haue had the estimation of sound iudgements and accounted wise in all kind of faculties haue held this to be the best and perfectest gouernment and with out it neuer Citie nor kingdome hath beene taken to be well gouerned Your good Kings and great Gouernours haue euer fauoured this Course whereas on the contrarie your bad kings and euill Gouernours transported with their pride haue runne another way And therefore in conformitie heereunto I dare confidently affirme if a Monarke be hee what he will be shall resolue businesses alone on his own head how wise soeuer he thinke himself without hauing recourse to his Councell or against the opinion of his Counsellours although he do Acertar and hit right in his resolutions yet therein he breakes the bounds of a Monarchie and enters into those of a Tyranny Of whose Examples and the euill successes insuing thereupon the Histories are full But one shall serue instead of many And that shall be of Tarquinius Superbus taken out of the first Booke of Titus Liuius Liv. lib. 1. who out of his great pride and haughtinesse of minde that he might rule all himselfe and haue none else to haue a hand in any businesse made it his Master peece to weaken the authority of the Roman Senate in lessening the number of Senatours Which he purposely did that he wholy and solely by himselfe might determine all whatsoeuer that occurred in the kingdome In this Monarchie or Kingdome there are three parts or parties to be considered of whom principally we are to treate The King The Ministers and the Vassalls And if in a humane body the Anatomie consideration of the Head be the nicest subtillest and most difficult what difficultie will it not be and what a daintie hand will it not require to touch talke and treate of a king who is the head of the Commonwealth And hence I inferre that for to treate of Kings and to prescribe them Precepts and Documents touching a Kingdome he ought to be such a wise King as was Salomon Who considering the difficulties and dangers which may in this matter offer themselues aduiseth all without any difference that they should not seeme to be desirous to seeme wise before their Temporall kings For no man howsoeuer fulfill'd with wisedome is speaking in his kings presence secure and safe Penes Regem noli velle videri sapiens Eccl. 7.5 Boast not thy wisedome in the presence of the King The reason is for that he that is the supreme soueraigne in Temporall power whom all acknowledge and obey as their Superiour risenteth it much to see himselfe inferiour in a thing of so greate esteeme as is wisedome and discretion Xenophon laying his foundation on this opinion introduceth Cambises instructing his sonne Cyrus King of Persia how he ought to carry himself in his Kingdome As also Alexander who receiued his Militarie Precepts from his father Philip and not from any other that was inferiour vnto him It is written of Agasicles king of the Lacedemonians that he refused to learne Philosophie of a famous Philosopher of those times it seeming vnto him that being a king it was not fitting he should be his Scholler whose sonne he was not As if he should haue sayd That he onely by a naturall obligation acknowledged him alone and that he contented himselfe with that which he had learned from him and would not acknowledge any other inferiour vnto him in birth though neuer so much before him in learning and knowledge But this difficulty I purpose to ouercome by proposing in this my Treatise vnto kings not mine owne Reasons nor those which I might draw from great Philosophers and humane Histories but from the words of God and of his Saints and from Histories Diuine and Canonicall whose Instructions kings may not disdaine nor take it as an affront to submit themselues thereunto be they being Christians neuer so powerfull neuer so supreme because the Author that dictates these Lessons vnto them is the Holy-Ghost And if I shall at any time alleage the Examples of heathen Kings and shall make some good benefit of Antiquitie and serue my selfe with the sentences of Philosophers that were strangers vnto Gods people it shall be very sparingly and as it comes in my way and as one that ceazeth vpon his owne goods if he fortune to light vpon them and taketh them from those that vniustly detaine and possesse them CHAP. II. What the name of King signifieth THis name of King in Diuine and humane Letters is very ancient and so old as is the first Man For in Gods creating of him euen before that there were many Men he made him King ouer all the beastes of the field And it is a most noble Appellatiue and that which is better and more neerely representeth vnto vs the Maiestie of God who very frequently in the holy Scriptures and with much propriety is called King And it is the common opinion of the Wisest that it signifieth one that rules and gouernes being deduced from the Latine word Regere which is to rule or gouerne Reges à regendo dicti sunt saith S. Isidore Ideò quilibet rectè faciendo regis nomen tenet sed peccando amittit And considering with more attention this it 's true Etymologie he is properly sayd to be a King who ouer mastring his passions doth first rule and gouerne himselfe cumplying as he ought with the obligations of his Estate without offence either to God or his neighbour and next hath a care to rule others and to procure all he can that all may doe the like And he that shall do the contrary laying his foundation on humane wisedom and reason of State regardeth more his own temporall commoditie and proper Interest then the good of the Commonwealth This suteth not with the name he holdeth nor may he be called a king neither is he so for himselfe nor for others because he neither knowes to rule himselfe nor others Malus si regnet saith S. Austen servus est Aug lib. 4. de Civit. Dei cap. 2. He hath the Appellation and honourable name of a king but in very truth see how many vices reigne in him so many times is hee a servant nay a very slaue It was the aduice of Agapitus to Iustinian the Emperour that he should haue an eye ouer himselfe and looke well to his actions for albeit he were a King and a great Prince yet the Title of King did then convene to him when he should be Master of himselfe and curbing his unruly appetites should of a King become a Vassall to Reason and Iustice Hee that is good and iust is a God vpon earth and from thence is the name of King deriued vnto him and is his Vicar in all causes for to maintaine his Subiects in Iustice and Truth by his Empire and Command and to sustaine all things in Order Policie and Peace And therefore a Law of the Partida sayes thus Lib. 2. lib. 7. Tit. 1. part
saue of a poore shadow to be thus mis-led Librorum numero circumstante The President before specified had a great many of bookes about him To shew how much it importeth that Iudges and Presidents bee Learned and well read in the bookes of their facultie Epiphanius saith That hee saw a Statua of Truth which in it's forehead had two letters the first and the last of the Greeke Alphabet in it's mouth other two and other two in it's brest and so through all the parts of it's body to it 's very feete So that this was all enamelled with Letters as the other was rounded with bookes Thereby giuing vs to vnderstand that that Man which is truly the man he ought to be and is to aduise and gouerne others his head hands and feete must be stucke full of Letters He must be learned from the sole of the foote to the Crowne of the head full of Letters hee must bee for in the discourses of the Vnderstanding in the working of the hands and in the moouing of the feete wee may easily guesse whether a man be wise or no Whether he hath studied or doth studie For though a man be neuer so wise neuer so learned hee still forgetteth somewhat So that it is not enough for him to haue studyed but it is requisit that he still continue his study that hee may repayre with that which he learneth the losse of that which hee forgetteth As in a naturall body that by dayly eating and drinking is restored which is by our naturall heate consumed Et oculis esset subclausis His eyes which are the windowes by which Passion enters vnto the soule were shut Because hee should not be led away with the respect to those about him For hee must not haue an eye and respect to the Estate and condition of persons to doe more fauour when it comes to point of Iustice to one then another And for this reason the sayd Aegyptians did ordinarily paint Iustice without a Head The Head is the common seate of all the Sences signifying thereby that by no one sence a Iudge should open a doore to Passion but that he should place them all in heauen without respect to any thing vpon earth And this is not to respect persons but Iustice Plut. lib. 1. Stobaeus Serus 46. Plutarke in his Moralls reporteth of the Thebans That in their Courts of Iustice they had the Pictures drawne of certaine reuerend olde men sitting in their due order and in the midst the President all of them without hands and their eyes fixed on heauen To intimate that they should alwaies stand in the presence of the Lord from whence is to come that Light which is to cleare the eyes of their intentions avoyding to cast them downe towards the ground that the Vapour of humane respects which is raysed from thence may not cloude and darken the sight of their vnderstanding They must be olde and wise because they are to iudge with mature Counsaile which accompanyeth that age And as it is ordred by their Lawes they must haue neither eyes to see nor hands to receiue bribes And if they would cut off their wiues hands too the cause would be the better iustified For in them your bribes finde an open gate and are so easie to be knowne in this kind of trading that there are few or none but take notice of it They haue the slight of hand and like Gypsies haue a fine facilitie in deceiuing and not hard to be wrought vpon to gaine by this vngodly course And looke what businesse they labour to effect they are vsually the least iustifiable And if they are disposed to fauour this man or that cause and will but set their friends and wits roundly to worke and doe their best they will shrewdly put a Iudge to his shiftes and driue him to that streight that Iustice shall hardly escape a fall I would haue iudges therefore with their hands off and their eyes out least that befall them which did a couple of their place and qualitie who came to see the Processe of a famous but false and loose woman who perceiuing that the reasons of the Relator did worke little vpon them appealed para vista de ojos that shee might appeare face to face and in her information when shee came Ore tenus shee cunningly discouered her beautie by a carelesse letting fall of her mantle and so bewitched them therewith that allowing for good those powerfull witnesses of her eyes and face they released her and gaue her for free But to say the truth it was her loosenesse that freed her and their lightnesse that condemned them making that fault light which before weighed heauie And how shal he freely administer Iustice who hath his heart captiuated and in the power of him and her that can turne and winde him which way they list and wrest him from goodnesse More Iudges haue bin vndone by Lightnesse then by Cruelty The one begetteth feare the other contempt And by the way let them take this lesson a long with them that not onely in reality of truth they conserue their credit without spot but likewise in apparance procure to giue such good Examples that the world may not iustly charge them no not with so much as a discomposed looke neither in the open streete nor Court of Iustice for euery bend from their brow or euery smile from their countenance is the Common peoples Almanack wher-by they make coniecture whether it is like to be faire or fowle weather reading in the face fauour to one and rigour to another Wherefore as their place is great so is their perill The way is slippery wherein they tread and therfore had need looke well to their feete Woe be vnto that Iudge which seeth and seeth not sees the best and followes the worst suffering his reason to be subdued by passion and himselfe by one poore slender haire of a handsome woman to be led by the nose whether shee will leade him For a good face is a tacite kinde of recommendation a faire superscription and a silent deceit which troubles the clearenesse of the minde making white appeare to be blacke and what is iust Exod. 23.8 Leuit. 19.15 to be vniust which was the cause why God commanded the Iudges of Israel that they should remoue their eies from the persons of those that were brought before them and place them wholly on the matter which they were to iudge And for the same reason did the Iudges of Areopagus heare all sortes of causes were they ciuill or criminall in the darke by putting out the Candles And your Athenians did sentence their sutes behind certaine Curtaines which might hinder their sight The Lacedemonians they were a little stricter laced for they did not onely deny eyes to those that went to Law and sued in their courtes but also debard them of eares and because they would prohibit them the power of informing the iustnesse of their cause but
at stake for it and if he shall Iudge amisse he is to pay all costes and charges and sute of Courte Quodcunque iudicaueritis sayth that good King in vos redundabit Whatsoeuer yee shall iudge it shall light vpon your selfes He threatneth that which God deliuereth in the booke of Wisedome to the Kings and Iudges of the earth Audite ergo Reges intelligite Iudices terrae Heare me yee that rule and gouerne the world and yee that glory in the multitude of nations that are subiect vnto you vnderstand that the power that yee haue is from God and that he is to make a Quaere and inquire of your Actions and thoughts And for that being his Ministers ye haue not iudged according to his will nor kept his lawes nor done Iustice Wisd 6.5 Horrendae citò apperebit vobis Horibly and sodainly will he appeare vnto you He that is most low shall finde mercie with him but the mighty shall be mightily tormented All these are the wordes of the wisedome of Salomon and which are not to escape the memorie of Kings and their Ministers And Iehosophat as a remedie vnto all prescribeth vnto his Iudges and Counsellours one good Counsayle and sound aduise which is this That in all the sentences they shall pronounce that they set before their eyes the feare of God Chrys in Serm. Ioan Bapt. Aug. ad fratres in Erem ser 35. For as both Saint Chrysostome and S. Austin affirme it is easie for him to swarne from Iustice who feareth not God in what he doth As likewise that they should dispatch businesses with diligence For there are some that indeauour to eternize sutes And why they doe so God the world knowes Bribery and Corruption are the Raemoras that stop the course of Iustice and the cause that sutes are so long depending before they be brought to a conclusion to the confusion and vndoing of those that follow them who are faine by deferring to deferring and putting ouer from hearing to hearing to sell their very clothes from their backs to wage Law And when at last with much adoe they haue sentence past on their side they are neuer a whit the better for it but is conuerted into gall and bitternesse for that his sute hath cost him seuentimes more then it was worth Amos 6.12 To such Iudges as these suteth that of the Prophet Amos Conuertistis in amaritudinem Iudicium fructum iustitiae in Absinthium Yee haue turned iudgement into gall and the fruit of righteousnesse into worme-wood Furthermore saith that good King Consider that yee occupie Gods place who wrongeth no man nor is an Accepter of Persons Yee must administer Iustice equally to all giuing to euery one that which is his and of right belongs vnto him without any other humane respect For Iustice acknowledgeth neither Father nor Mother nor friend but meere Truth Cleon tooke leaue of his friends when he was made a Iudge And Themistocles refused Magistracie saying That he would not possesse that place where his friends could not be in better condition with him then his foes Lastly he tels them that he would not haue them to be couetous nor receiuers of rewards And therfore are they pictu'rd without hands because they should not haue the faculty and gift of taking Non accipies personam nec manera Deut. 16.19 It is Moses his Aduise in Deuteronomy Wrest not thou the Law nor respect any person neither take reward For the reward blindeth the eyes of the wise peruerteth the words of the Iust Iustice should be like vnto the sunne whose light costes vs nothing and is neither bought nor solde Non licet in diâ—i saith Saint Austin vendere iustum iudicium It becomes not a iudge to sell iust iudgement All this appertaineth to Commutatiue Iustice And to that obligation likewise which kings haue to cumply with whatsoeuer bargaines or contracts haue bin formally made without acceptation of persons for he is not to regard them but the truth To this Iustice appertaineth likewise the giuing and paying of soldiers their reward and their pay For they doe tacitely make a contract with their Prince to serue him in that Ministry for so many Ducatts a month And this is due vnto them in all Iustice right For otherwise there should not be an equalitie betweene a Souldiers paines and his pay Nor ought hee to put them off with delayes remitting the remuneration of their seruice to other Ministers seeing that they serue them in their owne persons and that the obligation is reciprocall And therefore a certaine bolde Soldier tolde Augustus Caesar who thought he had done him a great fauour in recommending him by a fauourit of his to those of the Counsel of warr that they might heare him and doe him Iustice Sir said he when your Honor and Authoritie ran so much hazard and your person put to great perill did I depute another in my place to fight for me And therewith all vnbuttoning his dublet he shew'd him the wounds which he had receiued in his body in his defence By which he obliged him to heare his cause himselfe to giue present order that he should be well and truly payd And when they in the seruice of their king shall do more then they are bound vnto as some which vnder-go braue and noble attempts ieoparding their life 's in such kinde of desperate enterprises howbeit commutatiue Iustice obligeth not to giue them more then their ordinary pay yet in a iust gratification it is required of Kings that they should reward and honour them according to the qualitie of their persons and seruices For a iust King ought not to leaue any seruice vnrewarded nor any fault vnpunished For Praemium Paenae Reward and Punishment are those two Plummets which keepe the clock of the Common-wealth in good Order But to giue a conclusion to this first part I say That Iustice ought to be in all and with all all equall and compleat And for this cause she is called Flos a flower Giuing vs thereby to vnderstand that to all she should be Florida fresh and flourishing Not being like a dry rotten sticke to some and full of sweetenesse to others And as in a tree after the flower followes the fruit So likewise is it to be conceiued that in kings and Iudges this Vertue is not true if it consist onely in the leafe and the flower and doe not come to beare fruit And therefore in the sacred Scripture those that doe not as well in deede as in shew truly vprightly administer Iustice are called Hypocrites for that they haue no more of Kings and Iudges then the bare name Title They ought to be Vina Lex and Ius animatum the very life and soule of the Law that Men may come vnto them not as to a Man but as to equitie and iustice it selfe They must haue their plummet their Lines runne euen and leuell towards all
