the taking in of a certain number of persons to assist him in the Administration of the Government over the People of Israel And indeed They being sore oppressed and labouring under their Egyptian Slavery took Occasion by his means of shaking that Yoak off their necks whence they were inclined to hearken the more willingly to Him and to follow him whither â—e would lead them the Occasion also taken from the Wickednesse of those of Palaestine concurring with their Inclinations Besides the Great Monarch of all the Earth God of his own accord and free grace gave Wisdom to his People as he did likewise to the Apostles and to the Bishop of Rome which was also assisted by Occasion which is nothing else but to know how to make right use of the Time whence followed the Division of the Romane Empire but the utter Subversion of the Iewish Yet notwithstanding where the Power of Man only appeared Outwardly there was a concurrence and co-operation of the finger of God though not so visibly seen And thus the Assyrians for some secret Causes were possessed of the Monarchy of the World which Causes notwithstanding have been sometimes apparent as we see in Nabuchodonosor whom God rewarded with the spoyles of Egypt because he had made use of Him against the ingrateful Hebrewes and against Tyre And in Isaiah God reproveth the King of the Iewes for that when by his aide his enemies had been slain and put to flight He notwithstanding had ascribed all to his Own strength Now the Occasion of this was the Wickednesse of the Nations who were governed by no Prudence In the Monarchy also of the Medes the same Occasion carried a great stroke in the businesse when as God as it appears out of Daniel came forth upon the stage and raised up Arbaces the Praefect of Media who was a very wise man against Sardanapalus who wallowed in all Luxury and Womanish delights In the Persian Monarchy the Valour and Courage of Cyrus appeared and Media being destitute of a Successour for the Kingdome afforded him the Occasion of shewing it and God himself in Isaiah calling Cyrus his Anointed instructed him how he should bring the Nations under his Yoake Who makes any doubt of the Prudence and Wisdome of Alexander the Great and knowes not that the Divisions of the Grecians at home and the Loosenesse of Life that the Eastern Nations had at that time given themselves up unto administred unto him an Occasion of making use of it Wherein the Divine Power was most evidently manifested for as much as as the Prophet Daniel testifies the Angel of the Kingdome of Greece laboured much in the businesse In the Roman Empire also Prudence and Valour did very much but Italy's being divided into several Common-Wealths and the Carthaginians Factions among themselves were the Occasion And commonly to that Part that dissolves any great Empire all the rest of the Principalities of the World do incline And certainly God himself was the chiefest Cause of the Prosperity of the Romans because of their Moral Virtues as it is proved by St. Augustine in his book De Civitate Dei Yet no place doth more evidently shew what Occasion can do then Sicily at what time it called forth Peter of Arragon against those of Anjou whence sprang the Proverb of those most famous Vespers Although it cannot be denied but that he was assisted very much in that Undertaking not only by the Pope but also by his own Innate Prudence And truly although Historians seldome make any mention at all of these Three Causes yet the Books of the Kings of the Iewes and the Successions therein laid down before us do sufficiently confirm the same and make it appear that which way soever the Prophesies and the Valour of the Persons inclined that way also did the Fortune of the Kingdom look CHAP. II. The Causes of the Spanish Monarchy THe same Three Causes therefore have concurred in the Spanish Monarchy For after that â—t had by the Assistance of Almighty God happily maintained War against the Moors for near 800. years space together It at length brought forth such Valiant Commanders and Souldiers that being so fortified both by Strength and Prudence and having overcome the Barbarians they then turned their Armes another way and proceeded on to greater Undertakings And afterwards being as it were by Divine Instinct assisted by the Pope with a great Treasure of Indulgences and Câ—oisados and the King being also honoured by the Title of Catholick that is to say Vniversal It arrived to so great a reputation and glory of Valour that the Genueses were so much the more willingly and readily drawn in to their assistance in the making themselves Masters of the New World And lastly it is most certain that whilest Wars were made with Launces and Horses the Gaules Goths and Lombards enlarged their Dominions but when the Sword was the chief Weapon the Romans then carried all afore them But in after times when Subtlety and Crâ—ft was of more Prevalence then Valour and that Printing and Guns were now found out the Chief Power then fell into the hands of the Spaniards who are a People that are both Industrious Active Valiant and Subtle For then did Occasion joyn the King of Arragon with Isabella Queen of Castile who had no Issue Male to succeed her and at the same time also was added to him the Imperial Line of the House of Austria to which likewise through defect of Issue Male in the Burgundian Family there was added a very considerable Inheritance of many Lordships and Provinces in the Low-Countries and in other places Then followes the Discovery of the New World made by Christophorus Columbus and another accession also by the joyning of the Kingdom of Portugal to Spain All which rendred the Monarchy of Spain both Illustrious and Admirable and also besides other things made Her Lady of the Seas to which Advantages was also added the Troubled Condition of the French English and Dutch who were at Variance among themselves about certain Points of Religion by which meanes the Spaniaâ—d so easily arrived to this height of Power and Greatnesse it now is in And the King of Spain might grow more Powerful yet and might attain to the Dominion of the Whole World if he would but endeavour the Overthrow of the Turkish Empire as Alexander heretofore did of the Persian and the Romans of the Carthaginean For that Empire got up to this height for the Sins of the Christians and the Angel of that People hath yet the upper hand For while the Imperialists have been at variance with the Pontificians the French with the English the Venetians with the Genâ—eses God hath raised up the Turks and hath sent them into both Empires because that the Christians were too gently and lightly punished for their sins by the Arabians Tartars and other foreign Nations as I have already shewed in my Papal Monarchy And the Turk is the same to us at this
and Pythagoras for otherwise he must needs come to ruine by changing the Auspicia Regni the Fortune of the Kingdom as I may call it whose dependance is from Faith in Christ and then the People will immediately betake themselves to their Armes and revolt from him Neither indeed have any Monarchies been either more certainly or more miserably brought to destruction then when they have changed their Religion as is testified by Histories And then again the Pope and the rest of the Princes of Christendom would joyn their whole strengths together and would in a very litle time root him out of his Kingdom of Naples Millan and consequently also of the New World the rest of his Dominions And although these things were not done to Henry the VIII of England nor yet to the Duke of â—â—xony because their Territories were encompassed within small though well fortified Bounds yet for all that did they fail of succession and so their States went away from them And we have examples hereof also in Ieroboam Iehu Iulian the Apostate and others who for having changed their Religion incurred the hatred of their People and brought destruction upon themselves Unlesse we shall say that the Pope hath no power at all in Temporal things nor is any whit above either any other of the Bishops or theirs Surrogates or Chaplains in Authority or degree which is evidently contradictory to Gods Ordination by which He hath been constituted a Regal Priest and hath been armed with both the Swords as well the Civill as the Spiritual For were it otherwise Christ should be a very mean Law-giver and should be lesse then Melchisedech who was both King and Priest together which addeth both the greater Majesty as well as security to any Kingdom as I have proved in my Treatise Touching Monarchy against Dante who looking only upon the Priesthood of Aaron allowes to the Pope nothing but Spiritualties and Tithes only And which is more this impugnes also all Reasons of Policy because the Pope can never want those that will take up Armes in His defence in case He should not be able to defend Himself and that either by being moved thereunto through Zeal to Religion as the Countesse Matilda did against the Emperour Henry or else out of Emulation or some interest of Faction as it was in the Case of the Venetians making war upon the Emperour Frederick whom they compelled to kisse the Popes Foot or for both these reasons as when King Pipin and Charles the Great took up Armes in assistance of the Pope against the Lombards and others who waged war against him Thus we see that the Constantinopolitan Empire came to be destroyed for the Apostasy of Iulian and Constantius in like manner as all the Fredericks Henries and other Kings also of Naples suffered for the same Cause as often as they denied their Obedience to the Pope And certainly the Opinion and Beliefe which hath prevailed upon the Minds of all People touching the Christian Religion is of very great force and moves them to defend It to the utmost of their power so that whensoever the Pope hath excommunicated any Prince He doth at the same instant ruine him also Do but observe I pray you to what state Ferraria is reduced at this day But we have discoursed more copiously of this in the Treatise of Monarchy It is lastly against all Policy too for the Pope withholds the rest of the Princes of Christendom from invading Spain as he doth the King of Spain from invading them by continually composing their differences in like manner as he divided India betwixt the Portugals and the Spaniards and thus hath several times made peace betwixt the Spaniards and the French Venetians and Genowaies and so likewise betwixt Pisa and Florence which yet he would not so easily be able to do by the meer Reverence they bear to Religion For here in these Cases they have an eye as well to the force of Armes as to Religion for He that is in the wrong Cause may justly suspect the Popes joyning of his strength to that of his Antagonist and so for this reason he will the more readily obey the Popes Injunction as I have declared formerly in the forementioned Treatise And the King of Spain if he but declare himself for and stand up in the defence of the Pope shall be sure to have alwayes the assistance of His Forces at his devotion at any time which will be a good means of confirming his Kingdom to him And therefore I conceave it very necessary according to the Fate of Christendom that if the King of Spain would arrive to an Universal Monarchy He must declare himself publiquely to have his dependance from the Pope and command it to be published all abroad throughout the World that himself is the Cyrus that was before typified and the Catholick King that is the Universal Monarch of the World declaring this his Monarchy by his Religious Counsels and pious Actions and passing also by many litigious Controversies which he hath with the Pope and dwelling in the Tents of Sem making it appear to all the World that He is the Chief Defender of Christian Religion that depends wholly upon the Pope of Rome calling together also the Christian Princes to consult about the recovery of those Countreys they have lost and are at this day in the hands of Hereticks and Turks and He must proceed to the causing of such to be excommunicated as shall deny their assistance herein and lastly he must also take care that Pious and diligent Preachers be sent abroad into the World to promote this businesse For the Plain truth of it is that the Pope picks quarrels sometimes with the King of Spain for no other reason but only because he is afraid that in case he should subdue the King of France and the Princes of Italy hee would then make Him only as his Chaplain And this is the reason why He desires that they should alwayes be at variance one with another that so in case either of them should fall off from Himâ— by reason either of Apostasy or some quarrel or other He might have the other to assist him And this is the reason why he stirred up the Western Empire against the Eastern onely because they had forsaken their former Religion had had many Clashings with the Pope about It. But now if King Philip will but do that which is his duty as is before declared and will but give way to the Pope in some things which he pretends His Right and will besides send some Bishops and Cardinals into the Belgiâ—k Provinces and to the New world to dispose of and order things there he will by this meanes both free the Pope from this suspition and shall withall effect his own desires seeing that it is evident that the Pope by his Indulgencies and Croysados brings him in more mony then those Dignities which he bestowes upon Cardinals Archbishops Bishops and
He may have them at his devotion whensoever He shall have need of them He must make choice of and take into all His Higher Councels two or three of the Religious either Iesuits Dominicans or Franciscans that he may bind the Clergy the faster to Himself and that his Councellours may be the more Circumspect and may in their Determinations have more Authority In all Wars that he takes in hand every one of his Chief Commanders must have an Adjutant joyned to him out of the Clergy for by this meanes the Souldiers will hearken to their Commands with the more Reverence neither is any thing to be done without their being first acquainted therewith But especially the Stipends of all Poor Maimed Souldiers are to be distributed to them by the hands of those of the Clergy for this is the Misery of Spain that they pay their mony and know neither how nor to whom And by this meanes under the Banner of Religionâ— He shall both make the Pope more firm to him and shall also establish his own Empire and so complying with Divine Fate He shall raigne the more happily and be the more Fortunate Neither ought He ever to commend to the Pope for Ecclesiastical Dignities and Preferments such persons as are not fit for the same that so He may have the greater crediâ— with the Pope and that those Persons whose wisedom and parts He hath commended to him may be the more approved and esteemed He must alwayes likewise be making Proposals and laying down the wayes by which the Infidels are to be set upon and he must be earnest with the Pope that he proclaime that all such Princes are worthy to be deposed that shall any way impede or hinder such Religious Expeditions He shall do well also to build Hospitals Almes-houses and the like Charitable Places which as they are profitable and give encouragement to the Souldiery so may they serve also as so many Seminaries both for Souldiers and Artificers for the contriving of Engines for war in which Houses Maimed Souldiers and Engineers may be carefully lookt unto and may also have Indulgencies proposed unto them as shall be shewed hereafter He must also be sure that whatsoever Expeditions He shall undertake they shall be approved of by the Pope that so they may be commended by all Christians and also that the Craft of the Spaniard may be the lesse suspected and that the Pope also himself may be the more ingaged to see the same brought to good effect He must declare also to the World that He conceives the Right of Empire to consist not in Armes alone contrary to the Opinion of the Roman Scipio who being askt by a certain Spanish Commander What Right hâ— had to Spain answered him only by shewing him the Armie he had brought against it but in the Auspicious Faâ—e of Christianitie According to what Iephta answered when he was askt the same question Iud. 11.24 Wilt not thou possesse that which Chemosh thy God giveth thee to possesse So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us them will we possesse Whatsoever therefore the Spaniard getteth under the Victorious Banner of Christ it is his own Right And this I speak in reference to the Spaniards Subduing of the New World which is blamed by so many For seeing that the Indians had Violated the Law of Nature the King of Spain invading them upon the Interest of the Christian Religion whose Handmaid the Law of Nature is their Country is his lawful possession in like manner as Moses seized upon the Holy Land after that the iniquities of the Amorites were once grown full So also the Turkes having possessed themselves of Constantinople under the Conduct and Fortune of Mahomet for our sins they possesse it now as their own Right as if Chemosh had given it themâ— But neither are all meanes of recovering that Empire again denied us therefore when as we shall have repented of that sin which was the cause that we lost it namely the Discord of the Christian World For then the Angel of that Empire which now defends and takes care of It not for that false Macon's sake whom It invokes but by reason of the just Judgment of God shall come over unto Us. And these Arguments are of very great moment for the defending or as I may better call it the Justifying of those Expeditions the justice of which Lactantius especially lib. de Iustitia Dei and Cajetan 2â— 2x. and some other of our later Writers understood not But now it seems to me very expedient for the inducing of the Pope to stand wholly for the King of Spain and that the Fate of Christianity may advance His Monarchy if that King Philip would promise the Pope that He whereto the rest of the Christian Princes should give their assent would observe inviolably that Constitution of the Emperour Constantine wherein he affirms That in all Causes and from what Powers and Courts of Judicature soever Appeales may be made to the Tribunals of the Bishops who are called by Him Angeli Dei Gods Angels and Dei terrestres Gods on Earth For when the Pope shall once find this promptnesse and readinesse of Mind in him He cannot chuse but alwaies be a friend unto him Neither can this be any diminution at all of the Dignity of the King for the rest of the Christian Princes will never give their consent hereto without all doubt and so all businesses will be betwixt the Pope and Him onely to be managed But in case that They should also give their assents to this all Causes would presently be put necessarily into the Popes hands so that the King of Spain having united his Monarchy to the Popes He should that way also have Dominion over the rest And that this may not prove prejudicial to him He may erâ—ct some kind of Supreme Councel and Court of Judicature into which there shall be admitted Two Bishops and His own Confessor and Himself also as a Clergy Man shall have a Power of Voting there for as much as the Kings Eldest Son is alwaies to be initiated into the Order of the Clergy and to this Councel there should be liberty of Appeal as from all other Tribunals so from that even of the Bishops also in case they shall oppresse either their own or the Kings Subjects For by this means the King shall in effect be the sole Judge not onely of all other Courts but even of that of the Bishops too as being Himself one of the Holy Order of the Clergy And by this means He shall evade that dangerous opinion of D. Rota who sayes that The Kings Subjects when they are hardly dealt withal by the Prelats may appeal to the Supreme Councel of Spain Which Assertion is certainly both an unworthy and an Heretical one and is of dangerous consequence also to the King for it tends to the rendring Him odious to his people and diminisheth rather then encreaseth His
