considerable People If your Liberty be not a Root that grows it will be a Branch that withers which consideration brings me to the Paragon the Commonwealth of Rome THE ways and means wherby the Romans acquir'd the Patronage and in that the Empire of the World were different according to the different condition of their Commonwealth in her rise and in her growth in her rise she proceded rather by Colonys in her growth by inequal Leagues Colonys without the bounds of Italy she planted none such dispersion of the Roman Citizen as to plant him in foren parts till the contrary Interest of the Emperors brought in that Practice was unlawful nor did she ever demolish any City within that compass or devest it of Liberty but wheras the most of them were Commonwealths stir'd up by emulation of her great felicity to war against her if she overcame any she confiscated som part of their Lands that were the greatest Incendiarys or causes of the Trouble upon which she planted Colonys of her own People preserving the rest of their Lands and Libertys for the Natives or Inhabitants By this way of proceding that I may be as brief as possible she did many and great things For in confirming of Liberty she propagated her Empire in holding the Inhabitants from Rebellion she put a curb upon the incursion of Enemys in exonerating her self oâ— the poorer sort she multiply'd her Citizens in rewarding her Veterans she render'd the rest less seditious and in acquiring to her self the reverence of a common Parent she from time to time became the Mother of newborn Citys IN her farther growth the way of her Propagation went more upon Leagues which for the first division were of two kinds Social and Provincial AGAIN Social Leagues or Leagues of Society were of two kinds THE first call'd Latinity or Latin the second Italian Right THE League between the Romans and the Latins or Latin Right approach'd nearest to Jus Quiritium or the Right of a native Roman The Man or the City that was honor'd with this Right was Civitate donatus cum suffragio adopted a Citizen of Rome with the right of giving Suffrage with the People in som cases as those of Confirmation of Law or Determination in Judicature if both the Consuls were agreed not otherwise wherfore that coming to little the greatest and most peculiar part of this Privilege was that who had born Magistracy at least that of Aedil or Quaestor in any Latin City was by consequence of the same a Citizen of Rome at all points ITALIAN Right was also a donation of the City but without Suffrage they who were in either of these Leagues were govern'd by their own Laws and Magistrats having all the Rights as to Liberty of Citizens of Rome yielding and paying to the Commonwealth as head of the League and having in the conduct of all Affairs appertaining to the common Cause such aid of Men and Mony as was particularly agreed to upon the merit of the Cause and specify'd in their respective Leagues whence such Leagues came to be call'd equal or inequal accordingly PROVINCIAL Leagues were of different extension according to the Merit and Capacity of a conquer'd People but they were all of one kind for every Province was govern'd by Roman Magistrats as a Praetor or a Proconsul according to the dignity of the Province for the Civil Administration and Conduct of the Provincial Army and a Quaestor for the gathering of the public Revenue from which Magistrats a Province might appeal to Rome FOR the better understanding of these Particulars I shall exemplify in as many of them as is needful and first in Macedon THE Macedonians were thrice conquer'd by the Romans first under the Conduct of TITUS QUINTUS FLAMINIUS secondly under that of LUCIUS AEMILIUS PAULUS and thirdly under that of QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS thence call'd MACEDONICUS FOR the first time PHILIP of Macedon who possest of Acrocorinthus boasted no less than was true that he had Greece in fetters being overcom by FLAMINIUS had his Kingdom restor'd to him upon condition that he should immediatly set all the Citys which he held in Greece and in Asia at liberty and that he should not make war out of Macedon but by leave of the Senat of Rome which PHILIP having no other way to save any thing agreed should be don accordingly THE Grecians being at this time assembl'd at the Isthmian Games where the Concourse was mighty great a Crier appointed to the office by FLAMINIUS was heard among them proclaiming all Greece to be free to which the People being amaz'd at so hopeless a thing gave little credit till they receiv'd such testimony of the truth as put it past all doubt wherupon they fell immediatly on running to the Proconsul with Flowers and Garlands and such violent expressions of their Admiration and Joy as if FLAMINIUS a young man about thirty three had not also bin very strong he must have dy'd of no other death than their kindness while every one striving to touch his hand they bore him up and down the field with an unruly throng full of such Ejaculations as these How Is there a People in the world that at their own charge at their own peril will fight for the Liberty of another Did they live at the next door to this fire Or what kind of men are these whose business it is to pass the Seas that the World may be govern'd with Righteousness The Citys of Greece and of Asia shake off their Iron Fetters at the voice of a Cryer Was it madness to imagin such a thing and is it don O Virtue O Felicity O Fame IN this Example your Lordships have a donation of Liberty or of Italian Right to a People by restitution to what they had formerly injoy'd and som particular Men Familys or Citys according to their merit of the Romans if not upon this yet upon the like occasions were gratify'd with Latinity BUT PHILIP'S share by this means did not please him wherfore the League was broken by his Son PERSEUS and the Macedonians therupon for the second time conquer'd by AEMILIUS PAULUS their King taken and they som time after the Victory summon'd to the Tribunal of the General where remembring how little hope they ought to have of Pardon they expected som dreadful Sentence When AEMILIUS in the first place declar'd the Macedonians to be free in the full possession of their Lands Goods and Laws with Right to elect annual Magistrats yielding and paying to the People of Rome one half of the Tribute which they were accustom'd to pay to their own Kings This don he went on making so skilful a division of the Country in order to the methodizing of the People and casting them into a form of popular Government that the Macedonians being first surpriz'd with the Virtue of the Romans began now to alter the scene of their Admiration that a Stranger should do such things for them in their own
