the Result but is the Supream Judicature and the ultimate Appeal in this Common-wealth For the Popular Government that makes account to be of any standing must make sure in the first place of the Appeal unto the People Ante omnes de provocatione adversus Magistratus ad Populum sacrandoque cum bonis capite ejus qui regni occupandi concilia inesset As an Estate in trust becomes a mans own if he be not answerable for it so the Power of a Magistracy not accomptable unto the People from whom it was received becoming of private use the Common-wealth loses her Liberty Wherefore the right of Supream Judicature in the People without which there can be no such thing as Popular Government is confirmed by the constant Practice of all Common-wealths as that of Israel in the Cases of Achan and of the Tribe of Benjamin adjudged by the Congregation The Dicasterion or Court called the Heliaia in Athens which the Comitia of that Common-wealth consisting of the whole People and so being too numerous to be a Judicatory was constituted sometimes of Five hundred at others of One thousand or according to the greatnesse of the Cause of Fifteen hundred elected by the Lot out of the whole body of the People had with the nine Archons that were Presidents the Cognizance of such Causes as were of highest importance in that State The Five Ephors in Lacedemon which were Popular Magistrates might question their Kings as appears by the Cases of Pausanias and of Agis who being upon his Tryall in this Court was cryed unto by his Mother to appeal unto the People as Plutarch hath it in his Life The Tribunes of the People of Rome like in the nature of their Magistracy and for sometime in number unto the Ephors as being according unto Halicarnasseus and Plutarch instituted in imitation of them had power diem dicere to Summon any Man his Magistracy at least being expired for from the Dictator there lay no Appeal to answer for himself unto the People As in the case of Coriolanus which was going about to force the People by withholding Corn from them in a famine to relinquish the Magistracy of the Tribunes In that of Sp. Cassius for affecting Tyranny Of M. Sergius for running away at Veii Of C. Lucretius for spoyling his Province Of Junius Silanus for making War against the Cimberi in jussu Populi with divers others And the Crimes of this nature were call'd Laesae Majestatis Examples of such as were arraigned or tryed for Peculate or Defraudation of the Common-wealth were M. Curius for intercepting the money of the Samnites Salinator for the unequal division of Spoyles unto his Souldiers M. Posthumius for Cheating the Common-wealth by a feigned Shipwrack Causes of these two kinds were of more Publique nature but the like Power upon Appeals was also exercised by the People in private Matters even during the time of the Kings As in the Case of Horatius Nor is it otherwise with Venice where Doge Loridano was Sentenced by the great Council and Antonio Grimani afterwards Doge questioned for that he being Admiral had suffered the Turk to take Lepanto in view of his Fleet. Neverthelesse there lay no Appeal from the Roman Dictator unto the People which if there had might have cost the Common-wealth dear when Sp. Moelius affecting Empire circumvented and debauched the Tribunes whereupon T. Quintius Cinninatus was created Dictator Who having chosen Servilius Alaha to be his Lievtenant or Magister Equitum sent him to apprehend Moelius whom while he disputed the Commands of the Dictator and implored the ayd of the People Alaha cut off upon the place By which example you may see in what cases the Dictator may prevent the blow which is ready sometimes to fall ere the People be aware of the danger Wherefore there lyes no Appeal from the Dieii in Venice unto the Great Council nor from our Council of War to the People For the way of proceeding of this Tribe or the Ballot it is as was once said for all Venetian This Discourse de Judiciis whereupon we are fallen bringeth us rather naturally then of design from the two general Orders of every Common-wealth that is to say from the Debating part or the Senate and the Resolving part or the People to the third which is the Executive part or the Magistracy whereupon I shall have no need to dwell For the Executive Magistrates of this Common-wealth are the Strategus in Arms the Signory in their several Courts as the Chancery the Exchequer as also the Councils in divers Cases within their Instructions the Censors as well in their proper Magistracy as in the Council of Religion the Tribunes in the Government of the Prerogative and that Judicatory And the Judges with their Courts Of all which so much is already said or known as may suffice The Tuesday-Lectures or Orations unto the People will be of great benefit unto the Senate the Prerogative and the whole Nation Unto the Senate because they will not only teach your Senators Elocution but keep the Systeme of the Government in their memories Elocution is of great use unto your Senators for if they do not understand Rhetorick giving it at this time for granted that the Art were not otherwise good and come to treat with or vindicate the cause of the Common-wealth against some other Nation that is good at it the advantage will be subject to remain upon the merit of the Art and not upon the merit of the Cause Furthermore the Genius or Soul of this Government being in the whole and in every part they will never be of ability in determination upon any particular unlesse at the same time they have an Idea of the whole That this therefore must be in that regard of equal benefit unto the Prerogative is plain though these have a greater concernment in it For this Common-wealth is the Estate of the People and a man you know though he be virtuous yet if he do not understand his Estate may run out or be cheated of it Last of all the treasures of the Politicks will by this means be so opened rifled and dispersed that this Nation will as soon dote like the Indians upon glasse Beads as disturb your Government with whimsies and freaks of mother-wit or suffer themselves to be stutter'd out of their Liberties There is not any reason why your Grandees your wise men of this Age that laugh out and openly at a Common-wealth as the most ridiculous thing do not appear to be as in this regard they are meer Ideots but that the People have not Eyes There remaineth no more appertaining unto the Senate and the People than order 24 The Twenty fourth Order Whereby it is lawfull for the Province of Marpesia to have 30. Knights of their own election continually present in the Senate of Oceana together with 60. Deputies of Horse and 120. of Foot in the Prerogative Tribe indued with equall power respect
without encouragement by the Roman way of proceeding much lesse that which is proposed But whereas the Roman Legions in all amounted not in one Army to above 30000 Men or little more you have here Fourty thousand and whereas they added Auxiliaries in this regard it is that Marpesia will be of greater Revenue unto you then if you had the Indies for whereas heretofore She hath brought you forth nothing but her native Thistle ploughing out the ranknesse of her Aristocracy by your Agrarian you will find her an inexhaustible Magazine of Men and to her own advantage who will make a far better Accompt by the Arms then by the Pins of Poland Wherefore as a Consular Army consisted of about an equall number of Auxiliaries added unto their Legions by their Latine or Italian Associates you may adde unto a Parliamentary Army an equall number of Marpesians or Panopeans as that Colony shall hereafter be able to supply you By which means the Common-wealth will be able to go forth to Battail with Fourscore thousand Men. To make Wars with small Forces is no Husbandry but a waste a disease a lingring and painful Consumption of Men and Money the Romans making theirs thick made them short and had little regard unto money as that which they who have men enow can command where it is fittest that it should be Levied All the ancient Monarchies by this means got on wing and attain'd unto vast Riches Whereas your Modern Princes being dear Purchasers of small parcels have but empty Pockets But it may be that some will accuse the Order of rashnesse in that it committeth the sole Conduct of the War unto the General and the Custom of Venice by her Proveditori or Checks upon her Commanders in Chief may seem