Selected quad for the lemma: country_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
country_n	great_a	king_n	persia_n	1,582	5	10.5277	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58059	Judgment on Alexander and Cæsar and also on Seneca, Plutarch, and Petronius / translated out of the French.	Rapin, René, 1621-1687.; Dancer, John, fl. 1660-1675.	1672 (1672)	Wing R263; ESTC R21235	18,139	78

his life I find not in Caesar such friendships as Alexander had for Ephestion nor such confidence as he had in Craterus His intercourses were either strengthnings of his affairs or a procedure sufficiently obliging but much less passionate for his friends 'T is true his familiarity had nothing dangerous in it and those who communicated it need not fear either his anger or caprichio's Whereas Alexander was extream either he was most obliging or most terrible nor was any one secure with a secret wherein himself was engaged Notwithstanding his friendship was his greatest passion next his glory of which we need no other testimony than his own when he cried out to Achilles Statue O Achilles How happy wert thou to have so faithful a friend in thy life and a Poet like Homer after thy death Hitherto we have sought these two great men in their Natural qualifications 't is time to examine the Genius of Conquerors and to consider them in all the extents of action It is a kind of folly to reason of things only imaginary nevertheless according to all appearance If Alexander had been in the place of Caesar he had only employed his great and admirable qualities to his ruin It may be believed that his haughty humour enemy to precaution would have difficulty secured him in the persecutions of Sylla hardly could he have sought his safety by a voluntary withdrawing as what he gave was out of a pure motion of liberality his largesses would have been pernicious to him instead of attaining the Aedilship wherein magnificencies and profuseness were permitted his gifts and presents out of season would have made him suspected by the Senate and 't is very possible he could not have subjected himself to Laws which would have pinnioned a Soul so imperious as his and so attempting something unseasonably he had found the fate of the Gracchi Spurius Manlius or Cataline but if Alexander would have lost himself in the Republick Caesar whose Courage and Caution usually went hand in hand had never conceived in his mind that vast design of the Conquest of Asia It is to be believed that Caesar whose conduct was so fine and close that he was concerned in all the conspiracies without being ever but once accused and never convicted Who in the divisions he stirr'd up amongst the Gauls assisted one party to oppress the other till he brought all under his Yoke 'T is to be believed I say that that very Caesar following his own Genius would have setled his own Estate brought under his Neighbours and divided all the Republick of Greece till he had fully subjugated them For certainly to leave Macedon without hopes of return to leave Neighbours about him ill affected Greece indeed as it were submitting but scarce settled in a subjection and with Five and thirty thousand men Seventy Talents few Provisions to go to seek out the King of Persia whom the Graecians called the great King and whose single Lieutenants on the Frontiers made the whole world tremble is that which passes all imagination and seems somewhat more than if in these days the Republick of Genoua that of Lucca or Rogusa should undertake the Conquest of France If Caesar had declared war against the great King it had been on the Frontiers by little and little nor would he have thought himself unhappy to have bounded his Estates with the Granick or if his Ambition had prest him farther can you think he would have refused the offers of Darius he who daily offered peace to Pompey or that he would not have contented himself with his Daughter and five or six Provinces which Alexander 't is possible insolently refused In short if my conjectures be reasonable he would never have gone into the plain Country to have sought the King of Persia accompanied with a Million of men how brave how constant soever he were I question whether he would have slept so profoundly that night which preceded the battle of Arbella I believe indeed he would have been of Parmenio's mind nor should we have had from him any of the answers of Alexander yet it was necessary to undertake this unequal fight to become Master of Asia otherwise Darius had drawn on the War from Province to Province during life 'T was of force that he perish as soon as he arrived or that a thousand different people should see him overcome with all his forces 'T is true that this immoderate desire of glory and too vast Ambition which permitted him no repose rendred him sometimes so insupportable to the Macedonians that they were all ready to forsake him But 't was in that Juncture he particularly made appear the greatness of that Courage which nothing could astonish Go ingrateful wretches said he to 'um go and tell in your Country that you have left Alexander with his Friends labouring for the glory of Greece among people who will obey him better than you There is nothing in all his life which the Prince of did more admire than this his fierce answer to the Macedonians and this confidence in himself Alexander said he forsaken by his own amongst Barbarians scarcely conquered conceives himself so worthy to command that he does not believe they can refuse to obey him To be in Europe or in Asia amongst Greeks or Persians is indifferent to him he doubts not to find Subjects where he can find Men. But what is said for Caesar's advantage is That the Macedonians had to deal with Nations soft and effeminate and that the Conquest of the Gauls whose people were fierce and warlike was much more difficult to the Romans I will not trouble my self to examine the Courages of the one or the other but it is certain that Caesar found not among the Gauls any true Armies there were whole entire Bodies of people even to the women children and old men who tumultuously armed themselves for the defence of their liberty multitudes who fought without order or discipline and to speak truth if you except twice or thrice Caesar might say Veni Vidi Vici in all those occasions which makes me believe that if Labienus had commanded those Legions he had no less subjected those Provinces to the Republick whereas Parmenio according to the best appearance would not at all have fought that great Battle which decided the affairs of Asia You will likewise find this particular remarkable Parmenio stood in need of Alexanders assistance in this fight whereas Caesar had one day been lost without Labienus who having routed all on his side sent the tenth Legion to disengage him But be it for the greater peril of their Enterprizes for the exposing their Persons in them or for being the less fortunate in doing so Alexander was a hundred times in manifest danger of his life and received often very great wounds Caesar truly had his hazards but more rare nor do I find him dangerously wounded in all his wars Nor can I perceive that the people of Asia were so soft and