to complete what was wanting And if at any time they alleg'd that this Bounty had bin thrown away on ungrateful Persons he would answer with a smile that he saw they were mercenary and that they plainly sold their Gifts since they expected so great a return as Gratitude 8. HIS natural inclinations to study kept him from seeking after any publick Imployments But in the year 1646 attending out of curiosity the Commissioners appointed by Parlament to bring King CHARLES the First from Newcastle nearer to London he was by som of 'em nam'd to wait on his Majesty as a Person known to him before and ingag'd to no Party or Faction The King approv'd the Proposal yet our Author would never presume to com into his presence except in public till he was particularly commanded by the King and that he with THOMAS HERBERT created a Baronet after the Restoration of the Monarchy were made Grooms of the Bedchamber at Holmby together with JAMES MAXWELL and PATRICK MAULE afterwards Earl of Penmoore in Scotland which two only remain'd of his old Servants in that Station 9. HE had the good luck to grow very acceptable to the King who much convers'd with him about Books and Foren Countrys In his Sisters Papers I find it exprest that at the King's command he translated into English Dr. SANDERSONS Book concerning the Obligation of Oaths but ANTHONY WOOD says it was the King's own doing and that he shew'd it at different times to HARRINGTON HERBERT Dr. JUXON Dr. HAMMOND and Dr. SHELDON for their approbation However that be 't is certain he serv'd his Master with untainted fidelity without doing any thing inconsistent with the Liberty of his Country and that he made use of his Interest with his Friends in Parlament to have Matters accommodated for the satisfaction of all Partys During the Treaty in the I le of Wight he frequently warn'd the Divines of his acquaintance to take heed how far they prest the King to insist upon any thing which however it concern'd their Dignity was no essential point of Religion and that such matters driven too far wou'd infallibly ruin all the indeavors us'd for a Peace which Prophecy was prov'd too true by the Event His Majesty lov'd his company says ANTHONY WOOD and finding him to be an ingenious Man chose rather to converse with him than with others of his Chamber They had often discourses concerning Government but when they happen'd to talk of a Commonwealth the King seem'd not to indure it Here I know not which most to commend the King for trusting a Man of Republican Principles or HARRINGTON for owning his Principles while he serv'd a King 10. AFTER the King was remov'd out of the I le of Wight to Hurstcastle in Hampshire HARRINGTON was forcibly turn'd out of service because he vindicated som of his Majesty's Arguments against the Parlament Commissioners at Newport and thought his Concessions not so unsatisfactory as did som others As they were taking the King to Windsor he beg'd admittance to the Boot of the Coach that he might bid his Master farewel which being granted and he preparing to kneel the King took him by the hand and pull'd him in to him He was for three or four days permitted to stay but because he would not take an Oath against assisting or concealing the King's Escape he was not only discharg'd from his Office but also for som time detain'd in custody till Major General IRETON obtain'd his Liberty He afterwards found means to see the King at St. James's and accompany'd him on the Scaffold where or a little before he receiv'd a Token of his Majesty's Affection 11. AFTER the King's Death he was observ'd to keep much in his Library and more retir'd than usually which was by his Friends a long time attributed to Melancholy or Discontent At length when they weary'd him with their importunitys to change this sort of Life he thought fit to shew 'em at the same time their mistake and a Copy of his Oceana which he was privatly writing all that while telling 'em withal that ever since he began to examin things seriously he had principally addicted himself to the study of Civil Government as being of the highest importance to the Peace and Felicity of mankind and that he succeded at least to his own satisfaction being now convinc'd that no Government is of so accidental or arbitrary an Institution as people are wont to imagin there being in Societys natural causes producing their necessary effects as well as in the Earth or the Air. Hence he frequently argu'd that the Troubles of his time were not to be wholly attributed to wilfulness or faction neither to the misgovernment of the Prince nor the stubborness of the People but to a change in the Balance of Property which ever since HENRY the Seventh's time was daily falling into the Scale of the Commons from that of the King and the Lords as in his Book he evidently demonstrats and explains Not that hereby he approv'd either the Breaches which the King had made on the Laws or excus'd the Severity which som of the Subjects exercis'd on the King but to shew that as long as the Causes of these Disorders remain'd so long would the like Effects unavoidably follow while on the one hand a King would be always indeavoring to govern according to the example of his Predecessors when the best part of the National Property was in their own hands and consequently the greatest command of Mony and Men as one of a thousand pounds a Year can entertain more Servants or influence more Tenants than another that has but one hundred out of which he cannot allow one Valet and on the other hand he said the People would be sure to struggle for preserving the Property wherof they were in possession never failing to obtain more Privileges and to inlarge the Basis of their Liberty as often as they met with any success which they generally did in quarrels of this kind His chief aim therfore was to find out a method of preventing such Distempers or to apply the best Remedys when they happen'd to break out But as long as the Balance remain'd in this unequal state he affirm'd that no King whatsoever could keep himself easy let him never so much indeavor to please his People and that tho a good King might manage Affairs tolerably well during his life yet this did not prove the Government to be good since under a less prudent Prince it would fall to pieces again while the Orders of a well constituted State make wicked men virtuous and fools to act wisely 12. THAT Empire follows the Balance of Property whether lodg'd in one in a few or in many hands he was the first that ever made out and is a noble Discovery wherof the Honor solely belongs to him as much as those of the Circulation of the Blood of Printing of Guns of the Compass or of Optic Glasses to their several
