giue rules to the good that they might know how to liue peaceably regularly one with another as to represse the audacity of those vnbridled spirits who in despight of discipline and reason doe thrust themselues into all kinds of outrage and disorder from which bad cause notwithstanding according to the old rule a good effect is produced Ex malis moribus bonae leges oriuntur But the particular introducements of Lawes arise either from a pressing necessity or a foreseeing and prouisionall carefulnes of those that make them these proceed from prouidence the other from some sence of euill The impulsiue causes in the making of prouisionall Lawes are either loue of their Coūtry or desire of glory or affectation of popularity or somtimes particular interest and priuat respect for it often happens that a priuate good may haue connexion with the publike And the sence of ill decaying either by the encrease of it or a seeming to bee destitute of remedy is the cause that where Lawes are once forced out of the sense of mischiefe inconuenience they be for the most part grieuous and immoderate as on the other side such as reason prouidence do produce are many times more specious then vsefull In the first take away the spur and sense of ill and it makes men in the constitution of Lawes to bee carelesse and vnwary and in the other if there bee not continued a strong and constant affection they commonly faint in the execution of them But in the meane time there is no doubt that there are certaine fountaines of naturall Iustice and equity out of which hath beene taken deriued that infinite variety of Lawes which seuerall people haue apted to themselues and as seuerall veines and currents of water haue seuerall qualities and tasts in respect of the nature of that ground and soyle thorow which they flow and run so these Lawes and the vertue of them which bee fetched frō an originall fountaine receiue a new kinde of application and tincture in respect of the scituation of the Country the genius and nature of the people the fashion and forme of publike actions diuers accidents of the time and sundry other occurrences I will not stand to repeat And in the making of Lawes wise men haue alwayes had these things in consideration First the Common-good and benefit for which they intend them and that requires that they should be both iust and profitable now no law can bee profitable nor yet iust which is made for priuat particular respects not for the publik good 2. The persons to whom they be to be applyed that for the executiō application of them they be such as may be possible to be obserued apt for the customs places time where when they be to be vsed 3. The present course of the State what Lawes there haue beene vsually receiued by what speciall ones it hath beene conserued and by what new ones it may be assured for one kinde of care is not fit for all places and Countreys But Lawes when they are once made ought very rarely to be chāged to which purpose the ancient position of wise men is not vnworthy the obseruing that nothing is to bee changed in the Lawes of a Common-wealth which hath a long time by these Lawes preserued it self in good state gouerment as Isiodor ' wel noteth after a Law is once made we ought not to iudge of it but according to it And yet in these two cases the alteration of Lawes may turne to the better 1. When by the changing of it the Law is made more perfect more cleere more positiue more profitable 2. When the condition of subiects gouernment is changed there of necessity the Law must vary according to the difference diuersity of the times and persons for change variatiō of Lawes are either by occasion of entertaining forraigne customes or some internall deficiences or excesses according to the alteration of time One of these is so far from innouation that it is altogether necessary but that is not introducing of Lawes by way of imitation of other people it argues a desire of change rather then any cause that is materiall But on the other side old and ancient customes in respect of their very antiquity doe induce a kinde of harshnesse and breed saciety for the wilfull retaining of a custome against the present reason of the time is altogether vnequall This is to be vnderstood of temporary Lawes made and applyed to new and seuerall accidents For the fundamentall lawes vpon which the fabricke of a common-wealth and people be grounded and built they in no case will admit innouation neither are the other sort to bee lightly altered but where the present custome of the time finde them impertinent and the State thinks them vnvseful To illustrate in the same times sometimes we see Lawes mutable fit to be so such as are made in time of warre peace doth extinguish and so on the contrary agreeing with Liuie speaking to this purpose Quae in pace latae sunt plerunque bellum abrogat quae in bello pax vt in nauis administratione alia in secunda alia in aduersa tempestate vsui sunt And although change of Lawes be sometimes necessary it ought notwithstanding to bee done with a great deale of caution but yet it must be confessed that time of all things is the greatest innouator and therefore wilfully to prescribe the continuance of an old Law in respect of antiquity the face of the world and affaires being changed is indeed an introducemēt of nouelty for the pressure of the vse of it vrging and setting it only forth with the grace of antiquity if notwithstanding it bee opposite or incongruous to the present times gouernment makes that old Law if practised to fall and bee conuerted into a new and vnreasonable custome Now for my iudgement concerning the vse of Lawes I thinke this that as the vse of much Physicke and diuers Physicions argue the aboundance of humours and diseases so the multiplicity number of Lawes be manifest signes of a diseased distempered Common-wealth And therefore to follow the similitude as in diseases new experiments be dangerous where those that be ancient and approued may serue so new Lawes bee needlesse when the maladies of the Republique may be cured by the old for it is a thing both vnequall and vniust to insnare the people with multitude of Lawes Law and Reason are twinnes the absence of one is the deformity of the other being in a kinde conuertibilia and inseparable That common reason we haue ingrafted inour natures is a Law directing what we are to doe forbidding the contrary according to Cicero Eadem ratio cum est in hominis mente confirmata confecta lex est For Law is nothing but reason dilated and applyed vpon seuerall occasions and accidents the comprehension of reason and Law as of publike enormities and necessities