to be of greater Prudence but in this part of our Government neither Venice nor any Nation that maketh use of mercenary Forces is for our Instruction A mercenary Army with a standing Generall is like the fatall Sister that Spins But proper Forces with an annuall Magistrate are like Her that cuts the thread Their Interests are quite contrary and yet you have a better Proveditor then the Venetian another Strategus sitting with an Army standing by him whereupon that which is marching if there were any probability it should would find as little possibility that it could recoyl as a Forraign Enemy to invade you These things considered a War will appear to be of a contrary nature unto that of all other reckonings in as much as of this you must never look to have a good accompt if you be strict in imposing Checks Let a Council of Hunts-men assembled before-hand tell you which way the Stagg shall run where you shall cast about at the fault and how you shall ride to be in at the Chase all the day but these may as well do that as a Council of War direct a General The hours that have painted wings and of different colours are his Counsel he must be like the eye that maketh not the scene but hath it so soon as it changes That in many Counsellors there is strength is spoken of civill Administrations As to those that are Military there is nothing more certain then that in many Counsellors there is weaknesse Joynt Commissions in Military affairs are like hunting your Hounds in their Couples In the Attick War Cleomenes and Demaratus Kings of Lacedemon being thus coupled tugg'd one against another and while they should have joyn'd against the Persian were the Cause of the calamity whereupon that Common-wealth took better Counsel and made a Law whereby from thenceforth there went at once but one of her Kings unto Battail The Fidenati being in rebellion and having slain the Colony of the Romans four Tribunes with Consular power were created by the people of Rome whereof one being left for the guard of the City the other three were sent against the Fidenati who through the division that happened among them brought nothing home but dishonour whereupon the Romans created the Dictator and Livy gives his judgment in these words Tres Tribuni potestate Consulari documento fuêre quà m plurimum imperium bello inutile esset tendendo ad sua quisque consilia cum alii aliud videretur aperuerunt ad occasionem locum hosti When the Consuls Quictius and Agrippa were sent against the Aequi Agrippa for this reason refused to go forth with his Colleague saying Saluberrimum in administratione magnarum rerum summam imperii apud unum esse And if the ruine of Modern Armies were well considered most of it would be found to have fallen upon this Point it being in this case far safer to trust unto any one Man of common Prudence then to any two or more together of the greatest Parts The Consuls indeed being equal in Power while one was present with the Senate and the other in the Field with the Army made a good Ballance and this with us is exactly follow'd by the Election of a new Strategus upon the march of the old one The Seven and twentieth Order Whereby the Elders in case of Invasion are obliged unto equall duty with the Youth and each upon their own Charge is suitable unto reason for every Man defends his own Estate and unto our Copy as in the War with the Samnites and Tuscans Senatus justitium indici delectum omnis generis hominum haberi jussit nec ingenui modo et juniores Sacramento adacti sunt sed seniorum etiam cohortes factae This Nation of all others is the least obnoxious unto Invasion Oceana saith a French Polititian is a Beast that cannot be devoured but by her Self Neverthelesse that Government is not perfect which is not provided at all points and in this ad Triarios res rediit the Elders being such as in a martial State must be Veterans the Common-wealth invaded gathers strength like Antaeus by her fall whilst the whole number of the Elders consisting of five hundred thousand and the Youth of as many being brought up according unto the Order give twelve Successive Battels each Battel consisting of Eighty thousand Men half Elders and half Youth And the Common-wealth whose Constitution can be no stranger unto any of those virtues which are to be acquired in humane life growes familiar with Death ere She dye If the hand of God be upon her for her transgressions She shall mourn for her sins and lye in the dust for her iniquities without losing of her manhood Si fractus illabatur orbis Impavidam ferient ruinae The remaining part being the Constitution of the Provinciall Orbe is partly Civill or consisting of the Elders and partly Military or consisting of the Youth The Civil part of the Provincial Orbe is directed by order 28 The Twenty-Eighth Order Whereby the Council of a Province being constituted of twelve Knights divided by four into thrée Regions for their terme and revolution conformable unto the Parliament is perpetuated by the annuall election
center lies And if the Common-wealth of Rome were born of thirty Parishes this of Oceana was born of Ten thousand But whereas mention in the Birth of this is made of an Equestrian Order it may startle such as know that the division of the people of Rome at the Institution of that Common-wealth into Orders was the occasion of her ruine The distinction of the Patrician as an hereditary order from the very Institution engrossing all the Magistracies was indeed the destruction of Rome but to a Knight or one of the Equestrian Order saith Horace Si quadringentis sex septem millia desunt Plebs eris By which it should seem that this order was no otherwise hereditary then a man's Estate nor gave it any Claim to Magistracy wherefore you shall never find that it disquieted the Common-wealth nor doth the name denote any more in Oceana then the Duty of such a mans Estate unto the Publique But the Surveyors both in this place and in others for as much as they could not observe all the circumstances of this Order especially that of the time of Election did for the first as well as they could and the Elections being made and Registred took each of them Copies of those Lists which were within their allotments which done they produced The Sixth Order directing in case a Parson or Uicar of a Parish come to be removed by death or by the Censors that the Congregation of the Parish Assemble and depute one or two Elders of the Ballot who upon the charge of the Parish shall repair unto one of the Universities of this Nation with a Certificate signed by the Overséers and addressed unto the Uice-Chancellor which Certificate giving notice of the death or Removall of the Parson or Uicar of the value of the Parsonage or Uicaridge and of the desire of the Congregation to receive a Probationer from that University the Uice-Chancellor upon the Receipt thereof shall call a Convocation and having made choyce of a fit person shall return him in due time unto the Parish where the person so returned shall receive the full fruits of the Benefice or Uicaridge and do the duty of the Parson or Uicar for the space of one year as Probationer and the space of one year being expired the Congregation of the Elders shall put their Probationer to the Ballot and if he attain not unto two parts in thrée of the Suffrage affirmative he shall take his leave of the Parish and they shall send in like manner for another Probationer but if their Probationer attain unto two parts in thrée of the Suffrage affirmative he is the Pastor of that Parish And the Pastour of the Parish shall pray with the Congregation preach the Word and administer the Sacraments unto the same according unto the Directory to be hereafter appointed by the Parliament Neverthelesse such as are of gather'd Congregations or from time to time shall joyn with any of them are in no wise obliged to this way of Electing their Teachers or to give their Uotes in this Case but wholly left unto the liberty of their Conscience and unto that way of worship which they shall choose being not Popish Iewish nor Idolatrous and to the end that they may be the better protected by the State in the Frée Exercise of the same they are desired to make choyce in such manner as they best like of certain Magistraâ—es in every one of their Congregations which we could wish might be Four in each of them to be Auditors in Cases of differences or distaste if any through