frustated which made the King willinger to assist ALPIN in his pretension to the Kingdom of Picts in which Attemt he was drown'd and left to ALPIN that which he before had so nobly refus'd who making use of the former rais'd an Army beat the Picts in many signal Victorys but at last was slain by them leaving his name to the place of his Death and the Kingdom to his Son KENNETH This man seeing the People broken with the late War and unwilling to fight drew them on by this Subtilty he invites the Nobility to dinner and after plying them with Drink till midnight leaves them sleeping on the floor as the manner was and then hanging Fishskins about the Walls of the Chamber and making one speak thro a Tube and call them to war they waking and half asleep suppos'd somthing of Divinity to be in it aud the next morning not only consented to War but so strange is deluded imagination with unspeakable Courage fell upon the Enemy and put them to the rout which being confirm'd by other great Victorys utterly ruin'd the Pictish Name This man may be added to the two FERGUSES and truly may be said to be the Founder of the Scots Empire not only in making that the middle of his Dominion which was once the bounds but in confirming his Acquisitions with good Laws having the opportunity of a long Peace which was sixteen years his whole time of Government being twenty This was he that plac'd that Stone famous for that illusory Prophecy Ni fallat fatum c. which first was brought out of Spain into Ireland and from thence into Argyle at Scoon where he put it in a Chair in which all his Successors till EDWARD the First brought it away were crown'd and since that all the Kings of England till the happiness of our Commonwealth made it useless His Brother DONALD was his Successor a man made up of extremitys of Virtues and Vices no man had more bravery in the Field nor more Vice at home which increasing with his yeras the Nobility put him in prison where either for fear or scorn he put an end to his days leaving behind him his Brother CONSTANTIN a Man wanting nothing of him but his Vices who strugling with a potent Enemy for the Picts had call'd in the Danes and driving them much into despair a Bravery that has not seldom rain'd many excellent Captains was taken by them put into a little Cave and there slain He was succeded by ETHUS his Brother who had all his eldest Brother's Vices and none of his second 's Virtues Nature it seems making two extremes and a middle in the three Brethren This man voluptuous and cowardly was forc'd to resign or as others say dy'd of Wounds receiv'd in a Duel from his Successor who was GREGORY Son of DONGAL who was not only an excellent Man but an excellent Prince that both recover'd what the others had lost and victoriously travers'd the Northern Countys of England and a great part of Ireland of whose King a Minor and in his power he generously made no advantage but settled his Country and provided faithful and able Guardians for him These things justly yield him the name of Great DONALD Son of CONSTANTIN the Second by his recommendation succeded in his Power and Virtues notwithstanding some say he was remov'd by Poison Next was CONSTANTIN the the Third Son of ETHUS an unstable person who assisted the Danes which none of his Predecessors would do and after they had deserted him basely yet yielded them Succors consisting of the chief of the Scots Nobility which with the whole Danish Army were routed by the Saxons This struck him so that he retir'd among the Culdys which were as the Greec Caloyers or Romish Monks at this day and there bury'd himself alive After him was MILCOM Son of DONALD the Third who tho a good Prince and well skil'd in the Arts of Peace was slain by a Conspiracy of those to whom his Virtue was burdensom His Successor was INDULF by what Title I find not who fighting with the Danes that with a Navy unexpectedly came into the Frith was slain DUF his Son succedes famous for an Accident which if it be true seems nearly distant from a Fable He was suddenly afflicted by a sweating Disease by which he painfully languish'd yet no body could find the cause till at last a Girl that had scatter'd som words after torments confest that her Mother and som other women had made an Image of Wax which as it wasted the King should wast by sweating much the place being diligently search'd it was found accordingly so the Image being broke he instantly recover'd That which disturb'd his five years Reign was the turbulency of the Northern People whom when he had reduc'd and taken with intent to make exemplary Punishment DONALD the Commander of the Castle of Forres where he then lay interceded for som of them but being repuls'd and exasperated by his Wife after he had made all his Servants drunk slew him in his Bed and bury'd him under a little Bridg lest the cutting of Turfs might discover a Grave near Kilros Abby tho others say he turn'd aside a River and after he had bury'd him suffer'd it to take its former Chanel CULEN the Son of INDULF by the Election of Parlament or Convention of the People succeded good only in this one Action of inquiring and punishing his Predecessor's Death but after by the neglect of Discipline and the exquisiteness of his Vices became a Monster and so continued three years till being weakned and exhausted in his Body and vext with perpetual Diseases he was summon'd by the Parlament and in the way was slain by a Thane so they then call'd Lieutenants of Counties whose Daughter he had ravish'd THEN came KENETH Brother to DUF tho the forepart of his Reign was totally unlike his who being invaded by the Danes beat them in that famous Battle which was won by the three HAYS Husbandmen from whom all the HAYS now give three Shields Gules who with their Sythes reinforc'd the lost Battle but in his latter time he lost this reputation by poisoning MILCOLM Son of DUF to preserve the Crown for a Son of his Name tho of less merit for says BUCHANAN They use to chuse the fittest not the nearest which being don he got ordain'd in a Parlament that the Succession should be lineal the Son should inherit and be call'd Prince of Scots and if he were a Minor be govern'd by som wise Man here coms the pretence of Succession wheras before it was clearly Elective and at fifteen he should chuse his Guardian himself But the Divine Vengeance which seldom even in this life passes by Murder overtook him for he was ensnar'd by a Lady whose Son he had caus'd to be executed and slain by an Arrow out of an Ambush she had laid CONSTANTIN the Son of CULEN notwithstanding all the Artifice of KENNETH by his reasoning