Apothegmes yet in all other worth and desert Hee is so puft vp that to men in estate beneath him for feare of contempt which howsoeuer he cannot auoid hee will neuer speake familiarly seldome any way as if there could be no greater disparagement then not to obserue the distance which he holds to bee betwixt them Which being to the meanest sort vnpleasing causeth him to want not only the respect hee looketh for as due but euen that if any bee so that is due indeed Hee commonly commiserates his equalls for their weakenesses and loues to teach rather then learne the thing hee knowes not Giue him but such a handle and hee will bee sure to hold it till one be weary and will instruct with such confidence that though he produce no reason a man must beleeue him on his word or hee 'le be angry If hee write or speake a discourse of any length he cannot forbeare but hee must make knowne somewhat of his owne custome or humor or life With I was this or did this or like this or thus am or was wont belike supposing that all men would be glad to make him the patterne of their life and actions As hee is distastfull to so he distasteth all men for according to his owne estimate he must needs hold himselfe vnder-valued euen by those that prize him aboue his iust worth then which nothing more vexes him For though when himselfe detracts he thinkes the detracted ought to beare it as a righteous censure yet if another be but sleepy in his discourse or when hee talkes be taken from him with any businesse hee is presently grieued thereat as a high neglect If hee reade anothers writings hee findes somewhat to correct but nothing to prayse and so in their actions Himselfe being in his owne Iudgement beyond censure If hee meete with one of his owne nature there 's presently warres and it will appeare that he detests himselfe in the person of his enemy more then another can do him in his owne But meeting with modesty hee deuoures it makes it his prey and nourisheth his Arrogance with such food for whatsoeuer the one shall in modesty lay from himselfe the other will take and yet thinke too little But it is best when hee encounters a cunning Flatterer for such a one will spurre him on and blow his folly vp to madnesse and set him out to the laughter of them hee most contemned Or as the Foxe serued the Crow make him to let fall the meate from his mouth with attempting to sing Or put him forward to seeke an emploiment which hee not knowing his owne strength will bee alwayes ready to take vpon him and so ruine him For such a one will not feare to vndergoe what hee does not vnderstand All which be the fittest traps for this Vice Some are Arrogant as one may say indirectly and will extoll such a man in such a faculty as the hearers allow him to be better in then the party so by him praised But it comes all to one purpose for the face of Arrogance howsoeuer painted is not without deformitie Yet I would not wish a man to bee so much affrighted with it as to start to the contrary vice Pusillanimitie For a man should not derogate from himselfe there beeing too many ready enough for that office at least to beleeue him as one that best knowes what hee most wants And certainely hee that doth Sentence himselfe hath no colour for an Appeale nor person to appeale vnto vnlesse it be from his words to his deedes which need then to bee very remarkeable Howsoeuer he must acknowledge it to bee great folly to haue denyed that ability in himselfe which hee desires to haue made knowne But such men bee seldome found that say not of themselues full as much as they can doe Of Ambition IT is an vnlimited desire neuer satisfied A continuall proiecting without stop An vndefatigable search of those things wee wish for though want not No contentment in a present state though fortunate and prosperous An Ambitious man is in a kinde of continuall perambulation or perpetuall courting of aduancement not respecting the meanes Bribery Flattery Humility Popularitie seeming Seueritie or Austerenesse Any of which so they conferre and conduce to his owne ends whether for Titles or Preeminence or Estimation shall bee disguises good enough for the present occasion The Scripture saith Quise exaltat humiliabitur Whosoeuer exalts himselfe shall be humbled Not hee that is worthily exalted by others and whose merits bee the cause of his rising but he that will Ambitiously exalt himselfe hee shall bee abased That disposition which is naturally infected with this Leprosie which is a spreading disease can not foresee the ineuitable dangers and euents that be incident therevnto Phauorinus speaking of these kinde of men said they were eyther ridiculous or hatefull or miserable Aspiring ambitiously to places beyond their worth makes them scorned obtaining hated and missing of their hopes wretched If the current of their Ambition bee once stopped like an impetuous torrent it beates and breakes the bankes growes dangerous and many times causes inundations Therfore Princes respects if they be fixed vpon such natures are tyed not only to a continuation but an addition of fauors for the least surcease makes declination