DISCOVRSES UPON Cornelius Tacitus Written in Italian by the Learned Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi Dedicated To the Serenissimo Ferdinand the second Great Duke of Thuscany And Translated into English by Sir Richard Baker Knight LONDON Printed by E. G. for R. Whitaker and Tho. Whitaker at the Kings Armes in S. Pauls Church-yard 1642. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM Lord Viscount Say and Seale Master of his Highnesse Court of Wards and Liveries and one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Counsell Most Honoured Lord I Should not have the boldnesse to present this booke unto your Lordship if besides the great service I owe you the Argument of the Booke did not invite me to it for consisting of Politique Discourses and considerations of State it is most fit to be presented to Counsellours of State amongst which I knew not whom better to present it to then to your Lordship and no lesse then the Argument of the Booke the Authour thereof invites me to it for being a learned Lord of Jtaly none more fit to entertaine him then some learned Lord of England of which number this Kingdome affordeth none more eminent then your Lordship I must not speake so much as I think for offending the modesty of your eare but I may boldly speake so much as all the world sees that nature and Art have joyned together to make you perfect in your place which is to be a faithfull Counsellour to the King and a loving Patriot to your Countrey for both which if I should not my selfe acknowledge an obligation to you I might worthily be thought unworthy to be accounted which I specially desire to be Your Lordships humble and devoted servant RICHARD WHITAKER TO THE SERENISSIMO FERDINAND the second great Duke of Thuscany my most gracious Lord. SEeing to nothing I am more bound then to serve your Highnesse I cannot consequently have any greater desire then to be accounted your servant that as the benefits which our House continually receiveth are publikely knowne so the markes of my devotion may publikely appeare which after dedicating my selfe to your Highnesse I cannot better manifest then by offering these Discourses which are so farre unequall to your greatnesse and to what I ow you that it may well appeare to be rather done for confession of my debt then for satisfaction of that obligation which as it can onely receive abatement from your commands so commands comming from so great a Prince will have force againe to make it the greater Vouchsafe then to honour me with commanding me thereby to make me the more obliged and be pleased to accept these weake labours with looking upon the value which your Heroicall Name gives them And upon the weight which my devotion puts upon them with which I wish to your Highnesse all those felicities which as you give manifest proofes to merit so by the divine goodnesse you shall happily obtaine And so I present you the most humble Reverence Of Your Highnesse most devoted servant VIRGILIO MALVEZZI To the Reader That yong men may be good writers in the Politicks and why Cornelius Tacitus gives so great contentment to them that read him IN antiquis est sapientia in multo tempore prudentia If it be true as true indeed it is which the holy Text by the mouth of Job intimates that onely old men are wise certainly it is in nothing more true then in things which belong to action Whereupon the Queene of Saba hearing the most wise Salomon although by the answers he gave to her questions she found he was deeply seene in the secrets of Philosophy and in the mysteries of Divinity yet she made no shew of wondring at it but when she found him endowed with no lesse excellency in things belonging to action then she brake forth into words of astonishment Major est sapientia opera tua quam rumor quem audivi Beati viri tui beati servi tui qui stant coram te semper audiunt sapientia mtuam Shewing thereby that it is no great marvell for a yong man to be excellent in things of contemplation the marvell is if he be excellent in matters of action seeing those require onely sharpnesse of wit which easily growes in verdant spirits these soundnesse of judgement which gets not maturity but by long experience and for this cause Aristotle excluded yong men from active Philosophy and a regard also to this had the Authour of the Tryviall saying That young men may be good Mathematicians but not good Philosophers I therefore may justly be taxed with over-great boldnesse to take upon me to speake in matters of Action being so yong a man as I am when it were fitter I should stand to learne of others then to put my selfe forward to be a Teacher And for this as S. Gregory well observes our Lord Christ in his childhood though he had taught and confounded the Doctours yet by all meanes would have his mother finde him hearkning to them as to learne of them The consideration of this would have stayed me from undertaking such a worke were it not that I detest so much the name of idlenesse that for avoyding of that I rather venture to incurre the blame of too great boldnesse Publishing these my discourses which in one course of the Sunne have had their beginning encrease and finishing and God grant that in the same yeere after the order of nature they have not also their decrease and abolishing and that in comming to the light they beginne not like their Authour from darknesse and then tarry in darknesse still Yet it is true that I have waies enow to desend my selfe from such calumniations And first as to this particular objection that yong men are not fit for action we must know that all action is preceded by contemplation which is the action of the mind and understanding seeing a thing cannot be in the will till it be first in the understanding according to that well knowne rule Nihil volitum quod non sit praecognitum As for example before it be determined to strike battell it is deliberated in counsell which is nothing else but to contemplate whether the action be good or bad And this Sallust sheweth us where he saith Nam priusquam incipias consulto ubi consulueris mature facto opus est And therefore to execute and doe a thing well it is needfull to have gotten a habit in the action which habit growing from many acts often iterated requires an experience which cannot be had without length of time and oftentimes not without a temper in the affections Now for contemplating an action there need not so many things but as he that is to execute a thing cannot doe it well if he have not the habit and the habit he cannot have but by doing many Acts so he that is to contemplate an action that is to be done must necessarily have a knowledge of that action which we may call a habit of the
contrary to the first and I doubt is at this day more used then is fit and it is to give eare and heare what every one sayes and to take any mans counsell that will give it which thing be it spoken with others leave seemes to me not onely to be subject to confusion but also to contempt because every one will then pretend to counsell the Prince who hearing continually such diversity of opinions must needs be confounded in himselfe and despised of others whereupon in the Histories of Tacitus when it was debated to send Embassadours to Vespatian Elvidius Priscus was of mind that men of great wisedome and judgement should be sent who might helpe the Prince with good advises but Marcellus Epirius was of another mind as knowing it to be a most distastefull thing to give a Prince counsell without being required Whereupon although Plato commend Cyrus for giving leave to any of his subjects to speake his opinion in any thing that was to be done yet to me it seemes a thing dangerous for him that gives it and more for him that takes it And therefore Claudius hearkning once to counsell in this manner was confounded not knowing what he should doe turning himselfe sometimes to one mans counsell and sometimes to anothers Ipse modo huc modo illuc ut quemque suadentium audierat and at last finding his errour he called a counsell A Prince therefore in my opinion ought alwaies to have about him him a Band of experienced men In quibus sit veritas qui oderint avaritiam by truth is meant wisdome which according to the Philosopher is nothing else but a knowledge of the truth and by covetousnesse are understood all vices because as the Scripture saith Avaritia est Principium omnium malorum if then they have wisedome they will be able to give counsell and if they be free from vice they will give it but yet I hold it not fit that at their owne pleasure without being called by the Prince they should fall a counselling which perhaps Sallust knowing was the cause he durst not give Tiberius counsell about the death of Agrippa Sed monuit Liviam ne arcana domus consilia amicorum ministeria militum vulgarentur an arrogancy not sufferable in a servant to presume to give his master counsell without being called And who knowes but this presumption in Sallust might be the cause of his fall seeing he was out of the Princes favour before he died as Tacitus relates Amasias being reproved by the Prophet answered Nunquid Consiliarius regis es by which it appeares that those Kings used not to be counselled but by their Counsellours But if it be arrogancy in a servant to give counsell not being asked it as is much indiscretion in a Prince not to aske it This is that I would have Princes to doe have alwaies about them a Band of choice counsellours to aske their advice in all his affaires so did Nerva so Salomon teacheth to doe when in his Proverbs he saith Gloria regum est investigare sermonem that is a Prince ought not to stand expecting he should be counselled but rather it is fit he should go and seek after counsell After a Prince hath heard the opinions of his counsellours it may be doubted whether he ought to deliver his owne opinion and when and in what manner he should doe it As farre as I can judge I thinke it not fit he should deliver his owne either first or last or in the midst For if he doe it first all the rest will presently consent and if he doe it last every one will come about to his opinion as it happened to Henry the third who as Historians relate deliberating about the death of the Duke of Guise called foure to counsell of whom when two had spoken their opinions the King had scarcely heard them out when he delivered his owne cleane contrary to theirs whereupon the two that were to speake after presently fell to be of the Kings opinion and the two that had spoken before retracting their former advice consented to that the King had determined which determination was the ruine afterwards of France and of the King himselfe So in Spaine when it was deliberated about making peace betweene Henry the fourth King of France and the King of Spaine after Il Moro had spoken and the Kings sonne being present replied the contrary all the rest came presently to be of his opinion Whereupon not without great judgement Cneius Piso in Tacitus when Tiberius would deliver his opinion in a certaine cause said Quo loco censebis Câ—…esar si post omnes vereor ne imprudens dissentiam si primus habebo quod sequar Therefore Tiberius another time commanded Drusus that he should be the first to deliver his opinion The Prince therefore should be silent and finding his Counsellours of different opinions let them debate the matter betweene themselves that he may see who gives the best reasons so he shall avoyd contempt by not suffering himselfe to be counselled without asking it and he shall not be flattered if concealing his owne opinion the truth is made manifest by lâ—…tting them debate it betweene themselves and lastly he shall shew himselfe more learned and more wise then the other if of himselfe without any others direction intervening he shall determine the matter All these things in my opinion are comprised in that place of Ecclesiasticus Audi tacens simul quâ—…rens how can he be still that askes and heares but onely as I have explained it to aske counsell in all things to heare counsels and in hearing them to be silent and after of himselfe to determine as reason adviseth In this regard the ancient Poets feigned that Jupiter tooke counsell to be his wife meaning to shew that it is necessary for Princes to be counselled and after that his wife being great with child he swallowed her up and became himselfe great with child in his head and at the due time was delivered of Pallas which is wisdome to shew that counsell would be ruminated in the mind and that a Prince ought not to suffer his counsellours to be delivered themselves but ought by swallowing them up to make that to be his owne issue which was anothers That a Prince ought to determine of himselfe and ought not to determine of himselfe that is determine with counsell is the best of those that are given him and so not of himselfe seeing the counsels are other mens and yet of himselfe seeing the determination proceeds from his owne judgement I conceive it is sufficiently expressed in the booke of the Kings where Salomon saith Dabis ergo servo tuo cor dooile having said before Da mihi sapientiam For explanation of which passage we must know that understanding can have no knowledge of things but such as either it invents of it selfe or learnes of others To the finding them of it selfe is required a sharpnesse of wit and being
usurum promiscua caede This once heard by the souldiers they presently cut them all in pieces that were guilty of the mutiny and if this way yet would not have been sufficient seeing this tumult was grown out of idlenesse and he was not willing to use violence he might have taken the other Army and put himselfe in the way to go against the Enemy this course Caesar took who when the Army in France rebelled he took one Legion which he specially favoured with him and gave leave to the mutinous Legions to go home to Rome which once seen there vvas not a souldier that left not presently his mutinying follovved him a most easie vvay for if any thing hinder an Army that is in mutiny I mean not out of hatred from pacifying and appeasing it is a fear they have to be punished vvhich fear ceaseth as soon as they are taken to go against the Enemy every one hoping by some notable deed to cancell the blot of their Rebellion and therefore as soon as those first Legions vvere quieted they presently demanded to be led against the Enemy Puniret noxios ignosceret lapsis duceret in hostem Whereupon we see that after such mutinies Armies commonly shew more valour than at any time before as Livie shews in a thousand places and this Germanicus knew full well who after the slaughter the souldiers of Caecina had committed led them presently out against the Enemy Truces etiam tum animos cupido involat â—…undi in hostem piaculum furoris nec aliter posse placari Commilitonum manes quasi si pectoribus impiis honesta vulnera accepissent sequitur ardorem militum Caesar. And further if Germanicus were not willing to depart from the Army being in mutiny yet the mutiny having beene caused by a sudden motion he needed not have beene so hasty to seeke the appeasing of so new a mutiny but might have given the Souldiers deliberation and then reason taking place hee might without doubt have quieted them at his pleasure Our Lord Christ in a parable would not have the tares to be rooted out with the corne as long as it was in blade and greene but appointed to stay till they were dry and then dividing them cast the tares into the fire so should he doe with Armies that are in mutiny that seekes to preserve them and not to destroy them all He had another excellent way and most worthy for a Generall to follow and it was to threaten that whosoever did not follow him should be counted a Rebell and as a Rebell should be proceeded against a way of exceeding great force and especially in tumults where there is not a head and where they are all equally stub borne and every one feares for himselfe as was seene in Saul who being declared King was yet not followed but onely of some few whereupon an occasion falling out for relieving the Citie of Jah to the end the whole Army should follow him he caused two Oxen to be cut in pieces and be spread about all the borders of Israell threatning that whosoever did not follow him should have all his heards of cattell cut in pieces as those Oxen were Quicunque non exierit secutus fuerit Saul Samuel sic fiet bobus ejus and where the Israelites before would not all follow him now out of feare of the particular punishment there was not a man that did not follow him Invasit ergo it followes in the holy Text Timor Domini populum egressi sunt quasâ—… vir unus Now that it had beene easie for Germanicus by taking this course to have quieted the tumult is very evident seeing Menius onely by this course brought one of those Legions to returne backe into their Quarters where finding a particular punishment was designed where before they had a purpose to kill him now every one readily was content to follow him Raptum vexillum ad ripam fi quis agmine discessit pro desertore fore clamitans reduxit in Hyberna turbidos nihil ausos Germanicus also might have used another excellent way and it is he should have caused some trusty Centurion or Souldier to declare to this mutinous multitude the danger into which they were fallen and the errour they had committed for such people commonly give credit to men of such ranke as was seene in Iulius Arufpex who shewing to the people of Germany the danger they should incurre by rebelling against the Romans he easily quieted them though he had Iulius Valentinus that opposed him At Iulius Aruspex 〈◊〉 primoribus Remorum vim Romanam pacisque bona dissertans sumi bellum etiam ab ignavis strenuissimi cujusque periculo geri jamque super caput Legiones sapientissimum quemque reverentia fideque juniores periculo ac metu continuit Valentini animum laudabant confilium 〈◊〉 sequebantur So Cerealis also speaking to the Treviri after that manner appeased them as by the processe of that Oration he makes in Tacitus may be seene The very same manner Drusus used with the Legions of Illyricum imploying one Clement a Centurion in grace with the Souldiers for his meanes to pacifie that sedition Accitur Centurio Clemens 〈◊〉 qui alii bonis artibus grati in vulgus in Vigiliis stationibus custodiis portarum se inserunt spem offerunt metum intendunt And that this way would have beene available also to Germanicus is evident seeing Caecina making use hereof with two of those Legions he so wrought them that they spared not to punish the chiefe of the sedition Another way also he might have used and that was to have pretended himself their Captain in the Sedition or if not himselfe which in many respects was not fit for Germanicus at least to have caused some other principall man to feigne himself to be of their opinion and all other remedies fayling I suppose this might have stood Germanicus in great stead because men commonly give great credit to their counsels who are interessed in the matter as beleeving they speak sincerely For this cause David caused his trusty friend Chusci the Arachite to feigne himselfe of Absaloms side to the end he might hinder the counsell of Achitophel and it happily succeeded So Gamaliel standing amongst the Priests was a meanes to save Peters life Spurinna being in Placentia for defence of that Citie and seeing the Souldiers bent to fight with the Vitellians who farre exceeded them in number and in all advantages 〈◊〉 himselfe to be of their opinion seeing them in such a tumult and thereupon leading them forth hee easily made them see their errour and perceive the danger and shewing them good reasons he reduced them to obedience Fit 〈◊〉 alienae comes Spurinna primo coactus mox velle 〈◊〉 quo 〈◊〉 authoritatis inesset confiliis si seditio mitesceret And a little after Ipse postremo Spurinna non tam culpam exprobrans quam ratione ostendens relictis exploratoribus caeteros Placentiam
But for as much as Aristotle shews that from the end of one circulation another begins while pursuing this Argument he saith Ex Tyrannis rursus ad Plebem he that will consider in Rome those forms of government which for their small continuance I have omitted shall find plainly that even in those also there hath been a manifest circulation For after the Regall under Romulus it came to be a free estate under Brutus from that to be a government of a few under the decemviri lastly to be in the hand of a tyrant under Appius Claudius after whose death she recovered againe her liberty and then passing under the Power of a few setled at last in a Tyranny under Augustus and if there hapned afterward no new circulation the reasons thereof shall be shewed in another discourse But conceiving it to be the fittest course for examining of these revolutions to proceed by shewing the causes of them thereby to make men the better see that the events of former times have not been casuall and hapned by chance and also the better be able to prevent the like accidents that may hereafter happen I will therefore make my beginning at the Power Regall with which it ought not to seem strange that Rome at first was governed seeing it hath been the like in the foundings almost of all Cities as both Salust witnesseth Igitur Initio Reges nam in terris Nomen Imperii id primum fuit and Justin Principio rerum Gentium Nationumque Imperium penes Reges erat and also Aristotle Fuerat enim antiqua civitatum gubernatio paucorum Regia and besides these there are many examples in the holy Scripture that shew it to have been so Cain before the flood was founder of the first City that ever was in the World and he as S. Austin writes was a King as also his successours likewise after the flood the great City Babylon was scarce built when Nintrod as the Scripture saith Coepit esse Potens in terra There being therefore no doubt of the case having so many and great authorities to confirme it the next thing is to search out the causes amongst which the first may be taken from the first founding For Cities are sometimes founded by one alone and he a Private man as Rome by Romulus sometimes by one alone but he a Lord of other Cities as Constantinople by Constantine oftentimes by many joyning together and those many either all of one Country who for shunning of danger assemble themselves into one City as the Athenians did at Athens or else such as quite leave and forsake their ancient habitations which may happen either in time of peace when men are forced by the great overswarming of people to seeke new dwellings as the French did when they built Milan or else in time of warre when men flying from a Country wasted retire themselves into fresh places and this may happen under some one that is Head or Chieftaine or without Head without a Head as Venice under a Head as Lavinium Padoua and Athens the first built by Aeneas the second by Antenor the third by Theseus Now a City which is built by one alone whether he be a Private man or a King is no sooner founded but it comes presently to be under a Power Regall Those againe that are built by many joyning together whether it be that they fly by reason of warre or whether it be that in peace to enlarge themselves they seeke new countries These also fall presently under the power Regall because these things cannot well be done but where there is a superiour that is Head as Milan did under Bellovisus Padua under Antenor Lavinium under Aenaeas and Athens under Theseus But if a City happen to be built by many that are equals and have no chiefe amongst them in this case onely it may be that Cities have not their beginning under Kings of which there may be many occasions First when the end was not first publique to build a City but rather for private commodity where menmight place their persons and goods in safety which in other places by reason of warres they could not do and in case of such danger many building houses now one and then another have thereby made as it were a Village and at last a City Which having beene built insensibly and by fits is therefore not governed by Regall power which it would have been if it had been built at once by a number of people united together a thing impossible to happen where there is not a Head as Plato in his Dialogue of Lawes hath learnedly taught And therefore Venice having beene founded in the foresaid manner hath beene able to begin is and will be able to maintaine it selfe a free City there concurring together with the wisedome of him that built it the valour of him that governes it Secondly this may happen thorough the condition of those who without a Head joyne together to the founding of new Cities for if they be pious and religious of quiet dispositions not greedy of command and such as have had their education in a Common-wealth where they have learned rather to content themselves with equality then to aspire to soveraignty there is no doubt but they will rather set up a free estate then a Regall as it was at the founding of Venice Thirdly it may happen by reason of their weakenesse who were the founders amongst whom there being none fit or worthy to be a King they are all Commanders For this reason though falsely Tarquinius speaking to the Thoscans and Veientanes would have it that the City of Rome was become a Republique Se Regem augente bello Romanum Imperium a Proximis scelerata Conjuratione pulsos eos inter se quia nemo Vnus satis dignus Regno visus sit partes Regni rapuisse These are the occasions by which it happens that sometimes Cities in their beginnings are not governed by Kings but because it is a thing that seldom hapens we may well say that the first reason why the greatest part of Cities in their beginnings are governed by Kings is their founding which without a head can ill be done A second reason we may take from the Inhabitants who in the beginning being but few are apt to tolerate the Regall Power an instruction that Aristotle gives Propter paucitatem enim hominum non crat magmis memerus mediocriâ—… itaque pauci cum essent multitudine Institutione magis ferebant ab aliis gubernari and this certainely Livie meant when he said that if Brutus had deposed any of the first Kings while the multitude was yet unfit to beare any other government then the Regall the Common-wealth had thereby been Endangered Dissipatae res nondum adultae Discordia forent quas fovit tranquilla moderatio Imperii eoque nutriendo perduxit ut bonam frugem libertatis maturis jane viribus ferre possit A third reason and like unto this may be
taken from the difficulty to finde many in the first founding of a City that are of ability and fit to governe for which reason perhaps Aristotle saith Rex ab Initio repertus est quia difficile erat viros plures excellenti virtute reperiri And so much the more the City being then as Lucius Florus saith in her childhood and consequently wanton and given to pleasures and therefore had need of such a schoolmaster as a King is to keep them in awe whom liberty else would soone corrupt And to this purpose it is that Livie speaks and that of the liberty of Rome Quid enim futuâ—…m fuit si illa Pastoriâ—…m convenarumque plebs transfuga ex suis populis sub tutela Inviolati Templi aut libertateni aut certam impunitatem adepta soluta Regio metu agitare caepta esset Tribunitiis procellis No man therefore ought to marvell that our Lord God in the time of the Mosaicall Law never gave to the Hebrews a Common-wealth as long as either immediately by himselfe or else by the meanes of Kings or Judges he governed them in feare under severe lawes where of when men came to be more perfect he abated the rigour as Saint Austin excellently expresseth saying Deus Hebraeis diversa pro qualitate temporis imposuit Praecepta erant enim sub lege quast puert sub Pedguogo incluse and therefore Saint Paul saith Sub lege custodiebamur in Christo nutriens nos tanquam parvulos sub rigore Diseiplina The last reason is because a City in its Beginning hath need of Lawes which may better be given by one alone then by a multitude where of Aristotle gives the reason Quia Vnum nancisci paucos facilius est quam â—…ltos qui recfe sentiant possint leges condere jus constituere Now having shewed that not without just cause the City of Rome was in its beginning governed by Romulus it will not be amisse to examine the scituation of the City and therein to shew the Founders wisdome in the building it First therefore the scite of a City according to Aristotle ought neither to be too remote from the sea nor yet too neer it to the end that by too much remotenes it be not deprived of many commodities which the Sea is wont to bring in and by too great neernesse it be not exposed to the danger of suddaine assaults Secondly It ought to be in a good aire as the thing which of all other can most annoy us being continually not onely about us but taken into us Thirdly it ought to be in a place of plenty without which there can never accrew any greatnesse to a City Fourthly it ought to be in a place easie for carriage and bringing in of commodities Fiftly and lastly it ought to be in a place of advantage for assaulting its neighbours and difficult it selfe to be assaulted Now that Rome was scituated according to these rules of Aristotle is related by Livie where he saith Non sine causa Dii hominesque hunc urbi condendae locum elegerant saluberrimos colles here he shewes the goodnesse of the ayre Flumen optimum quo ex Mediterraneis locis fruges advehantur Here he shewes the facility of cariage either by Land or Water Mare vicinum ad commoditates nec expositum nimia propinquitate ad pericula classium externarum Nationum Here he shewes a neerenesse to the sea in respect of profit and a remotenesse in respect of danger Italiae Medium ad Incrementuan urbis natum unice Here he shewes the difficulty for being assaulted by people farre off being in the midst of Italy and by people neere hand by reason of its own strength We may therefore conclude that a City built to grow great cannot possibly have a more excellent scituation according to Aristotle then Rome had Libertatem Lucius Brutus Instituit How the City of Rome came from being governed by Kings to be a free State and what the difference is betweene a beginning and a cause The second Discourse HAving shewed the causes for which the City of Rome was in her first beginning governed by Kings I conceave it to be no lesse necessary to make inquiry how it hapned that leaving that kind of government it came under Brutus to be a free State and seeing of the causes that may be alledged setting them aside that are supernaturall some are Philosophicall and some Politicall these consisting in the things done those in the order of number and influences of the Heavens I say first speaking as a Politician There are many of opinion that this alteration of government in Rome was caused by the ravishing of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius which opinion Aristotle seemes not much to decline while speaking of the causes by which Monarchies and States come to be changed he omits not to name for one the lust and lasciviousnesse of the Prince which as he shewes by many examples have been the cause of change in all kinds of Commonwealths and Monarchies Others may say that this change of government in Rome proceeded from this that Tarquinius had taken away all authority from the Senators and had by devises procured the utter abolishing of the Senate which also was the cause that the Monarchy of Rome passed afterwards from the house of the Caesars into that of Galba The cause likewise of the change in Syracusa from a Monarchy to a popular State when Hieronymus not following the steps of his grandfather Hieron devested the Senate of all authority and was therefore by conspiratours most miserably slaine For as the stomacke which is the seat of naturall heat as long as it hath in it any little nourishment leaves the body in peace and quiet but if it be altogether without it then drawes nourishment from the head and thereby oftentimes destroyes the body so if the Senate have but some little authority left it it then rests satisfied and contented but if it be wholly deprived of all authority it then turnes head upon their head and fals upon the Prince and oftentimes becomes the ruine of the City And even this is one reason that Octavius Augustus after the death of Caesar was able to continue in his Empire because he left to the Senate part of that authority which Caesar had before abolished at least had plotted to abolish By the examples hitherto brought I conceave it may be gathered that these were the true Politicall causes why the City of Rome changed its regall government to a free State but because to say but this would be to confound beginnings with causes it is necessary to expatiate a little that so returning backe I may leave no man uncapable of this truth We must therfore know that between a beginning and a cause there is great difference not speaking of them either Philosophically or Theologically although in each of them it might easily be shewed In Theologie because the Father is the beginning of the Sonne and