and refin'd Judgment in many others and knowing that he that had so many able Wits at command might easily give their Oracles thro his Mouth But suppose the things generous and fit to live as I am not yet convinc'd yet what commendation is this to a King who should have other business than spinning and weaving fine Theorys and engaging in School Chiquaneries which was well understood by HENRY the Fourth who hearing som men celebrat him with these Attributes yes answer'd he very tartly He is a fine King and writes little Books 'T IS true he was a good Drol and possibly after Greec Wine somwhat factious But of his substantial and heroic Wisdom I have not heard any great Instances He himself us'd to brag of his King-craft which was not to render his People happy and to prosecute the ends of a good King but to scrue up the Prerogative divert Parlaments from the due disquisition and prosecution of their Freedoms and to break them up at pleasure and indeed his parting with the Cautionary Towns of the Low Countrys and that for so small a Sum shew'd him a Person not so quicksighted or unfit to be overreach'd FOR his peaceable Reign honorable and just Quarrels he wanted not but sloth and cowardice witheld him and indeed the ease and luxury of those times fomented and nourish'd those lurking and pestilent humors which afterwards so dangerously broke out in his Son's Reign WE shall not trouble his Ashes with the mention of his personal Faults only if we may compare God's Judgments with apparent Sins we may find the latter end of his Life neither fortunat nor comfortable to him His Wife distasted by him and som say languishing of a soul Disease his eldest Son dying with too violent symtoms of Poison and that as is fear'd by a hand too much ally'd his second against whom he ever had a secret antipathy scarce return'd from a mad and dangerous Voyage his Daughter all that was left of that Sex banish'd with her numerous Issue out of her Husband's Dominion and living in miserable Exile and lastly himself dying of a violent death by poison in which his Son was more than suspected to have a hand as may be infer'd from BUCKINGHAM'S Plea that he did it by the Command of the Prince and CHARLES'S dissolution of the Parlament that took in hand to examin it and lastly his indifferency at Buckingham's death tho he pretended all love to him alive as glad to be rid of so dangerous and so considerable a Partner of his Guilt Yet the miter'd Parasits of those times could say that one went to Heaven in Noah's Ark the other in Elisha's Chariot he dying of a pretended Fever she as they said of a Dropsy CHARLES having now obtain'd his Brother's Inheritance carry'd himself in managing of it like one that gain'd it as he did The first of his Acts was that glorious attemt upon the I le of Rhee The next that Noble and Christian betraying of Rochel and consequently in a manner the whole Protestant Interest in France The middle of the Reign was heightening of Prerogative and Prelacy and conforming our Churches to the pattern of Rome till at last just Indignation brought his Subjects of Scotland into England and so forc'd him to call a Parlament which tho he shamelesly says in the first line of the Book call'd his was out of his own inclination to Parlaments yet how well he lik'd them may appear by his first tampering with his own Army in the North to surprize and dissolve them then with the Scots who at that time were Court proof then raising up the Irish Rebellion which has wasted millions of Lives and lastly his open secession from Westminster and hostility against the two Houses which maintain'd a first and second sharp War that had almost ruin'd the Nation had not Providence in a manner immediatly interpos'd and rescu'd us to Liberty and made us such signal Instruments of his Vengeance that all wicked Kings may tremble at the example IN a word never was Man so resolute and obstinat in a Tyranny never People more strangely besotted with it To paint the Image of DAVID with his face and blasphemously to parallel him with CHRIST would make one at first thought think him a Saint But to compare his Protestations and Actions his Actions of the Day his Actions of the Night his Protestant Religion and his courting of the Pope and obedience to his Wife we may justly say he was one of the most consummat in the Arts of Tyranny that ever was And it could be no other than God's hand that arrested him in the height of his Designs and Greatness and cut off him and his Family making good his own Imprecations on his own Head OUR Scene is again in Scotland which has accepted his Son whom for distinction sake we will be content to call CHARLES the Second Certainly these People were strangely blind as to God's Judgment perpetually pour'd out upon a Family or else wonderfully addicted to their own Interest to admit the spray of such a stock one that has so little to commend him and so great improbability to further their Designs and Happiness a Popish Education if not Religion too however for the present he may seem to dissemble it France the Jesuits and his Mother good means of such an improvement the dangerous Maxims of his Father besides the Revenge he ows his Death of which he will never totally acquit the Scots his Hate to the whole Nation his Sense of MONTROSE'S Death his backwardness to com to them till all other means fail'd both his foren beg'd Assistances his Propositions to the Pope and Commissions to MONTROSE and lastly his late running away to his old Friends in the North so that any man may see his present compliance to be but histrionical and forc'd and that as soon as he has led them into the Snare and got power into his own hands so as that he may appear once more bare-fac'd he will be a scourge upon them for their gross Hypocrisy and leave them a sad Instance to all Nations how dangerous it is to espouse such an Interest against which God with so visible and severe a hand dos fight carry'd on by and for the support of a tyrannizing Nobility and Clergy and wherin the poor People are blindly led on by those afrighting but false and ungrounded pretensions of Perfidy and Perjury and made instrumental with their own Estates and Blood towards inslaving and ruining themselves THE Commonwealth OF OCEANA To his HIGHNESS The Lord Protector of the Common-wealth of England Scotland and Ireland Quid rides mutato nomine de te Fabula narratur Horat. The Introduction or Order of the Work Pliny's Description of Oceana OCEANA is saluted by the Panegyrist after this manner O the most blest and fortunat of all Countrys OCEANA How deservedly has Nature with the bountys of Heaven and Earth indu'd thee Thy ever-fruitful
