him And to say Truth it is not easie when such a Matter passed between two to make it appeare from which of them it first moued and began It is a way that some men haue to glaunce and dart at Others by Iustifying themselues by Negatiues As to say This I doe not As Tigillinus did towards Burrhus Se non diuersas spes sed Incolumitatem Imperatoris simpliciter spectare Some haue in readinesse so many Tales and Stories as there is Nothing they would insinuate but they can wrap it into a Tale which scrueth both to keepe themselues more in Guard and to make others carry it with more Pleasure It is a good Point of Cunning for a Man to shape the Answer he would haue in his owne Words and Propositions For it makes the other Party sticke the lesse It is strange how long some Men will lie in wait to speake somewhat they desire to say And how farre about they will fetch And how many other Matters they will beat ouer to come neare it It is a Thing of great Patience but yet of much Vse A sudden bold and vnexpected Question doth many times surprise a Man and lay him open Like to him that hauing changed his Name and walking in Pauls Another suddenly came behind him and called him by his true Name whereat straightwaies he looked backe But these Small Wares and Petty Points of Cunning are infinite And it were a good deed to make a List of them For that nothing doth more hurt in a State then that Cunning Men passe for Wise But certainly some there are that know the Resorts and Falls of Businesse that cannot sinke into the Maine of it Like a House that hath conuenient Staires and Entries but neuer a faire Roome Therfore you shall see them finde out pretty Looses in the Conclusion but are no waies able to Examine or debate Matters And yet commonly they take aduantage of their Inability and would be thought Wits of direction Some build rather vpon the Abusing of others and as we now say Putting Tricks vpon them Then vpon Soundnesse of their own proceedings But Salomon saith Prudens aduertit ad Gressus suos Stultus diuertit ad Dolos Of Wisedome for a Mans selfe XXIII AN Ant is a wise Creature for it Selfe But it is a shrewd Thing in an Orchard or Garden And certainly Men that are great Louers of Themselues waste the Publique Diuide with reason betweene Selfe-loue and Society And be so true to thy Selfe as thou be not false to Others Specially to thy King and Country It is a poore Center of a Mans Actions Himselfe It is right Earth For that onely stands fast vpon his owne Center Whereas all Things that haue Affinity with the Heauens moue vpon the Center of another which they benefit The Referring of all to a Mans Selfe is more tolerable in a Soueraigne Prince Because Themselues are not onely Themselues But their Good and Euill is at the perill of the Publique Fortune But it is a desperate Euill in a Seruant to a Prince or a Citizen in a Republique For whatsoeuer Affaires passe such a Mans Hands he crooketh them to his owne Ends Which must needs be often Eccentrick to the Ends of his Master or State Therefore let Princes or States choose such Seruants as haue not this marke Except they meane their Seruice should be made but the Accessary That which maketh the Effect more pernicious is that all Proportion is lost It were disproportion enough for the Seruants Good to be preferred before the Masters But yet it is a greater Extreme when a little Good of the Seruant shall carry Things against a great Good of the Masters And yet that is the case of Bad Officers Treasurers Ambassadours Generals and other False and Corrupt Seruants which set a Bias vpon their Bowle of their owne Petty Ends and Enuies to the ouerthrow of their Masters Great and Important Affaires And for the most part the Good such Seruants receiue is after the Modell of their own Fortune But the Hurt they sell for that Good is after the Modell of their Masters Fortune And certainly it is the Nature of Extreme Selfe-Louers As they will set an House on Fire and it were but to roast their Egges And yet these Men many times hold credit with their Masters Because their Study is but to please Them and profit Themselues And for either respect they will abandon the Good of their Affaires Wisedome for a Mans selfe is in many Branches thereof a depraued Thing It is the Wisedome of Rats that will be sure to leaue a House somewhat before it fall It is the Wisedome of the Fox that thrusts out the Badger who digged made Roome for him It is the Wisedome of Crocodiles