blinded with auarice or hatred they be depriued of the valour and prudence of such men and estrange themselues from them Alberigue de Barbian a man of great valour and reputation in the warres in his time committed this error hee hauing subdued the Bouloignois through the prowesse and valour of Braccio de Monton which he acknowledged with many signes of curtesie and good will commending him publikelie and increased his pay and his charge gaue him the armes and ensignes of his house and finallie the gouernment of the whole Armie After the warres of Boulogna were ended it happened that the Venetians made warres vpon the Lordes of Padoua to which the said Barbian was of kinne and allyed hee sent to their succours certaine Captaines of horse and foote and appoynted Braccio Lorens de Cotignola and Rosso de L'aigle for chiefe Commaunders of those troupes Lorens and Rosso did greatly malice the glorie of Braccio and by many detractions and slaunderous speeches bringing him in disgrace with Barbian brought it so to passe that he giuing credit to their backbitings slaunderous wordes and letters resolued with Lorens and Rosso to cause Braccio to be slaine Barbians Wife which deerelie loued the vertue of Braccio knowing how much her husband was bound vnto him and being acquainted with the purpose and deuises of Rosso and Lorens and with the resolution it selfe which they had taken to put him to death she aduertised Braccio thereof willing him speedilie to be gone for that her husband would cause him to bee slaine and tolde him the course which was to be held who they were which had perswaded him thereto Braccio hauing this aduertisement which he soone had being lodged but a league from thence because of the winter mounted on horsebacke with the greatest part of his best friends without saddles or stirrups and got him out of the confines of Barbians dominion and fled to the enemies Campe whither hee was very welcome When the flight of Braccio was made knowne the Souldiers began to mutin and raile against those which had brought him into disgrace with Barbian and to blame Barbian for his lightnes Wherefore Barbian being very sory but too late that he had giuen Braccio occasion to flie from him and grieued to be depriued of so valorous a Captaine wrote him a letter by which he desired to speake with him and yeelding himselfe culpable offered to giue him better pay and more honourable charge than euer hee had before But Braccio answering him with great grauitie would no more assure himselfe of him neither goe to serue a Prince The errour of Alberigue de Barbian Guicciardin lib. 12. who peraduenture another day carried away with the like lightnes might againe conspire his death So Barbian rashlie without thinking thereof giuing occasion to Braccio to forsake him and to goe to his enemies was the cause of the decay of the Padouan Brothers and the aduauncement of their enemies The Catholike King also committed this errour making shew lightlie to regard Peter de Nauarra a Captaine much esteemed and verie valiant in the wars for this King conceiued in his minde that the ouerthrow at Rauenna wherein Peter was taken prisoner happened for the most part through his fault and this Peter being prisoner in France The errour of Ferdmand king of Spaine and set at 20000 Duckats ransome the King continuing his displeasure would not harken to the paiment nor to deliuer him Wherfore Peter perceiuing that the King did little esteeme him and thinking that hee made more account of 20000 crownes then of him resolued to serue the French king Francis the first who loued him much and payde his ransome of 20000 crownes to the Marquesse of Rottelin The errour of Francis the first king of France to whom King Lewes the twelfth had giuen him and Peter to auoide all dishonour gaue the Catholike King to vnderstand that sith hee was abandoned by him and was constrained to leaue in the kingdome of Naples the estate which hee held by his gift being forced by necessitie hee turned to the King of France who hee knew would be his perpetuall enemie But King Francis the first did no lesse a fault to giue occasion to Andre Dorie to forsake his seruice and to serue another for Dorie hauing serued him verie faithfullie with his Gallies the space of fiue yeares continuallie thinking to haue deserued so well as to haue bin employed in all occasions for chiefe the King either for that he cared little for him eyther for that he was perswaded by the prayers and intreaties of the Princes of France which enuying the Italians loue not to see them grow great in the French Court made Admirall and Generall of the Sea in the enterprise of Naples Mounsieur de Barbesieux leauing Dorie as a priuate Captaine leader of his own Gallies onlie who thought that his deserts had bin such that if he had refused such a charge hee should haue beene instantlie intreated to haue accepted thereof Hee thought also that there was great wrong done him in that hee was not paid 20000 crownes due vnto him for his seruice without the which hee could not entertaine his gallies and because that the king was so earnest with him to haue the Marques de Guast and Ascaigno Colomna his prisoners notwithstanding that he promised to pay their ransome yet it seemed that hee would by force take them from him by his royall authoritie and besides that the king had deliuered the Prince of Orange his prisoner would not that hee should pay his ransome at 20000 crownes All these things then and many others whereby the King shewed the small account he made of him were the cause that Dorie forsooke his seruice and went to serue the Emperour Charles the fifth Guicciar li. 19 and the Spanish nation whereof hee had bin a mortall enemie Andrew Dori forsooke King Francis the first in hiâ— greatest neede And notwithstanding the King perceiuing his owne fault sent to Dorie making him many faire offers yet it was too late for hee would not accept thereof thinking that they were made by constraint and that the King had bin verie slow to shew him curtesie vntill that necessitie and not his owne will did induce him to doe it the King was liberall when it was too late of that which he ought to haue giuen him long before and receiued greater losse by losing this Captaine then if hee had lost the halfe of his armie by Sea as the successe of things which afterwards happened do make manifest Princes and common wealthes may learne by these examples to take heed that they lose not those men in whose vertue they may boldlie repose much trust hauing them on their side and not hauing them haue great occasion to stand in doubt and ought not vpon euery light occasion to neglect them vse them in such sort that they giue them cause to abandon them but ought to cherish them and
with tokens of thankfulnes to shew themselues kinde and gracious vnto them both while they are liuing and also after they are dead In this respect the Florentines shewed themselues verie gratefull when they erected publike Statues vnto Iohn Acute an Englishman and the Lords of Venice deserue great praise who haue neuer vsed to estrange from them the harts of those which haue well serued them but their charges being brought to an end they haue returned them verie honourablie and if they died in their seruice in token of thankfulnes good will they haue relieued their children giuing them the charges of their Fathers and the yearelie pensions which their fathers had in their life time and haue erected vnto Captains being dead for the perpetual honourable remembrance of them statues of brasse and marble on horsebacke as a man may see in Gatta Mallata and in Bartelmy de Bergamo and many others in the citie of Venice and the Seignorie therof all which are things fit and proper to incite the hearts of Captaines to vertue loue and fidelitie wherewith a man ought to serue great Princes and honourable common wealths CHAP. 77. A priuate Captaine seruing a Prince or a Generall ought not to receiue any present or gift from the Prince or Generall which is enemie to his Lord and Master AS to gaine the reputation of wise and vertuous One onely foolish act maketh a man to be reputed a foole and one act of infidelitie maketh a man to be for euer hâ—ld for disloyall many vertuous and wise acts are required but for a man to make himselfe to be esteemed for a foole one onely foolish act sufficieth so to bee esteemed faithfull many proofes of fidelitie are necessarie and to acquire the name of vnfaithfull and disloyall one act of disloyaltie and fault of dutie is sufficient principally in time of warres and suspitions wherein the least suspition that a man sheweth of himselfe and doubt that hee hath some intelligence with the enemie may doe a man great hurt which appeareth when a man vseth to talke often in secret with the enemie or when a man sendeth or receiueth letters when a man receiueth gifts and presents or such like for this is properly to shew a will and inclination to serue him and so consequently a signe of running away or to vse some other meane which may be to the notable losse and dammage of the Lord whom he serueth Tartaglia a valiant souldier and renowned Captaine of his time made warres with Sforce in the behalfe of Lewes of Aniou against Alfonso King of Arragon This Tartaglia by reason of his valour was much beloued by Sforce and seemed to be much respected and esteemed by Braccio de Monton perpetuall enemie to Sforce It happened that in the time of these warres Fazio in his second booke of the act of Alfonso King of Arragon King Alfonso gaue for a present vnto Tartaglia certaine faire horses and there appeared many other signes of Braccio his loue vnto him wherefore Sforce entring into some suspition of euill through Tartaglia his behauiour caused hands to be laid on him and to be apprehended and being conuict of secret practise and intelligence with the enemie hee made his head to be striken off Which may serue for an example to other Captaines which put themselues in great Lords seruice to take heed and beware how they bring their faith and credit in question and suspition for there is no assurance nor securitie to receiue entertainment of two Masters at once which are enemies so as without causing great distrust of himselfe a man cannot make warre for the one and shew himselfe friendly vnto the other CHAP. 78. VVhen an Ambassadour speaketh otherwise then as his Master he deserueth to be had in derision THe office of an Ambassadour Lieger for his Master with some Prince or Common-wealth or which is sent sometime to one place sometime to another about affaires of importance ought alwaies to preserue and maintaine the honour and reputation of his Prince defend his actions exalt his vertues and so to carie himselfe that they with whom he doth negotiate may retaine alwaies a good opinion of him and if he seeth that his Prince committeth an error or takes some course which seemeth vnfit his dutie is to excuse him shewing either the necessitie or the strange and sudden accidents and the sound reasons which might moue him to take this resolution making that to seeme to be wittie and requisit which is vnwittie and an error For an Ambassadour which proceedeth in this manner sheweth that he is a man of spirit and of discretion and hath no neede of a prompter to put it into his braines But when an Ambassadour affirmeth any thing of his Prince which is certainly knowne to be to the contrarie and he saith in one manner and his Prince doth in another it followeth of necessitie seeing the words of the one haue no correspondence with the deeds and actions of the other that that Ambassadour must make himselfe worthie to be mocked or shew himselfe ignorant of the common aduertisements and while as hee thinketh foolishly enough to mock others he himselfe is mocked Which happeneth by so much the more when he will affirme that to be true which is manifestly knowne to the contrarie to bee a lye and cannot be couered King Francis the first of France sent for his Ambassadour Mounsieur de Tarbe then when there was a treatie of peace betweene the Emperour Charles the fift and this King to perswade the Venetians the Duke of Milan the Florentines the Duke of Ferrara confederates allies with the king against the Emperor that they should not thinke that any peace should be concluded and so farre as to aduise them that they should not disunite themselues and to promise and assure them for certaine that if the Emperour came into Italie the King of France would come thither also with great forces and he had also charge from the King to mannage with those of the League the affaires concerning the warre and the conseruation of the said League In this meane season the peace was concluded ratified and published betweene these two Princes with all vsuall solemnitie and for this cause the King of France being ashamed of his doings for certaine daies would not speake with the Ambassadours of the League But the Lord of Tarbe which was in Italie being gone to Venice to Florence to the Dukes of Milan and Ferrara where the conclusion of the peace was alreadie knowne and that the King of France as a man might say had abandoned Italie to the Emperour he gaue them to vnderstand by a ridiculous lye the great preparation for the warres as well on the behalfe of his King as of the King of England and exhorted the said Princes to doe the like when as it was certainly knowne that neither the one nor the other did any thing of that which he reported Wherefore while as
Countrey where he was whereby he wan the hearts as well of the Princes as of the common people with whom hee had to deale and brought whatsoeuer hee vndertooke to a good and happie successe for when he was at Athens he applied himselfe to pleasant and wittie discourses and often laughed and iested with such subtilties he bred most faire horses and in briefe lead a merrie life after the custome of Athens When he was in Lacedemonia he shaued his head and his beard ware a long cloake and washt himselfe in fresh water When hee was in Thracia he was euer readie to fight and to drinke and being at Tisapherne he liued deliciously in pompe and pleasure and for this cause he was euery where well beloued When Hippolito de Medicis was sent by Pope Clement the seuenth Hippolito de Medicis vvas much fauoured of the Hungars Ambassadour for his Holines into the warres of Hungarie against the Turkes he was much beloued by those of the Countrey because that sometimes he apparelled himselfe after their fashion and conformed himselfe vnto their other manners which acquired vnto him the loue and fauour of that nation But because that in euery Countrey there be both good and euill fashions I speake of those which generally are held for good for I meane not that it is well done for a man to fashion himselfe to certaine particular vices principallie in a publike person if it bee not in secret among equals which also should not be peraduenture tollerable as for example although that in Germanie it bee a common custome to drinke so much till some be drunken which is a vice but tollerable by that nation accustomed to wine which will bee no way beseeming or conuenient for an Italian Ambassadour or of another nation neither for euery graue man to doe the like for although that he be reputed according to the by-word a good companion among those which are giuen to this vice he shall be therefore neither praised nor esteemed by men of iudgement and the Germane Lords as wise and aduised know well how hurtfull drunkennes is in a man to whom are giuen Commissions and charges of secret affaires and of importance Wherefore a graue man may make himselfe to be well beloued without giuing himselfe to such manners which leane vnto vice in modestly auoiding thē by his grauitie and without blaming of them openly as euill from hence it grew that Agesilaus and Epaminondas in retaining their particular nourtur and behauiour although that they frequented many nations of diuers manners and fashions were neuerthelesse beloued euery where shewing themselues in their apparell diet speech grace and bringing vp worthy themselues And Plato was no other at Syracusa then he was wont to bee at Athens and with Dion and Dionysius hee was the same It importeth much to know the manners and fashions of a nation which among them are generally accounted and taken for good and to assay and practise to conforme himselfe thereto and sometimes to be apparelled as they are with whom a man conuerseth and to inuite them to dine and eate with them and to vse such fashions as they vse among themselues when there shal be occasion to treate of affaires A man must also giue vnto Princes such titles as others vse to giue ☞ or such as are pleasing vnto thē for although that they be but worldly vanities yet a mā must not depriue thē of that which they hold deare haue peraduenture sometime bought for a great summe of gold and are angrie and displeased when it is denied them A man must not eschue the companie and conuersation of gentlemen as base for it is better to beare with some thing then to seeme to abhorre it and briefly wee are to behaue our selues so towards all as that we may get the fauour and good will of all for he that will liue only after the manner of his owne countrie may peraduenture be mockt for his labour because that fashions and customes are not euery where alike for a man behaueth himselfe after one manner in Itatly and after another in France and in France the fashions are different from those of Spaine Wherfore he which will liue in Italy as an Italian in France as a Frenchman and in Spaine after the manner of Spaine shall euer better dispatch his busines thē another And for this cause I much esteem of those which being to trauell into diuers countries learne diuers languages for thereby they shall be the better vnderstood in expressing their meanings and conceits in that countrie speech where they are then they shall doe in their owne tongue and he which shall goe Ambassadour into Spaine and follow the Court being an Italian shall euer haue better accesse to the King and more fauour of his Counsellors and Secretaries hauing the Spanish tongue then if hee spake no other but onely Italian for besides that he shall neuer haue need of an Interpreter by him hee shall haue a better grace in speaking Spanish though he speake but indifferently then though hee spake neuer so well in Italian In the time of Pope Eugenius the fourth the Cardinall of Aquileia had this consideration being sent by the Pope as Legate to Alfonso K. of Arragon and of Naples to treate of peace betweene them but because the Cardinall had not the Spanish tongue neither was well able to expresse his minde in the Italian in such sort as the King might well vnderstand him neither answered to the Kings demaunds so well as to content him hee resolued to serue his turne by the meanes of a Prothonotarie which he had with him whose name also was Alfonso who speaking in Spanish to the King and shewing the will and charge of the Legate so as he was vnderstood concluded and confirmed the peace which had not peraduenture been concluded by the Legate which had not that tongue neither knew how to vtter his speeches with such efficacie as they might haue been vnderstood Those also which by good fortune are called to the gouernment of kingdomes and forreine estates to winne the fauour of the people ought also to liue after the custome of the countrie whither they are called and not after that of the countrey where they were bred vp into which error fell Vnon King of the Parthians which being brought young to Rome was bred vp and taught there and learned very well the manners and fashions of the Romanes Who being afterwards called to the gouernment of that kingdome hee vsed towards the Parthians in giuing them audience and to entertaine them with such humanitie and curtesie as hee had learned at Rome and would not follow the fashions and manners of the Parthians for they had a custome to be gouerned proudly and to bee commanded by their King with great rigour for it was the manner of their Kings to proceede in this maner with their subiects And for this cause the gouernment of Vnon seeming vnto them more womanish