to writing or gos about to satisfy others with such Reasons as he is not satisfy'd with himself is no more a Gentleman but a Pickpocket with this in my mind I betake my self to my work or rather to draw open the Curtain and begin the Play ONE that has written Considerations upon OCEANA speaks the Prolog in this manner I beseech you Gentlemen are not we the Writers Epist of Politics somwhat a ridiculous sort of People Is it not a fine piece of Folly for privat men sitting in their Cabinets to rack their brains about Models of Government Certainly our Labors make a very pleasant recreation for those great Personages who sitting at the Helm of Affairs have by their large Experience not only acquir'd the perfect Art of Ruling but have attain'd also to the comprehension of the Nature and Foundation of Government In which egregious Complement the Considerer has lost his considering Cap. IT was in the time of ALEXANDER the greatest Prince and Commander of his age that ARISTOTLE with scarce inferior Applause and equal Fame being a privat man wrote that excellent piece of Prudence in his Cabinet which is call'd his Politics going upon far other Principles than those of ALEXANDER'S Government which it has long outliv'd The like did TITUS LIVIUS in the time of AUGUSTUS Sir THOMAS MOOR in the time of HENRY the Eighth and MACCHIAVEL when Italy was under Princes that afforded him not the ear These Works nevertheless are all of the most esteem'd and applauded in this kind nor have I found any man whose like Indeavors have bin persecuted since PLATO by DIONYSIUS I study not without great Examples nor out of my Calling either Arms or this Art being the proper Trade of a Gentleman A man may be intrusted with a Ship and a good Pilot too yet not understand how to make Sea-charts To say that a man may not write of Government except he be a Magistrat is as absurd as to say that a man may not make a Sea-chart unless he be a Pilot. It is known that CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS made a Chart in his Cabinet that found out the Indys The Magistrat that was good at his Steerage never took it ill of him that brought him a Chart seeing whether he would use it or no was at his own choice and if Flatterers being the worst sort of Crows did not pick out the eys of the living the Ship of Government at this day throout Christendom had not struck so often as she has don To treat of Affairs Arte della Guer. â—roem says MACCHIAVEL which as to the conduct of 'em appertain to others may be thought a great boldness but if I commit Errors in writing these may be known without danger wheras if they commit Errors in acting such com not otherwise to be known than in the ruin of the Commonwealth For which cause I presume to open the Scene of my Discourse which is to change according to the variety of these following Questions 1. WHETHER Prudence be well distinguish'd into Antient and Modern 2. WHETHER a Commonwealth be rightly defin'd to be a Government of Laws and not of Men and Monarchy to be a Government of som Man or a few Men and not of Laws 3. WHETHER the Balance of Dominion in Land be the natural cause of Empire 4. WHETHER the Balance of Empire be well divided into National and Provincial and whether these two or any Nations that are of distinct Balance coming to depend upon one and the same head such a mixture creates a new Balance 5. WHETHER there be any common Right or Interest of Mankind distinct from the parts taken severally and how by the Orders of a Commonwealth this may best be distinguish'd from privat Interest 6. WHETHER the Senatusconsulta or Decrees of the Roman Senat had the power of Laws 7. WHETHER the ten Commandments propos'd by GOD or MOSES were voted by the People of Israel 8. WHETHER a Commonwealth coming up to the perfection of the kind coms not up to the perfection of Government and has no flaw in it 9. WHETHER Monarchy coming up to the perfection of the kind coms not short of the perfection of Government and has not som flaw in it in which is also treated of the Balance of France of the Original of a landed Clergy of Arms and their kinds 10. WHETHER a Commonwealth that was not first broken by it self was ever conquer'd by any Monarch 11. WHETHER there be not an Agrarian or som Law or Laws of that nature to supply the defect of it in every Commonwealth and whether the Agrarian as it is stated in Oceana be not equal and satisfactory to all Interests or Partys 12. WHETHER Courses or a Rotation be necessary to a well-order'd Commonwealth In which is contain'd the Parembole or Courses of Israel before the Captivity together with an Epitome of the whole Commonwealth of Athens as also another of the Common-wealth of Venice Antient and Modern Prudence Chap. 1 CHAP. I. Whether Prudence be well distinguish'd into Antient and Modern THE Considerer where by Antient Prudence I understand the Policy of a Commonwealth and by Modern Prudence that of King Lords and Commons which introduc'd by the Goths and Vandals upon the ruin of the Roman Empire has since reign'd in these Western Countrys till by the predominating of som one of the three parts it be now almost universally extinguish'd thinks it enough for the confutation of this distinction to shew out of THUCYDIDES that of Monarchy to be a more antient Policy than that of a Commonwealth Upon which occasion I must begin here to discover that which the further I go will be the more manifest namely that there is a difference between quoting Authors and saying som part of them without book this may be don by their words but the former no otherwise than by keeping to their sense Now the sense of THUCYDIDES as he is translated by Mr. HOBBS in the place alleg'd is thus The manner says he Thu. B. 1. P. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. of living in the most antient times of Greece was Thieving the stronger going abroad under the conduct of their most puissant Men both to inrich themselves and fetch home maintenance for the weak for there was neither Traffic property of Lands nor constant Abode till MINOS built a Navy and expelling the Malefactors out of the Islands planted Colonys of his own by which means they who inhabited the Seacoasts becoming more addicted to Riches grew more constant to their dwellings of whom som grown now rich compass'd their Towns about with Walls For out of a desire of Gain the meaner sort underwent Servitude with the Mighty and the Mighty thus overbalancing at home with their Wealth brought the lesser Citys abroad into subjection Thus PELOPS tho he was a stranger obtain'd such Power in Peloponnesus that the Country was call'd after his name Thus ATREUS obtain'd the Kingdom of Mycenae and thus Kingdoms
