intention their proceedings to know likewise the nature of the businesse which he hath in hand and which is proposed vnto him not only in their superficiall and outward appearance but to penetrate into the inside thereof not only to see and know things in themselues but the accidents and consequents that belong thereunto The better to doe this he must looke into them with all maner of visages consider them in all senses for there are some that in one side are very pretious and pleasing and on the other base and pernicious Now it is certaine that according to the diuers natures of the persons and affaires we must change our stile and maner of proceeding like a Seaman who according to the diuers state of the sea and the diuersitie of the windes doth diuersly turne and guide his sailes and his oares
that the more iust and honest which commeth neerest vnto nature that the more vniust and dishonest which is farthest from it Before we leaue this discourse of the choice election of things in two words let vs remoue this question From whence commeth in our soules the choice of two indifferent things in all things alike The Stoicks say from an extraordinarie immoderate strange and rash operation of the soule But a man may say that neuer do two things present themselues vnto vs wherein there is not some difference or other be it neuer so little and that there is alwaies something in the one which moueth vs to that choice although it be insensible and such as we cannot expresle He that is equallie ballanced betwixt two desires can neuer choose for euery choice and inclination doth inferre an inequalitie Another precept in this matter is to take aduice and counsell of another for for a man to beleeue himselfe and to trust 4 Consultation only in himselfe is very dangerous Now heere are required two aduertisements of Prudence the one is in the choice of those to whom a man must addresse himselfe for counsell for there are some whose counsell we should rather auoid and flie from First they must be honest and faithfull men which is heere all one and secondly men sensible aduised wise and of experience These are the two qualities of good counsellers honestie and sufficiencie A man may adde a third and that is that neither they nor their neerest and inward friends haue any particular interest in the businesse for although a man may say that this cannot hinder them to giue good counsell being as is said honest men yet I may answere that besides that this so great and philosophicall honestie which is no way touched with it owne proper interest be very rare it is also a great point of follie to bring it into doubt and anxictie and as it were to put the finger betwixt two stones The other aduertisement is well to heare and entertaine the counsels receiuing them without attending the euent with iudgement and gentlenes delighting in the free deliuerie of the truth Hauing entertained and followed it as good and comming from a good hand and a friendly he must not repent himselfe of it although it succeed not well and according to expectation Many times good counsels haue bad euents But a wise man must rather content himselfe to haue followed good counsell which hath brought foorth bad effects than bad counsell which hath had a happie euent as Marius sic correcti Marij temeritas gloriam ex culpa inuenit and not to do like fooles who hauing aduisedly deliberated and chosen thinke afterwards to haue chosen the worse because they weigh only the reasons of the contrarie opinion neuer counterpoising them with those with first induced them thereunto Thus much breefly be said of those that seeke counsell Lib. 3. ca. 2. art 17. of those that giue it we shal speake in the vertue of Prudence whereof the counsell is a great and sufficient part The fift aduice which I heere giue to carie himselfe well in his affaires is a temperature and mediocritie betwixt too 5 Temperature betwixt feare and assurance great a confidence and distrust feare and assurance To trust and secure himselfe doth many times hurt and to distrust offendeth he must take speciall heed of making any shew of distrust euen when there is cause for it displeaseth yea offendeth much and many times maketh a friend an enemy But yet a man is not to be ouer-credulous and confident except it be of his best assured friends he must alwaies keepe the bridle in his hands holding it neither too loose nor too streight He must neuer speake all and let that which he speaketh be euer true He must neuer deceiue but yet let him take heed he be not deceiued He must euer temper and moderate that columbine innocencie and simplicitie in not offending any man with his serpentine wisdome and subtiltie and keeping himselfe vpon his gard and preseruing himselfe from the deceits treasons and ambushments of another Subtiltie to defend is as commendable as it is dishonest to offend He must neuer therefore aduance and engage himselfe so farre but that he haue alwaies a meane when he will and when it shall be necessarie to retire himselfe without great dammage or dislike He must neuer forsake his owne hold nor so much despise another and presume of himselfe that he fall into a kind of presumption and carelesnes of his affaires like those that thinke that no man sees so cleere as themselues that looke that euery man should yeeld vnto them that no man should dare to entertaine a thought to displease them and by that meanes become dissolute and cast away care and in the end they are blinded surprised and deceiued Another aduice and very important is to take all things in their times and seasons and to good purpose and for that To take time and occasion cause he must aboue all things auoid precipitation an enemie to wisdome the step-mother of all good actions a vice much to be feared in yong and youthfull people It is in truth the Against precipitation worke of a skilfull and actiue man to applie euery thing to his true end