sufficient for the defence thereof or for some other such like reason which yeeld him iust cause of feare and when a man hath euident tokens or certaine aduertisements of such feare the enterprise so attempted seldome faileth In the yeere 1512. after the memorable iourney of Rauenna where the French had so bloody a victorie that it was hard to iudge whether partie had the worse either the victour or the vanquished being impossible to conclude and accord any agreement betweene the Pope and the King of France the Swissers came to serue the Pope of whose valour and power the French stood much in feare The Swissers hauing taken the way towards Trent to ioyne with the Venetian armie came downe into the countrie of Verona and the French not knowing what course they would take Guicciar li. 10 were before gone to Pontoglio to stop their passage but the Swissers hauing taken another way the Lord de la Palisse the French Kings Lieutenant in Italie being in doubt whether they would goe towards Ferrara or towards Milan wrote a letter to the gouernour Generall of Normandie being at Milan giuing him to vnderstand of the state of the French Kings affaires in Italie in what termes they stood aduertising him further that it would be very hard to resist the forces of the Swissers and the armie of the confederates if they should togethers attempt that state This letter by misfortune fell into the hands of the aduenturers which serued the Venetians who hauing read it and consulted thereof in the presence of the Cardinall of Sedun and others the chiefe of the armie it was concluded to charge the state of Milan by the reason as I afore recited that that enterprise seldome faileth which is doubted feared by the enemie as in this case Wherefore the confederates laying their foundation vpon this letter and vpon this iust feare charged the estate of Milan and chased away the Frenchmen CHAP. 43. To wrong the statues images and pictures of Princes in their life time is a poore reuenge and oftentimes the cause of great hurt to him which doth the same NEuer man found good by doing wrong and if it be ill done to bee outragious towards liuing men which may remember the iniuries a man shall doe much worse by doing iniurie to those which are senselesse and can not reuenge it And here hence it commeth that they are much blamed which commit cruelties vpon dead bodies which ought to be left in peace and respected as those which cannot answere for their faults For which cause Homer blamed the Greekes who wounded the dead bodie of Hector after he was slaine by Achilles and noted them with this scoffe That the very Hares would aduenture to charge the Lion when hee was dead And although it seemeth that they which commit such outrages Those vvhich doe vvrong and shew crueltie to the dead are worthie of eternall shame and dishonur receiue some contentment by glutting their rage yet it cannot be said but that such doings are rather brute and sauage than humane The iniuries which are done to statues and images of Princes in their life time resembleth this iniurie and if it be done for reuenge because they cannot doe it to himselfe being aliue a man satisfieth his rage against the stone or the wood which representeth him I say that this is a poore reuenge fitting the furie of the common people which in it selfe hath no reason or iudgement And if such iniurie be done to charge the person represented in this image I say that it is a thing very dangerous because that the Prince or some friend of his will peraduenture thinke of this wrong which shall be so done reputing the offence as done to himselfe in person and will punish it no more nor lesse then as if he himself in person had bin grieued mocked and ill vsed in what manner soeuer Wee haue an example in the Boulognois in the time of Pope Iulius the second who hauing driuen the Bentiuogli out of Boulogne did many pleasures to the Boulognois granting them many priuiledges dignities and exemptions which the Boulognois ill acknowledged when the Bentiuogli by meanes of the French King againe returned into the citie for then they tooke a statue of his made of brasse which was erected vnto him as a benefactor which statue they threw downe in disdaine and derision the people was induced to this iniurie either by the guard and followers of the Bentiuogli or otherwise being tired with the troubles of the warre they would discharge their choler and furie according to their custome vpō the image which represented him whom they deemed to haue put them to all that paine and trouble The Pope was highly displeased with this iniurie Gucciar li. 10. and when Boulogne returned againe vnder the command of the Church after the French were driuen out of Italie if he had not beene preuented by death as the report went whether it were true or false he had determined in reuenge of that iniurie to haue destroyed the citie of Boulogne and to haue reduced the inhabitants into the citie of Cento and alreadie began to stay the chusing of Magistrates and not to commit them in any place of any honour or gouernment yea and by meanes of his rude and seuere officers hee drew a great summe of money from those citizens which claue to the faction of the Bentiuogli and if death had not interrupted his conceits he was a man very likely to haue effected what hee had proiected in his mind And so the Boulognois for hauing outraged the statue of a Prince then liuing were in daunger to haue lost their countrie The Florentines likewise were so ill affected to the house of Medicis that when the people rose against that house in the yeere 1524. certaine young gentlemen of noble houses went to the Church of the Annunciation where were the statues of Pope Leo the tenth and Clement the seuenth which were great and made to the life and hauing throwne them downe brake them in peeces vsing them very ill this iniurie among others was the cause of the warres of Florence After the which the gouernment being returned into the hands of the de Medicis those which committed this wrong and outraged those Images were seuerely punished the Florentines were made to know that Princes know how to reuenge the wrongs done to their statues as well as if they had bin done to themselues in person Charles Duke of Burgundie seuerely punished the Citie of Nantes Charles the last Duke of Burgundie vsed so great and memorable a reuenge against the towne of Nantes for no other cause but onely for that the Nantois made his statue and the statues of certaine others his friends and hanged them by the neck vpon a gibbet Such iniuries then done through choler or malice are base and vile reuenges which bring with them great danger when Princes are able to punish them When a
sort it serueth to no purpose to say that the Princes smal iudgement is discouered in hauing chosen him but it would seeme much lesse to endure him in the first a man might erre through ignorance but in the second the errour would bee through malice And moreouer he could not be reputed for cruell because that he which punisheth by iustice and for the deserts of him which is punished cannot be said to be cruell neither can he be held for couetous and when a man seeth manifest iustice the reproch of couetousnes can take no place and when the lawes are executed it forceth not what the common people say The Prince ought not too furiously to hasten punishment but hauing considered the qualitie of the person the number of his offences the manner of his iniustice and other circumstances requisit hee ought then to doe that which by iustice is required but aboue all things hee ought not to leaue the malefactor vnpunished and if such minister or officer haue greatly offended he ought to punish him for examples sake for the wrongs which hee hath done and if hee haue committed but one fault or iniustice to the end that he doe no more so CHAP. 53. To vse crueltie is commonlie hurtfull to him that vseth it IT is a most great fault in a Prince or Captaine to be very cruell especially towards innocent persons or such as haue little offended for such cruell actions haue euer been hurtfull to them which haue vsed them because that with perpetuall dishonour and infamie they haue lost both their estate life as it happened vnto Aprius K. of Egypt who for a brutish and cruell act Herodot lib. 2 practised against one who was his familiar friend and an able man was by his owne subiects depriued both of his Realme and life After that Samnis King of Egypt was dead Aprius his sonne succeeded in the kingdome who after a great losse receiued in a battaile giuen betweene him and the Cireneans the Egyptians imputing this ouerthrowe to his imprudence and want of iudgement rebelled against him saying that he expressely was the cause of this ruine to the end that hauing dispatched so many men which were slaine in the battaile hee might the more safely make himselfe Lord of all Egypt The Egyptians being vnable to endure such an ouerthrow and slaughter of their people as well of those which escaped from the battaile as of their friends which were slaine in it openly rebelled Aprius aduertised hereof sent Amasis an eloquent man and of great authoritie to the end that by his eloquence and smooth words he should reduce them to his obedience Amasis executed or seemed to execute the charge committed vnto him by the King and being come to the townes which rebelled hee reproued them with great grauitie of speech and endeuoured to reduce them to the Kings obedience But while as he was talking vnto them in this manner one Egizius bound his Murrion or Burgonet about with a band and hauing so bound it he put it vpon Amasis head and said vnto him that he did put it vpon his head as if it were the royall crowne and presently they all proclaimed him King of Egypt Wherefore the aforesaid Amasis fearing King Aprius prepared himselfe to goe against him and to defend himselfe from him if he came to suppresse him Aprius was aduertised hereof and sent to him an Egyptian which abode with him named Papremitan a man of great reputation and authoritie to the end to bring to him Amasis which was made King Papremitan being come where Amasis was which was on horsebacke exhorting his people couragiously to follow him began to pray him that hee would come with him to King Aprius to whom Amasis answered that he had long since made preparation to come vnto him and he would now so doe it that Aprius should haue no occasion to complaine of him for that hee would not stay long before hee went to seeke him and would bring others with him By these words Papremitan knew his intent and seeing how he had prouided for his desseignes returned presently to aduertise Aprius of the manifest rebellion of Amasis Papremitan being returned to Aprius who so soone as he saw that he had not brought Amasis with him without hearing him speake was so much displeased Aprius King of Egypt caused the nose and eares of Papremitan to be cut off that he caused his nose and his eares to be cut off for the which cruell and inhumane fact the other Egyptians which till then remained with him considering that so worthie a man was so cruelly handled with so great shame and indignitie they all at an instant without any patience mutining forsooke him and went to his enemies campe and Aprius being by them assaulted was put to slight and taken by Amasis and so Aprius which was of opinion that no man in the world had been able to put him from his kingdome being as he thought so firmly established hauing proued the fortune of the warre was ouercome and led away prisoner And although that for certain daies he were honorably entreated by Amasis at length the Egyptians vnable to endure that he which with so great crueltie had vsed Papremitan a personage of so great worth amongst them should be kept by Amasis in so great delights pleasures and honors in great furie they required to haue him into their hands Wherefore Amasis deliuered him into their power who after they had shamefully vsed him Aprius King of Egypt strangled by his subiects they strāgled him Let Princes then and great Lords hauing great estates leaue to be inhumane and not to be carried away by wrath and choler and so commit things vnworthie their greatnes for one cruell act sufficeth to alienate the hearts of their friends and likewise make them oftentimes to lose both life and estate CHAP. 54. Let no man giue credit to the promises sauegard or assurance of a cruell man which desireth to rule and gouerne AS gentlenes and clemencie in a Prince haue the power to draw vnto him the loue and good will not onely of his owne people and friends but also of strangers and of his enemies There was nothing in the world that made the Romane Common-wealth so glorious and triumphant but iustice clemencie and loyaltie vsed euen towards their emulators and most mortall enemies the ancient and moderne authors haue hereof greatly praised and esteemed Iulius Caesar none of them knowing certainly how to determine what made his Empire greater and him finally Lord of the Romane Empire whether his celeritie and expedition in executing his enterprises or his great liberalitie by meanes whereof his souldiers did what he would or his modestie benignitie and clemencie which he vsed towards his most capitall enemies which hee receiued fauoured and made great Euen so crueltie accompanied with ambition and desire to rule and become rich haue the power in a cruell and couetous Prince not onely to
alienate from him straungers and enemies but also his subiects and greatest friends because that the Prince being by nature vnfaithfull and accustomed to shed humane blood is not to spare either friends or parents and much lesse his emulators corriuals competitors or enemies but with all dissimulation fraud and deceit hee will seeke to oppresse those by whose ruine hee may hope to encrease his forces and his owne estate or in any sort to establish the same For this cause a man ought not in any case to trust such Princes neither for promises for prayers neither for safegard or assurance giuen whatsoeuer and those men which commit their persons into the hands of such men which are ambitious disloyall cruell and accustomed to shed blood commit a most grosse fault for vpon the least occasion that may happen they shall be sure to be most cruelly despoyled of their estates and therewith lose their liues The Cardinall Vrsin Vitellozo Vitelli Guicciaâ— lib. â— Pagolo Orsino Iohn Pagolo Baglioni Liuorato da Fermo and Iohn Bentiuogli and some other pettie Lords of Italie seeing the little faith the great ambition and euill nature of Duke Valentin allied themselues together notwithstanding that they had been his Captaines and Generals in the warres to oppose themselues against the forces of the said Duke who sometime bereaued one Lord and sometime another of his estate and their forces being vnited all together The cunning of Duke Valentin were such that Valentin could not annoy them Valentin had recourse to his subtilty and dissimulation and seeing that he could not resist the forces of the confederates by force he sought by all meanes to disunite the mindes of these Lords and to make the one to suspect the other imagining that hee might easily ouercome them being disunited Cagli The confederates might haue put him in great daunger and disorder for that that they once had put him to flight neere the citie of Cagli if they had followed the victorie Valentin had not had the leisure so soone to raise himself againe But he continuing stiffe and resolute to conclude the agreement which was alreadie begun humbling himselfe and promising to his enemies all that which they could demaund brought the matter so wel about that of most mortall enemies that they were vnto him they became his Leaders Captaines and Souldiers as in former time they had been and serued him with their Infantrie and men at armes against the Duke of Vrbin which was a most grosse and foule fault And Valentin hauing taken by their meanes the estate of Vrbin The crueltie and treason of Duke Valentin and still remembring the hatred conceiued against them he caused them to be apprehended in Sinigaglia and there to be hanged and strangled by the hands of a hangman and taught them to know that it was not lawfull for Captaines to dallie and iest with Dukes and their Superiours to make an oth and to breake it as a man will and afterwards to trust to a cruell tyrant who to encrease his estate turned al things vpside downe And if any man would excuse them and say that they for feare of the forces of the King of France who had alreadie sent succours to Valentin made this agreement I answere them that hauing taken armes against him for the preseruation of their estates and liues it had beene better to haue left all to the incertaine hazard and lot of the warre then to giue credit to the words of one who had neuer maintained his faith agreement nor promise with any man whom they themselues held for a Prince faithlesse treacherous cruell and disloyall CHAP. 55. Jt is a pernicious thing for a Prince to haue two Generals in the warres which striue for preheminence or betweene whom is enuie and emulation IF the error of a Prince or Common-wealth be great which hauing any warre either ciuill or forrain admitteth into his holds and townes any garrison and other men at armes who after they haue ouercome the enemie may also subdue him or them which set them at work and in whose pay they haue made the warre that Prince or Common-wealth shall commit a most great fault who hauing or being to make warre against puissant and politike enemies shall hire and take into his seruice sundrie principall Commanders in the warre which doe enuie one another for glorie or are small friends hauing equall power and almost the same authoritie the second error bringeth peraduenture no lesse euill and preiudice that is to wit to haue two Generals which may warre for the preheminence or which are emulators enuying the one the other The first fault to establish settle within the countrie and as a man might say in the house a succour and garrison of men of warre which after the victorie obtained against the enemies turne and band themselues against the Conquerour by dexteritie may easily be auoided by not trusting wholy thereto but as for the other if the euill be secret and far off a man shall hardly foresee and take order for it â—ycurgus his 〈◊〉 For this cause Lycurgus the most wise lawmaker ordained in his lawes that the Kings of Sparta in their ciuill gouernment should not doe any thing but in the companie of the Magistrate but in time of warres in the field with the armie he would that they should haue supreame power and authoritie that they alone should commaund that all should depend of their will and that the regall authoritie should no way be restrained ioyning certaine counsellors vnto him to consult with them of the affaires of the warre which Lycurgus did with great iudgement because that knowing and foreseeing well that when the armies are opposit the one before the other ready to giue battaile the least stay or slacknes sufficeth to let slip a most happie successe and noble victorie from the one and to giue it to his enemie for then is no time to be busied about the aduice and opinion of many and it is a dangerous matter when souldiers are commanded by many heads who for enuie or hatred raigning betweene them or for their obstinacie or temeritie for the most part agree not together and for this cause hauing confirmed and vnited all the power and authoritie in one man alone and hauing cut off all concurrence and enuie which maketh them equall in discord he willed that he alone should gouerne all and that all the armie should readily obey him As for the first fault wee haue infinit examples in histories both ancient and moderne but this for the present shall suffice Fazel in the uinth booke of the first Decade of the history of Sicilie recited by Fazel in the ninth book of the first Decade of Sicilie to shew how dangerous a thing it is for a Prince to haue to his aide and succour a mightie garrison which afterwards he shall not be able to resist The Reginos a people of Sicilie were once diuided into two