in Asia the scene of our present Discourse where the same PAUL of whom we are speaking being born at Tarsus a City oâ— Cilicia that had acquir'd like or greater Privilege by the same bounty was also a Citizen of Rome than in Greece Asia is understood in three significations First for the third part of the World answering to Europe and Africa Secondly for that part of Asia which is now call'd Natolia Thirdly for that part of it which ATTALUS King of Pergamum dying without Heirs bequeath'd and left to the People of Rome this contain'd Mysia Phrygia Aeolis Ionia Caria Doris Lydia Lycaonia Pisidia and by consequence the Citys wherof we are speaking To all these Countrys the Romans gave their Liberty till in favor of ARISTONICUS the Bastard of EUMENES many of them taking Arms they were recover'd brought into subjection and fram'd into a Province WHEN a Consul had conquer'd a Country and the Romans intended to form it into a Province it was the custom of the Senat to send decem Legatos ten of their Members who with the Consul had power to introduce and establish their provincial way of Government In this manner Asia was form'd by MARCUS AQUILLIUS Consul afterwards so excellently reform'd by SCAEVOLA that the Senat in their Edicts us'd to propose his example to succeding Magistrats and the Inhabitants to celebrat a Feast to his Name Nevertheless MITHRIDATES King of Pontus all the Romans in this Province being massacred in one day came to possess himself of it till it was recover'd at several times by SYLLA MURENA LUCULLUS and POMPEY The Romans in framing a Country into a Province were not accustom'd to deal with all the Inhabitants of the same in a like manner but differently according to their different merit Thus divers Citys in this were left free by SYLLA as those of the Ilienses the Chians Rhodians Lycians and Magnesians with the Cyzicens tho the last of these afterwards for their practices against the Romans forfeited their Liberty to TIBERIUS in whose Reign they were for this reason depriv'd of the same TAKING Asia in the first sense that is for one third part of the World the next Province of the Romans in this Country was Cilicia containing Pamphylia Isauria and Cilicia more peculiarly so call'd Here CICERO was somtimes Proconsul in honor to whom part of Book II Phrygia with Pisidia and Lycaonia were taken from the former and added to this Jurisdiction by which means the Citys wherof we are speaking came to be of this Province Adjoining hereto was the Commonwealth of the Lycians which the Romans left free into this also the City of Attalia by som is computed but Iconium both by STRABO â—â—ist and CICERO the latter wherof being Proconsul in his Journy from Laodicea was receiv'd by the Magistrats and Deputys of this City Lysâ—ra and Derbe being Citys of Lycaonia must also have bin of the same Province Next to the Province of Cilicia was that of Syria containing Comagene Seleucis Phoenicia Coelosyria and Judea or Palestin In Seleucis were the four famous Citys Seleucia Antiochia Apamea the last intire in her Liberty and Laodicea Comagene and Judea were under Kings and not fram'd into Provinces till in the time of the Emperors THE fourth Province of the Romans in Asia was that of Bithynia with Pontus these were all acquir'd or confirm'd by the Victorys of POMPEY the Great STRABO who was a Cappadocian born at Amasia relates a story worthy to â—e remember'd in this place From the time says he that the Romans having conquer'd ANTIOCHUS became Moderators of Asia they contracted Leagues of Amity with divers Nations where there were Kings the honor of address was defer'd to them with whom the Treatys that concern'd their Countrys were concluded But as concerning the Cappadocians they treated with the whole Nation for which cause the Royal Line of this Realm coming afterwards to fail the Romans gave the People their freedom or leave to live under their own Laws and when the People hereupon sending Embassadors to Rome renounc'd their Liberty being that to them which they said was intolerable and demanded a King the Romans amaz'd there should be men that could so far despair permitted them to chuse of their Nation whom they pleas'd so ARIOBARZANES was chosen whose Line again in the third Generation coming to fail ARCHELAUS was made King by ANTONY where you may observe in passing that the Romans impos'd not Monarchical Government but for that matter us'd to leave a People as they found them Thus at the same time they left PONTUS under King MITHRIDATES who not containing himself within his bounds but extending them afterwards as far as Colchis and Armenia the Less was reduc'd to his terms by POMPEY who devesting him of those Countrys which he had usurp'd distributed som part of them to such Princes as had assisted the Romans in that War and divided the rest into twelve Common-wealths of which added to Bithynia he made one Province When the Roman Emperors became Monarchs they also upon like occasions made other distributions constituting Kings Princes and Citys som more som less som wholly free and others in subjection to themselves Thus came a good if not the greater part of the Citys in the Lesser Asia and the other adjoining Provinces to be som more som less free but the most of them to remain Commonwealths or to be erected into popular Governments as appears yet clearer by the intercourse of PLINY while he was Pretor or Governor of Bithynia with his Master the Emperor TRAJAN a piece of which I have inserted in the Letters following PINY to TRAJAN Chap. 2 SIR Plin. Epist l. 10. IT is provided by POMPEY'S Laws for the Bithynians that no man under thirty years of Age be capable of Magistracy or of the Senat by the same it is also establish'd that they who have born Magistracy may be Senators Now because by a latter Edict of AUGUSTUS the lesser Magistracys may be born by such as are above one and twenty there remains with me these doubts whether he that being under thirty has born Magistracy may be elected by the Censors into the Senat and if he may whether of those also that have not born Magistracy a man being above one and twenty seeing at that age he may bear Magistracy may not by the same interpretation be elected into the Senat tho he has not born it which is here practis'd and pretended to be necessary because it is somwhat better they say that the Senat be fill'd with the Children of good Familys than with the lower sort My opinion being ask'd upon these points by the new Censors I thought such as being under thirty have born Magistracy both of POMPEY'S Laws and the Edict of AUGUSTUS to be capable of the Senat seeing the Edict allows a man under thirty to bear Magistracy and the Law a man that has born Magistracy to be a Senator But as to those that have