the Father and the Sonne the beginning of the Holy Ghost yet neither the Father is cause of the Sonne nor the Father and Sonne cause of the Holy Ghost as Thomas Aquinas doth learnedly demonstrate In Philosophy seeing Aristotle in his Physicks and in his books of Generation and Corruption shews manifest difference between beginnings and causes But because Aristotle in distinguishing thē takes thē not alwaies in the sense that we take them and oftentimes also confounds them as in his Metaphysicks where he shewes that a cause and a beginning are as Ens and Vnum which are convertible one with the other and in another place affirmes that all causes are beginnings and in Divinity likewise the Greeke Fathers mingle oftentimes in the Persons of the Trinity the causes with the beginnings as Saint Gregory Nazianzen and others we therefore in this place will forbeare to speak of them either Philosophically or Theologically but will frame our Discourse by way of actions shewing into how great errors those men have runne who confound causes with beginnings a thing which Tacitus is not guilty of who in his History saying Struebat jam fortuna in diversa parte terrarum initia causas Imperii shewes plainly he knew that a cause and a beginning were not both one thing We may therefore take causes to be those that are in the understanding beginnings those by whose meanes that which is in the understanding is put in execution And so a cause comes to be the first in the intention and the last in execution a beginning the last in the intention and the first in execution This Polybius well understood where he saith Causae omnibus in rebus primae sunt Principia verò ultima causarum equidem ita existimo Principia dici Primas omnium actiones in rebus quae judicatae as deliberatae sunt causas verò quae judicium deliberationemque praecedant And thereupon excellently well he saith That the cause of the second warre of the Carthaginians with the Romans was the indignation of Amilcar Hannibals father who though he were not overcome by Land of his enemies the Romans yet the Carthaginian Forces being put to the worse by them he thought it his best course to make peace and to lay downe Armes for the present reserving in his mind a perpetuall indignation which cncreased afterward by their threatning of warre at such time as the Carthaginians distracted with other discords and thereby not able to withstand them lost Sardinia Whereupon Amilear incensed with a new indignation had an intention to make warre upon them many yeeres before Hannibal passed into Italy These were the causes of the warre but the beginnings of it were afterward the siege of Saguntum and Hannibals passing over the River Hiber So you see the beginnings were not at the same time but were long before preceded by the causes To roturne now to our purpose concerning the alteration of States it is seldome seen that the cause and the beginning happen both at one time The cause that moved Caesar to change the State in Rome was an impatience of equality which being borne and bred with him was hastened in him by the threatning of his enemies pressing him to give over his Consulship and to give an account of what he had done a thing of great difficulty and danger in Common-wealths as was seen in the case of Scipio of Furius Camillus and others But the beginning was his passing over the river Rubicon So likewise the change which the Israelites made in the time of Samuel from Judges to Kings had a beginning diverse from the cause there being in their hearts sometime before a desire of Kings through an impatience of liberty as writers hold which afterward tooke beginning from the injustice of the sons of Samuel The cause then that Rome came to be a free State was Romulus and the Citizens growing to perfection Romulus because he being sole King made such lawes and ordinances in the State that shewed he had more regard to prepare the Romans for liberty then to establish the Monarchy to his successors seeing he reserved to himselfe no other authority but to assemble the Senat nor other charge but to command the Army in time of warre It may be said then that either Romulus shewed but small signe of wisdome to make ordinances contrary to himselfe whereof being afterward aware he meant with a greater error to take from the Senat that authority which being now established was soone after the cause of his death Or we may say and better that Romulus as having no children had no desire to leave Rome under a Regall government and the City having none in it but imperfit men he had no power to leave it a free State untill by being governed first by one alone they should learne to be able of themselves to hold that which to come to know they needed first to be guided by a King Just as swimming masters use to doe who beare a hand over them they teach untill such time as they grow able to governe themselves and then they leave them at their owne liberty This made Tyberius as Dion reports praise Augustus so much though not without flattcry saying he had imitated those Physitians who barring their Patient the ordering of his own body they first restore the Body to health before they allow him the ordering of it Insomuch that after the death of Romulus the people not yet grown to perfection there was not one man that once spake of liberty but all agreed to desire a King Regem tamen omnes volebant saith Livy libertatis dulcedine nondum experta It was not thus at the time of the Tarquins for the people being then growne to perfection there was in the City good store of Common wealths men fitter to governe then to be governed And so came up this government most agreeable to nature which is as the Philosopher saith that he be commander of others who is wiser then others And therefore Numa Pompilius needed no guard to safeguard his life seeing governments that are naturall are a guard to themselves From hence it was that our Lord God the first time he gave a King as the holy Scripture saith Non erat similis ei in Israel meaning to shew that he is not worthy to be ruler over others who is not wiser then others There being then in those times such excellent men in the City of Rome as ought rather to give then to take lawes from the Tarquines they had in them an ardent desire to obtaine that liberty in possession which they had now prevented with merit And therefore it appeares that Junius Brutus even from his youth had this intention for going with the sonnes of Tarquin to the Oracle to aske which of them should be Lord of Rome and the Oracle answering he that first should kisse his mother he presently kissed the Earth and yet he knew not then that Tarquin should ravish
Lucretia Now if this injury onely had beene the motive to Brutus certainly then as the injury came from a particular person so the revenge should rather have been taken upon that particular person then upon the power Regall and yet we see the contrary happened for Brutus in the oath which he caused his confederates to take made this one part not to suffer any to reigne not onely not the Tarquines but not any other person whatsoever Nec illos nec alium quemquam regnare Romae passurum A manifest argument that he had more desire to abrogate the regall Power then to vindicate the adultery So much more as the conspirators addressed themselves against the dignity rather then against the life of the offender The cause then of this alteration in the state of Rome was the Citizens spirits being grown to such perfection that they could no longer tolerate Kings and this no sooner then they were arrived at such perfection In signe whereof I consider amongst so many Kings as Rome had how onely Tully Ostillus the predecessor of Tarquinius superbus had the intention to make it a free state which certainly had taken effect if his death had not prevented it Ac tam moderatum Imperium tamen quia Vnius esset deponere eum in animo habuisse ni scelus liberandae patriae consilia agitanti interemisset Which because we cannot ascribe to the onely goodnesse of Tullus seeing Numa Pompilius a better man perhaps then he never had any such thought we must needs say that Numa seeing the Citizens unfit for a republicke set them in a way to that perfection to which arrived under Tullus It should be an easie matter for such Citizens to conserve that liberty which under a good Prince they had received And here experience shewes that which Aristotle speaking naturally knew well in matters politicke for assigning the cause why Power regall changeth oftentimes to a free State he alledgeth no other reason but the passing from imperfection to perfection saying thus Sed cum postea contingeret ut plures pari virtute reperirentur non amplius tolerarunt Regem sed commune quiddam quaerentes respublicas constituêre Moreover that the ordinances of Romulus had not been sufficient if with it there had not concurred a perfection in the Citizens will be easily conceived if we consider the case of Moses who was blamed by Jethro for ruling himselfe alone I doe not beleeve it was for that he did not judge well or for that he tooke too great paines but rather for that he shewed not to be more intentive to strengthen his owne power then to prepare for others the goodway of which this was the chiefe and first foundation Vt non aliter ratio constet quam si uni reddatur And therefore he appointed them a Senate which by their authority might serve to set the people in a way to know their owne good shewing them the way with which being once acquainted he might leave them afterward to walk in it of themselves in such sort that Moses no lesse then Romulus directed the Israelites the way to liberty but they never attaining to know the way as never comming I speake not in matters of Religion to that perfection to which the Romans attained as these could not endure Kings so those had no will to live in liberty for although they met with the same cause extrinsecall yet they had not the same cause intrinsecall which Moses well knew when perceiving his death to approach he made his prayer to God that he would provide them a leader to the end that as sheep not knowing the way if it be not shewed them by a shepheard they might be by him directed Provideat Dominus Deus spirituum omnis carnis hominem qui sit super multitudinem hanc ut possit exire intrare ante â—…os vel introducere ne sint sicut oves sine ductore And he that will more plainly see their imperfection let him confider that in the long absence of Moyses they never demanded any other leader there being none amongst them sit to governe them but onely desired that Aaron would make some Gods Facnobis Deos qui nos pracedant Whereupon for all the many beginnings the Israelites had from which they might have taken occasion to erect a Commonwealth yet they never did it because as causes be not sufficient if with them there concurre not beginnings so beginnings aâ—…e of no force if they come not accompanied with causes and causes availenot neither if they be not good The death of Caesar was a beginning from which a Common wealth might have been erected but because it was grounded upon a cause that was not politicall proceeding rather from the hatred and spleene against the Prince then upon any mature judgement or judicious counsaile it was not therefore sit to bring them to a be free State So when the Senatours killed Romulus they had by that a beginning of liberty but it hapning upon the same occasion as that of Caesar they hardly had so much braine to agree among themselves to choose a King So as when there concurre not causes beginnings oftentimes are left unpursued that I cannot but say if Lucretia had been â—…avished by Romulus yet Rome for all that had never gotten liberty It behooves therefore to take great heed when there be occasions first not to give the least cause of a beginning and therefore the Ifraâ—… being moved to demand a King upon a very great occasion namely their unfitnesse to suffer liberty they tooke for a beginning a most weake cause namely the old age of Samuel and yet for all he could doe in shewing them the burtheus of tyranny telling them as a Prophet that instead of a King they should have a tyrant he could never perswade them to leave demanding a King And therefore David after his great sinne knowing he had given the people great cause to rebell avoyded all occasions from which they might take never so weake a beginning and for this cause forbare to punish Joab though provoked to it by just indignation and left the revenge of it to his successor Whereupon we may beleeve that Tarquinius Superbus and his sonne shewed little discretion seeing so many worthy men desirous of liberty that they would give them occasion of beginning it The one by taking away all authority from the Senat and other and that more hainously by ravishing Lucretia considering that the insolency of the sonnes makes alwaies the Prince himselfe odious as Guicciardine relates of John Bentivoglio And hereof we have a like example in the holy Scripture of Hemor Hevaeus Prince of the Sichemites who lost his Kingdome thorough the ravishment his sonne Sichem committed upon Dyna the daughter of Jacob and Lea whereof the holy text in Genesis saith Egressa est autem Dyna filia Leae ut videret mulieres regionis illius quam cum vidisset Sichem filius Hemor Hevaei Princeps
in the Monarchy of Cain in so many other places that we must needs beleeve this number to beare a great sway in changes generally as by others before me hath been observed yet considering it as to my purpose it hath not perhaps by any been observed but now by my selfe that to the foresaid causes of the change of government in Rome this of the number of seven may also be added seeing after seven Kings as every one knowes it came to be a free state yet I meane not that numbers can enforce but onely incline as instruments of that Almighty God who Omnia posuit innumero pondere Mensura A Parallell between the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar and that of Lucius Brutus against Tarquin whereby we may see why the one brought in libertie the other tyranny The third Discourse HAving shewed Rome at last came to be a free state by meanes of the conspiracy of Lucius Brutus against the Tarquines I conceive it necessary to examine why the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar having been moved with the same intention yet wrought not the same effect and no better way to come to know it then by comparing them together Many things are wont to concurre in favour of an action whereof some are antecedents and give it as it were birth other are concomitant and give it nourishment others againe are subsequent and procure it strength The action of Brutus in killing Tarquin was aided by the three foresaid things to make Rome a free state First the ordinances of Romulus which tended rather to bring in liberty then to preserve a Monarchy then the aptnesse of the Cittizens who now grown fit of themselves to governe could no longer endure to be governed by others and lastly the insolency and proud tyranny of Tarquin so extreamely distastfull to all the Citizens Thus Romulus set them in a way the perfection of the Cittizens made them fit and the insolency of the Tarquines made them desirous Now if we looke upon the action of Marcus Brutus in killing Caesar we shall finde there were all the three causes too but because they were contrary they therefore brought forth a contrary effect The first was the domination of Cinna of Sylla of Pompey and of Marcus Crassus who set the City in a way and made it plyant to tolerate Monarchy The second was the imperfection of the Citizens which was growne so great that where Rome had sometimes been a City much honoured for vertue it was now become through evill custome most abhominable Thirdly there concurred the great clemency and goodnesse of Caesar with which he had gotten and tied unto him the hearts of the people so as instead of the ordinances of Romulus to set them in a way of liberty there praeceded here the waies of Marius and others to lead them into servitude In stead of perfection of the Citizens which made them fit to live a free people there concurred here imperfection which made them good for nothing but to live in bondage and where in the one there concurred the cruelty and Pride of the Tarquines to make them desire liberty in the other there concurred the affability and clemency of Caesar to make them content with servitude Now againe if we come to speake of the causes concomitant there were three things concurred in ayd of the conspiracy against the Tarquins First the ravishing of Lucretia sufficient of it selfe as a publique injury to cause a publique insurrection And therefore Virginius speaking against Appius Claudius who would have ravished his daughter said to the people with a purpose to set them in commotion Illis enim quoque filias sorores conjuges esse sed quo impunitior sit eo effraenatiorem fore aliena calamitate documentum datum illis cavendae similis injuriae Secondly the just indignation of Lucius Brutus against Tarquinius Thirdly his acquainting the people with his intention letting them know the causes that moved him and so they having a part in the conspiracy could not choose but approve it and having a part in the danger not choose but maintaine it Thus the adultery committed with Lucretia gave a color to the conspiracy the just indignation of Lucius Brutus set a glosse upon the Authour the communicating it to the people made them a party in the cause and facilitated the action Now in the fact of Marcus Brutus against Caesar there concurred the many favours and graces which the Prince had alwaies shewed to all the many benefits which Marcus Brutus had received the murder committed in the Senate without the peoples knowledge and where the ravishing of Lucretia gave a colour to the banishing of the Tarquins the favours of Caesar discovered the ill intention of the conspirators and where in the one the offence done to Lucius Brutus set a glosse of praise upon the authour in the other the benefits bestowed by Caesar set a blot of ignominy upon Marcus Brutus and made him hatefull to all the people and where the Commons being made partakers of the conspiracy against the Tarquins conceived it was done for the publicke good here the Commons knowing nothing of the matter conceaved it was done for private profit Lastly if we looke to the things subsequent we shall also in them finde great contrariety For after the death of the Tarquins first there followed an easing the people of taxations and a maintaining them in plenty to the end they might tast the benefit of liberty secondly they put to death those Noblemen that had been adherents to the Tarquines to the end they might be made sure for making innovation Thirdly they extinguished the whole race of the Tarquins to the end they might be out of feare of the States ever comming to any of them againe And thus they secured themselves from the people from the Nobility and from the blood Royall Now after the death of Caesar all things were cleane contrary First where in that case the benefit of liberty was made appeare to the people Here Antonius with a most eloquent Oration reading Caesars Will wherein he had given a great Donative to the people made them sensible how much more it would be for their profit to have a Prince Secondly where in that case the partakers were all put to death here they were all left living Thirdly where in that case there were Armies levied against the line of the Tarquines to the end they might never be able to recover the government here Armies were levied in ayd of Augustus to the end he might more easily make himselfe Prince Let no man therefore marvell if where the intention was equall yet the successe was not equall by reason of the difference and inequa lity of the accidents I have omitted in this discourse some other differences that were between these two conspiracies meaning to speake of them in another place Pompeii Crassique Potentia cito in Caesarem Lepidi atque Antonii arma in Augustum cessere
understood that Augustus in the dissentions of the Pompeians and the Caesareans of whom he was Head made himselfe protectour of the people that there were dissentions between them is seen by that he saith Cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa neque Caesareanis partibus nisi Caesar Dux reliquus and that he had made the people his friend is knowne by those words Et ad tuendam Plebem Tribunitio jure contentum The summe of all I have said is this If a stranger in a civill discord seeke to make himselfe Lord I meane by civill that which is between Cities and Persons that are under the same Dominion if he have intelligence with them either it is in the beginning and then he shall not stirre but rather be a meanes of concord especially betweene those that are naturally enemies betweene whom it behoves him to foment discords to the end that being weakned his way may be eafie or else assaulting them with Armes be sure to have in his Army one of the blood but yet without power although in another discourse I shall shew that this is a weaknesse or else it is when discords are inveterate and consequently the Citizens wasted then every thing is like well enough to succeed We have also shewed that a stranger who seekes to get the Dominion of Cities which are at warre under divers Lords ought to foment the discords if they be of equall power so farre as that they may come to be unequall and then to take part with the weaker yet no further then only that they may be able to resist their enemies alwaies being carefull that the ayd be not so great as to weaken him that gives it unlesse when without excessive ayd they cannot prosecute the warre and that there be danger least they fall into their enemies hands for then it behooves to make it his owne cause but all in such sort that he give no cause of suspition to his friends I have said also that it is no small skill to foment discords and that no man ought to make use of a great power for his interest in war but only in peace when he is not offorce sufficient to be able to send it away againe And as for those that lie between greater Princes that are at variance let them as Laurence de Medici did use meanes to make them friends Weake Cities in my opinion should never intricate themselves in any warre and where there are two that stand in feare of a third if they will follow my counsell they shall never lead forth all their Forces Now if he be a Citizen who in the discords of the City seekes to make himselfe Lord of it let him know it will be hard to compasse when the discord is between the Nobility and the people but in this case the best way is if he can to make himselfe Head of the Commons If againe the discord be between the people amongstthemselves it is then almost impossible but easie when it is between Nobles and Nobles especially if he be Head of a Faction and if not then to stand neutrall What Discords conserve States and what corrupt them The eighth Discourse THus then we see that of those three distinctions there is one proper for conserving the Prince that is the discord betweene the Nobility and the Commons as sufficiently hath been shewed Now the state of the Optimates to returne to our purpose is easily preserved so long as there growes no discord between Nobles and Nobles because as we have said before the dissentions of the Nobility rest upon two Heads whereof the one soone prevailing over the other brings it within his power to make himselfe sole Lord so much the rather because in a State of Optimates there is alwaies discord between the Nobility and the Commons and so much that the people ill brooking the Senat will rather be willing to have a King We must therefore know that in a State of Optimates as the dissension betweene Nobles and Nobles is very hurtfull so that betweene the Nobility and the people is very profitable and greatly fortifies and upholds it so long as there concurre not with it discord between the Nobles The reason is because the people being at variance with the Nobles it will be a cause that they standing united will not incurre the danger before spoken of Thus we see the Romans after the expulsion of the Tarquins continued easily in their government because in that time there was perpetuall discord between the Nobility and the People In which discords when the people came to be oppressed the Nobles fell into Factions and then the City in a few yeeres came to be a Monarchy Of concordant discord and how it ought to be mannaged for the good of Cities The ninth Discourse THere is nothing more profitable for the concord and good government of a City then a discord between the parts a City being a body composed of many parts as our body is of 〈◊〉 foure Elements And as in this if it be well Organized in such sort that all the foure Elements be in a due proportion there will then need no discord to maintaine it there being none that seekes its own destruction and therefore it sweetly enjoyes a quiet rest so in a City there will be no unquietnesse if all the parts be equall I meane not equall simply for it were not fit that all in a City should be equall in dignity and riches being necessary some should be rich and some poore but equall in such manner as it is in the body whose good consists in this that all the members be equall for there are two kinds of good as saith S. Thomas one the good of the whole and the other of the parts and likewise two natures one universall the other particular the good of the whole consists in the entirity and in the distinction of the parts and therefore it is better for a man to have a Head Feet Hands and the other members then that all should be Head but the good of the part should be more good and perfect if it could attaine to the degree and perfection of the superiour part and therefore the Foot should be more Noble if it were a Head but the body should not be more perfect if it wanted a Foot so in a City it is sit there should be Plebeians and the equality that is required ought to be Geometricall and not Arithmeticall and where this is a City shall not need dissension to make it be well governed but because as Galen in his Method speaking of bodies that are in health simpliciter and absolutely saith This symmetry of humours consisting In Puncto is very hardly found and found impossible to be kept as also Hippocrates speaketh of those bodies that are in the height of healthfulnesse Neque enim in melius verti neque diu sistere valent reliquum est ut in deterius dilabantur so also a City is
without this course they were never able to live in peace So the Romans as long as the race of the Tarquins continued were never without warre And this is one of the causes I alledged why the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar had not so good successe as the conspiracy of Lucius Brutus against the Tarquins because in this they destroyed not onely the line of the Tarquins but all those that were of the name where in that of Caesar they onely cut downe the tree but left the roote behind from which sprung up Augustus who receiving nourishment and ayd from those very men that had killed his unkle in a short time he grew to be so great a Tree that he crushed them to pieces that went about to cut him downe For this very cause in Aegypt in Cappadocia in Soria in Macedonia and in Bythinia they often changed their Kings because they tooke no care to extinguish the line of the former Lords but onely to get their places And therefore Bardanus in Tacitus is justly blamed who instead of extinguishing Gotarze the former Lord stood loosing his time in besieging the City But these and a thousand other examples which for brevity I omit it may be held for a maxime of State that whosoever gets a Kingdome from another he ought to root out the whole line of him that was Lord before But this rule cannot be thus left without some aspersion of impiety and therefore for resolution I think best to distinguish because if we speake of a Christian Prince that hath gotten the state of another who is enemy of the faith he may justly doâ—… as best pleaseth him by any way whatsoever to take them away that can pretend to the State yet not so neither unlesse he find them so obstinate in their â—…ect that there is no possible meanes to remove them from their errour and so much our Lord God himselfe by the mouth of the Prophet Samuel appointed Saul to do to Amalech 〈◊〉 ergo vade percute Amalech demolire Vniversa ejus non parcas ei non concupiscas ex rebus 〈◊〉 aliquid sed interfice a viro usque ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 atque Lactantem But if we speake of a Christian Prince that by force gets possession of a State from one of the same faith let him never goe about to destroy the line of him that possessed it before for besides that it is a thing unworthy of a Christian it seemes to me to be rather their invention who meaning to live wickedly would be glad to have no bridle for if a Prince shall carry himselfe lovingly towards his Subjects using them as children and not as servants he need not be afraid of any whomsoever For this cause the Senatours of Rome having driven out the Tarquins had more 〈◊〉 to governe the City as fathers then to extinguish the line of him that had been Lord which was indeed incomparably more for their good as in the second booke of the first Decad of Livy every one may see Rather many times it is better to bestow honours upon them from whom a state is taken and to leave them a part thereby to reteine the rest more securely So did Cyrus who having taken Lydia and dispossessed Craesus who was Lord of it before he left him at least a part of his patrimony and gave him a City to be his owne And indeed if he had done otherwise he might easily have lost all therefore Justin saith Craeso vita patrimonii partes urbs Barce concessa sunt in qua 〈◊〉 non Regiam vitam tamen proximam Majestati Regiae degeret And then shewes the benefit that comes by it where he saith Haec Clementia non minus Victori quam victo utilis fuit quippe ex Vniversa Gracia cognito quod illatum Craeso bellum esset auxilia veliâ—…t ad 〈◊〉 extinguendum incendium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Craesi 〈◊〉 apud omnes urbes erat ut passurus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belluÌ„ Gracia fuerit si quid crudelius in Craesum consuluisset If the King of France had done thus when Ferdinand of Aragon would have yeelded up the Kingdome of Naples to him if he would have left him but Lord of Calabria perhaps he had not lost both the one and the other and in truth it had been his best way to have done so at least for so long time till he might have made himselfe sure and firme in the Kingdome of Naples and then for the other he might have taken it from him againe at any time So did David who tooke away halfe of the substance which Saul had given to Mephibosheth and gave it to his servant Siba for a doubt he had lest he should desire his fathers Kingdome This interpretation Procopius made of it when he said Vt substantiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsius dejiceret ne Regnum affectaret alias enim illum qui adversus Dominum suum mendacium dixerat quem punire potius debebat nequaquam participem cumeo fecisset Alexander the Great when he waged warre with Kings farre off from Macedonia he not onely when he had overcome them never sought to extinguish their line but which is more strange to them from whom he had taken a Kingdome he restored the same Kingdome againe A great act of Magnanimity and which may and ought to be used in the like case to that of Alexander Magnus that is when Countries farre remote from the Seate of the Kingdom and in customes Iawes habit and language very different are easily overcome and so much the rather when the warre is waged more for desire of glory then for getting of ground seeing it is alwaies better to seeke to hold that by a way of clemency which by a way of force can never be held But in case it be feared least leaving the former Prince in the Countries taken from him he should practise to make a revolution he may then have states given him to governe in other places So Cirus did who having overcome the Medes and deprived Astyages of his Kingdome he would not leave him in Media and yet would not deale hardly with him neither but he made him Governour of Hyrcania and although Justin say it was done because Astyages himselfe had no mind to returne to the Medes yet to my understanding it is more likely that Cyrus did it as fearing least he who had procured his nephews death to bring himselfe to the Kingdome being now deprived of it would never be quiet when any fit occasion should be offerd to him Another way there is which others have used and it is to keepe such about themselves and to hold them in esteeme of Kings so Herod the great had begun to doe with Aristobulus and with Hyrcanes but the cruelty of his nature made him fall at last to take the same course that others doe This counsell therefore was much better followed by David who leaving Sauls patrimony to Mephibosheth the sonne of Jonathan