others thinke of them and their affaires they ought to be so farre from being troubled therewith that it should no whit moue them Seneca lib. de ira cap. 33. Holding it to be as Seneca sayth the sweetest maner of pardon to pretend ignorance of the delict and to examine with care his owne careâ—ese carriage and open neglects if he haue committed any and if not not to care a pin what they say For the Vulgar is a beast of many heads and as it is impossible to satisfie al of them so is there no reason that they should haue an Account giuen them of that which the Prince doth It is sufficient that the wiser and grauer sort know and esteeme both him and his proceedings This was the doctrine of that great King Philip the second who wrote vnto his Viceroy in Naples as followeth Necessario es que gouerneys de manera quae todos buenos y malos no se quexeâ— de vos It is requisit you should so carry your selfe in your gouernment that all as well good as bad may not complaine of you And this was another of his which he deliuered to his successour Forc oso sera que los malos nos mur â—â—uren y aborreZâ—â—â— Lo que à nosâ—â—â—â— t◠〈…〉 de â—â—nera que tambien nâ— nos aborre 〈…〉 â—â—enos It cannot otherwise be but that the bad wil◠〈…〉 and 〈◊〉 vs But that which belongeth vnto vs is To proceede so that the good may not likewise hate vs. And this King very well vnderstood that it is proper vnto Kings as Alexander said to doe well to heare ill Yet are they not to imagine that thâ—â— which is causelesse sayd against them can any whit diminish or lessen their honour For it stands not with their condition and greatnesse that none should speake ill of them but that they should doe no ill And then no such thing can be sayd of them but by the way of falshood and lying which wil soone vanish Yet notwithstanding will I not say nor shall it once enter into my thought to approue the impudencie and insolencie of the licentious Satyrists but rather holde them worthy of seuere punishment especially when they touch vpon the persons of Kings whom all their subiects both by Gods Law and the Law of nature ought to respect honour and obey Yet withall I say that it is great prudence to dissemble vpon some occasions be they neuer so great and to be close and secret in their intentions till they see a fit time to inflict punishment and when it may be done with least noyse For some men sometimes seeking to suppresse the fire by turning and stirring the sticks inflame it the more And if at any time vpon vrgent occasions and vpon the odiousnesse and foulenesse of this or that other fact reason and iustice so requiring it they shall be forced to vse seuere punishment let it be mingled with moderation and mildenesse that all men may vnderstand that it doth not arise out of anger and displeasure but out of zeale and loue to the publick good which forceth them thereunto obligeth them in conscience thus rigorously to proceede against them Chrys in Mat. lib. 5. de Ciuit. dei Cap. 20. For as Saint Chrysostome saith Qui cum causa non irascitur peccat He sinnes in not being angrie that hath iust cause to be angrie And then saith Saint Austin shall a Prince be happy when his subiects shall perceiue that hee punisheth not onely vpon iust ground Seneca lib. 1. de Clement cap. 22. but as Seneca saith non tanquam probet sed tanquam inuitâ—â— cum magno tormento ad castigandum veniat That it grieueth him to the very Soule that he is driuen contrary to his nature and disposition to let the sentence of death or other torment to passe vpon them And when they shall know that in this punishment he only pretendeth the conseruation of the Common-wealth and not the reuenging of any particular wrong or offence done vnto himselfe And that if he doe extend his pardon it is not for that he is willing to leaue sin vnpunished but because hee pretendeth the amendment of the delinquent And more especially when they see that he recompenceth with benefits the rigour and sharpenesse of his chasticements by throwing fauours on a brother a father or a sonne of that party whose Head he hath commanded to be taken from his shoulders Which gracious dealing will assure the people of the sweetenesse of the Princes nature and his pitifull disposition nor will they attribute the iustice he shall doe vpon them to crueltie The conclusion of this Discourse shall be this That it is of great importance that all men should know that nothing can be hid from the King be it neuer so close and secret for the many and priuate diligences which he vseth for intelligence by the meanes of sundry persons of all sorts high and low of all Estates and qualities whom the wisest and the waryest cannot avoyde deputed by his Maiestie diligently to labour to heare and vnderstand the rumours and complaints of the people and the good ill that is either said or done and to giue him aduise thereof that he may informe himselfe of the truth of them and apply such remedies as he in his wisedome shall thinke fit And let all men know that there was neuer any thing so closely carried which either early or late at one time or other hath not by good diligences vsed bin brought to light made known to the king Eccl. 10.20 And therfore my aduise vnto thee shall be that which Salomon giues thee Curse not the King no not in thy thought For a birde of the ayre shall carry the voyce and that which hath wings shall tell the matter And when thou thinkest thy selfe safest then shalt thou be taken in the snare And let Kings likewise know that if they 〈◊〉 a minde to see and know all they ought also to be milde and mercifull in punishing mingling mercie with seueriâ—â—â— For it is fit and necessary that he thâ—â— desires to know all should likewise dissemble and pardon much §. II. Of the Blandure Gentlenes and Loue which Kings ought to haue THis blandure and gentlenesse is likewise an Effect of prudence and Magnanimitie and is a Lordly kinde of vertue and which hath made many excellent and memorable in the world As Alexander the great whom nothing made so great as that his Excellencie of minde which he had in pardoning those whom not onely himselfe but all the world knew had iustly deserued his displeasure Hee that is gentle of heart and like Dauid meeke-spirited nothing troubles him nothing alters him but alwayes keepes his iudgement firme and enytre that hee may the more freely iudge of that which is worthy of pardon or punishment and is a qualitie very proper and well beseeming royall Maiestie Many great Monarckes and Kings haue had this in high
a wise man which receiueth instruction from the Lord when he ought to speake And the Scripture saith Vir sapiens tacebit vsque ad tempus A wise man will holde his peace till hee see his time Nay Christ himselfe that King of Kings saith of himselfe by the Prophet Esay Isay 50.4 that his eternall Father gaue him an exceeding wise and prudent tongue Dedit mihi Dominus linguam eruditam The Lord God hath giuen me a learned tongue Or as the Hebrew renders it Eruditiorum The tongue of the learned Not an ordinary tongue but such a Tongue wherin was to be found the wisedome and prudence of all the wise men of the world and from whence all might learne Vt sciam sustentare eum qui lapsus est verbo That I may know how to vphold him that hath slipt in his word Or as the 70. translate it Vt sciam quando oporteat loqui verbum That I should know how to speake a word in season to him that is weary So that a wise discreete and prudent Tongue and such a one as is giuen by God is that which knowes when to speake and when to hold it's peace Teaching Kings who are in a manner Gods at least Gods Liuetenants should in this particular imitate him That they should haue a wise Tongue to know when to open the doore of the lips and when to shut them what to vtter and what to conceale For this is the Learning and wisedome of the Tongue either to speake or be silent as shall fute best with time and occasion Tempus tacendi tempus loquendi It is Salomons Eccl. 3.7 A time to keepe silence and a time to speake And in Kings this is so much the more important by how much the more graue and weighty are those businesses which are treated with them For it doth not onely benefit them in not hauing their purposes preuented not their designes ouerthrowne but likewise winn's them much authoritie and credit For the world will stand as it were astonished and amazed and men will wonder at that which they both doe and say and out of euery kinde of gesture or word of theirs will make a Mystery deliuer their iudgements and draw thence a thousand discourses all which are but cranes and pullyes to make them mount higher in opinion and reputation Likewise when Ministers shall take notice that their King knowes how to heare and how to hold his peace and in it's due time to execute his intentions they liue in a great deale the more awe and feare lest such and such things wherein they doe amisse might come to his knowledge And when they see that he knowes how to conceale a secret till it 's fit time and season it keepes them within their Compasse and is the only bridle that restraines them from doing ill either by way of oppression whereunto great Ministers are too much subiect or otherwise And therefore it shall much concerne a King not onely to be secret in those things which might cause some inconuenience if he should speake of them and make them knowen but also in those things which bring no profit by their publication For if they shall once perceiue that their King cannot conceale what is deliuered vnto him vnder the seale of silence in preiudice of this or that particular party no man will date to informe and aduise him of that which may redound to Gods seruice and the good of the Common-wealth And so like bad gamesters they will for want of keeping close their cardes let their contrary winne the game by discouering their hand A Kings heart should be so deepe and profound that none should be able to pry into it not to know what is hidden there And therefore he must haue such a secret heart as S. Austen speakes of August Psal 63. ver 7. Coraltum That is Cor secretum or as others reade it profundum an inscrutable heart or so deepe that none shall be able to diue into it And some compare a kings heart vnto punctum a little point or pricke which to diuide or to draw any thing out of it is if not impossible at least very difficult The heart of a king must be closed and shut vp like this punctum whence there shal be an impossibility or at least a great deale of difficulty Prou. 21.1 in extracting any one word or secret recōmended vnto him Salomon sayth That the hearts of Kings are in the hands of God and are guided directed by him And that therfore their secretes mysteries are not to be divulged and made common no not to his neerest Minions and Fauourites when at most but to some one particular priuado and that vpon very good iust cause Our Sauiour Christ once vpon necessary occasiō discouered a secret to his great Priuado or fauourite S. Iohn but it was with these circumstances That hee told it him in his eare forbidding him to speake therof vnto any And because neither by signes or any other outward demonstration he might make it knowen he bound vp all his senses in a deepe and profound sleepe to the end that by none of them he might expresse that which it behooued him to conceale Great is the importancie of secrecie the authoritie which it giues to the iudgements motiues of those that gouerne For if all might know the causes which moue a Prince to make this or that prouision to giue this this or iudgement to pardon or to punish to craue or to giue many censures wold passe vpō it it might cause many scandalls alterations in a Cōmon wealth And therfore it much concerneth so supreme a Maiesty not to suffer the secret which is shut vp in his bosome to be published to the world And in some cases it may come to be a mortal sin when such things as are aduertised a king such Memorials as are giuen him firmed signed with this or that mans hand he shal shew them to the parties whom they touch and concerne be they Ministers or fauourites in regard of the great hurt opposition and dissention which there-fro may arise But hee may doe this in case it may well sort with the secret it selfe to take out the pithe and substance of it and without shewing any firme or vttring any word whereby the Author may be knowen and shew it to the Delinquent if so he thinke fit for his correction and amendment And when hee findes that to be true which hath beene told him and that it cannot be denyed let him apply a due and fitting remedy For many times Dissimulation in the Prince not seeming to take notice of a fault causeth but the more dissolutenesse in the subiect This is so farre forth as concerneth Kings Caelius Lib. 13. Lectio antiq c. 5. for whom may suffice that aduice of Caelius Rodiginus who tells them more at large how considerate they ought to be in this particular For many
dangerous deuises that are bred in their mindes and in their time breake out I would haue this imitation to bee the remedie for this so great an ill for neither penalties nor feare of punishment will doe any good vpon them For hee that will not forbeare to sinne for feare of Gods Law will hardly refraine from mans Let Kings therefore say and doe those things that they would haue their Subiects say and doe And let their fauourites and those that are nearest about them runne the like course and let it extend to the better sort and those that are of ranke and qualitie for by this meane it will descend to those likewise that are of meaner condition and then shall they see how much more good it will worke then either lawes or punishment And this is the more naturall of the two for the one is founded vpon imitation and the other grounded vpon feare And men doe more easily imitate those better things which they see actually put in execution then depart from those worser things which they either heare or know to be prohibited And when they shall see that their superiours and those that are in place and authoritie command one thing and doe another they neither dread their threatnings nor obey their commandements For perceiuing that they doe but imitate their actions they perswade themselues that none can without blushing punish the same sinne in them Salust did aduise Caesar in the entrance to his Empire that if he would order his commonwealth aright he should first of all begin with reformation in himselfe and his as Pliny saith Vita Principis censura est eaque perpetua ad hanc dirigimur Plin. Jun. lib. Epist ad semp Rufum ad hanc conuertimur The life of a Prince is a perpetuall censure and according thereunto doe we guide and gouerne our selues And let it not seeme vnto any that this remedie of the imitation of Kings is slow and long and will aske a great deale of time for where there is met together as it were in it's center whatsoeuer may corrupt and hurt that which is capable of being corrupted when as neither Kings nor their Lawes are able to hinder it in vaine is it indeuoured or to be imagined that that may bee cured in a few yeares which hath layen sicke so many But till such time as men grow vp like new plants and haue accustomed themselues to vertue to the end that through the tendernesse of their youth they may not grow awry Being therein likewise holpen by the example of their betters for there is not any Artifice so powerfull and effectuall as that of imitation which I now speake of for it being a cure so conformable vnto nature it will worke by degrees whereof we shall not know the benefit till we haue enioyed it And because there are both diseased persons Chrysost hom 19. in Gen. and diseases as Saint Chrysostome hath obserued which are neither remedied by sweet potions nor purged away by bitter pills A maine reason whereof is because they themselues are not willing to be cured nor will admit of the example of Kings nor the feare of their Lawes it is fit this other remedie should be vsed of punishment and chastisement without dissimulation For many times the motiue of sinning is the facilitie of forgiuing And it is a knowne case that people by punishment become obedient but by pardoning proud and insolent The ill and vicious are so possessed and inabled in their vices by their long continuance that if Kings should not shew some mettall and courage they would possesse the world and carry all things away before them in that violent manner that the good should not be able to liue amongst thē Bald. in l. Prouinciarum C de ferijs By chastising the bad saith Baldus the good liue in safety And for this cause and not in vaine according to Plato and others were Lawes instituted and regall power the stroke of the sword the discipline of the Clergie and the common hangmans whip all of them as necessary for mans life as those 4. Elements by which we liue breathe Let Kings take this from me and beleeue it That that commonwealth is in great danger where the Kings reputation goes decaying and the force of Iustice looseth it's strength For thereby vices assume licence vnto themselues and their owners perseuere and go on in them Here a remisse Prince is a sharpe sword and doth neuer more grieuously punish then when hee doth most pardon Punishment and chastisement onely offend the delinquent but remission la ley al Rey y la Grey the Law King and people By remission Lawes and Kings grow in contempt and the whole commonwealth infected Whereas by chastisement the Law is obeyed and kept the King feared and honoured and the kingdome maintained in peace and iustice I doe not treat here of those cruell and rigorous punishments which some seuere Iudges inflict for remedies and cures of so much rigour are violent and do sooner kill and make an end of their Subiects then heale and recouer them by little and little Wherefore in point of correction a commonwealth must vse a great deale of caution and prudence And for that hee who pretends by maine strength to resist the furious current of a swift riuer or by roughnesse to tame a head-strong horse shall shew himselfe as insolent as impertinent rigour with gentlenesse and iustice with mercie will doe well which if they go not hand in hand and kisse each other they are both but the occasion of greater corruption For it is an erronious discourse in those that thinke that publike conseruation consisteth in the execution of cruell chastisements and sharpe and rigorous sentences bee they of death or otherwise For these doe rather dispeople and desolate then correct and amend a kingdome And as it is a signe of bad Physitians or of a corrupt and infectious aire to see many fall sicke and dye so likewise is it of carelesse Ministers and ill preuention and of a contagious corruption of vices and euill manners when there are many criminall iudgements many punishments and cruell chastisements And who is he that knowes the principall cause thereof it may bee this or it may bee that or all together howsoeuer I am sure it is all ill And in a word so great so vniuersall and so pernicious an ill that if Christian Kings carry not a very watchfull eye ouer their Subiects manners in not suffering them to flie out they shall not when they would be able to refraine them and remedie what is amisse for euill custome being once habituated according vnto Galen and others is an acquired nature and engendreth an habite which being mans naturall inclination carries him along after it and so great is his inclination to delights and so many the prouocations and ill examples which draw him thereunto and poure oyle as it were vpon that fire that if there be not the