to vnderstand of this his proposition and that then they would gouerne themselues according to their answere The Fathers answered that they would in no case giue consent to such homicide for that it agreed not with the dignitie of their Common-wealth and thanking Bernard for his good will they commaunded him to giue ouer that enterprise and for as much as they knew him to be a man that would as soone doe it as speake it The Venetians vvould not suffer Bernard Contarini to execute his disseigne they commaunded him so expressely and forbad him so strictly that Contarini forbare to performe what he haâ— determined In this act the Venetians imitated the great Fabritius and the generositie of the Romanes who would not accept the offer of Pyrrhus King of the Epirotes his Phisitian who offered to make his Master to dye and shewed that the vertue and greatnes of an excellent and mightie Common-wealth consisteth in vanquishing and ouercomming their enemies by valour and prowesse and not through vice and treason as in the end they had done if Lewes had continued in vsing their Armie in that manner as an enemie A man may also consider by this doing of the Venetians that it is a dishonest thing to vse treason and to put to death noble Princes and honourable Captaines by vnlawfull and dishonest meanes And therefore Guicciardin with great grauitie doth reprehend the resolution taken by certaine Spanish Captaines in the yeare 1514. who hauing sent some of their souldiers to Padua The villanie of certaine Spanish Captaines who by treason world have cause 〈◊〉 Aluâ—an a Captain of the Venetians to haue been slaine vnder colour of fugitiues with commission to kill the Aluian hoping easily to haue this towne being in disorder and confusion through the death of so great a Captaine and said that the manner of the warres and Arte Militarie in these daies is farre different from the vertue of the auncients for they suborned no murtherers but if any one practised any treason they reuealed it to the enemie trusting to subdue them by their prowesse If the Venetians did not discouer to Lewes the danger wherein he was they shewed neuerthelesse a great bountie and vertue that they suffered him not to bee slaine as they might haue done Let Princes also consider and aduise themselues well that they abuse not or deale ill with those which haue beene their good friends and haue serued them faithfully for they are in daunger of their liues not onely in the open fields but euen in their chambers haue the poyniard at their bosome CHAP. 61. Jn time of warre it is not good to hold places which are ill and hard to be kept and to stop passages SEeing that at the comming of the French into Italie 〈◊〉 the yeere 1515. in the time of Francis the first King of France it manifestly appeared to what passe it came to hold difficill places ill to be kept and to stop passages it shall bee also good to consider as diuers writers haue done and whether it bee a sure way chiefly when the enemy is mightie knoweth that hee shall be troubled in his passage and that the passage is mountainous streight and hard to passe That this is no sure way a man may see by these reasons First that no man ought to put all his fortune in danger It is follie to commit to the will of a few the state of an Empire and not all his forces for to doe so is a manifest follie as when a man putteth all his estate to the triall of a combat of two or three which as arbitrators are to determine and decide the controuersie of that estate as the Romanes and the Albanians did by the combat of the Horatij and the Curatij where both the one and the other Empire put in daunger their whole fortune but not their whole forces Secondly because that the passages are streight and mountainous where many men of warre cannot accommodate themselues a man putteth in great danger the garrison which he sendeth thither for the enemie encreasing may force the place and by this meane part of the forces is lost and this losse how little soeuer it be cannot be but dangerous and preiudiciall seeing that in such places a man alwaies placeth valiant men Thirdly because that the enemies comming is incertaine and vnknowne and such mountainous places being barren cold and full of all vnrest the souldiers being sent thither vnable to stay there long as well for the dearth of victuall as for the difficultie to encampe and to lodge shall be constrained to abandon them and so you shal in vaine haue wearied and tired your souldiers to their great discommoditie In the fourth place for as much as the mountaines are great hauing diuers places to passe the enemie may leaue the passages which are guarded and passe by waies better knowne to the inhabitants then to those which hold the guards and come downe without that any know how or which way they came as it happened to those which trusting assuring themselues that the Swissers which were set and appointed to keepe the passage in the Alpes The Swissers were deceiued by the French in passing the Alpes and to stop the passage against the French knew that the Lieutenant Generall to the King of France had taken Prospero Colomna prisoner in Villa Francha before they knew that they were past the mountaines Wherefore the Swissers being deceiued in the passage of the French and the Princes astonished Guicci lib. 12. which had taken vpon them to defend Milan against them and perceiued that it had been much better to haue let them passe by the ordinarie way and at the descent from the mountaines to haue charged them then in keeping those passages in vaine to haue afterwards much trouble and paine before they can assemble themselues together with all their forces to trie al their fortune But it often commeth to passe that whereas they ought to haue left the passage which was guarded or losing it by some occasion there is such a feare and terror striken into the harts of the people and souldiers which trusted in that place that being vnable to make experience of their valour a man loseth or is in danger to lose the enterprise as at that time it came to passe for the Swissers would haue compounded with the King of France whom they so much hated Pope Leo and the Viceroy of Naples altered their opinions and all the estate of Milan was turned vpside downe For these reasons the Romanes neuer held nor guarded the passages against Hanniball but rather would that their armies should fight in an open place where they might ouercome him then to send them to the mountaines to be consumed with cold other discommodities of those places If a man could conduct to those passages and hard places all the forces and there maintaine them in such case this course were to be held for hee that
end they should giue money to be exempted from the warres and those which were decrepit vnfit and vnable to the end that they should doe the like Wherefore this Prouince reuolted and rebelled and Ciuilis which was a man of great courage and noblie descended making himselfe chiefe head of the rebellion did much hurt and dammage to the Romanes seeing that by his meanes this Prouince shooke off their obedience This auarice also which consisteth as a man might say in this pedlerie in sparing to spend when need requireth being found in the seruant of a Prince is the cause of the losse of an estate and was plainely seene in Siluius Passerin whom Pope Clement the seuenth had established in the gouernment of Florence to the end that in the house of Medicis should be conserued the dignitie of gouernment as tofore it had been This man when in the yeare 1527. the Citie rose against that noble familie after the newes of the sacke of Rome became so miserable that he would not spend a farthing of his owne for his Masters profit and being impossible to get any of the Popes treasure for many reasons he loued rather to depart from Florence with the Popes Nephewes and suffer those of that house to be driuen from thence then that he would put his hand to his purse to pay the Souldiers of Countie Peter de Noferi which he had there to guard the Citie The auarice of the seruants and Captaines of Lewes the 12. were cause of his ruine As for those which haue the managing of the warres it appeareth in the seruants and Captaines which had the handling of the money of Lewes the 12. King of France when he warred against the King of Spaine in Italie for the Kingdome of Naples This auarice besides many other disgraces and ill fortunes was the cause that the King who had prouided all things necessarie in great aboundance to his dishonour lost the enterprise Wherefore Princes must pray vnto God that it may please him to accompanie with their diligence and vertue Guicciar lib. 6 the bountie and fidelitie of their seruants and to vse the speeches of Guicciardin As for the sustaining of the bodie it sufficeth not that the head be well but it is also necessarie that all the other parts doe their dutie and office euen so it is not enough that the Prince be exempt from fault in his affaires if that vertue and diligence be not likewise found in his seruants As for the auarice of those which haue the guarde of Castles holds and fortresses it is very hurtfull and pernicious to the Prince who employeth them whereof there be so many memorable examples that it shall not neede to take the paines to recite them there are so many that we see by experience that with one handfull of golde a man may breake and beate into peeces a gate of yron Let Princes then take heede how they giue any charge vnto those which they knowe or haue heard reputed to be couetous for they will neuer be good seruants and will euer loue their owne profit better for it is their nature than their Masters CHAP. 74. Princes ought to suffer their seruants and familiars to grow rich so as it be not through dishonest meanes ALthough the common people may conceiue an ill opinion when they see some Minion or fauorite of the Prince to grow rich thinking that such riches are not gotten by iust and reasonable meanes yet neuerthelesse the Prince ought to giue time and meanes to his familiars and fauourites to enrich themselues and yet he ought not therefore to endure that vnder the shadow of the fauour which they haue they doe any thing against reason or presume to constraine him to doe the least iniustice of the world For the Prince and iustice being one and the same thing when a man taketh from the Prince any part of his dignitie a man cutteth away so much of the habit of his iustice and these two words can neuer agree together Prince and vniust Wherefore when he knoweth that any one of his fauorites or familiars vseth any vnlawfull and vnworthie meanes to enrich himselfe or when he knoweth that he sueth and intreateth for any thing that is vniust he doth a thing worthie of himselfe when he doth punish him speedely and holdeth him for a mortall enemie But when too great affection or some other respect withholdeth the Prince from punishing a fauorite who to enrich him required some vniust thing he should at the least correct him by gentle meanes and to make him to knowe that rather than he will doe iniustice at the instance and prayer or intreatie of another The liberalitie of Artaxerxes he will be readie to giue out of his own purse as did King Artaxerxes by a Groome of his chamber by whom he was prayed and entreated for a matter very inconuenient who in lieu of that which he desired gaue him thirtie talents and said vnto him This which I giue thee doth not make me lesse rich but if I should graunt that which thou demaundest I should be lesse iust which is not expedient either for thee or me because I should lose the title of a true Prince and thou shouldest purchase the dishonour to be a seruant to an vniust Prince Pope Leo the tenth Pope Leo the tenth his discourse to a Groome of his chamber a most liberall Prince being intreated by an household fauorite of his that it would please him to bestowe a benefice vpon a friend of his who knowing that the request was neither iust nor honest and that he should haue some good summe of money for the procuring hereof he smiling demanded what he had for this dispatch his seruant and fauourite freely answered that he had 200. Ducates the Pope merely gaue him 200. Ducates of his owne and said goe and deliuer thy friend his money againe and tell him that thou canst not obtaine this fauour for if I should graunt vnto thee that which thou demaundest I should during my life haue a remorse of conscience and should be reputed for an vnwise Prince To conclude then I say that when Princes giue meanes to their fauourites lawfully to enrich themselues then if they doe or would importune their Princes to doe any vnworthie thing they ought to be punished with seueritie or that their Princes let them knowe that they loue better to giue of their owne then to yeeld or be induced by their sute and intreatie to do any the least iniustice of the world CHAP. 75. Jt is very dangerous to let slip time and not to execute what is determined principally in the warres THose men seeme to me to be very wise who when they are to execute some enterprise of great importance first ripely consult with wise men who tell them their opinions without any passion of loue or hatred but when the affaires are ripelie debated and concluded that there resteth nothing but the execution when a
giue blowes for they both were couragious and valiant it happened that Amy receiued a thrust in the forehead but little hurt whereby neuerthelesse the blood running downe his face and into his eyes he was therewith much troubled so as he could not handle his sword as he would haue done To whom Iohn de Turin then said Amy stay rest thee and binde vp thy wound and so giuing backe he gaue his enemie leasure to binde vp his wound with a handkercher and to rest himselfe Afterwards the fight being begun againe and vsing their hands very gallantly Amy gaue so great a blow that he smote Iohn de Turin his sword out of his hand and therewith said to Iohn stay rest thee and take vp thy sword againe and after that they had rested they began the third assault but the other Souldiers which stoode to behold the combat seeing the great courage and courtesie betweene these two men ran to the Lord de Medicis reciting vnto him all the successe of the combat praying him that hee would not suffer that either of them both should be slaine and so their Lord entring into the chamber found that through the much blood which they had lost they were so weake and faint that they were both fallen to the ground and scarcely able to speake and so hauing caused them to be taken vp and the controuersie to be referred to him he made them agree and their wounds to be bound vp with all diligence and they liued many yeares after the death of their Lord. I would now know whether the courtesie which these men shewed in the very middest and heate of their fight did deserue blame or no for which occasion I haue euer found them much esteemed and worthie to be named and mentioned as men which fought with generositie of heart and as valiant men and not as sauage beasts as now adaies most doe which hold not for their but and end an honorable victorie but the blood and life of their enemie nothing caring that the world know whether the course which they haue held in killing him be honourable or vituperable and worthie of shame And it were a faire question to be asked and disputed whether of these two vsed the greatest coutesie either hee which suffered his enemie to binde vp his wound and stop the blood which ran into his eyes and hindred his sight or he which suffered his enemie to take vp his sword againe which was fallen out of his hand The Lord Iohn Baptista Posseuin produceth another example at the end of the fift booke of his dialogues of the honour of Cechino de Padoua Iohn Baptista Posteum lib. 5 who fighting at Mantoua with Benedict Liberal who with a stroke with his sword brake his aduersaries sword A combat betweene Cechino of Padua and Bennet Liberal and Cechino retiring himselfe bad Benedict to take another sword if he would fight but the Duke of Mantoua presently tooke vp the matter and brought them to agreement Cechino deserued great praise for this courtesie who noblie would preuaile by his owne vertue and valour and not by the fauour of Fortune and would not kill his enemie being disarmed or fallen as most men now a daies would doe and as many in time past haue done who would haue for the prize and reward of their victorie the blood and life of their enemie slaine by them in any manner howsoeuer CHAP. 84. Jt is a very dangerous matter to tell Princes of their faults and imperfections not withstanding that at sometimes it be very necessarie so to doe FOrasmuch as Princes in their gouernments may sometimes erre and swarue from the right line which is required in a principalitie it would do wel freely to tell them wherein they erre and to see if it might be possible to bring them to a right and good gouernment No man would be too freely reprehended but because it might bee displeasing vnto them for as much as there is no man that willingly giueth eare to him which doth freely and liberally reprehend him and they which should vndertake to do it should peraduenture incurre the danger to displease the Prince the euill gouernment would euer proceede and the abuses and vices take footing in the estate and here hence it commeth that Princes doe not amend and correct their faults and offences And it is not fit that euery man put himselfe forwards to vse this reprehension for it is not in euery man to know how to doe it and therefore hemust so frame his speeches that the Prince may perceiue no lesse loue towards him then a will to discouer vnto him his fault and no lesse reuerence then desire of amendment Wherein is so great difficultie that he which well considereth thereof may loue better to haue patience and to leaue the Prince to liue after his owne phantasie then by aduertising him to put himselfe in daunger to discontent him The subtile discourse of Demetrius Phalerius to king Ptolomy incurre his displeasure and bring his attempt to an euill end Demetrius Phalerius knew well this difficultie and for this cause when hee would aduertise King Ptolomy of his faults and errours which he committed he did not liberally discouer them vnto him but he counselled him to reade those bookes which did treate of the gouernment of Princes because that those dead men would tell him those things which liuing men durst not so as without any shame or danger to any he might know what were conuenient for him to doe and to auoide the committing of faults in the gouernment of his estate That it is a dangerous matter to tell Princes their imperfections an infinit number of examples both ancient and moderne do beare record but this onely shall suffice which Matthew Villani wrote of a King of Spaine Matthew Villani which raigning in the yeere 1358. was extreamely in loue with a yong woman his concubine for the which he became so incensed that he would haue all the Cities subiect to his Crowne to doe her homage and sweare vnto her fealtie so that to satisfie her hee committed things vnworthie of a King and became to be so outragious and cruell that hee respected not with his owne hands to kill some of his owne parentage The gentlemen of Siuill did much marueile at his commaundement to make them sweare fealtie to the Kings concubine and hauing confulted together they named twelue gentlemen to goe as Ambassadours to the King and gaue them charge with modestie to reproue him of those things which he did and to assay by all submission and humilitie to withdraw him from that humour to doe homage to his Minion saying that being bound by oth to the ancient Queene they could not giue it to any other except they were first abfolued and exempt from their former oth The Ambassadours of Siuill went to the King and with due reuerence declared vnto him their charge and amiably reproued him of his fault The King