Authority as we find it testified by daily Experience Or else it may indeed be desired at the Popes hands that it should be so and it may also be declared that the King is willing to yield that in all Causes whatsoever there should be Appeales to the Pope if so be that it may be but every where allowed to appeal first to a Councel of Three Bishops or else that Appeales in all Causes of the Laity shall come at length to the Pope but passing first by degrees through a Councel consisting of two Bishops and the King and so to be referred afterward to a General Councel and last of all to come to the Pope for Appeals from General Councels are very seldome heard of and besides the very Name of a Councel is hateful to the Pope So that in conclusion the determination of all Causes will alwaies rest with the King who by this means shall be a Gainer where he seems to be a Loser CHAP. VII What may be ufrther added concerning Prudence and Opportunity THat Prudence ought in the first place to agree in all things with Divine Fate hath already been shewed it remaineth now that we speak of all the rest of the parts of Prudence and shew whitherto all its Vertues and especially Opportunity ought to be referred for as much as it is the property of Prudence to know how to make use of Occasion We have already also declared upon what Interests and under what Confederacy with the Pope the Monarchy of Spain ought to proceed at least as far as was fit to be committed to writing for the most secret Arcana and Mysteries of State are not thus to be made Publick It is therefore Manifest that the Occasion which the King of Spain hath consists chiefly in this that his Neighbouring Enemies are weak and at discord among themselves touching both Points of Religion and matters of State but his Remoter Enemies are more Powerful so that these if his weaker Neighbours were once overcome seem the more easily conquerable The Spaniard hath besides a Notable Occasion from the Extraordinary advantage of Navigation and by his having Dominion in all places round about the whole Earth in a Circle And it seems to me that the attaining to the Empire of the whole World is a very feasible businesse for Him to bring about if there could be such an Uniting of things together by degrees as I shall shew hereafter according to the General Rules of Politick Prudence Where we shall at length come to Particular Actions examined according to Nearer and Remoter Relations But first of all the Politick Relation of Spain at home is to be strengthened and afterwards the Forrain is to be looked after Thus therefore I proceed on to the businesse CHAP. VIII The Causes by which the Spanish Monarchy may be enlarged and become lesse THe Occasions by which the Spanish Monarchy may be kept up or perhaps be enlarged also are these First of all The Virtue of the King Secondly the Goodnesse of the Lawes thirdly the Wisdome of the Councel fourthly the Iustice of the Officers of State fiftly the Obedience of the Barons sixtly the Multitude and good Discipline of Souldiers and Commanders Seventhly a Full Treasury Eightly the Mutual Love of the People among themselves and toward their King Ninthly Good Preachers in their Sermons speaking for subjection to Kings Tenthly the Good Agreement betwixt his own Kingdomes and the Disagreement betwixt his Neighbours And on the contrary this Monarchy hath these things that may be the ruine of it as First A wicked King Secondly Bad Lawes Thirdly an Ignorant Councel Fourthly Vnjust Officers of State Fifthly a Disobedient Nobility Sixthly the Want of Souldiers and Commanders and those He hath not well disciplined Seventhly Want of Mony Eighthly The Mutual Hatred of the People among themselves and toward their King Ninthly False Prophets or else perhaps True ones that may rise up against Monarchy Tenthly The Discord of his Own Kingdomes and the Agreement among others All which things are Prudently to be considered and weighed seeing that the present Disagreement among the Enemies of Spain and his Power at Sea all over the World have rendred the Attempt not only of maintaining but of enlarging this so great a Monarchy very feasible CHAP. IX Of the King HE cannot govern the World that cannot govern an Empire neither can he rule an Empire that cannot a Kingdom nor he a Kingdom that cannnot a Province nor he a Province that cannot a City nor he a City that cannot a Village nor he a Village that cannot a Family nor he a Family that cannot a single house nor he a single house that cannot govern himself neither can he govern himself that cannot reduce his affections and bring them within the compasse of Reason which very thinâ— no man is able to do except he submit himself to the will of God For whosoever rebels against God who is the Supreme Wisdom against him shall all things that are subordinate to him rebel also and that justly and by the Law of Retaliation which is most just in all both Governments and Actions of Men. Having therefore weighed in onr mind and coâ—sidered all the Ideas and Formes of Humane Government we say that the King of Spains endeavours must be that He may arrive to the Highest pitch of Wisdom that may be For every Virtue is an Affection of the Mind consisting in a certain Mean beyound which if it arise or fall beneath it it comes to be a Vice Now it is Reason that constitutes this Mean And therefore we are to say that Actions alone do not render a man Vertuous but to this purpose there is required also a Natural Inclination in the Person which is derived both from the Complexion of his Parents from the Aire and from the Stars Seeing therefore that the Kingdom of Spain is not an Electtive one but descends by succession I say that the King ought to have but one wife for to have more is contrary to Reason it self which is to be of a tall Stature and she must be both fruitful and Eloquent and must excel all other women in the endowments both of Body and Mind Neither must he look after the Noblensse of her Family only for so she may chance to be barren or may some other waies be not so pleasing to Him and he should be overwhelmed with all those mischieifs that Henry the Eighth was or the Duke of Mantua Whence Francis the Duke of Tuscany might seem to deserve commendation if he had married Blanch only because he wanted an Heir to succeed him The King is likewise to exercise the Act of Copulation with his Queen under a Fortunate Planet onely and after Digestion is finished and besides he must not do this till after he hath abstained some reasonable time from the said Act to the end that his seed may be the more fruitful and when ever he hath any thing to do with his
of his Subjects and it would be a discouragement to them from the endeavouring at any High and Noble Actions Therefore such persons as He is Jealous of are to be employed in such places where there is the least danger to be feared from them as we read Belisarius was called home by Iustinian out of Italy where he was beloved by all men and sent against Persia. The Kings Anger must neither be Violent nor Headlong as was Alexander's of Macedon against his Nobles for so he may chance to be made away by poyson as Alexander was and his Subjects may fall off from him and so his Power will be diminished as it happened to Theoderick the First King of Ravenna and which was also the cause of the Emperour Valentinian's death In times of Peace He must be merciful to such as offend either out of Ignorance or Weaknesse of Body or Mind and that in favour of the Multitude and to sweeten Them but this he must take heed of in time of War and he must not pardon any Egregious Offenders or that are the Heads and Ringleaders of any Faction especially where the Worth of the Persons is not so great as that being pardoned they may be of greater use to him then that wherein they offended was prejudicial Thus Scanderbeg pardoned Moses rebelling against him as being the Greatest Commander he had under him who thereby became afterwards of very great Use and Advantage to him In like manner as David also pardoned Ioab But yet we must remember that this Easinesse and Mercifulnesse is then only seasonable where the Crime concerns not the State it self but onely Particular persons And therefore the Prince ought not at any time to deny the Legal Proceeding of Justice to any one For for this very cause Philip King of Macedonia was slain by Pausanias And therefore as we have formerly said he ought to be careful and circumspect in the curbing and bridling of his own Passions and Affections But now Piety and Religion is of it self sufficient to make any Prince exercise his power of Dominion Justly and happily as we see by the Examples of the Emperour Constantine the Great Theodosius and the like And here we are alwaies to remember that it is most certain that The People do naturally follow the Inclinations of their Prince And therefore Plato was wont to say If the King but mend all the Kingdome mends without the accession of any other Law And therefore the Virtue of the Prince ought to surpasse in a manner all Humane sense As concerning Making of War it is certain and evident to all that Warlike Princes have still had the better of those that are not so inclined and although Wise Kings have alwaies made a shift to preserve their own yet they have not alwaies enlarged their Dominions but the idle and sloathful have ever been of the losing hand I say therefore that a King if he would be accounted a warlike Prince ought to go in person to the Wars especially â—â—ere he is certain of Victory Thus Ioab having for some time besieged that City of the Ammonites and being now ready to take it he gave notice to the King that He should come and be at the delivery of it up that so the Glory of the Action might be His. For by this means the People will be ready to admire their King as if he were something more then a King But He must be sure to decline all Evident Dangers and especially Duels Lest as the Israelites said to David He quench the Light of Israel For this was accounted a great fault in Alexander the Great that he would needs leap down first himself from off the Walls into a certain Town where He by that meanes received many Wounds For by that rash Act of his he in His Single person brought into Hazard the Monarchy of the whole World He must also reâ—ard his Old Souldiers with his Own hand and must preâ—er them to the Government of Castles and Forts and the rawer sort of Souldiers he must cause to exercise themselves in light skirmishes among themselves and in exercises of the Field Every King that swaieth a Scepter is either a Wolfe or a Hireling or lastly a Shepheard as Homer and the Holy Gospel it self also calls him A Tyrant is the Wolfe that keepes the Flock for his own Advantage and alwayes maketh away with all the Wealthiest Wisest Valiantest of his Subjects that so he may fill his own bags and may without any danger or controule Lord it as he list and range about through the whole flock spoyling whom he please And if the King of Spain should go about to shew himself such a one to his Subjects he will lose all as did those Dionysij of Syracuse Acciolinus of Padouâ— Caligula Nero Vitelliuâ— and the like The Hireling is he that kills not indeed his Subjects but rather drawes to himself all Profits Honours and advantages acquired by the service of his Souldiers and Vassals but he doth not at all defend them from the Ravenous Wolves I mean False Teachers nor other fierce Invaders and Oppressors As we may call the Venetians the Hireling Rulers of Cyprus seeing that they did not defend it against the Turkes And the Romans also were such in Relation of the Saguntines from whose necks they did not keep off Hannibals yoak And in like manner we may tearm Don Philip Maria the Hireling Vicount of the Genowayes for he mad onely a benefit of them but shewed not himself as a Governour over them Which cannot now be said of the Kiâ—g of Spain And these Hirelings or Mercenary Princes are suddenly losers by it as the former were As wee see the King of France lost by suffering Calvin to mount up into the Chaire as the Elector of Saxony likewise did by suffering that Wolf Luther For he that makes a prey of Mens Mind hath command over their Bodies also and will at length have the disposing of their Fortunes and estates too And therefore it is a meer Folly and Ignorance in those Princes whosoever they be that shall admit New Religions into their Dominions whereby the Minds of their Subjects are lead away And hence it was that Saul foresaw his own Ruin so soon as ever he perceaved the affections of the People inclined towards David And the Mischiefs of Germany Poland and France have been infinite since Luthers making a â—Prey and carring away the Minds and Affections of the Inhabitants of these Countriesâ— But that King is a Shepheard that feeds Himself with the Honour and Love of his People and them with his own Example Learning and Abundance of good Things and withall defends them by his Armes and Wholesome Lawes And therefore a good King ought to be endued with so much a greater proportion of Learning and Knowledge above his People who do infinitely herein excel Brute Beasts as the Shepheard is above his Mâ—te Flock So that a Prince as Plato said is somewhat
him odious to his people and in the mean time fleece the poor miserable Subjects Therefore let every Officer provide himself to render an Account of his Administration to the People who are to give in Information to the King every ten yeares where they have been honestly dealt with and where not All False Witnesses also of whom the World is so full must likewise be severely punished and there must be care taken also that the Atturnies of the Exchequer may not force men by threatning words and sometimes by blowes too to be Witnesses for them But the best Course would be that the Law of Retaliation should be in force that the Complainant that makes not good his Accusation should suffer the same punishment that the other should have done if found guilty because that now adaies there are more Calumnies brought into Courts then Just Accusations And therefore any Lawyer that shall be found to have suborned any such Witnesse or any Judge that shall be proved to have taken any Bribe to pervert the Lawes should be debarred for ever after either from pleading at any Bar or giving sentence in any Court The King must also take care that Judges give sentence alwaies according to the Lawes and not according as Policy of State as they use to speak shall require and afterward either the King himself or his Viceroy or any other of the Kings Ministers may mitigate the Rigour of the Law as they shall see cause provided it be not in Case of High Treason that by this meanes they may gain the more upon the Peoples Affections And that untoward Custome is to be rooted out of the minds of Ordinary Judges which yet hath taken deeper root in the minds of the Superiour Judges also namely that although they know an accused person to be Innocent yet they will condemn him though it be in a matter of no Moment to the end that the fault may at last light upon Him after the businesse hath been a good while depending under the Judge that so as they use to say there may seem to have been Pregnant Reasons for the long depending of the Cause Whereas they should be so far from aggravating any fault as that they should rather lessen it as much as may be and so they should endeavour the rather to be really Just then to get an Opinion of being so to the great detriment of the People and also of the King himself who through the wickednesse of these Unjust Judges who are hated both by God and Himself is deprived of the Love and Affections of his People which is the main Prop of His Affaires and besides Good Men having lost their reputation desire to change their present state for a better as we see it usually comes to passe And no people have opportunity of offending more dangerously and closely then your Inferiour Officers have and besides these men the more in favour they are with the Prince the more grievously are they wont to aggravate mens crimes And therefore in this case there ought to be certain Commissaries at all times deputed and the same also to be maintained at the Charge of the said Ministers who shall yearly also lay down a certain summe of Mony to be kept in some Common place for the charges of the next Commissaries the following year that by these their Books of Accounts may be examined during the time of their being in Office or afterwards also if need be For by reason of the Corruption of these Inferiour Officers whole Provinces have many times heretofore fallen off from the Roman Empire especially when they have been found to be too ambitious and active in squeezing the Subjects either for the enriching of the Publick Treasury or else for the filling of their own private Coffers And for this reason it was that the Parthians having killed Crassus filled his mouth full of Melted Gold as a certain Spanish Grandee was also served by some Indians in the New World And certainly Covetousnesse and an open barefaced Desire of Gold was the reason that the Affaires of the Spaniards succeeded so ill in the New World into which at first they had so miraculous an Entrancâ— and that the other Nations there perceiving that humour in them stood upon their guard as well as they could against the Spaniard whose Government notwithstanding before they had not refused The same manner of proceeding also in the Netherlands was the cause of the ruining of the Spanish Affaires there Let all Criminal Causes in times of Peace be protracted as much as may be For No delay about the death of any man can ever be too long but this must not be in times of War As for Civil Causes they ought all to be without any demurring or delay heard and determined CHAP. XIV Of the Barons and Nobility of the Spanish Monarchy THe King of Spain to the end that so vast a Monarchy may not fall to decay hath need of such men as are excellent both for Learning and the practise of Armes whom He ought to reward afterwards with Baronies that so being from thenceforth made sharers as it were of the said Monarchy they may to their utmost power endeavour to maintain and make good the same to their Prince Which Baronies notwithstanding when they once fall into the hands of Unworthy persons are the cause of much mischief And they do fall into such hands when they come to be bestowed either upon Buffoons or perhaps such Exchequer Men as have found out new waies of oppressing the Subject or else when they have been conferred at first upon Wise and Valiant men whose Successors for all that may have proved to be Mean Inconsiderable persons or are else riotous and proud and such as laying aside all thought of their Ancestors Virtue take the full enjoyment only of that they have left them and having no worth of their own can onely boast of the Nobility of their Ancestors And hence it is that the King is in want so much of Persons of Worth whilest the number of such Uselesse Drones encreaseth in the Kingdom The Great Tuâ—k that he may prevent the latter of these Mischiefs putting by all such as are bottom'd only upon Others Nobility takes notice of such onely as are Eminent for some worth of their own Neither doth he suffer any son to succeed in the Estate or Goods of his Father by Right of Inheritance but he is to receive the same at his hands as a reward of his Service if so be he deserve it But in case he do not he must then serve him either in some Ignoble Art or else in some inferiour Office in his Wars The Former of these Inconveniences any King of Spain may prevent if he but confer these rewards upon such onely as are deserving Persons but the Remedy of the Second which is practised by the Turks cannot be made use of among Christians Onely let him be sure that many of these Baronies