that hath any other beginning of birth For all men haue one entrance vnto life and the like going out We come all into the world with our bare skins on our backs and as naked of knowledge as cloathes being subiect in the rest to industrie instruction and others counsaile and aduice which is that which supplieth the defects of nature Rationall soules are all of them equall and alike in their creation and essentiall perfection though they differently discouer themselues in some bodies more then in other some in regard of the better or not so good disposition of the Organs and by consequence their vnderstandings come to be differenced and the conceipts of the one to bee of a higher straine then the other A man shall see more clearely through a Christall glasse then that which is of a thicker and grosser mettall Our body is nothing else but a glasse nor haue all bodies this good disposition Nor haue Kings ioyntly with their power the selfe same measure in their vnderstanding wisedome and prudence But say they had it will be no hurt to them but a great deale of good and aduantage to heare and take aduice For audiens sapiens sapientio rerit Prou. 19.20 A wise man by hearing will be made the wiser Audi consilium vt sis sapiens in nouissimis tuis Heare counsaile and receiue instruction that thou mayst be wise in the latter end And neuer in hard and difficult businesses should any man be he neuer so wise refuse to take aduise And besides it sauours of much wisedome not to doe any thing without it Qui agunt omnia in Consilio reguntur sapientia Prou. 13.10 With the well aduised saith the holy Ghost is wisedome And there is no man so wise that is wise in all things The best and skilfullest Physitian in the world knowes not how to cure himselfe neither will he trust only to his own opinion but calleth another vnto him aduiseth with him takes his Counsaile and puts himselfe vnder his cure Eurigius king of the Gothes said in the Toletane Councell Concil Tol. That euen those workes which in themselues were very good and did much import the Common-wealth wereby no means to be done or put in execution without the Counsaile of those that were good Ministers and well affected to the State vpon paine not onely of losse of discretion but to be condemned as the onely ouerthrowers of the Action Things being so various and so many and weighty the businesses as are those which come vnder the hands of Kings and craue their care to bee treated of the successe of them must needes run a great deale of danger when there precedeth not some diligent and mature Counsaile Kings I assure you had neede haue good both Counsailours and Counsaile hauing so many eyes as they haue vpon them some of iealousie and some of enuie so many that goe about to deceiue and doe deceiue them and many that doe not loue them as they ought I say they had neede of good both Counsailours and Counsaile and such a Councell as is more close and priuate as that of the Councell of State and sometimes and in some cases with a little more restriction and reseruednesse making choise of one two or more of their faithfullest and sufficientest Counsellours with whom they may freely Communicate their greater and lesser affaires and be resolued by them in matters of greater moment and such as importe their own proper preseruation and the augmentation of their Kingdome such as the Historians of Augustus paint forth vnto vs which kinde of course the Princes before and since his time haue taken and now at this present doe From the poorest Plowman to the Potent'st Prince from the meanest Shepheard to the mightiest Monarke there is a necessitie of this Counsaile And in effect euery one as hee can comformable to his Estate and calling must Consult with his Wife his Sonne his Friend or himselfe if his fortune afford him not a Companion whom he may trust or make his Confident How much doth it concerne Kings who possessing such great Estates and being subiect to so many Accidents haue need of a more perfect and Complete Councel And not any thing so much importeth them for the conseruation and augmentation of their Kingdomes as to haue about them iust prudent dis-interessed persons to aduise them with a great deale of faithfullnesse and loue and with free libertie of Language to represent the truth of that which to them and their Common-wealth is most fitting and conuenient Who for this purpose Plut. in P. Aemil Arist c. â— Mag. moral are as necessarie as great treasures and mighty Armies That holy King Dauid was more a fraid of the aduise of one wise Counsellour which his son Absolon had with him then of all the Men of Warre that followed him and his fortunes Plutarke and Aristole floute at Fortune in businesses that succeede well when men doe gouerne themselues by good Counsell And for this cause they stiled Counsaile the eye of those things that are to come because of its foresight And for that wee haue treated heeretofore of the qualities of all sortes of Counsailours I now say That with much deliberation and aduise Kings are to make choise of those persons which are to aduise and Counsaile them For from their hitting or missing the marke resulteth the vniuersall good or ill of the whole Kingdome It is the common receiued opinion That the maturest and soundest Counsaile is to be found in those men that are growne wise by their Age and experience which is the naturall Daughter of Time and the Mother of good Counsaile Tempus enim multam variam doctrinam parit Eurip. lib. 12. It is Euripides his saying Suting with that of Iob In antiquis est sapientia in multo tempore prudentia Seniore in Prouinciae congrega eos interroga facilius namque inuenitur quod a pluribus Senioribus quaeritur In the ancient is wisedome and in much time prudence Long time is a great Master which doth graduate men in the knowledge of things and makes them wary prudent and circumspect which is much if not wholly wanting in young men And therefore Aristotle saith of them that they are not good for Counsaile because Wit more then Wisedome in them hath it's force and Vigour Et tenero tractari pectore nescit saith Claudian And S. Ierome is of the minde that young Witts cannot weild weighty matters And that their Counsailes are rash and dangerous like vnto that they gaue King Rehoboam S. Aug. ad fratres in erem Ser. 14. By whose inconsiderate aduise hee lost his Kingdome The same course hauing cost others as deare as is proued vnto vs out of S. Austen And therefore the Grecians Romans Lacedemonians Carthaginians and other Common-wealthes which were good obseruers of their Lawes and Customes did ordaine That a young man how wise so euer hee might seeme to
sustinere This thing is too heauy for thee Thou art not able to performe it thy selfe alone Cadendo cades saith another Letter By falling thou shalt fall and all this people that is with thee Daras de ojos as they say à cada passo Thou must looke well about thee And ioyntly with this hee propounded the qualities which hee ought to consider in those whom hee was to choose for that Ministrie Proinde ex omni plebe viros sapientes timentes deum in quibus sit veritas Or as another letter hath it Exod. 18.21 Viros veridicos qui oderint avaritiam Thou shalt prouide out of all the people able men such as feare God men of truth hating Couetousnesse c. Now let vs goe pondering euery word in particuler and in them the qualities of Ministers The first is Prouide Which signifieth not onely to prouide but to fore-see and consider For the election of a Minister is a businesse of great prouidence and consideration and the most important and necessarie for a King in matter of gouernment On the good or bad Election of Counsellours dependeth the whole honour and profit both of King and Kingdome And he that erres in this must necessarily erre in all For the spring of a fountaine being spoyled all the water is spoiled And a King failing in this Principle all goes to destruction For without doubt all good dispatch growes from the force and vertue of good Counsaile Then therefore is a King held to be wise and prudent when he hath wise and prudent Counsailours Hee succeedeth well with all his Intentions and inioyeth fame credit and reputation both with his subiects and with strangers Of the one he is beloued and obayed and of the other dreaded and feared and of all esteemed and commended The whole kingdome resteth contented and satisfied And though in something hee sometime erre none will beleeue it But when Priuie-Counsailours are no such manner of men all murmur and proclaime to the world That there is not an able man in all the Counsell and if in some one thing or other hee hap to haue good successe few or none will giue credit thereunto but rather conceiue it was done by Chance The sacred Text says farther De omni plebe Out of all the People As if he should haue said out of all the 12. Tribes or families of this people thereby to giue vs to vnderstand That for to make a good Election it is requisit that there should not remaine a nooke or corner in all his kingdomes where diligence should not be vsed as before hath beene sayd to search out the fittest Ministers And likewise it may in this word be giuen vs to vnderstand that in matter of Election wee are not to haue respect to Linage Kindred or Parentage but to vertue sufficiencie and courage accompained with other good qualities which adapt a man to be a Counsellour And therefore it is said anon after Viros sapientes Wisemen men of vnderstanding heads and stout hearts which dare boldly and plainely to speake the truth and to maintaine and put it in execution when they see fit time for your pusillanimous and white-liuerd persons are not fit Ministers for a State Noli quaerere fieri iudex nisi valeas virtute irrumpere iniquitates He that hath not a face to out-face a Lye and to defend the truth let him neuer take vpon him the Office of a Minister of Iustice In the booke of Daniel it is storyed that King Nabucodonozor was resolued to haue done some cruell chastisement vpon his Princes and Counsellours for that hauing asked them the Interpretation of a troublesome dreame hee had none of them could declare the meaning of it And howbeit they told him that they could not tell what to make of it plainly confessed the truth yet notwithstanding the King conceiued that hee had good reason to except against them For thought hee if you know it and for feare will not tell it me yee are Cowards And if you know it not yee are ignorant and either of these is a great fault in Counsailours afford sufficient cause why ye should be punished in that yee would offer to take that Office vpon yee which first of all hath neede of stoutnesse of courage and secondly to be learned and expert in so many and various things as a King hath occasion to vse yee in And therefore that wise Iethro after the word Viros Men puts sapientes Wise Or as the 70. and others translate it potentes fortes Because in Ministers and Counsellours of State strength courage constancie and wisedome should walke hand in hand The Courts and Pallaces of Kings and Princes that which they are least stored with all is Truth They scarce know her face nay not so much as of what colour or complexion shee is the onley Minions there made of being flatteries and lyes A wise and stout man is daunted with nothing is neuer troubled nor altered he stands vpon his own worth and sinceritie is Lord and Master of his reason he speakes with libertie and freedome hee represents the truth to his King and maintaines it Pie quedo as they say stiffely and stoutly without respect to any thing no not so much as his owne proper life hee ouerthrowes plots discouers the impostures deceits and Lyes of flatterers for the which he had neede of courage and wisedome Now let vs see what that wisedome is which a King is to require in his Ministers Not worldly wisedome wherof S. Bernard saith That those which inioy it boasting themselues thereof very wisely goe to Hell The question that I aske is Whether they should be Philosophers Diuines or Lawyers or in what kinde of faculties they should be wise Heereunto first I answer that questionlesse it would be a great helpe to the making of a good Counsellour to bee seene in these Sciences and to haue spent some time of study in them But in case they haue no skill in these it shall suffice that they are wise in that which belongeth vnto that Ministry for which they are nominated and called to wit To be a Counsailour which is a person that is fit sufficient and able for that charge which he is to administer That hee haue a nimble wit and quicke apprehension for without that the rest serues to little purpose Whereas he that is furnished therewith with a little helpe attaineth to much He knowes things past vnderstands the present and giues his iudgement of things to come That hee be well read in ancient and moderne Histories wherein are contained the sentences and opinions of wise men of elder times by which they ordred their Common-wealths and maintained them in Peace For this kinde of reading doth indoctrinate more in a day then Experience hath taught others in many yeares which must by no meanes be wanting in a Counsellour for that ordinarily in them are found Prudence Authoritie and Experience That he haue happy
that they should make their Plea by writing Ne si coram iudicibus loquerentur facilius eos fletibus aut actionibus efficacique modo dicendi demulcerent Least if themselues should be permitted to speake before the Iudges they might the more easily soften and mollifie their hearts by their teares action and words And it seemeth that God doth approue for the better this manner of iudging when he saith Non secundum visionem oculorum iudicabit Isay 11.3 nec secundum auditum aurium arguet He shall not iudge after the sight of his eyes neither reproue after the hearing of his eare Sed judicabit in justitia pauperes arguet in aequitate pro mansuetis terrae But with righteousnesse shall hee iudge the poore and reproue with equitie for the meeke of the earth With iustice and truth hee must reproue and confound those who with fictions with colours and studied artifices pretend to make that iust or probable which hath no shew of iustice or truth For there are some Lawyers so full of Quirkes and subtilties that they wrest the true sence and meaning of the Lawes striuing to bring them to their bent haling them as they say by the haire to that part whereunto themselues are willing to incline either to that which a fauourite or powerfull person pretendeth or to him that will bribe most whereby suites in Law are made euerlasting much mony is consumed mens States miserably wasted or at least the true knowledge of the cause obscured as well de facto as de jure both in matter of fact and of Law A Iudge therefore ought to be very attentiue to all businesses that are brought before him and to haue Lynx his eyes to watch whether the Torrent will tend of a Pleader transported with affection and of a cauillous Relator armed with a 100. Witty quillets subtill and acute Allegations wherewith they shadow the light and scatter cloudes of darkenesse ouer the cause that is pleaded Hee that is set ouer others must haue wisedome and courage to make resistance against them and to disarme them rebutting the blow by his Arguments and with the true and solide sence of the Lawes themselues Eccl. 7. And therefore Ecclesiasticus would not haue that man to take vpon him to be a Iudge that hath not spirit and mettall in him to contest with the stoutest of them and to doe Iustice Secundum allegata probata according to all right and law For many times there is more cunning and wisedome required for to vndoe those knots and to facilitate those difficulties which these wrangling Lawyers put in their Plea then to resolue the doubt in the Case it selfe And if hee be to deale with persons of power and great Courtiers he must either breake through this net which they pitch for him with force or with some slight or other seeke to auoyd it rather then that fauour and power on the one side or subtill shiftes and Law quirkes on the other should stifle Iustice Isay 58.6 For in these cases it is written Dissolue colligationes impietatis Loose the bands of wickednesse to vndoe the heauie burthens and to let the oppressed goe free For the sonne of God himselfe to be an example vnto Iudges did proceede in this manner with the Diuell For this purpose saith S. Iohn was the Sonne of God manifested Iohn 3.8 that he might destroy the workes of the Diuell Whereby he shewed no lesse courage then gained reputation And it is one of the most preiudiciall things that can befall Common-wealths to seeke to honour such persons in whom doe not concure those qualities nor the knowledge of such Ministers and giuing them the Title of Counsellours which haue neither that sufficiency of knowledge nor wisedome which is necessary for to giue a good and sound opinion in graue and weighty matters And as it were a foolish and vnaduised thing in him that hath neede of a payre of shoes to go to looke them at a Barbers and not at a shomakers shop so is the case alike when wee leaue wise and experienced men in a Common-wealth lurking in a corner and put those into eminent places which neither know how to begin nor end businesses nor what course in the world they are to take That which is fittest for them but much more for a King and kingdome is to let them alone in their ignorance Quia tu scientiam repulisti Hose 4.6 repellam ego te saith God Because thou hast reiected knowledge I will also reiect thee For one foolish Minister alone is an intolerable burthen for a Kingdome Arenam salem Eccl. 22.15 massam ferri facilius est ferre quam hominem imprudentem fatuum Sand and salt and a masse of yron is easier to be borne then a man without vnderstanding Three things saith hee which are the heauiest to beare are more easie to bee borne and with more patience to be indured then the imprudencies of an vnwise and foolish Minister CHAP. X. Hee continues the Discourse of the qualities of Ministers and Counsellours THe last words of Iethros Aduice were Et qui oderint Auaritiam hating Couetousnesse A qualitie no lesse necessary then those before specified The 70. Interpreters translate it Et qui odio habent superbiam Hating pride There are some men which rake vp a great deale of wealth and are couetous only to keepe and make the heape the bigger liuing for this cause miserably vnto themselues and deepely indebted to their backe and belly Others there are that scrape and scratch by hooke or by crooke all the money they can finger that they may afterwards prodigally spend it and maintaine their vaine pride and ostentation But in what sort so euer men be couetous sure I am That Couetousnesse is one of the worst notes and basest markes wherewith Kings Ministers and Counsailours of State can be branded Auaro Eccl. 10.9 nihil est Scelestius saith Ecclesiasticus There is not a more wicked thing then a couetous man And from those that are toucht with this infection Kings are to flye as from a plague or Pestilence and be very circumspect and wary that they be not admitted to the Councell Table and to remoue those from thence that haue receiued any bribe For it is an incurable disease a contagious corruption which like a Leprosie goes from one to another and clingeth close to the soule Besides to receiue is a sweete thing and leaues the hand so sauory and so well seasoned that it hath no sooner receiued one gift but it is presently ready for another a third a fourth and so in infinitum And the end of that which is past is but a disposition for that which is to come Like a hungry Curre who hath no sooner chopt vp one morsel but he is ready for another And he perhaps who at first was contented with a little could say Esto basta y sobra This is inough and too