that shed teares when they would deuoure But that which is specially to be noted is that those which as Cicero saies of Pompey are Sui Amantes sine Riuali are many times vnfortunate And whereas they haue all their time sacrificed to Themselues they become in the end themselues Sacrifices to the Inconstancy of Fortune whose Wings they thought by their Self-Wisedome to haue Pinnioned Of Innouations XXIIII AS the Births of Liuing Creatures at first are ill shapen So are all Innouations which are the Births of Time Yet notwithstanding as Those that first bring Honour into their Family are commonly more worthy then most that succeed So the first President if it be good is seldome attained by Imitation For Ill to Mans Nature as it stands peruerted hath a Naturall Motion strongest in Continuance But Good as a Forced Motion strongest at first Surely euery Medicine is an Innouation And he that will not apply New Remedies must expect New Euils For Time is the greatest Innouatour And if Time of course alter Things to the worse and Wisedome and Counsell shall not alter them to the better what shall be the End It is true that what is setled by Custome though it be not good yet at least it is fit And those Things which haue long gone together are as it were confederate within them selues Whereas New Things peece not so well But though they helpe by their vtility yet they trouble by their Inconformity Besides they are like Strangers more Admired and lesse Fauoured All this is true if Time stood still which contrariwise moueth so round that a Froward Retention of Custome is as turbulent a Thing as an Innouation And they that Reuerence too much Old Times are but a Scorne to the New It were good therefore that Men in their Innouations would follow the Example of Time it selfe which indeed Innouateth greatly but quietly and by degrees scarce to be perceiued For otherwise whatsoeuer is New is vnlooked for And euer it mends Some and paires Other And he that is holpen takes it for a Fortune and thanks the Time And he that is hurt for a wrong and imputeth it to the Author It is good also not to try Experiments in States
that of Decent and Gracious Motion more then that of Fauour That is the best Part of Beauty which a Picture cannot expresse No nor the first Sight of the Life There is no Excellēt Beauty that hath not some Strangenesse in the Proportion A Man cannot tell whether Apelles or Albert Durer were the more Trifler Whereof the one would make a Personage by Geometricall Proportions The other by taking the best Parts out of diuers Faces to make one Excellent Such Personages I thinke would please no Body but the Painter that made thē Not but I thinke a Painter may make a better Face then euer was But he must doe it by a kinde of Felicity As a Musician that maketh an excellent Ayre in Musicke And not by Rule A Man shall see Faces that if you examine them Part by Part you shall finde neuer a good And yet all together doe well If it be true that the Principall Part of Beauty is in decent Motion certainly it is no maruaile though Persons in Yeares seeme many times more Amiable Pulchrorum Autumnus pulcher For no Youth can be comely but by Pardon and considering the Youth as to make vp the comelinesse Beauty is as Summer-Fruits which are easie to corrupt and cannot last And for the most part it makes a dissolute Youth and an Age a little out of countenance But yet certainly againe if it light well it maketh Vertues shine and Vices blush Of Deformity XLIIII DEformed Persons are commonly euen with Nature For as Nature hath done ill by them So doe they by Nature Being for the most part as the Scripture saith void of Naturall Affection And so they haue their Reuenge of Nature Certainly there is a Consent between the Body and the Minde And where Nature erreth in the One she ventureth in the Other Vbi peccat in vno periclitatur in altero But because there is in Man an Election touching the Frame of his Minde and a Necessity in the Frame of his Body the Starres of Naturall Inclination are sometimes obscured by the Sun of Discipline and Vertue Therefore it is good to consider of Deformity not as a Signe which is more Deceiuable But as a Cause which seldome faileth of the Effect Whosoeuer hath any Thing fixed in his Person that doth enduce Contempt hath also a perpetuall Spurre in himselfe to rescue and deliuer himselfe from Scorne Therefore all Deformed Persons are extreme Bold First as in their own Defence as being