the Heavens are the Lords but the Earth has he given to the Children of Men Yet says God to the Father of these Children In the sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat thy Bread Dii laborantibus sua munera vendunt This Donation of the Earth to Man coms to a kind of selling it for INDUSTRY a Treasure which seems to purchase of God himself From the different kinds and successes of this Industry whether in Arms or in other Exercises of the Mind or Body derives the natural equity of Dominion or Property and from the legal establishment or distribution of this Property be it more or less approaching towards the natural equity of the same procedes all Government The balance of Empire consists in Property THE distribution of Property so far as it regards the nature or procreation of Government lys in the overbalance of the same Just as a man who has two thousand pounds a year may have a Retinue and consequently a Strength that is three times greater than his who injoys but five hundred pounds a year Not to speak at this time of Mony which in small Territorys may be of a like effect but to insist upon the main which is Property in Land the overbalance of this as it was at first constituted or coms insensibly to be chang'd in a Nation may be especially of three kinds that is in One in the Few or in the Many The generation of Absolute Monarchy THE overbalance of Land three to one or therabouts in one Man against the whole People creates Absolute Monarchy as when JOSEPH had purchas'd all the Lands of the Aegyptians for PHARAOH The Constitution of a People in this and such cases is capable of intire servitude Buy us and our Land for Bread and we and Gen. 47. 19. our Land will be Servants to PHARAOH The generation of Regulated Monarchy 1 Sam. 8. THE overbalance of Land to the same proportion in the Few against the whole People creates Aristocracy or Regulated Monarchy as of late in England And hereupon says SAMUEL to the People of Israel when they would have a King He will take your Fields even the best of them and give them to his Servants The constitution of a People in this and the like cases is * Nec totam libertatem nec totam servitutem pati possunt Tacit. neither capable of intire Liberty nor of intire Servitude The generation of Popular Government THE overbalance of Land to the same proportion in the People or where neither one nor the few overbalance the whole People creates Popular Government as in the division of the Land of Canaan to the whole People of Israel by lot The constitution of a People in this and the like cases is capable of intire Freedom nay not capable of any other settlement it being certain that if a Monarch or single Person in such a State thro the corruption or improvidence of their Counsils might carry it yet by the irresistible force of Nature or the reason alleg'd by MOSES I am not able to bear all this People alone Numb 11. 14. Book I because it is too heavy for me he could not keep it but out of the deep Waters would cry to them whose feet he had stuck in the mire Of the Militia and of the Negative Voice WHEREVER the balance of a Government lys there naturally is the Militia of the same and against him or them wherin the Militia is naturally lodg'd there can be no negative Vote IF a Prince holds the overbalance as in Turky in him is the Militia as the Janizarys and Timariots If a Nobility has the over-balance the Militia is in them as among us was seen in the Barons Wars and those of York and Lancaster and in France is seen when any considerable part of that Nobility rebelling they are not to be reduc'd but by the major part of their Order adhering to the King IF the People has the overbalance which they had in Israel the Judg. 20. Militia is in them as in the four hundred thousand first decreing and then waging War against Benjamin Where it may be inquir'd what Power there was on earth having a Negative Voice to this Assembly This always holds where there is Settlement or where a Government is natural Where there is no Settlement or where the Government is unnatural it procedes from one of these two causes either an imperfection in the Balance or else such a corruption in the Lawgivers wherby a Government is instituted contrary to the Balance Imperfect Government IMPERFECTIONS of the Balance that is where it is not good or down weight cause imperfect Governments as those of the Roman and of the Florentin People and those of the Hebrew Kings and Roman Emperors being each exceding bloody or at least turbulent Tyranny Oligarchy Anarchy GOVERNMENT against the balance in One is Tyranny as that of the Athenian PISISTRATUS in the Few it is Oligarchy as that of the Roman DECEMVIRS in the Many Anarchy as that under the Neapolitan MAZINELLO The Divine right of Government WHEREVER thro Causes unforeseen by Human Providence the Balance coms to be intirely chang'd it is the more immediatly to be attributed to Divine Providence And since God cannot will the necessary cause but he must also will the necessary effect or consequence what Government soever is in the necessary direction of the Balance the same is of Divine Right Wherfore tho of the Israelits God says â—os 8. 4. They have set up Kings but not by me they have made Princes and I knew it not yet to the small Countries adjoining to the Assyrian Empire â—â—r 27. 6 17. he says Now have I given all these Lands into the hand of the King of Babylon my Servant Serve the King of Babylon and live CHAP. II. Shewing the variation of the English Balance THE Land in possession of the Nobility and Clergy of England till HENRY 7 th cannot be esteem'd to have overbalanc'd those held by the People less than four to one Wheras in our days the Clergy being destroy'd the Lands in possession of the People overbalance those held by the Nobility at least nine in ten In shewing how this change came about som would have it that I assume to my self more than my share tho they do not find me delivering that which must rely upon Authority and not vouching my Authors But HENRY the Seventh being conscious of infirmity in his Title yet finding with what strength and vigor he was brought in by the Nobility Chap. 2 conceiv'd jealousys of the like Power in case of a decay or change of Affections Nondum orbis adoraverat Romam The Lords yet led Country lives their Houses were open to Retainers Men experienc'd in Military Affairs and capable of commanding their Hospitality was the delight of their Tenants who by their Tenures or Dependence were oblig'd to follow their Lords in Arms.