his Neighbours the Switzers and the Grisons and let Him chuse out of these Nations Thirty Thousand Souldiers to whom He shall in the mean time allow half pay till such time as He shall have Occasion to use them according as the Venetians are wont to do and this Army let him make use of for the repelling of any powerful Enemy assaulting hâ—m But yet lest these people encreasing their numbers should themselveâ— invade the Duchy of Millan which thing we know to have happened heretofore in the time of the Romans I would have this Army to be divided and some part of it to be sent into the Netherlands and another to Naples and there may some of them also be sent abroad as far as the West-Indies that so serving him abroad in His Wars they may at length be all destroyed And certainly should this People but keep at home and not go so much abroad to Wars as they do but should unite their forces together it would be a very easie matter for them to subdue all Italy but now whiles that they serve some of them under this Prince and some under that in their wars there is no great reason to fear any such thing of them However it would be a very good way to divide them as we have shewed and to send them abroad several waies The second thing that the Italians are wont to threaten the Spaniard with is that perhaps They may enter into a League with the Pope and the King of France to the Prejudice of Spain But this conceipt of theirs also the King of Spain may easily elude because no one of them dares do any thing without the Pope and the King of France as being not able of himself to defend himself much lesse to attempt any thing against others unlesse it be by chance and by taking some extraordinary Advantage as the Venetians did heretofore at what time the Popes were at War with the Emperours and when the Transalpines made bold to march over into Italy And therefore iâ— so be the King of Spain have but the Pope on his side He hath no need at all to fear the Princes of Italy neither indeed is there any Change made in any State or Dominion in Italy without the Pope and the Pope alone hath been the cause of all the Mutations that have happened in the Kingdom of Naples And in case the Pope should take up Arms against any Party or against any Common-Wealth in Italy He would presently prove the Conquerour by having recourse immediately to his wonted Helps such as are His giving out Indulgences against it and his absolving the subjects from the Oathes they have taken to be true to the same and by calling in others to His Assistance as Pope Iulius the second did at that time when He Excommunicated the Venetians at which time they were utterly crushed by him Now my Counsel to the King of Spain is that He would yeeld to the Pope and do whatsoever He would have and that He would give His Commands abroad as Constantine the Emperour heretofore did namely that the Pope shall have supream Authority in Last Appeals and so likewise that Two Bishops with the King who then holds the place of a Clergy man be Judges in all causes that shall be devolved unto them by way of Last Appeals And let it be agreed upon betwixt him and the Pope that what Princes soever shall refuse to submit hereto they shall be deprived by their Authority For if some of the Princes of Italy or indeed if all of them should fall off from the Pope the King of Spain who is the Vindicater of the Pontifical Authority being assisted by Croisados and other Aides from the Pope would by degrees ruin them all one after another or else bring them in Subjection under himself and thus whiles he yields to the Pope He is sure to have both His Affections surely united to Him and His power assisting him and he shall withal make himself Maâ—ter of the Princes of Italy's Dominions And this may possibly hereafter come to passe although as matters now stand all that the King can do is to make it his businesse to keep these Princes at difference amongst themselves and to make either the Duke of Parma or some other of them Sure to Him and then He need care but little for any of the rest Let him also give the Venetians the Tittle of being The Fathers of Italy and let him desire of them the favour to have some of the Principal of them sent to him whom he may imploy as Iudges in the Netherlands because that this Nation doth more willingly admit of Italians then Spaniards and of all Italians of the Venetian rather then any other and upon These Venetians so imployed by him let him confer the Dignities of Barons And seeing that it is known to every man that the Venetians are both very Just and also free from Ambition and so the fitter to be made use of if not for the gaining of any New Dominions yet certainly for the keeping of what are already gotten let the King so order the matter as that the Hollanders may be brought to desire Lawes to be prescribed them by the Venetians of which I shall say more hereafter And if by these Arts He could so far prevaile with them as to get them to give over their travelling to Alexandria and â—yria to traffick there and to take up a trade of Merchandise with those in the West-Indies as the Portuguez have done He would by this meanes in time make Himself Lord of the Venetians as He hath already of the Genoeses Now that he may also secure himself in the mean time from the Venetians it would be his best Course to provide himself of such a Navy as I spake of before and He should likewise do well to make use of the Archduke of Carinthia and His Neighbours the Grisons in his wars by this meanes to fright the Venetians the more And besides let him give entertainment to all such persons as are banished by the Florentines or by the Venetians and receive them into his service in his wars and he may do well to bestow extraordinary rewards upon them too that by this meanes he may draw others of them also over to him who may serve under him if neeed be even against their owne Native Country Which indeed was the frequent practise of the Duke of Millan and also many times of the King of France when for the same reason he invited in to him all the Banished Genoeses and Florentines And for the same reason also the Strozza's Piccolominies and the Lord Peter de Medicis might in these our times strike no small terrour into the Great Duke of Florence If therefore the King would have these Princes of Italy to continue at variance among themselves let him take heed how he strikes any fear into them for Fear is the onely meanes to unite them together and
Turkish Empire shall be Lord of the whole Earth The House of Spain then can never attaine to any great Monarchy according to Fate but only by the adhering to Italy the Roman Empire which is the German the Right Head The King of Spain therefore is to use his utmost endeavour that he may be chosen Emperour seeing that not only God but even Human Prudence also may inform us that by that meanes he may attain to what ever his heart can wish A beginning of which thing appeared plain enough in Charles the Fifth King of Spain who being also Emperour and being assisted with the whole power of Italy and Spain overcame those of Tunis and the King of France and conquered all Germany in so much that Solyman seeing the prosperous Fortune of this Prince had good Cause to say that it behooved him to take heed of Charles neither would he though he were stronger then He fight with Him under the Walls of Vienna We see therefore that which way the Fates incline the same also goes all the rest of the Fortune and so on the other side all things must needs be successelesse that are â—aken in hand under a Reluctant Faâ—e I shall here also open another Mystery namely that all Empires according to the Prophesy of Noaâ— do descend from the Sons of Iaphet God shall enlarge Japhet and he shall dwell in the tents of Sem and Cham shall be his Servant And from Cham are to descend none but Slaves and Tyrants who are indeed Slaves as I have elsewhere proved Wherefore the Turkish Empire comes from Iaphet by Magog and as to the Law from Sem by the Line of Ishmael from whom Mahumet descended as it hath allwaies been observed to fall out that the Northern People which are fierce and by the armes of Iaphet still Victorious have yet received Lawes and Rules from the wiser Southern People who were the Ofspring of Sem. And yet the Empire sometimes hath otherwise had a succession of Tyrants also who have descended from Cham though by the intervention of the German who is descended from Iaphet as the Spaniard himself derives his Line from Iaphet by Tubal like as concerning the Law the Roman Christianity doth derive it self from â—em in respect of Christ who is a true Sem by the Line of Isaac Seeing therefore Dominion was promised to Iaphet it belongeth chiefly to the Spaniards who are more nearly and by a firmer alliance descended from the Law-giver then the Turks and their Victorie drives on to this end that they may dwell in the House of Sem seeing that they possesse the Greatest part of Italy by the Investiture of the Pope who is descended from Sem Of whom this is no fit occasion to say any more although I willingly would do so and indeed ought I shall only add here that they cannot according to Fate come to be Lords of all unlesse they become the Deliverers of the Church and set it free from out of the hands of the Babylonians that is to say of the Turks and Hereticks Upon this account they conquered the Moores God bestowing upon them so great an Empire as their reward Now it is evident that the Church is in subjection to Babylon as long as it is Militant and I have formerly shewed elsewhere that it doâ—h yet retain the dayes of Tuesday and Friday and the moneths of August and Iuly which were theirs of the Roman Babylon and the Church now suffers most grievous Persecutions under the Babylonian Infidels both in Africk Asia and Europe and especially in Germany France England and Polaâ—d This discourse therefore is to be listened unto with attentive eares because that all the Iewish Affaires were a Type and figure of those of the Christians He therefore that shall deliver the Church out of these evills shall become the Universal Monarch because He shall perform the Office of the Christian Cyrus whom God shall raise up as Esay saith to subdue the whole World to restore Ierusalâ—m to remove their Captivity and to build a temple to the God of Heaven and Earth wherein shall be set up the Continual Sacrifice as is foretold by Daniel Esay and Esdras Cyrus also was of the Linage of Iaphet by the Medes and notwithstanding that the Turk is descended of the same stock also yet shall He not perform the Office because that He is become an Enemy by setting up another Contrary Law The French in the time of Charlemagne arrogated this Office to themselves who by their often delivering the Pope out of the hands of the Princes of Italy the Lombards and the Gotâ—s arrived to so great power that they became formidable to all and the said Charlemagne might have come to have been Universal Monarch of the World had not his sons been at Variance among themselves but had managed their Empire rightly and as they ought to have done But the discords that were betwixt the Christians and â—he following Heresy raigning at this day broke the neck of the French Empire at least took away from it all hope of ever arriving to the height of so much greatnesse But the Spaniards by being continually rooting out of the Moors became powerful but contrariwise Constantinople because it deserted the Pope and adhered to Arrius Sabellius and others came to destruction The Venetians also have by the Popes meanes arrived to a great height because that they assisted him against Frederick So that it is manifest that he that shall take any enterprize in hand under a Favourable Fate shall have all happy successe therein but on the contrary he that shall rush on upon any undertaking under a Crosse and Vnwilling Fate shall find the Event also quite contrary to his desires Which may also be demonstrated out of Reasons of Policy For he tâ—at maintaines the Popes Interest maintaines the Universal Right of all Christendom which depends upon the Pope For this Cause is accounted both a Just and a Religious one and therefore all men will take it up And the Opinion also of Religion overcomes all other causes as we â—ave already shewed elsewhere and shall further shew hereafter Add hereto that the Pope is the Universal Moderator and Judge of all things to whom all people have their recourse and yeild obedience to him as to their God and Deliverer as on the contrary the Sweden Saxon and the Constantinopolitan Princes as being enemies to and Stubborn opposers of Him are rejected and deserted by them Therefore the Office of Cyrus belongs to the King of Spain who being now honoured by the Pope with the Title of The Catholick King may easily arrive to the Principality of the whole World and we see that he hath already followed his Footsteeps in having delivered the Church heretofore out of the hands of the Moors of Granado as he hath lately done from the Hereticks of England the Law-Countries and France and He maintaines besides with yearly Revenues so many Bishops Cardinals and
particular People there lyeth For those that lye under the Equinoctial would have Moderate Lawes but those that are under the Tropicks must have more severe and rigid Lawes as also those that are under the Pole but those that are nearer to the Frigid Zone desire Milder Lawes but those that are more remote and lye nearer to the Tropicks as do the Inhabitants of Siam require Austere Lawes and such as carry a Religious Reverence with them But those that are situate in a Middle Position as the Italians are are of like Nature to those that lye under the Equinoctial When another Country loseth any of its Inhabitants by reason of the difference of Religion New Lawes are presently to be made by some Bishop and some Eminent Commander of War and a Colony of fit persons is to be sent thither as for example Netherlanders may be sent into Africk Italians into the Netherlands and Spaniards into the New World And the fittest time to do this is when the War is on foot there but when they begin once to yield the Lawes may then be altered by little and little as it is fit it should be done in the Low-Countries when the People there shall submit and yield obedience to the Spaniards For then there should be more use made of the Tongue in governing of them then of the Sword and the Inquisition is also to be kept up there` under some Other Name and Pretense But if any City or Country that is addicted to the Catholick Religion be taken in it will be sufficient then to send thither some Spaniards onely to guard it and some Wise Persons who by degrees may change the Lawes of the Place but the King must put some of his own Subjects and of his own Country into the highest and chiefest places of trust but with the meaner and lower Offices he may intrust the Inhabitants of the place as Duke Francis did at Sena and the Venetians at Padoua But when the Name of a Spaniard begins once to be hateful among them let Him then send thither such Italians as He may safely trust and employ them as his Ministers there Now what course is to be taken in the several Kingdomes belonging to the Spaniard I shall shew hereafter Onely this I shall say here that the First and Principal Keeper of the Lawes ought to be Honour the Second Love and the Third Fear But where this Order is inverted and runs the contrary way nothing will there prosper Of Counsel CHAP. XII THe Supreme Councel or Court ought to consist of the King and some few of the Wisest of his Nobles with some of the Clergy joyned to them Yet the Court of Grace of which I spake before must be above the Supreme Court of Iustice. The Councels of that Kingdom are already managed rightly enough yet their Decrees would be observed with greater Reverence and Religion if that course were taken which I before proposed namely of adding to them a greater number of the Prelates for by this means the Clergy will be the easier won and withall the Decrees of the said Councels will be of the greater esteem and reverence We are to take notice also that persons of any Nation whatsoever are not fit to be presently taken in for Counsellours but such only as know the Customes of the Country or are Learned Men as was Plato or else have an excellent dexterity of wit as had Ciâ—cinnatus For as much therefore as the Spaniard is a person of good ability in all matters of a subtile Nature and where there is use of Good Language as the Germans abilities lie chiefly in matters that are to be done by the Hand and require Labour and the Italians in matters of State Government and Policy it must therefore be the Kings Care that he make a right Choice of these several persons and according to their different Abilities make use of them in His Counsels My Opinion is therefore that in Maritime Affairs and whatsoever concerns Navigation He ought chiefly to employ the Portuguez and the Genouese But in things which concern Mechanical Arts Artificial Fire-works and Engines of all sorts the Transalpine is the only man but where the Government of State is concerned let the Italian be there made use of but as for Fortifications keeping of Garrisons making Discoveries or giving Intelligence and going on Embassies or whatsoever concerns Religion with any of these let the Spaniard be intrusted And seeing that we would have the King of Spain to be Lord of the whole World it must be his care as much as he can to draw on all Nations to comply with the Spanish Manners and Customes that is let Him make them all Spanish Let Him also make them Partakers as well of Government as of Warfare as the Romans of old did and as the Turks Custome is to do at this day For otherwise the Spaniard will be the lesse couragious in War as not having any to rival him in Military Glory and Renown neither will the Counsellours strive among themselves who shall excell the other in Smartnesse and sharpnesse of Wit when they find that all Forreign Nations are cut off from all hopes of being called to Counsel I say therefore that Spaniards are for the most part though not alwayes to be admitted into the Counsel of Spain and especially those of Religious Orders as being the only persons that have little or no Interest of their own in Secular Affairs Into the Councel of Italy there must be taken in such Spaniards as have lived some time in Italy with some Italians and two out of the Netherlands For by this means all the several Nations will rest satisfied and the Kings Counsels will be â—he better tempered because the Spaniard will alwayes be of a Contrary Judgment to the Italian as thinking himself the better man and the greater respect and dignity due to him because the Head of the Empire is with Them and the Italian according to the Freedom of spirit of that Nation will boldly give such Counsel as he conceives to be sound and Good and endeavour to curbe and abate the Fiercenesse of the Spaniard and then must the Netherlander come in and reconcile them to each other The Councel of the Netherlands seeing it is already granted that the Councels of all Nations must be held in Spain must be made up of Spaniards Italians and Natives for the same two causes before given in The Councels of both the Indias must consist of Spaniards and such of other Nations as have continued in the same for some time whether English Genuese or others provided alwayes that into such Councels as concern the State there be taken in some that are of Religious Orders and also some of the Wisest among the Nobility and any others that are well skilled in the Customes Religion Rites Situation and the Policy both Domestick and Military of the several Nations what Country soever they themselves be of I shall here lay