variety of opinions that may be grievous or injurious unto them should fall out And such Auditors or Magistrates shall have power to examine the matter and inform themselves to the end that if they think it of sufficient weight they may acquaint the Phylarch or introduce it into the Councill of Religion where all such Causes as such Magistrates shall introduce shall from time to time be heard and determined according unto such Lawes as are or shall hereafter be provided by the Parliament for the just defence of the Liberty of Conscience This Order consisteth of three parts the first restoring the power of Ordination unto the people which that it originally appertaineth unto them is clear though not in English yet in Scripture where the Apostles ordained Elders by the holding up of hands in every Congregation that is by the suffrage of the people which was also given in some of those Cities by the Ballot and though it may be shewn that the Apostles ordained some by the Laying on of hands it will not be shewen that they did so in every congregation Excommunication as not clearly proveable out of Scripture being omitted The second part of the order implyes and establisheth a nationall Religion for there be degrees of knowledge in Divine things true Religion is not to be attained unto without searching the Scriptures the Scripture cannot be searched by us unlesse we have them to search and if we have nothing else or which is all one understand nothing else but a translation we may be as in the place alleadged we have been beguiled or misled by the translation while we should be searching the true sence of the Scripture which cannot be attained unto in a naturall way and a Common-wealth is not to presume upon that which is supernaturall but by the knowledge of the originall and of Antiquity acquired by our own studies or those of some other for even Faith cometh by hearing Wherefore a Common-wealth not making provision of men from time to time knowing in the originall languages wherein the Scriptures were written and versed in those Antiquities whereunto they so frequently relate that the true sense of them dependeth in a great part upon that knowledge can never be secure that she shall not lose the Scripture and by consequence her Religion which to preserve she must institute some method of this knowledge and some use of such as have acquired it which amounteth unto a Nationall Religion The Common-wealth having thus performed her duty towards God as a rational Creature by the best Application of her reason unto Scripture for the preservation of Religion in the purity of the same yet pretendeth not unto infallibility but comes in the third part of the order establishing Liberty of Conscience according to the instructions given unto her Councell of Religion to raise up her hands to Heaven for further light in which proceeding she followeth that as was shewen in the preliminaries of Israel who though her Nationall Religion were evermore a part of her Civil Law gave unto her Prophets the upper hand of all her Orders But the Surveyours having now done with the Parishes tooke their Leaves so A parish is the first division of Land occasioned by the first Collection of the people of Oceana whose function proper unto that place is comprised in the six foregoing Orders The next step in the progresse of the
year one at the Parish one at the Hundred and two at the Tribe unto their strongest meat it is of no harder digestion then to give their Negative or Affirmative as they see cause There be gallant men among us that laugh at such an appeal or umpire but I refer it whether you be more inclining to pardon them or me who I confesse have been this day laughing at a sober man but without meaning him any harm and that is Petrus Cunaeus where speaking of the nature of the people he saith that taking them apart they are very simple but yet in their Assemblies they see and know something and so runs away without troubling himself with what that something is Whereas the people taken apart are but so many private interests but if you take them together they are the publick interest the publick interest of a Common-wealth as hath been shewn is nearest that of mankind and that of mankind is right reason but with the Aristocracy whose reason or interest when they are all together as appear'd by the Patricians is but that of a party it is quite contrary for as taken apart they are far wiser then the people considered in that manner so being put together they are such fooles that by deposing the people as did those of Rome they will saw off the branch whereupon they sit or rather destroy the root of their own greatnesse Wherefore Machiavill following Aristotle and yet going before him may well assert Che la multitudine è piu savia et piu costunte che vn Prencipe the Prerogative of Popular Government for wisdome And hence it is that the Prerogative of your Common-wealth as for Wisdom so for Power is in the People which albeit I am not ignorant that the Roman Prerogative was so called a Praerogando because their Suffrage was first asked gives the denomination unto your Prerogative Tribe The Elections whether Annual or Triennial being shewn by the Twenty second that which comes in the next place to be considered is order 23 The Twenty third Order shewing the Power function and manner of Proceeding of the Prerogative Tribe The Power or function of the Prerogative is of two parts the one of Result in which it is the Legislative Power the other of Iudicature in which regard it is the highest Court and the last appeale in this Common-wealth For the former part the people by this Constitution being not obliged by any Law that is not of their own making or Confirmation by the Result of the Prerogative their equall Representative It shall not be lawfull for the Senate to require Obedience from the people nor for the people to give obe obedience unto the Senate in or by any Law that hath not been promulgated or printed publisht for the space of six wéeks afterwards porposed by the Authority of the Senate unto the Prerogative Tribe and resolved by the Major Uote of the same in the affirmative Nor shall the Senate have any power to levy War Men or Money otherwise then by the consent of the People so given or by a Law so Enacted except in cases of exigence in which it is agreed thar the Power both of the Senate and the People shall be in the Dictator so qualified and for such a terme of time as is according unto that Constitution already prescribed While a Law is in Promulgation the Censors shall animadvert upon the Senate and the Tribunes upon the People that there he no laying of heads together Conventicles or Canvassing to carry on or oppose any thing but that all my be done in a frée and open way For the latter part of the Power of the Prerogative or that whereby they are the Supream Iudicatory of this Nation and of the Provinces of the same the Cognizance of Crimes against the Majesty of the People as high Treason as also of Peculate that is robery of the Treasury or Defraudation of the Common-wealth appertaineth unto this Tribe and if any Person or Persons Provincialls or Citizens shall appeale unto the people it belongerh unto the Prerogative to Iudge and determine the Case Provided that if the Appeale be from any Court of justice in this Nation or the Provinces the Appellant shall first deposite one hundred pounds in the Court from which he appealeth to be forfeited unto the same if he be cast in his Suite by the people But the Power of the Council of War being the expedition of this Common-wealth and the Martiall Law of the Strategus in the Field are those onely from which there shall lye no Appeale unto the People The Proceeding of the Prerogative in case of a Proposition is to be thus Ordered The Magistrates proposing by Authority of the Senate shall rehearse the whole Matter and expound it unto the People which done they shall put the whole together unto the Suffrage with three Boxes the Negative the Affirmative and the Non-sincere and the Suffrage being returned unto the Tribunes and numbred in the presence of the Proposers if the Major Uote be in the Non-sincere the Proposers shall desist and the Senate shall resume the Debate If the Major Uote be in the Negative the Proposers shall desist and the Senate too But if the Major Uote be in the Affirmative then the Tribe is clear and the Proposers