Common-wealth where Corruption liues vncontrolled And because this Vice goes daily taking deepe roote and grows still stronger and stronger inuenting new impudencies new slightes and subtilties it is needefull that Kings should hunt Counter and finde out some new Tricke to take these olde ones in the Trap. And this one me thinks would be a pretty remedy for this disease That a Law were made That of all those that should be nominated for Ministers and Officers publike and particular in any Tribunall or Ministry what soeuer as well of Iustice and gouernment as of the publike Treasurie there should an Inuentorie be taken by some deputed for that purpose of all their rents and goods moueable and vnmoueable and when they are to take their oath as the fashion is at their entrance into their Office the said Inuentory should be presented in open Court and there they made to sweare and take a solemne oath that this is a true Inuentorie and that their Estate is thus and thus neither more nor lesse or much there abouts to the end that when their states come to be increased and their wealth makes a great noyse in the world it may vpon better inquirie be knowen how and which way they came by it For experience daily teacheth vs that your Iudges your Exchequer men and other publike Officers enter into the Office with little and goe out with much And I would that the Kings Atturney generall or one of like nature should enter an Action against all those Augmentations of their Estates whereof they should not be able to render a good Account I could likewise wish that they might be sworne to that Law of Theodosius That they neither gaue nor promised by themselues or by any other person or persons Bald. in l. 1. c. de haered vel Actione vendit Diseque el fisco tiene Accion contra los toles bienes Bel delito ded coecho qualquiera puede seracusado durante el Officio y despues 2. ff de Calumniatore any thing at all for the foresaid Offices Neither that they shall receiue any thing of free gift be it offred with neuer so good a will Which oath the Ancient Romans swore vnto And if at any time it shall be proued against them that they haue either giuen or taken that they incurre the punishment of priuation of Office and Confiscation of goods And this Course being taken these cannot offend againe and if their dealing hath beene vpright and faire as good men will not refuse a iust tryall but rather out of loue to goodnesse imbrace it God forbid but they should bee well rewarded by the State for their good and faithfull seruice And this is no new doctrine but shall finde it if we looke backe to former times practised long a goe And the Emperour Antoninus Pius did likewise ordaine that all Liuetenants and Gouerners before they went to serue in their Residencies and Offices they should bring in an Inuentorie of all they had that when the time of their Gouernment was expired by coating and comparing the one with the other they might see how and in what manner they thriued thereupon Audistis saith he Praefectum Praetorij nostri antè Triduum quà m fieret mendicum pauperem sed subitò diuitem factum Vndè quaeso nisi de visceribus Reip. qui ob hanc causam Prouincias sibi datas credunt vt luxurientur diuites fiant c. You haue heard that our Praetorian Praefect some few dayes since was a very beggar but now sodainely become rich Whence I pray should this come but from out the bowells of the Common-wealth who for this cause thinke Prouinces are committed vnto them that they may therein riot and grow rich Setting at nought the Lawes the respect vnto their Kings their feare towards God and the shame of the world Truly saith Plato that publike Minister may be had in suspicion who in his office is growne rich For he that only gets by lawfull meanes can hardly liue at so high a rate as some of his fellowes doe build such sumptuous and costly houses and leaue so faire and great an estate behind him to his Heyre And he who heerein does more then he can will likewise do more then he ought For he that will seeke to out-doe his meanes will not sticke to out-doe his honestie In a word gifts haue euermore bred a iealousie of Corruption and in Iudges esteemed the foulest fault Oh of how little worth is a lâ—ttle gift and yet what a great hurt to a Ministers honour Nazian in Orat. 23. A gift saith Nazianzene is a secret Tyrant which doth subdue and tread all vnder foote And to giue is of all other the greatest Tyranny and the greatest violence It is Senecas Counsell That he Seneca de Benefi that will inioy his owne freedome must not receiue anothers benefit Fot to giue is to in-slaue And the receiuer is the giuers slaue Gifts are but Gyues and chaines wrought of strong linkes The ending of one being the beginning of another And where the first ends the second begins And this as they say dispone la trabaion para otros muchos serues but as a Timber peece to couple and fasten many others Take heede therefore saith the Emperour Iustinian of receiuing giftes which quit our libertie In Auth. Vt Iudices sine quoque § 2. blinde our vnderstanding incline our wills and defame our honour But make thou much of cleane hands for he that shall keepe his hands cleane and shall not suffer himselfe to be corrupted by priuate Interest shall haue much honour and fame in this life and a great place prouided for him in that other Qui excutit manus suas ab omni munere iste in excelsis habitabit Regem in decore suo videbunt oculi eius hee that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes hee shall dwell on high Isay 33.15 And his eyes shall see the King in his beauty All this and more shall they attaine to that are truly of pure heart and cleane hands All this say they that you say is true We confesse as much But withall we must tell you That that which we receiue is subsidium gratuitum a free gift a meere gratuitie with a great deale of loue and good liking of the Giuer And we affirme That all for the most part that is giuen is respectiue and is in that Predicament which the Logicians tearme Ad aliquid Whereby he that receiueth a courtesie is bound to returne a courtesie And those which giue hope to receiue from such Ministers that which they cannot iustly giue them With these conditions a gift is lawfull and esteemed to be lawfully receiued when it comes free vnclogg'd disinteressed without pretension and without respect of requitall or reference to any recompence or retribution That is a gift which goes dis-roabed of all respects which is neither a friend nor kindsman nor kindswoman of the party that giues
imployed in particular Iuntas then publicke Councells touching the persons of these Councells If the number be not sufficient for the dispatch of businesses let it rather be increased then that by this other course he that is Master and Lord of all should likewise make himselfe Master of all wrongs and grieuances and of that which the aggrieued will conceiue of him which batching imagination of theirs will bring forth that Cocatrice of Kings most venemous hatred By that which wee haue both read seene and heard it is easie to be collected that this was meerely an Introduction of the Ambitious who indeauoured by this meanes to haue all things passe through their hands and depend vpon their will And this as if it had beene a thing of inheritance hath gon along in descent from one age to another euen to these present our times That particular Councell which Kings formerly had and in effect all of them still haue that more reserued secret Councell with whom they communicate their inwardest thoughts let it a Gods name be superiour to all the rest which supplying as in those three potentiae or faculties the very place and soule as it were of the Prince it is very fit and conuenient that it should iudge of the actions and Resolutions of all your Ordinary Councells and that they should all wayte vpon this and attend their pleasure and that they should likewise treate of all those great businesses which the Ancient and more especially Augustus Caesar called Arcana imperij Misteries of State and secrets of the kingdome But for the rest let them be left to their Ordinary Councells for so shall they receiue quicker dispatch and all sutes be more easily ended and things carryed with lesse labour of the one and fewer complaints of the other And let it likewise suffice euen the greatest intermedlers of these Ministers that they haue a hand in publicke businesses without offering for their priuate interest to draw things out of their ordinary course and Common tracke whereinto they were put making themselues thereby hated and abhorred of all those that haue any thing to doe with them For at last they will come to sent and winde out their driftes to know all their doublings and shiftings and to watch them at euery turne and when they haue them at aduantage neuer poore Hare was so hardly followed by Hounds as these will be pursu'd to death by them whom the others powerfullnesse with his Prince did seeke to crush and keepe vnder It were well that these great Ministers would weigh and consider with themselues that as they haue their hands already too full of worke so haue they more complaints against them then they would willingly heare of and more enuie at the heeles of them then they can well shake of and therefore if they were wise they would auoyd as much as in them lyes to draw these mischiefes more and more vpon themselues In great resolutions indeed Kings are not to giue way that they should be taken out of the Councells of State and warre nor yet that they should be concluded without them For the glory of all good successefull Actions shall be his as hauing their reuolution and motion from hâ—m as from their Primum Mobile Nor is it any wisedome in a King to lay the misfortunes and vnhappy Accidents that may befall a State vpon his owne shoulders Which will be qualified for such by his Priuy Counsellours as finding themselues iustly offended in that hee hath not imparted his minde vnto them nor communicated with them in the Common-wealths affaires especially if they be of consequence The principall cause why there was ordained a Councell of State was That it might serue to helpe the king whom principally this Body representeth to beare the Popular charge which euermore iudgeth of things by the euents and though now and then they fall out ill and the people thereupon ready to murmure and mutinie yet are they the better bridled and appeased by the power and authoritie of these Counsellours The Office of a King hath trouble inough with it burthen inough and therefore they should not aduise him to lay more vpon himselfe without lawfull and necessary cause And because when I treated of the qualities of Counsellours I reserued those for this place which more properly appertaine vnto them that are of this Counsell I will breifely deliuer what they are and how necessarie for those that are elected thereunto And I will content my selfe with no lesse then those of that great Common-wealths man and Counsellour Pericles And besides to those which I shall now speake of may be reduced those which are to be required in their other Councells your Councell of State is a Councell of Peace and War And as Plato saith is the soule of the Republike and the very Anchor wheron wholy dependeth all the stabilitie firmenesse assurance of the State King and Kingdome it 's perdition or preseruation Whose chiefe aime and principall intent is the good Gouernment of the Common-wealth and that it and euery member thereof should liue happily and be conserued in peace and iustice And for this cause onely are we to make war Ob eam causam suscipienda sunt bella Cicer. Offi. lib. 1. Plat. Dial. 1. de Legibus 1. vt sine iniuria in pace vivatur It is Cicero's saying And the Emperour Charles the fifth was wont to Say That the Councell of State is the whole wisedome power and vnderstanding of the King That it is his Eyes his hands and his feete And that himselfe should often sit in Counsell and without it not to do or conclude any thing that is of any weight or moment The qualities required to make a perfect Counseâ—ler in this Councell are many As that he be a man of much courage truth and integritie and well seene in matters of State and Gouernment publick and priuate of peace and of warre for he is to aduise in all A man of good yeares great vertue much authoritie and of no meane credit and reputation That he be very skilful in those businesses which he treateth That he vnderstand them well and be his Crafts-Master in that facultie That he be of a prompt and sharpe wit That his tongue be well hangd and be able to expresse himselfe so happily that he may be truly vnderstood That he haue a minde free from all by respects that neither Loue nor Feare may detaine him from vttering what he thinketh That he beare an especiall loue and affection to his King That he keepe his hands cleane and not suffer himselfe to be ouercome by couetousnesse For he that in whatsoeuer is propounded presently apprehends what is best and vnderstands what is proffitable and conuenient yet neither knoweth nor hath fitting words to declare himselfe it is all one as if he vnderstood it not And he that can play both these parts passing well yet loueth not his Master his conseruation and augmentation of honour this
the more licence of offending and open mercie proclaimed Crueltie Let the end of this discourse be that the Councells and Counsellers being seated and setled in the forme aforesaid the King likewise apply himselfe to treat truth with them and to deale plainely with them in whatsoeuer businesses shall offer themselues to be debated of And let him not perswade himselfe that there are too few of euery Councell for if they be chosen and selected men few will suffice and many serue to no other end but to trouble each other and to delay businesses For howbeit it be true that it is euermore good to heare the opinions of all for to ventilate and sifte out a cause throughly yet the determination ought to passe through the hands of a few but withall good and experienced persons that they may not erre in their sentence Of the Emperour Alexander Seuerus who was a man of singular wisdome it is reported that for the resolution of those businesses which he vndertooke he called onely vnto him such Counsellours to whom such businesse did more properly appertaine and had most knowledge and experience in that Aelius Lampr. in vita Alexan. Se ueri which was to be treated Vndè si de Iure tractaretur solos doctos in consilum adhibebat Si verò de re militari milites veteres senes ac bene meritos locorum peritos c. So that if it were a Law-businesse he onely called the Learned in the Lawes to Councell if of warfare olde beaten Soldiers aged and well-deseruing Captaines and of approued experience in their place And so in the rest Arist lib. 8. Polit. cap. 6. For as the Philosopher saith Impossibile est vel certè admodum difficile vt qui ipsa opera non tractat peritè valeat iudicare It is impossible or at least certainly very hard for to iudge iudiciously of those things wherein a man was neuer yet imployd But that which hath beene a mans Office and continuall Exercise in this he must needs be wise and cannot choose but speake well to the point Quilibet ad ea idoneus est Plato lib 21. de fortitud in quibus sapit saith Plato Some there are that are wise but like the Troians too late They know what is to be done but are too long in doing it and therefore it is necessary to adde hands to Counsell and force to wisedome yet still allowing the Councell so much time as things may come to their true ripenesse and maturitie For as it is in the Prouerbe Harto prestò se haze lo que bien se haze That is quickely done that is well done And very necessary is that pause and breathing wherewith Kings goe ripening great businesses And exceeding fit it is that they should goe soberly to worke take time and leasure inough and that in their consultations they should vse feete of leade but in the execution of them hands of steele Which being once well grounded and both the Conueniences and Inconueniences throughly weighed though in these great and weighty affaires there are neuer some wanting that will follow that part which hath least ground for it and yet perswade themselues that they onely are in the right and that all the reason in the world is on their side let them goe roundly to worke and after a concluded consultation let them shew themselues constant in the execution thereof For as another Philosopher said Cunctanter aggrediendum est negotium verùm in suscepto Diog. Lacre constanter perseuerandum A maine businesse must haue a slow motion but when the wheeles are once set a going they must neuer stand still till it haue finished it's intended worke And the Prophet Esay Isay 11.2 ioyned the spirit of fortitude to that