of the whole Country and then by possessing goods there they will take occasion after the victory to make themselves the Lords or else not conquering the whole Country the contrary part will still be growing and then they not to loose the reward given them will either proceed slowly in the warre or else turne to that side that hath the better This Guicciardine attributes to Prospero and Fabritius Colonna who having beene rewarded by the King of France with Dukedomes and Castles in the Kingdome of Naples when they saw the Aragonesian side get the better they went and tooke pay of Ferdinand Therefore Princes shall do well to reward them in other states where they have not warred and where their reputation is not in Fame and thus I have knowne it many times done in our time Also they shall doe well not to put them into choller although faulty perhaps in other things so long as it is not in matters essentiall and proper to their places So did David with Ioab bearing with many Insolencies and murthers committed by him to the end he should not fall into choller and make Insurrection Concerning the suspition which the Prince may shew to have of a Generall and which is wont to be followed with rebellion It will be an easie matter to remedy that if the Prince will not fall to suspect for trifles which is the quality of base persons as Isocrates intimates in his Euagoras or else if suspecting him he conceale his suspition till hee remove him from the Army So did Domitian with Agricola So did Tiberius with Germanicus who removing him out of Germany sent him into Africk with Cueius Piso. And this the Queene Teuca in Polybius not observing was cause that Demetrius her Generall in Slavonia understanding that the Queene was by his Adversaries incenst against him and fearing her Indignation he sent to Rome to deliver into their hands the Citie the Army and all he had under his charge The third cause alledged before was the pride and reputation which victory brings with it for remedy whereof in particular and of the rest in generall there have beene advertisements given by many in divers manners The first way is for a Prince to goe himselfe in person and for a Common-wealth to send thither their Principall Magistrate so the Turke in times past hath used to doe to goe himselfe in person So the Common-wealth of Rome used to doe sending forth the Consul or Dictatour But in truth in this way the Remedy seemes to mee more dangerous then the evill because if the Prince goe himselfe in person hee must be sure to have alwayes the victory for otherwise if hee loose hee will either bee slaine or taken prisoner If â—…aine as was Charles of Burgundie what hinders but the victour may enter upon the State at least make spoyle of it If taken prisoner as was Francis King of France and Syphax King of Numidia I see not but his State will bee as much in danger and therefore of this mans State it was easie for Massinissa to get possession and for the other his Repuration and state and life were all Endangered We may then conclude that this way of encountring disorders is a dangerous way A second way is every yeere to change the Generall as the Ancient Romans used to doe and as at this day the Common-wealth of Venice in their Maritime Navy useth to doe But yet in this way also there may infinite disorders happen First if the Army chance to mutinie which is commonly the Correlative of an Army In this case a man new come not beloved not feared will be little fit to appease such tumults Secondly they that make warre in this manner are like to doe but little good because the Souldiers can have no confidence in such a one and it is the confidence in their Captaine that for the most part is the cause of victory For confirmation whereof wee may see in Livie that the same Army which under other Captaines was alwayes beaten when it came to be commanded by Furius Camillus had alway victory and this by reason of the great confidence the Souldiers had in him Thirdly there appeares another danger not inferiour to any and it is that when a Generall knowes he shall be changed at the yearâ—…s end either hee will not with any great heat begin that which he knowes he cannot finish or else beginning it and impatient that another should bee companion of his victory he will rashly and precipitantly hazard both the Army and himselfe which hath beene the cause that the Romans have lost whole Armyes as it happened at Trebia against Hanniball where Cornelius the then Consul to the end hee might have all the glory himselfe unadvisedly stroke battaile with Hanniball and was with much danger to the common-wealth utterly defeated of whom Livie saith Stimulabat tempus propinquum Comitiorum ne in novos Consules differretur O occasio in se unum vertendae gloriae But granting this Captaine should have made a good beginning and have prepared a faire way for victory yet certainely when he heares a successour is to come though he praecipitate not himselfe as Cornelius did at least he will doe all he can to hinder that another shall not rcape the benefit of his labours or otherwise will not stick to make any shamefull Peace as Marcus Attilius did who having beaten the Carthaginians by Sea and land and upon the point of obtaining a Compleate victory yet when hee heard another Consull was to come into Africk to the end the fruit of his labours should not be reaped by him he presently fell to a Treaâ—…ie of peace So Scipio one time by occasion of Tiberius Claudius another time of Cneius Cornelius precipitated the victory with making peace Ferunt postea saith Livie Scipionem dixisse Tiberii Claudii primum Cupiditatem deinde Cnei Cornelii fuisse in mora quo minus idbellum exitio Carthaginis finiretur There bee some that have hindred their successours from victory by overthiowing of purpose all that themselves had well begun such a one was Quintus Metellus who having very neere subdued Spaine when hee heard that Pompey the Consull was to come in his place he disbanded al his Souldiers gave all his provision of victualls to the Elephants and broke up the Army So also in Numidia hearing that Marius was to come his successour he endevour'd all he could to marre the Enterprise Others againe although their predecessours have done nothing to hinder them but have endeavoured to leave them the victory in a manner prepared yet to the end all should be attributed to themselves have refused to make use of the wayes and courses their predecessours had used Whereupon our Lord Christ when he would doe the Miracle of wine he rather made use of water a thing already created then of any new matter whereof Saint Chrysostome saith It was a manifest argument that he who made wine of water was
therefore when after the Romans had entred Afia and had gotten some victories an Ambassador comming to Scipio from Antiochus to demand peace he was answered by Scipio Quod Romanos omnes quod me ad quem missus es ignoras minus miror cum te fortunam ejus à quo venis ignorare cernam Lyfimachia tenenda erat ne Chersonesum intraremus aut ad Hellespontum obfistendum ne in Afiam trajiceremus fi pacem à sollicitis de belli eventu petituri eratis concesso vero in Afiam tranfitu non solum fraenis sed etiam jugo accepto quae disceptatio ex aequo cum imperium patiendum fit relicta est And finally he gave him this counsell Nuntia meis verbis bello abstineat pacis conditionem nullam recuset For this cause the Etolians did ill to speak so boldly after they were brought to the last cast and that they would not accept of such conditions of peace as the Romans offered them seeing it is a meer foolery to stand upon termes with a Conquerour as they at last perceived when the Consul bringing out his Forces they were glad to humble themselves and abate their boldnesse Tunc fracta Phaneae ferocia Aetolisque aliis est tandem cujus conditionis essent sensere Phaneas se quidem qui adfint Aetolorum scire facienda esse quae imperentur There is therefore in such cases no better course than to lay conditioning aside and to put ones selfe into the victors hand who no doubt will remit the more when he findes it is left in his power to do it so Alorcus counselled the Saguntines to do that seeing they had now no hope left they should rather put themselves into the victors hand than stand upon conditioning Haud despero cum omnium potestas ei à vobis facta fit aliquid ex his rebus remissurum which when the Saguntines would not do they were all put to fire and sword I cannot omit by way of digression to speak of a custome the Romans had which at first sight seemes to have been a great errour and it is that they offered the same conditions of peace in the uncertain beginning of a War as after they had gotten an absolute victory as by the answer of Scipio to the Ambassadours of Aniochus may appear Romani ex his quae in deorum immortalium potestate erant ea habemus quae dii dederunt animos qui nostrae mentis sunt eosdem in omni fortuna gessimus gerimusgque neque eos secundae res extulerunt nec adversae minuerunt ejus rei ut alios omittam Annibalem vestrum vobis darem testem nifi vos ipsos dare possem posteaquam Hellespontum trajecimus prius quam castra regia prius quam aciem videremus cum communis Mars incertus belli eventus esset de pace vobis agentibus quas pares paribus forebamus conditiones easdem nunc victores victis ferimus This way of doing served it seemes to no other purpose but to encourage their Enemies to cyment their fortune till they should be brought to extremity and I make no doubt but that Antiochus having before him the Example of the Carthaginians would never be brought to accept conditions of peace till he was brought upon his knees with the War To take away this difficulty it would not suffice to answer as Scipio said that it came from generousnesse of spirit that they altered not for fortune seeing little praise can be given to such a dangerous and prejudiciall Generousnesse and therefore I should rather attribute the cause to too great a greedinesse of getting that which is anothers seeing the Romans made war with Antiochus and with the Carthaginians as thinking they could not be quiet if the one were Lord of this side the mountain Taurus and the other were possest of Africke and this being their motive there is no doubt but the War would neverend till they had triumphed both over Africa and over Asia Whereupon when War is waged with such people we must make account either to get the victory or otherwise to be absolutely destroyed and therefore when Samuel meant to shew Saul that God intended to root out his House to the end he might know he would not pardon him till he were utterly destroyed he called our Lord God by the Name of Triumpher Porro Triumphator in Israel non parcet as though he would say as they who fight to triumph do not pardon till they have utterly destroyed their Enemies so O Saul will our Lord God do with thee But to returne to our purpose if they who would come to amity were friends before and are afterward become Enemies they must then come with blushing and with great humblenesse at least if they can shevv no just occasion but let them not then stay til they come to extremity for then they vvil never be accepted therefore the Capuans did ill not to open their Gates to the Romans vvithin the time given them for vvhen they vvere come to extremity it availed not then to open their Gates but all of them vvere miserably put to the svvord The last case is of him that demands amity and comes to excuse himselfe as having never committed any fault alvvayes really been a friend and never done them any vvrong and such an one may or rather must speak boldly Such a one vvas Segestes vvho speaking of himselfe Memoria bonae societatis impavidus never asked pardon Such then may speak vvith confidence and ought to be hearkened to of the Prince vvith patience and this vvay vvas a great helpe to Terentius in Tacitus vvho being accused for having had friendship with Sejanus he confessed it boldly shewing not onely that he was his friend but that he had laboured much to come to be so as seeing him a Companion of Caesar in his Consulship a Kinsman an inward friend and a stay of the Empire and this constancy of his prevailed so far that not onely he was pardoned but his accusers also were ill intreated Saul must pardon me if I thinke him in this case a more Tyrant than Tiberius seeing when Abimelech the Priest was accused for giving David meat and the sword of Goliah and was charged for it by Saul he made the like ansvver as Terentius did Et quis in omnibus servis tuis sicuti David fidelis gener Regis pergens in imperium gloriosus in domo tua But the boldnesse and innocency of Abimelech vvas not so great but the cruelty of Saul was greater vvho for this cause put him to death certainlya most perfidious act seeing as I have said and say still He that is innocent comes without fault both ought to speak with boldnes and ought to be heard with patience and herein Princes should imitate our Lord God who takes pleasure in such disputes as S. Austin witnesseth in his exposition of those words in the Psalme Jucundum fit ei eloquium meum
from hearing metaphors finding the meaning of him that useth them But because Tacitus in saying that his Annals have little pleasure in them Caeterum ut profutura it a minimum oblectationis afferunt shewes to be contrary to this any opinion It is therefore to be knowne that for as much as concernes the present there may two kinds of pleasure be taken from a thing one of the senses another of the understanding as we may say in Musicke there are two pleasures may be taken one from the goodnesse of the voyces that sing another from the goodnesse of the songs that are sing the first is taken by the sense of hearing whereof the sound is object the second is taken by the understanding which finding the Composers cuming in making of Descants and helping of discords takes great delight The first pleasure is common to all that have eares the second of such onely as understand it The like happens also in painting where one kind of pleasure is taken from the daintinesse of the colours and the beauty of the picture and another that is taken from the due placing of the parts and resemblance of the Muasbles and of this the pleasure is so much the greater in that it cannot be taken but by one of understanding who therefore takes delight in anothers cunning because by it be discovers his owne Thus when Tacitus saith that his Annals are little pleasing he meanes in the pleasure which is taken by the sense and this appeares plainely by the words he addes where giving the reason why other Histories are more pleasing then this he saith Nam situs Gentium varietates Praeliorum Clari Ducum exitus retinent ac redintegrant legentium animos This difference of pleasure Seneca expressed when he said that Virgill affords one kind of pleasure being read by a Humanist and another being read by a Philosopher I conclude then that Tacitus is an Authour exceeding pleasing specially to those who studying the Histories with understanding little care whether the Latin be as good as that of Caesar. It remaines to advertise the Reader of these my Discourses that finding Hebrew or Greeke Texts cited in Latin he may be pleased to conceive I did it to avoyd cumbring the Leaves with allegations seeing if they had been brought in the foresaid Tongues they must have been againe translated for their sakes that understand not those Tongues I should I know have done more conformable to custome if I had cited them in Italian rather then in Latin but this also I avoyded that I might not take away the force of sense which the words beare in that Language Lastly I will not stand to contest with those who have a custome to be alwaies blaming because he that shall deale so with these my weake Discourses will find himselfe much deceived in his opinion for wherein he thinks to differ from me he will directly agree with me seeing I have printed them to no other end but to make my selse known a servant of the Serenissimo the Grand Duke who out of his benigne nature will be pleased to accept that little which a servant is able to present unto him Withall I advertise that to blame a Book may be the work of understanding men but to blame the Authors of Books the work of none but malignant men That I leave to every mans liberty This I conceive he deserves not that is not conceited of his owne wisdome The Contents of the severall DISCOVRSES Discourse the first OF the divers forms of government that Rome had and how it happens that Cities for the most part have their beginnings under Kings rather then under any other forme of government p. 1 Discourse second How the City of Rome came from being governed by Kings to be a free State and the difference is betweene a beginning and a cause p. 8 Discourse third A Parallell between the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar and that of Lucius Brutus against Tarquin whereby we may see why the one brought in liberty and the other tyranny p. 21 Discourse fourth That the power of a few cannot consist in any number better then three p. 25 Discourse fifth Of what kind of discord the Authour intends to speake p. 28 Discourse sixth Whether an externall warre with the enemies of the faith be the best meanes to hinder discords among Christians p. 30 Discourse seventh What is the fittest time to proceed in discords with the enemies of the faith p. 45 Discourse eighth What discords conserve States and what corrupt them p. 60 Discourse ninth Of concordant discord and how it ought to be mannaged for the good of Cities p. 61 Discourse tenth How hard and dangerous a matter it is to write Histories when the easiest time is to finde writers and which of them deserve most credit p. 67 Discourse eleventh From whence flattery proceeds how many kinds there are of it and which of them is hurtfull to a City p. 81 Discourse twelfth What things holpe Augustus to the Empire and what meanes he used to maintaine it p. 91 Discourse thirteenth How Princes may get the peoples love how a private man ought to make use of the peoples favour and what part it hath in bestowing the Empire p. 99 Discourse fourteenth How the Donatives which are given to Souldiers are profitable to raise a man and to maintaine him in the Empire and when it is that Military discipline is corrupted by them p. 107 Discourse fifteenth How much it imports a Prince for getting the peoples love to maintaine plenty by what meanes scarcity happens and how it may be helpt and how a Prince may make use of it p. 113 Discourse sixteenth What kind of ease it is that Tacitus speakes of and how it may be reconciled with some places in other Authours p. 121 Discourse seventeenth That Cities subject to another City better like the government of a King than of a Commonwealth and that every City would gladly have their Lord to live amongst them p. 125 Discourse eighteenth What meanes a Prince may use with safety to set them in a way that are to succeed them in the government p. 137 Discourse nineteenth That old men are apt to be carried away by women and of what age a Prince should be p. 145 Discourse twentieth That to maintaine and suffer Magistrates to continue although without authority is a matter of great moment p. 155 Discourse twenty one That Tiberius was part good and part bad how it happened that he fell not into dangers as Nero did Whether it be good to be brought up in the Princes house and finally how their secret vices may be knowne p. 159 Discourse twenty two How much it imports a Prince to be chaste p. 168 Discourse twenty three How and when the government of women is odious p. 171 Discourse twenty foure That at one and the same time to make knowne the death of the Prince and the assumption of the successour is
generall rule all those Common-wealths whose ordinances tend rather to conservation then augmentation ought to use any other means to keep themselves from discords at home rather then warre It remaines to speak of a Kingdome which is either setled and naturall or else dangerous and new if we speake of that which is naturall I account that to live in peace as well abroad as at home is both necessary and easie especially in our times wherein Cities and Kingdomes are without the least blemish of tyranny all governed by Princes just and pious and this the rather ought to be done because in peace the wits of men are cultivated their manners refined good Arts flourish merchandising is lesse dangerous and plenty of all things easily maintained And therefore in Esay it is said Conflabunt glaclios suos in vomeres which means nothing else but that peace causeth the earth to be manured and riches easily to be encreased Whereupon the Ancients feyned that the God of riches was nursed by peace Now to Kingdomes that are new and not well setled every thing is dangerous whether it be of peace or warre but warre perhaps lesse as bringing with it but one danger which is that the Army being in the hand of a Generall the Empire seemes to be in his power As Tiberius doubted that Germanicus potius vellet accipere quam expectare Imperium But then it brings with it many benefits not only in favour of the Prince but of the subjects also On the Princes behalfe because he by sending forth to the warres the most potent and stout spirits may himselfe in the meane time remaine secure at home And therefore King Ferdinand kept alwaies some little warre abroad to the end the Nobility should not mutiny in Spaine And Henry the second had counsell given him to keep the French busied in some warre to the end they might not mutiny in France And this rule ought alwaies to be observed where the people have not lost their stoutnesse of courage On the Subjects behalfe because while such stout spirits live in peace they are apt to seeke as having no other meanes their owne security by the death of the Citizens And this Tacitus meanes where in the first of his Histories he saith Sub Tyberio Caio Claudio tantum pauci adversa pertimuere Againe it is well that cruell men such as tyrants use to be to the end they may leave the Citizens in peace should have warre with strangers abroad upon whom to wreke their cruelty From whence it comes that this race of men is more cruell in their age then in their youth and therefore oftentimes in the holy Scripture are likened to Lyons which as Aristotle relates in their old age enter into Cities and make spoile of people and this proceeds saith he because thorough weaknesse of body and defect of teeth not being able in the fields to follow the chase after beasts they enter into Cities and prey upon men so tyrants when weakened with age they can no longer quench their thirst of blood upon enemies in warre they then for exercise of their cruelty fall upon their friends in peace So did Herod the great and many others of whom Histories are full But to returne to our purpose peace after warre is much more dangerous because leisure gives time to thinke thinking takes notice of subjection and stoutnesse gotten in warre breeds a desire to free themselves by any bad way whatsoever In regard of this Salomon comming to be in Peace after a long warre w ch his father had made many warlike expeditions as appeares in the Booke of Kings and to this it seemes David exhorts where in the Epithalamium he made he saith Aâ—…cingere gladio tuo super fâ—…ntur tuum potentissime Where it is to be noted that Faemur oftentimes is taken for pleasures as though he would say Couple Armes with pleasures stand not slumbering in idlenesse so many writers interpret it and perhaps in regard of this Augustus would never be without some little warre in Germany rather for these reasons quam cupidine proferendi Imperium vel istud ob praemium And Tyberius upon the same ground was well pleased that troubles should rise in the Easterne parts Caeterum saith Tacitus Tyberio haud ingratunt accidit turbari res orientis ut ea specie Germanioum suetis legionibus abstraheret novisque Provinciis impositum dolo simul casibus objectaret Lastly a Popular state ought alwaies to procure peace for if there be warre either the people goe forth to fight and then the Nobles in the mean time will have meanes to change the state or else the Noble men goe and then having an Army in their hand they are able to make alterations at their pleasure Whereupon Isocrates in his oration of peace saith that a popular state is strengthned by peace and by warre ruined But having shewed in this my discourse that to many Common-wealths it is not good to have warre to the end I may not dissent from that place in Aristotle alledged in the beginning I now say that Aristotle commends not feare as a thing fit alwaies but sometimes and doth not specifie what kind of feare it is â—…meanes For understanding whereof we must know that Commonwealths oftentimes are endangered by too much security as the City of Rome ranne headlong into hazzard for want of fearing Which useth to happen from two occasions one from the inveteratenesse of the danger the other from the greatnesse and power of them that are offended Rome at the time when it was freed from the tyranny of Tarquinius was not great and being neere to danger it stood in feare being grown suspicious partly for the fathers name called Superbus and partly for the sonnes house built higher then ordinary weak causes God knows But when the City was growne into greatnesse and forgot the danger by reason of inveteratenesse it then left fearing and afforded such beginnings that gave Caesar advantage to bring it in subjection So the Florentines extinguished the name of liberty in Pisa and used great diligence at the beginning to prevent rebellion as standing in feare as well for the freslmesse of the offence as for the smalnesse of their Forces but after some yeeres Florence being grown greater and the offence through time forgotten they began to leave fearing and as not fearing rebelled under Charles the eighth which was in a manner the ruine of Florence Seeing then when Cities are without feare they live without fore-sight it is profitable for Common-wealths as Aristotle in that text saith that some such accident should happen as may teach them the danger of security and therefore the Rachiensi as Polybius relates while they lived inconsiderately suspecting nothing they were upon the point of losing their City to the Slavonians but having repelled them it was afterward a great good unto them as that which made them stand in feare Vt per negligentâ—…m in periculo fuerant
only the Victor might be out of danger but might also have it in his power to oppresse the Thuscanes which proposition Tullus accepted and though there be many that blame him for it yet I thinke they meane it in some other case because it is not likely that a warlike spirit as Tullus was if he had not certainly known the manifest danger of falling to be a prey to the other would ever have consented to such a duell which in the case of another is never without blame being a thing unworthy of a valorous Captaine to lay the fortune of many upon a few but as this case was I find no other errour in Tullus Hostilius but that he would hazzard the whole Army upon three men but if the condition had been to fight with one squadron of Foot and another of Horse I could not then but have commended it and the reason is because by such a fight it would plainly have appeared which of them in a set battell would have had the victory there concurring in it the skill of the Captaine and part of all parts of the Army which have the same proportion with one another as the whole hath with the whole according to the vulgar rule Eadem est ratio totius ad totum quae est partis ad partem But in the case of Tullus one of the Armies might be inferiour to the other in Horse and Foot and Captaine and yet have three braver men in any of these kinds in it then the other Concerning the second Point Ludovico Sforza did well for securing himselfe in the State of Milan to move the King of France but he did not well afterward to move him against the Aragonesi for he ought at least if he could and if he could not he should not then have medled in it at all to have made use of the King as an ayd in peace but not as a Captaine in warre and so was the counsell which Phaneas the Etolian gave that they should call in Antiochus and make use of him as an Umpire but not as a Captaine Phaneas saith Livy Reconciliatore pacis disceptatore de iis quae in controversia cum populo Romano essent utendum potius Antiocho censebat quam duce belli And therefore Ludovico Sforza had not done ill to call in the King of France as for his purpose to make himselfe free Lord of Milan if it had been in his power to make him returne againe but seeing the case required to make use of him in warre now it was his ruine because to seeke to rise by the discords of others is not a work for an inferiour but either for an equall or a greater Whereupon to Philip King of Macedon and to Ferdinand King of Spaine it proved well but to Lodowick Sforza it brought utter ruine and to the Venetians exceeding danger although he with indiscretion set forward his own destruction these with judgement freed themselves from the danger And therefore in the foresaid case he that is inferiour in Forces ought to seeke alwaies rather to extinguish then to kindle fire Amurath the great Turke was minded to make warre upon the King of Polonia between whom lay the state of Petrasco Prince of Pogdania and he as a wise man knowing the damage he might sustaine either by having his Countrey wasted with the Great Turkes Army or after the warre ended by wholly loosing it as lying in the mouth of the Polack he so treated with them that he made them friends But many Cities in Italy not observing this rule whilst they fomented discords between Pyrrhus and the Romans remained after the warre ended a prey to the Romans So the French when Hanniball came into Italy perceived though too late they had exposed their Countrey as a Prey to his Army So the Etolians calling in Antiochus to make warre upon the Romans were themselves the first a prey to the Romans as it had been foretold them But although we have shewed by the example of Craesus that it is not good in discords so to ayd one side as to weaken ones selfe yet is not this rule to be observed where one is so much too strong that the other without great ayd is not able to withstand because in this case to abandon a friend would be a strengthning of the enemy as the Corfuans in Thucydides excellently shewed in the Oration they made to the Athenians whereupon the Rhegini fearing the Army of Pyrrhus King of the Epirots the Romans came with great Forces to their ayd but the end was they became Lords over them Which they of Corfu not observing in the discords of Durazzo and denying them ayd were cause that they yeelded themselves to the Corinthians and consequently encreased the Forces of their enemies But Germanicus carried himselfe with great judgement in ayding Segestes knowing if Segestes were overthrown his faction would joyne it self with Arminius and consequently the Forces of his enemy be encreased This the Campans declared demanding ayd of Rome Si defenditis vestri si deseritis Samnitum erimus Capuam ergo Campaniam omnem vestris an Samnitum viribus accedere malitis deliberate So as this is a lesson which men should learne to give present assistance to their friends that need it otherwise they cannot avoyd being a prey to others and this is delivered by S. Matthew in a Parable where they not comming that were invited to the marriage others were called that stood in the streets It is therefore to be observed when we make other mens case our owne that our power be more then theirs because else either they will be hindred from getting victory or getting victory be kept from being masters of the victory it is not therefore for Princes or Cities that are weake to make warre which are to call in one more powerfull then themselves to their ayd for by this they doe but procure a stronger enemy The Campani oppressed by the samnites put themselves into the hands of the Romans and so encreased their Forces and for this cause perhaps it is that Lucca continues a Commonwealth Having shewed that we ought with all our Forces to ayd the weaker side when of it selfe it is not able to subsist it is to be observed that in doing it we make not shew of such preparation as may make our friends suspitious of us which Phillip King of Spaine not observing whilst under pretence of ayding the King of Scots against the Queen of England he prepared so great a Fleet that the Scots might easily perceive that Fleet was not meant for resisting of England but for making himselfe Lord of Scotland Into this errour also the Athenians ranne who under colour of ayding the Catanesi against the Syracusans meant to make themselves Lords of Sicily and therefore came with so great an Army as Justin saith Vt iis terrori essent in quorum auxilia mittebantur whereupon they failed of their purpose by reason it was
difficulty and this perhaps Livy meanes when speaking of such Writers he saith Etsi non flectere à vero solicitum tamen efficere possunt And Polybius to give the greater authority to his History labours to shew that the story of the first warre of the Romans with the Carthagenians written by Fabius Pictor a Roman and by Philo a Carthagenian was by those Authours each of them in favour of his owne Country stuffed with lies And indeed it is not unlike but they might vary from the truth and yet out of no corrupt affection but that each of them writ as he believed though not as it was seeing things to which men are affected seem alwaies in the good greater and lesse in the evill according to that rule of Aristotle Intus existens prohibet Extraneum and therefore to an eye looking through a greene Glasse every thing seemes greene So to the palate offended with choler every thing tasts bitter and therefore David made his prayer to God to keep him as the Apple of his eye Custodi me Domine ut pupillam oculi which as it hath in it no colour and therefore sees things as they are so he desired to be without affections that he might know the truth of things Whereuppon it appeares we may conclude that they who write of their owne times and have not the vertue of the apple of the eye may easily vary from the truth not onely by malice but sometimes also by ignorance it being impossible that a man should be an eye-witnesse of all he writes and should be present at all Actions and Counsels in such manner as not to need the information of others and even those who are present at any action do seldome all of them agree in the relation On the other side it appeares there is more credit to be given to an Historian that writes of his owne time and of those things at which he hath himselfe been present then to others seeing they are forced to stand to that which is left them by the ancients either written in History or preserved in memory as Plutarch well observes And because it is seldome but there is more then one Writer of the same History and for him that will relate them he must necessarily make use of those who have formerly given the information it is an easie matter in such a number of writings for an Historian to be confounded and be able but as a blind man to give advertisement of things whereof he is himselfe to be advertised Besides those first writings or memories of which this Historian makes use they also may have been written out of affection Lastly there are not wanting reasons to prove that he who writes a History of his own time though he have them but by relation is the more worthy of credit because in such the difficulties that are found in the others are abated seeing by not having been present and had no part in the actions they relate they are also voyd of those affections which make Historians speake lesse truth and by writing of their owne time they are not tied to stand to the bookes of others who never agree with one another And therefore the holy fathers from this difficulty have drawne an Argument to prove the truth of the Gospell because four Writers agree in all points Neither by this example is my opinion abated but rather strengthned it being necessary that to make foure men write agreeingly in all things there must be one onely to instruct them all which is the Holy Ghost But neither is this kind of Historians without difficulty rather as I conceive in greater then any other as partaking himselfe alone of all those difficulties which we in the two first observed because although he be not present at the things yet he is present at the time and this hath force to stirre affection even in those that are not neere the time as every one finds by experience in himselfe Secondly he who gives the information may be moved by some passion himselfe and then he will the lesse care for writing a lie when he hath his intent and the blame anothers Thirdly if he take more then one to give him information he will fall into the same difficulties as he that writes Histories of the times past seeing it is seldome seene that two agree in their relation and oftentimes one alone is contrary to himselfe And thus there is difficulty we see in all manner of times and of Writers whether they write of the time past or of their own times and whether they write by relation from others or as eye-witnesses themselves For resolution we may conclude that more credit is to be given to those things which are related by Historians that have beene eye-witnesses of things done in their own time so long as the Writers be honest men Whereupon we give more credit to the Histories of Argentone relating accidents at which he was himselfe present then we doe to Jovius who writ by relation from others when himselfe perhaps was all the while at his Bishopricke Yet I say not that Jovius is not worthy of credit seeing it is not my profession to lay blame upon any This Argentone hath made us know this difference while enterlacing the Histories of Lewis the eleventh with those of England he useth much cunning to make us beleeve him as one that was not present at the things done and therefore for the most part names the persons who gave him information that from the greatnesse and credit of his informers he might winne credit to his owne writings And this was the very case of S. Luke who writing in his Gospell the life of our Saviour because he had not himselfe been present therefore to procure himselfe credit at his very beginning he saith he had it by relation from persons that were present Sicut tradiderunt nobis qui ab initio ipsi viderunt ministri fuerunt sermonis but when he was to write the Acts of the Apostles at which he had been present then without making any Promise or Proaeme he begins with saying Primum quidem sermonem feci de omnibus O Theophile and this for no other cause but because he knew how much a History hath more credit when things are written by one that hath seen them It is no marvell then that S. John for gayning himselfe credit saith Ego vidi testimonium perhibui quia hic est filius Dei And therefore it was Gods will that the Apostles should beare witnesse of him Et vos testificamini de me quoniam ab initio mecum estis And S. Peter in the Acts when he would perswade the resurrection of Christ to be believed saith Qui simul edimus bibimus cum illo Whereupon S. Chrysostome considering why S. John names himselfe where he saith Sequebatur autem Petrus alius Discipulus gives the reason in these words Et sui meminisse coactus est ut