do not in time fall into the hands of one man who perhaps upon the first Opportunity given may revolt from him as did the Nobility of Iapan who being grown great in power made opposition against their King in the City Meaco which was also done by the Barons of France who thereby hindered their own Monarchy and as Scanderbeg did to the Turk and so likewise the Princes of Ta entum and Salerne and many other in the Kingdom of Naples who made the same Attempts against their Kings both those of Arragon and of Anjou too Now the Mischeifs which these Barons bring upon the People and consequently upon their King are these They come to Naples and to the Court and there spending their mony profusely and lavishly they make a great shew for a while and get in favour with the Kings friends and at length having spent all they return poor home and make prey of whatsoever they can that so they may make themselves whole again and then they return to Court again running round still as it were in the same Circle in so much that we see these mens Territories much more desert and naked then the Kings in Italy are all through the default of the Barons themselves And then if the People have been infested with any Pestilential Diseases or have suffered by the Turks They presently beg of the King to have the yearly Taxes to be remitted for some certain time the payment whereof they themselves require at the hands of the People and in the Kings name too and that with all the severity that may be which the Prince of Rogebo had the confidence to do after the battel with the Turks And lastly under the pretence of the Camera as they call it that is to say that the Country may be freed from quartering of Souldiers they extort from the Subjects many Thousands of Crownes And they find out a Thousand other wayes of fleecing the poor Subjects that so they may never want Supplies either for their Luxury or their Prodigality And notwithstadning that the Spaniards believe that this Lavishnesse of theirs makes for the Kings Advantage and renders his state the more secure because that those that are so given to rioting and Luxury are never any gatherers and hoarders up of vast Sums of Mony which may prove the Instruments of Rebellion yet the plain truth of it is they do him much hurt for they by this meanes reduce the People from whom the greatest part of the Kings Revenues come to a poor low condition For the remedying of which Mischeif it would do well if there were a Law made that no Baron should have above 3000. Crownes of yearly Revenues and that whatsoever any of them hath more it should not descend to his Successor but should go after him to the Exchequer I speak here onely of such Baronies as shall be conferred by the King upon the Grounds aforesaid As for the Ancienter Barons it would do well if there were some Competitions cherished among them that by this means by their contentions they might keep one another under and so likewise that at every Seven years end there should be such an Assembly called together as I spake of before and that the Barons should be freed from all Bonds Likewise that every Baron should every three years find the King as many Souldiers and Horses as he hath Thousands of Crowns of yearly Revenue Let him also divide the Titles of Honour and besides he may do well to create many New Lords finding out for them New Titles that so the smalnesse of their number may not encrease their dignity and honour Let Him take care also that the Lordships and Lords Mannours of the Kingdom of Naples Millan Spain and the Nâ—therlands may be bought by Forraigners that is to say by the Genuese Florentines French and Venetians that so the Barons that are the Natives may be brought lower and the Forreigners may bring the King in a large yearly Revenue out of their own Country Lordships By which means I dare be bold to affirm that the King shall have greater power and Command at Genoa then at Millan because that nothing can be done or resolved upon at Genoa without his knowledge and consent whiles the Genueses will alwayes be in fear of losing the Lordships they have in the King of Spains dominions And by this means also the King shall not need to trouble himself about allowing them maintenance as he is with the Millanois for Whosever is fed by thee he is thy servant And thus have the Florentines alwaies been servants to the King of France into whose Dominions they have liberty of Traffick allowed them But there must be care taken that no Fortified Places be ever put into the hands of any of the Barons And besides there must be such Provision made as that all the Sons of the said Barons should have Spaniards for their Tutors who shall Hispaniolize them and train them up to the Habit Manners and Garbe of the Spaniard And when these Barons shall once begin to grow Powerful He must take them down yet under the pretense of honouring them by sending them away to some Office or Charge that lies in some place far remote from their own Lordships and where they shall be sure to spend more then they get And again when ever the King shall please to take his Progresse into the Country let him so contrive his Gists as that He may lye upon these Barons and so under the pretext of doing them Honour may force them to be at a great charge in entertaining Him Let Him give a willing ear to the People when they make any complaints of them Neither ought Nobility to be higher prized by the King then Virtue which is a Rule that deserves to be observed above all the rest Besides in all the Metropolian Cities in his several Kingdomes as at Lisbon Toledo Antwerp and the rest as well in this as in the other Hemisphere the King under pretext of doing them honours may constitute in each of them five eight or ten Ranks or Orders of Barons such as are at Naples that when they are to treat of any Affairs of State each of them may go into his own Order and Place For being thus divided they will never be able to determine any thing that shall be Prejudicial to the King by reason of the Ambition that will be amongst them and so where there shall be three Lawes perhaps made to the Kings prejudice there will alwaies be eight made for his advantage And the common People also may in like manner be distributed into their several Classes and Ranks And this is much the more honourable and secure way then to cause divisions and sidings into parties among them which is the counsel of some Writers who have a Saying Divide impera Cause Divisions among thy subjects and thou shalt rule them well enough The King must alwayes make much of such persons
turn Priests or Friers or Renegadoes and so to serve as Souldiers in other Countries And therefore it would be much the better course to use them more Courteously and to take this for a most certain Truth That Mony doth not give Men Dominion over their Enemies but rather exposeth them as a Prey to others And therefore the Spaniard is in a very great Errour as we shall hereafter shew while he thinks that Mony hath the Command of All the World Whereas in truth it is thy Vassals and thy Souldiers that must make Thee Lord over thine Enemies and not thy Mony For the Only Use of Mony is to procure and maintain Souldiers with it It is much better therefore that Souldiers should bear rule over any Country then Mony for by this means mutual Amity and friendship will be the better preserved betwixt the Souldier and the Subject And to this purpose it would be much a safer course if there were a Law made both in Spain and other places that the Eldest Sons only should inherit their Fathers Estates and the rest should all serve the King and be Pensioners to Him then so severely to squeeze out of the People such vast Summes of Mony as the Kings Ministers do In the second place I would have some course to be taken for the promoting of Peoples Marrying by the denying of some certain Honours and Priviledges to all such who being arrived to the Age of One and Twenty years unlesse they be Souldiers do not marry for by this means the summes required for Virgins Portions in Marriage which â—ath now rendred the Condition of Matrimony very hard will be abated And this is one of the Principal Elements of advancing a Common-Wealth and was much made use of by the Romans It would do very well also if a Law were made that the daughters of no Tradesmenâ— or Husbandmen should bring above a Hundred Crowns to their Husbands for their Portions and that within the compass of this Law should be included all those also who have in former timeâ— ever been Tradesmen or Mechanical persons For now adaies when any one hath scraped together but a Hundred Crowns he presently puts the same out to use and looks ever after to be called a Gentleman quite bidding Adieu to his Profession and thus the Kings Tributes are diminished not without the losse and detriment of the rest of their fellow Subjects But a Circumspect and wise Law-maker will be able to provide well enough against all these things Thirdly let the King give leave to his Souldiers to seize upon Women in the Low-Countries England and Africk and carry them away with them by force which they may afterwards make their Wives according as any of them shall be invited to do so by Mutual Love and these Women thus caught up I would have to be maintained at the Kings Charge who for this cause must enlarge the Souldiers pay But all these things are to be so ordered that the Dutch Women be married to Spaniards and the African Women either to Germans or Low-Dutch and the Spanish Women to Italians For this the Law of Nature seems to require that the Heat of the Spaniaâ—d should be rendred more fruitful by the German Juycinesse and that the Fiery Temper of the African should be attempered and allayed by the Cold and Moyst Constitution of the Netherlander that so both Venereal Desires and Fecundity too may be the more excited and procured as I have formerly shewed in My Philosophy And as concerning this Temperament the Italians are good for both And from hence will arise two Advantages the First whereof is that these Women will embrace the Christian Faith for a Woman will never be of any other Religion then that which her Husband whom she loves so dearly is of As your Northern Women who are naturally coldâ— love their South-Country Husbands who are hotâ— and the Sabine Young Women made peace betwixt the Romans their Ravishers and the Sabines their Parents that came to demand them of the Romans and to have them home again And St. Paul saith that the Unbelieving Wife is sanctified by her Believing Husband and so on the contrary The Second Advantage is that by this meanes the King shall never be without good store of Souldiers while He shall alwaies have his Souldiers Sons also to make Souldiers of When therefore He shall once come to abound in Souldiers by reason of this course taken to promote Fructification which I have now laid down it will be a means to inflame the Souldiers minds and will exceedingly encourage them to go on against any Garrisons or Fortified places of the Enemy that so they may get themselves handsome women for their Wives and afterward may lye still and take their ease And this was a Secret of Plato's finding out that Souldiers should be stirred up and encouraged to fight for Love I would also have a Law made that such Souldiers as have taken away more Women then one should be placed in some strong Holds and keep Garison there and not be forced to follow the Camp in like manner as at Naples all those Souldiers that are married are put into the Forts there and it would do very well if such were sent away into some New Colonies of the New World Fourthly let Him cause to be erected in each of his several Dominions as namely in Spain Naples the Low-Countries c. two or four Seminaries of Souldiers into which shall be put poor Mens Sons only and Bastards which shall be here trained up to the Exercise of Armes acknowledging the King for their father and none else and these after they are once grown up to be listed for Souldiers shall go and seize upon Women where they can in an enemies Country which they may make their Wives And this will be a means to encourage poor people to get children as fast as they can as being certainly provided of one that will breed them up for them and the King also shall by this means be sure to have faithful Souldiers But in Forreign Nations let Him erect for every several Nation a several Seminary as for Example let there be one for the Moors and another for the Sons of the Low-Dutch all which He shall cause to be brought up in Military Discipline as the Great Turk doth his Ianizaries And besides there should be certain poor women maintained in the said Seminaries at the Kings Charge who shall make the Souldiers beds or may Spin and Weave cloath for the making of Sailes or the like Then again that such as are too near of kin may not marry contrary to the Orders of the Church and withal that those Marriages that are made may prove the more fruitful I would have Italian Women to be married to those that are of the Seminaries of the Low-Countries or of Spain For by this means also there will not so many Idle persons enter themselves into Religious Orders as there do who
be such a one as is of very great Authority amongst the souldiery and one that is also of the Blood Royal. Or if it be suspected that such a one may possibly himself aspire to the Monarchy let there be then one chosen out of the Barons who shall be found the most fit for this Trust and who is a man that is Eminent rather for Real Action then for Shew and Ostentation In this case that the King may proceed the more securely Let Him erect a Councel which shall consist of Wise and Faithful persons with some of some Religious Order or other joyned to them from whose hands the Souldiers should receive their Pay For there was nothing that did more promote the ruine of the Kings affaires in the Low-Countries then the Souldiers being defrauded of their Pay And therefore I would have those to be entrusted with the charge of Paying the Souldier that are Capuchins because that these men care for Mony the least of any Religious Order of Friers whatsoever And that there may never be wanting fit persons to be made Captains and Commanders there ought to be certain peculiar Seminaries erected for the education of the Second and Younger Sons of Barons and Gentlemen who shall there be instructed in the Art of Riding the Great Horse and using the Javeling of raising Fortifications and making assaults upon and taking in of fortified places likewise of marshalling of battels and laying of sieges to places also of managing a battel and drawing out an Army into Companies and how to give the Word of Command to the Souldiers and lastly how to train up fresh-water Souldiers all which things Hannibal was instructed in when he was yet but nine years old But now not onely the Souldiers having been cheated of their Pay but also their Insolency after a Victory and their contempt of too mild a Commander often gives them occasion of Mutinying And therefore they are alwaies to be divided into Regiments and never the whole Army to lye all together but when they are to go into the field to fight because by this meanes the fear of the Enemy will keep them in due Obedience to their Commander The neglect of this one thing was the cause of all those Mischeifs that the Carthaginians felt after the Second Punick War and it was destructive also to the Romans themselves in the time of Furius Camillus Let the Authors therefore of all Mutinies among the Souldiers be immediately put to death in the face of the whole Army as Speridius heretofore was and he that caused the Army of Charles the Fifth to Mutiny So that he was forced to retreat back from Austria and go into Italy again For it is â—he duty of these men to be able to make use of their Swords rather then of their Tongues And what Persons soever are condemned to die let them suffer by the hands of the Army rather then by the Commanders least by this meanes He should draw an Odium upon himself But yet he ought oftentimes to pardon those that are guilty of death especially when not a few only but the whole Army become intercessors for them as was the case of Papirius Torquatus and Drusus as it is reported by Titus Liviuâ— and Cornelius Tacitus The Spaniards are good Foot Souldiers even in Mountainous places or when they are to fight from a wall in defending any strong Hold. The French and Netherlanders are good Horsemen and charge Notably well in an open fieldâ— and at the first Onset The Italians would do well at both these did not the abusing of their own proper Inclinations spoyl them All Mountainous People as the Biscaines Switzers and the Italians that inhabit the Appennine So likewise the Saxonsâ— are excellent Foot Souldiers and are naturally desirous of Liberty they are also accounted very faithful though not very subtle Those that inhabit Champian Countries as the Andalusians Castilians Austrians Hungarians and Neopolitans are excellent Horsemen and are to be kept in Obedience by a strict hand but they are each of them both an Unfaithful and a subtile kind of People All these considerations a General must exactly observe if he intends to manage his Army discreetly and according to Art unlesse he have the skill of judging of the dispositions of his Souldiers by Physiognomy as Iulius Caesar had After any of his Souldiers are arrived to the age of fifty yeares he must then encourage them with gifts that so they be may enticed to stay the longer in the Service and when they once come to the age of five and fifty he must either put them into Castles and strong holds or else he must dismisse them quite and let them go to their homes He must accustome his Souldiers also to carry burthens or to carry forth the Earth in making Entrenchments as the Romans were wont to do when they wanted men to dig their Trenches Or let him put them to make Bridges or to mend the Gallies as Caesarâ— Army did in the Low-Countries and in England And although the Fortune of the Wars does not alwayes favour those that have the greatest Armies as may be seen in the Example of Alexander the Great who with Thirty Thousand Old Souldiers subdued the whole World and of Scanderbeg and of Iulius Caesar also who with small numbers conquered Multitudes yet however it is a very good thing to be alwaies provided with good full numbers of Souldiers And hence it is that the Turk hath almost in all Battels been the Conquerour for having such a multitude of Souldiers as he hath and placing all the most Inconsiderable of them in the Van our Souldiers having spent themselves in fighting with and cutting off these are at length fallen upon by the Janizaries who are fresh as not having struck a stroak before and so are overcome This Course of his I confesse I should like well enough were iâ— not a wicked and Inhumane one Therefore such Commanders are to be sent into the Wars as are both Expert Souldiers and such as will propose to themselves the Advantage and Glory of Christianity only and not their own glory Neither ought He upon every slight occasion to expose his men to death And besides the General must sometimes as occasion shall require take care in person of his maimed and sick Souldiers that by this means He may the more indear himself to them He is also to have Preachers to go along with him in his Army who are to put him in mind of God after the Example of the Maccabees And if a Commander would conquer his enemy with a small number it will concern him that he have more of his own Souldiers with him then either of Auxiliaries or Hired Souldiers or of those that are Guarders of the Frontiers least when they come to the point they all run away There are many more Observations required to the making up of a Perfect Commander all which I cannot here set down my design being at present
He made Muleasses King of that place without changing the former State of the Kingdom at all After this He conquered Germany that is to say the Protestant Princes there whom He devested of their Electoral Dignity substituting into their places their Brethren and Kinsmen but otherwise leaving them in the same state He found them And although He had once got Luther himself into his hands and power yet looking after the empty Fame only of being accounted a Merciful Prince He let him go again that so he might have the opportunity forsooth of seducing all Germany and the Nâ—therlands He took Fâ—ancis the King of France and then set him again at liberty that so he might raise up a new War against Him and thereby frustrate all that He had done before He also took in the Cities of Sienna Florence and bestowed them upon the Family of the Medici that so He might procure himself more powerful enemies by the bargain For whosoever is raised by any one to some degree of Power what service soever is due from him to his Rayser he will be sure to decline the doing it as much as he can and therefore he seeks all the occasions he can of shaking off the Yoak that he may make his Benefactor his Enemy which very thing was done by the Dukes of Florence and by Maurice Prince Elector of Saxony against Charles the Fifth And indeed such Benefits as by reason of the greatnesse of them cannot any way be returned commonly they draw a hatred upon the Virtue of the Benefactor as we see it evidently fell out in the case betwixt the aforementioned Francis King of France and Charles the Fifth Another cause that this Monarchy hath not yet hitherto been brought about is this because that Philip could not succeed his Father not so much as in the War and therefore lost both the Low-Countries together with the Imperial Titles But that Affliction which also fell upon him by the losse of Charles his Son was the most grievous of all the rest for he would have been able to have maintained the Wars in His stead which seeing the King of Spain is not able to do He is constrained alwaies to defend and make good the bounds of his Kingdom rather then to endeavour to enlarge them and to look to his Commanders and see that they do not pillage the Countries where their Command lies and enrich themselves out of the Kings Treasure it being their onely care how to keep up such a Trade of War by which they may make advantage to themselves rather then any way enlarge the Kings Dominions I shall therefore here lay down these Rules though they are not so proper for this place that when any new Country is conquered that is of a different Religion and manner of Government the Natives are presently to be removed out of it and carried into some other Country where they may serve as Slaves and their Children are to be Baptized and may be either put into the Seminaries before spoken of or else sent into the New World and into this conquered Country may be sent Colonies of Spaniards under the conduct of soâ—e Wise and faithful Commander Which Course ought to have been taken by Charles the Fifth at Tunis who should also have carried away Muleasses to Naples And He should by right have done the very same thing in Germany namely in Saxony in the Marquisat of Brandenburg and the Lantgravedome of Hessen into which Countries He should have sent New Colonies under the Command of New Governours The Free Cities also He should have suppressed and have taken away their Priviledges and lastly He should have made Three Cardinals the Governous of all Germany But when any New Country is taken in that is not of a different Religion but only differing in Government let Him then change nothing at all in matters that concern the People but only let Him set strong Guards upon the Country and let the Chief Officers be chosen all out of the Kings party but the Inferiour out of the Common People of the place the Lawes whereof may also be altered by little and little and made to conforme to the Kings Lawes either by heightning or abating the rigour of them according as the Condition and Temper of the place shall require All Authors or Heads of Factoins must be presently removed out of the way either by Death if they have been Enemies or if they have been friends they must be carried away into Spain that they may there receive Baronies for their reward or may have liberty of free Traffick into the Kings Dominions granted them But the Chief Heads of such People as He shall subdue He must never suffer to continue in their places which course ought to have been taken with the Strozzi Medici Cappones Petruccij and other Ringleaders and Heads of Factions at Sienna and Florence And indeed the same Course should have been taken with Francis King of France that so he might have had no further opportunity of attempting any thing against Charles the V. But as for the Hereticks and Luther the best way would have been to have suppressed them under some other Pretense presently after the breaking up of the Diet at Ausburg as I shall shew hereafter And if Chaâ—les the Fifth had but taken these Courses He had never left behind him so much work and trouble for King Philip and perhaps his young son Charles too might have been alive at this day and might perhaps by His Arms have added Africk Hungary Macedonia Italy and England to his Dominions But He as I have before said was the onely cause of all those Evills which we see at this day So that I do not wonder at all that notwithstanding the vast Treasures of the King of Spain yet the bounds of His Monarchy are not all this while enlarged But I rather wonder that so Wealthy a Prince hath not laid up all such his Revenues for Necessary Uses against times of need which might have been his ruin For if so be his Negotiation by Sea should be stopt or interrupted but for one five or six yeares space together or that his Plate Fleet should be intercepted in its return home from the West-â—ndies would it not be so sore a cut to him as that he must of necessity be forced to oppresse his own snbjects by laying most heavy and unusual Taxes upon them and so draw upon himself their Hate and besides should he not also undoe all his Merchants and defraud his Souldiers of their Pay and by that means be in danger of losing them upon every the least Occasion And indeed it is a thing much to be wondred at how and which way such vast Summes of Mony should come to be wasted and yet the King not any thing at all the better for it for we see that He is still Poor for all this and is almost continually borrowing Mony of others And therefore I say that it