lib. 〈◊〉 because that Lewes mist of his way in going to the French armie Lewes answered him very subtilly It is true that one of vs was out of the way but you peraduenture will be found to be that one which strayed but the issue of their businesse did plainly shew that both the one and the other went amisse and held not the right way And as for scoffes and iests which passe between the principall and the inferiour and that in presence the greater is held for weake and simple to iest and scoffe at his inferiour who for the regard and respect of his authoritie durst not to speake a word which offendeth the hearers who iudge that he would not vse such speeches to his equall or to a man of courage This manner of iesting and scoffing with inferiours bringeth sometimes daunger therewith for that a man findeth some persons who although they be of low degree yet are of noble minde and will not endure the stinging of a flye neither will they be toucht in their honour and the broad iest bringing therewith alwaies a kinde of iniurie and so consequently a diminishing of reputation which they can neither tolerate nor endure and when the inferiour in degree but equall in valour and courage cannot answere him which girdeth him neither then presently bee reuenged hee will attend time and place for reuenge and sometimes valour and courage is found in such persons as a man would neuer haue thought or beleeued there had been any such matter who in time and place haue been auenged of those which by gibing scoffing iniuried them Scipio Nasica odious to the Romane people Scipio Nasica brake a iest vpon an Artificer of Rome asking him why his hands were so hard and whether he went vpon his hands as beasts doe vpon their feete the craftsman finding himselfe toucht and wronged complained to the common people and brought Scipio into such disgrace that when hee demaunded the Consulship the people withstood him and he could not obtaine what he desired Penander the Tyrant by one of his household Penander the Tyrant of Andracia too hautily scoffing at a young man which was of his household the young man was so enraged and wroth with the scoffe that it did so waken his spirits and courage that notstanding that he was bred vp in his house yet he bereaued him both of his life and estate A man ought not to vse to any man those broad iests which are as dog-bitings that is to say which nip and offend too much for that they are dangerous but when they are gracious and well beseemed so as you are not therewith disgraced or dishonoured they may be tolerated Meane men sometimes iest with great men and this likewise is not without great daunger especially when the iest doth touch to the quick for whether it be in word or writing the iniurie still remaineth which the superiour will not forget if he be a man of any stomack A condemned souldier being led towards the place of execution before King Antigonus who saw but with one eye and as those which led the souldier bad him to be of good cheere and to hope well for that when hee should come before the King he might easily obtaine pardon he with a iest answered pleasantly 〈◊〉 pleasant 〈…〉 Nay then I am well seeing that I may hope for grace when I come before the eyes of King Antigonus This iest of the souldier was reported to the King who tooke it in ill part and caused him to be executed Peter Aretin would needes iest at the Lord Peter Strozzi when hee gaue Marano to the Venetians and made him a song which began thus Meutre il gran Strozzi Arma virumque cano c. But the Lord Peter as a valiant and noble personage who could brooke no such iests made him to know that it were fitter for him to busie himselfe aobut other matters and that hee would make him to be slaine euen in his bed Wherefore poore Aretin knowing that the Lord Peter was a personage readier to strike then to speake was so amazed that hee shut himselfe vp in his house suffering no man to come in and being in continual feare to be poyniarded he led a most heauie and infortunate life for so long as the Lord Strozzi made his abode in the Venetians countrie he neuer durst to come forth at his doores A man might produce a number of examples of those which for iesting at great men haue been in ill taking It cannot be excused to say that a man may iest with his friends but herein the friend shall haue occasion to complaine for two causes to wit for the little regard whereupon the iest is grounded and for the friendship whereof pleasure and delight should arise and not sadnes of mind Those which feare no reuenge may well iest and scoffe with others as did Ferdinand King of Naples with his father Alphonso who was old and sicke hee nipt him extreamly so as a man might well say that that manner of iesting was such as men vse with those which are held for men of small courage Ferdinand after that the King of France was departed Italie 〈…〉 recouered the kingdome of Naples and being with his father Alphonso in Sicilie Alphonso was earnest with him to returne to Naples before hee died But Ferdinand displeased with the request of his father answered him with a subtill and bitter iest I am content but stay vntill I haue so assured the kingdome vnto you The bitter iest of Ferdinand with Alphonse his father that you neede not runne away from it any more Behold the end it is better for a man to hold his peace then to his danger and damage to shew the quicke sharpnes of his wit for friends are grieued Men of meane degree reuenge themselues as they may and Princes giue correction and it shall not be amisse to obserue and beare in mind this common Adage Play with me but hurt me not and iest with me but shame me not CHAP. 7. VVhich may be well considered by the doings of Lewes Sforce when he committed Valencia to the guard of Donat Raffignin MAns wit requireth that other mens doings should serue for example for vs to follow and that we seeing what hath happened vnto others may consider what may betide our selues Euery man without controlment confesseth that treason is the greatest mischiefe and offence that a man can commit and the greatest infamie and dishonour that can come to a man is to be poynted at with the finger for a Traytor Thence it commeth that the temporall lawe is more sharpe and seuere against Traytors than any other malefactors adiudging that no man can commit a greater and more heynous offence then treason and as a man cannot expresse words sufficient to blame it so can there not be torment sufficient to punish it Lewes Sforce Duke of Milan did not consider the treason of Donat Raffignin who
take and possesse in quiet and peaceably for nothing The opinions of some other Knights were correspoÌ„dent to the desire of the most couetous souldiers who without obeying the commandement either of King or Captaine fell to gathering together of their goods which were spread abroad vpon the ground and so retired being loden and pestered with bootie and spoyle Which Phroton vnderstanding turned head and followed them and hauing found them wearied and tired no lesse with the way then with the burthen of the spoyle being much pestered with the cariâ—â—â— of so much baggage he charged and cut them in pieces and valiantly recouered that which wisely he had throwne away and the English louing better to tend to their pillage than to fight A notable ouerthrow of the English lost miserablie both the bootie the victorie and their liues The Venetian souldiers committed the like error in the yeere 1509. euen then when almost al the Princes of Christendome were vnited together against their Common-wealth for the Venetian armie led by Bartelmy Liuiano hauing taken Treui in the very beard of the enemies amongst which was the King of France in person the souldiers gaue themselues to sack pillaging and whilest they were busie about their luggage the Kings armie passed the riuer of Adde without let or resistance for that the souldiers were so busie in pillaging that it was not possible either by authoritie or by their Captaines threatnings to make them giue ouer the sacking of the towne And although that th'Aluian set the towne on fire to the end to bring them to fight yet was it too late for the Kings armie hauing at ease and very commodiously past the riuer and hauing had leisure to put themselues in order there followed the memorable feate of armes of Giarad ' Adde wherein the Venetians without question had been victors if their souldiers in stead of pillaging would haue been brought to hinder and stop the passage of the French armie for they had either ouerthrowne them and put them to flight or else constrained them to fight without order and at great disaduantage or to returne backe which had giuen them cause of a most manifest and most noble victorie which was taken out of their hands by their owne souldiers who were so greedie that they rather loued to glut themselues with luggage The greedines of the Italian souldiers than with honour and glorie and suddenly after they lost both the one and the other By meanes of this discoÌ„moditie of pillaging many occasions of victories are lost not onely before they come to strokes but euen in time of the battaile which was seene in the Venetian armie and of Lewes Sforce and others in league together in the memorable iourney of Tare against Charles the 8. King of France for the army of the League was ouerthrowne or at least had not the victorie through the greedie couetousnes of the Venetian aduenturers For during the fight at the passage of Tare the King willing to goe into France and those of the League to stop his passage Francis Gonzagua Marquesse of Mantoua and Generall of the armie of the League had so well ordered euery thing that the French armie was in some disorder so as they had had the victorie if the greedie aduenturers who saw the Kings carriages abandoned The greedines of the Stradiots by the aduice and counsell of Triuulce had not began to runne to the spoyle by their protection against the Florentines which they valiantly defended and the Florentines to the contrarie employed all their forces to reconquer it In this meane season the Emperour Maximilian came into Italie and Francis Sforce perswaded the Florentines to ioyne and enter into league with him and to put the controuersie to the Emperours iudgement who vnderstanding the discord betweene them and the Venetians would be an vpright arbitrator in the cause The Florentines answered that they would stand to no arbiterment but that they would first haue Pisa rendred into their possession as it had been theretofore This was the occasion why the Florentines sent their Ambassadours to Gennes where the Emperour then was where the affaires hauing been debated they attended the Emperours answere which was this as he was taking shipping in the hauen at Gennes that the Popes Legate should tell them what was needfull The Florentine Ambassadours went to the Legate who told them that the Duke of Milan should declare vnto them the Emperours pleasure at large This was knowne at Florence and how the matter past where it was concluded that the Ambassadours without attending any answere should returne home In the meane season Francis Sforce glorying in his eloquence and thinking to scoffe the Florentines prepared a most faire hall very richly furnished to giue aunswere to the Florentines in the behalfe of the Emperour whither he had called all the Princes Amdassadours which were with him at Milan to heare his answere The Florentines at the houre appoynted came thither where they were willed to declare what they had to say Pepi to whom it appertained to speake sayd that they being with great trauell come from Gean to Milan to returne to Florence would willingly haue held their way but stayed to take their leaue of him and to doe him honour before they went out of his dominion knowing him to be a Prince which was their friend who by his friendship did greatly vphold the state of their Common-wealth The Duke answered them Lewes More out of countenance and 〈◊〉 by the Florentine Ambassadours that he was to giue them answere in the behalfe of the Emperour The Ambassadour answered that he had no commission to heare it neither any way to negotiate with him By reason whereof the Duke in a great chafe sent away the Ambassadours of Florence and all the rest which he had called thither receiuing in himselfe the greatest part of the disgrace which he thought to haue vsed towards others Let Ambassadours then be resolute and let them endeuour to be briefe and aduised in their aunswers for feare to bee mocked by the Princes with whom they haue to negotiate and that in all causes and accidents not foreseene they may be well resolued maintaining their owne reputation and the honour of those which sent them CHAP. 10. Betweene reconciled friends the least suspition breedeth great distrust making them againe to become enemies ALthough there cannot be any so great enmitie but that he which hath been an enemie may againe become a good friend euen as he which hath been a good friend may become a great enemie yet it is harder to tie together that which is broken than to breake that which is firme and whole Wherefore as euery little displeasure and iniurie may giue an ill taste to a friend and breake the bond of friendship so afterwards many things are to be required to conioyne and renew the same againe after it is once broken which euer after beareth the name of reconciled friendship
some charges or customes of lesse importance if hee had then graunted an exemption of some of them the people would haue rested satisfied with that little and would not haue presumed so insatiably to demaund the whole Wherefore the people ought gently to be denied and refused in their first demaunds and yet not to be put cleane out of hope and in despaire to obtaine for that which they shall afterwards obtaine will be willingly and thankfully accepted and they will shew themselues gratefull for the same CHAP. 18. Jn chusing Generals and chiefe commaunders their vertue ought more to be regarded then the nobilitie of their blood or any priuate affection THe Emperour Leo in his first booke intituled the preparation for warre speaking of the election of a Generall sayth that to knowe the generositie and courage of a Dogge or a Horse we haue regarde to his proper operations and not to the damme or syre which got him The 〈…〉 to and after his descent euen so the noblenesse of a man ought to be considered by his proper valour and vertue and not by the blood of those which brought him into the world neither of the glorie of his predecessors which oftentimes descendeth not to the posteritie as hereditarie but is altered and degenerate And he saith further that it is ill done to contemne a man of worth for that he is not issued of noble blood and to admire and make great abcount of a base fellow of no worth or courage because he is descended of some noble and illustrious race and familie There is double error committe 〈◊〉 of Captaines This error in election is committed in two manners either in thinking that he which is noble should likewise be vertuous or for particular affection in the behalfe of some one from whom a man would expect the like fauour As for the error which is committed in the election of the Generall to ayme more at the noblenesse of his blood then at the proper vertue of him which is chosen I say that it was committed by Nicephorus Phocas Emperour of Constantinople who regarding more the nobilitie of the blood from whence was issued a young man called Manicel than his experience and vertue in the warre Fazelli in his sâ—â—â— booke of the second deâ—â—â— oâ— the 〈…〉 which he had in Sicilia against the Sarrazins he chose him for his Generall This Emperour Phocas in the beginning of his Empire seeing how vnfit it was for the dignitie of an Emperour to pay tribute to the Barbarians resolued with himselfe to make warre and sent into Sicilie a great armie against the Sarrazins which held the same whereof he made his Nephew Manicel Generall bastard sonne of Leo his brother which he had on a Concubine This man what for his age being very young as also for his ignorance and little experience in the warres besides many other vices wherewith he was spotted being vnfit for the place of a Generall would not hearken to the aduise of his Captaines which were appointed to be his counsellours and tutours but gouerning all with little iudgement and discretion he was drawne by the Sarrazins into certaine streights and hard passages where inclosed and compassed about hee was ouercome and put to flight by the Barbarians with all his whole Armie Wherefore the Emperour to his cost was taught Manicel put to slight by the Sarrasins through vvant of experience in the vvars what it was to commit the charge of a Nauie by Sea or an armie by land to persons without iudgement and experience notwithstanding that they be noble and of his owne blood for notwithstanding that a man giue them Captains and Counsellours which are wise and of experience yet it is to be doubted that a young man through his foole-hardinesse will not be ruled after the iudgement of wise men but will marre all As for the errour in chusing of a Captaine it was committed in our fathers time by Lewes Duke of Milan who hauing often had proofe of the valour and worth of Anthony Maria Sanseuerin Earle of Gaiazza to whom he had sundrie times giuen charge in the wars and hauing made him his Generall and afterwards taking a liking to Galeas Sanseuerin his younger brother being not onely of fewer yeeres but also of lesse experience yet he preferred him in his greatest need and danger before the Earle Guicciar lib. 4 for that he had seene him manage his horse very gallantly and charge his launce very brauely at a Tournay For this cause Lewes fauouring him made him Generall of his Armie Galeas Sanseuerin fled from Alexandria and lest it in pray to the enemie in whose place for many reasons he ought to haue giuen that charge to the Earle his brother but the issue shewed how vnwisely Princes are deceiued which make choise of persons to whom they commit the charge of weightie affaires more for the fauour and affection which they beare to them whom they choose then for their vertue and experience for Galeas shamefully fled by night from Alexandria which was taken by the enemie and then Lewes was taught to know the difference betweene the wise leading of an Armie with iudgement and the gallant charging of a launce with a good grace And hereof ensued many inconueniences for the Earle went to serue the French seeing that his younger brother was preferred before him to the charge of Generall Antonie Maria Earle of Gaiazza accompanied Lewes More Duke of Milan to prison in France vvith 〈…〉 of â—â—â—se and forsooke him in his greatest need and Galeas was of euery man held for a coward and a dastard Lewes was noted of little iudgement and Anthony Maria blamed for vnfaithfull and disloyall hauing taken pay of the French King and abandoning the Duke in his greatest miserie so farre that in the end he accompanied him with his troupe of horse into Fraunce to a prison CHAP. 19. Jn time of dangerous warres men of vertue and of worth ought to be preferred and placed in gouernments and when a man in a small enterprise hath not honourably discharged his office and yet would intrude and make himselfe chiefe and haue principall commaund in great matters he deserueth to be repulsed THe spurre of ambition doth pricke and sometimes so poyson the heart Charges of importonce are most commonly giuen to vnworthy persons and sach as are of no experience that a man in this sort losing the light of his vnderstanding and the knowledge of himselfe regardeth neither the common good nor the greatnes of the enterprise so as he may obtaine what he desireth And this fault happeneth more often in Common-wealths where gouernments are giuen by voyces then in absolute principalities where more regard is had of the worth than of any other thing And when in a Common-wealth the number of young men surpasseth and is of greater power than of the olde men the young men as ill aduised and of small experience most commonly fauour
are established in great authoritie breedeth many disorders which afterwards cannot be remedied OBstinacie is no other thing than a setled and firme purpose and determination to doe or not to doe some thing hee which is in this manner resolute is not to admit or receiue any counsell neither to consider any daunger but preferring his own rash opinioÌ„ before the sound aduertisements of wise and well aduised men to shew himselfe to be a man of little iudgement and of no experience in the affaires of the world Such men are the cause of many euils and commit so many disorders that afterwards following their owne ill fortunes and aduentures ouerthrow their enterprises and bring themselues and others also into extreame daunger and oftentimes cause extreame losse and ruine It is lost labour to gee about to perswade obstinate persons by reason for the more they are counselled the more they perâ—stâ—â— their opiâ—on It is but lost labour to attempt to perswade such persons by reason for that they imagining and presuming themselues to know more than all the world besides stop their eares to all good counsailes and their eyes to all daungers so as all goeth to wracke ANd as an egge by how much the longer it lieth in the fire by so much the harder it waxeth euen so a man who trusteth only to his owne braines by how much the more you counsell him by so much the more you make him obstinate Monsieur de Lautrech was Generall for the French King at the siege of Naples and of heart so hautie and obstinate that although hee manifestly saw before his face that the place wherein hee was incamped was neither fit nor holesome and that it daily waxed worse and worse yet would hee not depart from thence to chuse a better neither for the counsell of his Captaines neither for the discommoditie of the souldiers neither for the death which he saw daily before his eyes so that after the losse of a great number of souldiers which dyed poore and miserablie through the corruption of the ayre in the durt and mire he himselfe also left his life Lautrech through his obstinacie was the cause of the totall ruine of the French armie before Naples and was the occasion of his owne death Guicciar lib. 4 and in this manner hee lost the honour and reputation of the victorie and was the cause that the Kings armie whereof he was Generall came to extreame ruine which had not happened if leauing his obstinacie hee had giuen eare to those which counselled him both for the priuate and publike good Wherefore our author wisely saith that it is good to consider of the disorders bred by the obstinacie of those which are employed in great matters This obstinacie maketh men cruell both against others and themselues also whereof are many examples both ancient and moderne as I haue vnderstood of certaine gentlemen of Siena worthie to be beleeued that in the warres of Siena there were some which in the Senate did propound and declare that they were resolued to kill their wiues their children themselues and to set the towne on fire rather then they would fall into the hands of the Florentines Moreouer Obstinacie maketh men cruel both against themselues and others also obstinacie maketh the obstinate to be easily oppressed by their enemies for knowing their naturall condition meanes may be easily found to offend them and in fine persisting obstinate without reason or iudgement and so consequently without wit or wisedome of force they doe euery thing backward and liuing like fooles and mad men fall from euill to worse and in the end to extreame