well to manage all occasions and commodities to make vse both of the times and the meanes All things haue their seasons and euen the good which a man may doe without purpose Now too much speed and precipitation is contrarie heereunto which troubleth marreth and confoundeth all canis festinans caecos facit catulos It proceedeth commonly for that passion which carieth vs Nam qui cupit festinat qui festinat euertit vnde festinatio improuida caeca duo aduersissima rectae menticeleritas ira and often enough from insufficiencie The contrarie vice lazinesse sloth carelesnesse Idlenesse which seemeth sometimes to haue some aire of maturitie and wisdome is likewise pernitious and dangerous especiallie in the execution For it is said that it is lawfull to be slow and long in deliberation and consultation but not in the execution and therefore the wisest say That a man must consult slowly execute speedely deliberate with leisure and with speede accomplish It falleth out sometimes that the contrarie is practised with good successe and that a man is happie in the euent though he haue been suddaine and rash in his deliberation Subiti consilijs euentu faelices but this is very seldome and by chaunce or fortune according to which wee must not rule and direct ourselues but take heed lest enuie and emulation ouertake vs for commonly a long and vnprofitable repentance is the reward of headlong hastinesse Behold then two rocks and extremities which we must equallie auoid for it is as great a fault to take occasions before they be readie whilest they be greene and raw as to suffer them to grow till they be ouer-ripe past
states THE PREFACE THis doctrine belongeth to souereignes and gouernours of states It is vncertaine infinite difficult and almost impossible to be ranged into order to be limited and prescribed by rules and precepts but wee must endeuour to giue some small light and briefe instruction thereof Wee may referre this whole doctrine to two principall heads which are the two duties of a souereigne The one comprehendeth and intreateth of the props and pillars of a state principall essentiall parts of publike gouernment as the bones and sinewes of this great bodie to the end that a souereigne may prouide for himselfe and his state which are seuen principall that is to say knowledge of the state vertue maners and fashions counsels treasure forces and armes alliances The three first are in the person of the souereigne the fourth in him and neere him the three latter without him The other is to act well to employ and to make vse of the aforesaid meanes that is to say in grosse and in a word well to gouerne and maintaine himselfe in authoritie and the loue both of his subiects and of strangers but distinctly this part is twofold peaceable and militarie Behold heere summarily and grossely the worke cut out and the first great draughts that are to be handled heereafter We will diuide then this politicke matter and of state into two parts the first shall be of prouision that is to say of the seuen necessarie things the second and which presupposeth the first shall be of the action of the prince This matter is excellently handled by Lipsius according as he thought good the marrow of his booke is heere I haue not taken nor wholly followed his method nor his order as you may already see in this generall diuision and more you shall heereafter I haue likewise left somewhat of his and added something of my owne and other mens CHAP. II. The first part of this politicke prudence and gouernment of state which is of prouision THe first thing that is required before all others is the knowledge of the state for the first rule of all prudence 1 The chiefe point of this prouision to know the state consisteth in knowledge as hath beene said in the second booke The first in all things is to know with whom a man hath to deale For in as much as this ruling and moderating prudence of states which is a knowledge and sufficiency to gouerne in publike is a thing relatiue which is handled betweene the souereigne and the subiects the first dutie and office thereof is in the knowledge of the two parts that is of the people and the souereigntie that is to say of the state First then the humours and natures of the people must bee knowne This knowledge formeth and giueth aduice vnto him that should gouerne them The nature of the people in generall hath beene described at large in the first booke light inconstant mutinous vaine a louer of nouelties fierce and insupportable in prosperitie cowardly and deiected in aduersitie but it must likewise be knowne in particular so many cities and persons so many diuers humours There are people cholericke audacious warriers fearefull giuen to wine subiect to women some more than others noscenda natura vulgi est quibus modis temperanter habeatur And in this sense is that saying of the wise to be vnderstood He that hath not obeied cannot tell how to command nemo bene imperat nisi qui ante paruerit imperio Not because soueraignes Senec. should or can alwaies take vpon them the name of subiects for many are borne kings and princes and many states are successiue but that he that wil wel command should acquaint himselfe with the humors and willes of his subiects as if himselfe were of their ranke and in their place He must likewise know the nature of the state not only in generall such as it hath beene described but in particular that which hee hath now in hand the forme establishment birth thereof that is to say whether it be old or new fallen by succession or by election obtained by the lawes or by armes of what extent it is what neighbours meanes power it hath For according to these and other circumstances hee must diuerslie manage the scepter loose and straiten the raines of his gouernment After this knowledge of the state which is as a preamble 2 The second head of this prouision is vertue the first of those things that are