shall begin and put the whole matter with the Negative and the Affirmative leaving out the Non-sincere by Clauses and the Suffrages being taken and numbred by the Tribunes in the presence of the proposers shall be written and reported by the Tribunes unto the Senate and that which is proposed by the authority of the Senate and confirmed by the Command of the People is the Law of Oceana The Proceeding of the Prerogative in a case of Iudicature is to be thus ordered The Tribunes being Auditors of all Causes appertaining unto the Cognizance of the people shall have notice of the Sute or Tryall whether of appeale or otherwise that is to be Commenced and if any one of them shall accept of the same it appertaineth unto him to introduce it A Cause being introduced and the people Mustered or Assembled for the Decision of the same the Tribunes are Presidents of the Court having power to keep it unto Orders and shall be seated upon a Scaffold erected in the middle of the Tribe upon the right hand shall stand a seat or large Pulpit assigned unto the Plaintiffe or the Accuser and upon the left another for the Defendant each if they splease with his Counsel And the Tribunes being attended upon such occations with so many Ballotines Secretaryes Door-keekers and Messengers of the Senate as shall be requisite One of them shall turn up a Glasse of the nature of an hour-glasse but such an one as is to be of an houre and a halfe's running which being turned up the party or Counsell on the right hand may begin to speak to the People if there be Papers to be read or
appertaineth to another place in this I am to shew no more then how or upon what kind of ballance it is to be held in order whereunto I shall first shew upon what kind of ballance it is not to be held It hath been said that National or Independent Empire of what kind soever is to be exercised by them that have the proper ballance of Dominion in the Nation wherefore Provincial or dependent Empire is not to be exercised by them that have the ballance of Dominion in the Province because that would bring the Government from Provinciall and dependent to National and independent Absolute Monarchy as that of the Turks neither planteth her people at home nor abroad otherwise then as Tenants for life or at will wherefore her National and her provincial Government is all one But in Governments that admit the Citizen or Subject unto dominion in Lands the richest are they that share most of the power at home whereas the richest among the Provincials though native Subjects or Citizens that have been transplanted are least admitted to the Government abroad for men like flowers or roots being transplanted take after the soyl wherein they grow Wherefore the Common-wealth of Rome by planting Colonies of her Citizens within the bound of Italy took the best way of propagating her self and naturalizing the Country whereas if she had planted such Colonies without the bounds of Italy it would have alien'd the Citizens and given a root unto liberty abroad that might have sprung up forraign or savage and hostile to her wherefore she never made any such dispersion of her self and her strength till she was under the yoke of her Emperours who disburdening themselves of the people as having lesse apprehension of what they could do abroad then at home took a contrary course The Mamaluc's which till any man shew me the contrary I shall presume to have been a Common-wealth consisting of an Army whereof the common Souldier was the People the Commission-Officer the Senate and the General the Prince were forraigners and by Nation Circussians that govern'd Aegypt wherefore these never durst plant themselves upon Dominion which growing naturally up into the National interest must have dissolved the forraign yoke in that Province The like in some sort may be said of Venice the Government whereof is usually mistaken for Venice though she do not take in the people never excluded them This Common-wealth the Orders whereof are the most Democratical or Popular of all others in regard of the exquisite Rotation of the Senate at the first institution took in the whole people they that now live under the Governments without participation of it are such as have since either voluntarily chosen so to do or were subdued by Arms. Wherefore the Subject of Venice is governed by Provinces and the ballance of Dominion not standing as hath been said with Provincial Government as the Mamaluc's durst not cast their Government upon this ballance in their Provinces lest the National interest should have rooted out the forraign so neither dare the Venetians take in their Subjects upon this ballance lest the forraign interest should root out the Nationall which is that of the 3000 now governing and by diffusing the Common-Wealth throughout her Territories lose the advantage of her situation by which in a great part she subsisteth And such also is the Government of the Spaniard in the Indies unto which he deputeth Natives of his own Country not admitting the Creolios unto the Government of those Provinces though descended from Spaniards But if a Prince or a Common-wealth may hold a Territory that is forraign in this it may be asked why he may not hold one that is Native in like manner To which I answer because he can hold a forreign by a Native territory but not a Native by a Forreign and as hitherto I have shewn what is not the Provinciall ballance so by this answer it may appear what it is namely the overballance of a native Territory to a forraign for as one Country ballanceth it self by the distribution of propriety according unto the proportion of the same so one Country over ballanceth another by advantage of divers kinds For example the Common-wealth of Rome overballanced her provinces by the vigour of a more excellent Government opposite unto a crazier or by a more exquisite Militia opposed unto one inferiour in Courage or discipline The like was that of the Mamaluc's being an hardy unto the Aepgytians that were a soft people And the ballance of a situation is in this kind of wonderfull effect seeing the King of Denmark being none of the most potent Princes is able at the Sound to take Tole of the greatest and as this King by the advantage of the Land can make the Sea tributary so Venice by the advantage of the Sea in whose arms she is impregnable can make the Land to feed her Gulph For the Colonies in the Indies they are yet babes that cannot live without sucking the breasts of their mother-Cities but such as I mistake if when they come of age they do not wean themselves which causeth me to wonder at Princes that delight to be exhausted in that way And so much for the principles of power whether National or Provinciall Domestick or Forraign being such as are External and founded in the goods of Fortune I come unto the principles of Authority which are Internall and founded upon the goods of the Mind These the Legislator that can unite in his Government with those of fortune cometh nearest unto the work of God whose Government consisteth of Heaven and Earth which was said by Plato though in different words as when Princes should be Philosophers or Philosophers Princes the world would be happy and saith Solomon There is an evil which I have seen under the Sun which proceedeth from the Ruler enimvero neque nobilem neque ingenuum nec libertinum quidem armis praeponere regia utilitas est folly is set in great dignity and the rich either in vertue and wisdome in the goods of the mind or those of fortune upon that ballance which giveth them a sense of the Nationall interest sit in low places I have seen servants upon horses and Princes walking as servants upon the earth Sad complaints that the principles of Power and of Authority the goods of the mind and of fortune do not meet and twine in the wreathe or Crown of Empire Wherefore if we have any thing of Piety or of prudence let us raise our selves out of the mire of private interest unto the contemplation of Virtue and put an hand unto the removal of this Evil from under the Sun this evil against which no Government that is not secured can be good this evill from which the Government that is secure must be perfect Solomon tells us that the cause of it is from the Ruler from those principles of power which ballanced upon earthly trash exclude the heavenly treasures of Virtue