salvos See here that act which of its owne nature was most adulatory being used by S. Paul became vertuous and beneficiall and the reason of this can proceed from nothing but from the intention because as those other were moved with their proper interest So S. Paul was moved with the zeale of God Vt Judaeos lucrarer ut eos qui sub lege erant lucrifacerem ut omnes facerem salvos For there cannot a better way be found to reduce men to the right way then to counterfeit to be such as they are And even so doe many Physitians use to doe who oftentimes having a patient troubled with a melancholicke humour in the braine in such sort as that they thinke themselves to be earthen Pots they also feine themselves to be such to the end that they taking meat their patient also by their example may take meat and not die with hunger out of a conceit that earthen pots could not eate And in this manner oftentimes they heale their patients and feigning themselves to be fooles have cured them of folly Thus also did S. Paul who circumcised Timothy with a purpose to take away circumcision whereof Saint Chrysostome speaking saith Vide opus circumcidit ut circumcisionem tolleret Not without cause therefore did Marcus Tullius blame Cato that would not flatter the people with counterfeiting their fashions thereby to get the Consulship and have freed his Country from the imminent tyranny of Julius Caesar. And the rather it being a thing commended of God himselfe Cum perverso perverteris that is with wicked men one must feigne himselfe wicked to reduce them to goodnesse This Act which in S. Paul received alteration from the end may also in the contrary receive alteration from the circumstance and was used therefore by S. Peter who when he went to Antiochia was hindred by S. Paul himselfe Et in faciem restiti quia reprehensibilis erat although the Act of S. Peter was the same and done with the same intention that S. Pauls was yet by reason of one circumstance which was that by his example the Gentiles were drawne to Judaise he deserved reprehension To come then to the second head which is how many kinds of flattery there are I say first there may be an Act of its owne nature exceeding good and yet be apt to become a flattering act as to praise a man for something he hath done to the end he may with more boldnesse reprove him afterward is a good act and therefore S. Paul knowing that the Corinthians for the love they bore to certaine persons were fallen into schisme at first he praiseth them where he saith Gratias ago Deo meo semper pro vobis in gratia Dei quae data est vobis in Christo Jesu quia in omnibus divites facti estis in illo in omni verbo in omni scientia sicut testimonium Christi confirmatum est in vobis ita ut nihil desit vobis impulsus gratiae certainly a greater praise then this he could not possibly give but he addes afterward Obsecro vos fratres per nomen Domini nostri Jesu Christi ut id ipsum dicatis omnes non sint in vobis schismata see here after his praising them how sharply he reprehends them The contrary happens when one praising a man speakes the truth but with an ill intention for it is then true flattery and such a Prince should never endure to heare And therefore S. Paul passing with many others by a place where stood a maid possessed with a devill and hearing himselfe praised by that devill for a servant of God he made him hold his peace driving him out of the mayds body Factum est autem euntibus nobis ad orationem puellam quandam habentem spiritum Pythonem obviare nobis quae quaestum magnum praestabat Dominis suis Divinando haec subsecuta Paulum nos clamabat dicens isti homines servi Dei excelsi sunt qui annuntiant vobis viam salutis hoc autem faciebat multis diebus dolens autem Paulus conversus spiritui dixit praecipio tibi in nomine Jesu Christi exire ab ea exiit eadem hora. There is no doubt but the devill in praising Saint Paul and his companions said the truth but because he did it not with a good intent but to the end that another time he might tell a lie and be believed therefore S. Paul made him goe forth of the maids body And so ought it to be done to those who sometimes speake the truth but to the end that another time they may more securely flatter That such kind of praising is flattery may easily be proved For either it must proceed from friendship or from mildnesse or else from flattery But it proceeds not from friendship because a friend never praiseth out of interest nor it proceeds not from mildnesse because he by Aristotle is defined to be mild who exceeds in his praises to give contentment and differenceth him by this from a flatterer who praiseth for his owne interest So as we truely and upon good ground take this to be flattery the rather being defined by S. Chrysostome Adulatio est quando quosdam colit quispiam non propter quae colere oportet sed ad captandun terrena where this word Colit stands in place of the Genus as being common both to a friend and to him that is mild and these words Ad captandum terrena stand in place of the difference in which the essence of flattery consists Secondly there may be an action which of its own nature is neither good nor bad but from divers causes may receive a diverse forme And it is where vertue is indeed and truly in a Prince but is increased and made greater in the praising it The liberality that was in Tiberius being celebrated by the Senatours more then was cause not to the end he should encrease it for the publike good but to the end to make him privately the more their friend was flattery which could not be so called if it had been done for the publike good And therefore when Metellus was extolled for the great valour and prowesse he had shewed in managing the warre because it was done to the end he should continue and hold on his course as he did was no flattery but a good act and so recorded by Historians Thirdly there may be an act of its owne nature bad and flattering yet capable to become good from the intention and it is when a Prince is praised for those vertues and conditions which are not in him but which should be in him so long as he is not guilty of the contrary vices Fourthly and lastly there may be an act I will not say essentially flattering but which seldome and very hardly can change its nature and it is when a Prince is praised for a vertue being stayned with the contrary vice as to call one mercifull that is cruell
aucti tuta praesentia quam veter a periculosa mallent For safety is so sweet a thing that the people liked better of servitude with safety than of liberty with danger And therefore the Israelites finding that the Canaanites were a valiant Nation were ready rather to turne backe into Aegypt and be slaves then to stay in Canaan and be in danger As it happened also in Exodus when they saw Pharao comming Nunquid non erant Sepulchra in Aegypto quando sedebamus super ollas 〈◊〉 And therefore the Romans having driven out the Kings doubted lest the the people if the Tarquins should make warre upon Rome would not to resolve rather to receive the tyrant againe and live in peace then continue in liberty and be still in danger Nec hostes modo timebant saith Livy sed suos met ipsos cives ne Romana plebs metu perculsa receptis 〈◊〉 urbem regibus vel cum servitute pacem acciperet And here is to be noted that men will alwaies be more moved with private interest then with publike profit and that every one had rather be a slave and rich then to be free and poore Whereof I will bring one example out of Dio Caesar having before him the Army of Scipio caused Letters to be carried into the enemies Tents wherein he friendly promised the Souldiers honours and riches and to the Countreymen to save their goods untouched and by this meanes he drew them all to come to his side on the cōtrary Scipio also being forced to use the same device of sending Letters into Caesars Camp perswaded them to be of his side in defence and for the good of the Commonwealth putting them in mind of the great benefit of liberty for all which perswasions there was not a man that would offer to go from Caesar whereby we may plainly see that ordinarily men preferre profit before honesty And where it may be objected that people infinite times make insurrections onely for their liberty it is easily answered if we consider that under that name of liberty they alwaies thinke or are made beleeve there is great profit to be had and therefore they desire liberty not as an end but as a means to another end But to returne to our purpose besides so many causes alleged concurring in favour of Augustus this of election also is to be added that he was chosen by the Senate by the people and by the Souldiers by which meanes infinite others have obtained the Roman Empire and so it happened amongst the Graecians so the Pope so the Kings of Polan so the Emperour in our times by this meanes onely of being elected attaine their Principalities Lastly it may be also said that he came to be Emperour by succession as being the next of kin to Caesar to whom by right of succession besides his being made his heire by his Will the Empire belonged We may then say that Augustus came to be Emperour neither by fortune nor by wickednesse nor by policy nor by merit nor by election nor by succession but by all of them together seeing each of these as I have before shewed being apt of it selfe to raise a man to the Empire certainely all of them concurring in Augustus could not choose but effect it And thus much for his attaining the Empire now for holding it thus gotten we say that an Empire may be held either from the Nobility or from the people or from the Souldiers and that either by love or by force With the people it is held by procuring of plenty and that the poore be not wronged by the rich there being nothing that makes a Prince more beloved of the people than to keep them safe from the insolencie of great men And therefore the Holy Ghost meaning to shew the cause why all Nations should serve that King saith Omnes Gentes servient ei quia liberavit pauperem à potente and a little after Et honorabile Nomen eorum coram illo S. Hierome reads it Et pretiosus crit sanguis eorum coram illo That is they shall hold the honour of the King in great account and shall not leave unpunished whosoever shall imbrue their hands in his blood as was seene in the conspiracy against Caesar. This therefore Augustus knowing tooke upon him the power of a Tribune Et ad tuendam plebem Tribunitio jure contentunt and suffered them not to be in want knowing that safety without plenty is little esteemed and therefore he saith Populum annona Now for Noble men they are of two sorts stout and timerous In the stout there is no trusting being men that extreamely skorne a servile condition and consequently extreamly hate a tyrant And therefore it was necessary Augustus should send such into banishment or to the warres and they once dead he then remained secure and without feare of any new hatred To the timerous and quiet are to be given honours for a Gentleman hath no other end but honour and of these the Prince ought to make use in peace and as for warre he need not feare them therefore Tacitus saith Caeteri Nobilium quanto quis servitio promptior opibus honoribus extolluntur ac Novis ex rebus aucti tuta praesentia quam vetera periculosa mallent Where it is to be observed that by caeteri he meanes those onely that were not stout there following without any words between Cum ferocissimi per acies ant proscriptione cecidissent Augustus then did well to advance many of the Noble men above the others especially those that shewed themselves most ready to do him service First to the end that such example might draw others to the like servitude thereby to gaine the like honour Secondly to the end that seeing honours attained to under a Prince which could never have beene attained in a Common-wealth they might the better be contented with such a State and therefore Aristotle amongst the meanes for conserving a Kingdome forgets not to speake of this where he saith Atque eos viros qui aliqua in re honorabiliter se gesserint honorare ita ut non existiment unquam se magis honorari in civitate degentibus potuisse Thirdly Augustus did well to advance many great ones above others because as where equality is a Kingdome there is hardly raised and liberty easily maintained so where there is inequality a Kingdome there is easily preserved and therefore a Prince is to be commended that removeth many from equality to the end there may be seen a certaine proportion and not one to be unequall and all the rest equall The reason of this in my opinion is because when onely one is seen unequall all the rest will have a desire to reduce him to equality and by some means or other to rid him away but when there are many unequals the inferiours not only will never be moved to conspire against the Prince because they should never by this meanes come
to equality but also they will not suffer any other to doe it resting satisfied in this that as themselves have many unequals their superiours so those have the Prince unequall and their superiour and in this at least they shall be equall that they are all of them inferiour to one But because obedience is hardly found especially in new states if there be not force concurring whereupon the Throne of Salomon which by Writers is taken for obedience was compassed about with twelve Lyons seeing they who desire to be obeyed ought together with generosity have force also to make them be obeyed and therefore the holy Ghost in the mouth of Salomon saith Sicut Turris David collum tuum quae aedisicate est cum propagnaculis mille clypei pendent ex ea omnis armatura fortium This Towre hath so many defences because it is put for a figure of obedience meaning to shew that they who desire to preserve obedience have need of all sorts of Armes to defend it for these causes Augustus knowing this and having an Army in his hand able to make him be obeyed by force if need should be he made the Souldiers sure to him by donatives of which they are most greedy whereupon it may be said that Augustus maintained his Empire neither by the Nobility nor by the people nor by the souldiers neither by love nor yet by force but by all of them together Et ad tuendam plebem Tribunitio Iure contentum ubi Militem donis Populum annona cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit How Princes may get the peoples love how a private man ought to make use of the peoples favour and what part it hath in bestowing the Empire The thirteenth Discourse AS safety is not enough to give the people satisfaction if it be not accompanied with plenty and therefore the Israelites though they lived safe under their leader Moyses yet when plenty failed they desired againe the servitude of Pharao so neither doth plenty give satisfaction if it be not accompanied with peace as was plainly seene in that people for when those men returned whom Joshua had sent into the Land of Promise to make known the fruitfulnesse of the Countrey yet when they heard there were in it great store of Gyants onely for this they liked better to stay in the Wildernesse in peace then to goe to a Land flowing with Milke and Honey with warre the desire of living quietly prevailing more with them than the enjoying of plenty Three things then are required in a people to make them absolutely happy safety from being oppressed by those at home peace with those abroad and plenty Whereupon our Lord God meaning to shew the happinesse in which his people should live expresseth these three things by the mouth of his Prophet Esay where he saith Sedebit populus meus in plenitudine pacis here is peace In Tabernaculis fiduciae here is safety In requie opulenti here is plenty Such a like happinesse Tacitus shewes that Rome had or to say better the people of Rome under the Dominion of Augustus where he saith Et ad tuendam plebem Tribunitio jure contentum see here by making himselfe protectour of the people he made them safe from oppressours at home Vbi populum Annona see here plenty Cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit see here the safety from forraine enemies which is peace for by the word Otium in this place as I shall shew in another discourse he meanes nothing else but peace But because many gather from this place seeing Augustus obtained and maintained his Empire by the love of the people that therefore this is the true way for all others to rise from a private man to be a Prince and the rather because a place in Aristotle confirmed by many examples seemes to concurre in this opinion where he saith Et profecto antiquorum Tyrannorum plurimi ex popularibus hominibus facti sunt I shall be forced in discoursing of this matter to proceed with distinction as finding many places directly contrary to this and particularly in the foresaid Tacitus who in another place shewes that the peoples favour is rather a ruine than a fortune to great men where in the third of his Annals he saith Breves Infaustos Rontani populi amores I say then that he who is in the peoples favour either he hath a mind to make himselfe Prince or he hath not if he have no such mind he shall doe better to avoyd those demonstrations with safety which without any benefit makes him runne into danger seeing a good intention is not sufficient where it is equally dangerous to have such imputation whether wrongfully or justly as Tacitus well saith Si objiciantur etiam insontibus periculosa because Princes as soone as they see the peoples favour enclining to another presently have him in suspition and therefore David began to be hated of Saul as soone as he knew the people loved him whereupon in the booke of the Kings the holy Spirit saith Posuitque eum Saul supra viros belli acceptus erat in occulis Vniversi populi maximeque in 〈◊〉 famulorum Saul and a little after Non rectis ergo oculis Saul respiciebat David a die illa deinceps Likewise when the mysticall David Christ was seene to the Jewes to enter triumphantly into Hierusalem on Palme-sunday with great applause of the people they presently began to conspire against him The like hapned to Germanicus whose case was much like that of Aristobulus both of them being gracious with the people young men of goodly presence both both of them next to the Crowne under most cruell tyrants Herod the great and Tiberius Nero both of them for the same causes put to death by fraud one bewalled counterfetly of Herod the other feignedly of Nero by whom in truth they came to their deaths Of these then it may be said Breves 〈◊〉 populi amores But if he that is in the peoples favour have an intention to make himselfe Prince we must then distinguish for either the peoples favour towards him growes out of a discontentment towards the Prince or it comes out of anger arising from some suddaine accident if in the first case he that will make use of their favour if he be able to hide it which is a difficult thing shall doe well to wait for some good occasion seeing he may assure himselfe that as discontentment encreaseth by little and little and is nourished in minds once discontented so it is hard or rather impossible it should vanish on a sudden and therefore if he stay for a good beginning where there hath preceded a good occasion as I have shewed in another discourse there can be no doubt of having good successe Princes therefore must take heed they give the people no such occasions which are so much more dangerous as they are lesse violent because in such cases men are not moved with every light wind but wayting for
I say that the people are not the whole cause of raising one to a Royalty but only concurre as a cause in part neither yet the people together with the Nobility sufficient to make an alteration where there are Souldiers and therefore not without cause Tacitus saith Breves infaustos populi Romani amores because the City of Rome was never without Praetorian souldiers Of this there is a plaine example in the whole siege of Nola in Livy and to speake of our owne times in Verona where the people having a mind to rise in favour of the Venetians yet because the souldiers of the King of France and of the Emperour were within it they were not able to doe any thing of moment We may therefore conclude that the people alone can never be an absolute meanes to raise a man to a Principality if it be not upon a suddaine and that there be no Souldiers in the place for against them there is no good to be done although they should have the Nobility to assist them but the people together with the souldiers may easily raise one to the Empire and when Tacitus saith Breves infaustos populi Romani amores he means it of the people alone but in this present place he speakes of the people and souldiers together which plainly appeares because having said Et ad tuendam plebem Tribunitio jure contentum he addes Vbi militem donis shewing he well knew that together with the people the souldiers must concurre And Aristotle differs not from Tacitus nor yet from my opinion but rather confirmes both the one and the other seeing where he gives a reason how it happened that in ancient times the favourites of the people came to be Lords he saith that the same man who was powerfull with the people was also Leader of the Army and so had both people and souldiers of his side And addes withall that whosoever of late time hath attempted any thing relying only upon the people hath never brought his purpose to any good passe A manifest argument that the people concurre as a cause in part if the souldiers joyne with them Vetustis quident temporibus saith he quando idem erat potens in populo ac Bello Dux Popularis Respublica in Tyrannidem mutabatur profecto antiquorum Tyrannorum plurimi ex popularibus hominibus facti sunt causa autem cur tunc fierent non autem nunc illa est quod qui tunc in populo maxime poterat ex iis erat qui bello 〈◊〉 Ubi Militem donis How the Donatives which are given to souldiers are profitable to raise a man and to maintine him in the Empireâ—… and when it is that Military discipino is corrupted by them The fourteenth Discourse THere are two things chiefly that move men to follow the warres Acquiring of honour and encrease of riches and both these are in Donatives for Donatives as to the thing it selfe is an encrease of wealth and comming from the Princes hand as a testimony of the souldiers valour they are an encrease of Honour It is therefore no marvell that Augustus not only at his entrance into the Empire but even from his childhood used with Donatives to winne the souldiers love seeing they are able to corrupt the wisest and best men as our Lord God in Exodus hath left written Nec accipies munera quae etiam excaecant prudentes subvertunt verba justorum Whereupon not without cause S. John in the Apocalyps cals them by the name of Witchcraft where speaking of Rome under the figure of Babylon he saith Quia mercatores tui erant Principes terrae quia in venesiciis tuis erraverunt omnes Gentes Where S. John intends to shew according to the opinion of some that Rome by meanes of guifts as it were with sorcery had drawne the greatest part of the world to the adoration of Idols Tiberius therefore knowing what power there is in them when Junius Gallus had moved in the Senat that Gifts and Honours should be bestowed upon the souldiers of his Guard he sharply reproved him saith Tacitus veluti coram rogitans quid illi cum militibus esset quos neque ditu Imperatoris neque Praemia nisi ab Imperatore accipere par esset Yet the introduction of Donatives was to the Commonwealth of Rome of exceeding great damage First they have been as I shall shew in fit place in great part the cause why the City of Rome freed once from tyranny by Lucius Brutus was never afterward able being oppressed by the House of the Caesars to recover its liberty the Donatives having put the election into the souldiers hands and they not to lose so great a gaine would alwaies rather have an Emperour for their private profit than a Commonwealth for the publike benefit Secondly because having an Army in their hand on which the election and safety of the Emperours depended as men greedy of money they were moved to stand for him who offered most in such sort that at last they came to set it at who gives more and because as Aristotle in his Politicks well observes when Honours are bestowed in a City in regard of riches it is an easie matter for every Plebeian to become Honourable and therefore no marvell that Elius Pertinax an Hostlers sonne came to be chosen Emperour It is therefore a cleere case that these Donatives were the ruine of the City of Rome from whence also may be inferred that they were hurtfull to the Prince whose profit depended upon the welfare of the City But because the contrary happens where tyrants governe I shall be forced to examine whether the introduction of Donatives were for the Emperours benefit or no. Many approve the affirmative part as moved not onely by the said place of Tacitus where he sheweth they were to Augustus a speciall helpe but by the example also of Caesar who by this meanes both obtained and maintained the Empire And it availes not to say that he was there slaine because seeing one mans indignation was enough to make a Prince be murthered the difference that may be taken from the one 's well and the others ill governing for conserving the Empire ought not to be taken from a violent death but rather that death being revenged and the antient successours replaced in their states I see not how there can be a greater signe of proceeding with judgement for his owne security being able even after his death with his only name to procure his revenge and to settle the Empire in his owne family a hard matter oftentimes for the best Princes to obtaine who yet have the favour of God to die a naturall death This example therefore to omit many others of which Histories are full is an evident proofe that Donatives to the Souldiers were profitable to the Roman Emperours not only to attaine the Empire but also to maintaine them in it Neverthelesse for the Negative part there want not examples to the
a tyrant that should live amongst them than a good Prince that should be farre of Another way is no wadaies used by Princes for peopling such places and it is by confining some petty delinquents thither because if they live they encrease the number of the inhabitants and if they die the Prince receives no losse by it This invention whether good or bad is yet most ancient and we have an example of it in Tacitus himselfe Actum de 〈◊〉 Aegyptiis 〈◊〉 pellendis factunque 〈◊〉 consultum ut quatuor millia libertini generis superstitione infecti queis Idonea aetas in insulam Sardiniam 〈◊〉 coercendis illic latrociniis si ob gravitatem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vile damnum If the defect grow in the third case that is from smalnes of Territory where the people are many the remedy here used hath been to send forth Colonies so Pericles did to help a dearth that was at Athens In this case Plutarch in the life of Numa gives a counsell which is that in such a City care must be taken that Trades be in account and that idle persons be punished but the best course of all will be that the Prince spare no cost to fetch Corne where it may be best had so a thousand times did Tiberius and so Nero who not regarding the great charge he had been at by Sea nor the great losse he had in Tyber with infinite expenses provided that the price of Corne might not be raysed This course was notably followed by the Serenissimo Cosmo second great Duke of Thuscany who by the way of Livorno and other places procured at his infinite charges a perfect plenty and sometimes out of his owne purse hath kept of Almes six thousand persons I forbeare to say that many yeeres together he spent of his owne to keepe down the price of Corne above a hundred thousand Crownes An act that exceeds any act whatsoever of the Ancients seeing that which moved them was their owne interest and matter of state but that which moved him was only the office of a Prince and the zeale of a Christian. In the fourth case provision will be made from other Countries by such waies as have been shewed In the other two cases where dearth may happen by reason of warres caused by sieges and by incursion of enemies the Commonwealths of the Swizzers have found out an excellent way who in places under ground have in store for many yeeres all things belonging to victuals and also to Trades which course with great prudence the Commonwealth of Lucca hath taken to imitate But above all the Prince must take heed that he be not himselfe a cause of the dearth by making merchandise and by engrossing nor yet by suffering others to doe it for then the fault will be laid upon the Prince and the Subjects will have just cause to complaine Likewise that when the people are in want he continue not feasting and feed upon dainties as shewing to take little care of his Subjects misery a thing most pernitious to Princes who should alwaies take such part as the people doe thereby to encourage them the more contentedly to beare their labours This in the old Testament our Lord God teacheth us who when the Israelites were in the Wildernesse and like Shepheards dwelt in Tabernacles he also would dwell in Tabernacles himselfe afterward when changing their course they entred into warre under their Judges and Kings and their Army used Tents he also would then dwell in Tents too and when David desired to build him a Temple he would not suffer him untill such time as there being peace under Salomon every one might dwell in his own house and then he was contented to have a house also built for him All this is expressed in the Booke of Kings where he saith Neque enim habitavi in domo ex die illa qua eduxi filios Israel de terra Aegypti usque in diem hanc sed ambulabam in Tabernaculo in Tentorio per cuncta loca quae transivi cum omnibus filiis Israel But because this course was not imitated by Augustus who when the people died in the streets for hunger himselfe made a sumptuous banquet where as Suetonius relates the guests sate in form of Gods and Goddesses and he in shape of Apollo the people infinitely distasted it and was moved to great indignation Auxit caenae rumorem summa tunc in civitate penuria ac fames acclamatumque postridie est frumentum omne Deos coniedisse But if he shall be no occasion of the dearth and much lesse shew himselfe to rejoyce at it he may then convert it to his owne profit either by getting of money or encreasing his authority or otherwise by winning the love of his people Pharao King of Aegypt by meanes of a dearth and Josephs counsell became Lord of all Aegypt Emit igitur Joseph omnem terram Aegypti vendentibus singulis possessiones suas prae magnitudine fantis subjecitque eam Pharaoni cunctos populos suos a novissimis terminis Aegypti usque ad extremos fines ejus which purchase was not distastfull to the people for the cause aforesaid but rather they accounted themselves obliged to the King for it saying Salus nostra in manu tua est respiciat tantum nos Dominus noster laeti serviemus Regi Whereupon I conclude that when a great famine was in Rome and the Senatours had fetched Corne from Sicilie then had been a fit time to take the authority from the people which they had usurped This Coriolanus in Livy well knew whose conceit yet was not approved of others not because it was not sufficient being used with lesse violence to take away that authority but because it was not sufficient to maintaine it seeing the Senatours having a purpose to augment the Common-wealth and consequently to make use of the peoples Armes they might conceive that those Magistrates who had left their authority in time of dearth would afterward the dearth ceasing resume it againe by force A dearth then thus managed will be a means to get the Prince both authority and riches and the love also of his Subjects As we see in Herod the great who being a Prince the most hated of his people that ever any was yet onely by relieving them with Corne in a time of dearth he made himselfe beloved obliged and freed from a thousand dangers Cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit What kind of ease it is that Tacitus speaks of and how it may be reconciled with some places in other Authours The sixteenth Discourse IN these words Cornelius Tacitus shews us that Augustus by meanes of procuring ease got himselfe the love of all men And because he as a new Prince ought rather to have sought how to maintaine himselfe in his Empire then how with his own danger to procure delights to his Subjects it seemes he might for this be reproved there being a precept of Aristotle in his