required is vertue necessary in a soueraigne as well for himselfe as for the state It is first necessary and conuenient that hee that is aboue all should bee better than all according to the saying of Cyrus And then it standeth him vpon for his credit and reputation For common fame and report gathereth and spreadeth abroad the speeches and actions of him that gouerneth Hee is in the eie of all and can no more hide himselfe than the sun and therefore what good or ill soeuer he doth shall not want meanes to blasen it shall bee talked of enough And it importeth him much both in respect of himselfe and his state that his subiects haue a good opinion of him Now a soueraigne ought not only in himselfe and in his life and conuersation to be vertuous but he must likewise endeuour that his subiects be like vnto himselfe For as all the wisest of the world haue euer taught a state a city a company cannot long continue nor Salust ad Caesar prosper where vertue is banished and they do grosly aequiuocate who thinke that princes are so much the more assured in their states by how much the more wicked their subiects are because say they they are more proper and as it were borne to seruitude and the yoke patientiores seruitutis quos Plin. Pan. non decet nisi esse seruos For contrarily wicked men beare their yoke impatientlie and they that are good and debonaire feare much more than their cause is Pessimus quisque asperrime Salust ad Caesar rectorem patitur Contrà facile imperium in bonos qui metuentes magis quà m metuendi Now the most powerfull meanes to induce them and to forme them vnto vertue is the example of the Prince for as experience telleth vs all men doe frame themselues to the paterne and modell of the Prince The reason is because example presseth more than law It is a mute law which carieth more credit than a commaund nec tam imperio Pli. Paneg. nobis opus quà m exemplo mitius iubetur exemplo Now the eyes and thoughts of the lesser are alwaies vpon the great they admire and simplie beleeue that all is good and excellent that they do and on the other side they that commaund thinke they sufficientlie enioyne and bind their inferiors to imitate them by acting only Vertue then is honorable and profitable in a soueraigne yea all vertue But especiallie and aboue all Pietie Iustice Valour Clemencie These are the
foure principall and princely vertues 3 Especially 4. vertues in principalitie And therefore that great Prince Augustus was wont to say that Pietie and Iustice did deifie Princes And Seneca saith that clemencie agreeth better with a Prince than any other The pietie of a soueraigne consisteth in his care for the maintenance and preseruation of religion as the protector thereof This maketh for his owne honor and preseruation of himselfe for they that feare God dare not attempt nay thinke of any thing either against their Prince who is the image of God vpon earth or against the state For as Lactantius doth many times teach it is a religion that maintaineth humane societie which cannot otherwise subsist and would soone be filled with all maner of wickednes and sauage cruelties if the respect and feare of religion did not bridle men and keepe them in order The state of the Romans did increase and flourish more by religion saith Cicero himselfe than by all other meanes Wherefore a Prince must take care and endeuor that religion be preserued in it puritie according to the ancient lawes and ceremonies of the countrie and hinder all innouation and controuersies therein roughlie chastising those that goe about to breake the peace thereof For doubtlesse change in religion and a wrong done thereunto draweth with it a change and declination in the Common-wealth Dion as Mecenas well discourseth to Augustus After pietie commeth Iustice without which states are but 4 Iustice. robberies which a Prince must keepe and practise both in himselfe and others In himselfe for he must detest all those tyrannicall barbarous speeches which dispence with soueraignes quitting them from all lawes reason equitie obligation which tell them that they are not bound vnto any other dutie than to their owne willes and pleasures that there is no law for them that all is good and iust that serueth their turnes that their equitie is their force their dutie is in their power Principi leges nemo scripsit licet si libet In summa fortuna Plin. Pan. Tacitus Senec. in tr id aequius quod validius nihil iniustum quod fructuosum Sanctitas pietas fides priuata bona sunt quà iuuat reges eant And he must oppose against them those excellent and holy counsels of the wise that he that hath most power in him to breake lawes should take most care to keepe them and liue most in order The greatest power should be the streightest bridle the rule of power is dutie minimum decet liberè cui Senec. Euripides nimium licet non fas potentes posse fieri quod nefas The Prince then must first be iust keeping well and inuiolablie his faith the foundation of iustice to all and euery one whosoeuer he be Then he must cause that his iustice be kept and maintained in others for it is his proper charge and for that cause he is installed He must vnderstand the causes and the persons giue vnto euery one that which appertaineth to him iustly according to the lawes without delay labyrinths of suits and controuersies inuolution of processe abolishing that villanous and pernitious mysterie of pleading which is an open fayre or marchandize a lawfull and honorable robberie concessum latrocinium auoiding the multiplicitie of lawes and ordinances a testimonie of a sicke Common-weale Corruptissimae Colum. Tacit. reipublicae plurimae leges as medicines and plaisters of a bodie ill disposed and all this to the end that that which is established by good lawes be not destroyed by too many Plin. Pan. lawes But you must know that the iustice vertue and probitie of a soueraigne goeth after another maner than that of