exposed to Scorn But in Processe of Time by a Generall Habit Also it stirreth in them Industry and especially of this kinde to watch and obserue the Weaknesse of Others that they may haue somewhat to repay Againe in their Superiours it quencheth Iealousie towards them as Persons that they think they may at pleasure despise And it layeth their Competitours and Emulatours asleepe As neuer beleeuing they should be in possibility of aduancement till they see them in Possession So that vpon the matter in a great Wit Deformity is an Aduantage to Rising Kings in Ancient Times And at this present in some Countries were wont to put Great Trust in Eunuchs Because they that are Enuious towards All are more Obnoxious and Officious towards One. But yet their Trust towards them hath rather beene as to good Spialls and good Whisperers then good Magistrates and Officers And much like is the Reason of Deformed Persons Still the Ground is they will if they be of Spirit seeke to free themselues from Scorne Which must be either by Vertue or Malice And therefore let it not be Maruelled if sometimes they proue Excellent Persons As was Agesilaus Zanger the Sonne of Solyman Aesope Gasca President of Peru And Socrates may goe likewise amongst them with Others Of Building XLV HOuses are built to Liue in and not to Looke on Therefore let Vse bee preferred before Vniformitie Except where both may be had Leaue the Goodly Fabrickes of Houses for Beautie only to the Enchanted Pallaces of the Poets Who build them with small Cost Hee that builds a faire House vpon an ill Seat committeth Himselfe to Prison Neither doe I reckon it an ill Seat only where the Aire is Vnwholsome But likewise where the Aire is vnequall As you shall see many Fine Seats set vpon a knap of Ground Enuironed with Higher Hilles round about it whereby the Heat of the Sunne is pent in and the Wind gathereth as in Troughes So as you shall haue and that suddenly as great Diuersitie of Heat and Cold as if you Dwelt in seuerall Places Neither is it ill Aire onely that maketh an ill Seat but Ill Wayes Ill Markets And if you will consult with Momus Ill Neighbours I speake not of many More Want of Water Want of Wood Shade and Shelter Want of Fruitfulnesse and mixture of Grounds of seuerall Natures Want of Prospect Want of Leuell Grounds Want of Places at some neare Distance for Sports of Hunting Hauking and Races Too neare the Sea too remote Hauing the Commoditie of Nauigable Riuers or the discommoditie of their Ouerflowing Too farre off from great Cities which may hinder Businesse Or too neare them which Lurcheth all Prouisions and maketh euery Thing deare Where a Man hath a great Liuing laid together and where he is scanted All which as it is impossible perhaps to finde together so it is good to know them and thinke of them that a Man may take as many as he can And if he haue seuerall Dwellings that he sort them so that what hee wanteth in the One hee may finde in the Other Lucullus answered Pompey well Who when hee saw his Stately Galleries and Roomes so Large and Lightsome in one of his Houses said Surely an excellent Place for Summer but how doe you in Winter Lucullus answered Why doe you not think me as wise as some Fowle are that euer change their Aboad towards the Winter To passe from the Seat to the House it selfe We will doe as Cicero doth in the Oratours Art Who writes Bookes De Oratore and a Booke he entitles Orator Whereof the Former deliuers the Precepts of the Art And the Latter the Perfection We will therefore describe a Princely Pallace making a briefe Modell thereof For it is strange to see now in Europe such Huge Buildings as the Vatican and Escuriall and some Others be and yet scarce a very Faire Roome in them First therefore I say you cannot haue a Perfect Pallace except you haue two seuerall Sides A Side for the Banquet as is spoken of in the Booke of Hester And a Side for the Houshold The One for Feasts and Triumphs and the Other for Dwelling I vnderstand both these Sides to be not onely Returnes but Parts of the Front And to be vniforme without though seuerally Partitioned within And to be on both Sides of a Great and Stately Tower in the Middest of the Front That as it were ioyneth them together on either Hand I would haue on the Side of the Banquet in Front