is Impossible but that things should alwayes succeed ill with Him so long as there is no provision made for the remedying of this mischief Yet I do not say that a Kings whole strengh consists only in his Mony but He is to consider that Mony alone will do little toward the subduing of an Enemy And indeed we read that Iulius Caesar by his great knowledge in Military affaires and having withal the love of his Souldiersâ— though they were but a very Small Army to speake of yet for all this conquered the whole World And so likewise the Saracens Tartarians and Hunnes without any Mony made themselves Lords of almost the whole World We confesse therefore that Mony is of Excellent good use and most necessary for a Prince for the Preserving and making good the Bounds of his Dominions but not at all for the enlarging of them by adding New Provinces to the same And therefore let him believe that the sinews of his Strength lye in something else then his Mony For that Faith that is purchased by Mony may again be sold for Mony And therefore I beseech you do but observe how in France our King Philip by his mony procured the Dukes of Maine Ioycuse Mercoeur and Guise to take up Armes against the King of Navarre and then again how the King of Navarre by the same meanes got over the very same men to His side after they found King Philip to be grown somewhat close-sisted and not to come off with his Mony so freely as before And in like manner the Commanders and Souldiers in the Low-Countries do now a daies rather exercise the profession of Hucksters then of Souldiers for they do not fight that they may overcome their Enemy but that they may make a gain of their serving in the Wars And so have made Armes which are the Instruments of Monarchy to be the Instruments of their Covetousnesse and their Sports And the King deceives himself whiles He pursues all Covetous Designs for He hath Mony enough if he have but Souldiers enough and if there be withal but Mutual love betwixt him and them and a due regard had to their several merits which things if they be wanting he shall be sure to be a sufficient Loser in the end First therefore and above all things let the King endeavour to treasure up to himself the Minds and Affections of his Subjects and Vassals and indear himself to them by his own Gallantry both in Peace and in War making Himself admired by them by making profession of and proposing to them some New Sciences c. as hath been said before Secondly let Him raise himself a Treasure of his Subjects Bodies by causing them to multiply by Frequency of Marriages to which they are to be encouraged by Honours and other Inticements c. as was also touched before And in the Third place let Him raise himself a Treasure out of the Wealth of his Subjects whiles He makes them Rich by taking care that Agriculture and Manuring of the Ground be promoted and that the making of Silks Woollen Cloath and the like Useful and Profitable Arts and Trades be set on foot and diligently followed rather then that such Courses should be taken as we see now adaies every where whiles in the smaller Towns most people give themselves to Usury and in the Greater Cities men for the most part apply themselves to Merchandise and Extorsion The Pope raises up his Treasures in the Minds of Men and therefore is He a Conquerour because that This being conjoyned with Eloquence and Wisedom is the onely Instrument by which that Treasure is acquired And hence it was that the Saracens by the use of their Tongue and also by making Profession of New Sciences and of a New Religion became Conquerours Iulius Caesar raised Himself a Treasure both in Minds and Bodies by His own Personal Virtue and Gallantry winning to himself and obliging the Hearts and Affections of the Whole Souldiery But the Taâ—tarians and Hunnes did this by Bodies only rendring them so Fruitful as that by reason of their Vast numbers they were fain to leave their Native soyl marching out of it in huge bodies like swarms of Bees and seizing upon others Territories But now the King may by His Own just Right exact all these Treasures at the hands of his Subjects as namely Religion by placing Able Preachers among them Love by Good Lawes the Subjects Profit and True Justice and Multiplication of them by the Waies before laid down where I spoke touching the encreasing of the Number of the Souldiery and let Him require of each several Nation that which they most abound in as People from the Germans Souldiers from the Spaniards Commanders in War and Garments from the Italians from the West-Indies Gold but not the contrary We may truly affirm that the New World hath in a manner undone the Old for it hath sowen Covetousnesse in our Minds and hath quite extinguished Mutual Love among men For all the World are wretchedly in love with Gold only and hence it is that Men are become Deceitful and Fraudulent in their dealings and have often sold and re-sold their Faith for Hire because they saw that Mony was That that did the businesse every where and that was held in Admiration by all people and so They are come now to despise all Sciences and Holy Sermons in comparison of Mony and have bid Adieu both to Agriculture and other Arts applying themselves only to look after the Fertility and Increase of Mony and to get themselves into Rich Mens houses It hath likewise Introduced a great Disparity amongst Men making them either too Richâ— whence they become Proud and Insolent or else leaving them too Poor whence proceeds Envy Theft and Open Robbery Hence also it is that the prices of Corn Wine Flesh Oyl and Cloath are very much raised because that no man applies himself to this kind of Merchandise whence followes Want and Penury and yet Monies in the mean while must be laid out In so much that the poorer sort being not able to hold out in the world are fain either to put themselves into service or else betake themselves to robbing upon the High-Way or else turn Souldiers being necessitated to do so through Poverty and not at all for Love either of the King or of Religion and many times also they run away from their Colours or else change them neither do they endeavour to get Children in a Lawful Way of Marriage because they are not able to pay Taxes or else perhaps they try all the waies that possibly they can to get to be admitted into some Covent or other for Friers or Preachers I therefore here leave it to the King to consider whether or no He may not rather be overcome by Gold which is the Cause of so many Evils I say therefore that there are many things here that stand in need of a Reformation that so the Kings Treasury may grow
Rich and that He himself may have greater Testimonies of his Subjects Love and Fidelity which might easily be brought about if so be that those Rules before laid down touching the encreasing the Number of the Subjects and the remitting and abating the Taxes and Exactions laid upon them were but observed and if the King going into the Wars Himself in person would by that means chalk out to his Wise and Valiant Commanders and Souldiers the Way to Honour rather then to Covetousnesse and would also propose New Arts and Sciences So likewise if He would make some such Lawes to which those that are Obedient should have their former honours continued to them but the Refractory and Disobedient should have Disgraces cast upon them and to perswade Obedience to which Lawes there should in the Second place some Profit and Advantage be proposed for such but in the Third place before the Disobedient should be laid down the Fear of Punishment to which our Modern Writers absurdly attribute the First Place in Relation to the due Observing of Lawes who having regard to the Time rather then to Religion require Fear in Subjects rather then Love because that the Rulers of the Gentiles preferred this Later before the Former and so taught that Wicked Wretch Macchiavel and other the like Polititians those Rules But if there be no place left for a Reformation it is then necessary that respect being had to the Present Abuses there should be good store of Treasure got up together lest at length the King should be undone by Use-Mony or some other Losses should fall upon him in case the Plate Fleet should not return back from the West-Indies in three or four years together perhaps I shall first therefore lay down the Usual Rules in this case and then such other as I my self have thought upon First therefore there must be matter administred for the promoting of Vsury and Vsurers and every one of them is to be bound under a certain Penalty to have alwaies a stock of Monies lying by them that so when there shall be any Necessity the King may know where to fetch presently good store of Large Summes of Mony Which Course is to be taken in all the chief Cities both in the Kingdome of Naples and of Spain Then when any great War is near at hand the said Summes of Mony are to be called for at the said Usurers hands and that by the intervening too of the Popes Authority that so the King may not draw upon himself alone the Hatred and Ill Will of his Subjects Secondly let him introduce the Tribute of Apulia which was brought up by King Ferdinand through all the Provinces that are under him imposing it either in the same or some other the like Form Thirdly let Him cause all the Barons to bring in what summes of Mony they have binding them thereto in the name of Religion and the Crown of Spain to which they are joyned and engaged Fourthly let Him procure of the Popâ— Indulgences and Croisados for all his Kingdomes and those Summes of Mony that shall be raised by the same He shall lay up in some Treasury where they may encrease to such a quantity as that an Army may be raised out of them which may be sent into the Holy Land Fifthly let Him get an Injunction from the Pope that for the space of five years all Churches Monasteries Bishopricks and Parishes throughout all his Provinces shall pay in a certain sum of Mony into The Sacred Treasury so called as being collected for the making of a War against the Infidels that is to say Five in the Hundred of all their Revenues but so that every year there should be an abatement made of One As namely the first year they should pay Five in the Hundred the second year Fourâ— the third Three and so on till the five years be expired But the Venetians exact the Tenths And this Course may be takenâ— betwixt the King and the Pope under the Pretense of making a War upon the Infidels After all this is done let Him then appoint two Bishops to be the Treasurers of this Mony Sixthly let the King by his Treasurers traffick in every Country with such Commodities as are used there as in Calabria with Silks in Apulia with Wheat in Sicily with Oyl for by this means He will divert his Subjects from applying themselves to Usury and will cause them to attend more the Manuring of the Ground and withal will hereby mightily enrich Himself Seventhly let Him send out into every City and Town especially in the Kingdom of Naples a Commissary having a Counsellour joyned with him who shall be one of the Clergy to make enquiry into all Usurers and to cause Them to make it appear by the testimony of Three Witnesses that they have taken no other Use then what is allowed to be taken by the custome of the Kingdom and where they shall find any to have done otherwise to seize upon all they are worth and carry it away to some publick place for the King's use But then the King may afterwards restore half of it to them again if he think fit as for example suppose his Officers took away from any of these Usurers Ten Thousand Crownes He may then restore to the Owner Five Thousand Crownes of his Mony again For they are a hateful sort of People and are despised by all men so that you need never fear that they will rebel and besides the people when ever they see Them ruined will be very glad of it neither will any of them take their parts and indeed the Usurers themselves when they have half of their estates left them will think themselves very well dealt withal And with the rest of such Monies the King may set up A Bank of Charity where poor people shall take up Monies upon their Pawn but upon this condition that if they redeem not their Pawn by the Limited Time that then it shall be forfeit to the King And afterward with the Mony arising from hence He may drive a Trade of Merchandise as the Usurers themselves use to do or else He may with those monies erect Cloysters or Seminaries for Souldiers and Poor Women as hath been shewed before And if some of the Clergy were sent abroad with the like Commissions to inquire into the Barons also it would do them much good both in reference to their Soul Body and State who otherwise by their arts would swallow up and devour the whole World Eighthly let Him require an Account of all the Kings Ministers and Commissioners for the whole time of their being employed in their Offices and whatsoever Fines shall be set upon their heads let it be put into the Treasury or the King may remit half to them if he please or lesse as he shall see cause and by taking this course with them both Himself and his Subjects shall be much advantaged and have cause to rejoyce Ninthly let Him call all
Philosophical and Politicall Questions proposed among them that they may so be diverted from embracing Heretical Opinions But the best course the King can take for the preventing of all Conspiracies and designs against Him will be to shew Himself a Good Awful and Iust Princeâ— The want of the First of these Vertues was the Ruin of Nero and Acciolinus the Defect in the second undid Sardanapalus and Vitellius and the failing in the last cost Philip King of Macedonia his life who because he had denied the due Course of Justice to one Pausanias was by him killed Inequality also and Injustice was the Cause of the Ruin of Rome it self If any one Single person have any Treacherous Design against the Prince the only Course in that case for prevention of it will be to take notice of and search every one that comes into the Kings presence least they should carry any Armes Privily about them for it is a difficult businesse to prevent such Treacheries as are designed by One single Person alone And hence it was that Henry the III. of France and the King of Moab and so likewise Philip King of Macedonia were all Slain by single persons the First of them for his Religion the second for his Cruelty and the Third for his denying Justice to be done to a Subject of his But if there be Many joyned together in any Conspiracy against the Prince it cannot be but that unlesse they effect their design within fifteen or twenty daies space or except the Conspirators have fallen upon their Design out of their Love and respect they bear to Justice Piety or the benefit of the Publick and so it prove to be onely a Conspiracy contrived by Honest Men against a Tyrant it cannot otherwise be I say but that they must necessarily be discovered For every body will hope some way or other to advance himself by the Prince's Favour if he do but discover the said Conspiracy to him And hence it was that the Conspiracy of Absolon against his father David and of Catiline against his Country were detected because that those that were the Conspirators were nothing at all better or honester men then those against whom they had conspired Conspiracies are also easily and speedily too discovered by servants unlesse they be presently put into Execution as was that of Laurence de Medicis against Duke Alexander which was deferred but one night onely And whensoever Honest Men joyn in any Conspiracy against a most Cruel Tyrant notwithstanding they should delay the putting of the same in execution yet would there be no great danger of its being discovered and hence it was that the Conspiracy of Iohn de Procitha and the Barons of Sicily against the French and Charles of Anjou who miserably afflicted the poor Inhabitants was kept close above a year before the Execution of it and that too though both the Emperour the Pope and Peter King of Arragon who were Forraigners were all privy to the Same the only Reason of which was because that This was a Conspiracy made by the Nobles and others that were therein concerned against Forraigners and Tyrannical Governours The like was that Conspiracy also which was entred into by Iehoiada and the Levites against Athaliah And yet for the most part although the number of those that are in the Conspiracy be but of a few and it be besides contrived against some Wicked person too yet if it be not speedily put in Execution it comes to light and is discovered as we may see by that Conspiracy made against Nero in which even Seneca himself also was and that Other contrived against Cosmo de Medicis by the Wicked Strozzi who were themselves much worse then He. But in case any single person aspiring to some Principality shall yet bear his followers in hand that He drives at some other thing and so in the mean time winnes upon them and gaines their Affections He shall certainly bring about his designes This was the course that Iulius Caesar took in attaining to the Empire though He kept his Design close to Himself and never discovered it to any being yet wont while He was but a Youth to have this saying often in his mouth Si violandum est jus Regnandi gratiâ violandum est If I would violate the Lawes it should be to Rule And of this Design of his he laid for himself Two Foundations namely Religion and The Love of the Souldiery to whom at length He made known his purpose though under another Pretext Whereas Catiline in his attempting the same took a quite Contrary Course and having laid down to himself before hand no one particular Foundation He without any more ado at first made all of his fellow Conspirators acquainted with his drift and purpose By whose Miscarriage Caesar taking warning He attempts the same thing but with more Caution and Advisednesse The King therefore ought to use all diligence and care to discover how the Minds of His Subjects and Ministers stand affected toward Him and what they have in agitation amongst them and when He hath once found what they would have He shall do well immediately to give them Satisfaction in that Particular And besides it would not be amisse that He should bestow some gifts under hand yet without any shew at all of fear or suspition upon some one Principal person among the Conspirators who being by this meanes wrought over to the Prince will be able to acquaint Him with what ever Designs his Subjects have in hand And if any shall inform Him that there are certain Persons that have for many months together been openly contriving some conspiracy against Him He may very well laugh at such Informers For whosoever shall go about to attempt any such thing in that manner are either Fooles or very Unskilful in the Course of the World or else lastly those that gave him such Information are Liers and forged those Stories only to ingratiate â—â—emselves with the Prince and get into Favour with him Thus heretofore Perseus falsely accused his Brother Demetrius of having Secretly conspired against their Father Philip King of Macedonia And in the Reigne of Tiberius and afterwards of Nero there were every day some or other that accused others of Treasonable Designs against the Emperour Which certainly is a very Villanous base thing for by this meanes the Prince is both made to suspect every body and besides He renders Himself withal suspected by every body so that the Subjects are put to act really upon Him that which Himself stands in fear of or else Innocent men are unjustly put to death both which things are of very ill Consequence to a Kingdom He ought rather therefore to seem not to believe any such Accusations although perhaps they should be true unlesse they be also manifestly proved except they be such as wherein Religion is concerned For by so doing He will shew himself to be a just and Good Prince and such a one as doth the