An aduertisement priuate men it hath a gate more large and more free by reason of the great weight and dangerous charge which he carieth and swayeth for which cause it is fit to march with a pase which seemeth to others vneasie and irregular but yet is necessarie and lawfull for him He must sometimes step aside and goe out of the way mingle prudence with iustice and as they say couer himselfe with the skin of the Lion if that of the Foxe serue not the turne But this is not alwaies to be done and in all cases but with these three conditions that it be for the euident and important necessitie of the weale-publike For the weale-pub that is to say of the State and of the Prince which are things conioyned vnto which he must runne this is a naturall obligation and not to be dispensed with and to procure the good of the Common-weale is but to do his dutie Salus populi suprema lex esto That it be to defend and not to offend to preserue himselfe and not to increase his greatnes to saue and shield himselfe For defence and conseruation either from deceits and subtilties or from wicked and dangerous enterprises and not to practise them It is lawfull by subtiltie to preuent subtiltie and among foxes to counterfet the foxe The world is full of arte and malicious cousenage and by deceits and cunning subtilties states are commonlie ouerthrowne saith Aristotle Why then should it not be lawfull nay why should it not be necessarie to hinder and to diuert such euill and to saue the weale-publike by the selfe-same meanes that others would vndermine and ouerthrow it Alwaies to deale simplie and plainly with such people and to follow the streight line of true reason and equitie were many times to betray the State and to vndo it Thirdly it must be with discretion to the end that others abuse it not and such as are wicked take from thence occasion 5 Discreetly without wickednes to giue credit and countenance to their owne wickednes For it is neuer permitted to leaue vertue and honestie to follow vice and dishonestie There is no composition or compensation betwixt these two extremities And therefore away with all iniustice treacherie treason and disloyaltie Cursed be the doctrine of those who teach as hath beene said that all things are good and lawfull for soueraignes but yet it is sometimes necessarie and required that he mingle profit with honestie and that he enter into composition with both He must neuer turne his back to honestie but yet sometimes goe about and coast it employing therein his skill and cunning which is good honest and lawfull as saith that great S. Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and doing for the weale-publike as mothers and physitians who feede their children and sick with faire speeches deceiue them for their health To be brief doing that closely which he may not do openly ioyne wisdome to valor arte and spirit where nature and the hand sufficeth not be as Pindarus saith a Lyon in his blowes a Fox in his counsell a Doue and a Serpent as diuine veritie speaketh And to this matter more distinctly there is required in a soueraigne distrust and that he keepe himselfe close yet so as
Tacit. It is the part of wisdome to temper this neither seeking to be feared by making himselfe terrible nor loued by too much debasing himselfe The second meane to attaine beneuolence is beneficence 3 Beneficence I meane first towards all especiallie the meaner people by prouidence and good policie whereby corne and all other necessarie things for the sustenance of this life may not be wanting but sold at an indifferent price yea may abound if it be possible that dearenesse and dearth afflict not the subiect For the meaner sort haue no care for the publike good but for this end vulgo vna ex republica annonae cura Tacit. The third meane is liberalitie beneficence more speciall 4 Liberality which is a bait yea an enchantment to draw to winne and captiuate the willes of men So sweet a thing is it to receiue honorable to giue In such sort that a wise man hath said That a state did better defend it selfe by good deeds than by armes This vertue is alwaies requisite but especiallie in the entrance and in a new state To whom how much and how liberalitie must be exercised hath beene said before The meanes of beneuolence haue beene wisely practised by Augustus Chap. 2. act 23. Tacit. qui militem donis populum annona cunctos dulcedine otij pellexit Authoritie is another pillar of state maiestas imperij salutis 5 Authority tutela The inuincible fortresse of a prince whereby he bringeth into reason all those that dare to contemne or make head against him Yea because of this they dare not attempt and all men desire to be in grace and fauor with him It is composed of feare and respect by which two a prince and his state is feared of all and secured To attaine this authoritie besides the prouision of things aboue named there are three meanes which must carefully be kept in the forme of commaunding By what it is acquired The first is seueritie which is better more wholsome assured durable than common lenitie and great facilitie 6 Seuerity which proceedeth first from the nature of the people which as Aristotle saith is not so well borne and bred as to be ranged into dutie and obedience by loue or shame but by force and feare of punishment and secondly from the generall corruption of the maners and contagious licentiousnes of the world which a man must not thinke to mend by mildnes and lenitie which doth rather giue aid to ill attempts It ingendreth contempt and hope of impunitie which is the plague of Common-weales and states Illecebra peccandi maxima spes Cicero impunitatis It is a fauour done to many and the whole weale-publike sometimes well to chastice some one And he must sometimes cut off a finger lest the Gangreene spread it selfe through the whole arme according to that excellent answere of a king of Thrace whom one telling that he