ruine CHAP. 24. Curtesies employed vpon obstinate enemies are to no purpose but bestowed in vaine WHen a Prince or Common-wealth vndertaketh to wage warre against another people if by chance the obstinacie to yeeld nothing to the enemie which molesteth enter into the mindes of those against whom the warre is made he which beginneth the warre must resolue with himselfe not to vse any curtesie towards his obstinate enemie because that any clemencie or curtesie to be vsed will be in vaine and to no purpose for the nature of obstinacie is to loue better to die than to make any shew be it neuer so little of humilitie or giuing place And although that the obstinate man sometime seemeth to be humbled through extreame necessitie yet his heart is not altered An obstinate man loueth rather to die then to shew but eâ—e the least signe of humilitie or of giuing place to his aduersarie for so soone as occasion is offered him he will shew that what he did was done perforce Wherefore an obstinate and rude enemie is to bee handled and dealt withall by all rigour and seueritie forasmuch as gentlenes and curtesie wil neither pacifie him nor asswage his furie Many examples might be alleaged hereof as of the Saguntines besieged by Hanniball but I will content my selfe with the example of the Pisans happened in the time of our ancestors The Florentines made long warres against the Pisans and oftentimes vanquished them and euer vsed them very hardly and in conclusion they resolued to inuade and to bring them to their obedience through hunger and euery yeere spoyled their haruest and often bereaued them of hope of any for the yeere following but they made prouision from elsewhere At length the Florentines determined to trie them by gentlenes and clemencie to see if curtesie might preuaile to the end to leaue nothing vntried And for this cause they made a new law ordained that euery citizen or countriman of Pisa which within certaine time would returne to dwell in his house or possession in the countrie should haue free pardon for any thing that he had committed and should reenter vpon his goods The Florentines did this in hope to haue drawne many Pisans out of the towne by meane of this law by which meanes the towne would be weaker and worse defended but their hope failed them and al happened to the contrarie For that many which were vnprofitable for the wars by the consent and leaue of the rest went out of Pisa and the citie remained disburthened The Pisans loue better to subiect themselues to the Genouais their mortall enemies then to the Florentines their Lords neighbours and friends and in part discharged of the dearth which oppressed them and those which went forth no lesse obstinate then those which remained within for the defence of the citie with their reuenues did secretly succour and relieue those which remained within in such sort as that they which defended the citie would not yeeld but by force and those which were abroad by no meanes could be mollified abhorring nothing so much as the name of a FloreÌ„tine They resolued to yeeld themselues to the Genouais against whoÌ„ they had so often fought for the Seignorie rather then to yeeld to the Florentines And for this cause all that a man doth touching an obstinate
certaine rules and precepts which this author giueth in diuers places it shall be seene that they failed not in doing as they did First I remember to haue read in one of his discourses wherein he sheweth that the Romanes neuer had two warres together at one time although they had many one after another but not two at any one time together standing vpon this ground I would aske the author how the Romanes would haue behaued themselues and maintained their greatnes if after the ouerthrow of Cannas by Hanniball they had had to deale with foure Hannibals togethers at one instant all conspired to their ouerthrow and ruine I am of opinion that being oppressed by their ill fortune they would hardly haue retained the hautie courage which they shewed hauing to deale but with one Wherefore if the Venetians after their ouerthrow at Vaila had had to deale but with the King of France alone as the Romanes with Hanniball alone this halfe ouerthrow of Adda had not made them so much discouraged yea they would not haue taken any great care with the rest of the armie which was saued with the Earle of Patiglian and one of their Pouruours amounting to the number of 25000. men and with many others which were gathered and ioyned togethers but would haue resisted the King and retained their former courage and peraduenture surmounted their aduersarie But being to fight not onely against one enemie but against fiue or sixe at once vnited and coniured together who had concluded in the Castle of Cambray and resolued to ruinate them and to make warre against them all at one instant and euery one apart it is not to bee wondred at though they could not shew the vertue that was within them by their exteriour forces seeing that according to the common Prouerbe men say Ne Hercules contra duos that Hercules himselfe is not sufficient to fight against two at once one onely Common-wealth then could worse resist and make head against Pope Iulius the second the Emperour the kings of Fraunce and of Spaine besides other pettie Princes which altogether rose and made warre against them in diuers places as the Duke of Ferrara the Marques of Mantoua and the Frangipani Infrioli So as it could not be said that the Lords of Venice had not one only warre as the Romanes had but foure together and each of them with great Princes each of which was sufficiently able to wage warre with them alone for this cause the Common-wealth of Venice did not deserue to be reckoned in the nomber of the weake Common-wealths neither was there any comparison betweene the disgraces happened to Rome and that which befell the Venetians And moreouer seeing that the Venetian Common-wealth by the Authour of these discourses is placed in rancke with weake Common-wealthes he ought rather for pitie to haue excused the weakenesse and debilitie thereof then to haue charged it with cowardize and to be basely discouraged for a weake person shewing weakenesse and debilitie deserueth not to be blamed for it but rather to be pitied Furthermore a man may say that the Venetians lost not the vertue of their courage but concealed and hid it for a time so as it plainely appeareth that so soone as there was but one haire of fortunes periwig presented vnto them that there began to shine but one little sun-beame of hope but presently they tooke hold thereof and then manifesting the vertue which for a time lay hidden they boldly reentred into their enterprises and mocking at the leagues and forces of their enemies vnited against them they recouered and in short space reconquered all that which they had rather let goe astray then lost in Lombardy To the rest the same Authour in the eleuenth discourse of his third booke ☞ giueth a rule and aduertisement that when many that are puissant and mightie are ioyned and vnited togethers against one other that is mightie although that they all being vnited be farre mightier then hee a man ought neuerthelesse to hope better of him alone which is the weaker then in all them although in number they be most mightie for this that he alone vsing a little industrie may disunite and separate them asunder prouided alwayes that he be so valorous as that hee may be able to resist the first brūts of their assaults temporizing and attending occasion Heare what this Authour saith and after addeth and alleadgeth the example of the Venetians when in the yeere 1484. they had all Italie banded against them by which meanes they were wholy ouerthrowne and vndone and could not keepe the field with their armie through an agreement made with Lewes More gouernour of Milan and a practise and deuice they deliuered themselues of that trouble recouered the countrie which they had lost and vsurped part of the Dutchie of Ferrara This aduertisement being founded vpon the example of the Venetians I know not wherefore a man should impute that to their basenes now which was then accounted for good industrie and I know not wherefore a man should say of them that in the yeere 1484. they were wise men and that in the yeere 1508. they were ill aduised There were many which were puissant vnited against one that was puissant they which were vnited and conioyned togethers were more mightie than this alone how could the Venetian Lords then hope to haue the better and to disunite the Princes vnited and combined in league togethers to their ruine but to serue their turnes by industrie to grant vnto the Pope that which he instantly demaunded to giue to the King of Spaine those Ports which hee desired and to demonstrate vnto the Emperour that they would doe that which he required wherefore should that be accompted basenes which afterwards shewed it selfe to be wisedome And if the Venetians were not so valorous as to resist and support the first force and assault they found neuerthelesse the meanes to temporize vntil they might be able to disunite the other Princes from the King of France against whom was the principall quarrell and by whom they were ouercome and put to flight and for this cause they gaue especiall charge to Anthony Iustinian their Ambassadour with the Emperour to conclude a peace with him vpon what condition soeuer They sent no Ambassadours to the French King who had ouercome and defeated them neither to raunsome their prisoners neither did they make any shew to stand in any doubt of him alone Wherefore the resolution of these Lords was to haue warres onely with him as the Romanes had with Hanniball alone and therefore they vsed all meanes to bring it to passe that he might remaine alone for that they doubted not so to vnite and reinforce their troupes to fight with him and to ouercome him if possiblie And whosoeuer shall with iudgement reade Guicciardin shall see that the Venetian Lords did very wisely to vse this expedition to disunite the Princes for they were no lesse to feare some ciuill tumult within
1539. with many wounds was murthered and she desiring that her sonne which she had by him who was then but a little childe should one day reuenge the death of his farther she kept his fathers bloodie and gorie shirt in her chest euen as it was taken from his backe when hee was slaine which she often shewed to her sonne to the end to imprint in his minde by that obiect the outrage done to his father In in processe of time it happened that either at the intreatie of her parents and friends or the perswasion of some religious persons she yeelded to a peace and pardoned the murtherer of her husband and with so great a generositie of heart she forgaue him and ratified the peace promised that to shew the sincertie of her heart and that of an enemie she was become an honest Christian friend she put out of sight the obiect which might put her in minde of the offence committed and taking the bloodie shirt of her slaine husband she sent it to him who slew him letting him to vnderstand that hee might liue securely for she not onely pardoned him but had also put from before her eyes the obiect which might alter her minde and make her to remember the iniurie past In like manner the noble and magnanimous act of Maximilian the first Emperour is worthie of eternall memorie and to bee registred in the immortall writings of the most excellent authors who being resolued to hold for his friend Lewes the 12. King of France A noble acte of the Emperour Maxunâ—â—an from the house of the which Kings of France the Empire had receiued many iniuries he not onely thanked the King for helping him by his meanes to recouer his townes in Frioli which the Venetians held but forgetting all the wrongs receiued of the kingdome of France and to shew that he was become a true friend and had no obiect before his eyes which might call to memorie offences past he caused a booke to be burnt which was kept at Spire wherein were written all the iniuries which in time past the Kings of France had done to the Empire an act truly of great goodnes and worthie of the magnanimitie of the house of Austrich CHAP. 39. A man ought not to giue credit to an error which he seeth his enemie to commit but rather to thinke that he doth it to some speciall purpose and that vnder the same there lieth hidden some ambush or deepe deceite A Wise Captaine or Generall of an Armie ought neuer to giue credit to an error which hee seeth his enemie to commit especially when the errour is apparantly foule grosse for therein euer lieth some secret and hidden deceit which may happen in sundrie manners first in shewing a great and audacious rashnesse and temeritie vsing to aduenture so far forwards that it should seeme impossible that the enemie should be so vnaduised to commit a fault of so great importance except to some purpose as for example when the enemie commeth to call thee at the very foote of thy walles and to prouoke thee to fight boldly presenteth himselfe euen into thy campe that all men may maruell thereat or by some grosse fayned shew in disguised and counterfeite apparell making shew to doe something enforcing themselues thereby to draw thee out of thy Campe. Such manner of the enemies proceeding ought to make thee beware for such drifts are not without some cause and especiall set purpose to deceiue thee 〈…〉 Amongst the examples of the Romanes we haue one of Fuluius Lieutenant of the Romane armie when he remained alone to guard the Campe in the warre against the Tuscanes for the Consull being gone to Rome to doe certaine ceremonies the Tuscanes then thinking to drawe the Romanes in the absence of the Consull out of their Campe and to make them fall into an ambush laide there hard by they sent certaine Souldiers apparrelled like Shepheards with a good number of beasts and made them goe within sight of the Romane Armie comming almost to the trenches of the Campe. The Lieutenant meruailed much at this their boldnes and deuising with himselfe what this presumption might meane and considering well that it had some foundation he found out the meanes to discouer the fraude and so this deuise of the Tuscanes serued to no purpose A man ought also to knowe this error when the rashnes of a few with a great brauado prouoketh the enemie to fight being encamped in a strong and sure ground and when men sallie forth to fight with them they begin to file and make such retrait that the incamped desiring to ouercome may follow without thinking of any ambush and fall therein without perceiuing their error vntill such time as they be surprised wherefore they ought to beware of such manifest errors and to beleeue that thereunder lyeth some hidden deceit And to the end to trust to a most euident error committed by the enemie we haue an example in the Lombards sometime called Gaules These Lombards hauing ouercome the Romanes at the riuer of Allia now called Caminate tooke their way towards Rome and finding the gates all open 〈…〉 and seeing none to guarde the same and fearing some Ambush and deceit for they thought it impossible that the Romanes should commit so grosse a fault as to leaue their Cittie open without defence but for some purpose wherefore they held themselues all that day and all the night following without entring neuer thinking that in the hearts of the Romanes had been harboured so great cowardise and so little iudgement that they should haue abandoned their Citie and Countrey We haue another example of error Culcciardin which happened in the time of our auncesters in the yeare 1508. when the Florentines made warre against the Pisans In this warre was taken prisoner Alfonso de Mutolo a citizen of Pisa but a man of base condition who was taken by Canaicio de prato an olde Souldier of the Florentines which kept this Alfonso and made him great cheere and vsed him very honourably This man being by the Pisans induced to doe some exployte offered to giue vnto the Florentines one of the ports of Pisa prouided that they should set him at libertie whereupon he was deliuered and being come to Pisa he entertained the Florentines with this hope to be possessed of a port of Pisa wherein their armie might enter and the matter was carried so openly that comming to consult and parle with the Commissioners and principall men of the Florentine Campe The ouerthrow of the Florentines before Pisa through the policie of Mutolo a Pisan Captaine Mutolo brought with him certaine young men of Pisa to keepe him companie and although he left them a part when he went to speake with those which were sent by the chiefe Commaudners of the Florentine Armie it is not to be said but that the aforesaide Florentines might haue perceiued that affaires of so great importance are not handled in
factions and made ciuill warre it came to passe that one of these parties called to their aide the Imeresiens which then were very mightie who comming thither were receiued into Reggio and after that the Imeresiens had chased away the contrarie partie enemie to that which called them thither they likewise chased away their friends and made themselues Lords and Masters of the Citie of Reggio And as for the euill which happeneth through two Generals of equall authoritie in one armie The Imeresiens seaze vpon Reggio these three short examples shall beare witnesse the first is recited by Cornelius Tacitus in his 19. booke Fabius Valens and L. Cecinna were chiefe and Captaines for the Emperour Vitellius and so hated the one the other that but for the respect they had to the Emperours seruice they had ruinated the estate of Rome in fine the one being vnable to endure the other and Cecinna thinking himselfe in lesse reputation then the other with Vitellius vsed treason and departed from the pay and seruice of Vitellius The Emperour Vitellius was ouercome by Vespasian the Emperour Fazel in his 6. booke of the historie of Sicilie and Valens remaining alone being vnable to beare the burthen of the warre which Vespasian waged against him was ouercome and taken prisoner and Vitellius was depriued of his life and Empire Fazel alleageth another example in his sixt booke of the historie of Sicilie Leo and Procopius were chiefe Generals in Italie for Basilius the Emperour of Constantinople these in a battaile at sea against the Sarasins diuided their armie and fleete into two parts Leo led his part on the right hand and Procopius his part on the left Leo of his side ouercame the enemies and Procopius on his part was ouercome Leo notwithstanding that hee might haue done it yet would not helpe him whereby it happened that Procopius dyed and Leo remained alone and was forced to retire being vnable to resist the force of the enemies so as the affaires of the Empire prospered not so well as they might haue done had there not been malice and emulation betweene the two Generals The very same befell the Lords of Venice the Earle of Petiglian and Bartelmy Liuiano were Generals for the Venetians almost of equall power and authoritie Liuiano at the Ghiarra de Adda brauely assailed his enemies and began to make them runne and if that Petiglian had holpen him the victorie had remained to the Seigniorie of Venice Petiglian would not helpe him either for the malice which was betweene them or for the displeasure conceiued against him for that he had begun the battaile without aduertising him thereof whereof ensued the memorable losse and ouerthrow of the battaile of Ghiarra de Adda Let Princes and Common-wealths then be well aduised how they receiue forces and garrisons into their holds and townes for feare they shall not be able after the warres are ended to put them out and send them backe againe let them also take heede that they haue not seuerall Generals in their armie of equall power and authoritie betweene whom there may be debate and contention for preheminence and superioritie in the leading of the Armie or betweene whom may bee hatred and emulation because that from these two faults ensue the ruine and losse of honour of life and estate CHAP. 56. No man ought to giue credit to the words and promises of Fugitiues and runnawaies for whoso reposeth trust in them without being well assured of them committeth a great error WE haue said aboue that it is a great error to vndertake an enterprise through the perswasion of Rebels because that for the most part such enterprises haue not preuailed but haue been dammageable and preiudiciall to the authors thereof But I finde not that there is lesse danger and preiudice easilie to beleeue those which in deede are or for some plot and secret practise faine themselues to be fugitiues principally when the warre is open and to doe any thing at their perswasion may breed great inconuenience Wherefore I am of opinion that those Colonels and Captaines doe wisely which when any of these fugitiues of their owne accord come vnto them if they presently trust them not nor giue any charge of importance but opening theÌ„ their eyes marke well their actions and manner of their behauiour and seeming in words and outward signes that they trust them keepe them busied giuing them good hope vntill they being well certified and assured of their nature and qualities they may afterwards freely without any suspition commit to their charge any honourable enterprise That to trust to the promise of fugitiues is a great fault Crassus a Generall for the Romanes was ouerthrowne and slaine being betrayed by a Fugitiue and cause of most notable losse and dammage the Citie of Babylon can well testifie and Crassus Captaine for the Romanes The Citie was depriued of her libertie and almost ruinated and the other deceiued by a Fugitiue lost the Romane Armie and his life with all which came to passe in this manner The Citie of Babylon rebelled against Darius King of Persia the which to defend it selfe and to resist the forces of Darius and fearing a tedious and long siege made all necessarie prouision as well for munition and things appertaining to the warres to defend and offend as for victuals and to the end that victuals should not be consumed by idle and vnprofitable persons for the warres the Babylonians slue all their women reseruing onely one in euery house to giue order for those things which there are necessarie Darius being aduertised of the rebellion and reuolt of so noble rich and strong a towne hauing assembled a great and mightie armie and made prouision of all things necessarie thereto took his way towards Babylon and at length besieged it very strictly on euery side those of Babylon were nothing amazed to see so great an armie about their walles â—abilon strictly besieged and the siege thereof but in view of the enemies they daunced vpon their rampiers and gaue themselues to feasting and dancing and also vsed some iniurious speeches against the Persians without fearing or caring for the enemie or his forces the siege remained before the citie one whole yeere and seuen moneths continually and it was not possible to get it by force policie nor promise for all that serued to no purpose But a gentleman of Persia called Zophir perceiuing that all the Persians and the King himselfe were wearie of so long a siege attempted a most couragious and profitable enterprise for his King for hauing communicated his desseignes and the course which he meant to hold to the King he marred and mangled al his face with a knife and fled from the Kings Campe to the Citie of Babylon The Babylonians seeing him so ill handled receiued him friendly and thinking that without any malice or faining hee was fled to the towne they had many secret discourses with him whereby they were perswaded that