in seruice So that these dispositions should bee auoyded if discouered sequestred from imployment as pernicious and incendiary Ambition was the first temptation by which the Diuell wrought vpon our first Parents to encite them to a desire of knowing good and euill equally with God It is a strange insinuating affection for whosoeuer is once therewith possessed neither Reason nor Impediment nor Impossibility can stay his extrauagant desires For though Nabuchadnezzar enioyed all greatnesse possibly incident to man yet his Ambition stopt not he would be worshipped as God It was not Vertue nor Reason that counselled Sylla and Marius Pompey and Caesar to enterprise their domestique warres but a disordinate loue of flattering Ambition being in their owne opinions not great enough which caused the ruine both of themselues Countrey And as this was theirs so it is the generall and principall motiue to all seditious and trecherous attempts But these men whilst they tosse all bee themselues most shaken and inwardly feele the torture of this pernicious fury wherewith they haue offended others Therefore it is Apocrypha to thinke that any man can become truely happy by the way of an other mans misfortune if for his owne particular hee be the contriuer When Ambition seazeth vpon a man peraduenture his first ayme will be but vpon designes within his reach or fit for his capacity which if obtained is the way to conduct him to higher cogitations and so by degrees from step to step the more Ambition is fed the more appetite it hath It is in a kinde the Ape or imitater of Charity saith a Father for Charity endures all things for Eternall Ambition for Transitory happinesse That
against those meanes the which God hath appointed for the preseruation of life but I esteeme them only as helps and not causes of continuance All men in this life be subordinately gouerned we are naturally bodies and liue not by miracle but sustentation so that it is as ill to auoid those helpes as to trust to them It is a strange but vulgar error for men to say counsell or temper would haue preuented such a mans death might they not consider the seuerall sudden and strange accidents that leade to this end that there bee not more men then wayes that conduct to this condition Children die before Parents strong before weake sound before sickly which as often happen by small vnobserued chances as great diseases as a man goes well to bed and is smothered before morning is well at the beginning of a meale and dead before the end now in a serious discourse and dead in the midst of a word He that 's a friend to day proues a murtherer to morrow a pillow may stifle smoke may suffocate a Fly may choke This if it were to be illustrated by examples would plainely shew that there is no action nor instrument so small or vnobserued that is not master of our life Therefore to esteeme life aboue the price or to feare death beyond the rate be alike euill No man can bee in loue with this world that is not in some doubt of the next He that respects life expects little beyond death But then it may be demanded Are those the best men that be most weary of this life and therefore hasten death with their owne hands Certainely no. For euery act in that kinde shewes that it was not in respect they hated to liue but because of want feare punishment ignominie and diuers other causes that these examples do dayly publish and are notoriously knowne Man is created by God therefore not to be his own executioner but to wait for the time and expect the houre of his Call A mans Peregrination in this life should be employed but as a harbinger for Death nay rather life for whilst we liue we die but liue not till death Yet good men may in a sort religiously feare death in respect of the cause of it For the wages of sinne is death In respect of not knowing the place of our being after death wee our selues being altogether vnmeriting these and the like considerations may iustly make death seeme terrible But to goe on How can a man think himselfe happy in this world without the expectatiō of a better If a man enioy that his heart can wish if hee know not want haue plenty in abundance these things may sometimes make him glory in himselfe and in a kinde of scornefull pitie to commiserate those that be below him yet the consideration of Death and the little while hee hath to enioy these temporary happinesses turnes all his pleasures into melancholy his sweetnesse to gall This is the happiest condition that the happiest man can haue that thinkes there is no happinesse beyond this life But if you view other men and see what cares what hazzards what iealousies what sicknesse and what miseries they endure in all kindes onely to preserue and please themselues in this short troublesome dangerous suspitious and wearisome life you would think them rather dreames then substances fictions then men But so liue as neither the pleasures of this world may possesse nor the miseries confound you Boast of nothing in your selfe but that you are a liuely representation or Image of your Creator which you deforme if you look to earth or those things which bee below The benefits which God hath heere bestowed vpon you vse according to his direction but not contrarie to his command and feare not but welcome death as beeing the end of your vnhappinesse and beginning of your ioy Many men without the knowledge of Religion haue excellently expressed their contempt of Death but that may bee reduced some of these causes peraduenture they had a kinde of vncertaine opinion that some greater happinesse followed then accompanied this life or in respect of the dayly examples of their mortalitie custome extinguished feare or lastly to perpetuate their memories or publish their fame to succeeding ages haue for the liberation of their Country or Friends or Honour voluntarily exposed themselues to a certaine