played the mad man and not the king answered That his madnes made his subiects sound and wise Seueritie keepeth officers and magistrates in their deuoire driueth away flatterers courtiers wicked persons impudent demaunders and petytyrannies Whereas contrariwise too great facilitie openeth the gate to all these kind of people whereupon followeth an exhausting of the treasuries impunitie of the wicked impouerishing of the people as rheumes fluxes in a rheumatike diseased bodie fall vpon those parts that are weakest The goodnes of Pertinax the licentious libertie of Heliogabalus are thought to haue vndone and ruinated the Empire The seueritie of Seuerus and afterwards of Alexander did reestablish it and brought it into good estate But yet this seueritie must be with some moderation intermission and to purpose to the end that rigour towards a few might hold the whole world in feare vt poena ad paucos metus ad omnes And the more seldome punishments serue more for the reformation of a state saith an ancient writer than the more frequent This is to be vnderstood if vices gather not strength and men grow not opinatiuely obstinate in them for then he must not spare either sword or fire crudelem medicum intemperans aeger facit The second is constancie which is a stayed resolution whereby the prince marching alwaies with one and the same 7 Constancy pase without altering or changing mainteineth alwaies and enforceth the obseruation of the ancient lawes and customes To change and to be readuised besides that it is an argument of inconstancie and irresolution it bringeth both to the lawes and to the soueraigne and to the state contempt and sinister opinion And this is the reason why the wiser sort do so much forbid the change and rechange of any thing in the lawes and customes though it were for the better for the change or remoue bringeth alwaies more euill and discommoditie besides the vncertaintie and the danger than the noueltie can bring good And therefore all innouators are suspected dangerous and to be chased away And there cannot be any cause or occasion strong and sufficient enough to change if it be not for a very great euident and certaine vtilitie or publike necessitie And in this case likewise he must proceed as it were stealingly sweetly and slowly by little and little and almost insensiblie leuiter lentè The third is to hold alwaies fast in the hand the sterne of the state the raines of gouernment that is to say the honour and power to commaund and to ordaine and not to trust or commit it to another referring all things to his counsell to the end that all may haue their eye vpon him and may know that all dependeth vpon him That soueraigne that loseth neuer so little of his authoritie marreth all And therefore it standeth him vpon not ouer-much to raise and make great any person Communis custodia principatus neminem vnum magnum facere And if there be alreadie any such he must Aristot draw him backe and bring him into order but yet sweetly and gently and neuer make great and high charges and offices perpetuall or for many yeares to the end a man may not get meanes to fortifie himselfe against his master as it many times falleth out Nil tam vtile quà m breuem potestatem esse Senec. quae magna sit Behold heere the iust and honest meanes in a soueraigne to maintaine with beneuolence and loue his authoritie and to 9 Against vniust authority and tyraunie make himselfe to be loued and feared altogether for the one without the other is neither secure nor reasonable And therefore we abhorre a tyrannicall authoritie and that feare that is an enemy to loue and beneuolence and is with a publike hate oderint quem metuant which the wicked seeke after abusing their power The conditions of a good prince and of a tyrant are nothing alike and easily distinguished They may be all reduced to these two points the one to keepe the lawes of God and of nature or to
himself to be that which he is it is a cowardly and seruile humour Now he that makes profession of this goodly mysterie liues in great paine for it is a great vnquietnesse for a man to 7 The difficulty thereof endeuour to seeme other than that hee is and to haue an eie vnto himselfe for feare lest he should be discouered It is a torment for a man to hide his owne nature to be discouered a confusion There is no such pleasure as to liue according to his nature and it is better to bee lesse esteemed and to liue openly than to take so much paines to counterfait and liue vnder a canopie so excellent and so noble a thing is freedome But the mysterie of these kind of men is but poore for dissimulation 8 The discommodity continues not long vndiscouered according to that saying Things fained and violent dure not long and the reward of such people is that no man will trust them nor giue them credit when they speake the truth for whatsoeuer comes from them is held for apocryphall and mockerie Now heere is need of indifferency and wisdome For if 9 The counsell heereupon nature be deformed vitious and offensiue to another it must bee constrained and to speake better corrected There is a difference betweene liuing freely and careleslie Againe a man must not alwaies speake all hee knowes that is a follie but that which hee speaketh let it bee that which hee thinketh There are two sorts of people in whom dissimulation is excusable 10 Dissimulation befitting women yea sometimes requisite but yet for diuers reasons that is to say in the prince for the publike benefit and the good and peace of himselfe or the state as before hath beene said and in women for the conueniency thereof because an ouer free and bold libertie becomes them not but rather inclines to impudency Those small disguisements fained cariages hypocrisies which well befit their shamefastnesse and modestie deceiue none but fooles beseeme them well and defend their honors But yet it is a thing which they are not to take great paines to