he was a deadly enemie to the King of Persia and they gaue him certaine companies of souldiers in charge the tenth day he sallied out of the towne with his companies and slew a thousand Persian souldiers the which according to the order concluded and agreed vpon betweene King Darius and Zophir had made a roade euen vnto the gate of Semiramis Zophir by fraud put the citie of Babilon into the hands of King Darius which wanne Zophir great honour and marueilous credit among the Babylonians Seuen daies after King Darius sent another Captaine with two thousand souldiers to the port of Ninus which valiantly defending themselues in the end were cut in peeces Twentie daies after following the accorde and agreement the King failed not to send foure thousand souldiers to the port of Caldea the which likewise were defeated by the Babylonians by reason whereof Zophir was held by them in such reputation that they put into his hands the gouernment of the towne and charge of the warre against the Persians and Darius at the time appointed with all his whole armie valiantly assaulted the Citie of Babylon and while as the people were vpon the walles to put back the enemie Zophir opened two ports to the Persian armie the port Cisiana and Belida which being entred into the towne sacked it and the King caused the ports of the Citie to be taken away defaced all and put to death 3000. of the most noble and principall of the Citie Hereby the Babylonians to their great losse knew the great fault which they had committed to beleeue a man which fained himselfe to be a fugitiue and to giue him the charge and gouernment of their Citie CHAP. 57. One word only being misunderstood may breede great hurt BEsides many examples which might be alleaged to shew that in the affaires of warre the least fault that a man can doe may bee verie preiudiciall I propound this which consisteth in a word ill vnderstood and ill interpreted In the time that the factions of the Guelphes and Gibelins troubled Italie there were two houses at Perusa to wit of the Oddi and the Baglioni the Oddi were in that towne the chiefe of the faction of the Gibelins and the Baglioni of the Guelphs The Oddi were chased out of Perusa and being resolued to returne through the helpe of the Gibelins of the townes neere adioyning they entred one night into Perusa with so great amazement of the Baglioni that being out of hope to be able to defend themselues they began to slie But they by an accident altogether vnthought of or if wee may so say by an error lost the victorie which could not haue beene taken from them by the enemies There were chaines crosse the streetes of Perusa as at that time was the custome in townes which maintained the factions and the Oddi being come as farre as the place without any let or hindrance a souldier with a sledge which he of purpose carried to that effect would haue broken one of these chaines being drawne and being vnable to lift vp his armes and vse his hands at pleasure because of the other souldiers of his partie which were in a troupe round about him he began to crie backe backe backe which hee said to the end that they should giue backe and make more roome to giue him meane to breake the chaine But this word being giuen from the one to the other was vnderstood as if he had willed them to flie and so putting themselues to flight gaue occasion to the Baglioni to recouer heart and to follow them and they not onely draue them out of the Citie but slew many in the heate of the chase and fight and afterwards put many of them to death by the hands of the Executioner CHAP. 58. VVho so will impart vnto his seruant any secret concerning his life or honour must resolue with himselfe neuer after to displease him AMong the faultes which men of custome commit this to me hath euer seemed very great in matters of importance which concerne a mans honour or his life to trust to seruants The wise man saith if thou haue a good and faithfull seruant loue him as thy soule touching the which words is to be vnderstoode that to know a good seruant there is no great difficultie for the whole consisteth in this he is called a good seruant which loueth his Masters profit better than his owne which is also said of a good seruant and officer of a Prince but it is a very hard matter to finde one which loueth better another mans profit than his owne principallie amongst that kinde of people which get their liuing in other mens seruice and truly that Master may holde himselfe happie whose hap is to meete with such a seruant which loueth him better than himselfe and certainelie such a seruant doth worthelie deserue to be beloued of his Master as his owne life But for as much as this kinde of men are ordinarilie of condition and blood base by reason whereof they are generallie of a cowardly heart I finde it not expedient to trust to them without first hauing good experience and proofe of their goodnes and sidelitie that a man may know that they would more good to their Masters than to themselues I speake not of that kinde of seruants which are otherwise called slaues for that a man may well finde slaues which are noble neither of those which voluntarilie follow some great Lord and doe him seruice but I speake of those which constrained by necessitie ☞ hauing no occupation or arte to get their liuing put themselues to serue for wages and hire by the moneth or otherwise a man ought to proue the goodnes and fidelitie of such men This experience may bee had by meane of two things which of custome haue bin the ciment of all humane harts to wit in giuing him the handling of money and the gouernment of women if he continue firme and constant in the gouernment of these two things a man may know that he is a good and a loyall seruant In an officer and seruant of a Prince besides these ciments I would say that it were the ambition affecting or desire of estate but because that that seldome happeneth I will not speake thereof besides this that a Prince hauing trusted his honour or imparted some great secret with his faithfull seruant to whom afterwards he happily doth displeasure he hath no cause to bee afraid of him being able in a thousand manners to defeate him But standing vpon the former conclusion and speaking of ordinarie seruants I say that whosoeuer doth resolue to impart vnto him any secret the reuealing whereof importeth his life or his honor he ought to resolue and determine with himselfe neuer after to doe him any displeasure And my reason is this That a man naturally is of a generous hart can hardly endure displeasures and iniuries and there is no man how base soeuer he bee that taketh pleasure to be
he be farre or neere and to procure to know the state of his owne affaires and to prouide for them for feare that comming to the knowledge of his enemies they may make benefit of his disorder and confusion for the victorie of King Francis at Marignan had no other foundation but that hee knew the state of his owne affaires the will and desseignes of his enemies and gaue order for a new battaile CHAP. 63. Spies are necessarie for Princes or Generals of Armies and in what sort a man ought to carrie himselfe with them ALthough that the vse of a Spie be most profitable it is neuerthelesse most necessary for euery Prince and for euery Generall or Lieutenant of an Armie and principally for new Princes which liue in some doubt and feare of their states being vncertaine and vnassured of the loue of their Citizens and subiects yea and some haue iudged it so necessarie for a Prince to haue Spies that there haue been Princes who being disguised haue by night gone vp and downe in their Cities to vnderstand what was spoken and reported of them haue serued themselues for Spies as we reade of Nero and of others which is a thing very dangerous because it is a danger hazard of a mans life without any occasion as I will tell you hereafter This exercise of Spies hath not been vsed but by most vile and base persons of a most base blood and condition which being vnable or not knowing how otherwise to get their liuing applie theÌ„selues hereto which yeeldeth them great profit The Prince ought to be well aduised concerning such men because that being naturally wicked when they find in him any alteration and see him inclined to suspition and desirous to see bloud entertaining alwayes the euill like euill Physitions and oftentimes also augmenting the same they make him fearefull and melancholike and being most cunning in their reports being ouercome by false perswasions they make him become cruel Wherfore it is necessarie What harme espie may do by their report to Princes they make him become cruel Wherfore it is necessarie that the Prince bee discreet well aduised not standing vpon the report of one Spie onely but he ought to enfourme himselfe of the trueth by some other and he ought not to be negligent herein for feare to commit some faults being perswaded by the efficacie of the speeches of one onely spie who to maintaine his credit and profit regardeth not another mans hurt neither his Princes dishonour Wherefore it is good and profitable that the Prince haue sundrie and that the one know not the other to the end that the trueth of the reports agreeing many wayes he may redresse disorders A Prince ought to haue many spries the one not know â—ng the other and if they agree not hee may know the deceit of the spie which would haue had the Prince to haue made some faults and one spie alone may bee deceiued or deale maliciously these men euer beeing of ill meaning which haue a desire not so much to shew themselues zealous of the Princes profite as to see some euil And as for making account of such men they ought not to be esteemed so much as that the Prince should raise them to honours and publike dignities for it shal suffice to giue them profit and gaine without giuing them honours and magistracies in cities if perchance some Gentleman of a noble house which happeneth not oft to procure his Princes fauour 〈◊〉 ought not by the â—rince to be advanced to honours and publike charges set himselfe secretly to worke in this most profitable occupation for in this case publike dignitie being agreeing with the noblenes of his house it seemeth lawfull to me that the Prince depriue him of the honour of a Magistrate to be his secret spie because that in this manner hee should come to make himselfe manifest But speaking of other spies they ought not to be made great or raised to honour to dishonour the dignitie of the Magistrate by their presence being vnlawfull that Gentlemen which haue alwayes liued honourably should haue such a kind or manner of men for companions but they may be rewarded to the end that through the hope of profit they may be the more vigilant and prompt to do their endeuour Moreouer that spies are very necessarie for Generals and chiefe Commanders of Armies they which mannage and gouerne them know it well for without them hardly will it be knowne as it is said in the last Chapter the behauiour and practises of the enemie and to say the trueth it is impossble to know it Wherefore wise Warriours haue vsed all meanes to haue both tongue and eares euen in the very Tent and Pauillion of their enemie as also a wise Prince enforceth himselfe to haue friends and intelligence euen in the chambers of Emperous Kings by whose meanes they may be aduertised aduised of all that passeth For this cause the old Marques of Pescara The opinion of the Marques of Pescara wisely iudged it to be a matter of great importaÌ„ce to haue spies in the enemies Armie and not to faile to entertaine them with great kindnes money and rewards he did vse to say that things could not proue well to a Generall if he tooke not paine and care by all endeuour and expence to haue in the enemies Armie many spies to the end that according to the behauiour and practises of the enemie he might be resolued to take all occasions offered which might procure victorie It is true that they ought to take good heed in whom they trust for there are many which are double spies which to get from the one and the other make their affayres ill to prosper which repose trust in them and one double spie may doe more hurt and harme than ten faithfull and loyall doe good and profit to those which employ them Wherefore it is needfull that a Generall be well aduised and know him well in whom he repose trust if he will not be deceiued For this cause through aduenture The subtiltie of Gonsaluo Fernandez the great Captaine accompanied with his valour the great Captaine Gonsaluo Fernandes obtained so many victories in the Kingdome of Naples for he spared nothing to entertaine Spies Wherefore being in Spaine after the warres an account was demaunded of him of the administration and distribution of the money employed in those warres he shewed an account wherein were set downe two parties the one of them contained the summe of money employed vpon Spies and the other in almes vpon the religious and shewed that hee had employed more vpon Spies than vpon the poore for that the hyre of Spies amounted to the summe of 600494. Crownes and the Almes giuen to those which prayed to God to giue him the victorie amounted to the summe of 200736. Crownes CHAP. 64. Sundrie Captaines haue obtained very great victories in the warres with very little losse of their owne
sooner then hee would who in deferring the succours had peraduenture accorded the controuersie between the Pope and the French King Renzo de Ceri a most honourable Captaine in his time being in the pay and seruice of Laurence de Medicis in the warre which Francis Maria Duke of Vrbin made against him to reconquer recouer his estate was aduertised that certaine Spanish Captaines had plotted a treason to deliuer Francis Maria into the hands of the Duke of Florence Wherefore the said Renzo talking with a Drumme demaunded of him in iest and laughing but with great inconsideration When will these Spaniards deliuer your Duke prisoner The Drumme made no answere but being returned to the Campe hee reported to Francis Maria the words which Renzo had vsed vnto him without any necessitie or reason Wherefore the Duke of Vrbin hauing engrauen them in his heart stood vpon his guard and marked the behauiour of the Spanish Captaines In the end through certaine letters and writings found among their baggage Certaine Spanish Captaines counict of treason were made to passe the pikes the truth appeared and the conspirators against Duke Francis were knowne who were committed to prison and conuict of treason and so were made to passe the pikes Thus Renzo was the cause why the treason tooke not effect the Captaines were dispatched and Laurence his Master made not so soone an end of the warres as otherwise peraduenture hee might haue done And Guicciardin saith of Renzo that hee was but shallow witted to vse such speeches to a Drumme without any consideration Let euery man then take heede of inconsiderationof speech for a man may fill whole bookes with the euils which haue risen and procecded from such faults and there where shall be such little discretion many notable errors will be committed CHAP. 66. VVho so doth any euill or offendeth another in secret thinking that it shall not be reuealed is commonly deceiued and beareth the payne thereof ALthough that the imprudence and inconsideration of men be seene in many things yet in this it seemeth to mee very notable when some doe or would doe some euill thinking that it should neuer be reuealed and moreouer there are some so ill aduised that they hazard to offend some worthie Personage grounded vpon the same conceit and hope of concealement and that the author of the euill action shall neuer be knowne I know that the nature and condition of malefactors is such that they thinke they shall neuer be discouered for no man would aduenture to robbe plot treasons conspiracies and such like mischiefes if they thought they should be knowne And I much maruell that after so many and so many experiences seene euery day thereof men neuerthelesse grounded vpon this conceit aduenture to do euill These men either beleeue not or they know not what is said by the authoritie of Iesus Christ to wit that there is nothing so hidden but it shall bee reuealed neither any thing so secret but it shal be knowne and that oftentimes the iniquitie falleth vpon his head who hath committed it And hee that diggeth a pitte for another man often breaketh his owne necke therein Wherefore Lewes Ariosto calleth this kind of men miserable saying in his sixt Song Miser chi mal oprando si confida Ch'ogn ' hor star debba in maleficio occulto Che quand ' ogn ' altro taccia intorno grida L'aria la terra e'l luggo in ch'è sepolto E dio fa spesso ch'il peccato grida il peccator poì ch'aclun di gli ha indulto Che se medesÃmo senza altruì rechiesta inauedutamente manifesta Vnhappie is he doing ill who relieth On secrecie thinking none will him espie All other being silent about him still crieth The aire earth and place whereas he doth lie And God so worketh that the sinne it selfe crieth And the sinner at sometime before he doth die Vnawares of himselfe without any request His owne sinne reuealeth and maketh manifest These verses are very sententious and worthy to be considered by all those which swelling with griefe are constrained to bring forth their iniquitie for although that for a time the malefactour be not discouered yet neuerthelesse by certaine meanes vnknowne vnthought of nor premeditated onely knowne vnto God the offences come to be manifest yea they come to be discouered when a man thinketh least thereof and in some either earely or late God layeth open the sinne and the punishment followeth Plutarch in his worke or the faire Treatise of the slow vengeance of God saith that in the Cipriotte warres one Aristocrates chiefe of the Messenians through the desire to rule betrayed his Messenians by which occasion his practise taking effect all the Messenians were cut in pieces but twentie yeeres after his treason was reuealed and Aristocrates was rigorously punished It is said in the verses before that the sinne induceth the sinner sometime to manifest it himselfe which appeareth to be true in this example which I would haue held for a fable if it had beene reported by any other author then Plutarch who in the same treatise here aboue alleaged reporteth such a case saying that a certaine man named Bessus had slaine his father and this murther and parricide lay long hidden but comming vpon a time into an Inne to supper he saw a Swallowes nest wherein were young ones which cried and hee hauing throwne downe the nest with a long pole which he had in his hand with his foote killed all the young birds in a great brauerie and being demaunded by those which were there present wherefore he had so cruelly killed them he answered Did you not vnderstand that they did nothing else but speake against me saying that I had killed my father They which heard these words reported them to the King recounting the fact and the answere of Bessus and the King causing him to bee apprehended made him to bee tortured by which meanes hee confessed the fact and how it passed and was punished accordingly We reade in the historie of the Greekes and also in those of Sicilie in the life of William the good that Andronicus a Greeke fell into this inconuenience who being left by Emanuell Emperour of Constantinople Tutour of Alessus his sonne Andronicus aspiring to the Empire by sundrie deuices draue away the Latines which fauoured the childe and afterward as Alessus went in a little barke to recreate himselfe vpon the Sea Andronious threw him into the water and drowned him making the world to beleeue that by mischaunce he fell into the Sea so as he was not able to saue him But in the end the treason being discouered by the course which he held putting many to death and vniustly and without reason banishing others the people of Constantinople pulled him in peeces We reade in the same histories of Sicilia that Robert King of Naples and Federique King of Sicilie making warre the one against the other Robert disembarked and set foote on land betweene the