and present death There be few lingring diseases or sudden paines that be not more sensible and painfull then Death and the recouerie frō them is but as a short reprieue Therefore I see little reason why a man that liues wel should feare death much more then sicknesse Of a Country Life TO write of a Country Life in what respects it is necessary or vnfit for all degrees of men would too much lengthen this part in the resolution of sundry questions which I now doe purposely auoid I onely intending to write in the praise or discommendation of it so farre as it hath relation to men of great qualitie and estates So that in this description I banish all that may referre to any other kinde and rankes of men either for their vse or necessity of liuing in the Country This kinde of life hath beene more familiar with vs then other Nations so that we haue in a kinde appropriated it to our selues more Southernly people as rarely vsing the country for retirement or variety or ayre as our Country Nobility and Gentry were anciently vpon extraordinarie businesses driuen to the towne But different people haue seuerall formes of liuing and behauiour that which is necessarie in one place is ridiculous and pernicious in another In these cases therefore wee must not guide our selues by precedent It is as easie to introduce one common language and reuerse the confusion of tongues as to paralell all men in one kinde and fashion of life Rigidly to keepe vnseemly customes because we receiue them from antiquity and ancestors no man will defend Time as it hath a qualitie in some cases to degeneratè and corrupt so in others it hath to clense but to alter so good a custome as this whereof we haue had so long experience and benefit vpon pretence only of imitation appeares in my iudgement to be altogether void of reason And yet this taking it for a generall question I will at this time neither dispute nor resolue either by the numerousnesse of ancient precedents and example or force of reason and argument onely as the case stands with vs in the particular conclude That it is neither good nor safe to innouate or alter old and approued customes But as in the choyce of any indifferent action mens affections and fancies predominate and gouerne they haue equall power and worke the same effect in the election either of this or any other kinde of life but what reasons in this should induce vs either to the one or other that which fals accidētally by the way passing I will touch By a Country Life I do
vnderstād such an habitation as impliesa retirednes from the presse busines and imploymēt either of city or court the distance and that course of life secluding them from those kind of troubles how a man of qualitie is to behaue and direct himselfe in this way shall be my first enquiry To make liuing in the Country a veyle or shadow for base and sordid sparing becomes not the thought of such a man as I propose whom I name not as driuen to liue there for necessity neerenesse but for honourable and vertuous endeuours Amongst which his first should bee to expresse freedome and Hospitality in his house and bountifull liberality towards his poorer neighbours these be the true ornamēts of a Country house-keeper an honourable custome so peculiar to our Nation that that way we haue out-gone all others and howsoeuer of late it hath been declining and decaying yet it is worthy of renouation being so great a stay to the Country such a releefe to the poore so honourable for themselues and exemplary for posterity the very knot which contracts society conuersation a receptacle for ones friends and children which be the chiefest solaces of a mans life and the surest way to make a man be loued of those that know and esteemed by all that heare of him To set downe a particular rate and order in keeping of such a house is not now my purpose that it ought to be gouerned regularly and religiously none doubts and not replete with those confused disorders riots which some licentious prodigall dispositions haue allowed That makes it rather a snare and inuitation to nourish lewd and base affections then to bee either a stay or releefe to the Country where they liue Next vnder pretence of this noble and free life for a man to take too much vpon him expressing Arrogancy and Pride to those below him in his owne opinion creating in himselfe that greatnesse and power which is not his due squaring his actions by his will not reason forcing to his ends by the way of greatnesse and authority not equity and Iustice awing his neighbours with his countenance and power turning law into affection and reason to appetite these should be none of the ends in a noble and good nature when he chooseth a country life but contrarily a purpose to expresse such moderation and modesty in all his actions that he may be vsefull not oppressing seruiceable not burthensome loued not feared in the Country where he liues And hauing heere and thus setled him his life must not be wholly reserued to his owne quiet and particular pleasures but in that place wherevnto he is called and destined to liue to apply himselfe and seruice for the common and publike good which in such a life as this will principally consist in these particulars The disordered and vnruly life of those vnder his authority command setting aside those outrages of Murder Theft and the like which the law punisheth and imposeth also a duty vpon his vigilancy he ought besides not only to suppresse but preuent all bold contemptuous behauiour of one neighbour towards another all seedes of seditions and quarrels and such common means as in the Country vsually prouoke them Generally also all manner of distemper in the Country ought to be qualified by his iudgement and discretion a◠in the better sort if any faction or emulation arise then the vertue of his authority must appeare in equall moderation Wherin he is chiefly to