learne because hypocrisie is naturall in them They are wholly made for it and they all make vse of it and too much their visage their vestments their words countenance laughter weeping and they practise it not only towards their husbands liuing but after their death too They faine great sorrow and many times inwardly laugh Iuctantius moerent quae minus dolent CHAP. XI Of Benefits obligation and thankefulnesse THe science and matter of benefits or good turnes and the thankfull acknowledgement of the obligation actiue passiue is great of great vse and very subtile It is that wherin we faile most We neither know how to doe good nor to be thankfull for it It should seeme that the grace as well of the merit as of the acknowledgement is decaied and reuenge and ingratitude is wholly in request so much more ready and ardent are we thereunto Gratia oneri est vltio in quaestu Tacit. Sen. habetur altius iniuriae quà m merita descendunt First then we will speake of merit and good deeds where we will comprehend humanity liberality almes deeds and their contraries inhumanity crueltie and afterwards of obligation acknowledgement and forgetfulnesse or ingratitude and reuenge God nature and reason doe inuite vs to do good and to deserue well of another God by his example and his nature 1 An exhortation to good workes by diuers reasons which is wholly good neither do we know any better means how to imitate God nulla re propius ad Dei naturam accedimus quà m beneficentia Deus est mortalem succurrere mortali nature witnesse this one thing that euerie one delighteth to see him to whom he hath done good it best agreeth with nature nihil tam secundùm naturam quà m iuuare consortem naturae It is the worke of an honest and generous man to doe good and to deserue well of another yea to seeke occasions thereunto liberalis etiam dandi causas quaerit And it is said that good bloud cannot lie nor faile at a need It is greatnesse Ambros to giue basenesse to take Beatius est dare quà m accipere Hee that giueth honoureth himselfe makes himselfe master ouer the receiuer he that takes selles himselfe He saith one that first inuented benefits or good turnes made stockes and manacles to tie and captiuate another man And therefore diuers haue refused to take lest they should wound their liberty especially from those whom they would not loue and bee beholding vnto according to the counsell of the wise which aduiseth a man not to receiue any thing from a wicked man lest he be thereby bound vnto him Caesar was woont to say that there came no sound more pleasing vnto his eares than praiers and petitions It is the mot of greatnesse Aske mee inuocame in die tribulationis eruam te honorificabis me It is likewise the most noble and honourable vse of our meanes or substance which so long as wee hold and possesse them priuatly they carrie with them base and abiect names housen lands money but being brought into light and emploied to the good and comfort of another they are enobled with new and glorious titles benefits liberalities magnificences It is the best and most commodious imploiment that may bee ars quaestuosissima optima negotiatio whereby the principall is assured and the profit is very great And to say the truth a man hath nothing that is truly his owne but that which hee giues for that which he retaines and keepes to himselfe benefits neither himselfe nor another and if he imploy them otherwise they consume and diminish passe through manie dangerous accidents and at last death it selfe But that which is giuen it can neuer perish neuer wax old And therefore Marc. Antony being beaten downe by fortune and nothing remaining to him but his power to die cried out that he had nothing but that which he had giuen hoc habeo quodcunque dedi And therefore this sweet debonaire and readie will to do good vnto all is a right excellent and honourable thing in all respects as contrarilie there is not a more base and detestable vice more against nature than crueltie for which cause it is called inhumanity which proceedeth from a contrarie cause to that of bountie and benefits that is to say dastardlie cowardlinesse as hath beene said There is a two-fold maner of doing good vnto another by profiting and by pleasing him for the first a man is admired 2 The distinction of benefits and esteemed for the second beloued The first is farre the better it regardeth the necessitie and want of a man it is to play the part of a father and true friend Againe there are two sorts of bounties or good turnes the one are duties that proceed out of a naturall or lawfull obligation the other are merits and free which proceed out of pure affection
by chance for no man goeth to it warily and with such deliberation and disposition of body as hee ought and nature doth require Since then men are made at aduenture and by chance it is no maruell if they seldome fall out to bee beautifull good sound wise and well composed Behold then briefly according to Philosophy the particular aduisements touching this first point that is to say the begetting of male children sound wise and iudicious for that which serueth for the one of these qualities serues for the other 1. A man must not couple himselfe with a woman that is of a vile base and dissolute condition or of a naughty and vitious composition of body 2. He must abstaine from this action and copulation seuen or eight daies 3. During which time hee is to nourish himselfe with wholsome victuals more hot and drie than otherwise and such as may concoct well in the stomacke 4. He must vse a more than moderate exercise All this tendeth to this end and purpose that the seed may be wel concocted and seasoned hot and drie fit and proper for a masculine sound and wise temperature Vagabounds idle and lazie people great drinkers who haue commonly an ill concoction euer beget effeminate idle and dissolute children as Hippocrates recounteth of the Scythians Againe