the Ballance which is that of all other whence a state or order in a Government is denominated wherefore this Monarchy consisted of the King and of the three Ordines Regni or Estates the Lords spirituall and temporall and the Commons It consisted of these I say as to the ballance though during the raigne of some of these Kings not as to the administration For the ambition of Turbo and some of those that more immediately succeeded him to be absolute Princes strove against the nature of their Foundation and in as much as he had divided almost the whole Realme among his Newstrians with some incouragement for a while But the Neustrians while they were but forraigne Plants having no security against the Natives but in growing up by their Princes sides were no sooner well rooted in their vast Dominions than they came up according to the infallible consequence of the Ballance Domesticke and contracting the Nationall interest of the Baronage grew as fierce in the Vindication of the Auncient rights and liberties of the same as if they had beene alwaies Natives Whence the Kings being as obstinate on the one side for their absolute power as these on the other for their immunities grew certaine Wars which tooke their Denomination from the Barons This fire about the middle of the raigne of Adoxus began to break out And whereas the predecessors of this King had diverse times beene forced to summon Councills resembling those of the Teutons unto which the Lords only that were Barons by Dominion and Tenure had hitherto repaired Adoxus seeing the effects of such Dominion began first not to call such as were Barons by Writs for that was according to the practice of antient times but to call such by Writes as were otherwise no Barons by which meanes striving to avoid the consequence of the Ballance in coming unwillingly to set the Government streight he was the first that set it awry For the Barons in his raigne and his successours having vindicated their antient Authority restored the Parliament with all the rights and Priviledges of the same saving that from thenceforth the Kings had found out a way whereby to help themselves against the mighty creatures of their own and such as had no other support but by their favour By which meanes this Government being indeed the Master-piece of Moderne Prudence hath beene cry'd up to the Skyes as the only invention whereby at once to maintaine the soveraignty of a Prince and the liberty of the people whereas indeed it hath beene no other than a wrestling match wherein the Nobility as they have been stronger have thrown the King or the King if he have been stronger hath thrown the Nobility or the King where he hath had a Nobility and could bring them to his party hath thrown the people as in France and Spain or the people where they have had no Nobility or could get them to be of their party have thrown the King as in Holland and of latter times in Oceana But they came not to this strength but by such approaches and degrees as remain to be further opened For whereas the Barons by Writs as the sixty four Abbots and thirty six Priors that were so called were but pro tempore Dicotome being the twelfth King from the Conquest began to make Barons by Letters Patents with the Addition of honorary Pensions for the Maintenance of their Dignities to them and their Heirs so that they were hands in the Kings Purse and had no shoulders for his Throne Of these when the house of Peers came once to be full as will be seen hereafter there was nothing more empty But for the present the Throne having other supports they did not hurt that so much as they did the King For the old Barons taking Dicotome's prodigality to such creatures so ill that they deposed him got the trick of it and never gave over setting up and pulling down of their Kings according to their various interests and that faction of the White and Red into which they had been thenceforth divided till Panurgus the eighteenth King from the Conquest was more by their favour than his right advanced unto the Crown This King through his naturall subtilty reflecting at once upon the greatnesse of their power and the inconstancy of their favour began to find another flaw in this kind of Government which is also noted by Machiavill namely that a Throne supported by a Nobility is not so hard to be ascended as kept warm Wherefore his secret jealousie lest the Dissention of the Nobility as it brought him in might throw him out travelled in wayes undiscover'd by them unto ends as little foreseen by himself while to establish his own safety he by mixing water with their Wine first began to open those Sluces that have since overwhelmed not the King onely but the Throne For whereas a Nobility striketh not at the Throne without which they cannot subsist but at some King that they do not like Popular power striketh through the King at the Throne as that which is incompatible with it Now that Panurgus in abating the power of the Nobility was the cause whence it came to fall into the hands of the people appears by those severall Statutes that were made in his raign as that for Population those against Retainers and that for Alienations By the Statute of Population All houses of husbandry that were used with twenty Acres of ground and upwards were to be maintained and kept up for ever with a competent proportion of Land laid to them and in no wise as appears by a subsequent Statute to be severed By which means the houses being kept up did of necessity inforce dwellers and the proportion of Land to be tilled being kept up did of necessity inforce the dweller not to be a beggar or Cottager but a man of some substance that might keep friends and servants and set the Plough on going this did mightily concern saith the Historian of that Prince the might and manhood of the Kingdom and in effect amortize a great part of the Lands unto the hold and possession of the Yeomanry or middle people who living not in a servile or indigent fashion were much unlinked from dependance upon their Lords and living in a free and plentifull manner became a more excellent Infantry but such an one upon which the Lords had so little power that from henceforth they may be computed to have been disarmed And as they lost their Infantry after this manner so their Cavalry and Commanders were cut off by the Statute of Retainers for whereas it was the Custome of the Nobility to have younger Brothers of good houses metall'd fellows and such as were knowing in the feats of Arms about them they who were longer followed with so dangerous a train escaped not such punishments as made them take up Henceforth the Country-lives and great tables of the Nobility which no longer nourished
or never well turned or constituted except it have been the work of one man for which cause a wise Legislator and one whose mind is firmely set not upon private but the publick interest not upon his posterity but upon his Country may justly endeavour to get the soveraigne power into his own hands nor shall any man that is master of reason blame such extraordinary meanes as in that case shall be necessary the end proving no other than the constitution of a well ordered Common-wealth The reason of this is demonstrable for the ordinary meanes not failing the Common-wealth hath no need of a Legislator but the ordinary meanes failing there is no recourse to be had but to such as are extraordinary And whereas a Book or a Building hath not been known to attaine to perfection if it have not had a sole Author or Architect a Common-wealth as to the Fabrick of it is of the like nature And thus it may be made at once in which there be great advantages for a Common-wealth made at once taketh her Security at the same time she lendeth her Money trusteth not her selfe to the faith of men but lancheth immediately forth into the Empire of Lawes and being set streight bringeth the manners of her Citizens unto her rule whence followed that uprightnesse which was in Lacedemon But manners that are rooted in men bow the tendernesse of a Common-wealth coming up by twigs unto their bent whence followed the obliquity that was in Rome and those perpetuall repaires by the Consuls Axes and Tribunes Hammers which could never finish that Common-wealth but in destruction My Lord Generall being clear in these points and the necessity of some other course than would be thought upon by the Parliament appointed a Randezvous of the Army where he spoke his sense agreeable to these