the Princes of Italy and that by reason of their Union in point of Religion I say moreover that He cannot suffer any Notable Overthrow â—nlesse it be by some very Potent Prince such a One as the great Turk is who yet lying so very far remote from him as Alexander the Great of old did from the Romans cannot so quickly ruin him whereas on the Contrary any Peaceable Agreement of the Christians among themselves if so be it were but Firm and Lasting would utterly confound the Turk And therefore I say that although King Philips Kingdomes lye scattered far and near yet his enemies also lye far asunder one from another and therefore it is clear that his Emulators the Italians Tuscans and Venetians will never enter into a Combination against him unlesse he First give them some evident cause and wrong them very much Neither indeed will the Pope ever suffer any acts of Hostility to be done against His Catholick Majesty and besides it is also most certain that the Catholick Princes both out of fear of the Hereticks and also of the Authority of the Pope will never attempt any such thing And the Hereticks are at very great Variance also amongst themselves and for this reason Germany being divided into severall small Republicks cannot do him any harm at all and it is besides part of it made subject to the House of Austria and the Archdukes thereof by the Emperours and part also to certain Archbishops who are withall secular Princes as namely the Archbishops of Mâ—ntz of Colen Trevers Salsburg Strasburg and Bamberg and part also to the Dukes of Bavaria so that the Protestants can by no meanes make any Insurrection against the King of Spain The Lower Germany also is divided into more Common-Wealths then the other all which bear Armes against the King of Spain though it be only to defend themselves and not to offend Him And of this number are the Provinces of Holland Frisland and Zealand Besides the Upper and the Lower Germanies differ very much in their Religion which we may also say of the Danes Norwegians Transylvanians Gotlanders Polonians French Switzers and Grisons so that the King hath no need at all to fear that these should ever all joyn together against him and besides the King retains a great part of these Nations in pay and by that means keeps them his friends and then the King of Poland and the Prince of Transylvania are allied to him by Marriage and so are in league and amity with him So that He hath no body to stand in fear of but only the King of France and the King of England which two Princes by reason of their being of different Religions can never agree together Now although the King of Spain cannot as yet subdue the King of France yet it makes very much for His Interest that the King of France being absolved by the Pope is returned again to the Obedience of the Church For otherwise he would have been the Head of all the Transalpine Hereticks and would have marcht with an Army of them over into Italy to the great Prejudice both of the Pope and of our King which None of the Hereticks hath to this day adventured to do merely for want of a Powerful General to head them Then besides there is a Division broken out in France betwixt the Catholicks and the Hereticks and which is the chiefest thing of all there are in that Kingdome many Potent Bishops who would not by any means see Spain ruined And lastly our Kings Subjects do not come into the field with Lances Swords and Horses as the French use to do but they come into it armed with Guns which are a kind of Arms that are fitter for the defending of strong Holds and Fortifications then for the setting upon an Enemy in an open Field And hence it is that the French are able indeed to resist all the Spaniards Attempts but they cannot overcome them for in this case the very Princes and States of Italy who have to this day alwaies held with the French would go over to the Spaniard for it is their Design to keep the Ballance alwaies so even betwixt these two Nations as that neither of them may preponderate and bear down the Scales and so make a Prey of the Other which Hiero King of Syracuse heretofore laboured to do betwixt the Romans and the Carthaginians although he failed of his purpose Besides the King of France cannot march with an Army into Spain by reason of the Fortified Places and Castles that lye in his way and are kept by the Spaniards who are very well skilled in defending such Places Neither can he so soon march out with an Army against Millan or Naples but that the King of Spain can be much sooner in France with an Army and shall so force him to return back again and defend his own Kingdom Neither did the King of France ever passe over into Italy unlesse when he was assisted by the Pope as the Expedition of Charles of Anjou testifies or except he were called in by some Prince or State of Italy as Charles the Eighth was called in by the Duke of Millan which yet at this time can hardly be done again For the Italians were now afraid that they would bring in a New Religion with them And besides it is a usual thing that that Prince that first calls Forraigners in to his aide shall be first ruined by them for he must necessarily entertain them and allow them Quarters who after they have overcome the adverse Party will joyn with them and so drive out Him who called them first in Examples of this we have in the Sforza's Castruccio's and the Florentines with many others and also in the Pope himself although his own Papal Authority restored him again And therefore the Spaniard hath no need to fear the King of France much And as for the English he hath much lesse reason to stand in fear of them seeing they are shut up within an Island and we seldome see Islanders get any sure footing and make themselves Masters of any part of a Forraign Continent And therefore it is sufficient for them if they can keep their own only they send out their Ships to fetch in Prizes by Sea but for this Mischief I shall hereafter set down a Remedy Only let the King of Spain take care that the English joyn not their Navy with the Hollanders Scots Danes Norwegians and Danzickers for if they should they might then be able to overrun all Spain as the Alans Goths and Vandals did of old And yet seeing that these Nations differ all in Religion and the King of Spain doth craftily under hand sow new seeds of Dissention amongst them there is no great cause to fear that they should joyn their forces together â—pon any design Let us now see what Spain is able to do within it self and by what means it may become Greater and enlarge its Territories laying down this
enough upon Spain CHAP. XXI Of Italy SPain hath no Nation that is more a friend to It then Italy And therefore for the preserving of the Amity and Friendship of the Italians it is very fit that the King of Spain should so court and ply by Benefits and Gifts both the Neapolitans and the Millanois as that other Nations seeing it should admire the Felicity of those Two countries should withal wish themselve had the like good Fortune And this the King may do by remitting some thing of their Gabels and Taxes by increasing the number of Men in both those Dominions and He may also erect in both the Countries certain Seminaries out of which as out of these Trojan Horse may issue forth Able Persons that are skilled both in all the Liberal and Military Sciences and such as are withal most firm and resolved Catholicks as we have hinted before Which thing would certainly cause in Forreigners both Admiration and Astonishment neither would the King as the Opinion of some men herein is lose any thing at all thereby Let there be also some course taken for the Restraining of Usurers and let Him set up some Monti della Pieta as they call them that is Banks of Charity which are certain publick Houses where the poorer sort of Citizens have the liberty of taking up Mony upon their Pawâ—s Let them also restrain the grouth of the Nobility and let the Barons Prisons be visited sometimes for These are many times too cruel Neither would I have it in the power of any to imprison any man by any private Authority except it be in Case of Sedition or Violation of the Publick Peace or of Treason against the Prince and those that are Prisoners should be dealt more gently with then they have been hitherto wont to be for the Kings Officers by their Intolerable Cruelty have caused the King to be branded with that Infamous Name of a Tyrant especially in the Kingdom of Naples And I conceive it would make very much for the winning of the Love and Good will of the common People if the King would appoint One Commissary at least who should joyn to himself some of the Clergy and should go and visit all the Publique Prisons reforming what abuses they find there and should also take an Account of all Usurers and of the Inferiour sort of Publick Officers as hath been touched beforeâ— I would also have him to shew mercy to such as are Proscribed and Banisht persons under the Pretense of sending them into Africk and I would really advise Him once in seven years to â—end all such into the West-Indies As for those Souldiers which have alwayes hitherto been set over the subjects I would have them to be all disbanded and in their stead to have so much the greater Number of Gallies provided that should lye all along the Sea Coasts throughout all the Kings Dominions to guard and secure them against the Invasions of the Turk For these Souldiers have alwaies carried themselves very Insolently and proudly towards the People but have been still very backward and unwilling to go out in any Expedition by Sea against the Turks and besides when they have returned home from any such Expedition they have usually abused poor Citizens that have behaved themselves stoutly in the Fight cudgelling them and forcing from them such prisoners as they had taken and so afterwards in a Thrasonicall boasting way make their brags abroad that Themselves had taken those Turks prisoners which most base unworthy course we see practised in Calabria every day It were a better way therefore that the subjects themselves should take up Arms and go out against the Turks and should have at least half the Mony that the Prisoners taken in the War are valued at for by this means the King will have both Valiant and Rich men to Fight for Him neither shall He have cause to fear least the subjects through the hatred they bear the Souldiers for their Cruelties should seek to change their Masters and bring in some other to Rule over them Let Him also take order for the restraining of the knavish Diligence of the Officers of the Kings Exchequer who to maintain the Kings Right forsooth forbear not to use any manner of cruelty towards the poor subjects imprisoning them and extorting mony from them under any pretenses how unjust so ever But of these evils and their Remedies we have spoken sufficiently before where we discoursed of Iustice c. These Sea expeditions will render the King secure both from his Enemies abroad and his own subjects at home whereas on the contrary the Souldiers that are set over the Country people do at first but very little good and afterwards do none at all And therefore the putting of good full Guards into all the strong Holds upon the Sea Coast will be sufficient for the securing of the Inland parts and withall the People will by this means be kept in a Loving Awfulnesse and Dread of their Prince The best part of Italy that is to say the Kingdome of Naples and the Duchy of Millan is subject to the King of Spain and those other parts that are not so are stirred up by their several Princes who stand in fear of the Spaniards Potency against the Spaniards made to hate them whence it is that they are wont to threaten the King of Spain with two things The first is that they will call in the French and encourage them to set upon the state of Millan which mischief however the King might easily prevent if he would but place strong Garrisons in all the Frontier Towns of the said Duchy and would quite destroy all the small unfortified Villages that lying here and there scattered about are made a Booty by the Enemy that hath liberty to range up and down where they please And He might take order also as the Hungarians do that all the Provision of Cornâ—nd all the subjects Goods be carried into the Fortified Cities and Places of strength with all manner of Mechanical Instruments that so those that have fled thither in the time of any Siege or Incursions of the Enemy may have where withall to set themselves on work and may so get wherewith to keep themselves But Genoa lies very conveniently for the coming into the Kings Assistance and so doth Naples also if so be the King would but provide himself of such a Fleet as I spake of before to ly about those Seas in a Readinesse For it is a most certain Truth and that hath been confirmed by long experience that He that can make himself Master of the Sea shall give Lawes to the Continent and command it and shall be able to Land men whensoever and wheresoever he pleases and shall find it convenient to do so which the King of France should he be invited into Italyâ— could not be able to do It will be a good course therefore for the King of Spain to be in League with
therefore let him beware that he discover not at all that He is angry with them Now there ought not any meanes to be used for the causing of any Division amongst them through differences in Religion neither indeed can any such thing possibly be effected but this must be done only by bestowing Rewards upon some of them as we have said before And if any one of the House of Austria should chance to be elected Pope Italy were then quite undone It would do very well also if the King would give way that Others might have liberty to â—ome and Traffick at Genoa as His Subjects do for Genoa is as it were the King of Spain's Treasury and He makes use of them to keep the Princes of Italy in awe And besides the Genois assist Him very much in poynt of Navigation and Seafaring businesses as hath been said before But yet these Genois are to be treated handsomely and cunningly that they may not seem to be forced to do what they do but only by Love and Fair Usage to be brought about to be so Serviceable and Obedient to the King of Spain Yet would I have the King pay his Debts to them as soon as might be and he may either pawn or else sell them some few Townes or Fortified Places least if by chance there should be any General Rising in Italy the Genoises Banners might also march along with them for company Let Him therefore continually have a Vigilant eye upon the two most Flourishing States of the Venetians and the Genueses yet of the two the Vnetian doth far excell the Genuensian both in Dignity and Powerâ— The reason whereof is because that the Venetians by maintaining a Free Trade of Merchandise with other Nations have reasonably well improved every man his own particular Estate but have advanced the Publick infinitely whereas the Genois by being chiefely great Bankers and Mony-Masters have infinitely enlarged their own Private Estates but the Publick hath much suffered thereby Which being considered the King in his Transactions with these two different Commonwealths must proceed in a different manner CHAP. XXII Of Sicily and Sardinia THe Sicilians and Sardinians being both Islanders and also somewhat near Neighbours to Africk ought for these reasons to have stricter Lawes imposed upon them then the Italians and a good way to keep them within the bounds of Obedience would be for the King to secure all their Havens and Fortified places lying upon the Sea Coast. And these places would very easily be rendred secure if the King had but such a Navy continually in a readinesse as I spake of before which I would not have to lye all together in a body but to be divided into severall Squadrons which should lye round about Italy and these Islands and so keep them safe from all Invasions of Enemies the Souldiers of which Fleet if they should be set over the Countrymen would do much more hurt then good and besides the number of them must then be enlarged Whereas by this meanes the Prizes that they take from the Moors and Turks would be sufficient to maintain them and the King would also be thereby enriched and the Coast of Affâ—ick made safe and secure And if it should chance that those of Algier and Tunis should at any time cause any tumult in favour of the Christians there should be Souldiers alwaies in a readinesse to come into their assistance by sayling over into the Kingdome of Oran with which people they may Traffick by carrying into them Silks Wheat and other Commodities so long as the Adriatick Sea is Scoured and made Safe by the Venetians so that there would be no need of fearing either the Turks or Pirats In these Islands there may very convenient Seminaries be erected for the breeding up of Souldiers of such Children as with their Mothers shall be taken from the Turks and Moors and in these may be also taught the Arabick tongue and there may be Monasteries for Friers erected also as we have hinted before And here we are to givâ— a Caution that whensoever any Merchants put in at either of these Islands either from England Turky or Africk there ought to be present some or other of the Clergy lest the inhabitants should be infected with some Forreign Heresy For Islands by reason of their Commodiousnesse for the reception of People of all sorts are very subject to such Mutations and Changes which is also observed by Plato himself Those that live near the Sea Coast by reason of their so constant Conversation with Forreigners for which reason Plato called the Sea the Schoolmaster of all Wickednesse are Crafty subtle and Circumspect and such as know very well what belongs to Trading and Merchandise But on the contrary the Inlanders are sincere upright and just and content with a little The King might also make very good use of Great Cities such as is Syracuse in Sicily which as Cicero here tofore said of it had it been divided into four parts would very well have made as many handsome Cities And such as at this day also is Palermo in the same Island which is adorned with Stately Churches and Palaces wherein there are two things worthy to be taken notice of the one is a stately street that runs all along the whole breadth of the City and divides it in a manner into two parts and is both very streight long and broad and withal adorned with very fair buildings so that I do not know whether all Italy can any where shew the like of it or no The other is a vast Pile or Banke raised up by an infinite expence of mony against the Sea by meanes whereof the City is accommodated with a very fair capacious Haven which is a work that is really worthy of the Ancient Roman Magnificence Islands as Plato saith were for the most part the Nests of Tyrants But touching such Havens as are necessary in case of such fears and likewise of Navigation and Sea voyages I shall have occasion to speak in its proper place And as concerning these Islanders they ought not to be kept short and to be defrauded of things necessary or to be held to too hard meat but they have need rather that such Usurers as lye lurking amongst them and also the Publick prisons should be inquired into and visited as we have said before There may also be erected some Seminaries for Sea-men to which may be yearly sent in Gallies young men to be instructed in the Art of Navigation as the Custome is among the Venetians and this the King ought to do so much the rather because that he wants young Seamen more then any thing but yet to these he must joyn some Transalpine Seamen for the encreasing of his number There may also be instituted in these Islands two New Orders of Knights such as those of Malâ—a neither ought the Revenewes belonging to the Knights that are of the Order of St Iames or of any other Order of