take heed that when factions be sided his Greatnesse vphold not one faction to the decay and ruine of the other but contrarily to euen and compound them in mutuall amity and agreement Againe in this place he is not only to preuent il but to do good and that first by his example in equally bearing part of the burthē in country seruices with the rest of the gentlemen though in quality below and in akind depending vpon him this not onely in the priuate execution of his dutie place but also in the sollemne and publike meetings for distribution of Iustice which will bee a verie great encouragement and inuitation to awake others diligence as also an excellent restraint of partialitie and fauour in the seuerall votes of the rest which oftentimes respect persons more then causes or spleen then truth this good will follow the endeuours of so great a man if he carry himselfe euenly and without priuate ends in the businesses of the Country otherwise the mischiefe will bee more dangerous in awing the Country then the benefit necessary in gouerning it but if he be of a condition prepared with integrity then to declare his ability in Country seruices I doe not say alwayes to engrosse them will make the rest more wary in their steps and diligent in the vprightnesse of their endeuours But allow his carriage neuer so cleare if it bee either affected or smell of ostentation so that one may discerne either of them to bee the spurre of his endeuours his labour is lost will bee imputed to him for vain-glory and put vpon the account of his disgrace But yet the censure of this must not be left to the vngouerned tongues of the ignorant multitude and enuious people but to men of quality indifferencie and discretion The next means of doing good in the Country wherein mens endeuours should neuer slacke nor their labours seeme troublesome to themselues is in composing of differences and discontents betwixt one neighbour or friend and another it is the principall act of Charitie by this they not onely doe but preserue it This is the proper work of a superiour power mens passions will not be so much misgouerned nor reason blinded before them as betwixt themselues or more low arbitrators It is impossible for men to be competent iudges in their owne causes their affections will encline and iudgments leane to their particular pretensions This peruersenesse is it that brings men so often to the hazzard of censures and suites which may bee manifested in the still continuance of their peeuishnesse for the murmure remaines when the cause is sentenced which is the ground of an ill Prouerbe that Losers may lawfully complaine And this misery of imputation is it which Iudges are forced to suffer wherein in doing iustly for that I admit impartiall iudgements will bee so farre from finding fault that they loue their integrity for a Iudge is to sentence according to the merit of the cause and not to arbitrate in respect of collaterall circumstances But I will no farther digresse It is the best worke wherein a man in the Country can employ himselfe to bee a Peace-maker and ender of controuersies it confirmes friendship expells malice auoids needlesse and extrauagant expences shuts the gate against those bad instruments that moue and stir suits to make their liuing vpon that prey expedites causes and makes a more indifferent and satisfactory end then the Iudge in his place can doe This common good
succeedes so worthy an endeuour And why it is not more commonly practised I rather impute it to the vnwillingnesse of interposers thē a common peruersnesse in the parties interessed to submit their differences to an vpright and vnpartiall neighbour which his own actions if conuersant in this kinde will sufficiently assure and I see not such difficulty but it may bee possible this way to giue satisfaction to both sides But if eithers mistrust cause them not to yeeld to so easie and quicke an end the merit of his endeuours and good will cannot bee taken away And if it fall out that the busines be of such a nature as may iudicially afterwards come before him let not the parties ielousie before in referring it wrest or wry his iudgement in the least degree to preiudice I will enlarge this no farther these particulars last touched being onely in the power of men of degree and authority and heere ends my first enquiry how a Noble man in the Country ought to carry and gouerne himselfe I now descend to take a short view of the more peculiar delights and healthfull conueniences incident to them that liue in the Country then in any other place All field delights as Hunting Riding and Hawking commendable if vsed with moderation are properly belonging onely to this life and certainly they greatly inable and actiue mens bodies making the difficulty of enduring labour and other accidents that in times of warre a man may be subiect vnto more easie then any other preparatiue or imitable practice that I know The vnseasonablenesse of the times early and late and so the vncertainty of the weather heates and cold and wet of dyet little or none or course and at houres vnlimited and not set assured also ready in his horsmanship by so often occasions of practice which is no small aduantage So paralelling these with the chances and necessities in time of seruice the often vsing of these exercises will make the labour lesse difficill and hard when necessity of employment shall require it and the body more agill and healthfull free from those infirmities that rest idlenesse and full feeding doe bring men into This is the good that followes the vse of these exercises setting aside the delight which drawes most men to follow and entertaine them which surely though not alwayes discerned by wise men yet may by good reason be proued to be delightfull If I should breathe the country ayre and digresse into the commendatiō of it in respect of health from that cause