of Councell For Counsaile little auaileth that is deuoid of force and strength to execute Vile est Consilium saith Pope Gregory cui robur fortitudinis deest That Counsaile is vile and base that wants true mettall Let Counsell I say be slow sauour of the lamp but let the Execution be quicke as lightening For as mortall are those wounds those diseases to which remedy is giuen too late as those to whom none is giuen at all To what end therefore I pray serue your Iuntas vpon Iuntas reference vpon reference your long and large Consultations your viewings and reuiewings if after all this great adoe all is roll'd and shut vp in paper Whereas in all reason nay and right too how much the more time there hath beene spent in consulting so much the more speede and force ought to be vsed in Executing For on good Counsaile and quicke Execution consist your good ends and all prosperous successe CHAP. XIIII It is demanded by way of Question Whether Kings ought inuiolably to obserue the foresaid Order ARt is Natures Ape and imitates her all she can And by so much the more perfect an Artificer and more cunning workeman is he accounted who shall seeme to come neerest in his worke to that great Master and Maker of Nature and whatsoeuer is naturall wherein as hath already beene sayd is conserued and kept that firme and constant Law and first commandement which he imposed vpon all things in the beginning of their creation Who likewise hath and doth still keepe a wonderfull correspondency in those very things conseruing them in their operations working and operating continually by their meanes and helpe and honouring them with the name and essence of secundary Causes though he himselfe be the primary naturall cause in that working So that the fire hath alwaies perfourmed that Office wherin God placed it to wit To burne or heate And when he hath beene pleased to worke these effects he hath made vse of them for that purpose as well vpon occasion of his wrath and chasticement as of his loue and cherishment When he was willing to destroy and consume those Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 19.24 he did not make vse of water but of fire which he sent among them to execute his iudgement vpon that occasion And for to Regular and make much of that Mirrour of patience Iob and to exercise him in that vertue Ignis cecidit è caelo tactas oues puerosque consumpsit The fire of God is fallen from heauen Iob. 1.16 and hath burnt vp the sheepe and the seruants c. For to throw downe the house and at one blow to kill all his children that were met together to make merry he made vse of the Winde For to drowne the world he serued himselfe with the water and in the desert he drew water out of the Rocke to quench the thirst of his people and to preserue them from perishing So that Life Death and Health which God can giue solely of himselfe yet will he haue it be wrought by the helpe and meanes of those secundary naturall Causes And euen at the day of iudgement he will make vse of all these for
praesunt For the hard-heartednesse and cruelty of those which were set in authoritie ouer them As if he should haue said The Affronts and Iniuries done by a Kings principall Officers are not so easily remedyed as those of particular men They require a powerfull hand they require Gods presence and assistance and will craue a Kings especiall care For your Councells cannot doe it nay are not able for to doe it of themselues alone be they the greatest and the highest in the Kingdom be they neuer so zealous of Iustice neuer such true louers thereof and neuer so desirous to doe right And the reason therof in my poore opinion is for that in regard the burthen of ordinary businesses is so great that only they are not able to attend the quitting of those agrauios and greiuances with that speedines and efficacie as were needefull but rather that they themselues without so much as once dreaming thereof doe vse to make them farre greater then otherwise they would bee for want of time and strength of body to cumply with so many and so great businesses And it oftentimes so commeth to passe that those that sue for reliefe in stead of being eased of their wrongs receiue further wrong either because they cannot finde fit place and time to be heard or because being heard they are soone forgot or because they that wrong them finde meanes to couer their faultes And if they cannot couer them and so should be lyable vnto punishment yet they that lent them their hand to lift them vp to the place wherein they are will likewise lend them a hand to defend their disorders And it hath beene already and is yet daily to be seene that a Iudge in Commission who for his wickednesse and euill dealing deserued exceeding great chastisement yet for that he hath his Patron and Angel of Guard for in your greater Tribunalls these are neuer wanting the businesse is husht and the party peccant neuer questioned And because he shall not be disgraced if the matter proue fowle against him by putting him out of his place he that tooke him into his protection will intercede in his behalfe to haue him remoued from that Office and preferred to a better A case certainly worthy both punishment and remedy if there be any vpon earth And if there be any helpe to be had it must be by the sight and presence of the King for without this it is not to be hoped for The Courtes of Kings much more then other places are full of humane respects and these haue taken so great a head and are growne so strong that in businesses they ouerthrow that which truth and iustice ought to vphold And therefore my aduise vnto Kings is that being they are men that are or may be free if they will themselues from these poore respectiue considerations and are supreme Lords and absolute soueraignes in their kingdomes they would be pleased to dis-agrauiate those that are iniuryed respecting onely wronged right and oppressed Truth But because such as are wronged and finde themselues agrieued haue not that easie accesse and entrance into Princes Courtes or to their persons either in regard of their great and weighty Imployments or some other lawfull Impediments it shall much importe that in their Courtes they should haue some person or persons of great zeale and approued vertue and prudence to whom those that are agrieued should haue recourse For many suffer much that cannot come to be admitted to the sight or speech of their King whereas if there should be a person appointed for to heare their Complaints they would cry out with open mouth for iustice and should be righted in their receiued wrongs And that person or persons thus deputed by their Maiesties hauing first well weighed and examined the reasons of their Complaints should afterwards represent the same vnto their Kings and giue them true information thereof to the end that they may forthwith by expresse Command put thereunto a speedy and fitting remedie And this I assure you would be a great bridle to restraine the insufferable insolencie and Auarice of Princes Ministers Who questionlesse would carry themselues much more fairely and vprightly when as they shall know that their disorders shall faithfully be represented Whereas on the contrarie it is not to be imagined with what a bold nay impudent daringnes they outface goodnesse when as they conceiue that of their kings which was vttred by that vnwise and foolish Atheist Psal 14.1 In corde suo non est deus The foole hath said in his heart there is no God Or that which those ignorant and troublesome friends of Iob breathed forth against God himselfe Circa cardines coeli perambulat Iob 22.14 nec nostra considerat He walketh in the Circle of heauen and the cloudes hide him that he cannot see and consider the things vpon earth Or which those other wicked Villaines vented Non videbit dominus neque intelliget Deus Iacob Psal 94.7 The Lord shall not see neither will the God of Iacob regard it So in like sorte say these bad Ministers Tush this shall neuer come to our Kings knowledge hee is taking his pleasure in his gardens he is thinking on his Hawking and Hunting or some other sports and pastimes to recreate himselfe withall nor shall Tricks and inuentions be wanting vnto vs to stop vp all the passages to his eares but say open way should be made and that the King should take notice of this or that misdemeanour it shall be dawbd vp so handsomely such a faire varnish set vpon it and so ful of excuses that it will be all one as if he had neuer heard of it or any such thing bin at all Presuming that Kings rather then they will be troubled with businesses of clamour and noyse will for their owne ease slightly passe them ouer Wherein as they haue oftentimes found themselues so it is fit they should still be deceiued And truly to no man can with better Title this Entrance be giuen nor this golden key to the Kings Chamber be committed then to him who with the integritie and zeale of an Elias should trample and tread these Monsters vnder foote and roundly and throughly to take this care to task which without al doubt would be one of the gratefullest and most acceptable seruices which can be done vnto God both in matter of pietie and of pitie But what shall I say of the Kings happinesse in this case With nothing can he more secure his conscience then with this As one who is bound out of the duty of his place to haue a watchfull eye ouer all his Ministers but more narrowly and neerely to looke into the water of those that are the great Ones being likewise obliged graciously and patiently to heare those that shall complaine of them it not proceeding out of spleene and malice but out of a desire to iustifie the truth to make good a good cause and that the fault may be
this hee alleageth that which passed betwixt good old Isaac and his two sonnes Esau and Iacob who by reason of his olde age fayling very much in all the rest of his senses that of his hearing continued still in it's full perfection The other deceiu'd him Gen. 27.22 and this onely told him the Truth Vex quidem vex Iacob manus autem maâ—â—s sunt Esau The voyce is Iaecobs voyce but the hands are the hands of Esau Wherein he was out In Gods Schoole where faith is professed great reckoning is made of Hearing Quia fides ex auditu Because faith comes by hearing Rom. 10 17. For a man may heare and beleeue though he cannot see But in the Schoole of the world we must haue all these and all is little inough We must see heare and beleeue And when Kings haue both seene and heard and throughly informed themselues of the whole State of the busines that they may not be deceiued in their iudgement then let them presently proceede to touch it as we say with the hand to fall roundly to worke and in that maner and forme as shall seeme most fitting to finish and make an end of it Psal â—02 19.20 Dominâ— de coeli in terram aspexit vt audiret gemitus compeditorum c. The Lord looked downe from the height of his Sanctuary Out of the Heauen did the Lord behold the earth that he might heare the mourning of the prisoner and deliuer the children of death This looking downe of the Lord from the highest Heauens and from the throne of his glory vpon the earth to heare the grieuous groanings and pitifull complaints of poore wretched creatures which call and cry vnto him for iustice should my thinkes be an admirable good lesson for Kings that they should loose somewhat of their sportes and recreations and of that which delighteth the eye and the eare to bestow them both on those who humbly petition him that he will be pleased to both see and heare their cause Of Philip King of Macedon though some put it vpon Demetrius it is reported by Plutarke in his life that going one day abroad to take his pleasure and pastime an olde woman came vnto him besought him to heare her and to do her Iustice But he excusing himselfe and telling her he was not now at leysure to heare her shee made answer Proinde neâ— Rex quidem esse velis Sir if you be not at leysure to heare your subiects will not giue them leaue to speake vnto you leaue to be king for there is no reason he should be a king that cannot finde a time to cumply with his dutie Conuinced with this reason without any more adoe he presently gaue a gracious Audience not onely to her but many moe besides For Kings which doe not heare by consequence do not vnderstand And not vnderstanding they cannot gouerne And not gouerning they neither are nor can be Kings The Cretans painted their God Iupiter without cares because he was that supreme king that gaue lawes and iudged all And therefore ought to cary an equall eare indifferently to heare all parties after one and the same selfe manner Other some did allow him eares but so placed them withall that they might heare those least that were behinde him Which was held a fault in their God as likewise it is in Kings not to heare any but thosse that stand before them or side by side are stil weighting at their elbow Kings should heare as many as they possibly can and which is the onely comfort of suitors in that gratious and pleasing kinde of maner that no man should depart discontented from their feete being a maine fundamentall cause to make all men to loue reuerence and esteeme them and likewise to oblige Princes to lend the more willing and patient eare to their subiects And of this subiect Pliny in commendation of his Emperour Traiane tells vs that amidst so many cares of so great an Empire as his was he spent a great part of the day in giuing Audience and with such stilnes and quietnes as if he had beene idle or had nothing to doe And that he knowing the content that his subiects tooke in their often seeing of him and speaking with him so much the more liberally and longer he afforded them occasion and place for to inioy this their content For nothing doth so much please and satisfie the heart of a Prince as to conceiue that he is beloued and generally well affected of all his subiects Let a King then this course being taken perswade himselfe that his people loueth him and desireth to see him and to speake dayly if it were possible with him And that they take a great deale of comfort that they haue seene him and he heard them And that of two things which all desire To wit To be heard and relieued The first intertaines and comfortes the suitor and makes him with a cheerefull minde to hope well of the second Let him heare though it be but as he passes by from place to place and let him not let any day passe without giuing ordinary Audience at a set hower and for a set time And in case any shall require a more particular and priuate Audience a gods name let him grant it them For euery one of these to conceiue the worst cannot deceiue him aboue once And it is to be supposed that they will not be so vnciuill or so foolishly indiscreete as to craue the Kings priuate eare but in a case of necessitie or where there is some especiall cause or extraordinary reason for it And I farther affirme that Audience being giuen in this maner things will be carryed more smoothly and with more ease on either part For that which breakes down your Damn's in your riuers is the detention of the water And the detayning of a Subiect from the presence speech of his King is that which doth dishearten and deiect the mindes of your negociants and supplicants And when they see they so seldome haue Audience and are put off from day to day and that it costes them so deare before they can be heard they will while they may make vse of that present occasion and then they talke world without end and neuer giue ouer because they are afraid they shall neuer haue the like opportunitie againe But when those suitors shall know that they shall haue ordinary hearing on such dayes and such a set houre and for so long a time they will content themselues with giuing much lesse trouble to their owne tongues and his Maiesties eares In a word no man will denie but say with me that it is iust and meete That he that is to rule and remedy all ought likewise to heare all and that all men should know as much for for the good and hope thereof they principally obay and loue their King And besides a great part of that concurse and tedious trouble of Negociants will by this