thereto because that every one of them would have some hope hereby of attaining to the Crown himself And if this should once come to passe it would prove a very great Weakning to the Kingdom of France for during the Vacancy of the Crown there must needs arise very great and long Dissentions amongst them and possibly the King of Spain also being called in by some or other of the Princes might come to have a finger in the businesse Now for as much as Elective Kings are for the most part not much given to trouble themselves about the enlarging the Bounds of their Kingdome because that they know very well that their Sons are not their Successours therefore neither will they expose themselves to danger upon the Account of another mans Interest And this is the onely reason why the Emperours of Germany nâ—ver trouble themselves about the enlarging of their Empire as neither do the Kings of Poland unlesse they chance to be Persons of a high Warlick Spirit as King Steven was surnamed Battorius and Sigismund both which maintained Wars with the Mâ—scovites Tartarians and others about the Principality of Prussia and some other Territories because they hoped that their Sons should at least have succeeded them in those This Course is of very good use to a Prince for the acquiring of Military Glory and through the Multitude of Victories and the affection of his Souldiers for the bringing his own Country under his subjection which Course I before shewed was to be taken by the Emperour of Germany according to the Example of Iulius Caesar. Yet notwithstanding this piece of Craft being well understood by the French hath been the cause that they have now laid aside all desires of enlarging their Territories meerly to avoid that Suspition And This Suspition is the reason why the Venetians do not send Commanders of their Own into their Wars but rather chuse to make use of Forraign Commanders whom a Little Mony contents well enough for their Pay For as to this particular it was no small hazard which they heretofore run under Carmagnolaâ— and Ludovicus Vrsinus And Francis Sforza who was but a Mercenary Souldier under the State of Venice returning home a Conquerour made himself Duke of Millan For this very cause the Romans heretofore hated the Tarquins their Kings who till that time had alwaies been Elective and this very thing also was the Ruine of the Duke of the Athenians that was Elected at Florence Neither are Opportunities at this time wanting of setting the French together by the ears among themselves for although their Peace is not at this time at all disturbed by any Forraign Enemies yet they being naturally of an Impatient Unquiet spirit are alwaies rising up one against another although it be perhaps but upon their quarrel about the Heresie of the Calvinists and I know not what New Gospel which wheresoever it is preached it bringeth not Joy but Mourning not Peace but horrid Wars and filleth the Minds of Men not with Good Will but with rage and Madnesse This Mischief therefore ought to be taken in due time and have a stop put to it for this Contagion hath already infected above two hundred thousand persons in France For if so be it should spread further and should infect the Nobility also and Peers of the Kingdom it would be much to be feared that there would never be any end of the Troubles of France which is now the Condition of Germany by means of the Dukes of Saxony Hessen and others For as we see such Kingdomes as abound with Nobles are made in a manner Immortal as we may evidently perceive by the examples of France and Persia. For when France was heretofore in a manner all subdued and brought in subjection by the King of England yet it was afterwards through the Industry and by the endeavours of the Nobility and Gentry wholly asserted restored again to Its first Natural Lord. And so likewise the Kingdome of Persia which is one while annoyed by the Tartarians and again another while by the Saracens is yet so well defended by the Peâ—sian Nobility as that It is kept from falling under either of their Power and Obedience But yet on the contrary side again the very same Kingdomes are by reason of their Nobility also obnoxious to most unavoidable and miserable Calamities seeing they are able at any time either to assist or protect all such as endeavour to introduce any Innovations either in the State or Religion CHAP. XXV Of England Scotland and Ireland ALthough the English seem the least of all to affect an Vniversal Monarchy yet notwithstanding they have been a very great hinderance to the King of Spains designs that way several examples whereof may be gathered from the proceedings of the aforesaid Queen Elizabeth of England who appeared both against the Catholick King in the Low-Countries and against the most Christian King in France by fomenting the corrupt Humours in the subjects of both these Princes and in assisting the Hereticks both with her Counsels and Forces For they possesse an Island that is excellently well furnished both with Shipping and Souldiers and by this means they rob the King of Spain in all places in the North wheresoever he hath any thing and also wander out abroad as far as to the New World where although by reason of the Fortifications made upon the Sea Coast they cannot lay the foundation of any Kingdome yet do they do the Spaniards no small harme there For that same famous Englishman Captain Drake following the example of Magellan who bad done the same before him sailed round about the whole World more then once and it is noâ— impossible but that the Kingdom of Bacalaos which lies somewhat near to the English and is very convenient for them by reason of the temperatenesse of the Air may be some time or other seazed upon by them However it is most certain that if the King of Spain could but once make himself Master of England and the Low-Countries He would quickly get to be sole Monarch of all Europe and of the greatest part of the New World But seeing that He is not able to reduce this Island under His Obedience because that It is so exceeding strong by reason both of its Situation and multitude of Inhabitants who Naturally hate the Spaniard and are quite different from them both in their Manners and also their Religion it will concern Him therefore to defend himself as well as he can and to fortifie and set strong Guards upon all such places of His Dominions as lye open to their Incursions least otherwise the English should chance to seaze upon them And such are the Haven Corugna and all the Sea Coast of Galicia Leon Biscay and all the Kingdomes that lie in the other Hemisphere as shall be shewed hereafter But this he must make his cheifest businesse namely to weaken the Power of the English for the effecting of which design it would
and likewise that all Commissions Proclamations and Petitions be published or written in no other Language but that This was also done heretofore by Charles the Great who having made himself Master of the Exarchate of Ravenna which He afterwards bestowed upon the Church He would have it called by the Name of Romania that so by degrees He might bring into disuse the Language and Customes of the Greeks to whom that People had been formerly subject and might withal implant in them the love both of the Roman Church and of the Roman Emperour And even the Great Turk also does not suffer any of the Inhabitants of Natolia to use any other Language but the Turkish save onely in their Church Services 25. Education also seemes to have a great stroke herein as being indeed as it were a second Nature by the meanes whereof strangers are in a manner Naturalized The King of Spain therefore should do well to take the Sons of the Nobility and Principal men as also such Poor mens sons ar are found to be endued with any extraordinary Natural Parts and to take order that they may be carefully brought up in some of the afore mentioned Seminaries in Spain either of Armes or of Arts. Alexander the Great finding the benefit of this course commanded that so many Thousands of the Peâ—sian Youth should be picked out and be Trained up in Learning the use of Armes in the Habit and Manners of the Macedonians conceiving that He should bâ— this meanes receive as much benefit by them when they were once grown up to be men as by his own Natural Subjects of Macedonia themselves After the same manner doth the Turk bring up his Ianizaries who are onely the Children of such of his Subjects as he hath conquered by war or else of Christians and Forreigners such as he can catch abroad at Sea which afterwards prove the most faithful Souldiers to him that ever he had And indeed these are the men to whom the Guard and Protection of the Emperours person is committed and these men doth the Great Turk make use of only in all Affaires of the greatest consequence where there is most need either of strength or Fidelity By meanes of the Turks thus bringing up of â—he sons of his subjects He makes two great Advantages to himself For first he deprives his unfaithful subjects of their strength and then secondly by that strength of theirs of which he hath deprived them he confirmeth his own 26. I would advise Our King not to despise or make light of any the least Commotions or Distempers among his Nobles or Subjects for all Mischiefs have but small Beginnings which yet if they be neglected and not looked unto in time will very probably bring Ruine with them in the end as we see the least Clouds in appearance at first do in the end produce most Horrid Tempests and storms 27. I would not have the King to assent to the Proposal of any thing that may introduce with it any Change or Innovation in the State for His very giving way to have the same deliberated upon addes both Authority and esteem to the same All the Troubles that havâ— befallen both in the Netherlands and in France took their Rise from Two little Books of which the one was read to Francis the Second King of France by Caspar Coligni and the other was presented to the Duchesse of Parma by the L. de Brederode 28. Let the King take heed how he ever exercises his Absolute Power among those people where His Ordinary Power will serve the turn well enough for That way of proceeding is proper to Tyrants only but this Later to Good Princes And indeed all Absolute and Extream Power may rather be said to be Tempest as then Potestas a Tempest rather then Power 29. Let there be all care taken about the chusing of the Ministers of State in those Countries that only such be made choyce of as are but just sufficient to discharge the Trust committed to them and that they be neither too much above it nor beneath it which we find to have been carefully observed by the Emperour Tiberius For those whose Abilities are above the Employment they are put upon will be apt to neglect the same as despising it and thinking it below them and then the other are not able to discharge it if they would Lastly Let Him never so much trust to any Peace as to make him quite lay aside his Armes for such an Vnarmed Peace would prove but a weak one Constantine the Great enjoying now a Settled Peace every where round about Him disbanded all the Souldiers that lay in Garrisons upon the Borders of his Empire by which means He set open a Gate for the Barbarous Nations to break in upon His Territories And in like manner Maximilian the First trusting too much to the Truce agreed upon betwixt Him and the Turk and thereupon laying down his Armes was the cause of the Ruine of very many Christians And thus have we discoursed of these Particulars as copiously as we thought was fit to be committed to Paper but as for the rest of those more Secret Particulars and which are more worthy of Observation I shall reserve them till some other time when it shall please his Majestie to admit me to his Presence and shall give me Audience concerning the same However in the mean time those things which we have here proposed are not to be omitted for unlesse by these Means here set down the Peoples good Affection towards their King be stirred up and cherished His Dominion in those parts will prove to be but like a Plant without any Root For as every the least Storm will be apt to overturn a Tree that hath no firm Root in the ground in like manner will every the least Occasion offered alienate the hearts of the Subjects from their Prince where they are but ill affected to Him before and will take them off from their Allegiance to their Natural Prince and being thenceforth hurried about by Fortune they will one while adhere to One and by and by again to Another And hence arise all the Mutations that we see in Kingdoms and States a most evident Example whereof we have in the Kingdom of France CHAP. XXVIII Of Africk THe Turk possesseth in Africk all Egypt Algier and Tunis The Kiâ—gdome of Fâ—z hath a peculiar King of its own who nothwithstanding might very easily be cast out of his Throne because that Mahumetanisme in those parts is divided into above sixty several Sects The rest of the Kings in Africk have but very small Dominions except only the King of the Abyssines who is commonly called Prester Iohn and hath above fifty smaller Kingdomes under him This King of the Abyssines is a Christian although He doth not professe the Pure Catholick Religion It is necessary therefore that Forces should be brought over thence into Spain seeing that the passage to and fro is very easie For our
the Persian Coast. And I am of opinion also that the same ought to be done with the Kings of Calecut Narsinga and Caramania but these are not to be furnished with Guns They may indeed be instructed in the Art of Printing and other Arts that are in use among the Christians to the end they may thereby have the Christians in admiration and high esteem and that by the introducing of Ingenious Arts and Sciences amongst them they may be made our Own And yet Arts are wont to become a Prey to Armes at last unlesse they be both equally in practise together And hence it is that Pallas in the Fable is said to have overcome both Calliope and Mars because She was experienced as well in the use of Mars his Armes as Calliope's Arts. The like course is to be taken with those of Taprobanâ— China and Iapan by communicating our Arts and Sciences to them as Printing Painting and the like which will be very much admired by them and by the means of which they may by degrees he won over and may be brought to embrace the Christian Faith But those that deal with them must be sure that above all things they abstain from Covetousnesse and exercising of Cruelty upon any of these people lest otherwise they should be provoked and should joyn all together against us and should thereby prove a great hinderance to the Spaniards Designs We shall not need to speak any thing here of the Great Cham of Cataia seeing that his Country lies so far out of the road that the Spaniard takes in his Voyage to the East-Indies notwithstanding that the Persians and Turks have cause enough to stand in fear of him and we know very well that the Tartarians have many times over-run all Asia and that also becoming Christians they restored unto Us Ierusalem Yet afterwards when they once saw Our Unworthy Base Disposition in that notwithstanding we all professed the same Christian Religion we were yet continually at War one with another they forsook Christianity again and presently embraced Mahumetanisme which at that time flourished infinitely and was in high esteem throughout the Whole East And by this means was it that they came to give over making war any longer upon the Persians and Turks whom they now suffered to live quietly without being at all annoyed by Them who yet had in former times often overthrown and beaten them But on the other side they were more and more alienated from the Christian Faith and from the Christians whom they saw to be so Base and Unworthy as to be continually at discord and variance amongst themselves And yet I believe that the Glorious Spanish Monarchy which encompasseth the whole Earth will shortly reduce them and bring them to embrace again the Christian Religion especially if there should any Wars break out in the Eastern Parts and that so much the rather because that Macon is now divided into many several Sects Besides the People of Calecut and of Goa are Christians already though but Nestorians yet they might easily be brought to embrace the True Primitive Christian Religion if it were but proposed to them to consider that God hath alwaies preserved the Church of Rome and firmly settled it in its own Proper Seat and Power whereas on the Contrary all the Heresies of others have been successelesse and could never get any Dominion or Authority throughout Christendome as appears by Arius Nestorius Macedonius Apollinaris and all other Authors of Heresies Now I do not know any thing that would cause those most Remote Kingdoms to admire us more and that would sooner draw the Inhabitants of the same from their Superstitions and would besides weaken them too and make them unapter for War then if the Knowledge of the Liberal Arts the Languages Philosophy and the Mathematicks were carried thither from hence by some of our Western Professors of the same because that Minuit vires nervosque Minerva Minerva's quiet Arts Take off and Chill our hearts Let the King therefore take care that Forraigners may be exercised only in Idle Umbratil Sciences and Light toyish matters and Pastimes but in the mean time let Him keep His own Natural Subjects to the exercise of their Armes also together with those forenamed Sciences by which Means He may still be victorious But lastly that we may return to our former discourse touching the Persians aiding us against the Turks The Persians having alwayes relyed wholly upon the Number and Goodnesse of their Horse have notwithstanding in the mean time while they have been Victorious in the Open Field yet lost their Cities at home And therefore I say they are to be advised to fortifie their Cities with Castles and strong Holds every where For the Turk although he have been many times beaten by them hath yet by litle and litle so entrenched himself about as it were with Garrisons and Fortifications made in all convenient places that he hath by this means made himself Master of a very great part of the Persians Country and hath possessed himself at last also of the great City Tauris or Ecbatan They must be taught therefore to make use of the same Arts in defending themselves by which they have formerly been beaten CHAP. XXX Of the Great Turk and his Empire BY what means the Turk endeavours to make himself Lord of the whole World hath been as I conceive sufficiently declared before in this Treatise and He will also at this time already be called The Vniversal Lord as the King of Spain is called The Catholick King so that these two Princes seem now to strive which of them shall attain to the Universal Monarchy of the whole World And therefore I think it not amisse to examine here in what Particulars the one of them is either Inferiour or superiour to the other The Great Turk is the most Absolute Lord of and Heir to all the Goods that his subjects have throughout his whole Empire and not of their Goods only but also of their Persons And in this He is worse then ever any Tyrant was in that He arrogates all to Himself and because that although He calls all his People His Sons Yet He doth not like a Father suffer them to inherit any thing but only bestowes yearly upon every one of them as much as He thinks fit appointing them withal the Employments that they shall serve him in He hath also a Religion that is framed according to his own Will only without taking the advise with him of any Arch-Priest He hath likewise a most Able Souldiery because that He takes all the likeliest boyes and youths through all his Dominions and breeds them up in Seminaries erected for that purpose and these He employes both in his wars abroad and in peace at home making some of them Souldiers and others Judges and Noblemen also Neither hath He any Barons to stand in fear of neither hath He any Brothers to share with Him in the Empire For the