Preliminaries with such successe unto the Souldiery that the Parliament was soon after deposed and himself in the great Hall of the Pantheon or Palace of Justice scituated in Emporium the Capital City created by the universall suffrage of the Army Lord Archon or sole Legislator of Oceana upon which Theater you have to conclude this piece a Person introduced whose Fame shall never draw his Curtain The Lord Archon being created fifty select persons to assist him by labouring in the Mines of ancient Prudence and bringing her hidden Treasures unto new light were added with the style also of Legislators and sate as a Council whereof he was the sole Director and President The Councill of Legislators OF this Piece being the greater half of the whole Work I shall be able at this time to give no farther Account then very briefly to shew at what it aymes My Lord Archon in opening the Councill of Legislators made it appear how unsafe a thing it is to follow Phansie in the Fabrick of a Common-wealth and how necessary that the Archives of ancient prudence should be ransackt before any Counsellour should presume to offer any other matter in order to the Work in hand or towards the consideration to be had by the Councill upon a Modell of Government Wherefore he caused an Urn to be brought and every one of the Counsellours to draw a Lot by the Lots as they were drawn The Common-wealth of Israel fell unto Phosphorus de Auge The Common-wealth of Athens fell unto Navarchus de Paralo The Common-wealth of Lacedemon fell unto Laco de Scytale The Common-wealth of Carthage fell unto Mago de Syrtibus The Common-wealth of the Achaeans Aetolians Lycians fell unto Aratus de Isthmo The Common-wealth of the Switz fell unto Alpester de Fulmine The Common-wealth of Holland the United Provinces fell unto Glaucus de Ulna The Common-wealth of Rome fell unto Dolabella de Enyo The Common-wealth of Venice fell unto Lynceus de Stella These containing in them all those excellencies whereof a Common-wealth is capable so that to have added more had been to no purpose upon time given unto the Counsellours by their own studies and those of their friends to prepare themselves were opened in the Order and by the persons mentioned at the Council of Legislators and afterwards by order of the same were repeated at the Council of the Prytans unto the people for in drawing of the Lots there were a matter of a Dozen of them inscribed with the letter P. which the Counsellours that drew became Prytans The Prytans were a Committee or Councill sitting in the great Hall of Pantheon to whom it was lawfull for any man to offer any thing in order to the Fabrick of the Common-wealth for which cause that they might not be oppressed by the throng there was a Rail about the Table where they sate and on each side of the same a Pulpit that on the right hand for any man that would propose any thing and that on the left for any other that would oppose him and all parties being indemnify'd by Proclamation of the Archon were invited to dispute their own interests or propose whatever they thought fit in order to the future Government to the Council of the Prytans who having a guard of a matter of two or three hundred men lest the heat of the dispute might break the peace had the right of Moderators and were to report from time to time such Propositions or Occurrences as they thought fit to the Council of Legislators sitting more privately in the Pallace called Alma This was that which made the people who were neither safely to be admitted unto nor conveniently to be excluded from the framing of their Common-wealth verily believe when it came forth that it was no other than that whereof they themselves had been the makers Moreover this Council sate divers Months after the publishing and during the promulgation of the Modell unto the people by which means there is scarce any thing was said or written for or against the said Modell but you shall have it with the next impression of this Work by way of Oration addressed unto and moderated by the Prytans By this means the Council of Legislators had their necessary solitude and due aym in their greater Work as being acquainted from time to time with the pulse of the people and yet without any manner of interruption or disturbance Wherefore every Common-wealth in her place having been opened by her due Method that is first by the people secondly by the Senate and thirdly by the Magistracy The Council upon mature debate took such results or orders out of each one and out of each part of each one of them as upon opening the same they thought fit which being put from time to time in writing by the Clerk or Secretary there remained no more in the conclusion than putting the Orders so taken together to view and examine them with a diligent Eye to the end that it might be clearly discovered whether they did enterfere or could any wise come to interfere or jostle one the other for as such orders jostling
Liberty As to the Election by the Scruteny it may be easily perceived to be Venetian there being no such way to take in the knowledge which in all reason must be best in every Council of such men as are most fit for their turnes and yet to keepe them from the bias of particular affection or interest under that pretence For the cause why the great Council in Venice scarce ever elects any other then the Name that is brought in by the Scruteny is very probable to be that they may This election is the last of those appertayning unto the Senate the Councils being chosen by the Orders already shewn It remaineth that we come unto those whereby they are instructed and the Orders of Instruction unto the Councils are two The first for the subject Matter whereupon they are to proceed and the second for the Manner of their proceeding The subject matter of the Councils is distributed unto them by order 19 The Nineteenth Order distributing unto every Council such businesses as are properly to belong unto their Cognizance whereof some they shall receive and determine And others they shall receive prepare and introduce into the House as first The Council of State is to receive all Addresses Intelligences and Letters of Negotiation to give audience to Embassadors sent unto and to draw up Instructions for such as shall be sent by this Common-wealth to receive propositions from and hold intelligence with the Proviniall Councils to consider upon all Laws to be Enacted amended or Repealed and upon all Leavies of men or money Warr or Peace Leagues or Associations to be made by this Common-wealth so farre forth as is conducible unto the orderly preparation of the same to be introduced by them into the Senate Provided that all such affaires as otherwise appertayning unto the Council of State are for the good of the Common-wealth to be carryed with greater Secresy be mannaged by the Council of Warr with power to receive and send forth Agents Spys Emissarys Intelligeneers Frigots And to mannage affaires of that nature if it be necessary without communication unto the Senate till such time as it may be had without detriment unto the businesse But they shall have no power to engage the Common-wealth in a Warr without the consent of the Senate and the People It appertaineth also unto this Council to take Charge of the Fleet as Admiral and of all Store-Houses Armourys Arsenalls and Magazines appertayning unto this Common-wealth They shall keep a diligent record of the Military expeditions from time to time reported by him that was Strategus or Generall or one of the Polemarchs in that action or at least so farr forth as the experience of such Commanders may tend unto the improvement of the Military discipline which they shall digest and introduce into the Senate and if the Senate shall thereupon frame any Article they shall see that it be observed in the Musters or education of the Youth And whereas the Council of Warr is the Centinel or Scout of this Common-wealth if any Person or Persons shall goe about to introduce Debate into any Popular assembly of the same or otherwise to alter the present Government or strike at the root of it they shall apprehend or cause to be apprehended seized imprisoned and examine arraigne acquit or condemne and cause to be executed any such Person or Persons of their proper Power and Authority and without appeale The Council of Religion as the Arbiter of this Common-wealth in cases of conscience more