Politicks where teaching the true way that a Prince ought to take for maintaining him in his State he perswades this specially not to keep the people in ease and gives us for example the Kings of Aegypt who to the end their people should not stand idle caused so many Pyramides and Mausoleums to be built as Pisistratus the tyrant built the Olympus and Polycrates a thousand Fabricks about Samos Haec enim omnia saith Aristotle fuerunt instituta ad otium quietem populorum tollendam ut illi quotidianis molostiis occupati vacare non possent ad consilia contra tyrannos ineunda And there is reason for it as is said in Ecclesiasticus Cibaria Virga Onus Asino Panis Disciplina opus servo operatur in disciplina quaerit libertatem jugum illorum curvat collum servum inclinant operationes assiduae servo malevolo tortura compedes mitte illum in operationem ne vacet multam enim malitiam docuit otiositas And so much more might Augustus be blamed for it seeing as we have shewed before he maintained the people in plenty and now if to plenty be added case it cannot choose but be the ruine of any City whatsoever Haec fuit iniquitas Sodomae saith Ezechiel Abundantia panis otii And againe because this ease assigned by Tacitus came presently after a warre his fault may be the more there being a passage of Aristotle in his Politicks where he saith That the Lacedemonians passing from warre to ease incurred great danger Thirdly there is a place in Livy also that crosseth this of Tacitus where he saith that Tarquinius Priscus after his fight with the Latines returning to Rome in peace kept the people in continuall and laborious exercises of which Livy saith Majore inde animo Pacis opera inchoata 〈◊〉 quanta mole gesserat bell a ut non quietior populus domi esset quam militiae fuisset To reconcile then these foure Texts it must be shewed that neither of them is repugnant to another but that all of them agree together First I distinguish of ease which as to our purpose is of two kinds ease which is a desisting from any action at all and ease which is contrary to warre because warre being a violent action those souldiers which are in peace although they have other exercises yet are said to be at ease seeing desisting from warre they desist from that violent action which is proper to them In this sense Aristotle once tooke ease where speaking of the Lacedaemonians he saith Splendorem enim veluti ferrum per pacem amittunt causa hujus est legis positor qui non ita instituit ut in otio stare possint By meanes of this distinction this place of Tacitus is reconoiled with the first place out of Aristotle seeing 〈◊〉 by ease here meanes not an ease contrary to all action for Augustus both with sports and playes and buildings held the people in continuall worke insomuch that he could boast he had made Rome a City of Marble which he found but of Bricke but he means it of that ease which is contrary to warre And this is plainely seene because having said before Cuncta discordiis civilibus sessa he presently comes in with this very word Cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit Thus Aristotle agrees with him exceeding well in that Text where he likes the people should be held in action but not in warre and indeed in such actions as debase men and are worse then ease So dealt Pharao with the Israelites putting them to make Bricke and other most base workes Whereupon it is said in Exodus Praeposuit iâ—…aque eis Magistros operum ut affligerent eos operibus and a little after Oderant filios Israel Aegyptii assligebant cos invidentes eis atque ad amaritudinem perducebant vitam eorum operibus duris luti lateris omnique famulatu But to this resolution that place of Livy before cited is most contrary wherespeaking of Tarquinius Priscus he shews that returning from the wars he held the people in hard and cruell labours For answer whereunto we must distinguish that the Princes are either in termes of getting more or else but of keeping that they have already gotten if to get more then it is necessary to hold the people in hard labours to the end they may not lose courage and be imbased in their spirits And therefore no marvell that Tarquinius Priscus teacheth us to hold the people in hard labours seeing the Romans at that time had no other end but to enlarge their Empire But if the Prince have no ayme at augmentation by new acquests and stands not so much in feare of externall enemies as of friends at home he then ought to let the people enjoy a negotious ease of buildings and playes and such like things And this made Augustus take this course because he aymed not at all at any amplifying of his Empire as from many places in Tacitus may be gathered and particularly from that place where in the first of his Annals he saith Bellum ea tempestate nulnum nist adversus Germanos abolendae potius injuriae ob 〈◊〉 cum Prisco Varo exercitum quam cupidine proferendi Imperii And in another place where he saith Consilium coercendi intra terminos Imperium whereby we see he was minded rather to restraine then to enlarge the Empire Lastly it remaines to reconcile that other place of Aristotle in the second of his Politicks where by the example of the Lacedemonians he shewes that after warre to be left to live at ease is a dangerous thing For Resolution whereof I say that the passing from warre to ease is then dangerous when men returne from a short warre and in which they have had the better because they that get victories by reason of the pride which victory brings with it are apt in Cities to raise commotions So it fell out amongst the Lacedemonians and so a thousand times it hath been like to fall out amongst the Romans whereof in the whole first decad of Livy we may see examples But when men come from a warre bloody and long then they love and are glad of peace Whereupon in our case the Romans comming from an infinity of civill warres in which to winne was no better than to lose and being now weary as is gathered by the words Cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa they became not onely desirous but apt also to tollerate ease It is now sufficiently proved that Tacitus or to say better Augustus is no way discordant either from the precepts of Aristotle or from the examples of Livy but that with great judgment he undeavoured to win every one with ease Lastly it is necessary to reconcile Tacitus with himselfe who in this place praiseth ease and yet afterward examining the causes of the tumults in Germany he saith Habebantur per otium as though ease were the cause of those rebellions To which
be not a stranger whereupon Tacitus speaking of Venâ—…ne given to the Parthians to be their King shewes that because he was of different customes from the Parthians though of better than theirs he was with ignominy expelled the Kingdome Accendebat dedignantes ipse diversus â Majorum institutis raro venatu segni equorum cura quoties per urbem incederet lecticae stamine fastusque erga patrias epulas irridebantur Graeci Comites ac vilissima utensilium annulo clausa sed prompti aditus obvia comitas ignotae Parthis virtutes nova vitia quia ipse majoribus aliena perinde odium pravis atque honestis For the very same reason the Gothes tooke it ill that Amalasunta caused Attalaricus to be brought up in the Roman customes although they were better than their own And therefore Isabel Queene of Spaine by her last Will left Ferdinand her Husband to be Governour of Castile for so long time untill Philip who was to succeed being a stranger might learne the customes of the Spaniards And for this cause the Jewes at the comming of the Messias were troubled together with Herod and liked better to be in subjection to one of their owne customes though a stranger as Herod was than to the Messias that was of different though better customes although they knew by the words of Moyses Prophetam suscitabit Dominus de medio fratrum tuorum that he should be their owne Countreyman of which S. Chrysostome gives the reason Fuerunt isti turbati quia injusti non possunt gaudere de adventu justi Secondly because difference of Language is a most odious thing and this out of his singular providence God foreseeing and meaning to hinder 〈◊〉 enterprise to make himselfe a Monarch he confounded the Tongues and thereby easily gave a stop to their proceeding On the contrary when our Lord meant that his Apostles should make some fruit of their labours he would not have them preach in a strange Tongue and therefore gave to every one of them all Tongues that so more easily they might draw men to receive the Faith And the Romans knowing what advantage there is in this compelled all their subjects when they spake in the Senate to speak in the Roman tongue And Rabsaces knowing of how great importance the likenesse of Language is to win the love of the people to the end the Israelites might the willinger receive the government of Senacherib though Sohna the Jew out of a contrary end prayed him to speak in the Syriack tongue Loquere lingua Syriaca ad servos tuos yet he an understanding man as is written in Esay Clamavit Lingua Judaica whereupon Esay in another place shewing the hate and feare which the City of Hierusalem had of the King of the Assyrians amongst other causes names their differing in language Populum impudentem non videbis populum alti sermonis ita ut non possis intelligere disertitudinem linguae ejus Thirdly when to difference of customes and language there is added remotenesse it will adde no doubt a great degree of distastfulnesse First because they will be more obnoxious to the dangers of warre And therefore the Tribe of Dan seeing Lais to be farre off from Sydon which had then the government attempted to bring it in subjection and it tooke effect And that this was the cause that moved them may be gathered from words in the Booke of Judges Euntes igitur quinque viri venerunt Lais videruntque populum habitantem in ea absque ullo timore juxta consuetudinem Sydoniorum securum quietum nullo eis penitus resistente magnarumque opum procul a Sydone atque a cunctis hominibus seperatum And that by this meanes they easily made themselves Masters of it is written also a little after where he saith Sexcenti autem viri tulerunt sacerdotem quae supra diximus veneruntque ad Lais ad populum quiescentem securum percusserunt eos in ore gladii urbemque incendio tradiderunt nullo penitus ferente praesidium Eo quod procul habitarent a Sydone So it happened to the Saguntines who being farre remote from the Romans their confederats were destroyed before they could be ayded And therefore the Armenians standing in doubt of this put themselves into the hands of Mithridates and revolted from the Romans So the people of Syria desired to live under the government of the Parthians as being neere unto them and neighbouring upon them Secondly because people that are farre off must of necessity be governed by a Deputy who by reason of the Princes remotenesse must have great authority given him and consequently may at his pleasure contrary to the Princes meaning play the tyrant over them For all those things that have motion from another and a motion of their own besides how much they are lesse neere to the first mover so much they are more able to move their owne way From hence it is that the Moone being of all the Planets the farthest off from the Primum mobile is moved faster in her own motion and slower in the diurnall motion than any of the other The contrary whereof is seen in Saturne which being neere to the Primum mobile hath the slowest motion and makes the least resistance Yet in the second and third case they will more easily be tolerated although as well in this as in that there is a generall rule that seems to crosse it which is that every City would gladly have a Prince that should be resident amongst them and also be a native of their City That one of the same Nation and City is most acceptable is plainly seen because the people for the most part waves justice and regards not so much the generall good to choose the worthiest as their private benefit to choose the neerest And therfore the Prophet Esay saith Apprehendet enim vir fratrem suum Domesticum patris sui dicet vestimentum tibi est Princeps noster esto Where S. Thomas observes well that every one seeks to make him King that is neerest and not him that is best Indeed this respect of neernesse is of speciall force as we may see in David who being chosen King was followed only by the Tribe of Juda Sola autem domus Juda sequebatur David So Abimelech was more willingly received of the Sichemites then the sonnes of Jerobeam when he said unto them Simul considerate quod Os vestrum Caro vestra sum They were all presently moved to say to him Frater noster es The Milanesi exposed themselves to a thousand dangers out of a desire they had to be governed rather by one of the Sforzi then by the King of Spaine or France And the Faentines chose rather a bastard of Manfredi then to be under the Church So the Armenians as is said before subjected themselves to 〈◊〉 and revolted from the Romans Finally we have a notable example of this in the life of Aratus to
whom it was imputed as a great fault that he would rather call to his ayd Philip King of Macedon then put his Cities into the hands of Cleomenes a Spartan Quod si omnino saith Plutarch Cleomenes injustus fuerit atque Tyrannicus tamen Heraclidarum genere patria 〈◊〉 suisse quidem iis qui rationem aliquam Graeciae Nobilitatis 〈◊〉 Spartanorum obscurissimum potius quam primum inter Macedonas Ducem deligendum fuisse Whereupon our Lord God meaning to give the man Regall power over the woman to the end it might be tolerated with more contentment made her of a ribbe of Adam And to conclude in Deuteronomy he commanded his people they should not choose a stranger to be their King But because this my opinion is full of difficulty seeing oftentimes a City desires to be governed rather by a stranger then by one of their owne Citizens it will be necessary to use distinction either it is the first time a Kingdome is erected or else they have been used to Regall power before if it be the first time they will then rather choose to serve a stranger then one of their own Citizens First because knowing the Citizens beginning they are apt to scorne him So it fell out with the Israelites the first time they had a King for being most desirous to see who it should be when they saw it was Saul they scorned him Num salvare nos poterit iste despexerunt eum Secondly it happens often by reason of factions that are in the City for such desire rather to be governed by a stranger as a man indifferent then by a Cittizen that is an enemy Seeing such a one comming to the government would certainly sill the City with blood and slaughter Whereupon Livy saith Cum pars quae domestico certamine inferior sit externo potius se applicet quam civi cedat A third reason is drawne from envy for an envious man endeavours alwaies to obscure the worthinesse of his Countreymen as lying more in envies way then a stranger whereof S. Hierome saith Propemodum naturale est semper cives civibus invidere invidia autem est tristitia de aliena excellentia ut est proprii boni diminutiva Bonum autem absentium non 〈◊〉 nostra quia non confert eis Ideo non invidemus bona autem praesentium conferunt bonis nostris comparatione excellentiae eorum ostenditur parvum esse bonum nostrum hoc est illud Diminui And of this we have the example of our Lord Christ who being persecuted by his Countreymen was invited by Abagarus a forraine Prince that would have made him in part King with him in his City A third reason may be this that Countreymen know a man from his infancy when there is yet no vertue in him and thereupon consider him but as such a one still where strangers that come not to know a man but in his perfection cannot nor know not how to consider him other then as such So the said S. Hierome saith Quia cives non considerant praesentia viri opera sed fragilis â—…ecordantur Infantiae It is therefore no marvell that the Florentines chose rather to be governed by a French man then by one of their owne Citizens Our Lord God knowing how difficult a thing it is to choose at the first time ones own Countreyman to be Prince In the old law to the end the Israelites having a desire to have a King and not yeelding one to another might not subject themselves to a stranger he made a law they should choose none to be their King but only an Israelite Non poteris alterius generis hominem in Regem facere quod non sit frater tuus But because he knew it would be a hard matter for them to agree upon the choyce at the first time he therefore made that election himselfe Eum constitues quem Dominus Deus tuus elegerit de medio fratrum tuorum And when lastly he came to choose him to the end he might be lesse envied he tooke a course that causeth least envy and that was by Lot But if the people have been accustomed before to a Regall subjection in this case they will rather like to be governed by one of their own Countrey then a stranger and so much the more if some of his family have beene Governour before there being then no place for either envy feare or for equality It is therefore no marvell that Caesar was but ill beloved and was slaine and that 〈◊〉 lived quietly and had the love of all men seeing Caesar raised his House from equality and Augustus found it in superiority in which the Dictatour had left it whereupon when I consider how it happened that our Lord God would at the first time make a King by election and afterward would have it to goe by succession in David I cannot conceive a better reason than this that he knew after the first time the election of a King would be without difficulty In this particular let every one be of what opinion he please but for this other point I doe not thinke it will be denied me that all Cities and Provinces like better to be governed by a particular Prince that dwels amongst them then by any other how great soever he be For this cause it was that the Spaniards were not well pleased when Charles the fifth was made Emperour and were ready to rise because they feared he would leave dwelling in Spaine and make his residence in Germany This desire was the cause that the Persians to have a King in their owne Province set up Cyrus against Astyages who resided in Media and out of this desire the Brittaines covenanted with the King of France that his eldest sonne comming to the Crown his second sonne should be Duke of Brittaine whereof there can be no other reason but the desire to have a particular Prince that should dwell amongst them as being indeed of speciall benefit to the people First because living amongst them he spends those Revenues in the Country which he drawes from the Countrey Secondly because of the greater care the Prince hath of them and because of the peoples neernesse to their Lords eare to whom they can present their suites in their own persons without wasting themselves in journeys and lying at Innes Lastly because if the Prince being Lord of many Provinces reside in one of them the other must be faine to be governed by Deputies of that Province The Emperours of Rome residing in Italy governed all the Provinces by Italians a thing most distastfull to all the people because to one that is not grieved to be subject to a Prince that is a stranger yet it grieves him to be governed by men of a Province that is a stranger as many people that are content to be subject to the King of Bohemia yet refuse to be subject to the Kingdome of Bohemia And the King of France after many
times losing Genoua by this meanes at last he resolved to govern it by Genuesi So in Milan he made Trivultio Governour wherein though he erred yet the errour was in the Individuall and not in the Species as putting the government into his hand that was Head of a Faction But if the Prince be resident in the Province though he be a stranger yet with better liking he will be tolerated because such commonly not only govern the places where they reside but all other places subject to them by Citizens of that Country where they reside The King of Spaine residing in Spaine governes all his subject Kingdomes by Spaniards a thing which not onely winnes love to the Prince but profit also to the Province To this may be added that those people shall alwaies receive more favours who are neere to the Fountaine from whence those favours come then they shall doe that are further off seeing as S. Thomas learnedly observes how much a thing is neerer to its beginning so much it partakes more of the effects of that beginning And for this cause Dionysius Areopagita saith that the Angels as being neerer to God than men are do therefore partake more of the divine goodnesse then men do I cannot omit to advertise that all the difficulties before spoken of are easily allayed after the first heats are once passed as oft as there is found a prudence and graciousnesse in the Prince which is indeed of marvellous great moment as was seen in the Romans who though they hated strangers and were resolved to have no stranger be their King yet when 〈◊〉 a stranger was propounded to them in regard of his eminent vertue they accepted of him Whereof Livy saith Romani veteres peregrinum Regem aspernabantur and a little after Audito nomine 〈◊〉 patres Romani quanquam inclinari opes ad Sabinos Rege inde sumpto videbantur tamen neque se quisquam nec factionis suae alium nec denique Patrum aut civium quenquam praeferre illi vero ausi ad 〈◊〉 omnes 〈◊〉 Pompilio Regnum deferendum decernunt Whereupon it is no marvell if at this day many Provinces and Cities whereof some have a Prince that lives farre off and some a Prince that is a stranger of customes and language different yet they all live in great contentment only thorough the just government of him that rules them I desire therfore that this discourse of mine may be received as of the times past my purpose being to search out the reasons of things have formerly happened and not expressely or tacitely to taxe any Prince Common-wealth or City nor so much as any particular person For above all things I abhorre slandering and specially of those to whom as superiours I owe Reverence Caeterum Augustus subsidia dominationi Claudium Marcellum sororis filium admodum adolescentem Pontificatu curuli Aedilitate Marcum Agrippam ignobilem loco bonum Militia victoriae socium geminatis consulatibus extulit mox defuncto Marcello generum sumpsit Tiberium Neronem Claudium Drusum privignos Imperatoriis nominibus auxit What meanes Princes may use with safety to set them in a way that are to succeed them in the government The eighteenth Discourse IT is plainly seen that Augustus to the end the Senatours nor any other should ever hope to reduce Rome to its ancient forme of government held this for a speciall Maxime of State to advance his neerest kinred and to set some one of them in the way for managing the Empire that so making him privy to all affaires making him known to the fouldiers making him beloved of the people and lastly making him favoured of the Senatours both he after his death might have his way made to come to the Empire and on the contrary no hope might be left for any to attempt any thing against the life of the Prince being propped up with so many Pillars And therefore Vt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insisteret he raysed Marcellus he advanced Marcus Agrippa and after them Tiberius Nero 〈◊〉 Drusus 〈◊〉 and Lucius sonnes of Agrippa and lastly would have Tiberius to adopt Germanicus and 〈◊〉 to be his successours And accordingly 〈◊〉 advanced to the Consulship and other honours 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 and after them Caius Caesar. Whereupon by the example of such great men this course perhaps may be thought worthy of imitation as well for securing ones selfe from danger as also for lessening in part the burthen of those great labours which so great a dignity brings with it so much the more as we have in Cornelius Tacitus a manifest example of Sejanus who by no other meanes was stopped in his course but onely by the number of successours Tiberius had ordained and this stopping as in conspiracies it useth was cause at last that the Prince discovered all his practices But because of the other side the desire of rule blinds the minds of the most inward and domesticke friends It seemes to be no safe course for a Prince whilst he lives himselfe to give any great authority to successours For Invidia Regni as Livy saith etiant inter Domesticos infida omnia atque infesta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 caused his sonne to be elected King but this served not his sonnes turne who thereupon would have killed his father So Absolon meant to do and when with safety he might have expected the Kingdome after the death of his old father David he would rather with wickednesse prevent it and run 〈◊〉 allong into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith 〈◊〉 upon another occasion tarda cum securitate praeniatura vel cum exitio properant And therefore Selim being assumed into part of the Empire by his father Bajaset could not stay to expect it with peace but sought by the death of his father to make himselfe sole Lord. And the like intention had Mustapha towards Sultan Solyman and thereby lost his life Finally this advancing of his successours had but ill lucke with Augustus for Tiberius as is commonly conceived caused him to be poysoned and with Tiberius it proved not much better who also towards the end of his life had the kindnesse of Caius Caesar to helpe him to his death For resolution it may be said that where a State is quiet accustomed to passe by succession in children legitimate there it is in no wise sit to take them into part of the Empire there being no cause with ones owne danger to take away hopes where there are none or to seeke for props where no part threatens ruine But on the other side when the State is in danger not accustomed to live under a Prince and is apt to rebellions in such case it may doe well to call him that is to succeed to be a cosort in the Empire To this purpose it seems the example tends which Tacitus relates of Augustus he caused Tiberius to be called Filius to shew he was his successor Collega Imperii to enter him in managing affaires Consors Tribunitiae
alluvione paulatim terra consumpta est quia surrepente paulatim infusione peccati terra cordis illius ad consumptionem defluxit A second cause is because in old age by reason of weaknesse the vertue of resisting feminine allurements failes which in youth by reason of vigour are easily resisted This cause Cajetan meanes when speaking of Salomon he saith Quamvis mulieres junctae fuerint Salomoni Iuveni non tamen diverterunt a Iuventute ad cultum Deorum sed in Senectute paulatim emollitus est animus ejus crescente amore deficiente virtute A third cause I would alledge my selfe and it is That all love is founded upon some interest either good or bad and seeing that of women can never be founded upon vertue by reason of the incapacity of that sex it happens oftentimes to be founded either upon beauty or upon profit For in women commonly there are two desires or to say better two affections one of rule the other of lust and when these faile then also their love ceaseth From hence it is that seeing an old man can never beleeve unlesse age hath taken away his braines that women can love him for beauty it follows necessarily he must beleeve they love him for profit of which if there be no hope neither can he hope they will ever love him And therefore when he knows he cannot satisfie their affection one way by reason of the weaknesse of his age he must of necessity seeke to satisfie it the other way and consequently agree to all their desires And therefore no marvell if Tacitus say that Augustus grown old was led away by women Concerning the second point before we come to examine which is the best age in a Prince for governing his people we must take notice that in men there are foure ages old age childhood youth and consistence or middle age Thus Hippocrates distinguisheth them which for the present shall passe without questioning the truth of the distinction Secondly it must be noted that I speake not of Princes that are by succession for they have their officers and Deputies by whom they may alwaies governe well but I speake of Princes that are by election and particularly in Kingdomes that stand in danger into which many by reason of age have fallen In this case it is not well that a Prince should be in his childhood whereupon our Lord God by the mouth of the Prophet Esay threatning the destruction of Hierusalem after saying Ecce enim Dominator Dominus exercituum auferet a Hierusalem a Juda validum fortem virum bellatorem omne robur panis omne robur aquae Judiceni Prophetam Ariolum senem he saith dabo pueros Principes eorum by whose government how great disorders were to grow is shewed in the processe of that Chapter and therefore Salomon in Ecclesiasticus cries out Vae tibi terra cujus Rex est puer The reason of this is because in a Governour there are foure things required the first is knowledge and prudence whereupon Salomon considering himselfe to be but a child prayed not to God for Riches or Honour nor yet for long life but for Wisdome to be able to judge rightly saying Ego autem sum puer parvulus ignorans egressum introitum meum Et servus tuus est in medio populi quem elegisti populi infiniti qui numerari supputari non potest prae multitudine Dabis ergo servo tuo cor docile ut populum tuum judicare possit discernere inter bonum malum Whereupon S. Gregory makes a good observation that in holy Scripture Princes and Prophets are called Videntes Seers as those that have need of Prudence and Knowledge that being to lead the blind they be not blind themselves for then will Cities go to wrecke and easily be destroyed as Esay saith Omnes bestiae agri venite ad devorandum Vniversae bestiae 〈◊〉 speculatores ejus caeci omnes The second thing required in a Prince is fortitude to be able to bridle the people and to beare the weight of the Scepter And therefore Salomon in Ecclesiasticus saith Noli 〈◊〉 fieri Judex 〈◊〉 valeas virtute irrumpere iniquitates ne fortè extimescas faciē Potentis ponas scandalum in 〈◊〉 tua And Job speaking of the burthen that lies upon Princes shoulders saith Sub quo curvantur qui portant orbem which S. Gregory upon that other place of Job Ecce Gigantes 〈◊〉 sub aquis expounds saying Gemero sub aquis meanes nothing else but to be oppressed with the weight of Subjects taking waters for people as the Angel in the Apocalyps delivers Aquae multae populi multi Whereupon not without great mystery our Lord God meaning to make Peter Prince of the people he called him first to walke upon the water Thirdly Princes ought more to regard the common good of their subjects then their owne private profit that they may not be like those of whom the Prophet Sophony speaketh Judices ejus lupi 〈◊〉 non relinquebant in Mane but like to the Apostle Paul who saith Non quaero quae vestra sunt sed vos Fourthly there is required Experience Qui non est tentatus quid scit saith Salomon in Ecclesiasticus Et qui non est expertus parva recognoscit And therefore the Ancients have a fable that Phaeton having taken upon him to guide the Horses of the Sunne was throwne downe headlong In asmuch then as a child through defect of age can neither have knowledge nor experience and thorough weaknesse of body can neither be strong nor constant and finally thorough time spent in pleasures will more regard his owne interest then the people there can be no doubt of his unfitnesse to govern others who without doubt is not well able to governe himselfe The other age contrary to this is old age in which as a thing most odious men commonly are subject to contempt Ipsa aetas Galbae saith Tacitus Irrisui fastidio erat And a little after Precarium sibi Imperium brevi transiturum But besides their being contemned oftentimes they governe ill because as Aristotle writes in his Politicks Habet etiam intellectus suam 〈◊〉 that the understanding also hath its old age seeing by weaknesse of naturall heate and want of radicall moysture they generate naughty blood from which consequently arise naughty spirits which passing to the Heart and from the Heart distributed to the senses makes them they can but ill 〈◊〉 their office And therefore in old men we see the senses are alwaies weakned as the Philosopher saith 〈◊〉 nostra intellectio ortum habet à sensu the understanding making use of the senses to understand by insomuch that they being grown old it may reasonably be said the understanding is growne old whereupon 〈◊〉 meaning to shew that Camillus though growne old was yet able to governe saith He had all his senses perfect Sed vegetum 〈◊〉 in