really be made the absolute Lords of what they now possessed All which things ought to have their Accomplishment in the death of this Mahomet III. now Raigning seeing that That Number is Fatal The Great Turks Younger Sons also are to be seazed upon and conveigh'd away least the Eldest Brother should Murder them according to their usual Custome and this the Venetians may do conveniently enough by their Merchants or else the same may be committed to the Christian Slaves that are there to be done by them After that this Empire shall be thus weakned and divided it would be convenient then to send thether some Preachers who should endeavour to convince the Natives of their Error There should care also be taken by meanes for the bringing of Printing into Turky by meanes whereof that People may be taken off from the exercise of Arms and may apply themselves to Books and by being taken up with Disputations concerning Points of Divinity and Philosophy both of the Peripateticks Stoicks Platonists and Telesians they may be divided amongst themselves and so be the more weakned For those that give themselves to the study of Books onely usually become a Prey to such as apply themselves to the exercise of Armes and the study of the Arts too as we see in the example of Athens which became a Prey to the Lacedemoâ—ians both which Nations Philip King of Macedon by the force of his Armes afterwards subdued being first instructed by Epaminondas by what meanes this was to be effectd Cato was wont to say that the Romans would lose their Empire so soon as ever they should begin to apply themselves to the study of the Greek Tongue and Sciences This the Great Turk who is wiser then We are knew very well and therefore preferred rather the exercise of Armes and got him great Guns and Slaves I mean those Jewes that were sent to him by Ferdinand the last King of Arragon for he knew very well what and how great Advantage might be made by Slaves and that the Children that they should beget were to be brought up in the exercise of Armes and the knowledge of Military Affaires But then on the contrary He would not receive nor accept of those Printing-Presses and Letter â—or the Printing of the Arabick Tongue that were sent Him by the great Duke of Tuscany because he would not have his Dominions filled with Books because that would much take off the Military Valour of his Subjects and besides because that Mahumetanisme by frequent Disputations about it might easily in a short time have been overthrown It hath also been very prejudicial unto Us that we have had no Law made for the Injoyning of Silence whereby we should have been commanded to conceal some things from others which Law certainly would have been of very good use But now adaies in Germany all things are made Publick and laid open to the whole World and hence it is that we see every one there publisheth in Print a New Bible and that the Empire goes to ruine and that all places are overwhelmed with Luxury and Riot And had not the fear of the King of Spain's Armies kept the Netherlanders in Awe they also would by this time have been at Effâ—minate and Luxurious as the Germans are And the like would have befallen to the English also So that we might have hopes that unlesse there were a War maintained amongst them to keep them in exercise they would all quickly come to utter ruine after that they should but once come to be Effeminate Heart-lesse and at discord one with another as we have said formerly and that so much the rather because that the Heresie they professe seeing it denyes the Freedom of the Will is repugnant to all Principles of Policy Now all Heresies when they are once gone so far as to Atheisme are reduced again into the way of Truth by some Wise Prophet or other such as were in Italy Thomas Aquinas Dominicus Scotus and others For Herâ—sies also have their Periods as well as States which fall first from being governed by good Kings into the hands of Tyrants from their Tyranny into an Aristocracy from thence into an Oligarchy and so at length to a Democracy and in the end they shift about again and in a Circle as it were return again to their first form either of a Kingdom or a Tyranny CHAP. XXXI Of the Other Hemisphere and of the New World THe Admirable Discovery of the New World which was foreseen by St. Brigitt and expressely foretold by Seneca in his Medea and there lively set forth in its proper Colours and Names according as he had received the same from one of the Sibylls hath been the cause that this Hemisphere of Ours hath been thereby rapt into the greatest Admiration that can be For some of the Ancientest among the Philosophers of which number was Xenophanes were of Opinion that That Other Hemisphere lay all covered over with Water some others as Lactantius and St. Augustine thought that the Earth was not a Perfect Globe about which the Sun was carried in his Diurnal Motion And some others believed among whom was Dante that those Countries were Inhabited and were a certain kind of Earthly Paradise Some there were that doubted hereof amongst whom was Aristotle and again some others of them confidently affirmed that the Earth was an Absolute and Perfect Orbe or Globe and of this number were Platoâ— and Origen And therefore it is but for just cause that all the World admires the Spanish Monarchy as both very Daring and very Powerful seeing that It hath measured and overcome so many Seas and in a short space of time hath put a girdle about the vast Globe of the Whole Earth which neither Carthage nor Tyre were ever heretofore able to do nor yet the wisest of All Men King Solomon whose Fleet making its Voyage as far as Goa only and Taprobane spent alwaies three whole years in the same which yet Our Seamen now adaies perform in three Moneths time So that although the Vast distance of place that there is betwixt the several parts of the Spanish Monarchy seems to render It Weak yet doth their Admirable Skill in Navigation for the shortening of those Distances together with those other Means of Uniting these Parts which the Spaniards daily do make use of or may make use of when they please make the same most Illustrious and more Admirable then some perhaps do imagine However to the end that the King of Spain may not onely keep what He hath already gotten but may also enlarge his Empire I shall here give in a Catalogue of such Errours as have been heretofore committed in reference to the managing of his Affaires in the New World and shall shew that they ought with all speed to be corrected and taken out of the way laying down withal those waies and Means by which the Kings Power in those Parts may yet be enlarged When that the Spaniards directing
THOMAS CAMPANELLA An Italian FRIAR And Second MACHIAVEL His advice to the King of Spain for attaining the universal Monarchy of the World Particularly concerning England Scotland and Ireland how to raise Division between KING and PARLIAMENT to alter the Government from a Kingdome to a Commonwealth Thereby embroiling England in Civil war to divert the English from disturbing the Spaniard in bringing the Indian Treasure into Spain Also for reducing Holland by procuring war betwixt England Holland and other Sea-faring Countries affirming as most certain that if the King of Spain become master of England and the Low Countries he will quickly be Sole Monarch of all Europe and the greatest part of the new world Translated into English by Ed. Chilmead and published for awakening the English to prevent the approaching ruine of their Nation With an admonitorie Preface by WILLIAM PRYNNE of Lincolnes-Inne Esquire LONDON Printed for Philemon Stephens at the Gilded Lyon in St. Pauls Church-Yard Mr. WILLIAM PRYNNE his premonitory Epistle concerning Campanella's discourse of the Spanish Monarchy To the Ingenuous Reader THou hast here presented to thy serious perusal by an able hand a faithful English Translation of a discourse touching the SPANISH MONARCHY penned by Thomas Campanella a famous Italian Frier and second Machiavel about the end of Queen Elizabeths Reign prescribing sundry politick plots to the King of Spain how to make himself sole Temporal and the Pope sole Spiritual Monarch of the world in general and of England Scotland and Ireland and Holland in particular laid down in the 25. and â—7 chapters by sowing the seeds of division and intestine wars between England Scotland Ireland and the Netherlands eithâ—r by changing our Hereditary Kingdom into a Commonwealth or at least into an Elective Kingship and other policies there laid down to destroy our temporal Kingly Government and by broaching new Opinions and Sects in Religion and by scattering the seed of Schism and division in the natural sciences and promoting the study of Astrology to undermine our Church and Religion and usher in Popery by insensible degrees by Romish Emissaries If thou wilt but seriously peruse these Chapters and compare them with the counsels projects proceedings new models of Government and wars with the Scots and Hollanders of the late Agitators and general Council of Officers in the Army and their Anti-Parliamentary Conventicles ever since the year 1647. till this present thou wilt most clearly discern and ingenuously confess that they punctually pursued Campanella his projects to advance the Popes and Spaniards Monarchy over our three Kingdoms and the Netherlands and reduce them under their unsupportable Tyranny both in Civils and Spirituals wherein they have now made either ignorantly or affectedly such an unhappy dismal progress by subverting our ancient Kingly Government to metamorphose us into a Commonwealth which hath crumbled our formerly united Kingdoms Churches into so many opposite irreconcileable Sects Factions Parties Interests undermining oppressing each other by impoverishing our Kâ—ngdoms destroying their Trades and eating them up to the very bones by a perpetual domineering all swaying Army and intolerable endless Taxes Excises Militia's Imposts Free-quarters and all sortâ— of violences and oppressions and leaving us no legal visible Head Authority Council Parliament Governours Judicatures to which they can flie for protection or advise that unless Gods infinite mercy interpose they are in all probability ready to be invaded overcome and swallowed up by the united forces of these Combined Enemies and to incur that fatal doom which Christ himself hath predicted to every Kingdome and City in our present condition Mat. 12.25 Every Kingdome divided against it self Is brought to desolation and every City or House divided against it self shall not stand Which Campanella laying for his ground made it his Master-piece to set down straâ—agems to divide us and other Kingdoms and Nations against and between themselves to bring them first to desolation by themselves that so the Spaniard and Pope might without much difficulty seise upon them whiles in that condition which imminent danger and approaching ruine we have no probable means left to prevent but by a speedy cordial Christian union between our lawful KING long exiled Head and members and happy restitution of our Hereditary King Peers and English Parliaments to their ancient just Rights and Priviledges according to our sacred Oathes Protestations Vow League Covenant and an avowed future renunciation of all Campanella's Jesuitical Popish Spanish Counsels Plots Innovations dividings which I leave thee to contemplate Concluding with this memorable observation and passage of St. Basil the great in his Ascetica This holy Saint of God being very much perplexed in his mind at the manifold Schismes and vehement dissentions then in the Church of Christ between Christians Bishops and Ministers themselves renting the Church with opinions and practices contrary to the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ and diligently enquiring and much doubting what should be the true cause thereof at last that text in the Book oâ— Iudges coming into his mind Every one did that which was right in his own eyes the cauâ—e whereoâ— is dâ—clared in the premised words In those dayes there was no KING in Israel after some consideration and meditation thereupon he concluded not as a paradox but undoubted truth that the very râ—ason why there was then so great contention and fighting amongst Christians in the Church of Christ was the contempt of that great true and only KING of all Men whilst every one departed both from the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ and did set up his own cogitations and definitions by his own authority as his rule and would rather Command against the Lord then be subject to the Lord and governed by him When I pondered these things with my self and stood amazed at this enormous impiety and would yet further search out the truth hereofâ— I was perswaded that the aforesaid cause was true in this as it was in other affairs of this life For I saw all the multitude to be a well compounded State and to Consent and Consist together so long only as obedience was yielded to some one Supream KING of them all and on the other side That dissention and division of every kind and also Polyarchy to arise from hence if there being no KING every man obtained licence to do what he pleased I have sometime seen even a swarm of Bees out of the Law of Nature to wage War and to follow their own KING in order and I have seen and read many such things of them and thoâ—e who are busied about such things know much more so that what I have said may be proved true from hence For it is the propertye and peculiar of those who regard the command of one and use one KING that they be well and Vnanimously disposed between themselves therefore all dissention and discord is both an Index and Prognostick of that contumacy wherein the Principality of one is
rejected Whether this be not the true and principal cause of all our sad divisions and wars both in Church and State let the Reader resolve when he hath perused Campanella of whom I have oft made mention in my late publications and was one chief cause of its Translation into English William Prynne From my Study in Lincolnes Inne Decemb 16. 1659. The Translator to the Reader Courteous Reader SEeing that we are fallen into an Age of Translations that swarm more now then ever partly by reason that there are so many that as things now stand have hardly any other Trade of life to take to and partly also through the Natural Itch that most men have to appear to the world some way or other especially since they find so good reception from such Readers as either cannot or will not take the pains to peruse Authors in their Originals I have also adventured to present thee here with a Translation which if thou understand it thou wilt thank me for if thou dost not thy censure concerns me not But first before I put thee upon the reading of the Book it self I shall by the way take liberty to give thee some little but necessary Information touching these three following Particulars viz. 1. The Author of this Piece 2. The Use that may be made of it and 3. Of this present Translation of it into English First as for the Author He was a man that was as famous for his Sufferings as for his Learning for notwithstanding that he was a Roman Catholick nay a Frier and withal so eager and hearty an Asserter and Maintainer of the Roman Catholick Sea and Its Interests yet for all this do we find him in the Inquisition and so terribly tormented there as that the Learned I. Gaffarel a Frenchman being at Rome where our Author was then in Duresse and having a desire to see him he went with some friends to the Place where he was where he found him as he expresseth himself in his Câ—riositez Inonyes cap. 7. ayant le gras des jambes tontes meâ—â—tries les fesses presque sans chair la luy ayant arrachâ—e par morceaux 〈◊〉 de tirer de luy la confession des crimes dont on l' accusoit with the Calves of his Legs beaten black and blue all over and with scarsely any flesh at all upon his buttocks it having been torn from him peice-meal to force him to the confession of such crimes as they had accused him of Niether were these his sufferings of any short Continuance as appears out of his own words as in other places so in this Book of his now in our hands where we have him intimating unto us as I conceive these his sufferings and casting them Decennalem Afflictionem his Ten years Affliction in his Preface to this Book and in the last Chapter of it Decennalem miseriam his Ten years misery But of the reason of these his sufferings I am not at present able to give thee any very good Account only the afore cited I. Gaffarel there tells us that there was at that time an Expectation abroad of A ful Relation of his whole life for â—aith he Mais un seavant Aleman faira voir en peu de temps l' histoire de ses malheurs de sa vie A certain Learned German will ere long give us the historie of his Misfortunes and of his Life Now whether any such Discourse of Campanella's Life ever came forth or not I know not I confesse it never came to my handâ— So much for the Authors Sufferings And as for his Learning whosoever would understand how large and General that was must not stay upon this our present Treatise but may have recourse to other Tracts of hiâ— that are written of Several Subjects both in Divinity Philosophy Politicks Astrology and what not I which the shops will every where furnish him with As for this present Discourse touching the Spanish Monarchy I confesâ—e I cannot yet discover in what Language it was first written by the Author but I find that the Latine which is now Lately come abroad and goes under the name of the Last Edition and is set forth by Lodwick Elzivir at Amsterdam is the Third Edition of it and pretends to the mending of what was amisse aud corrupt in the two former Editions And seeing that we have now in a manner found a kind of an Accomplishment of some Counsels of his that were given long ago as namely touching a war with the Dutch it would not be amisse to examine about what time this Book was written Now though the very time of the writing of it is no where precisely set down yet there are some Circumstances let fall here and there in the Book that may serve to guide our Conjecture by And I therefore conceive it to have been written about 53 or 54 years since For it is plain that it was written in Queen Elizabeths time and after 88. and indeedâ— when the Queen was now grown very Old and that King Iames was in daily expectation of the English Crown falling to Him But this does not do the businesse we can bring it yet nearer home then so for in his Chap. XXIV of France speaking of Henry IV. King of France he sayes that Iam in declivi aetate est nec successorem nec uxorem habet He now begins to be an old manâ— and hath neither successor nor Wife Now the time here pointed out I conceive to be the year of our Lord 1599. or the following year 1600. for in the first of these years King Henry was divorced from Margaret his former Wife and he married the year following Caâ—hâ—rine de Medicis by whom he afterwards had issue Lewis the XIII c. In one of these years therefore I suppose the Author to have written this book 2. For the Use of it we have here laid down both in a Methodical and copious way a perfect Model both of the Original and Principles of Government For here weare instructed both how Princes ought to treat their Subjects at home and also how to manage their Affaires abroad towards other Forreign Kingdomes and Republicks We have here as it were a Political Glasse wherein we have presented unto us a view of each particular Country Province Kingdom and Empire through the whole World as also by what waies of Government whether by strict Justice or Lenity a strait or a loose Rain they are to be governed and kept in obedience as likewise the Causes of the Rise and Fall of each severall Kingdom and Empire together with the Dangers and Hazards they were exposed to and the Advantages they had to boast of and all this Illustrated and confirmed by several examples taken both out of Profane and Sacred Writers Now although this be designed wholly and modelled out in reference to the Spanish Monarchy only and the support of the Papacy yet may all wise Judicious men make very good use of the