effeminate they who were always formidable to Europe In the greatest power of the Commonwealth were not the Romans unfortunate against the Parthians which composed but a part of Darius his Empire Crassus perished with his Legions in the time of Caesar and soon after Anthony made a shameful and unhappy voyage As for Conquests none can be truly attributed to C●●sar but that of the Gauls for in the civil war he reduced the Commonwealth with the best part of its own forces and the single Battle of Pharsalia made him Master of an hundred different people which others had vanquished Vespasian cannot be said to have conquered the Empire because he was declared Emperor upon the defeat of Vitellius so Caesar profited himself by the Labours of all the Romans the Scipio's Aemillus's Marcellus's Marius's Sylla and Pompey his own enemies fought for him and all all that was done in six hundred years was the fruit of one hours fight But that which seems to me more incomprehensible of Alexander is that in twelve or thirteen years he conquered more Countrys than the greatest Estates have done in the whole extent of their continuance a Traveller is at this day famous who has cross'd but a part of those Nations he subdued and that nothing might want to his happiness he peacebly enjoy'd his Empire even to the point of being adored by those he had overcome In which I lament the misfortune of Caesar who could not give a form to the Estate of Rome according to his designs being assassinated by those he was about to subject There yet remains one consideration to make concerning Alexander That all the Captains of the Macedonians were great Kings after his death who were but mean men compared to him during his life And certainly I pardon him in some sort if in a Country where it was a received belief that the most part of the Gods had their Families on Earth where Hercules was believed the Son of Jupiter for having killed a Lyon or knocked some thief o' th head I pardon him I say if seconding the opinion of Philip who believed his wife to have commerce with a God if deceived by the Oracles if finding himself so much above all other men he has sometimes despised his true birth and sought for his Original in the Heavens possibly he caused this belief to be spread among the Barbarians to draw from them the greater veneration Though whilst he gave himself out to the world for a kind of a God sleep pleasures with women and the blood that distilled from his wounds made him know that he was but a man After having spoken so much in favour of Alexander I will say in one word with Cicero that for the beauty of an universal Genius Caesar was in all things the chief of all Romans Orator Historian in affairs of the Commonwealth and in Employs of War In truth the enterprises of Alexander have somthing more astonishing but his Conduct and Capacity appear not to have the same Equality His War in Spain against Petreius and Afranius is a thing which people of the utmost experience yet admire The most memorable Sieges of the later times have been formed after the manner of that of Alexia and we owe to Caesar our Forts our Lines and our Countervallations and generally all that which secures Armies before places For the vigor of it the Battle of Munda was more sharply contested than any of those of Asia and Caesar ran as great hazard in Egypt as Alexander did in the Town of the Mallians They were no less different in their procedure than in action When Caesar had not Justice on his side he sought for appearances and never wanted pretexts Alexander would give the world no reason but his Will he followed in all things his Ambition and his Humour but Caesar was guided by his interest or his reason There was scarce ever known a person of such evenness in his life such moderation in his fortune and such clemency in injuries those impetuosities which cost Clitus his life those ill clear'd suspitions which caus'd the loss of Philotas and which to Alexanders shame drew in train with it as a necessary evil the death of Parmenio all these Eruptions were unknown to Caesar Who could not be reproached with any death but his own for that he took not care enough of his proper preservation It must therefore be acknowledged that far from being subject to the disorders of passion he was the most active man of the World and the least moved great and little things found him still in the same posture without appearing to be heightned by one nor lor'd by the other Alexander was not properly in his own nature unless in extreams If he were to run it must be with Kings if he were to hunt it must be Lyons 't was an affliction to him to make a Present that was not worthy of him Never was he more resolute never more gay then when his troops seemed discouraged never so full of confidence as in their despair In a word he began to enjoy himself at that point where other men whether for fear or some other weakness use to give themselves over but his Soul too exalted did difficultly comply with the common course of life and little careful of its self it was to be fear'd might take its flight in the midst of pleasure and repose Here I cannot forbear to make reflexion upon those Hero's whose Empire Rule has so much sweetness in it that it is no difficulty to obey we cannot have for them those secret repugnances nor those inward promptings to liberty which perplex us under a forced obedience all that is within us is made supple and easie yet what comes from them is sometimes insupportable When they are our Masters by right of power and so far above us by Merit they think to have as it were a double Empire which exacts a double subjection and it is a troublesome condition to depend on men so great that they may lawfully despise us However since there is no reigning in desarts and solitudes and that there is a necessity of their conversing with us it should methinks be their interest to accommodate themselves to our weakness and we should reverence them like gods if they they would be content to live with us like men But let us finish this discourse which becomes toilsome to my self and say that by all practicable ways Caesar hath done the greatest things and made himself chief of all the Romans Alexander was naturally above all men and you may say that he was born Master of the Universe and that in all his Expeditions he went less to fight with his enemies than to make himself known to his Subjects JUDGMENT ON Seneca Plutarch and Petronius I Will begin with Seneca and tell you with an extremity of impudence That I have a greater esteem for his Person than his Works I honour the Master of Nero the Lover