a man must applie himselfe to this encounter after one maner a long time after his repast that is to say his bellie being empty and he fasting for a full panch performes nothing good either for the mind or for the body and therefore Diogenes reproched a licentious yong man for that his father had begotten him being drunke And the law of the Carthaginians is commended by Plato which enioined a man to abstaine from L. 2. de leg wine that day that he lay with his wife 6. And not neere the monthly tearmes of a woman but six or seuen daies before or as much after them 7. And vpon the point of conception and retention of the seed the woman turning and gathering hirselfe together vpon the right side let hir so rest for a time 8. This direction touching the viands and exercise must be continued during the time of hir burthen To come to the second point of this office after the birth of the infant these foure points are to be obserued 1. The infant must be washed in warme water somewhat brinish to make The second part of the office of parents Ezech. 16. the members supple and firme to cleanse and drie the flesh the braine to strengthen the sinewes a very good custome in the Easterne parts among the Iewes 2. The nurse if she be to be chosen let hir be young of a temperature or complexion the least cold and moist that may be brought vp in labour hard lodging slender diet hardned against cold and heate I say if she be to be chosen because according to reason and the opinion of the wisest it should be the mother and therefore they crie out against hir when she refuseth this charge being inuited and as it were bound thereunto by nature who to that end hath giuen hir milke and dugs by the example of beasts and that loue and iealousie that she ought to haue of hir little ones who receiue a very great hurt by the change of their aliment now accustomed in a stranger and perhaps a bad one too of a constitution quite contrarie to the former whereby they are not to be accounted mothers but by halfes Quod est hoc contra naturam imperfectum ac dimidiatum matris genus peperisse staim ab se abiecisse aluisse in vtero Aul. Gell. L. 12. c. 1. sanguine suo nescio quid quod non videret non alere autem nunc suo lacte quod videat iam viuentem iam hominem iam matris officia implorantem 3. The nourishment besides the dugge should be goates milke or rather creame the most subtile and aerie part of the milke sod with honie and a little salt These are things very fit for the bodie and the mind by the aduice of all the wise and great Physitians Greeks and Hebrews Galen multis locis Homer 10. Iliad I say 7. Butyrum mel comedet vt sciat reprobare malum eligere bonum The qualitie of milke or creame is very temperate and full of good nourishment the drinesse of the honie and salt consumeth the too great humiditie of the braine and disposeth it vnto wisdome 4. The infant must by little and little be accustomed and hardned to the aire to heate and cold and we are not to be fearefull thereof for in the Northerne parts of the world they wash their children so soone as they come out of the womb of their mothers in cold water and are neuer the worse The two first parts of the office of parents we haue soone dispatched whereby it appeareth that they are not true fathers that haue not that care affection and diligence in these matters that is fit for they are the cause and occasion either by carelesnesse or otherwise of the death and vntimely birth of their children and when they are borne they care not for them but expose them to their own fortunes for which cause they are depriued by law of that fatherlie power ouer them that is due vnto them and the children to the shame of their parents are made slaues by those that haue nourished them and brought them vp who are farre from taking care to preserue them from fire and water and all other crosses and afflictions that may light vpon them The third part which concerneth the instruction of children 6 The third part of the office of parents we are to handle more seriouslie So soone as this infant is able to goe and to speake and shall begin to employ his mind and his bodie and that the faculties thereof shall be awakened and shew themselues the memorie imagination reason which begin at the fourth or fift yeare there must be An instruction very important a great care and diligence vsed in the well forming thereof for this first tincture and liquor wherewith the mind must be seasoned hath a very great power It cannot be expressed how much this first impression and formation of youth preuaileth euen to the conquering of nature it selfe Nourture saith one excelleth nature Lycurgus made it plaine to all the world by two little dogs of one litter but diuerslie brought vp to whom presenting before them in an open place a pot of pottage and a hare that which was brought vp tenderlie in the house fell to the pottage the other that had beene euer trained vp in hunting forsooke the pottage andranne after the hare The force of this instruction proceeds from this that it entreth easily and departeth with difficultie for being the first that entreth it taketh such place and winneth such Quint Senec. credit as a man will there being no other precedent matter to contest with it