mediocrity of knowledge not for his owne practice but onely to enable him to taste the pleasure from them that doe practise them Sunt enim quaedam e liberalibus scientiis saith Aristotle quas usque ad aliquid discere honestum sit penitus vero sese illis tradere atque usque ad extremum 〈◊〉 velle valde noxium est Philip King of Macedon hearing his sonne Alexander play excellent well on an instrument reproved him saying It is a shame for a Prince to play so well it is onely fit for him to be able to take delight when he heares them doe it that make it their profession And seeing this delight cannot be taken without being intelligent of the Art therefore this censure of Phillip seems not much different from my opinion that a Prince if it be possible should know all Arts and Sciences but not practise them Nerva composed verses and finding it a profession not fit for a Prince he gave it over Sed cohibet vires saith Martial speaking of him ingeniumque pudor Seeing then Nero was vertuous and excellent in these kinds of Arts and Sciences in which it is not for a Prince to be too conversant we may justly say that he was vitious in vertues a thing which 〈◊〉 happens to those that are too greedy of getting knowledge Whereupon Tacitus commended Agricola that he could bridle this greedinesse Retinuitque quod est 〈◊〉 ex sapientia modum For this desire to know more then is fit is neither Politically nor Morally nor Theologically good Quemadmodum omnium 〈◊〉 saith Seneca sic literarum etiam intemperantia laboramus And S. Paul Noli sapere plusquam sapere oportet sed sapere ad sobrietatem That which Tacitus cals To hold a meane in studies Seneca cals to be temperate and S. Paul to be sober It comes into my mind now that we are in this di gression to give another reason why Tiberius maintained himselfe in the Empire and Nero perished in it and it is that Nero scorned fame and Tiberius much esteemed it And if a Divine should object that the contemning of fame in this world is a necessary vertue in all good men I would answor as it is true that to contemne worldly fame is one of the best things a Christian can doe so it is one of the worst things a Heathen or a wicked man can doe because there will be no vice or villany which he will not dare to doe if he regard not fame as was seene in Nero who not regarding fame left no wickednesse unattempted But to returne to our purpose and principall intent which is to shew the meaning of that place in Tacitus upon which we have undertaken to discourse I say that many from that text make it a rule that one who hath been brought up in the Princes house should not be made Prince because of Tacitus his saying Hunc primum ab infantia 〈◊〉 in domo Regnatrice and their reason is because in such places he learnes to be proud and insolent First I doe not thinke that Tacitus mislikes a successour should be brought up in the Princes House neither that he makes it a cause of pride absolutely because not onely it is commendable but in a manner necessary that Princes should be brought in their Houses to whom they are to succeed seeing that though a Prince be of the same state and of the same blood Royall which ought to succeed in the Crowne yet if he should be brought up any where but in his owne house it would be cause enough to make him odious to all his subjects And therefore Tacitus saith of Vonone that although he were of the blood Royall of the Parthians yet because he had beene brought up in Rome his subjects would not endure him Quamvis Gentis Arsacidarunt ut externum aspernabantur They therefore deceive themselves who favouring either brothers or sons of the great Turk have a hope to settle them in the Ottomane Empire for though they be of the blood Royall yet they will alwaies be accounted strangers and thereupon rejected Whereof continually we have heard and seene examples no other good having ever come of it but that it hath shewed the Christian piety of those Princes who in zeale to God have given shelter to such persons Secondly he being commonly of an intolerable carriage who from a servant comes to be a master as well because he passeth from one extreme to another as because to be a servant abaseth the spirit as was seen in Tigranes of whom Tacitus saith that he therefore lost his Kingdome Cum advenit Tigranes a Nerone ad capessendum Imperium dilectus Cappadocum ex Nobilitate Regis Archelai nepos sed quod diu obses apud urbem fuerat usque ad servilem patientiam dimissus neque consensu acceptus And therefore our Lord God would not that his Captaine and Leader of the Israelites Moyses should be as others were a servant to Pharao but would have him bred and brought up in the Kings house and for this it was that the Parthians expelled Vonone Si mancipium Caesaris tot per annos servitutem perpessum Parthis Imperitet Thirdly because being in some part raised above equality as they are who live in Princes houses they are with lesse envy of the subjects taken to be their Prince Whereupon Servius although as some thinke he was the sonne of a bondwoman yet because he had been brought up in the Princes house he was accepted for King The Lacedemonians also when they wanted a King they tooke Laconicus onely because he had been brought up in the Kings house Fourthly because in such places there is no doubt but they may better learne how to governe and be set in a way of managing affaires and therefore Dion in the life of Adrian would have a speciall regard to be had of this in choosing a Prince and our Lord God meaning to fit David for being a King made him in Sauls life time to goe to live in the Kings Pallace to the end he might learne the customes of a King and be made to know the degree before he tooke it where if suddenly upon Sauls sinne he had been made King he should have come unknown to all the people It is not therefore to be found fault withall that he who is to rule others should be brought up in his house that rules neither in my opinion had Tacitus any such meaning or to say better he whose words Tacitus reports For they doe not simply and absolutely finde fault with Tiberius his education in Augustus his house neither yet that he had so great dignities and honours conferd upon him for these did rather prepare him to governe well then to make him proud but the fault they find is this that in his youth and whilst he lived in the Princes house he was raised to so many and to such a number of Offices The fault therefore was not that he was brought up
the man and not the woman and the honours that are done to the women ought to passe by the way of their husbands and therefore it is said in Esay 〈◊〉 invocetur nomen tuum super nos This course Tiberius tooke most notably who when his mother made any suite in his name he presently granted it and more then so he many times at the suit of Livia required those things of the Senat which without blushing he could not have asked but when it was moved to give her honours immediately without passing by the meanes of Tiberius he then presently opposed it saying Moderandos foeminarum honores But if we speake of those Princes that live securely in peace and are well setled in their states as at this day many are in Italy then either those women that should governe together with the men are in judgement and understanding fit for it or else they are altogether unfit if unfit it may then be enough for them to looke to matters at home and Domesticall affaires but if fit I cannot then thinke any thing more just or more convenient or more profitable to a Prince then to call such women of his blood to beare a part of the burthens of government both because by their experience and prudence they may assist the Prince as much as any other and also because by reason of their owne interest and the singular affection they beare to their husbands their sonnes or nephewes there can be none found that with more sincerity and faithfulnesse and without any by-respects will helpe them to beare so great a burthen as a Kingdome is and so much more as they are alwaies like to be partakers as well of the dangers as of the profits of the Prince A thing which is not found in strangers and such as are mercenary whose profit oftentimes lookes another way and is divided from the Princes profit Whereupon S. 〈◊〉 upon that place of Esay Pater filiis notam faciet veritamet saith Non revelatur servo veritas quia servus nescit quid faciat Dominus ejus sed nec Mercenarius rapitur ad contemplandam veritatem quia propriam quaerit utilitatem And therefore Augustus a most wise Prince had often conference with Livia Numa Pompilius with Aegeria Cyrus with Aspasâ—…a Tarquinius with Tanaquill and Justinian with his wife Theodosia Princes therefore ought not to despise the counsels of women of their blood but to hold them in great account whereof in my opinion there is in Genesis a Golden Text Sara having spoken to Abraham to send away Agar and Ismael it seemes he was not very willing to give credit to the words of a woman which God knowing said unto him Omnia quae dixerit tibi Sara audi vooem ejus Moreover when our Lord God made the woman he said Faciamus ei Adjutorium simile sibi and why then should we seeke after other helpers and not take those who are made of purpose for our ayd According to this my opinion was decided the controversie in Tacitus betweene Valorius Messalina and Caecina where it was concluded that in governments which stand in danger it is not fit to bring in women but very fit in governments that are peaceable and secure In which I say more that a Prince who is yong cannot doe better then not onely to be counselled a thing in part also fit where States are dangerous but to suffer himselfe also to be governed by women Theodatus King of the Ostrogothes in the beginning of his Raigne carried himselfe with great moderation as long as he agreed with his wife but when he left to follow her advice he filled with injustice all his Kingdome The Emperour Constantinus Sestus never governed well but when he suffered his mother Irene to direct him And Salomon never runne into disorderly courses as long as his mother Bersabeâ—… lived of whom he scorned not to be taught as himselfe in the Proverbs saith Filius fui patris mei tenellus Vnigenitus coram matre mea docebat me atque dicebat suscipiat verba mea cor tuum custodi praecepta mea vives And therefore S. Chrysostome upon S. John saith Nihil potentius muliere bona ad instituendum informandum virum quodcunque voluerit neque tam leniter anticos nec magistros patietur ut conjugem admonentem atque consulentem habet enim voluptatem quandam admonitio uxoria cum plurimum amet cui consulit multos possum afferre viros asperos immites per uxorem mites redditos mansuetos Who knowes not that Tiberius never plunged himselfe so much into all kinds of wickednesse as after his mothers death And the reason which all men alledge to prove women unfit for government is of no force of force I know in generall but that in particular women should not be as fit as men I hold it a great folly to thinke having my selfe although but yong not onely found written in Histories but seene in experience many women able to have governed the whole World and to these the frailty of their sexe is so farre from being a hinderance that rather they are worthy of the more praise for overcomming naturall defects with supply of vertue Vix dum ingressus Illyricum Tiberius properis matris literis excitur neque satis compertum est spirantem adhuc Augustum apud urbem Nolam an exanimem repererit acribus namque custodiis domum vias sepserat Livia laetique interdum 〈◊〉 vulgabantur donec 〈◊〉 quae tempus monebat simul excessisse Augustum rerum potiri Neronem eadem fama detulit That at one and the same time to make knowne the death of the Prince and the assumption of the successour is a thing very profitable for States that stand in danger The foure and twentieth Discourse THere is nothing makes me more beleeve that Tiberius had given order to his mother to poison Augustus then his very being far off from Rome at the time of his death an invention followed by all those who by such meanes have taken away the life of great personages So did Piso after he had as is said poysoned Germanicus so did Lodowick Sforza who knowing that his Nephew had taken poyson and could not long be living he would not stay in Milan but went to Piacenza to the King of France The cause as I thinke why they do so is to the end the World may not suspect they had any hand in their deaths and although they cannot but thinke that men of understanding will suspect them the more yet this is nothing to the Prince who seeks but to a voyd the heat of the people who without any judgment are carried through love or hatred to doe such things as men of judgement would never doe Tiberius was then in Slavonia when his mother sent him word of Augustus his sicknesse who as may be thought was dead before Tiberius came to Nola yet he oftentimes gave forth he had good
he held him alwaies about himselfe in great honour and all succeeded exceeding well And in case all these courses seeme to be difficult either thorough the undanted spirit of him that was Lord before or by reason of the extraordinary affection the people beare him in this case the best course is to send them into banishment for some long time as the Pope did in Bolognia But to returne to our purpose Tiberius not without cause stood in feare of Agrippa which is plainely to be seen by this that not onely Agrippa but one onely servant forging and taken upon him his name was like to have raised no small insurrection in the people and Senatours of Rome and because Tiberius could not put this Agrippa to death without incurring an exceeding blot of cruelty he therefore had recourse to that remedy so much used by Princes which was to feigne that Augustus had commanded it So also did the Emperour Adrian who would have it beleeved that all the murthers he committed were done by his predecessours command which not onely abates the hatred and name of being cruell but converts it also into piety as done for executing the will of the dead And yet in this there would be no blame if such murthers were committed out of zeale of justice out of which zeale David being willing that Joab should be punished for two murthers and Semei for the injury he had done him to take away the hatred that for this might fall upon Salomon he commanded him at the time of his death to doe it to the end that he afterward putting it in execution might seem rather as in this indeed he was a just King and a pious executour of the will of his deceased father then a cruell Prince But because Ludovico Moro taking to him that state which belonged not to him by meanes of his Nephews death hath much resemblance to Tiberius I am willing to shew it a little more cleerely by a Parallell Augustus being dead Tiberius succeeded in the Empire and caused Agrippa Posthumus to be put to death to whom the succession of right belonged Ludovico Moro succeeded in the Dutchy of Milan and caused as it is beleeved John Galeozzo the true heire to whom that Dutchy of right belonged to be put to death Tiberius doubted that because Augustus was gone to visit Agrippa he would appoint him to be Emperour Ludovico Moro feared that because Charles the eighth was gone to visit John Galeozzo he would make him Duke of Milan Tiberius would have it beleeved that he was elected by the Senate and not through the wickednesse and plots of his mother Livia Ludovico Moro would have it beleeved that he was made Duke of Milan by the people for the good of the state and not through his owne villanies Tiberius made a shew as though he were unwilling to take upon him the Empire Moro also dissembled the like In one onely thing they differed that to the one it proved safety to the other ruine and it is that where Tiberius as soone as he came to the Empire he presently put Agrippa to death Ludovico stayed so long from putting his nephew to death that he was forced for putting it in execution to call in the King of France to his manifest and utter ruine A Parallell betweene Tiberius and Salomon The six and twentieth Discourse SEeing in these Discourses and particularly in the next before we have spoken of Tiberius and brought also many examples of Salomon I have thought it no unfit curiosity to compare them together Tiberius was borne of Livia who was taken by Augustus from Nero. Salomon was borne of Bersabee who was taken by David from Vrias Bersabee was with child although by David when he tooke her to wife Livia also was with child when she went to be married to Augustus Augustus had many neere of kinne to whom to leave the Empire as Agrippa for one David had his sonne Adoniah to whom by right of age as being the elder the Kingdome belonged Finally Augustus growne old at the suit of Livia appointed Tiberius to be his heire and David growne old at the perswasions of Bersabee ordained Salomon to succeed him Salomon being come to the Crown killed Adoniah to whom the right of it belonged Tiberius being come to the Empire caused Agrippa to be put to death who was rightfull heire of the Empire Both the one and the other governed with great judgement in the beginning but at last Salomon loosing Bersabee and Tiberius Livia both the one and the other plunged themselves into all kinds of lustfulnesse Whereupon there rebelled against Tiberius Sejanus the deerest servant he had and against Salomon Jeroboam the most inward friend he had Tiberius used to speake darkly Salomon also used the like speaking as may be seen by his Parables and Proverbs Nuntianti Centurioni ut mos Militiae factum esse quod imperasset neque imperasse sese rationem facti reddendam apud Senatum respondit Quod postquam Sallustius Crispus particeps Secretorum is ad Tribunum miserat codicillos comperit metuens ne reus subderetur juxta periculoso ficta seuvera promeret monuit Liviam ne arcana domus c. That it is a dangerous thing to obey Princes in services of cruelty and tyranny The seven and twentieth Discourse SAllust had taken order and provided all due means for putting Agrippa Posthumus to death by the commandement of Tiberius but he desirous to shew he had no hand in the fact denied to the Centurion who was the executioner of it that it was done by any command of his saying that for what he had done he must give account not to him but to the Senat. Which Sallust seeing and doubting least the mischiefe might fall upon his head Veritus as Justin saith speaking in the person of Arpagus in the like case 〈◊〉 infantis necati ultionem quam a patre non potuisset a ministro exigeret he began to counsell Livia Ne arcana Domus ne consilia amicorū ministeria militum vulgarentur The conceit of Tiberius was good that he would have as I imagine the Centurion goe to the Senate to tell them he had executed the Commandement of Augustus about the death of Agrippa but yet that of Sallust likes me better because there is no likelihood it would ever be beleeved that Augustus appointed the death of a Nephew for security of a son in law seeing as he could get nothing by it so he might loose much because the Prince shewing he cared not to have his death known there is no doubt but men would talke of it with more boldnesse from which talke there oftentimes grow ill affections against the Prince whereas if Tiberius had passed it as he did in silence it would not have come to many mens eares they that would have heard it would have kept it secret as knowing how dangerous a thing it is to discover talk of that which Princes would have
found a judgement to choose the good and refuse the bad and lastly a memory to retaine that which is imprinted To the learning them of others is required a perspicacity which is all one with docility makes the understanding apt to apprehend those things which are taught by others There is required also judgement to discerne good things from bad and lastly a memory to reteine them So as the memory is as the matter of the one and the other the judgement as the Forme of them both and perspicacity and acutenesse are as the differences Salomon desires Wisedome but not with acutenesse to invent things that is wisedome which consists in the sharpnesse of wit but he desires wisedome together with dociblenesse that is wisdome and perspicacity which is all one with dociblenesse perspicacity to be able to understand rightly the opinions and reasons of his counsellours and wisedome that is judgement to be able to discerne the good from the bad Salomon therefore shews that a Prince ought not to care for inventing of his owne head but to content himselfe with having dociblenesse to understand things invented by others and wisedome to know the truth and to discerne the good from the bad And therefore he saith well Da mihi sapientiam and after Dabis ergo servo tuo cor docile Where we must observe that though he say The Heart and not the Understanding yet he meanes the same thing seeing those faculties which Galen attributes to the understanding many others attribute to the heart and in holy Scripture it selfe the heart oftentimes is put for the understanding as in Esay it is said Excaeca cor populi hujus aures ejus aggrava oculos ejus claude ne sorte videant oculis suis auribus suis audiant corde suo intelligant Neve Tiberius vim Principatus resolveret cuncta ad Senatum vocando Eam conditionem esse Imperandi ut non aliter ratio constet quam si uni reddatur How Princes ought to make use of Magistrates and Officers The thirtieth Discourse SAllust counsels Tiberius to take heed that he remit not so many causes to the Senatours as thereby to weaken his owne soveraighty there being nothing so proper to a Prince as to be sole Commander A counsell worthy to be well considered by occasion whereof it will be â—…it to discourse First how Princes ought to order the remitting of causes to the Senate or to other Officers and then whether they should take the administration of all things into their own hands It seemes a thing impossible that one man alone can by himselfe be able to judge all causes which Jethro Moyses father in law considering and seeing him to take the reckonings of all the people of Israel without assistance of any and wondring at it he said Vltra vires tuas est negotium solus illud non poteris sustinere For Resolution then either we speake of giving Authority to a Senate or else of committing causes to other Officers If we speake of the Senate either the causes are great and weighty or else but of small moment If they be great then ought the Prince to reserve them for himselfe to determine if slight and of small value he may doe well to remit them to the Senate that so he may please them with a shew of liberty without any prejudice to himselfe This Tiberius well understood and therefore when the subject Provinces made suit for the continuance of certaine Franchises he remitted them to the Senate to the end that being matters of small moment the Senate might determine of them as they pleased which Tacitus expresseth where he saith Tiberius vim Principatus sibi firmans imaginem antiquitatis Senatui praebebat Secondly the affaires that are handled are either such as deserve reward and grace or else such as are odious and deserve punishment and censure If they be such as deserve reward the Prince ought to determine of them himselfe but if they be odious and deserve punishment he ought then to shift them of from himselfe and leave them to the Senate or if he cannot to the Senate at least to other Officers Honores autem saith Aristotle ipsemet tribuere debet poenas animadversiones per alios infligere per Magistratus 〈◊〉 per judicia So Simonides in Xenophon adviseth Hiero so Simonides in Dio Augustus Our Lord God when he punisheth he doth it by the ministery of others Immissiones per Angelos malos whereof Saint Chrysostome speaking saith Igitur quando servare oportet per seipsum hoc facit ita 〈◊〉 in salutem generis Humani 〈◊〉 tunc inquit 〈◊〉 Angelis congregate facientes iniquitatem projicite in Camino de justis vero dicit non sic sed qui vos suscipit suscipit me 〈◊〉 ligate illius manus pedes 〈◊〉 in tenebras exteriores videillic servos qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 autem beneficiis opus est seipsum Benefactorem vo cat Venite Benedicti Patris 〈◊〉 percipite 〈◊〉 vobis regnum quando loquendum cum Abraham ipse adest quando in Sodoma 〈◊〉 servos mittit iterum euge serve bone fidelis supra pauca fuisti fidelis supra multa te constituam tunc ipse benedicit 〈◊〉 autem 〈◊〉 non ipse sed servi 〈◊〉 By this you may see that a Prince ought to have no hand in punishments but leave all such distastefull things to Officers It was handled in the Senate to take order for restraining of luxury which was now growne excessive and beyond all measure and because there was scarce a man in the whole City free from this vice it was a thing exceeding 〈◊〉 as Tacitus shewes where he saith Nec ignoro in conviviis circulis incusari ista modum posci sed si quis legem sanciat poenas indicat iisdem illi civitatem verti splendidissimo cuique exitium parare nentinem 〈◊〉 expertum clamitabunt Tiberius therefore finding of what nature the cause was would not determine it selfe but cast it upon the Senate as Tacitus in his person saith Si quis ex 〈◊〉 tantam angustiam vel 〈◊〉 pollicetur ut 〈◊〉 obviam queat hunc 〈◊〉 exonerari laborum meorum partem fateor sin accusare vitia 〈◊〉 dein cum gloriam ejus rei 〈◊〉 sunt simultates 〈◊〉 ac mihi 〈◊〉 Credite P. C. me quoque non esse offensionis avidum Which the Senate perceiving they also remitted the cause to the Aediles and so it vanished In this point there is no Kingdome better governed then that of France which leaves all matters to the Parliament that might any way make the King distasted and matters of most importance the King himselfe in his Privy Counsels determines And thus much for giving Authority and remitting causes to the Senate Now if we speake how a Prince ought to serve himselfe of his Officers I say generally that the lesse he doth by their ministery the better whom he should use
the same God who had made water of nothing Nam si ipsi Deo contrarius Opifex fuisset non utique alienis usus esset Christus ad propriae virtutis demonstrationem And Saint Ambrose speaking of the first miracle which Christ did on the Sabboth saith Et bene Sabbatho coepit ut ipsum se ostenderet Creatorem qui Opera Operibus intexeret prosequeretur Opus quod ipse jam coeperat And thus when a Generall is changed the Instruments also and all other things are changed with him and therefore Cneius Pompeius being sent Successor to Lucullus in Asia altered all that Lucullus had done for not only it is the nature of men that succeeding another in any office they will seldome follow their predecessours courses but in this case there is another reason for it also to the end It may not be thought that getting the victory they get it more by their Predecessours carriage then by their owne and therefore no mervaile that Drusus tooke contrary courses in Germany to those which Germanicus before him had begun I conclude then These Generalls to whom a successour is sent are either needy of glory or else they have gotten glory enough If they be needy they will then precipitate the Army and themselves to get it as Cornelius did with Hanniball at Trebia if they have glory enough already they will then endevour to make a Peace that they may not hazard their Reputation with a successour as Corbulo did when hee heard of one that was to come in his place Corbulo meritae per tot annos gloriae non ultra periculum faceret But there are two oppositions may in this place be made which I cannot omit I ought not to shun The first is that the Romans changed their Generalls every yeere and yet they alwayes got the victory as in the first Decad of Livie may be seene The second that the Venetians men of so great valour and prudence that they may serve for an example to all the world have alwayes taken this course and alwayes it hath succeeded well To these reasons it is no hard matter to give an answer And first for that of the Romans it may be said that this happened thorough the weaknesse of their neighbouring Nations with whom they had war Secondly and perhaps better that although in the Roman Army they sent yeerely a New Consull yet there were many others in the Army who had beene Generalls themselves before a thing which at this day is not possible seeing every one thinks scorne to goe a private Souldier not onely if he have beene a Generall but if he have been but onely a simple Corporall before Thirdly the warres they had then were at the gates of Rome were such warres as were finished I say not in one yeere but oftentimes in one day But when they came to have warres farre off and that lasted long they then suffered their Generalls to continue many yeeres and grow old in their places From hence it was that at one and the same time having warre with Hanniball in Italy and with Asdrubal in Spaine they very often changed their Generalls in Italy but Cneius Pompeius that was their Generall in Spaine they never stird So as when they had to doe against Powerfull Armies in places far off they were then forced to send a Scipio Africanus or a Caesar or some such as knowing how much it importeth the maine of the warre to have one sole commander As to the Particular of Venice It is no mervaile that they in their Fleets at Sea doe every yeere change their Generalls seeing the warre and the Generalls Office end both at once because actions at Sea are begun and ended all at one time but when they make warre by land they change not then their Generalls every yeere as in Histories may be seene Lastly in the Common-wealth of Venice one reason there is and in Rome there was which makes the matter the lesse dangerous and it is because that Common-wealth hath so many in Sea matters so expert and excellent that they might easily change their Generall eveâ—y day without any danger which I cannot say ever happened to any other then to the Common-wealth of Rome and to that of Venice and the reason is because in these Common-wealths men of valour are rewarded A third way to secure a Prince from his Generalls of Armies is to send Persons of trust of his own blood as Tiberius did in sending Drusus and Germanicus but neither doth this course like me First because Princes have not alwayes of their blood that are fit to be Generalls Secondly although they have yet it seemes to me so much the more dangerous as the Army is in a mans hand of more Power and specially one not far from the Crowne and for this cause Ludouicus Sforza chose rather to leave the Castle of Milan in the custodie of a stranger who afterward betrayed it then of his owne brother And it availes not to say he is a neere kinseman seeing as I have else-where said Jnvidia Regni etiam inter Domesticos infida omnia facit there being few qui malint expectare quam accipere Imperium And therefore Jsocrates in his Oration concerning the Government of a Kingdome saith that a Prince should bestow the highest Honours upon those of his blood but the solidest Honours upon those that love him When Vespasian was made Emperour his Son Domitian had the honour but Mucianus the Authority Caesar Domitianus Praeturam cepit ejus Nomen Episrolis Edictisque praeponebatur Vis penes Mucianum by all meanes there was care taken to order it so that hee might not usurpe the Empire The like course Otho took Profecto Brixellum Othone honor Imperii penes Titianum fratrem Vis ac Potestas penes Proculum Praefectum If afterward it succeeded well with Tiberius It was because Vterque filius legiones obtinebat A fourth way is when a Generall hath gotten Reputation by some victory then presently to remove him before hee grow too famous and use him in the warres no more So did Pharao by Moses when imploying him against the King of Aethiopia he no sooner got the victory in a battaile but he presently called him backe into Aegypt So did Anthony with his Captaine Ventidius after he had overcome Pacorus So did the King of Spaine in calling home Gonsalvus But neither doth this course like me for either the victory will make an end of the warre and then there will be no need of calling him home and yet the Prince not without danger seeing one victory alone if it be finall will be sufficient to get the Generall a Name and make him presume And if that one victory end not the warre the Prince then that takes this course will have little will to proceed any further for the reasons before alleadged and if by ill luck Fortune should chance to turne he will be forced with shame and danger to