Castle of Iccare and the Castle of the Sea of the Gulfe and a Captaine named Remond the white hauing the Castle of the Gulfe in guard in the behalfe of King Federique King Robert after many proffers in the end won Remond with money and Remond deliuered the Castle to King Robert Remond thought that this his treason was hidden and could not by any meanes soeuer be knowne for that he had done it very secretly and so grounded in this thought and imagination he impudently setting a good countenance vpon it went to King Federique Federicque King of Sicilie caused Remond le Blanc to be beheaded for treason who hauing some intelligence of the treason caused his head to be stricken off with three others his companions and complices So this Remond found himselfe deceiued thinking that his fault should not haue been made manifest and knowne to the King and in like sort shall they all be deceiued in their imaginations which complotting and deuising any euill principallie against their Princes if they shall attempt to execute the same and thinke that they shall not be discouered for that Princes haue long hands wide eares and Lynx his eyes to pearce and see through Mountaines and although that some one peraduenture haue attained to the height of his enterprise and hath escaped yet that ought not to be held for an example for it hath not been euery mans case And let a man be all one as much as he will the offender by some accident not prepensed and meanes extraordinarie in the end is discouered A man might adde hereunto the doing of Tibert Brandolin a valiant Captaine in his time this man being in the paye of Francis Sforce the elder Duke and seeing him very sicke and thinking for certaine that he would dye of that disease conspired with the Paisants of the Piacentin which rebelled against the Duke and promised to succour them and giue ayde and fauour against him with the men of warre of Picinino Afterwards perceiuing that the Duke recouered and fearing that his disloyaltie would be knowne he resolued to flie and to serue Iohn of Aniou and to colour his flight hee asked the Duke leaue to goe to the marriage of his daughter with promise shortly to returne The Duke nothing suspecting him graciously gaue him leaue but his treason being discouered vnto the Duke by a meane which Brandolin thought not of he was apprehended before he could get forth of Milan and committed to prison where being stung by his owne conscience and remorse of his faults and fearing to dye publikelie by the hands of an executioner hee slue himselfe Let no man then presume to doe euill as the Spanish Captaines here before mentioned would haue done against the Duke of Vrbin thinking that their doings shall not come to light for most commonly he which shall be of this opinion shall finde himselfe deceiued and beare the punishment for his fault CHAP. 67. Jt ill beseemeth a Prince or great Captaine to say in truth J had not thought it and enterprises to be put in execution ought not to be grounded vpon vaine and deceiueable hopes I Know well that it is a very vnworthie word in the mouth of any man which vndertaketh any enterprise whereof he attaineth not to a happie issue to say I had not thought or I would not haue beleeued it and though that it may be true he who saith so is not alwaies worthie of reprehension for that there may happen some accident either so light or so great so weightie that for the lightnes Guicciar lib. 6 he who hath the care and charge of great matters esteemeth it not or for the waight thereof it be so far frō reasonable that reason being ruled in his actions could not foresee that which was without rule Wherefore a Prince deserueth not to be blamed who for example hath put some one in a fortresse to whom he hath done much good and in the end is by him betrayed And if hee should then say I should neuer haue thought that such a man would haue betrayed me he deserued not to be blamed As it happened vnto Lewes More Duke of Milan who hauing committed the castle of Milan to the guard of one of his greatest friends and to whom he most trusted and who was most bound vnto him because of the great good which he had bestowed vpon him which was Bernardin Court he was by him betrayed to his perpetuall dishonour and infamie For this cause if the Duke had said Bernardin Court ingrate full to Lewes Duke of Milan truely I would neuer haue thought that Bernardin Court would haue betraied me he had not deserued blame In like manner he ought not to be reprooued who hauing prouided for euery thing is assailed by some so strange and grieuous accident that being wholy without reason it was impossible by any iudgement and counsell to foresee or preuent it being imposible with reason to foresee any thing which of it selfe is without reason as was this most grieuous accident which could not be imagined and to be placed in the number of prodigious monsters by which the pouder and other munition prouided and prepared to be sent to diuers places before the Castle gate of Milan tooke fire and was burnt when the skye was cleere and very faire and still weather the lightning came downe from Heauen and did so great hurt whereof afterwards ensued so many losses and discommodities Vpon this occasion if the Captaine of the Castle had said I would neuer haue thought that this should haue befallen me he had not deserued to haue been reproued But speaking of those which vndertake to doe some enterprise and haue time to be aduised and to prouide for things necessarie when through their fault they attaine not to what they desired or failing of their hopes whereon their desseignes were grounded or through want of sight and order taken in all as it behoued I say that then it ill beseemeth a man to say I thought not thereof Federicque de Bezolo fell into this fault when he vndertooke the enterprise of Parma in the yeare 1529. whereof Francis Guicciardin was gouernour generall for the Pope after the death of Leo the tenth if the author for his owne praise make not the matter greater for Federicque went thither without prouision of Artillerie sauing two little Peeces being setled vpon this imagination that Guicciardin being inexperienced in the affaires of the warres would not defend the Citie and make his partie good against him But this imagination deceiued him and he being forced to retire from Parma to his losse and dishonour He may say according as Guicciardin himselfe hath written that nothing had deceiued him in this enterprise whereof he was the author but that he had not thought that a gouernour being no man of war newly come to that Citie would haue vndertaken the defence and put himselfe in danger after the death of the Pope without hope of
to hold himselfe equal with him which constrained him to be inferiour and inequall If he who hath been constrained to accept of some vnreasonable conditions may haue the better of him that forced him I say that seeing hee is out of his hands and power hee may resolue not to keepe any promise made vnto him nor obserue any Articles thereof And for this cause the Romanes would not maintaine nor obserue the promises which they had made vnto the Samnites and for the same reason the great King Francis the first Monarke of France Wherefore King Francis the first would not performe the articles of agreement made betweene him and Charles the fift would not maintaine to Charles the fift any thing that he had promised concerning Burgundie or any other matter when he was prisoner because that they then and he now being at liberty might at euen hand encounter their enemies and againe trie the fortune of the warres and win as it happened to the Romanes But when a man that is forced to agreement cannot possibly haue the vpper hand or to returne again equally to fight with him who hath constrained him he ought not to faile of his promise and he which doth otherwise committeth a great fault for he which seeth himselfe mockt fretteth against him to whom whilest he was in his hands hee granted and did some fauour and againe maketh warre against him doth wholy vndoe and ruinate him or bindeth him in such sort that he shall haue no more occasion to breake promise with him neither to assemble forces to resist or make head against him The Saguntines fell into this error when the first time that they were inuaded by Hanniball of Carthage Plutarch of noble women as Plutarch reciteth in the treatise of noble women and principally of the women of Sagunt for saith he before that Hanniball leuied armes to inuade Italie he went into Spaine to take the Citie of Sagunt and the siege thereof was so furious that the Saguntines vnable to withstand it came to a composition and promised Hanniball to doe what he would commaund them and sware that they would bee obedient and obserue their promises And among other conditions were these that Hanniball should raise his siege and depart and so soone as he should be out of the countrie and the Citie free and at libertie they should pay him three hundred talents of siluer which may amount to the summe of one hundred and foure score thousand French Crownes of gold and should deliuer vnto him three hundred gentlemen for hostages of all that they had couenanted and agreed vpon together After the siege was raised and Hanniball out of the countrie and land of Sagunt the Saguntines repenting them of the agreement would not obserue their promises made by force Wherewith Hanniball being moued returned to besiege the Citie in such sort Hannibal compelled the Saguntines to depart out of their Countrey with onely the clothes on their hackes that the Saguntines to saue their liues were content to accept of what the Carthaginians would and Hanniball commaunded them to lay downe their Armes and permitted the men to depart the Citie in their coates onely and would not suffer that the women should carrie any more then one sute of apparell vpon their backes onely and that they should goe so whither they would These were farre harder conditions then the first which they needed not to haue receiued if they had not failed of their first promises made perforce being vnable to master the enemie neither again to trie their fortune by Armes for being vnequall vnto him In the yeere of our saluation 1277. Ottacar King of Bohemia hauing first made some promises to the Emperour Rodulph the first and hauing sworne to them and done him homage in his Pauillion which he did perforce and for feare to lose the battaile which should presently haue beene fought for his Armie was by a great deale lesse in number then the Emperours and for this cause hee accepted perforce of any condition offered vnto him But after that Ottacar was returned into his kingdome Cunicunda his wife reproued and blamed him for his small courage and that he without one blow striken had accepted and receiued so great dishonour Wherefore wroth at his wiues words and for the remembrance which was yet fresh of the iniurie which Rodulph had done him when he made him to be seene of all his armie vpon his knees before him for his Pauillion was made in such sort that it fell iust then when hee vpon his knees did him homage which hee would not to haue happened he againe rebelled and held no part of his promise Wherfore putting themselues both in armes and the King of Bohemia willing againe to trie the fortune of the warre battaile was giuen wherein for this that Ottacar was of lesse force though equall in despite and choler he was ouercome and slaine which had not happened vnto him if he had considered that he could not fight with equall force against the Emperour and that he was then in the same necessitie which he was in before when he first compounded with him And if the Emperour had not been of so good a minde and conscience as hee was hee might haue seazed on his kingdome by the law of Armes The noble minde of the Emperour Rodulph the first but being content to haue ouercome hee gaue the kingdome of Bohemia to Vinceslaus sonne of King Ottacar deceased and withall gaue him his daughter in mariage Hee then which will not maintaine and keepe his promises made perforce let him first measure himselfe and his forces and see whether he be able to make his partie good against his enemie and then if he finde himselfe able to doe it he may resolue to faile of his promises But he that hath not forces to ouercome or equally to resist let him not put himselfe in danger for hee will euer finde himselfe deceiued CHAP. 72. VVhen a Generall or chiefe Commander too much doubteth his enemie and too much distrusteth his owne forces he shall neuer effect any laudable enterprises TO make account of an enemie as much as is needful is the part of a wise Captain but to haue such opinion and to make so great reckoning of him that it bereaueth you of courage to assaile him is rather a signe of base feare then of a wise doubt Wherefore when a Generall gouerneth himselfe with consideration and sheweth that hee so much esteemeth the enemies valour that he will not hazard rashly to assault him neither with shame and pusillanimitie to flie from him he doth well maketh himselfe knowne to bee wise and of iudgement But to the contrary when he sheweth to make such account of him to haue such distrust in his owne forces that he dareth not attempt to sound him hee shall neuer be able to doe any thing of worth and in vaine shall spend his time and the charge which he must be at
and the issue of the warre shall be dishonorable vnto him and dammageable to his Prince This is perceiued betweene two priuate enemies when the one in his heart conceiueth a great opinion of the valour and courage of the other and distrusteth himselfe either because he wanteth courage or knoweth not how to handle his weapons this conceit maketh him so fearefull that he escheweth all occasions to enter into any quarrell against him and to fight with him Wee see the like in open warres that when one armie too much esteemeth and is afraid of the other it doth nothing else but retire and turne to this place or that place encampe in some strong place and make delaies so as wanting courage to assaile the enemie without making any proofe and experiment whether they had reason to feare or no. Francis Maria Duke of Vrbin being Generall for the Venetians and the League after the deliuerie of the French King was to go to relieue and set at libertie Francis Sforce who was besieged in the Castle of Milan being come to the Citie he conceiued such an opinion of the Spanish and Almaine souldiers which besieged the Castle and had so small confidence in his own Armie that he esteemed it vile so that although there were therein many old souldiers and famous Captaines of Italie yet he tooke a conceit in his mind that he would not charge them without some mightie squadron of Swissers and going to Milan for this enterprise to deliuer the Duke and the Castle he lost so much time in attending the Swissers that he gaue leaue meanes and leisure to the Duke of Bourbon to enter into Milan with a garrison and forces of other Spanish troupes and his hope was lost and the foundation laid on the people of Milan And so many other occasions seruing fit for his purpose to haue effected his desseignes and to haue preuailed in this enterprise escaped out of his hands and in the end with this delaying and remouing his Campe from place to place attending the comming of the Swissers he went to the gates of Milan thinking to haue found no resistance but at the first charge hee found himselfe deceiued for the Spaniards well defended the port towards Rome which he assaulted and slew fortie of his men and wounded many and in defending the Suburbes was done the like Wherefore the Duke being more confirmed in his opinion of the valour of the enemie and the cowardise of his Italian souldiers Guicci lib. 17. hee suddenly determined to withdraw himselfe from Milan with his Armie and so the same night he gaue the Popes Lieutenant and the Pourueiour of the Venetians to vnderstand of his determination and how that hee had alreadie begun to put it in execution perswading them to doe the like and so going to incamp himselfe at Marignan he resolued not to depart from thence vntill his succours of twelue thousand Swissers should be come iudging it impossible to obtaine the victorie without two armies whereof each of them apart had beene sufficient to haue withstoode and resisted the enemies vnited altogethers And although the chiefe Commanders of the Armie of the League were discontent with this departure and were of diuers opinions of this his sudden resolution in the end it was thought that the Duke did it for no other cause then for that he was returned to his first opinion by the which he stood in greater doubt of the forces of the enemie and did more distrust the valour of the Italian souldiers then all the rest of the Captaines and Commanders did And among others the Lord Iohn de Medicis who commaunded the Arriergard with the Popes Infantrie would neuer retire vntill it was light day saying that in stead of victorie he would not beare the shame and dishonour to runne away by night That the Dukes feare and his sudden determination were without any foundation experience and the issue of the affaires doe plainly make manifest for there was none of the Emperors armie that sallied out to charge the Arriergard and taile of the armie and when it was day the Spaniards themselues did marueile at their sudden disorderly retraite A Captaine then ought not so to drowne himselfe in his own conceit and iudgement of the valour and cowardise of others if first hee haue not made and that more then once some notable triall for to settle an opinion and to beleeue that it is so maketh a man fearefull and when the Lion which leadeth the Harts shall seeme to be afraid hee shall neuer make the Harts become Lions and when the Generall shall shew himselfe dismaied the souldiers will likewise be out of heart I thinke the Duke of Vrbin did it not without ripe iudgement and it might so be that he knew the Duke of Bourbons entrie into Milan which was very secret and was not peraduenture knowne to the rest and that he saw many difficulties to remaine there knowne to himselfe onely and therefore chose this manner of retraite for that he would not engage his Armie being vnable to succour the Duke of Milan And being a most noble Prince and in that time esteemed the most wise Captaine that followed the warres and reputed the chiefe Captaine of all Italie as in truth he was it is not to be beleeued that hee would haue retired so without some great reason which hee alone did vnderstand well knowing also that this retraite would be accounted little to his honour CHAP. 73. Princes ought to giue no charge to couetous Men. A Great Prince ought to foresee and principallie to take order for three things which are of great importance to wit to the gouernment of estates and prouinces the managing of the warres the guard of holds and Fortresses for all which a couetous man is altogether vnfit For this auarice consisting in the desire of gaine and the villanous and Mechanicall sparing to spend it followeth that when such men haue any of those charges that they let all goe to ruine either for sparing to spend any thing of their owne to maintaine and preserue it or to make their benefit by letting it be lost and so the order of all things being by the couetous man peruerted it followeth of force that all must goe to wracke A couetous seruant to the gouernours of Prouinces and estates representing the person of the Prince may be the occasion of rebellion and also the losse of the estate by rebellion and mutinie when by new great charges exactions and impositions the people Prouinces and Cities fall into despaire and lose their patience This auarice consisteth in getting as it happened by the seruants and Captaines which for the Romane Empyre gouerned the Prouince of the Battauians while as the Empyre was diuided Couetous seruants and officers are the cause of the runne of their Prince and rebellion of his subiects and the two Emperours at warres togethers these Gouernours making choyse of Souldiers they enrolled the olde men to the