Antigonus laughed at those that wronged them and hurt them not hauing them in their power Caesar excelled all in this point and Moyses Dauid and all the greatest personages of the world haue done the like magnam fortunam magnus animus decet The most glorious conquest is for a man to conquer himselfe not to be moued by another To be stirred to choler is to confesse the accusation Conuitia si irascare agnita videntur spreta exolescunt He can neuer be great that yeeldeth himselfe to the offence of another If we vanquish not our choler that will vanquish vs. Iniurias offensiones supernè despicere The second head is of those remedies that a man must imploy 2 2. Head when the occasions of choler are offered and that there is a likelihood that we may be moued thereunto which are first to keepe and conteine our bodies in peace and quietnes without motion or agitation which inflameth the bloud and the humours and to keepe himselfe silent and solitarie Secondlie delay in beleeuing and resoluing and giuing leasure to the iudgement to consider If we can once discouer it we shall easily stay the course of this feuer A wise man counselled Augustus being in choler not to be moued before he had pronounced the letters of the Alphabet Whatsoeuer we say or doe in the heate of our bloud ought to be suspected Nil tibiliceat dum irasceris Quà re Quia vis omnia licere Wee must feare and be doubtfull of our selues for so long as we are moued we can do nothing to purpose Reason when it is hindered by passions serueth vs no more than the wings of a bird being fastned to his feet We must therefore haue recourse vnto our friends and suffer our choler to die in the middest of our discourse And lastly diuersion to all pleasant occasions as musicke c. The third head consisteth in those beautifull considerations wherewith the mind must long before be seasoned First 3 3. Head in the consideration of the actions and motions of those that are in choler which should breed in vs a hatred thereof so ill do they become a man This was the maner of the wise the better to disswade a man from this vice to counsell him to behold himselfe in a glasse Secondly and contrarily of the beautie which is in moderation Let vs consider how much grace there is in a sweet kind of mildnes and clemencie how pleasing and acceptable they are vnto others and commodious to our selues It is the adamant that draweth vnto vs the hearts willes of men This is principallie required in those whom fortune hath placed in high degree of honor who ought to haue their motions more remisse and temperate for as their actions are of greatest importance so their faults are more hardly repaired Finally in the consideration of that esteeme and loue which we should beare to that wisdome which we heere studie which especiallie sheweth it selfe in retaining and commanding it selfe in remaining constant and inuincible a man must mount his mind from the earth and frame it to a disposition like to the highest region of the aire which is neuer ouer-shadowed with cloudes nor troubled with thunders but in a perpetuall serenitie so our mind must not be darkned with sorrow nor moued with choler but flie all precipitation imitate the highest planets that of all others are caried most slowlie Now all this is to be vnderstood of inward choler and couered which indureth being ioyned with an ill affection hatred desire of reuenge quae in sinu stulti requiescit vt qui reponunt odia quodque saeuae cogitationis indicium est secreto suo satiantur For the outward and open choler is short a fire made of straw without ill affection which is only to make another to see his fault whether in inferiours by reprehensions or in others by shewing the wrong and indiscretion they commit it is a thing profitable necessarie and very commendable It is good and profitable both for himselfe and for another sometimes to be moued to anger but it 4 To be angry when it is good and commodious must be with moderation and rule There are some that smother their choler within to the end it breake not foorth and that they may seeme wise and moderate but they fret themselues inwardlie and offer For himselfe themselues a greater violence than the matter is worth It is better to chide a little and to vent the fire to the end it be not ouer ardent and painfull within A man incorporateth choler by hiding it It is better that the point thereof should prick a little without than that it should be turned against it selfe Omnia vitia in aperto leuiora sunt tunc perniciosissima cum simulata sanitate subsidunt Moreouer against those that vnderstand not or seldome suffer themselues to be led by reason as against those kind of seruants that doe nothing but for feare it is necessarie that 5 For another with conditions choler either true or dissembled put life into them without which there can be no rule or gouernment in a familie But yet it must be with these conditions First that it be not often vpon all or light occasions For being too common it growes into contempt and works no good effect Secondly not in the aire murmuring and railing behind their backs or vpon vncertainties but be sure that he feele the smart that hath committed the offence Thirdly that it be speedily to purpose and seriously without any mixture of laughter to the end it may be a profitable chastisement for what is past and a warning for that which is to come To conclude it must be vsed as a medicine All these remedies may serue against the following passions CHAP. XXXII Against Hatred THat a man may the better defend himselfe against hatred he must hold a rule that is true that all things haue two handles whereby he may take them by the one they seeme to be grieuous and burthensome vnto vs by the other easie and light Let vs then receiue things by the good handle and we shall finde that there is something good and to be loued in whatsoeuer we accuse and hate For there is nothing in the world that is not for the good of man And in that which offendeth vs we haue more cause to complaine thereof than to hate it for it is the first offence and receiueth the greatest dammage because it loseth therein the vse of reason the greatest losse that may be In such an accident then let vs turne our hate into pitie and let vs endeuour to make those worthie to be beloued which we would hate as Lycurgus did vnto him that had put out his eie whom he made as a chastisement of that wrong an honest vertuous and modest citizen by his good instruction CHAP. XXXIII Against Enuie AGainst this passion we must consider that which wee esteeme and enuie in another We