Rom. 1.14 I am debtor both to the wise men and to the vnwise In the History of the Kings is set downe the dissimulation wherewith the women of Tecoa spake vnto King Dauid and how importunate and tedious she was in telling her tale and withall the Kings great patience in hearing her out and his not being offened with the craft and cunning wherewith shee came vnto him albeit the businesse was of that weight and moment that his great Captaine Ioab durst not propound it vnto him Audi tacens Eccl. 22.7 simul quaerens Giue eare and be still and when thou doubtest aske This Counsaile concerneth all but more particularly Kings and their Ministers who are to heare and be silent to aske and aske againe till they haue fully informed themselues of the truth of the case For this is rather an honour then dishonour vnto Kings and great Ministers Prou. 25.1 For as the holy Ghost saith Gloria regum est in vestigare sermonem The Kings honour is to search out a thing Of him that speaketh not nor asketh a question of him that speaketh it may be conceiued that he doth not heare him For these two sences are so neere of kinne that as the Philosopher obserueth he that is borne dumbe is also deafe And not onely this but likewise that the speech being taken away the hearing is lost with it The cause whereof according to Lactantius is for that the Organ by which the Ayre is receiued and wherewith the Voyce is formed holds such Correspondencie with that which goes vnto the hearing that if the first be shut or stopt the exercise of the second is likewise hindred Vpon information and hearing followeth in the next place doing of Iustice whereof we will treate in the Chapters following CHAP. XX. Of the Vertue of Iustice the naturall sister and Companion of Kings WEe told you in the former Chapter that Hearing was the precisest and directest meanes for the doing of Iustice And therefore falleth fitly out here to treate thereof Your Ancient Hieroglyfinists as also your Saints in their writings treating of this Vertue compare it to a payre of weights or scales with it's two ballances And it seemeth that Nature herselfe made this Ectypum or Exemplar this portrayture or delineation shadowing it out in euery one of vs by giuing vs two eares like vnto those two balances whose truth dependeth on the Examen or Aequilibrium that tongue or needle which stands vppermost in the beame of the ballance making my application in this maner that the two eares standing like two ballances on either side of the head they haue their rule of truth from the supremest and highest part thereof where stands the tongue or needle of reason and the iudgement of those things to their true weight and measure which are put into these Intellectaull ballances To discourse therefore of Iustice is very essentiall to that which hath already beene treated touching a Common-wealth For as we told you in our very first Chapter A Republick or Common-wealth is a Congregation of many men subiect to the same Lawes and Gouernment which is not possible to bee conserued if Iustice therein shall be wanting Which giues to euery one that which is his owne keepes men within the bounds of good Order and Discipline and bridles those by reason which transported by their vnruly appetites like headstrong iades would liue without it admitting no curbe no manner of controll but following that Law of Viuat qui vincit Let him weare a Crowne that winn's it If Men would but obserue that first rule of the Law natural consecrated by the mouth of our diuine Master Christ Quod tibi non vis Math. 7.12 alteri ne feceris Et quaecunque vultis vt faciant vobis homines eadem facite illis Offer not that to another which thou wouldst not haue donne to thy selfe And therefore whatsoeuer ye would that men should doe to you euen so doe yee to them There needed no other bullwarkes or fortifications to liue quietly and peaceably in the world But after this same Lolium crept in this Tare of Meum and Tuum the Cooler as Chrysostome calls it of Charitie the Seminarie of discordes and dissention and the fountaine of all mischiefe men found themselues obliged nay inforced to seeke out some such meanes or maner of liuing whereby euery one might quietly and peaceably inioy that which he held to be his owne And for this cause they resolued to leade a ioynt life together submitting themselues to one and the same Lawes and subiecting themselues to one and the same King who should likewise keepe and obserue them and by iustice conserue nourish and maintaine all other necessary vertues for the augmentation and conseruation of Common wealths And for this end was giuen vnto Kings that great power which they haue holding in one hand the ballance of Iustice and in the other the sword of power Which that naked weapon doth represent which is borne before them when they enter with authoritie and State into their Cities And alluding either vnto this or those ancient Insignia of your Iudges the Apostle Saint Paul saith Rom. 13.3 Vis non timere potestatem Bonum fac non enim sine causa gladium portat Wilt thou be without feare of the power Doe well For the Magistrate beareth not the sword for nought Herodotus tells vs that which Cicero deliuereth vnto vs. Cicero Eadem fuit legum constituendarum causa quae regum That one and the selfe same was the cause and Motiue of ordaining Lawes and Creating Kings Whence it followeth that there neither can be any Common-wealth without Iustice nor any one that can deserue to be a King vnlesse he maintaine and conserue it And though he may seeme to be a King yet in realitie of truth he is not Because he wants that principall attribute that should make him be so As a painted man which is no man cannot properly be said to be a Man The holy Scripture styles those Hypocrites which doe not administer Iustice for they haue no more in them of Kings then the apparent or outward shew as the Scepter and the Crowne and other their regall roabes and ornaments And it is worthy your consideration and it is no more then what their holy Doctors and learned Interpreters of diuine Letters haue obserued That a good King and Iustice are brothers and sisters and so neerely twinn'd that you can scarce make mention of the one without the other The Prophet Esay representing the feruent desire of all the world and the voyces and cryes of the Patriarkes who with such instance and earnestnesse did call for the comming of the Sonne of God saith Rorate coeli desuper Esay 45.2 nubes pluant iustum iustitia eriatur simul Ye heauens send the deaw from aboue and let the cloudes drop downe righteousnesse let the earth open and let saluation and Iustice growe forth let it
better our selues much and those principall Vertues Faith Hope and Charitie are much increased and augmented For our Faith increaseth when we petition God by acknowledging him to be the vniuersall Lord of all things who onely can fulfill our requests and desires According to that of Saint Paul super abundanter quà m petimus aut intelligimus Ephes 3.10 That is able to doe exceeding aboundantly aboue all that we aske or thinke c. Likewise Hope and Charitie receiue thereby an Increase because we hope for a good end of our petition And for this cause doe we likewise loue God from whom wee hope to receiue the good we desire And this hath the greater force and truth with it when wee craue spirituall goods And of these spake our Sauiour when hee sayd Pettite accipietis And the Apostle S. Iames saith Iames 1.5 if any of you lacke wisdome let him aske of God which giueth to all men liberally and reprocheth no man and it shall be giuen him But it is conditionall and bounded with a Nihil â—aesitans That he aske in faith and wauer not Which may likewise be vnderstood of Temporall goods as they are ordayned to a spirituall and super-naturall end But to aske of men produceth farre different effects And therefore we are to consider that for one of these two ends men may aske temporall things Either for to raise themselues or to remedie themselues Of the latter of these who demand their pay and satisfaction for their seruices for the remedying and relieuing of their necessities wee haue already said that they are not to bee blamed but in conscience and Iustice wee are to helpe them and make them due satisfaction in that which of right belongeth vnto them Of the former who seeke to rayse themselues they stand crouching and kneeling with cap in hand to obtaine their purpose being very dextrous and diligent in doing courtesies obsequious in their outward behauiour kissing the hand and making Congies downe to the ground and prostrating themselues at the feet of those who they thinke may doe them good dawbing their Compliments with base and seruile flatteries Of which kinde of men the Holy Ghost saith Est qui nequiter hâ—miliat se interiora eius plena sunt dolo Eccl. 19.25 There is some that being about wicked purposes doe bow downe themselues whose inward parts burne altogether with deceit Being like vnto your birdes of rapine who though it be naturall vnto them to flye vp and downe in the ayre yet are content to stoope and abase themselues the better to seaze on their prey Which is euen to a letter or as they say to a haire the very same that Kings Dauid sayd Psal 10.10 Inclinauitse cadet cum dominatus fuerit pauperum He crowcheth and boweth and therefore heapes of poore doe fall by his might Or as it is in the Originall vt dominetur pauperum He humbles himselfe that thereby he may grow great and come to domineere and swagger ouer the poore For all their reuerences and adorations serue to no other end but to raise themselues vpon the wings of their ambition that when they are in a good place they may stoope the freer to their pray So that those who but yesterday had them at their feete see them now towring ouer their heads and loose the sight of them whom they adore thus raysed as those before adored them when but lately like poore snakes they licked the dust with their tongue and trayled their belly on the ground And growing now warme in the bosome of greatnesse sting those most who did most foster and cherish them And these men though they negociate well with men and get what they pretend yet doe they not obtaine any thing at Gods hands who neuer grants vnto them what they desire for such like ends Iam. 4.3 According to that of Saint Iames ye aske and receiue not because ye aske amisse that ye might lay the same out on your pleasures Howbeit sometimes it is granted vnto them for their further punishment and chasticement For as S. Austen affirmeth August Multa Deus concedit iratus quae negaret propitius God grants many things in his wrath which he denyes in his loue And that which is recounted of Augustus Caesar is not much amisse from the purpose who being importuned to bestow an Office vpon one who with great instance begged it of him would by no meanes giue it him but conferr'd it on another that neuer sued for it but did better deserue it And he alleadging the perseuerance of his petitions and complayning that he hauing beene so long and earnest a suitor he should bestow it vpon one that had neuer sought vnto him for it Caesar made him this answer Tu eras dignus qui peteres ille qui acciperet Thou wast worthy to sue for it but hee to haue it There are some things which may be receiued which may not so well be sued for so saith Vlpian in a certaine Law of his Vlpian l. 1. Versâ— Quadam enim ff de vâ—rijs extraor Cognitio Pompinius l. 2. ad finem ff de Orig. iuris Quadam enim tametsi honestè accipiantur inhoneste tamen petuntur There are certaine things sayth he which albeit they may be honestly receiued yet may they be vnhonestly desired Kings are to bestow their fauours but others must not sue for them Hoc non peti sed prastari solere saith another Law it is fit good turnes should be done but not sued for to be done And it was the same mans saying Inuitum non ambientem esse ad rempublicam assumendum That he that was vnwilling to receiue honour not he that did ambitiously seek after it was to be preferred in the Common-wealth And trust me I cannot search into the reason why it should become a Custome not to giue but to those that aske For neither they that giue doe gaine thereby nor they that aske are bettred thereby For to giue is so much the more worthy prayse and thankes by how much the more liberally and freely it is giuen And the Prouerb faith Bis dat qui citò dat He doubles his gift that giues quickly Whereas he that stays looking and expecting to be sued vnto seemeth to giue with an ill will and not so freely as he should For as Seneca truly saith there is not any thing that costes a man dearer then that which is bought by intreaties and petitionings And therefore as often as either offices or Rents are bestow'd on those which deserue them without making suite for them the whole body of the Common-wealth doth commend and indeare the rectitude and iust dealing of the Doner And all good and vertuous men take heart and incouragement thereby and are fill'd with good hopes and those which are otherwise ashamed and confounded and becomes the meanes many times of making them turne ouer a new leafe and leaue their former lewd course
Kingdome The Citizens or which comprehendeth all the common people Or your Peeres and such as either are persons of Title or aspire to be It shall be good discretion prudence to procure to content the people especially in a Kings first entrance into his raigne in that which is reasonable and honest And if their demaunds shall be otherwise to dissemble with them and to take time to consider of it and so by little and litle let their blood goe cooling This was the Counsayle of your olde Counsailours Which had it beene followed by that young King Rehoboam his people had not rebelled against him 3 King 11. nor hee in the beginning of his Empire before he was scarce warme in his throne haue lost ten Tribes of the Twelue The Common people are alwayes grumbling and complayning and ready to runne into rebellion as being fearelesse in regard of their multitude and carelesse for that they haue little or nothing to loose The Minor Plinie after that hee had made a large Catalogue of the naturall vertues of the Emperour Traiane after that he had shewen what great account he made of the Common people he sayth Let not a Prince deceiue himselfe in thinking that hee is not to make any reckoning of the common people for without them he cannot sustaine nor defend his Empyre And in vaine shall hee procure other helpe for that were to seeke to liue with a head without a body which besides that it were monstrous it must needes toter and tumble downe with it's owne weight because it hath nothing to beare it vp And if Kings will needes know what kinde of thing the Common people is and what able to doe vpon all changes and alterations let them take into their consideration that which passed at the arraignment and death of our Sauiour Christ where there was not that Rule of reason of State in the vilest manner which was not then practized And the first stone that the Princes of the Scribes and Pharisees moued against him was the people for they knew well enough that without them they could not awe and feare Pilate nor moue him by their accusations and false witnesses to condemne him In the next place they had recourse to the particular conueniency of the Iudge that he should not be a friend vnto Caesar but should loose his loue if vpon this occasion the people should rise and rebell by which tricke they inclined him to their partie and wrought him to preferre his priuate Interest before publicke Iustice and his owne preseruation before that which was both honest and reasonable Againe it is more secure to procure the fauour and loue of the people and more easie to effect his purpose by them More secure because without their loue and assistance no alteration in the state can take effect This their loue doth vphold Kings and gets them the opinion of good and vertuous Princes This qualifieth all wrongs or makes the offenders pay soundly for them against whom none dare seeme to be singular Lastly for that the common people hauing onely respect to their particular profit their own priuate Interest cannot desire nor pretend that which your greater Peeres and principall men of the State do who alwayes out of their ambition aspire to more and stand beating their braines how they may compasse that which their imagination tells them they want And by so much the more doth this their Ambition increase in how much the greater place they are and in a neere possibilitie of that which they desire I sayd before more easie because the people content themselues with aequalitie and this likewise makes well for Kings with the administration of Iustice with common ease and rest with plenty and with the mildenesse gentlenesse and peaceablenesse of him that ruleth ouer them Now that Kings may procure this popular loue it is fit they should make choyse of such Ministers as are well beloued of the people that will heare them with patience comfort and hearten them vp that they may the more willingly beare the burthens that are laid vpon them the Tributes Taxes and troubles of the Kingdome which in the end must light all vpon them For it is not to be doubted and experience teacheth the truth of it That the Ministers and seruants of a Prince make him either beloued or hated And all their defects or Vertues turne to his hurt or profit And let not Kings make slight reckoning thereof nor let them colour it ouer with Reasons of State For he that once begins to be haâ—ed out of an ill conceiued opinion they charge him withall that is either well or ill done For there is nothing be it neuer so good which being ill interpreted may not change it's first qualitie in the eyes of men who iudge things by apparences Which is another principall cause why Princes ought to procure the loue of the people For in conclusion most certaine it is that the Common people is not onely the Iudge of Kings but is their Attourny also whose censure none of them can escape And is that Minister which God makes choyse of for to punish them in their name and fame which is the greatest of all Temporall punishments Suting with that which we sayd heeretofore of the voyce of the people that it is the voyce of God For his diuine Maiestie vseth this as a meanes to torment those who haue no other superiour vpon earth And therefore it behoueth them to preuent this mischiefe and to winne vnto them the peoples affection by as many wayes as possibly they can deuise as by their owne proper person with some with other some by their fauourites and familiar friends and with all by their Ministers For there is not such a Tully nor Demosthenes withall their eloquence for to prayse or disprayse the Actions of a King either to salue or condemne them as is the peoples loue or hatred A great cause likewise of procuring this loue and to winne the hearts of the people to giue them all good content will be if Kings would be but pleased who are Lords of many Kingdomes and Prouinces to haue neere about them naturall Ministers and Counsaylours of all the sayd seuerall Kingdomes and Prouinces For Common-wealths kingdomes risent it exceedingly to see themselues cast out of administration and gouernment when they doe not see at the Kings elbow or in his Counsell any one of their own nation and countrie conceiuing that they doe either basely esteeme of them or that they dare not trust them Whence the one ingendreth hatred and the other desireth libertie Let a King therefore consider with himselfe that hee is a publicke person and that he ought not to make himselfe particular that he is a naturall Citizen of all his Kingdomes and Prouinces and therefore ought not willingly to make himselfe a stranger to any one of them That he is a father to them all therfore must not shew himself a Step-father to