peculiarly appertayning unto Religion Christian Charity and a pious Life shall have the care of the nationall Religion and the protection of the Liberty of Conscience with the Cagnizance of all causes relating unto either of them And first as to the Nationall Religion They shall cause all places or preferments of the best Revenue in either of the Universities to be conferred upon none other then such of the most learned and pious men as have dedicated themselves unto the study of Theology They shall also take an especiall care that by such Augmentations as be or shall hereafter be appointed by the Senate every Benefice in this Nation be improved at the least unto the value of One hundred pounds a year And to the end that there be no interest at all whereby the Divines or Teachers of the National Religion may be corrupted or corrupt Religion they shall be capable of no other kind of Imployment or Preferment in this Common-Wealth And whereas a Directory for the administration of the Nationall Religion is to be prepared by this Council they shall in this and other Debates of this nature procéed in manner following A question arising in matter of Religion shall be put and stated by the Council in writing which Writing the Censors shall send by their Beadles being Proctors chosen to attend them each unto the University whereof he is Chancellor and the Uice-Chancellor of the same receiving the writing shall call a Convocation of all the Divines of that University being above fourty years of age And the Universities upon a Point so proposed shall have no manner of Intelligence or Correspondence one with another untill their Debates be ended and they have made return of their Answers unto the Council of Religion by two or thrée of their own Members that may clear their sense if any doubt should arise unto the Council which done they shall return and the Council having received such information shall procéed according unto their own Iudgments in the Preparation of the whole matter for the Senate That so the interest of the Learned being removed there may be a right Application of Reason into Scripture which is the Foundation of the National Religion Secondly this Council as to the Protection of the liberty of Conscience shall suffer no coercive Power in the matter of Religion to be exercises in this Nation The Teachers of the National Religion being no other then such as voluntarily undertake that calling and their Auditors or Hearers no other then are also voluntary Nor shall any gathered Congregation be molested or interrupted in their way of Worship being neither Iewish nor Idolatrous but vigilantly and vigorously protected and defended in the enjoyment practice and profession of the same And if there be Officers or Auditors appointed by any such Congregation for the introduction of Causes into the Council of Religion all such Causes so introduced shall be received heard and determined by the same with recourse had if néed be unto the Senate Thirdly every Petition addressed unto the Senate except that of a Tribe shall be received examined and debated by this Council and such only as they upon such examination and debate had shall think fit may be introduced into the Senate The Council of Trade being the Vena Porta of this Nation shall hereafter receive Instructions more at large For the present their experience attaining unto a right Understanding of those
Prytans in their distinct Council receiving all Commers and giving ear unto every Man that had any thing to propose concerning the Common-wealth had power to debate and prepare all the Businesses that were to be introduced into the Senate The Achaeans had ten selected Magistrates called the Demiurgs constituting a Council apart called the Synarchy which with the Strategus prepared all the Business that was introduced into their Senate But neither the Senate of the Athenians nor of the Achaeans but would have wondred if a man should have told them that they had been to receive all Comers and Discourses to the end that they might refer them afterwards unto the Prytans or the Synarchy much lesse unto an occasionall Committee exposed unto the catch that catch may of the parties interested And yet Venice in this as in most of her Orders excells them all by the constitution of her Councils that of the Colledge and the other of the Dieci The course of the Colledge is exactly described in the ensuing Order And for that of the Dieci it so little differs from what it hath bestowed upon our Dictator that I need not to make any particular description of it But to Dictatorian power in general and the use of it because it must needs be of difficult digestion unto such as peuking still at ancient Prudence shew themselves to be in the Nursery of Mother-wit it is no less then necessary to say something And first in a Common-wealth that is not wrought up nor perfected this Power will be of very frequent if not continual use Wherefore it is said more then once upon defects of the Government in the Book of Judges That in those dayes there was no King in Israel Nor hath the Translator though for no King he should have said no Judge abused you so much seeing that the Dictator and such was the Judge of Israel or the Dictatorian Power being in a single Person so little differs from Monarchy which followed in that that from the same cause there hath been no other effect in any Common-wealth as in Rome was manifest by Scylla and Caesar who to make themselves Absolute or Soveraign had no more to do then to prolong their Magistracy for Dictatoris imperium quasi Numen Nevertheless so it is that without this Power which is so dangerous and subject to introduce Monarchy a Common-wealth cannot be safe from falling into the like Dissolution For unless you have an Expedient in this Case of your own and bound up by your providence from recoyling Expedients in some Cases you must not only have but be beholding for them unto such whom you must trust at a pinch when you have not leisure to stand with them for Security which will be a thousand times more dangerous And there can never be a Common-wealth otherwise then by the Order in debate wrought up unto that perfection but this necessity must sometimes happen in regard of her natural slownesse and openness and the suddainess of Assaults that may be made upon her as also the secresie which in some cases may be of absolute necessity unto her affairs Whence Machiavil concludes it positively That a Commonwealth unprovided of such a Refuge must ruine for her course is either broken by the blow in one of those cases or by her self while it startles her out of her Orders And indeed a Common-wealth is like a Grey-hound which having once coasted will never after run fair but grow sloathful and when she comes to make a common practice of taking nearer wayes then her orders she is dissolved for the being of a Common-wealth consists in her Orders Wherefore at this lift you will be exposed unto danger if you have not provided before-hand for the safety of your resort in like cases nor is it sufficient that your resort be safe unless it be as secret and quick for if it be slow or open your former inconveniences are not remedied Now for our imitation in this part there is nothing in experience like that of the Council of Ten in Venice the benefit whereof would be too long to be shewn in the whole Piece and therefore I shall take but a pattern out of Janotti In the War saith he which the Venetians had with Florence in Casentine the Florentines finding a necessity in their affairs far from any other inclination in themselves to ask their Peace sent Ambassadours about it unto Venice where they were no sooner heard then the bargain was struck up by the Council of Ten and every body admiring seeing this Common-wealth stood upon the higher ground what should be the reason of such haste the Council upon the return of the Embassadours imparted Letters unto the Senate whereby it appeared that the Turk had newly launched a formidable Fleet against their State which had it been known to the Florentines it was well enough known they would have made no Peace Wherefore the service of the Ten was highly applauded by the Senate and celebrated by the Venetians Whereby may appear not only in part what use there is of Dictatorian Power in that Government but that it is assumed at the discretion of that Council Whereas in this of Oceana it