Consistories Ecclesiasticke The Churches and Monasteries with the Monuments which are therein extant The Wals and Fortifications of Cities and Townes And so the Hauens Harbours Antiquities and Ruines Libraries Colledges Disputations and Lectures where any are Shipping and Nauies Houses and Gardens of State and Pleasure neare great Cities Armories Arsenals Magazens Exchanges Burses Ware-houses Exercises of Horseman-ship Fencing Trayning of Souldiers and the like Comedies Such wherunto the better Sort of persons doe resort Treasuries of Iewels and Robes Cabinets and Rarities And to conclude whatsoeuer is memorable in the Places where they goe After all which the Tutors or Seruants ought to make diligent Enquirie As for Triumphs Masques Feasts Weddings Funeralls Capitall Execuons and such Shewes Men need not to be put in minde of thē Yet are they not to be neglected If you will haue a Young Man to put his Trauaile into a little Roome and in short time to gather much this you must doe First as was said he must haue some Entrance into the Language before he goeth Then he must haue such a Seruant or Tutor as knoweth the Country as was likewise said Let him carry with him also some Card or Booke describing the Country where he trauelleth which will be a good Key to his Enquiry Let him keepe also a Diary Let him not stay long in one Citty or Towne More or lesse as the place deserueth but not long Nay when he stayeth in one City or Towne let him change his Lodging from one End and Part of the Towne to another which is a great Adamant of Acquaintance Let him sequester himselfe from the Company of his Country men and diet in such Places where there is good Company of the Nation where he trauaileth Let him vpon his Remoues from one place to another procure Recommendation to some person of Quality residing in the Place whither he remoueth that he may vse his Fauour in those things he desireth to see or know Thus he may abridge his Trauaile with much profit As for the acquaintance which is to be sought in Trauaile That which is most of all profitable is Acquaintance with the Secretaries and Employd Men of Ambassadours For so in Trauailing in one Country he shall sucke the Experience of many Let him also see and visit Eminent Persons in all Kindes which are of great Name abroad That he may be able to tell how the Life agreeth with the Fame For Quarels they are with Care and Discretion to be auoided They are commonly for Mistresses Healths Place and Words And let a Man beware how he keepeth Company with Cholerick and Quarelsome Persons for they will engage him into their owne Quarels When a Trauailer returneth home let him not leaue the Countries where he hath Trauailed altogether behinde him But maintaine a Correspondence by letters with those of his Acquaintance which are of most Worth And let his Trauaile appeare rather in his Discourse then in his Apparrell or Gesture And in his Discourse let him be rather aduised in his Answers then forwards to tell Stories And let it appeare that he doth not change his Country Manners for those of Forraigne Parts But onely prick in some Flowers of that he hath Learned abroad into the Customes of his owne Country Of Empire XIX IT is a miserable State of Minde to haue few Things to desire and many Things to feare And yet that commonly is the Case of Kings Who being at the highest want Matter of desire which makes their Mindes more Languishing And haue many Representations of Perills and Shadowes which makes their Mindes the lesse cleare And this is one Reason also of that Effect which the Scripture speaketh of That the Kings Heart is inscrutable For Multitude of Iealousies and Lack of some predominant desire that should marshall and put in order all the rest maketh any Mans Heart hard to finde or sound Hence it comes likewise that Princes many times make themselues Desires and set their Hearts vpon toyes Sometimes vpon a Building Sometimes vpon Erecting of an Order Sometimes vpon the Aduancing of a Person Sometimes vpon obtaining Excellency in some Art or Feat of the Hand As Nero for playing on the Harpe Domitian for Certainty of the Hand with the Arrow Commodus for playing at Fence Caracalla for driuing Chariots and the like This seemeth incredible vnto those that know not the Principle That the Minde of Man is more cheared and refreshed by profiting in small things then by standing at a stay in great We see also that Kings that haue beene fortunate Conquerours in their first yeares it being not possible for them to goe forward infinitely but that they must haue some Checke or Arrest in their Fortunes turne in their latter yeares to be