man then doth deferre and loseth time the enterprise is pestered and in danger to proue ill Wherefore when a man hath concluded to doe a thing and the qualitie of the matter requireth diligence it ought speedily to bee executed for the delaying may in an instant alter the estate of the affaires prouided that a man be not troubled by certaine accidents which he could not foresee and so turned from that which he ought to haue put in effect principally in the warres and conseruation of things alreadie gotten for the least fault which a man committeth may giue leisure and occasion to the enemie so to prouide that all the plots and counsels how good soeuer shall serue to no purpose Enterprises ought to be consulted of in cold blood and executed in hot blood And for this cause men say that counsels and enterprises are to be taken in hand in cold blood and the execution thereof to bee done in hot blood That to deferre and delay the execution of things first well deuised is the occasion of losse and harme may plainly be seene by Charles the 8. King of France who hauing happily conquered the realme of Naples lost when he returned into France much time and was slow in sending according to the resolution taken garrisons and prouisions necessarie for the keeping of those things which he had gotten For he was no sooner out of Italie but hee began to lose all and the occasion was that while as he was at Lions and ought speedily to haue prouided for the wars and to returne presently againe into Italie hee tooke without reason and without consideration of the importance of the affaires post horse Guicci lib. 3. and rode to Paris to see a Ladie which hee much loued His departure was the cause that the affaires of Naples went from euill to worse for they which had the guard of Castles and Fortresses and did attend succours from France seeing it so farre off and so long a comming compounded with the enemie and lightly rendred that which they had easily gotten And so the losse of time and negligence in affaires of great importance well deuised but ill executed was cause of the shamefull losse of a Realme conquered with great glorie Don Hugues de Moncado Viceroy of Naples committed the same fault in the yeare 1528. when the Lorde of Lautrech was before Naples with a French Armie for the said Moncado had determined to disperse and scatter the Fleete and armie by Sea of Phillipin de Doria which held all the coast of Salern in subiection and did stoppe the passage of victuals and other prouision to goe to Naples he rigged certaine vessels and furnished them with braue Souldiers with whom went many Lords and the same Don Hugues himselfe in person The said Armie in good order being parted from Polisippo arriued at the Isle of Capra where Don Hugues did this notable fault that to no purpose hee lost much time and this losse of time with the diligence of Phillipin who hauing sented the determination of the Imperialists had somewhat prouided for his affaires was the cause that the succours which hee had demaunded of the Lord of Lautrech had time to arriue at Doria his Armie and to put themselues in order to fight and the time was so short that the French had scarcely setled themselues in the Gallies when Don Hugues arriued and they must fight where Doria remained victour and Don Hugues was slaine and many Lords were taken prisoners and so Moncado to his hurt and losse gaue example to others not to lose time about needlesse things in enterprises which haue neede of diligence He deserueth not to bee blamed who doth not speedilie execute his determination if he be hindred by some strange accident which could not be foreseene before it came and whereto a man could yeeld no remedie after it was come as that which happened to Peter de Medicis when with his forces hee tooke his way towards Florence and to haue reentred into it for if he had not been hindred his comming was so sudden that they within had not had leasure to haue made resistance But when Peter was vpon the way there fell so great and continuall raine that he was constrained to stay and could not get to the Citie before it was late and this stay gaue time to his aduersaries within to Arme themselues and to make him resistance CHAP. 76. Those Princes which make no account of their Generals which faithfullie serue them but giue them occasion to forsake their pay and seruice commit great faults THe dishonest and vituperable vice of ingratitude ought by Princes Common-wealths to be auoyded as most vnworthie to be lodged in royall hearts and the breasts of noble Senatours and if a man euer ought to flye it in any thing he ought principally to doe it in the behalfe of Captaines and others chiefe Commaunders in the warres by whom the Prince hath been faithfully serued prouided that the fault grow not from themselues And whether it be either Prince or Common-wealth that be reduced to this point to be ingratefull to those who valiantly and faithfully haue serued them a man may say that they are fallen blinde and that not onely they haue small care of their reputation but that they perceiue not that they incurre great dangers which are of importance This ingratitude of custome riseth through many occasions among which this is one that a man knowing sometime that he hath receiued a great pleasure and cannot sufficiently recompence it he resolueth to pay it with ingratitude But speaking to the purpose I say that a Prince which giueth occasion to his Captaines to forsake him after that they haue well and truly serued him and to goe oftentimes to the seruice of his enemies besides the spot and staine of ingratitude he incurreth the dishonour and blame of auarice and it is to be deemed that the same proceedeth from the inconsideration of him who is now escaped out of the necessitie and danger wherein he was who thinketh that he shall neuer returne and reenter into the same againe Of this condition are those who hauing had a Generall or other chiefe and valorous conductor in their seruice in the warres for the least occasion that may happen estrange themselues vnto them and displace them with small reputation for their parts and vsing vnciuill demeanour toward them giue them occasion to leaue them and goe to their enemies This manner of proceeding is very dangerous and draweth after it many euils which afterwards proue remedilesse for a man can giue no greater ioy to an enemie than this to wit to giue him meanes to draw from him men that are valiant and faithfull and to bring them to his seruice for this cause the sayings of Artaxerxes vsed to Themistocles the Athenian who was banished by his Citizens and comming to see him were much commended I cannot said he desire a greater euill to mine enemies than that being
then manly his Romane nurture was nothing pleasing to them and disliking his humanitie and familiaritie which they tooke for pusillanimitie weaknes and want of spirit in a short time after they depriued him of the kingdome because hee could not or would not fashion himselfe according to the manners of the countrie where he was CHAP. 98. Jt is a shamefull and dishonest thing to wrong and doe iniurie to strangers IT is a thing voyde of all ciuilitie and good manners to doe or suffer to be done any iniurie to those which are receiued into our house as strangers which ought to liue vnder our sauegard and protection neither more nor lesse than as our neerest friends and Parents it were better not to receiue them than to doe them any wrong or suffer them to be vsed in such sort that they should haue occasion to complaine that towards them the holy lawes of hospitalitie and courtesie towards strangers were violated Wherefore I haue euer disliked those Lords which haue about them iesters and dwarfs or such like traine of most base condition who receiuing some honourable Gentleman stranger into their houses permit that those either in word or deed say or doe them any iniurie couering the dishonesty of the speech or fact with this leane excuse that the iniurie was done by a foole where the fooles themselues not discerning the qualitie of men thinke that all men are of like condition which is false for our humors are not all of one kinde and some one man is pleased and delighteth in those toyes and another hateth them And I remember that a filthie dwarfe very shamelesse and vnmannerly in discourse as the most part of such vermine vse to be was likely to haue been throwne by a noble personage out at a Palace window where hee was lodged and although that this Lorde through great intreatie did not throwe the dwarfe out at the windowes yet he presently made signe to his seruants and departed from this pallace and went to lye in a religious cloyster much blaming him that had intertained him not that he was any way offended or iniured through the Masters fault of the house but because he kept such rascally scumme in his house which knew no difference betweene man and man but vsed al alike Hospitalitie is a vertue worthy a gentleman and a christian but when it is violated it is changed into a palce of robberie so as that lodging which by the law of hospitalitie was holie becommeth a wood and a lurking place and ill assured and a stranger may say being iniuried that he found more securitie in forrests then in houses and more curtesie among beasts then among men From whence proceeded the perpetuall infamie and dishonour to Procust and Sciron slaine by Theseus but from the cruelty which they vsed towards strangers which fell into their hands For as Plutarch saith the one had a bed where he lodged al the guests which he brought into his house and if the man were longer then the bed he cut off his legs if he were shorter he stretched him so out in length that he fitted him to the bed and the other bending downe the boughes of trees to the ground wherto he tied his guests by the members then cutting the cords wherewith the boughes were fastened to the earth took great pleasure to see a man dismēbred in this manner Wherfore the Prophet in the Psalmes said Dominus custodiet aduenas pupillum viduam suscipiet vias peccatorum disperdet As if hee would say there are three sorts of people in the world preserued by the Lord and are as in his safeguard to wit Strangers Orphanes and Widowes That God defendeth and keepeth strangers we haue examples in the holie Scriptures Particular persons preserued of God for where mans wisedome could not defend them the secret iudgement of God hath supplied it Abraham was a stranger in Egypt and feared that the beautie of his wife would bee an occasion of dishonour vnto her and of hurt vnto him and so as a man he sought humane meanes and although that hee would not tell a lye yet he sought neuerthelesse to conceale one truth in alleaging another willing her to say that she was his sister and conceale that she was his wife but in that that God taketh care and charge of strangers Abraham was miraculously deliuered but not by his owne wisedome and with his honor life saued he performed the voyage he had begun Wherefore saith the Prophet that God taketh care for strangers Hath he not care for all doth he not regard all doth he not bestow his benefits vpon all as well euill as good doth he not desire that all should be saued doth he not call all vnto him and finally is not he the vniuersall father of all that euer were are or shall be Wherefore then doth he say that hee careth for the strangers and protecteth the orphanes and widowes because that there are none in the world which haue more neede of helpe then these three The stranger hath neede of some bodie to set him in the right way the pupill of some one to protect him and preserue what is his and the widow of some one to defend her from the oppression of those which are too mightie for her The stranger hath need of one to defend him from iniuries the pupill hath neede of one to assure and defend him against him which pretendeth right to his inheritance and the widow hath neede of one to keepe and preserue her from him which would deceiue her The stranger hath neede of one to lodge him in curtesie in his house the pupill of one who may keepe him neere about him as his childe and the widow of him who may preserue her pudicitie and to keepe her good name Among which three degrees of persons preserued of God hee first nameth the stranger because that hee is more forsaken then the rest for the pupill hath his tutors and the widow her kindred For this cause God preserued innocent Ioseph being sold to the Ismaelites and made young Tobias to be accompanied by an Angell being to goe into a strange countrie Yea the same Prophet reciting the misdeedes and wickednes of the vniust and praying to God to behold them with the eye of his iustice among other things saith thus Viduam aduenam interfecerunt pupillos occiderunt They haue murthered the widow and the stranger and haue put the pupils to death for as there are none found in the world more humble more subiect to iniuries and more vnworthie to bee grieued and wronged then the stranger the widow and the pupill so a man cannot imagine a greater villanie then that which is done to one of those The faults which a man wittingly committeth against his friends are great but those which are committed against straungers are most great in this that hauing neither friends nor parents which may support and defend their right any
man that wrongeth them sheweth himselfe to bee most base and pusillanimous seeing that a generous heart can neuer be induced to doe wrong or iniurie to one that is lesse then himselfe For which cause there haue bin many which haue chosen to bee rather wronged in their honour then to suffer strangers to bee dishonoured in their houses and others haue rather suffered violence in their bodies then that those which they had receiued and lodged in their houses should indure any abuse Others haue better loued to obserue inuiolably the dutie of hospitalitie then to gaine the friendship of an Empire and others haue preferred the gentle entertainment of strangers before the deliuerie of their country from tyrannie We reade in the booke of Iudges in the 19. chapter that an old Gabaonite lodged a young Leuite in his house and seeing that certaine impudent young men of Gabaa would doe wrong vnto this Leuite who had a most faire wife the old man went forth and offered them his daughter to the end they should not grieue the Leuite but the Leuite would not suffer that his host who had curteously lodged him should be touched and grieued in honour but hee abandoned his wife to their vnbridled rage and after this execrable fact hee followed the rigorous and memorable vengeance against the Gabaonites And so a man may see that the old Gabaonite was readie to suffer that his owne daughter should rather be dishonoured then endure that the Leuite lodged in his house should receiue any iniurie In the time of Totila Cerbon a man of holie life was Bishop of a Citie in Tuscane called Popolongna this man loued better to endure death and to be slaine by Totila then to discouer certain strangers which he had lodged in his house He suffered himselfe to bee throwne by this Tyrant and giuen to Beares to the end that they should haue deuoured him rather then to suffer that those which he had hidden should fall into the hands of him who was more inraged and cruell then a Beare But Totila seeing that those cruell beasts did not hurt him notwithstanding that he was in the midst among them was ashamed to take life from him to whom the sauage beasts would doe no harme and let him goe After the battaile of Cannas wherein Hanniball defeated the Romane armie with two Consuls Hanniball retired with victorie to Capua and was lodged by a gentleman of Capua in his house This gentlemans sonne named Perolla much affected to the Romanes had a desire to kill Hanniball but his father would not suffer him to doe it not permitting him to kill so great a Captaine in his owne house And among many reasons which Titus Liuius bringing in the father of this young man speaking to his sonne disswading him from killing Hanniball hee produceth him among the most liuely and effectuall saying That hee should not soyle his hands in the blood of a stranger nor staine and defile his table of hospitalitie where Hanniball had in saftie drunke and eaten The Romanes had warres against Phillip of Macedon and desiring to draw the Etolians vnto their partie and to bring Phillip into disgrace with them as the Romane Oratours spake to the Senate of the Etolians among other matters they alleaged and reproched vnto Phillip the homicide murther of a stranger whom he lodging in his house had caused to be slaine Wherein it is to be seene that the outrage done to strangers is imputed vnto men among most odious villanies Cornelius Tacitus in the fifteenth booke of his histories saith that at Rome was a conspiracie against Nero wherein were many participants to wit Senatours sundrie of the Order of Knighthood many souldiers and some women all these conspired together to kill Nero being vnable to endure his so great and many villanies and tyrannies the conspiracie came to this point that there wanted nothing but to finde a place fit to put it in execution The conspiratours consulted together of the time and place one would haue him killed in the Citie and Theater while he was singing or that a house should be set on fire and while hee ranne thither without guard a man might haue oportunitie to kill him Another would haue him killed in the fieldes another in the Palace one was of opinion to haue him killed in the Temple one named one place another another In fine they resolued to execute this enterprise in the house of a certaine man called Caius Piso who was one of the conspiratours a man who for his good qualities and vertues was wished to haue been chosen to the imperiall dignitie Piso had his house and farme at Baya whither Nero of custome did vse to walke to passe the time and stayed there most commonly without guard and without weapons as in a place most secure Piso would not consent thereto saying that hee would not defile his house with the blood of any Prince whatsoeuer he were neither his table of hospitalitie and receiuing of guests whither the Emperour came with assurance and trust adding further that as often as Nero came into his house he receiued him as a stranger and not as a Prince Lorenzin de Medicis had not that consideration and respect notwithstanding his good affection to Cornelius Tacitus when he slew Alexander de Medicis Duke of Florence for he regarded not that he was in his house and vpon his bed whither Alexander vsed to goe with great assurance neither whether he were in his house as a guest or as a kinsman or as a Duke for hee as a resolute conspiratour had determined to kill him where soeuer hee might finde oportunitie thereto by reason whereof he peraduenture deserued no lesse blame for hauing quelled him in his house where hee held himselfe for very assured being lodged and asleepe vpon his bed then to haue slaine a man after whose death ensued not any thing of that which he had proiected But Piso would haue hospitalitie and curtesie towards strangers held in such reuerence as in ancient time was vsed which was holie free and venerable euen as they held for holie free and venerable the publike faith which it was not lawfull to violate And although that a man with iust cause were angrie and displeased with another man yet so often as he shal come where hee may haue his will of him put himselfe into his hands enter into his house and lie in his bed all wrath and hatred ought to bee laid aside and to consider how much importeth the blame to haue violated hospitalitie receiuing of strangers which is alwaies greater then any other commoditie or contentment which may possiblie happen by breaking and violating the same CHAP. 99. How blame-worthie the vice of ingratitude is in all manner of persons IF I euer desired to be prouided and furnished with liuely and fit speeches effectuall and of force I desire it in this occasion wherewith I must blame a vice which cannot be so much blamed as it