man iust Wisedome makes a man wise And so in the rest Yet if the vse of discretion be wanting to any one of these they loose their Punctum medium wherein they consist and light vpon the extreames So the Liberall turnes Prodigall the Valiant foole-hardy The wise imprudent and the Iust iniurious Ber. in Cant. Ser. 49. Discretio sayth S. Bernard omni virtuti ordinem ponit Discretion is the rule by which euery vertue is directed And in matter of Counsell the Vote of discretion strikes a great stroake for it distinguisheth falsehood from truth things certaine from things doubtfull and from amidst what is ill maketh choice of that which is good It qualifieth all things and puts them in their punto and proper being And the Philosopher saith That it is a vertue proper vnto Kings Princes and Gouernours Arist 3. Polit c. 3. to whom by office it belongs to intermeddle haue a hand in such a world of businesses as require their direction and discretion wherewithall they must helpe themselues for the better disposing and ordering to a good end the affaires of the Common-wealth It is a neere neighbour vnto prudence and bordereth much vpon her these vertues as we said before being so inchained and interlinked one with another that wee cannot touch one peece without trenching vpon the other And are both so necessarie that though I should say neuer so much of them I could not out-speake them But to come to the point Let the first point of aduise and discretion in a King be not to trust so much to his owne wisedome and discretion as to forbeare out of a presumption of his owne sufficiencie to treate and consult businesses with persons of prudence and vnderstanding For being that so many and so various are the cases which daily offer themselues vnto Kings and so graue and weightie the businesses whereof they treate they must bee canuased to and fro and well and throughly debated for the better ordering and setling of them making former errours to serue as Land-markes for the auoyding of those to come And like a wise and experienced Physitian let him apply that medicine there and in that case where for want thereof hee had formerly erred Out of ignorance to draw knowledge out of errours certainties out of bad successes Arist lib. 2. Rhetor. c. 9. future warnings is admirable discretion Ex praeteritis conjicientes iudicamus sayth Aristotle By coniecturing of things past wee come to make our iudgement of things to come And it is a verie good course to diuine by that which is past and in Kings exceeding necessarie to draw experience from sometimes for other some And to beware as they say not oneâ—y by other mens harmes but likewise by their owne For let a man bee neuer so warie neuer so circumspect and let him watch and looke about as if his life lay on it hee must eyther fall or hath fallen at some one time or other or hath err'd in this or that particular whereby his designes haue beene frustrated or hath seene or read the downe-fals of others And therefore shall he shew himselfe verie discreet if hee shall gather a Doctrine out of these and make such good vse of them that they may serue vnto him for a warning Castigasti me Dominâ—â— eruditus sum O Lord thou hast chastised mee and aster that Ier. 31.18 I was instructed For as it is in the Prouerbe De los escarmentados salen los arteros No men are more their Craft-Masters than thoe that haue beene most bitten Nor is it much that a man of reason and vnderstanding discoursing with himselfe of forepassed passages should benefit himselfe by comparing cases past with cases present and by experience and knowledge of those which heretofore haue beene remedilesse hee may apply remedie to those which threaten future mischiefe Sithence that brute beasts as it is obserued Isidor lib. 4. Epist Polyb. by S. Isidore and Polybius who haue no discourse but onely a naturall instinct leading them to their conseruation make vse of the like kinde of Accidents not onely when they themselues fall into some quag-mire or otherwise haue runne the danger of this baite or that net but euen then also when they see others fall before them they hang an arse and will not easily suffer themselues to bee drawne into the like danger but hold that place euer after in suspition where they haue seene their fellowes indangered and shunne all that they can that hole or bog whereinto they haue once either fallen or beene myred And shall not men of vnderstanding and good discourse which heare and see what other men suffer as likewise the great hurt which they themselues haue receiued by the like cause shall not they I say grow wise by other mens harmes and their owne shall not they seeke to shunne and auoyd as much as in them lies the like inconueniences but that some pleasing thing shall bee no sooner propounded vnto them but forthwith they will suffer themselues to fall into the pit and to be taken in the snare that lyes before them and will not offer to fly therfro nor forbeare to eate of that deceiuing foode whereunto they are inuited and know for certaine that neuer any did come off with safety He that by the forepassed Accidents and falls of others or of himselfe doth not take aduise and warning the name of beast nay of a senselesse creature will better befit him then of a discreete and well-aduised man This is that complaint which Moses made of that foolish people Vtinam saperent intelligerent ac nouissima prouiderent Would to God that they would call to minde and make vse of the so many and various successes which they haue seene and past through and that quoting the present with the past they would be prouident in that which is to come especially since the wise man sayth That the thing that hath beene Eccl. 1.9 is that which shall be and that which is done is that which shall be done and that there is no new thing vnder the Sunne Let the conclusion therefore of this discourse be first That it is not heere required of a discreete King that he should beare about him in his sleeue good lucke and drawe out when he lifteth a faire lot and a certaine and happy successe in all his businesses for this is only and wholy in Gods hands and not in his And therefore to require any such thing of him were great indiscretion but that hee should enter into them if time will giue him leaue with sound aduise and mature deliberation and to intertaine them till hee be able to bring his purposes to passe And si fit periculum in mora If there be danger in delay and that they will not suffer the deferring let him call to minde the successe of former businesses and let him well consider with himselfe what in like cases hath vsually succeeded and accordingly
not to affoord a good looke on him that shall not imitate and follow his fashion For there is no man such a foole that will loose the fruite of his hope for not apparelling himselfe after this or that manner as he sees the Prince himselfe is contented to go Let Kings amend this fault in themselues and then his Peeres and other their inferiours will not be ashamed to imitate them I pray tell me if men of the baser and meaner condition should onely be those that were vicious in their meate and clothes who would imitate them therein Assuredly none All would be Noblemen or Gentlemen or at least seeme to be so in their fashion and apparrell howbeit they would bee lesse curious and dainty if they saw those that were noble or gentile go onely plaine and handsome That ancient Romane pure neate cleane and comely attire of those who conquered the world did then wholly loose it selfe when your great and Noble persons of that commonwealth left it off For in all things but more especially in those that are vicious men seeke to make a fairer shew then their estate will beare and thereby procure to content and please their Kings vnder whom they liue knowing that there is no intercession or fauour like vnto that as the fimiliancie of manners and the kindred which this doth cause Let Kings by their example cut off the vse of costly clothes and sumptuous banquets and whatsoeuer in that kinde is vicious and superfluous and they shall straightway see how a great part of the greedinesse of gaine and couetousnesse of money will cease and many other euils and mischiefes which proceed from thence which would not be sought after nor esteemed were it not for the execution of the appetite and fulfilling of our pleasures And for this end and purpose money is kept with such great anxietie and trouble but procured and sought after with much more because it is the master and commander of all pleasures and delights whatsoeuer For which we will buy and sell and giue all that we haue The second point concerning vices and sinnes common and publike the hurt that comes thereby is well knowne both to God and man and is harder to be reformed then the former That is moderated either with age or necessitie but this neither necessitie nor time can lessen but with it increaseth and shooteth forth new sprigges and suckers neuer before seene nor vsed in the world against which neither suffice Lawes nor Statutes And that doctrine of Tacitus is now come to bee verified That there is not any greater signe of corruption of manners then multiplicitie of Lawes And we now liue in those dangerous times whereof Saint Paul speaketh and I know not whether I may be so bold as to say That it is likewise an argument or signe that the Subiect is neare it's end or at least daily growes decaying wherein these signes and tokens are to bee seene One disorder begetting another which is the order which Nature keepes with things that are to perish till at last all comes to ruine and this vniuersall fabricke sinkes to the bottome neuer more to be repaired I wot well that whilest there be men there must be vices and sinnes and that few or none will cease to bee that which they are in regard of humane weakenesse and mans propension and inclination to sinne and that there are not any remedies which will serue and turne wholly to cure and cut them off it being a thing impossible for that their beginning and cause doth proceed from Nature it selfe being corrupted That which the worth and wisedome of Kings and their Ministers may be able to effect is That they may daily proue lesse and lesse preiudiciall to the publike and that the dissembling of abuses in the beginning before they take head be not a cause of seeing our selues brought to that estate which Salust writeth Rome was found in in Catilines time there being so good cause for to feare it As also that they will draw after them Gods comminations and chastisements When a kingdome saith hee comes to the corruption of manners that men doe pamper and apparell themselues in curious manner like women and make no reckoning of their honestie but deale therewith as with any other thing that is vendible or set out to sale and that exquisite things for to please the palate are diligently sought after both by sea and land that they betake themselues to their ease and sleepe before the due time of their rest and sleepe be come that after their bellies be as full as euer they can hold they neuer cease crauing and cramming till it be noone that they doe not forbeare from eating and drinking till they be either hungry or thirsty not that they ease themselues out of wearinesse or keepe themselues warme against the extremity of the weather but that they do all these things out of viciousnesse and before there is neede well may that Empire be giuen for lost and that it is drawing neare to its last gaspe For the people thereof when their owne meanes shall faile them for to fulfil their appetites out of a thirsting and greedy desire of these things what mischiefes will not they moue or what villanies will not they attempt For the minde that hath beene ill and long accustomed to delights can hardly be without them And that they may enioy them by hooke or by crooke by one meanes or another though neuer so vniust and vnlawfull they will make a shift to get themselues into money though they spend it afterward idly vainly in that profuse and lauish manner for which they did intend it Let euery good King begge of God and let vs all ioyne in the same prayer that in our times it may not come to these termes and that Kings will striue and studie to quench these sparkes before they breake forth into a flame and to put out the fire whilest it is but newly kindled lest it take hold on the whole building and helpe come too late And because there are so many sortes of vices that it is not possible to procure an vniuersall cure for them all that which is likeliest to doe most good will bee that selfe same medicine mentioned before in dyet and apparrell to wit the good example of Kings and in imitation of them that of the great Lords of the land and those that are nearest in Court about their persons ioyning herewith the feare of their disfauour letting them both see and know that the vicious fall backward and the vertuous come forward in honour and that onely vertue is the true meanes and surest way to bring men to great place and preferrement in the commonwealth Let Kings hate these idle droanes these honey-suckers of other mens labours that liue all vpon the waste and spoile Which kinde of people euen in reason of state are not good for the quiet of a kingdome in regard of the euill cogitations and
more diligence and care vsed in the quenching of it it must necessarily spread it selfe abroad and extend it selfe daily more and more and more especially into those Cities and countries where there is much commerce and trading in Merchandise and in the Courts of Kings where there is such a concourse of diuerse and sundrie nations there being not any one of them which hath not it's proper and peculiar vertues as also it 's proper and peculiar vices Their vertues men hardly take hold on but their vices those cleaue easily vnto them of themselues and by this their Commerce and Trading remaine engrauen in their hearts And what was before but an inclination being now become a custome vice engendreth vice and one appetite maketh way for another Lycurgus saith That it more importeth a State to see that it's Cities bee not infected with the ill customes and manners of Strangers then to preserue them from the plague the pestilence or other the like contagious diseases For these Time asswageth and consumeth but those are with time increased and augmented Three Embassadours of the Cretans each of them being of a different Sect made their ioynt entrance into Rome The Senate gaue them audience And Cato being there whom for his great authoritie they did much reuerence and was indeed as an Oracle amongst them gaue his vote and opinion that hee would haue them dispatcht thence with all possible speed before the corruption of their manners should corrupt the Romane Common-wealth This care ought Kings to take and so much the rather for that they haue neuer a Cato that will tell them neuer a Councellour that will aduise them that in no kinde of manner nor vpon any occasion whatsoeuer ought they either in their Court or kingdome suffer any man no though hee be an Ambassadour to reside there being different in his Religion manners and Ceremonies For their treating and conuersing with vs serues to no other purpose but to bring in vices and banish vertues to worke vpon weake and wauering mindes and to draw the naturall Subiects of another Prince from Gods true worship and due obseruance of his diuine Law And this was the care of the Ancients of those times who would neuer giue consent and allowance that there should bee any thing intertained or receiued into their commonwealths whereby mens mindes might grow cold or be withdrawne in any one point or tittle from the worship and adoration of their Gods And very fit for these times were that Law of the Persians which did punish him with death that should bring in any new vse or strange custome And the Cretans did in their ordinarie Letanies desire that no new custome might enter into their city which is as a contagious disease and cleaueth as close as the plague or pestilence Nor did the Lawes of Egypt permit any new tune in their Musicke or any new kinde of song vnlesse they were first examined by those that were in place of gouernment For as Plato affirmeth a Commonwealth as well as Musicke Plato Dial. 2. de Legibus admitteth changes And that for the auoiding of this mischiefe it ought not to be permitted that there should be introduced any new kinde of tunes or Musicke together wherewith mens mindes receiue some change and alteration Aristotle did aduise those that would bee vertuous that they should not vse Musicke nor musicall instruments to incite them to be vicious For Musicke being a diuine gift and very powerfull to moue the hearts of men and to perswade the thing that is sung if they accustome themselues to play and sing holy lessons honest songs they therby accustome themselues to be honest and vertuous And therefore anciently your Kings as Dauid the Prophets and Priests the better to apply themselues to contemplation did vse Musicke wherewith they suspended their senses and remained as it were swallowed vp in God In a word many men haue therewith beene robbed of their soules and of their honours and daily much hurt doth ensue thereby For it is able to doe much and greate is the force and power which it hath ouer mens manners And if you will not beleeue me obserue but the hurt which your new wanton tunes together with the lasciuious wordes and gesticulations vsed in them haue wrought of late amongst not onely the common but better sort of people Now to shut vp all that hath beene said in three points First of all I say that it much importeth that a Prince bee good in himselfe for that all men make their Imitation after that patterne that hee sets before them And for this cause God placed him in so high and eminent a place to the end that by the resplendour of his vertues hee should giue light to the whole kingdome and that both by his life and example he should exemplifie and indoctrinate his Subiects for it is not onely included in the name and office of King to rule and gouerne the kingdome by good and who some Lawes but likewise to teach and instruct the people by his vertues This ought to bee say Socrates and Plato the end and ayme of Kings to direct their Subiects in the truth they practising it first themselues which is the strongest and forciblest argument to perswade it For the execution of that which is perswaded and commanded doth secure the passage doth make the worke sauourie and doth facilitate the trouble Secondly to the end that the Lawes may bee the better kept Kings must obey and keepe them for it will seeme an vniust thing in them to establish and ordaine that which themselues will not keepe and obserue They must doe as Lycurgus did who neuer enacted any thing which he himselfe did not punctually performe And it was a Romane Edict Vse el Rey de la Ley que hiziere para la grey Let the King that law keepe which he makes for his sheepe Lastly that they bee very carefull and watchfull ouer the whole kingdome but more particularly ouer the Court for from thence is diffused all the good or ill as likewise in curtalling the excesses of apparrell the superfluities of feasts and banquets of gaming of sports and pastimes of lightnesse in behauiour of licentiousnesse in courting of women and of those wastefull expences which might very well be excused in weddings in iewells and dressings both in the women and the men Then began Rome to grow ranke in Luxurie and prophanenesse when your gilded bed-steds your costly pauilions your stately canopies your ritch hangings your curious tables your glorious cupboords of plate your gybing Iesters and your various Instruments of Musicke were brought in which were then in great vse and request for to prouoke and stirre vp the appetite in those their tedious and sumptuous suppers as if for to go to hell there were neede of such a wind-lace or wheeling about the way being as it is so easie and direct that a man may go it blindfold Causes all of them of iust