send the same Generall againe as the King of Spaine would have done after the defeat at Ravenna for if the French had followed the victory which was hindered by the death of the Generall the King of Spaine had determined to send Gonsaluo againe into Italy The last remedy which hath beene invented to prevent this danger specially in Common-wealths is to joyne two Generalls together in the Army So the Romans used often times to doe So the Carthagenians So finally the Athenians yet I cannot satisfie my selfe that this is a good way First because it is commonly the overthrow of the action as was seene by the King of France in the Kingdome of Naples by the Duke of Vrbine and by the Cardinall of Pavia in the Popes Army by Marcus Varro and by Paulus Aemilius amongst the Romans whereof in all Histories there are Examples Secondly this way is not sufficient to take away the danger we speake of as was seene in Augustus who although hee had two companions Hircius and Pansa joyned with him yet could not they hinder him from getting into his hand the Army of both the one and the other having first by devises put them both to death as Tacitus intimates where he saith Caesis Hircio Pansa sive hostis illos seu Pansa veneni vulnere effusum â—…five milites Hircium machinator doli Caesar abstulerant utriusque copias occupavisse Thus for a Prince to goe himselfe in person is dangerous to change his Generalls every yeere is not commendable to send one of his owne blood not safe to remove a Generall after getting a victory worst of all lastly to make more Generalls at once then one of little benefit and consequently how to avoyde this danger is very difficult The best counsell I could give should be that which Augustus gave to Tiberius Consilium Coercendi intra terminos Imperium and in briefe as much as may be to avoid warres and therefore Tiberius knowing these difficulties although he heard of the Rebellion of the Grysons yet hee made no shew of it because hee had no mind to send thither any person of reputation Dissimulante Tiberio damnum ne cui bellum permitteret But because it is impossible but that occasions of warre will sometimes happen I should like well in such case that a Prince being doubtfull of his Generall should goe himselfe to be neere the Army but not to bee in the Army or if in the Army yet hee should never expose himselfe to danger unlesse the maine of the state depended upon it This Charles the fifth King of France knowing for which hewas called Charles the wise would be himselfe in person in the Army but when the battaile was to be fought he then attyred a servant of his in his owne Armour and by this meanes the Army had the benefit of the Princes presence without the Princes danger Pyrrhus also put his Armour upon another finding how faine the Romans were to kill him David as long as matters were in manifest danger thought it necessary to fight himselfe in person But if the presence of the Prince can doe no more good or else if having lost a battaile he have Forces 〈◊〉 to renue his Army in this case a Prince should not doe well to goe in person and therefore David in the like case saying Egrediar 〈◊〉 vobiscum the people answered Non exibis 〈◊〉 enim fugimus non magnopere ad eos denòbis pertinebit 〈◊〉 media pars ceciderit de nobis a non satis curabunt quia 〈◊〉 unus pro decem millibus computaberis Otho therefore shewed little Judgement and had ill counsell when deliberating about a battaile against Vitellius he let it bee knowne that hee meant not to goe himselfe in person seeing when the maine of the businesse is at stake the Prince ought then to goe himselfe because if his Army should be lost he were as good be lost himselfe as was seene in Otho for he staying behind and not going in person in the Army both abated the courage and also the number of his Souldiers Their courage because they lookt for him Militibus ut Imperator pugnae adesset poscentibus Their number because hee retained many companies for his owne Guard and though Tacitus in that oration which Otho made seeme to shew he had forces enow to renue the Army and that he killed himselfe onely because hee would not doe the Common-wealth so much hurt yet I cannot beleeve that a man so wicked as Otho was would ever bee so Compassionate and take such pitty of the Common-wealth A Prince then ought to goe himselfe in person when either the danger is such that if the Army bee lost the whole state is lost or when it is such that Ioosing the battaile the Prince cannot doe better then to dye seeing there is no doubt but it is a great encouragement to the Souldiers to see their prince amongst them as it happened in the battaile at Tarus where the onely presence of the King was the cause they got the victory whereupon it is no mervaile that the Israelites going upon a difficult action and hearing that our Lord God their chiefe Prince would not goe himselfe but would send an Angell to be their Generall Et mittam 〈◊〉 tui Angelum ut eiiciam Chananaeum Amorrhaeum Ethaeum Pheresaeum Iebusaeum intres in terram fluentem lacte melle Non enim ascendam tecum that the people hearing themselves thus vilified made the greatest demonstrations of sorrow that could be Audiens autem populus sermonem 〈◊〉 luxit nullus ex more indutus est cultu suo so as if the Lord God did not goe himselfe the people could have no heart to undertake that Enterprise But if the state of the Prince though that Army bee lost be able in any sort to defend it selfe in this case the Prince shall do well not to goe himselfe in person but shall set onely One Generall over the Army and himselfe not to be farre off but so as in occasion of certaine victory hee may remoove into the Army This Joab teacheth us when he advised David to come into the Campe being now in his power to take the City of Rabbat to the end the glory of the Action might bee Davids and therefore in the second of the Kings he saith Misit Ioab nuntios ad David dicens Dimicavi adversus Rabbath capienda est Vrbs aquarum Nunc igitur congrega reliquam partem populi obside Civitatem cape eam ne cum a me vastata fuerit Vrbs Nomini meo ascribatur Victoria Maharbale left by Hanniball to Oppugne Saguntum left the Oppugnation in good termes and then stayed for Hanniballs comming Strataque omnia saith Livie recentibus ruinis advenienti Annibali ostendit In this manner a Prince shall fully secure himselfe from any Generall whose Reputationi growing onely from the victories hee hath gotten the Prince shall convert all
afterward tooke away and he put them in halfe a servitude being himselfe superiour in all causes The like conceit had Galba when he made himselfe sole Lord of the Empire as in the foresaid oration every one may see Augustus therefore is no more to be reproved then Cleomenes and Galba and Hiero are and if his purpose tooke not effect it is not to be attributed to his fault but to the ill fortune of his successour seeing as long as he lived himselfe till he came to his decrepit age he maintained the City in great quiet and the whole world in Peace Nulla in praesens formidine dum Augustus aestate validus seque Domum Pacem sustentavit And if to Romulus there had succeeded Tarquinius Superbus and to Augustus Numa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thinke the City of Rome had in her beginning beene ruined and after by Augustus beene restored And as after him the City of Rome fell to a Tyrant and the power of the Caesars ended in Nero so also the Power of Romulus ended in Tarquinius Superbus the Power of Cleomenes in himselfe that of Hiero in his nephew Hieronymus and finally that of Galba presently after his death fell to a Tyrant and all these Powers except that onely of Cleomenes came to ruine by wicked successours The reason why these mens power was not able to hold out long and to conserve their Cities in tranquillity is by some assigned to the accommodations which either are so ordered that all the parts of the City rest contented and then it will last or else the Accommodation 〈◊〉 founded upon the Person who by his authority makes it apt to continue and then it will last no longer then while he lives or at most till it fall into the hands of a wicked successour this in my opinion David knew well when in a Psalme he said Deus Iudicium tuum Regi da 〈◊〉 tuam filio Regis as though he would say it is not enough for the continuance of an empyre that the first King be good but it is necessary his successours be good also and then it is like to last a long time 〈◊〉 cum sole ante lunam in Generatione Generatione but because after Salomon there followed a wicked successour the Kingdome was in part dissolved So the Kingdome of Romulus succeeded well with him because there came after him Numa Pompilius who by giving good lawes filled it with Religion but afterwards in Tarquinius Superbus it came to ruine So also that of Hiero came to nothing through a wicked successour So the reformation which Augustus made of his Country succeeded ill to him because there came after him a Tiberius a Caius a Claudius and lastly a Nero who abrogating Lawes Religion it could not choose but come to ruine The reformations therefore are ill founded and never last long that are founded upon the Authority of one seeing the City is eternall the Prince mortall but then are reformations like to continue when they are founded upon those that receive them Wherein for another reason I would helpe my selfe with a doctrine of S. Thomas where he saith That when a forme comes to be perfectly received of the matter although the Agent that introduced the forme be removed yet the forme remaines in the matter still if Fire be introduced in Wood by another Fire though the agent be removed yet the Fire remaines in the Wood still but when a forme is introduced unperfectly or to use the word of S. Thomas Inchoative there If the Agent be removed either it lasts but little as water that is heated or else goes wholly away with the agent as the enlightning the aire by the departing of the Sun So likewise when a Prince hath perfectly introduced good Ordinances in the matter of a City although he die himselfe yet they will still remaine but if they be introduced but unperfectly that is not fully established then certainly either they will last but little as water heated or with his death that introduced them will die also as the enlightning of the Aire To returne to our purpose I said before that the City of Rome was not capable of liberty and therefore that Augustus was not too blame for not giving it liberty that it was not capable is manifest seeing in processe of time the Empire comming into the hands of such persons as more regarded the good of their Countrey then their owne dignity such as Trajan Antoninus Pius Marcus Aurelius and others were if they had knowne that it had been for the good of the City of Rome to have had liberty they certainly would have given it I have beene willing to give examples of Hiero as being indeed most like to Augustus For he being a Citizen of Syracusa had in his hand an Army for defence of his Countrey and by devises cut them all in pieces that were not for his turne and afterward with those very Armes he made himselfe Lord of Syracusa in which government he raised not himselfe above equality ruling with much prudence and contents of the Subjects as also he enlarged the Dominion of Syracusa and lastly intended to leave it in liberty but that he did it not there were two impediment the first because the City was not fit for it and therefore Livie saith Syracusaeque cum breve tempus affulsisset in antiquam servitutem reciderant And in the same booke speaking of the people of Syracusa he saith Aut servit 〈◊〉 aut superbe dominatur Libertatem quae media est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 modice nec habere sciunt A second impediment were the women who through desire of rule wrought so with him that he left his Nephew Hieronymus his successour a most perfidious and cruell man and farre differing from the conditions of his unkle Augustus likewise was a Citizen of Rome and had in his hand an Army for defence of his Countrey when he put all those to death that were able to oppose him and then turning those very Armes against his Countrey he made himselfe 〈◊〉 Lord in which government he used great equality shewed great prudence enlarged the Empire and lastly had a purpose to leave it in liberty whereof he had often speech with 〈◊〉 and Agrippa and if he left it not in liberty it was long of two things one because the City was not capable of liberty Non 〈◊〉 discordantis 〈◊〉 remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur and as Galba said of the Romans Nec totam libertatem nec totam servitutem pati possunt A second cause was Livia who having besotted the old man Augustus perswaded him to leave Tiberius his successour a cruell man and one that was no more of kinne to Augustus his conditions then to his blood as Tacitus shewes where he saith 〈◊〉 Tibero morum via And thus it appeares that Augustus and Hiero were very like but yet in one thing they had very unlike fortune for the Empire of Augustus ended not
in himselfe but was continued in Tiberius who also was able to elect a successour after him but with Hiero it was not so for his Kingdome ended in his Nephew Hieronymus who was miserably slaine And the reason of this is because Tiberius in company of many vices had some vertue as I said before speaking of Nero but Hieronymus without any vertue had all the vices of Tiberius Non aliud discordantis patriae remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur Why the City of Rome from a Regall power under Romulus recovered liberty under Tarquinius and from the Regall power of Augustus was never able to shake off servitude The six and thirtieth Discourse TO make that be better understood which we said before that the City of Rome in the time of Augustus was not fit to receive liberty I conceive it will be a good helpe to examine the reason why from the Regall power of Romulus it came to liberty under Tarquinius and afterward from the Regall power of Augustus it was never able to free it selfe from servitude The first is a generall reason and brought by all Writers that is the imperfection and corruption of the Citizens For liberty as I shall shew in my Discourse of Optimates requires men perfect and not corrupt at least so many as may be enow to make a Senate But surely this reason with leave of the many great men that alledge it may be of some force to prove that the City of Rome under Augustus was not capable to receive liberty but it is of no force to prove that from the Regall power of Augustus it might not as well recover liberty as it had done from that of Romulus Seeing the City of Rome was never so full of imperfect men in the time of Augustus as it was in the time of Romulus when there was in it indeed a nest of the scumme of the most wicked men that were in all Italy We may say then that both the one and the other of these Kings had an intention to set his Countrey in liberty as of both of them in divers discourses I have made it appeare but neither of them in his life time put this intention of theirs in execution And the reason is because when men are imperfect and not fit to tolerate liberty it is impossible that in the life of one Prince alone they can be brought to perfection in such sort as to be made fit to receive it but this must be wrought by the continuance of many good successours who may all of them intend to prepare the Citizens for it and because it was thus with Romulus therefore after him the Romans obtained liberty but being not so with Augustus who had many wicked successours after him therefore the City after him continued alwaies in most miserable servitude A Second reason was the slaughter of Caesar which not being sufficient to reduce Rome to liberty was therefore sufficient to make the Regall power unalterable For Augustus making himselfe Lord of the Empyre by force was able by the same force to secure himselfe in it the rather under the Excuse of Caesars slaughter and the corrupt times of the Common-wealth which served him for Engines to put many things in execution that fortified his Power Pietatem erga Parentem saith Tacitus tempora reipublicae obtentui sumpta whereupon the best Politicall instruction that in like cases can be given is this that when a Familie hath lost the authority it once had in a City It is better to yeeld it up with love then to strive by force to recover it with danger for this hath beene the cause that many Cities relapsed under Princes have never after beene able to recover liberty a relapse in all things being alwayes worse then the first Evill and of this there want not examples if there were need to bring them A third reason and of importance is because the Election was come into the hands of the Souldiers who by reason of the gaines they made and of the unmeasurable Donatives that belonged to them at the Coronation of Emperours would never be brought to give their consent for the introducing of liberty in which it is wont to be the first lesson He that labours not shall have no pay and so much more as Common-wealths that are good need no such guard Fourthly I conceive it to be of some moment that after the death of Nero in whom the house of the Caesars ended yet Rome was not then reduced to liberty seeing Galba being chosen every one of those great ones might begin to hope that it might be their turne at some time or other to come to the Empyre and consequently very likely they were not much discontented with that forme of Election and so much in my opinion did Galba himselfe expresse in the speech he made to Piso when he said Sub Tiberio Caio Claudio unius familiae quasi haereditas fuimus Loco libertatis erit quod Eligi coepimus finita Juliorum Claudiorumque domo optimum quemque Adoptio Jnveniet as if he would say Now that the line of the Caesars is extinct everyone may hope to attaine that degree which hope I conceive may be the cause that those potent men in whose hands it is to alter states like best of that forme in which the first degree they can hope to attaine is that of Excessive greatnesse and from hence perhaps it was that Caesar the Dictatour was never much troubled with the Conspiracy of Catiline but rather excused and defended it as lesse caring for the Cities liberty then that it should come under the Power of one alone which Power hee doubted not in time to attaine to himselfe Fifthly the greatnesse of the Romane Empire was it selfe in my opinion a great cause It could never returne to liberty because at the time of the 〈◊〉 being but in low estate it was more reasonable they should desire Equality which in small things is easily borne and because else they must have passed a thousand difficulties as the subduing of Ryvall Common-wealths the Conquering of Enemy Princes and the like where in the time of Augustus the City being growne great become mistresse of the world her Ryvalls spent and all things at Peace and quiet it was not now easie to support Equality and therefore from that time afterward there was no contesting but for the Empyre and a man will easily hazard both life and reputation where the reward that may be gotten by it is both great and secure but where the reward is but little full of toyle and danger there men are contented and glad to have company and therefore Brutus brought Rome to be a Common-wealth whereupon we see in our times that Venice excepted all other Common-wealths are of no great moment and all this as I conceive Tacitus very lively expresseth where he saith Vetus ac jampridem Jnsita mortalibus Potentiae Cupido cum 〈◊〉 magnitudine
another sense in the Hebrew is rendred in Latin Lucem vultus mei non abiiciebant that is they despised not my mirth So as Feare is so necessary that Domitian although terrible to the Senat as governing with feare yet after his death he was wished for againe of all men seeing with that feare he kept his owne officers in awe whereupon it happens sometimes to bee worse for a Prince with too much mildnesse to make himselfe be loved and therefore the Kingdome of France under Charles the simple and Charles the grosse was as an Authour writes most miserable on the contrary at the end of Francis the first it was a flourishing Kingdome although they were milde and he a sharpe and terrible King afterward againe in the time of Henry his sonne a most gentle Prince the treasury was all wasted Pertinax and Heliogabalus with their mildnesse had brought the Empire almost to ruine when afterward Severus Africanus and Alexander Severus raised it up againe with incomparable Severity It is not therefore enough for a Prince to be loved but hee must be feared also Concerning the second point which is that feare alone is pernicious to a Prince is easily proved first from that place in Genesis where Noe with his sonnes going out of the Arke our Lord God said unto him Tremor Timor vester sit super cuncta Animalia terrae as though he would say you must make your selves be feared of beasts not of men And therefore Moyses comming downe from the Mount with a horny splendour and finding that it made his face strike the people into feare he covered it with a vaile whereby he shewes plainely that a Prince ought not to make himselfe onely to befeared This also our Lord Christ shewes who amongst the first precepts he gave his Apostles gave this for one that they should carry no Rod with them where S. Ambrose well observes that a Prince ought to governe more with love then feare And in another place he saith David Rex cum omnibus aequabatsuam militiam fortis in praelio mansuetus in Imperio Ideo non cecidit quia charus fuit 〈◊〉 diligi a subjectis quam timeri maluit Timor enim temporalis tutaminis servat excubias nescit diuturnitatis custodiam And therefore it is said in the Psalme Memento Domine David omnis mansuetudinis ejus Whereupon S. Bernard upon those words of the Canticles Dilectus meus mihi ego illi qui pascitur inter Lilia amongst those Lillies where the Spouse feedeth reckons gentlenesse and love by which he reigned Specie tua saith the Prophet pulchritudine tua intende prosperè procede Regna Therefore love alone is not good because it causeth contempt and feare alone is not good because it begets hatred This the Ancients meant to signifie by the Fable of Jupiter who at the Frogs desire to have a King gave them a Blocke and he not stirring the Frogs despised him whereupon Jupiter changed their King and gave them a Storke but he eating them up they hated him more then they despised the other by this they meant to shew that a King should not be so gentle to have more of the blocke then of the man nor yet so severe as to resemble a beast in sucking the blood of his Cittizens A Prince therefore ought to joyne the one with the other which how easie and necessary it is may easily be knowne if we distinguish feare into two kinds one a feare which is but a reverence as a filiall feare is whereof the holy Text in Job saith Vir rectus timens Deum The other a feare which is a terrour and this is that feare which Adam had when he heard the voyce of our Lord God Adam ubies and he answering said Vocem â—…uam Domine audivi abscondime timui quia nudus essem Secondly we must distinguish of men that some are perfect and some unperfect which is common also to all Cities whether great or small I say then that if the men be imperfect it is fit to make them feare not the filiall but the servile feare and therefore Esay saith Sola vexatio tantum dabit intellectum auditui and Jeremy Per omne flagellum dolorem erudieris Hierusalem And Salomon in his Proverbs saith In labiis sapientis invenitur sapientia virga in Dorso ejus qui indiget corde by the Rod is meant feare and by Ejus qui indiget corde are meant the wicked who are said to be without heart as Osee the Prophet saith Factus est Ephraim quasi Columba seducta non habens cor With these men therefore it is fit to use a Rod of Iron to make them feare being the onely meanes to returne the heart into its place The Ninivites had removed their hearts out of their proper places and our Lord God with his Rod Ad quadraginta dies Ninive subvertetur brought them againe into their right places Because as Aristotle in his Physicks saith Every thing that is made proceeds from its like but every thing that is borne from its contrary Quodlibernon non fit a quolibit sed a suo contrario So to beget love where it is not we must not use Love but its contrary which is feare and as in Generation the Contrary departs when the thing is generated so when Love is once generated the feare departs whereupon Saint Bernard and Saint Austin Compare feare to the Needle and love to the Thread because the Needle brings in the threed and having brought it in departs away A Prince therefore ought to make himselfe be feared even with Servile feare by the wicked It remaines to shew how a Prince ought to carry himselfe towards men that are good and perfect but having shewed before that love alone begets contempt and feare hatred it is fit he make himselfe be loved and feared both at one time but not with that servile Feare which for the most part is cause of Rebellions as was seene at the time when our Lord God appeared to the Jsraelites upon the Mount which begetting in them a great feare there followed a Rebellion but with that fâ—…are which is a vertue For knowing of which feare it is to be knowne that feare may have two objects the one is some terrible mischiefe the other is the Person who hath power to doe the mischiefe as Saint Thomas saith and because our purpose is not in this place to speake of the first object but onely of the second as speaking of a Prince I say that he may be considered in as much as he hath power to hurt or in as much as he hath will to hurt if we consider him in as much as he hath will to hurt in this manner he ought not to make himselfe be feared but leave the subjects to feare him of themselves So our Lord God would be feared and not be feared So Saint Paul to the Philippians saith Cum metu tremore vestram
not care much to be loved of any but onely of the good to which purpose Galba said it needed not trouble them to see Nero beloved of the wicked but this was a matter that needed regard to give no occasion he should be wished for againe of the good Nero a pessimo quoque desiderabitur Mihi ac tibi providendum est ne etiam a bonis desideretur Secondly the end of a Prince is as of an Oratour or of a Physitian who being to introduce a forme in another and not having it in their power to doe it yet they have discharged their office if they have applied fit meanes to introduce it no better a Physitian is he that heales then he that heales not nor any better Oratour he that perswades then he that perswades not so long as they use the fittest meanes he to heale and this to perswade So for our purpose seeing love is in him that loveth in such manner as honour is in him that honoureth a Prince shall have performed his charge and done as much as he need to doe as long as he hath used all fit meanes to procure his subjects love by doing good to all by maintaining them in plenty by shewing himselfe farre from cruelty by defending them from their enemies and finally by making it appeare that he loves them exceedingly seeing this is a sure rule He that will be loved must love Vnum esse Reipublicae Corpus atque nuius animo Regendum Whether an Aristocracy or a Monarchy be the more profitable for a City The nine and thirtieth Discourse ASinius Gallus having too sharply spoken to Tiberius and finding his owne errour and the Princes indignation meant with a flattering speech to cover the one and pacifie the other and therefore shewed that for an Empire to be well governed it was necessary it should be governed by one alone And because from this place of Tacitus many gather that he held the government of a Monarchy to be better then that of optimates I conceive it to be no digression from our purpose that I shew first according to my understanding the truth of this question and then declare how this place of Tacitus must be understood And herein no man need to marvell that I vary from the opinions or to say better from the approved opinions of many excellent men as though I meant to vilifie them but I desire they would take into consideration the River of Rhoâ—…e which although it seeme by his course as though it meant to drown the legitimate sons of the Celti yet indeed it exalts them and gives a true testimony of their legitimate birth to all that see it So it will be no small matter if I with my weaknesse can make the others worth appeare the greater To come then to the matter It is commonly held and all men almost are of opinion that a Monarchy is the better For proving whereof there being two waies one Authority the other Reason in each of these there will not be wanting meanes sufficient to make it plaine In considering authority the first that present themselves are the holy Fathers S. Chrysostome Justin Athanasius Gyprian S. Hierome and finally S. Thomas in many places Secondly come Philosophers naturall and morall Plato Aristotle Senâ—…ca Plutarch Herodotus and finally amongst Poets Homer If we come to reasons there present themselves an infinite number and first if we consider profit we shall finde as S. Thomas saith that a more profitable government cannot be found then that of a Monarch seeing the profit welfare of that which is governed that is of Cities and Provinces consists in nothing but in conserving of unity which we call peace at which they who governe must chiefly aime and seeing there is no government so fit to preserve peace as that of a King we cannot choose but give it the name to be the better and the more profitable Because peace consists in nothing but unity which certainely is better had in one who is by himselfe one as a King is then in those that are many as Optimates are as we see 〈◊〉 thing which is hot of it selfe is a more efficient cause of heating then that which is but hot by accident the state of Optimates being never good but in as much as they who govern it approach by accidentall union to be one But laying profit aside and entring into consideration which of them is most naturall who sees not that a Monarchy is the most seeing nature governes and moves all the parts of our bodies by one onely which is the heart likewise the sensitive soule is governed by the rationall and Bees naturally are governed by one that is King and if Artificiall things be so much the better as they imitate nature and the Artificers worke be so much the perfecter as it holds similitude with nature then certainely must every one needs yeeld that in the multitude of governments that State is the best which is governed by one alone Againe if we looke upon experience we shall find that in a house there is but one Master in a flocke but one Shepheard and in the old Testament the Israelites were alwaies governed by one alone whether under Kings or under Judges But laying also this aside and comming to examine the power who sees not that a Monarchy is farre more potent then an Aristocracy considering that of the foure Empires and powers of the World that is the Assyrians the Persians the Grecians and the Romans onely one of them was under Optimates Then if we consider order where is it more found then in a Monarchy where every one is subject but he onely that rules the rest there being no order betweene equals but onely betweene superiour and inferiour If then we consider duration and stability this certainely is most found in the government of one alone seeing Omne Regnum in se divisum desolabitur and every one knowes that division fals out more easily in an Optimacy then in a Monarchy as experience hath made it manifest in the Monarchy of Ninus which continued without interruption a thousand two hundred and ninety yeeres If then we consider which is furthest off from discords we may take example in Rome which was never without discords but when it was under Kings But laying all these considerations aside it will be proofe enough of this assertion to consider the similitude that is betweene the government of God and that of a Monarch because as he rules all the World so a King rules all his subjects By these reasons it might be concluded that a Monarchy as being most profitable most naturall most potent most durable most orderly most free from discords and finally most like to the government of God should without comparison be better then a State of Optimates But seeing there are many difficulties in the question I hope I shall have leave to examine the truth of it a little better And where it may be
many Diverse sounds make but one sound of which order Saint Chrisostome in admiration saith Et est videre mirabilem rem in multis unum in uno multa And then if they will consider the unaptnesse it hath to Discords let him take the City of Venice for an example which for many ages together hath never had any And it availes not to say that where many are they may be at ods betweene themselves but one cannot be at oddes with himselfe for I answer with Aristotle Quod studiosi viri sunt omnes ut Ille unus And the Example of Rome is of no force because when the Discord entred betweene the Nobility and the People It was not then an Optimacy but a mixt Estate and by reason of the predominating Element might be called a Popular state and if ever it were an Optimacy it was in the beginning in which they lived in exceeding great concord untill the state came to be corrupted rnd here we must advertise that when we compare a Monarchie with an Optimacy wee compare them in their perfection and not in their corruption because it is of the Essence of an Optimacy that all in it should be good men for else we should dispuâ—…e Aequivocally But to let many other things passe who knowes not that a City will be better governed by Optimates then by a Monarch seeing the most virtuous Governes best and a King being but one virtuous and the Optimates many vertuous seeing many know more then one although that one in some thing may exceed those many as Aristotle excellently shewes in his Politicks yet if you grant that the Optimates be all vertuous men you must withall grant that they are able to governe better then any King whatsoever and the rather because a King deserves then most praise when he is governed himselfe by good counsellours and consequently in as much as he is ruled by many in the manner of Optimates So our Lord God appointed Moses that he should rule by the counsell of Iethro And this me thinkes might serve to make men capable that an Optimacie is better then a Monarchie yet there is a further Reason For not onely an Optimacy may Governe betâ—…er as being more vertuous but as being more then a King who not being able himselfe alone to governe all the state Solus illud non poteris sustinere he must of necessity commit it to officers and who knowes not 〈◊〉 how much more love and Iustice the people are governed by the Lords themselves being vertuous then under a King by officers that are strangers they governing their owne and these another mans and therefore Aristotle speaking against Plato saith that Propriety a thing being ones ownâ—… is a speciall cause of love and makes the greater care be taken of it Nam de propriis maxime Curant homines and if men as he shewes use little diligence in things that are common they will use much lesse in things that are neither common nor proper as we see it daily though it be but a homely instance that a husband-man will till land better that is his owne possession then that which he is hired to till as in that regarding his owne particular profit in this the Common in the one the present onely in the other the present and the future both And if it be answered that a King may have good officers I say that when we grant the government of a King to be good wee 〈◊〉 that he be good himselfe but it followes not that a good King must necessarily have good Officers seeing it is not a thing essentiall to him and though we should grant it to be essentiall yet it is not constituent but onely consequent though I rather thinke it is neither one nor other but for the present let it it be as it will This is most certaine that in Optimacy for all to be good is both essentiall and constituent for otherwise as I have said we shall but labour in Aequivocals Also secrecy gives an Optimacy right to be preferred before a Monarchy for proofe whereof the example of onely the Venetians may suffice who as Guicciardine relates have alwaies kept their counsels secret a thing which Princes cannot doe who being to consult with persons not interressed in the affaires that are handled can never be sure but that they may reveale them And though none of these reasons were sufficient to winne perswasion to this opinion yet this certainly must needs be sufficient to shew how much the government of God is more like to an Optimacy then to a Monarchy and this will be easily shewed because our Lord God operates Immediatione virtutis and is in all things Iâ—…diatione suppositi to which kind of operating and being the Optimates approach neerer then the Monarch who must of necessity make use of Officers as not able being but one to be himselfe in all places whereby it often happens that a State is more governed by the Officers vertue then by the vertue of the Prince But the Optimates being many may all together doe that of themselves which a Prince doth together with officers and may governe the State by their owne vertue and consequently operate Immediatione virtutis yet I meane it in the manner that a second cause can operate knowing well not onely in Theologicall verity but also in Philosophicall doctrine that all vertue proceeds from Heaven as Aristotle in his Meteors teacheth us where he saith Oportet hunc mundâ—…m inferiorem superioribuâ—… lationibus esse contiguum and therefore in a certaine manner the government of Optimates is more like to that of God And it availes not to say that our Lord God is but one alone that governes the whole world because in him is one Essence indeed one Will one Soule one Intellect onely but then in three Persons really distinct in three Suppositi in three Hypostases in three Substances as substance is distinct from Accidents which are In alio tanquam in subjecto And finally in three Subsistences as subsistence signifies Essentiam per se subsistentem which three Persons doe in such sort governe the universe that although the workes of Creation be attributed to the Father the workes of Wisedome to the Sonne the workes of Love and Grace to the Holy Ghost yet all the three concurre equally in all workes ad extra which are common to them all The Universall therefore is governed by three Persons with one will alone and the Divine Unity is an unity of end in plurality of Persons such as we have shewed the unity of Optimates to be And this is that unity which our Lord Christ desires should be in us as being like his owne as he sheweth in S. John where he saith Pater Sancte serva eos in nomine tuo speaking to his Father quos dedistâ—… mihi 〈◊〉 sint unus sieuti nos And a little after Non pro eis rogo tantum sed pro eis