I thinke the whole Colledge of Physicions would subscribe to my opinion for without doubt it is freed from those noysome vapours and consequently infections which thronged and populous Cities doe produce And this dayly practice makes manifest for in those Countries where towne-dwelling is most frequented yet euery Summer the better sort retyre onely for the freedome and libertie of the ayre to their Palaces and Villaes as they terme them which shewes there is a necessarie and impulsiue cause for their health that driues them thither And heere with vs those that be most in loue with the towne in Summer euer fly into the Country and the generall reason of it must onely be to change a bad ayre for a good wherein though the Country doth alwayes predominate yet in Summer the ayre of the Citie is so farre from good that it is neither tolerable nor indifferent And being now in a meditation of health to say truth the helpes and furtherances of it are much more appropriate to a Country then a Citie life which I will but touch without robbing the Poets at this time by falling into the praise and pleasures of Gardens Riuers Fountaines Woods places of privacy and retyrednesse or the like of most of which though all Cities haue a shew yet it is but forced and counterfet in respect of them in the country which is the proper element for those delights But to return to my consideration of health the Country is the place most free frō that easy sedentary life which men in Cities be forced to entertaine there all exercises for the health and agilitie of the body bee in dayly practice as Riding Shooting Bowling Walking Hunting Hawking and the like which though some towne-liuers sometimes make hard shift to practise yet there there be so many other diuersions that there are very few liuing in townes who can either take or finde opportunities for that purpose which must needs greatly decay and disable both a mans health and strength Of this argument much more might bee said but I purposely auoid it and indeede would haue left it out but that I was forced to it in completing the description for feare of falling from my Title But I now hasten to other obseruations and first of those aduantages and benefits a man gaines by liuing in the country A man in the Country is retired out of the crowd and noise of factions and emulations dependencies and neck-breaking of one another which Court and Town do too often yeeld and though a man in his owne inclination bee free from and not busie yet if present can hardly be a neuter or if he be one will yet scarcely be thought so and suspected of either side for affection to the other But take him allowed for a neutrall hee then commonly is so farre from the affection of the sides that they both turne his enemies because he is neither of their friends These straites by being away and by liuing in the Country men often escape from Next he is free from those tempestuous winds of businesses and multiplicitie of vexations wherewith many haue beene tossed the calme of the Country being void of those stormes and troubled waues that commonly accompanie a towne or Court life where mens desires and ambitions so abound that they bee alwayes in hopes and proiections wherein many times they doe so outstraine ouer-graspe that in reaching too high they ouerreach themselues in seeking a new fortune lose their old and so conuert their substance into pretensions their certainty into nothing Againe no man can expect to liue in the same or equall reputation out of the Country and his owne dwelling In Towne or Court he is as it were in a throng wanting elbow roome there bee so many his equals and superiors aboue him both in place and merit that he is reckoned for number not weight one of the troope rather for shew then vse Those Nations therefore who affect this place out of vaine-glory and pride to shew themselues and get opinion if they compare their estimation heere with their reputation at home they will finde cause quickly to change their minde and place to goe thither where they shall be sure to finde that which they so affectedly desire and that is to their owne Country aske but Northerne men or Welshmen they will sweare to you this is true Besides I beleeue if it went to voices most would opine that the stabilitie
and make him Colleague of the Empire and partaker of the authority of Tribune which was authority equall to his owne for the present and then to cause the armies to yeeld him their respect and acknowledge him for their next Lord. These fauours Liuia had beene long solliciting for by insinuation detraction deceit and whatsoeuer Art else is requisite to the supplanting of a Riuall in a Princes affectioÌ„ But now the way was so cleere by reason of the Emperours age fit to be wrought on and the rudenesse of Agrippa that shee durst openly moue Augustus to dis-inherit his owne issue and preferre hers But the fauour that Liuia shewed to Augustus children besides the suspition of causing the death of two of them was cleane contrary Nam senem Augustum adeo deuinxerat vti nepotem vnicum Agrippam Posthumum in Insulam Planasiam proijceret For she had so tyed vnto her Augustus who was now an old man that hee confined his onely Grand-sonne Agrippa Posthumus into the Iland Planasia I haue not found so great a defect in Augustê° his iudgemeÌ„t in al his former actions as in this so farre to follow her will as to banish and confine his owne bloud for the aduancement of hers But as Tacitus saith hee was now growne old and so the weakenesse that accompanieth old age may excuse that fault which in his younger and more mature iudgement peraduenture hee would neuer haue committed It was hard for him being now in yeeres to want the comfort of his Wife to liue with her and not to haue her pleased intolerable and against the dignity of an Emperour and to extinguish her ambition impossible So that