the free vse of mans faculties and senses not suffering him to doe any thing that is good And though it bee true that there are other vices of greater offence to God and more hurtfull to a mans neighbour yet this hath I know not what mischiefe in it and more particularly in publike persons which doth shew it selfe more openly then all the rest and doth breede and nourish other sinnes as the roote doth the tree Radix omnium malorum cupiditas Quidam appetentes 1. Tim. 6. errauerunt à fide Couetousnesse of money is the roote of all euill Which while some lusted after they erred from the faith and tangled themselues with many sorrowes Ex auaritia profecto saith Saint Ambrose septem nequitiae procreantur Ambr. in Apelog cap. 4. scilicet Proditio fraus fallacia periurium inquietudo violentia contra misericordiam obduratio There are seuen kinde of sinnes that proceed from couetousnesse viz. Treason Fraud deceit Periury Inquietude Violence and which shuts the doore to all pitie and compassion Hardnesse of heart Vpon this foundation of couetousnesse is built whatsoeuer tyrannicall imagination and many through it haue and doe daily loose the faith and that loyaltie which is due vnto God and their Kings Auri cupiditas saith the same Saint materia est perfidiae The loue of gold is the cause of the losse of faith When this pulls a Fauourite it easily drawes him aside and carries him headlong to all these vices for it is of more force then the Load-stone and drawes him more after them then that doth the iron And is holpen on the more by the winde of vanitie and ambition The Philosopher Heraclitus saith That those that serue Vanity and Couetousnesse suddenly depart from Truth and Iustice and hold that onely for iust and most right which is directed aright to their owne priuate interest And this onely doe they make their aime in all whatsoeuer they aduise their King as was to be seene in that so often repeated case of King Assuerus with his great Fauourite Aman of whom hee demanded what grace and fauour should bee showne to that Subiect whom for his good seruices hee desired to honour Whereupon the winde of vaine-glory working in the head of him and thinking this could be no man but himselfe shewed himselfe very magnificent and liberall in ordaining the honours and fauours that were to be done vnto him The vaine conceit of a couetous man cuts out for himselfe large thongs out of another mans leather And when hee growes a little warme in the King his Masters bosome poore snake as hee was with a false and feigned loue hee goes hunting after his commoditie and this failing his loue also faileth For his heart stretcheth it selfe no farther to loue then what his hands can come to take hold on Elpan comido y la compania desecha saith the Prouerbe No longer Cake no longer company Of such friends as these the Prophet Michah bids vs beware For no friend Micah 7.6 Arist lib. 8. Ethic. cap. 4. that seeketh his owne gaine can euer according vnto Aristotle be faithfull and loyall to his King Let Kings I say consider once againe and haue an especiall care that those Fauourites whom hee maketh choice of for his friends be out of his owne proper election and approued by his owne minde and by the opinion and fame of their vertue and not intertaining them at any time by the sole intercession of others especially such as are great and powerfull nor let them suffer themselues to be carried away with the secret considerations of those familiar and particular persons which are about them nor by the insinuating and soothing perswasions of your flatterers and Sycophants Who as they are men worke vpon discourse and corporall meanes altogether framing them in order to their owne ends Let them not giue beliefe and credit vnto them but to the common fame and good report that goes of them and thereon let them place their eares and their vnderstanding For as Tacitus saith that is it which vsually makes the best choice For it is not to bee doubted but that concerning such a ones vertues or goodnesse we ought rather to giue credit to the generall report then to the voices of one or two For one may easily bee deceiued and deceiue others by his tricks and his particular interest but neuer yet could one deceiue all nor is it possible that all should in that their approbation deceiue another As for those other seruants which are to attend and waight vpon the Kings person more for dignitie of place and for outward apparence and ostentation of greatnesse then for vse and conueniencie which likewise in their kinde are very necessarie let Kings a Gods name receiue them into their seruice either vpon the intercession of others or out of other particular respects For in this there is little hazard and may easily chop and change them if they proue not good and fit for their turne But in the choice of the former a great deale of care must be taken for the chopping and changing of them is very dangerous and vnlesse there be very great cause for the doing of it it breeds an opinion of inconstancie which as it cannot but be hurtfull vnto all so is it of great dishonour vnto Kings much weakening their authoritie But say there be iust cause of remouing them why it is but as a Vomite which howbeit it be true that it remoueth the malignant humour and expells it from the stomacke yet withall it carries the good likewise away with it and makes an end of that Subiect it works vpon if it be too often vsed For our horses wee seeke bits and bridles wherewith to make them to go well and handsomely and if with those they do not raigne and carry themselues according to our mind we take others and when we finde once that they are fitted as wee would haue them we neuer chop nor change but still vse the same In like manner it is not good to chop and change either Fauourites or priuie Councellours too often but to seeke out such as are fit for their turne and to carry such a hand ouer them as to bridle their insolencie and to reyne them in hard if they finde them head-strong For being that they are those horses which guide the chariot of a Monarchie if they bee not well bridled of a gentle and tender mouth and an easie reyne they will play the iades and breake both their owne neckes and their Masters In a word euery King hath or at least representeth two persons one publike the other priuate And therefore his actions ought likewise to be of two qualities In those that are particular let them proceed therein as they will themselues according to their owne guste and pleasure but in those that are publike as shall make most for the publike good Hauing still an eye to it's conseruation and augmentation and to the common
Question which is disputed and doubted of by some and may likewise serue for an Auiso vnto Kings whether it be better that the great Lords should be farre off from them or neare about them The Emperour Charles the fifth of famous memory amongst other Aduertisements which hee gaue to his sonne Philip one was That he should not let the great offices of the kingdome nor places of great command rest any long time in one mans hands nor should put his Grandes and great Lords into them but Gentlemen of good qualitie such as were creatures of his owne making And as for his Grandes hee should honour them with some places and offices neare about his person which would be a greater grace both to himselfe and his Court. Others are of a quite contrary opinion and alledge reasons for the maintenance thereof Great men they say if they be not like those little ones which Christ speaketh of are ordinarily of an extraordinary spirit and endeauour all they can increase of honour till they come to occupie the highest place And then will it bee seene of what little esteeme are those great fauours which they haue already receiued There is not that friendship that kindred nor any other bond be it neuer so strong which is not broken through the greedy ambition of ascending to some higher throne For to bee a King saith Euripides all Law is broken For this Appetite is of that force and strength that it breaketh all Lawes both Diuine and Humane For proofe whereof they cite many examples which I purposely omit that I may not offend and tire out the Reader All of them admonishing Kings that they should throughly weigh and consider where and in what places they put them For if they be neare about their royall person it is the torment of Tantalus vnto them to see the warre and the fruit so neare their mouth that greatnesse and power I meane and not to enioy it Which will but prouoke a more hungry appetite in those which doe not possesse it and will breake through hedge and ditch and runne as they say through fire and water transported with this so faire and beautifull a prize as is set before their eyes neuer being at quiet till they come to enioy it For there is not that loue to any thing here vpon earth which doth so much alter suspend and seaze on the minde and heart of man as that of ruling and commanding and to grow great therein And when they see things succeed not according to their minde yet at least in satisfaction of their enuie they will be well content that the waters should be troubled and the world be turned topsie-turuy taking pleasure therein though it be to their owne hurt And what King can secure himselfe that such ambitious persons being neare about him will not at one time or other attempt their ends For greatnesse say they after that it is once possessed quits the memory of the meanes whereby it came to bee so great and findes a thousand excuses for it's weaknesse in offending And the rather for that ill vse hath taught all men this lesson That the reputation of an honest man is not to be preferred before his proper profit and greatnesse Lastly they say That he that ouercommeth and makes good his clayme by his sword needeth not to study excuses and to make Apologies let those doe that that haue the worst end of the staffe and stand at the mercy of the Conquerour In conclusion they resolue this question thus That it is very fit that your great Noble-men should rather liue farre from Court then neare about their King For all of them will be of good vse for the gouernment of Prouinces and Armies whereby both the one and the other will be secured And when they cannot content them in all that they would haue they may entertaine them with these which will be a good meanes to diuert their thoughts and to bridle those Prouinces that are committed to their charge with whom the Maiestie and greatnesse of their Gouernours will be able to doe much And there they are not of that danger For in kingdomes by succession and well setled and where there is no colour of wresting the Scepter out of the bloud-royall there is no feare of trusting the Grandes and great Noblemen with these kinde of Gouernments but it is rather requisite that it should be so For like vnto starres in heauen and their influences on earth they serue for ornament and conuersation in those kingdomes and Prouinces wherein there are ancient and noble Houses for which they are to seeke out men of Noble bloud and good qualitie and of knowne greatnesse to bee conuersant amongst them For the Nobilitie of those kingdomes and Prouinces will thinke themselues not well dealt withall if they shall haue but an ordinary man set ouer them to be their Gouernour be he neuer so wise or neuer so valiant For being that they are to attend all at the gates of him that holdeth that place they may esteeme it as an iniurie to see themselues obliged to acknowledge homage vnto him whom out of that place they would sence vouchsafe him their companie Besides that greatnesse and largenesse of minde and heart that knowes not how to shrinke or be deiected with aduerse fortune a thing so necessary in him that gouernes will sooner bee found in these then men of meaner ranke For as Saint Ierome saith hee that owes much to his bloud and familie will alwayes beare that obligation about him and neuer faile therein Againe he that is borne to command will be lesse insolent in his gouernment as hauing that noble qualitie from his cradle And the people on the other side will more willingly obey him whom they haue alwayes knowne to haue liued in honour and greatnesse And his example will bee of greater importance to reforme the disorders and abuses that shall there be offered Ouer and aboue they further adde That your Grandes and great Noblemen may and haue obligation to content themselues with their present estate if they will but weigh the difference of that it was with that which it is now did not men that are now in honour grow forgetfull of their former meane condition That grieuing them more which falls short of their desire then that doth please and content them which fortune hath with so liberall a hand bestowed on them For no man rests contented with his present estate and condition nor doe we esteeme that so much which wee possesse as the lacke of that we desire doth torment vs. And therefore doe they say that they are not so good to be about Kings and more particularly those which are so qualified for they are like a lingâ—ing kinde of Caleature or aguish Feuer which makes an end of vs before we are a ware of it working it's effect before wee can looke into the cause Or like vnto the hand in a Clocke or Dyall which tells
courage and wit as they are nobly descended they will heaue him out of the saddle when he thinkes he sits surest For concealed hatred is worse then open enmitie And therefore let him gaine new friends keepe his old and not loose any one of those he hath gotten For being left single and alone he shall bee like vnto that white Crow in the Fable whom the crowes would not come neare because of his colour nor the pigeons keepe him company in regard of his greatnesse so that all will flie from him and in the time of his greatest need hee shall be left all alone Vae soli Woe bee to him that is alone And the holy Ghost seemeth to take pittie of him that is alone for that if he fall he hath no body to helpe him vp Let Fauourites likewise consider that they are not for that their King hath exprest his affection vnto them and profest himselfe to bee their friend to thinke that like a dogge in a slip they may leade him whither and which way they list For there are many things to be done which hee is to doe without them For as Cicero saith that friendship which admitteth not exception in some cases is not so much Amicitia as Coniuratio Amitie as conspiracie It is obserued by the learned Saint Ambrose That true friendship is grounded vpon that which is iust and honest and is so limited that if it breake those bounds it doth not onely loose it's name but affoords iust cause for a man to forgoe his friend Friendship is to be held but alwayes with this prouiso that the Lawes of Iustice and Charitie bee duely obserued and when ought contrary thereunto is pretended it is no longer said to bee friendship though vowes and protestations haue past for the better strengthening and confirming of it For if a King shall sweare amisse and contrary to the rules of charitie he is not bound to cumply with his oath nor is there any reason for it in the world why hee should in such sort make deliuery and reason of his heart to his Fauourite and let him haue so much the hand of him as to promise to sticke vnto him or to stand his friend in those things that are vnlawfull and vniust As those Kings Assuerus and Tiberius proceeded with Haman and Scianus who out of the fauour that they bore vnto them gaue them leaue to reuenge themselues of their enemies and to execute all the tyrannies and cruelties which they could deuise or imagine to satisfie their malice A fault which deserued rather and afterwards drew on their speedier and greater fall And well doth that Fauourite deserue to be ruined that shall presume to pretend hazer raga as they say con suamo To stand iust in the same streake or line with his Master For if God who surpasseth in glory and from whom it is impossible to take the least atome thereof and is able to turne all that he hath created into dust will not admit of a companion in matter of adoration and worship How much more will Kings of the earth bee offended and now ill must they take it that any Subiect should equall his shoulder or share with him in his greatnesse being his honour is so shortned and his power so limited For if out of their loue to the person of the Fauourite they beare with him for a while either for to shew themselues thankfull for his good seruices or haply to make him the instrument to worke their reuenge on others Yet these affections and proofes which I speake of being once passed ouer there enters presently in the place thereof a naturall feare and iealousie of their authority and greatnesse which doth much more sway with them then the loue and affection which they beare to the Fauourites person Enuie likewise she comes in and playes her part which is a neare neighbour and still ready at hand in Princes Courts and Pallaces as if she were Attorney generall of all those great places and fomes forth her venome secretly lying in waite and watching her time to doe mischiefe stabbing suddenly deaths wound being giuen before it be dream't on and great is the hurt which this so neare a neighbour to the Kings elbow doth and out of an in-bred spleene aymeth at nothing more then the downfall of Fauourites Complaints and grieuances they also make their appearance in Court being the maine witnesses that Enuie and Passion bring into the Court to make good their plea. Next after these comes in the respect not to say the feare of those that are discontented in all states for no King will be willing that their Subiects vpon this ground should build their rebellion and cause an alteration in the kingdome and will be as loath to bee ball'd on by grieued and discontented persons vpon iustly pretended complaints nor will he be so vnwise for feare of other claps to fauour one to offend many All of them being shrewd blowes for to allay if not quell the courage of the most passionate King towards his dearest Fauourite and are such fierce and terrible conflicts that they tosse his iudgement to and fro with farre greater violence then a strong raging winde doth the waues of the Sea Gouernours and such as sit at the sterne of a Common-wealth wealth and such vnto whom Kings haue deliuered vp the keyes of their heart and hold the rudder of the Monarchie in their hands to steare and shape their course as they will themselues there is no question to bee made of it but that they are in great danger vpon euery storme that shall arise for looke what misfortune shall befall the Commonwealth the blame shall be laid vpon them and the fault imputed either to their ill counsell or their ignorance or their passion For ordinarily nay I may say continually the misfortunes and ill successes of Kings and kingdomes I say the cause of them is attributed to those that are nearest and dearest about the Kings person and possesse the highest places And euery one running along with the common opinion and few are they which haue not a smacke or taste thereof laboureth to lay the fault on his neighbour though he be of his owne proper flesh and bloud And this is an inheritance which wee haue from our father Adam And no man is ashamed thereof for we are all of vs his heires and therefore ought to endeuour as much as in them lies that the peace and quiet of the kingdome bee not disturbed or troubled in the time of their gouernment As well for their glorie and reputation to haue in all their proceedings carried themselues in such sort that no ill accident hath betided them or any maine disgrace as also for the not subiecting of themselues to the vncertaine chances of fortune which are ordinary vpon euery alteration and may serue to worke their ruine and perdition Let therefore those haue an eye I say it and say it againe that are Priuie-Councellours to their