be taken The six and fortieth 〈◊〉 Germanicus returning from collecting the taxes found the Legions in mutiny demanding that the veteran souldiers might have leave to go home and to have their pay increased and also to have the Legacy left them by Augustus and he to quiet them yeelded to many of their demands for which he was by many much blamed as in the vvords here alleaged appeares By occasion vvhereof vve purpose to examine vvhat courses are fit to be taken vvhen Armies are in Rebellion I say then that all mutinies and insurrections require not one kinde of Remedy but according to the divers times in vvhich they happen to the divers occasions upon vvhich they happen and lastly to the di vers Captaines under vvhom they happen a divers remedy is to be applied For if the Generall be a man of vvhom the Army stands in avve he may expose himselfe to any danger vvithout any danger and have all things succeed vvell The Macedonians in Afia being quite tired with the War and far from their Counâ—…ry fell to mutiny under Alexander Magnus standing upon the like termes as they in Germany did where Cicatrices ex vulneribus verberum notas exprobrant so here Omnes fimul missionem postulare coeperunt deformia or a cicatricibus canitiemque capitum ostentantes whereupon Alexander calling the souldiers together to hear him speak no sooner ended his speech but he thrust into the midst of those infuriated beasts and caused the most insolent of them to be taken and not a man of them durst offer to make resistance Defiluit deinde saith Quintus Curtius frendens de Tribunali in medium armatorum agmen se immifit notatos quoque qui ferocissime oblocuti erant fingulos manu corripuit nec ausos repugnare tredecim asservandos custodibus corporis tradidit quis crederet saevam paulo ante concionem obtorpuisse subito metu cum ad supplicium videret trahi nihil ausos graviora quam caeteros And thus this brave Resolution in a Generall of whom they stood in fear sufficed to pacifie this great insurrection But if a Captain be onely loved and not feared let him never put himselfe upon such adventure or thinke in such sort to cyment the matter for it will undoubtedly be his death whereupon we see that Germanicus though he exposed himselfe to no danger yet was not far from losing his life as by reading Tacitus we may perceive And the reason of this difference is because as Choller overcomes Love so Fear overcomes Choller which as Aristotle saith being with hope of Revenge as far as is possible that Hope is taken away by Fear and in the place of it enters Sorrow as Avicen excellently shews in his Book De Anima And for this cause also it happens that more Armies mutiny under Captaines that are loved than under Captaines that are feared as was seen in the Army of Alexander the Great and in that of Annibal Captaines that were feared the contrary in the Army of 〈◊〉 and in that of Scipio Captaines that were loved It is very clear that Germanicus was never able to take any of these violent Resolutions yet I commend not the course he took to pacifie the mutiny of his Army by yeelding to them in so many things because being suspected of the Prince any course had been fitter for him than this by which he corrupted military discipline and by giving of his own he as it were bought the Army and therefore where Tiberius heard in what manner he had pacified them it troubled him not a little Nuntiata ea Tiberium laetitia curaque adfecere gaudebat oppressam seditionem sed quod largiendis pecuniis missione festinata favorem militum quaesivisset bellica quoque gloria Germanici augebatur And so much more as there wanted not other wayes to have appeased the sedition and the first way for him being so well beloved had been that which in matters of love is of such force and that is by making them jealous he would leave them and go to some other Army shewing how little he regarded this mutinous Army and in truth if any notice might have been taken of such conditionall propositions I verily thinke the sedition by it selfe only would have bin appeasâ—…d and there are two things that move me to thinke so One the Example of Alexander the Great who in a mutiny making shew as though he regarded not his Macedon souldiers by taking Persians for the Guard of his Body and doing them other Honours all the Macedonians prostrated themselves and in most humble manner sued unto him whereof Quintus Curtius saith Postquam vero cognitum est Perses ducatus datos barbaros in varios ordines distributos atque Macedonica iis imposita nomina se vero ignominiose penitus rejectos esse non jam amplius conceptum animis dolorem perferre potuerunt sed concursu in Regiam facto interiori duntaxat retenta tunica arma ante januam poenitentiae signum projecerunt ac prae foribus stantes intromitti se sibique ignosci suppliciter atque flentes orabant utque Rex suppliciis suis potius saturet se quam contumeliis ipsos nisi venia impetrata non discessuros See here the fruit of jealousie The second thing that makes me beleeve this way would have succeeded well with Germanicus is the Example we have in the very mutiny it selfe of the same Army wherein when the granting them so many things would not yet pacifie the sedition then Germanicus not to this end but to set them out of danger was sending away his Wife and Children to be out of the reach of this tumultuous Army which the souldiers perceiving and thereupon growing jealous that any other strange people should keep their Captaines Wife safer than Roman Legions to the end he should not send her away they presently grew quiet Sed nihil aequè flexit saith Tacitus quam invidia in Treueros orant obsistunt rediret maneret pars Agrippinae occursantes plurimi ad Germanicum regressi And if the departing of his Wife onely could prevail so much what jealousie would they have had at the departing of their beloved Captain certainly without making them any other promises this alone would have pacified the sedition and in case this jealousie alone had not been sufficient he might then have gone to the other Army and sent messengers to let them know that if they delivered not up into his hands the heads of the Rebellion he would come and cut them in pieces good and bad a thing which without doubt would have done much good as was seen when at last he was forced to use such termes with his souldiers under Caeciua At Germanicus quanquam contracto exercitu parata in defectores ultione dandum adhuc spatium ratus si recenti exemplo 〈◊〉 ipsi consulerent praemittit literas ad Caecinam venire se valida manu ac ni supplicium in malos praesumant
their Guide for if I should goe my selfe and the Army happen to rebell I should be forced utterly to destroy them Non enim ascendam tecum quia populus durae cervicis est ne forte disperdam te in via and therefore Princes oftentimes should avoide such encounters that they may not aggravate their Subjects faults And for this Germanicus said he would send away Agrippina from the Army least her death should be the more grievous for aggravating the Souldiers fault And Ieremie when the Synagogue went about to kill him seemed to grieve for nothing so much as that his death should aggravate their offence Cognoscite quia fi occideritis me sanguinem tradetis contra vosmetipsos Lastly if there were no other reason for it this one would much prevaile with me that a Prince come newly to his State and but ill beloved of all should upon no occasion stirre out of the Citie and specially in his beginning seeing the presence of the Prince is of greatest force to hinder Rebellions Whereupon it is no marvell that Pistoia rebelled against Aguccio of Fagivola as soone as they saw him gone out of the Citie And likewise Florence against Charles the King of France his brother And the people of Israel fell one time to mutiny for no other cause but because their Leader Moses was gone from them being called up by our Lord God into Mount Sinai If then the people of Israel so much bound to Moses and after so many yeares who had freed them from the bondage of Aegypt had nourished them with Manna in the Wildernesse had made water flow out of Rocks and many such like benefits yet onely because he was gone up to Mount Sinai to speake with God for their good could finde in their hearts to rebell what would have beene done against a Tyrant a perfidious man an enemy of the Citie and in the beginning of his Empire if he had gone into Germany to pacifie those tumults and so much the more as not having any trusty person to leave behinde him in his stead for the Senate was his enemy his mother repented that ever she holpe him to the Empire and as for the Traytour 〈◊〉 what trusting was there to him And indeed if there had beene any whom he might have trusted it would have done him no good no more then it did Moses to leave Aaron in his place Also Abimelech Prince of the Sichemites going out of the City in the beginning of his Empire left in it his assured friend Zebull yet it did him no good for no sooner was he gone but the people mutinyed and made Gaall their Prince as plainly appeares in the Book of Judges So as we may conclude Tiberius should have hazarded himselfe exceedingly if he had lest and thereby lost the City of Rome which he knowing saith Tacitus Fixumque Tiberio fuit non amittere caput Imperii For having the Senate and people his enemies These for taking away their Liberty Those for taking away their Authority and then the Armies in mutiny and calling upon Germanicus to be Emperour he might well thinke that if Germanicus had once seene him out of Rome he would never have refused the Empire in choler To this I adde that though Tiberius had beene sure of the Citie of Rome yet he had no reason to put himselfe into the hands of the Army which having intended to kill the Legates and Germanicus himselfe plainly shewed they had cast off all respect and reverence Ne in colluvione rerum Majestatem suam contumeliâ—… offerret As for the reasons before alleadged they are of 〈◊〉 forces to say that Majestie is able to appease tumults Ire ipsum opponere Majestatem imperitoriam debuisse for Majestie when it is not accompanied with force runnes alwayes a hazard at least for the most part as was seene in the Prophets who came unarmed which the Romane Souldiers well perceived in a discord they had with the people In which Livy saith Huic tantae tempestati cum se consules obtulissent facile experti sunt parum tutam Majestatem fine viribus esse seeing as he saith a little after there is not a more weake thing then Majestie is when it is alone Nihil contemptius neque infirmius si fint qui contemnant Yet I say not but that Majestie may do some good at a first brunt before it be sound to be nothing but a shadow without substance consisting onely in opinion I doe not therefore marvell that the Emperour Rodolphus passing in his Coach to the Army that was in mutiny without staying a jott in manner of a lightening was able to quiet it For so also it succeeded well with Caius Fabius who passed from the Capitoll to the Mount where he meant to sacrifice thorough the French Army in habit of a Priest seeing it was done in so short a time and upon such a sudden as they had not space to take notice of it Whereupon we see that Ferdinand of Arragon going forth amongst the people in a tumult suddenly appeased it but then upon consideration of this reason he presently returned into his Castle And for this it was as I conceive that when Drusus had quieted the Legions of Illyricum he would not stay the comming of the Embassadours but instantly went away to Rome Whereupon those old Senatours who at the first taking of Rome stayed in their houses in their Senatours Robes were by the majesty of their persons for a little time defended but it was not long ere the French perceived that this majesty of theirs was without any power onely in opinion so as they began at first to scorne them and at last to kill them It may therefore be concluded that to trust to Majesty without force is a dangerous businesse and therefore Tiberius meaning tacitely to answer the objection said Majestate salva cui è longinquo major reverentia meaning to shew that Majestie doth not the like good neare hand as it doth a farre off seeing the further it is off the greater it growes the nearer it comes it growes the lesser This was plainly seene when Scipio and Lucius Quintius standing in competition for the Consulship it was given to Lucius Quintius for no other cause but this whereof Livy saith Accedebat quod alter decimum jam prope annum assiduus in oculis hominum fuerat quae res minus verendos magnos homines ipsa satietate facit And of this besides Examples there may be given Philosophicall reasons The first because reverence to a man farre off must needs grow from Fame and Fame cannot come but it must needs passe by the mouthes of many so as the first mouth which begins to relate it to another alwayes addes something out of love and affection to him whose actions he relates and the second mouth when it comes to his turne cannot relate againe without adding something of his owne and so that other to another In infinitum Seeing we
Officers interpret alwayes too largely the power given them to inflict punishments so they should interpret too narrowly the power given them to bestow benefits whereupon he thought it not enough to say Nolite nocere terrae mari and therefore added neque arboribus so also in Esay our Lord God commanded that the Israelites should be humbled by the King of the Assyrians and he intended to destroy them God commanded him to tread upon them and he went about to put them all to the sword This therefore is an ordinary thing with Officers to restrain favours and inlarge punishment which growes upon this because as building their fortunes upon the Princes treasure and honours they thinke every thing lost to themselves which is given to another and therefore alwayes interpret favours narrowly and punishments largely as well to second the Prince in his anger and make him the more gracious to themselves as taking to heart the wrongs that are offered him as also to make the delinquents faults seem greater than they are to the end the Prince seeing them so cruell to them that so perfidiously had vvronged him may take notice hovv faithfull they are in his service and hovv much they resent his injuries Iunctoque Ponte tramittit duodecim millia E legionibus sex viginti socias cohortes octo Equitum Alas quarum 〈◊〉 seditione intemerata modestia suit Whether an Army be apter to rebell that consists of one Nation onely or that which consists of many The nine and fortieth Discourse BY occasion of auxiliary Souldiers vvhich for any thing can be gathered from the forealleaged vvords of Tacitus stood alvvayes quiet and kept themselves in good order vvhen the Roman Legions oftentimes sell into seditions Iam dravvn to think that Armies composed of divers Nations are lesse apt to be mutinous than those which are all of one Nation having a manifest Example thereof in the Army of Hannibal which being composed of an infinite number of Nations differing in Language in customes in Religion yet they never mutinyed nor rebelled although they had a thousand times occasion by the many wants they suffered which Livy wondred at saying Quippe qui cum in hostium terra per annos tredeâ—… jam procul à domo varia fortuna bellum gereret exercitu non suo civili sed mixto ex colluvione omnium gentium quibus non lex non mos non lingua communis alius habitus alia vestis alia arma alii ritus alia sacra alii prope dii essent ita quodam uno vinculo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut nulla nec inter ipsos nec adversus ducem seditio 〈◊〉 The reason of this is because being of divers language they do not so easily accord and if one part should happen to mutiny it is easie to oppose it with another which either through emulation or some other cause can seldom times be brought to agree together besides it happens because if one of those Nations chance to mutiny and abandon the Army yet the Army will not be much weakened by it as a thousand times hath been seen in Flanders in the King of Spaines Armies and other places When Hannibal meant to passe into Italy the Carpetani forsook him and he making shew he had given them leave made no matter of it and his Army was not thereby vveakened vvhere if his Army had consisted of one Nation he had never been able to passe into Italy And this Ludovico Il Moro found against whom vvhen his Army rebelled vvhich consisted all of Swisâ—…ers he vvas forced to 〈◊〉 his state and be taken prisoner But if by ill fortune an Army consistâ—… of divers Nations happen to mutiny as it is hard to happen so if it happen it is impossible to appease it of vvhich the Carthaginians had a notable experience vvhen having an Army of that sort they vvanted not much of loosing their whole state and Carthage it selfe The reason is because there cannot be speeches made to the whole Army when it consists of divers Languages as there might be if it consisted but of one An Army then if onely one Nation is more apt to mutiny but is withall more easie to be quieted an Army of divers Nations is lesse apt to mutiny but if it mutiny is impossible to be quieted moreover it is to be known that as such Armies seldom grow tumultuous against their Commanders so amongst themselves there grow tumults often and of these cases Histories are full their being alwayes discord where there are divers Nations Rebeâ—…ca being great with childe by Isaak and having in her wombe Jacób and Esau she felt a great striving of these two sonnes which put her to much pain whereof complaining to our Lord God he answered 〈◊〉 gentes sunt in utero tuo duo populi ex ventre tuo 〈◊〉 as though he would say Marvell not if they strive together seeing they are two divers Nations which thou hast in thy body Alia Tiberio morum via sed populum per tot annos molliter habitum nondum audebat ad duriora vertere That to passe from one extreme to another is dangerous and how it happens that suâ—…cessours commonly take courses differing from their predecessours The fiftieth Discourse TO passe from one extreme to another without comming to the middle not only is dangerous but in many things is held impossible as in motion in such manner that some Divines deny that Angels can move from one extreme to another without passing by the middle so as Hippocrates with good reason in his book of Aphorismes mislikes the passing from a surfet to a diet and yet a surfet is bad a diet good but the passing from a surfet to a diet is most dangerous whereof Aristotle in one of his Problemes brings Dionâ—…sius the Tyrant for an Example who in the siege of his City forbearing to eat and drinke as he was wont by this passing from Intemperance to Temperance he fell into a Leprosie What is worse than a corrupt Common-wealth What better than a regall Government yet he that hath gone about to passe from the one to the other as it were at one jumpe either it hath not been succesfull or it hath not been durable whereupon we see that Musicians will not make a passage from a Discord as a seventh to a perfect Concord as a fifth without passing first to a sixth and when they mean to make good a second they go to a third and not to an eighth By 〈◊〉 degrees the Common-wealth of Rome came to a 〈◊〉 all power for from a Democracy it passed to an Oligarchy from that to the Government of One and this One not willing to make that jumpe contented himselfe to be called Dictator for if he had been called King he had run a manifest hazard as was plainly seen when Antonius would have put a Crown upon his head and indeed Cicero said that Anthonies tongue calling him King was more the occasion of Caesars death than
quaestus Adulationes miscebant Secondly because it is more easie to content the part oppressed then the part advanced as every one knows and thus much for this Simul Segestes ipse ingens visu memoria bonae societatis impavidus verba ejus in hunc modum fuere What course is to be used in demanding Peace and when is the fit time The one and fiftieth Discourse SEgestes boldly and without any feare being brought before Germanicus with great confidence delivers his Speech though it might bee doubted he had a hand in the death of Varro and of the three Legions that were with him and because this place of Tacitus containes in it many Arguments of Discourse I will first examine when it is a fit time for men to seek friendship with their Enemies and in what manner they ought to excuse themselves and though I may seeme to goe astray from this place of Tacitus yet I will not omit to explain the words it containes that we may see why Segestes speaking of himselfe spake with great boldnesse and comming afterward to speake of his sonne with great humblenesse craves pardon Pro Iuventa errore filii veniam precor Wherein wee may see how men that desire to cleare themselves of any thing laid to their charge ought to treat for procuring of Amity Such men therefore either they have committed some fault or they have not if they have committed any fault either they were at first friends and afterwards are become enemies or else they have been alwayes enemies If they have beene alwayes enemies either they have beene Principalls or but Adhaerents Beginning then with the last if these enemies that desire to become friends were onely Adhaerents they may then doe it by abandoning their friends in danger without any cause given them but then withall they must doe it with much blushing or else will never be accepted Seeing hee becomes for ever odious to the world whosoever is stained with such a blot as was seene in Bernardino Corte of Pavia who being left by Ludovico Moro to keep the Castle of Milan rendered it up to Lewis the twelfth and finding himselfe afterward blamed for it of the French themselves he died with griefe I cannot forbeare to relate an example of hatred that is borne to Traytors which Guicciardine reports in the person of Burbon whom the King of Spaine imployed to require a Captaine to deliver up his Pallace to the King of Spaine who answered he could not deny the King but that assoone as Burbon was gone out of it he would set it on fire as a place infected and unworthy to be inhabited by men of honour It is true that this answer in my opinion contained under it another mysterie which I cannot now examine as being out of my roade and therefore will leave it for the Reader to consider it of himselfe This at least is a cleare case that Traytours are odious even to those in whose favour they have done the Treason whereof many reasons may be given And first a reason taken from the danger they incurre who keepe such fellows about them and are like to do as much to them as they have done to others seeing a man that is growne infamous cannot do better then to make a gaine of his infamy as the Lawgiver said speaking of Harlots Secondly because Obligation is a heavy burthen which men willingly disburthen themselves of assoone as they finde any little colour likely to doe it A Prince therefore being obliged to one for becomming a Traytour for his service payes him willingly with becomming ungratefull for his reward and thinks the hatred that is borne to Traytors is colour enough for it A third reason may be taken from the pleasure men seeme to take in overcomming rather by Force than by Fraud and therefore oftentimes they kill the Traytors So the Sabines did to the daughter of Spurius Tarpeius who had opened to them the Castle of Rome Seu ut vi capta Arx videretur So the Romans taking the Fortresse of Tarentum by the treason of the Brutii put them all to the sword Brutii quoque multi interfecti seu per errorem seu vetere in eos infito odio seu ad proditionis famam ut vi potius atque armis captum Tarentum videretur Fourthly they are so odious that they are alwayes in danger in regard of the Example for if Princes should make much of them and hold them in any account they should give an Example to encourage others to doe the like to themselves This reason Livy also alleadgeth in the fore-said case of the Sabines Seu prodendi Exempli causa ne quid usquam fidum proditori esset Lastly Segestes saith of such Nam proditores etiam iis quos anteponunt invisos and in truth these reasons are so cleare that I should marvell there could be any Traytours if it were not for the force which particulars have to darken an understanding that is cleare in universals Secondly this may happen for some ill usage from them to whom he adheres and in such case he may speak without blushing but yet he ought not to staine his honest parting with taking reward And so much Indibile did when passing with his Souldiers from the Carthagenians to the service of Scipio he rather excused himselfe for abandoning his friends then expected thanks for the ayde he brought Whereof Livy saith Propiorque excusanti tranfitionem ut necessariam quam glroianti eam velut primam occafionem raptam Saire enim transfugae nomen execrabile veteribus 〈◊〉 novis suspectum esse neque enim se reprehendere morem hominum fi tam anceps odium causa non nomenfaciat Meriâ—…a deinde sua in Duces Carthaginenses memoraâ—…it avaritiam contra corum superbiamque omnis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in se atque populares Itaque corpus duntaxat suum ad id tempus apud eos fuisse animum jampridem ibi esse ubi jus ac fâ—… crederet coli se id Scipionem orarâ—… ut tranfitio â—…bi nec fraudi apud eum nec honori fit Likewise segestes in his speech to Germanicus amongst other principall things he saith this is one that he had not left his friends to get reward Neque ob praemium sed ut me perfidia exolvam but because knowing Peace to be more profitable he advised those people to give over warre and Anthony who by meanes of his faction prevailed thought the contrary therefore for his owne safety and that he might not be oppressed he had left that side and was come to the Romans The very like to this doth Livy relate of Appius Clausus who advised the Sabines not to enter into warre with the Romans and finding he was not able to withstand the â—…action which perswaded the contrary he went away to Rome Cum Pacis ipse Author à turbatoribus belli premeretur nec par factioni esset ab lacu Regillo magna clientium comitatus manu Romam
Errour which was intimated in the beginning consists in this that Augustus in his will naming many of his enemies to be his heires seemed by this as it were to encourage them to oppose those of his own blood that so they might come to that of which his will had given them a hope And it would not be reasonable to say that he was moved to doe it as at this day in some places is used as not thinking hee should dye to the end that they seeing themselves made his heires might not longer be his opposites but rather be tyed to be at his service an invention which hath no other effect but to make him that useth it be knowne for a man of little braine with prejudice to his Posterity This reason therefore is in it selfe of little strength and squares not with Augustus seeing his will was made in secret and of as little strength is that Reason which Tacitus brings in these words Iactantia Gloriaque apud Posteros which is that Augustus did it to get himselfe glory in aftertimes as much as to say that hee preferd publick profit before private hatred and that hee made no reckoning of the injuries done him no doubt a great Glory but yet not such as was worthy of Augustus his Consideration We may say then that Augustus not without great cunning tooke this course to secure both himselfe and his successour seeing that if any were likely to conspire against the Prince it was those principall men whom hee named in his will whereupon by this demonstration of affection he thought to bind their hands because beleeving the Prince did truly love them men being apt of themselves to beleeve they deserve to be loved and more to beleeve those demonstrations which being made in a Iast will seeme to be farre from flattery they could not chuse but lay away all hatred and though they should be suspitious though aware of the devise yet they should have no meanes to conspire against the Prince seeing the people they might bee sure would be against them as they who looking to the apparence of things take no notice of fictions and hate ungratefulnesse and this was it that spoyled the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus because the people understood that hee was adopted by Caesar to be his sonne and named in his Testament and for him to conspire against him was such an ingratitude that they were easily perswaded to take revenge so much is that accursed vice detested Non aliud Discordantis patriae remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur That corrupt Common-wealths have need of a Monarch to Reforme them The five and thirtieth Discourse IF Agis the Spartan had knowne the foresaid reason brought by Tacitus in excuse of Augustus he would certainely have attained the end he aimed at which was to restore his Country to the first Ordinances and lawes that the most wise Lycurgus had made but his fault was that he sought to doe that by many which he was to have done himselfe alone which Cleomenes perceiving and advised by the wife of Agis whom after his death he tooke to wife himselfe and having heard her a thousand times relate the case of her deceased husband he came to know that Non aliud patriae Discordantis remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur whereupon though wickedly he put down the Magistracy of the Ephori and easily brought the City to such termes that within a few dayes he was able without any feare of the Citizens to leave his Country and goâ—… person to the warre and if the City in the meane time ran a hazard it was not by any default of Cleomenes but for want of money as Plutarch witnesseth where he saith Quemadmodum exercitatione robur membrorum adepti Athletae spatio temporis opprimunt at que superant agiles artificiososque Ita Antigonus magnis opibus instructus his que bellum reficiens defatigavit tandem superavitque Cleomenem vix habentem unde tenuiter 〈◊〉 mercedem civibus alimenta suppeditaret and therefore was forced to give him battaile where if he could have stayed but onely two dayes Antigonus must of necessity have returned back into Macedon and Cleomenes had remained Lord of all Greece It is therefore held by all Experienced Politicians for an infallible Rule that not onely for the founding of Common-wealths but also for the Reforming of them the Government of one alone is necessary and this Romulus knowing though wickedly as for the Act killed his brother and was cause of the death of his Compagnion So Cleomenes as we have said before desiring to reform his Country of 〈◊〉 which was at the last Cast of Ruine no lesse wickedly then Romulus killed all those that might oppose his Power and gave them new lawes and new ordinances for reformation of the City And not unlike to these was Hiero the Syracusan who seeing his Country in a neere degree of ruine was forced to make use of those Armes to make himselfe Lord of the Country which he had received for defence of the Country It is therefore no marvell that Augustus seeing Rome so full of Discords so much degenerated from the antient lawes and customes and so deepely plunged in a thousand kinds of wickednesse did imitate Romulus in being the cause of his Companions death did imitate Cleomenes in putting many Senatours to death that might have opposed his greatnesse and lastly did imitate Hiero the Syracusan in turning those Armes against the Common-wealth which he had received of the Common-wealth to defend it against Anthony as knowing well that to rectifie the City and reduce it to reformation there was no other way but onely for himselfe to governe alone For having a purpose to set up an Aristocracy he was first as Aristotle in his Ethicks teacheth us to bow the staffe the contrary way to make it afterward streight and if in doing this hee used violence it was because it was impossible to doe it otherwise And therefore Plato in his book of lawes saith that it is impossible to passe from the Government of a few to a good Common-wealth because it is seldome seene that they who are in authority will yeeld to any of their fellowes to reforme them where Plato shewing the difficulty of reforming a Common-wealth sheweth withall that it must be done by reducing the government into one mans hand And if Augustus afterward did not pursue his purpose and left not the Citty in liberty it was because he saw the Citizens were not fit for it as Galba in the oration he made at the Adopting of Piso said Imperaturus es hominibus qui nec totam libertatem nec totam Servitutem pati possunt and 〈◊〉 this cause it was that Augustus made himselfe sole Lord Non aliud Discordantis 〈◊〉 remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur and therefore hee gave them halfe a liberty leaving a great authority in the Senatours and not a little in the people which Tiberius