Superstitious and Melancholy As did Alexander the Great Dioclesian And in our memory Charles the fift And others For he that is vsed to goe forward and findeth a Stop falleth out of his owne fauour and is not the Thing he was To speake now of the true Temper of Empire It is a Thing rare hard to keep For both Temper Distemper consist of Contraries But it is one thing to mingle Contraries another to enterchange them The Answer of Apollonius to Vespasian is full of Excellent Instruction Vespasian asked him What was Neroes ouerthrow He answered Nero could touch and tune the Harpe well But in Gouernment sometimes he vsed to winde the pins too high sometimes to let them downe too low And certaine it is that Nothing destroieth Authority so much as the vnequall and vntimely Enterchange of Power Pressed too farre and Relaxed too much This is true that the wisdome of all these latter Times in Princes Affaires is rather fine Deliueries and Shiftings of Dangers and Mischiefes when they are neare then solid and grounded Courses to keepe them aloofe But this is but to try Masteries with Fortune And let men beware how they neglect and suffer Matter of Trouble to be prepared For no Man can forbid the Sparke nor tell whence it may come The difficulties in Princes Businesse are many and great But the greatest difficulty is often in their owne Minde For it is common with Princes saith Tacitus to will Contradictories Sunt plerumque Regum voluntates vehementes inter se contrariae For it is the Soloecisme of Power to thinke to Command the End and yet not to endure the Meane Kings haue to deale with their Neighbours their Wiues their Children their Prelates or Clergie their Nobles their Second-Nobles or Gentlemen their Merchants their Commons and their Men of Warre And from all these arise Dangers if Care and Circumspection be not vsed First for their Neighbours There can no generall Rule be giuen The Occasions are so variable saue one which euer holdeth which is That Princes doe keepe due Centinell that none of their Neighbours doe ouergrow so by Encrease of Territory by Embracing of Trade by Approaches or the like as they become more
put Life into Businesse And those that are of Solide and Sober Natures haue more of the Ballast then of the Saile In Fame of Learning the Flight will be slow without some Feathers of Ostentation Qui de contemnenda Gloria Libros scribunt Nomen suum inscribunt Socrates Aristotle Galen were Men full of Ostentation Certainly Vaine-Glory helpeth to Perpetuate a Mans Memory And Vertue was neuer so Beholding to Humane Nature as it receiued his due at the Second Hand Neither had the Fame of Cicero Seneca Plinius Secundus borne her Age so well if it had not been ioyned with some Vanity in themselues Like vnto Varnish that makes Seelings not onely Shine but Last But all this while when I speake of Vaine-Glory I meane not of that Property that Tacitus doth attribute to Mucianus Omnium quae dixerat feceratque Arte quadam Ostentator For that proceeds not of Vanity but of Naturall Magnanimity and discretion And in some Persons is not onely Comely but Gracious For Excusations Cessions Modesty it selfe well Gouerned are but Arts of Ostentation And amongst those Arts there is none better then that which Plinius Secundus speaketh of which is to be Liberall of Praise and Commendation to others in that wherein a Mans Selfe hath any Perfection For saith Pliny very Wittily In commending Another you doe your selfe right For he that you Commend is either Superiour to you in that you Commend or Inferiour If he be Inferiour if he be to be Commended you much more If he be Superiour if he be not to be commended you much lesse Glorious Men are the Scorne of Wise Men the Admiration of Fooles the Idols of Parasites And the Slaues of their own Vaunts Of Honour and Reputation LV. THe Winning of Honour is but the Reuealing of a Mans Vertue and Worth without Disaduantage For some in their Actions doe Wooe and affect Honour and Reputation Which Sort of Men are commonly much Talked of but inwardly little Admired And some contrariwise darken their Vertue in the Shew of it So as they be vnder-valued in opinion If a Man performe that which hath not beene attempted before Or attempted giuen ouer Or hath beene atchieued but not with so good Circumstance he shall purchase more Honour then by Effecting a Matter of greater Difficulty or Vertue wherein he is but a Follower If a Man so temper his Actions as in some one of them