if he had seene her drifts vnlesse they had broken out into some violent actions hee must in a manner haue beene forced to dissemble it For it is contrary to the dignitie of a Prince to take notice of that fault which he is not able to amend But hee saw them not for what cannot the craft of some wiues through opportunitie continuall flatterie and arguments framed with all the Art that can be vsed worke vpon the weake iudgement of an old man The place of Agrippa's exile being a small and vninhabited Iland where hee was rather imprisoned then banished was in a manner a sure argument that hee should not long out-liue his Grandfather for as the feare of Augustus kept him now aliue so the feare of his owne Title would make Tiberius neuer let him escape out of his fingers Rudem sane bonarum artium robore corporis stolidè ferocem nullius tamen flagitij CompertuÌ„ Ignorant to say the truth of good Arts and bearing himselfe foolishly fierce of his strength of body but not detected of any crime These are the causes for which Agrippa was put by the right of his succession and wanted the respect which was otherwise due vnto his birth Hee had not good education That vvas the summe of all his faults And in a State which might freely elect their Prince the same had beene a iust cause to passe by him For it is a great misfortune to a people to come vnder the gouernment of such a one as knowes not how to gouerne himselfe For where it is said hee was vnfurnished of good Arts it is not ment of letters though that also be good in a Prince and of ornaments the chiefe for hee may want these rather then iudgement valour or goodnesse of nature But the Art that hee is principally taxed to want seemeth to haue beene the Art of conforming to times places and persons and consisteth much in a temperate conuersation and ability vpon iust cause to containe and dissemble his passions and purposes and this was then thought the chiefe Art of gouernment And whereas he is said to be vndetected of any crime that made not much for the matter in hand for though he might proue no ill man hee might bee neuerthelesse an ill gouernour But Agrippa's defects were not the sole cause of his dis-inheriting though they were the sole iustification of it when it was done The hope of succession notwithstanding the care of the Emperour being reduced by the Art of Liuia to one only man Augustus againe takes order for the bringing in of one more At hercule Germanicum Druso ortuÌ„ octo apud RhenuÌ„ legionibus imposuit adscirique per adoptionem à Tiberio iussit quamquam esset in domo Tiberij Filius iuuenis sed quo pluribus munimentis insisteret But yet hee made Germanicus the sonne of Drusus Commander of eight Legions vpon the Rhine and commanded Tiberius to adopt him although Tiberius had a young sonne of his own but this he did to haue the more supports Augustus is still of this iudgement that the succession ought not to depend on the life of one man and therefore wil haue more props to establish it But as the aduancing of Tiberius was thought to bee the ruine of Caius and Lucius so now the making of Tiberius to adopt Germanicus might haue proued the ruine of Tiberius if the Ambition of Germanicus had beene answerable to his power For Augustus put eight Legions into his hand the which afterwards would not only haue beene ready to haue giuen him the Empire but also went about to put it vpon him by force Therefore if a Prince raise many to the hope of reigning he ought to prouide against the emulation ambition and mutuall iealousies that ordinarily arise thereof For else he shall hardly bring any of them to the fruition or if one then all the rest to vntimely ends Augustus here gaue Liuia indeed no occasion to worke against this last choise of his being one of her owne Grand-children but yet to command Tiberius who had a sonne of his owne to adopt another must needs breed a hart-burning in him because he knew by himselfe how much rather men desire to possesse then expect such authoritie And fearing therefore that Germanicus might beare the same minde he afterwards as is thought tooke a course to bring him to his end wherby may be perceiued in what danger an honest man standeth being neere vnto one that is ambitious either before or behinde him whose nature is to destroy before him out of hope and behinde him out of feare After that Augustus had mastered quieted taken order for the succession of the Empire the Author sheweth next the state of the present times And first for matter of warres abroad Bellum ea tempestate nulluÌ„ nisi aduersus Germanos supererat abolendae magis infamiae ob amissum cum Quinctilio Varo exercitum quam cupiditate proferendi Imperij aut dignum ob praemium There remained at that time no warre sauing against the Germans and that rather to wipe off the disgrace for the losse of the Army with Quintilius Varus then out of any desire to enlarge the Empire or hope of worthy recompence Warres are necessary onely where they are iust and iust onely in case of defence First