is no otherwise intrusted then when the Senate in the Election of nine Knights extraordinary giveth at once the Commission and taketh security in a ballance added unto the Council of War though securer before by the Tribunes of the People then that of Venice which yet never incurr'd Jealousie For if the younger Nobility have been often girding at it that happened not so much through the apprehension of danger in it unto the Common-wealth as through the Awe of it upon themselves Wherefore the Graver have doubtlesly shewn their Prudence in the Law Whereby the Magistracy of these Counsellors being to last untill their Successours be created the Council is established The Instructions of the Councils for their Subject matter being shewn it remaineth that I shew the Instructions for the manner of their proceeding as they follow in order 20 The Twentieth Order Containing the Method of Debate to be observed by the Magistrates and the Councils successively in order to a Decree of the Senate The Magistrates of the Signory as Counsellors of this Common-wealth shall take into their Consideration all matter of State or of Government and having right to propose in any Council May any one or more of them propose what Businesse he or they please in that Council whereunto it most properly belongeth And that the Councils may be held unto their duty the said Magistrates are super-intendents and inspectors of the same with right to propose unto the Senate The Censors have equall power with these Magistrates but in relation unto the Council of Religion only Any two of the thrée Provosts in every Council may propose to and are the more peculiar Proposers of the same Council to the end that there be not only an inspection and super-intendency of Businesse
Horse the Spray of 200 Foot and the rest of the Classes being two each of them in number equal◠the whole Prerogative besides the Provinces that is the Knights and Deputies of Marpesia and Panopea must consist of 1050 Deputies It is right And these Troops and Companies may as well be called Centuries as those of the Romans for the Romans related not in so naming theirs unto the number And whereas they were distributed according unto the valuation of their Estates so are these which by virtue of the last Order are now accommodated with their Triennial Officers but there be others appertaining unto this Tribe whose Election being of far greater Importance is Annual as followeth in order 22 The Twenty second Order Whereby the first Classis having Elected their Trienniall Officers and made Oath unto the Old Tribunes That they will neither introduce cause nor to their power suffer debate to be introduced into any popular Assembly of this Government but to their utmost be ayding and assisting to seize and deliver any Person or Persons in that way offending and striking at the Root of this Common-wealth unto the Councill of War are to procéed with the other two Classes of the Prerogative Tribe to Election of the New Tribunes being four Annual Magistrates whereof two are to be elected out of the Cavalry at the Horse-Urn and two out of the Infantry at the Foot-Urn according unto the Common ballot of the Tribes And they may be promiscuously Chosen out of any Classis provided that the same Person shall not be capable of beating the Tribunitian Honour twice in the term of one Gallaxy The Tribunes thus chosen shall receive the Tribe in reference to the power of Mustering and Disciplining the same as Commanders in Chief and for the rest as Magistrates whose proper function is prescribed by the next Order The Tribunes may give leave unto any number of the Prerogative not excéeding one hundred at a time to be absent so they be not Magistrates nor Officers and return within thrée moneths If a Magistrate or Officer have necessary occasion he may also be absent for the space of one moneth provided that there be not above thrée Cornets or Ensigns two Captains or one Tribune so absent at one time To this the Archon spoke at the Institution after this manner My Lords It is affirmed by Cicero in his Oration for Flaccus That the Common-wealths of Greece were all shaken or ruined by the intemperance of their Comitia or Assemblies of the People The truth is if good heed in this point be not taken a Common-wealth will have bad Leggs But all the World knowes he should have excepted Lacedemon where the People as hath been shewn by the Oracle had no power at all of Debate nor till after Lysander whose Avarice opened a Gulph that was not long ere it swallowed up his Country came it ever to be exercised by them Whence that Common-wealth stood longest and firmest of any other but this in our dayes of Venice which having underlaid her Self with the like Institution owes a great if not the greatest part of her steadinesse unto the same principle the great Council which is with her the People by the Authority of my Lord Epimonus never speaking a word Nor shall any Common-wealth where the People in their political capacity is talkative ever see half the dayes of one of these But being carried away by Vain-glorious Men that as Overbury sayes Pisse more then they drink Swim down the sink as did Athens the most prating of these Dames when that same ranting fellow Alcibiades fell on Demagoging for the Sicilian War But whereas Debate by the Authority and experience of Lacedemon and Venice is not to be committed unto the People in a well ordered Government It may be said That the Order specify'd is but a slight barre in a matter of like danger For so much as an Oath if there be no recourse upon the breach of it is a weak tye for such hands as have the Sword in them Wherefore what should hinder the People of Oceana if they happen not to regard an Oath from assuming Debate and making themselves as much an Anarchy as those of Athens To which I answer Take the Common sort in a private Capacity and except they be injured you shall find them to have Verecundiam Patrum a bashfulnesse in the presence of the better sort or wiser Men acknowledging their abilities by attention and accounting it no mean Honour to receive respect from them But if they be injured by them they hate them and the more for being wise or great because that makes it the greater injury Nor refrain they in this Case from any kind of intemperance of speech if of Action It is no otherwise with a People in their political Capacity You shall never find that they have assum'd Debate for it self but for something else Wherefore in Lacedemon where there was and in Venice where there is nothing else for which they should assume it they have never shewn so much as an inclination to it Nor was there any appearance of such a desire in the People of Rome who from the time of Romulus had been very well contented with the Power of Result either Comitiis Curiatis as it was settled upon them by him or Centuriatis as it was alter'd in their regard for the worse by Servius Tullius till news was brought some fifteen years after the exile of Tarquine their late King during which time the Senate had governed passing well that he was dead at the Court of Aristodemus the Tyrant of Cumae Eo nuncio erecti patres erecta Plebs Sed Patribus nimis luxuriosa ea fuit laetitia Plebi cui ad eam diem summâ ope inservitum erat injuriae à Primoribus fieri coepêre Whereupon the Patricians or Nobility began to let out the hitherto dissembled Venom which is inherent in the root of Oligarchy and fell immediately upon injuring the People beyond all moderation For whereas the People had served both gallantly and contentedly in Arms upon their own Charges and though joynt Purchasers by their Swords of the conquer'd Lands had not participated in the same to above two Acres a man the rest being secretly usurped by the Patricians they through the meannesse of their support and the greatnesse of their expence being generally indebted no sooner returned home with Victory to lay down their Arms then they were snatcht up by their Creditors the Nobility to cram Goales Whereupon but with the greatest modesty that was ever known in the like case they first fell upon debate Se foris pro libertate imperio dimicantes domi à civibus captos oppressos esse tutioremque in bello quam in pace inter hostes quam inter cives libertatem plebis esse It is true that when they could not get the Senate through fear as was pretended by the Patricians to assemble and take their grievances