hee doth content euerie Faction or Combination of People the Musicke will bee the fuller A man is an ill Husband of his Honour that entreth into any Action the Failing wherein may disgrace him more then the Carying of it through can Honor him Honour that is gained and broken vpon Another hath the quickest Reflection Like Diamonds cut with Fascets And therefore let a Man contend to excell any Competitors of his in Honour in Out-shooting them if he can in their owne Bowe Discreet Followers and Seruants helpe much to Reputation Omnis Fama à Domesticis emanat Enuy which is the Canker of Honour is best extinguished by declaring a Mans Selfe in his Ends rather to seeke Merit then Fame And by Attributing a Mans Successes rather to diuine Prouidence and Felicity then to his owne Vertue or Policy The true Marshalling of the Degrees of Soueraigne Honour are these In the First Place are Conditores Imperiorum Founders of States and Common-Wealths Such as were Romulus Cyrus Caesar Ottoman Ismael In the Second Place are Legis-latores Law-giuers which are also called Second Founders or Perpetui Principes because they Gouerne by their Ordinances after they are gone Such were Lycurgus Solon Iustinian Eadgar Alphonsus of Castile the Wise that made the Siete Partidas In the Third Place are Liberatores or Saluatores Such as compound the long Miseries of Ciuill Warres or deliuer their Countries from Seruitude of Strangers or Tyrants As Augustus Caesar Vespasianus Aurelianus Theodoricus K. Henry the 7. of England K. Henry the 4. of France In the Fourth Place are Propagatores or Propugnatores Imperij Such as in Honourable Warres enlarge their Territories or make Noble defence against Inuaders And in the Last Place are Patres Patriae which reigne iustly make the Times good wherein they liue Both which last Kindes need no Examples they are in such Number Degrees of Honour in Subiects are First Participes Curarum Those vpon whom Princes doe discharge the greatest Weight of their Affaires Their Right Hands as we call them The Next are Duces Belli Great Leaders Such as are Princes Lieutenants and doe them Notable Seruices in the Warres The Third are Gratiosi Fauourites Such as exceed not this Scantling To be Solace to the Soueraigne and Harmelesse to the People And the Fourth Negotijs pares Such as haue great Places vnder Princes and execute their Places with Sufficiency There is an Honour likewise which may be ranked amongst the Greatest which happeneth rarely That is of such as Sacrifice themselues to Death or Danger for the Good of their Countrey As was M. Regulus and the Two Decij Of Iudicature LVI IVdges ought to remember that their Office is Ius dicere and not Ius dare To Interpret Law and not to Make Law or Giue Law Else will it be like the Authority claimed by the Church of Rome which vnder pretext of Exposition of Scripture doth not sticke to Adde and Alter And to Pronounce that which they doe not Finde And by Shew of Antiquitie to introduce Noueltie Iudges ought to be more Learned then Wittie More Reuerend then Plausible And more Aduised then Confident Aboue all Things Integritie is their Portion and Proper Vertue Cursed saith the Law is hee that remoueth the Land marke The Mislaier of a Meere Stone is to blame But it is the Vniust Iudge that is the Capitall Remouer of Land-markes when he Defineth amisse of Lands and Propertie One Foule Sentence doth more Hurt then many Foule Examples For these doe but Corrupt the Streame The other Corrupteth the Fountaine So saith Salomon Fons turbatus Vena corrupta est Iustus cadens in causâ suâ coram Aduersario The Office of Iudges may haue Reference Vnto the Parties that sue Vnto the Aduocates that Plead Vnto the Clerkes and Ministers of Iustice vnderneath them And to the Soueraigne or State aboue them First for the Causes or Parties that Sue There be saith the Scripture that turne Iudgement into Worme-wood And surely there be also that turne it into Vinegar For Iniustice maketh it Bitter and Delaies make it Soure The Principall Dutie of a Iudge is to suppresse Force and Fraud whereof Force is the more Pernicious when it is Open And Fraud when it is Close and Disguised Adde thereto Contentious Suits which ought to be spewed out as the Surfet of Courts A Iudge ought to prepare his Way to a Iust Sentence as God vseth to prepare his Way by Raising Valleys and Taking downe Hills So when there appeareth on either side an High Hand Violent Prosecution Cunning Aduantages taken