their own worth consequently often changeth their manners into the worse but especially that it encreaseth their pride insolence As for his educatioÌ„ in a house of souerainty that might put into the heads of these censuring subiects thus much for certainly they liked neuer a iot the better of Tiberiê° for hauing bin brought vp in so high a Schoole of soueraignty as the house of Augustus First that what seeds soeuer of haughtines and pride were in him hereditary and which he possessed by vertue of his bloud were now also through long custome sprung vp wanted but the season of reigning to bring forth their vnpleasant fruit Secondly that hauing by experience vnder so learned a master in the Art of gouernment beene taught how to hold them vnder as much as himselfe should please they could not looke for any remissenesse to proceede from want of knowledge how to keepe them low and consequently were sure to find his gouernment euery way vneasie Neijs quideÌ„ annis quibê° Rhodi specie secessê° exulem egerit aliquid quam iram simulationem secretas libidines meditatum Neither those yeeres that he liued vnder colour of retiremeÌ„t in exile at Rhodes did he meditate anything but wrath dissimulation secret lust It is reported of Tiberius that at the first hee trauelled voluntarily to Rhodes but being there he was coÌ„manded to stay Howsoeuer it was he obtained the fairename of retirement to couer the ignominy of banishment A man would perhaps thinke that aduersity should rather quench or at least asswage those passions which haue their life especially from great prosperity as wrath dissimulation lust And so it doth when the aduersitie is so great that the hope is lost of reducing their meditations into act But otherwise it worketh a cleane contrary effect For wheras anger commonly dyeth where reuenge is despaired of dissembling is laid aside where the labor of it is vain imaginations of lust diminish where they can neuer be accoÌ„plished wheÌ„ aduersity is but such as they expect to ouercom it often falleth out that the hope which nourisheth such imaginations is enflamed thereby and men please their vicious fancies for the present with the coÌ„ceit of what they wil execute with effect hereafter when they shal haue the power This was the case of Tiberius and a cause of feare ceÌ„sure in those that were to liue in subiectioÌ„ vnder him Accedere matrem muliebri impotentiâ seruienduÌ„ foeminae duobê° insuper adolescentibê° qui Remp. interim premant quandoque distrahant That besides this there was his mother offeminine impotence that they were to serue a woman two yong men that would for the present oppresse the Commonwealth might hereafter rend it Next to the person of Tiberius they considered in him those of his Family that would also looke for seruice and obedience at their hands namely his Mother two sonnes Germanicus by adoption and his owne naturall sonne and thought them no small grieuance to the Commonwealth For it is a hard matter to serue and please well one Master but to please two or more when there is or may be betwixt them competition or iealousie leauing out that one of them is a woman is altogether impossible The cause hereof is not because the diligence and dexterity of a man cannot suffice for the quantity of seruice but because the quality of it will not permit for the seruice that the one will expect from you is most times this That you displease the other And this proceeds from the emulatioÌ„ of those that are in the way to autority that ofteÌ„ labor not so much to outrunne each other in the course as they do to trip vp one anothers heeles And the same emulation when they once draw neere the races end makes them snatch at the prize and fall to violence and warre and to distract and draw the CoÌ„monwealth into faction and sedition FINIS A DISCOVRSE OF ROME A DISCOVRSE OF ROME IN the sight of any place there bee two especial Obiects Antiquitie and Greatnesse both which none can sooner challenge then Rome in the very beginning noted for Soueraignty The continuance of which in such diuersity of gouernments as Kings Consuls Tribunes Dictators Emperors cannot but shew a diuine power for otherwise so many changes might in all likelihood haue bred confusion and so consequently suppressed their rising to so great an Empire which as the last so it may be truely stiled the greatest that yet the world euer knew or heard of obtained onely by the valour of this one Citie no Commander and for a long time no Souldier that came not out from thence So that it may bee said the people of this one place made themselues masters of the rest Wherevpon they might haue iust cause to esteeme Orbem in vrbe the world confined in their Citie In the height of whose Imperiality which was in Augustus raigne Christ came into the world This as then the chiefe Commandresse of the whole was the place where holinesse and religion aymed to haue their principall plantation where during the time of the infidelity of the Emperours till Constantine the great who was the first that maintained the faith it is infinite to comprehend the tyrannizing ouer Christians the martyrdomes they endured so many that it is hard to name any who sealed not his faith with his bloud But now Constantine was conuerted to see the ill effects so good a cause produced cannot but breed admiration For the Ambition of the Bishops of Rome made this their first step to greatnesse and subuersion of the Empire How grounded vpon this donation I cannot imagine nor I thinke they yet well defend but this was the true Originall by which in succession of time the Empire was translated The zeale of this and some succeeding Emperours was so well taken hold of by the Prelates of Rome that by degrees they assumed more authority to themselues then was due the other in a manner before they were aware losing all at Rome but the title From which pretended power the Popes now take to themselues supremacie in all causes through all Kingdomes in the world and those which were before their superiours to bee as it were subiect and created by them that were their creatures Which shewes a great contrariety to the pretended arguments of Romanists for superiority and rather may bee returned vpon them that this their greatnesse hath more risen by encroachment then right Why therefore Princes haue beene so blinded with their pretences for greatnesse I cannot tell wherevnto to attribute it except to the fate of this place that hath euer beene or aymed to bee the Mistris of the world First by their wisedome and power and then vnder colour of Religion and Saint Peters Keyes And now to the description of Rome as I saw it In which I will neither goe beyond mine owne knowledge and fly to the reports of others nor yet so strictly