any thing wherof they were in actual possession yet as to their legal Right took he from them as SAMUEL had forewarn'd their Fields their Vinyards and their Oliveyards even the best of them and gave them to his Servants or to a Nobility which by this means he introduc'd 2 Sam. 23. 1 Chron. 11. THE first Order of the Nobility thus instituted were as they are term'd by our Translators DAVID'S Worthys to these may be added the great Officers of his Realm and Court with such as sprang out of both But however these things by advantage of foren Conquest might be order'd by DAVID or continu'd for the time of his next Successor certain it is that the balance of Monarchy in so small a Country must be altogether insufficient to it self or destructive to the People A Parallel of the Monarchichal Balances in Israel and in Lacedemon Plutarch in Agis and Cleomenes THE Commonwealth of Lacedemon being founded by LYCURGUS Sect. 3 upon the like Lots with these design'd by MOSES came after the spoil of Athens to be destroy'd by Purchasers and brought into one hundred hands wherupon the People being rooted out there remain'd no more to the two Kings who were wont to go out with great Armys than one hundred Lords nor any way if they were invaded to defend themselves but by Mercenarys or making War upon the Penny which at the farthest it would go not computing the difference in Disciplin reach'd not in one third those Forces which the popular Balance could at any time have afforded without Mony This som of those Kings perceiving were of all others the most earnest to return to the popular Balance What Disorders in a Country no bigger than was theirs or this of the Israelits must in case the like course be not taken of necessity follow may be at large perus'd in the story of Lacedemon and shall be fully shewn when I com to the story of the present Kings The Superstructures of the Hebrew Monarchy FOR the Superstructures of DAVID'S Government it has bin Sect. 4 shewn at large what the Congregation of Israel was and that without the Congregation of Israel and their Result there was not any Law made by DAVID The like in the whole or for the most part was observ'd till REHOBOAM who refusing to redress the Grievances of the People was depos'd by one part of this Congregation or Parlament and set up by another to the confusion both of Parlament and People And DAVID as after him JEHOSHAPHAT did restore the Sanhedrim I will not affirm by popular Election after the antient manner He might do it perhaps as he made JOAB over the Host JEHOSHAPHAT Recorder and SERAIAH Scribe 1 Sam. 8. 15. Certain it is the Jewish Writers hold unanimously that the seventy Elders were in DAVID'S time and by a good token for they say to him only of all the Kings it was lawful or permitted to enter into the Sanhedrim which I the rather credit for the words of DAVID where he says I will praise the Lord with my whole Heart in the Council Psal 111. 1. and in the Congregation of the Vpright which words relate to the Senat and the Congregation of Israel The final cause of the popular Congregation in a Commonwealth is to give such a balance by their Book II Result as may and must keep the Senat from that Faction and Corruption wherof it is not otherwise curable or to set it upright Yet our Translation gives the words cited in this manner I will praise the Lord with my whole Heart in the Assembly of the Vpright and in the Psal 82. 1. Congregation There are other Allusions in the English Psalms of the like nature shaded in like manner As God is present in the Congregation of God that is in the Representative of the People of Israel he judges among the Gods that is among the seventy Elders or in the Sanhedrim What the Orders of the Israelitish Monarchy in the time of DAVID were tho our Translators throout the Bible have don what they could against Popular Government is clear enough in many such places Sect. 5 The Story of the Hebrew Kings TO conclude this Chapter with the story of the Hebrew Kings Till REHOBOAM and the division thro the cause mention'd of the Congregation in his time the Monarchy of the Hebrews was one but came thenceforth to be torn into two that of Judah consisting of two Tribes Judah and Benjamin and that of Israel consisting of the other ten From which time this People thus divided had little or no rest from the flame of that Civil War which once kindl'd between the two Realms or Factions could never be extinguish'd but in the destruction of both Nor was Civil War of so new a date among them SAUL whose whole Reign was impotent and perverse being conquer'd by DAVID and DAVID invaded by his Son ABSALOM so strongly that he fled before him SOLOMON the next Successor happen'd to have a quiet Reign by settling himself upon his Throne in the death of ADONIJAH his elder Brother and in the deposing of the High Priest ABIATHAR yet made he the yoke of the People grievous After him we have the War between JEROBOAM and REHOBOAM Then the Conspiracy of BAASHA against NADAB King of Israel which ends in the destruction of JEROBOAM'S House and the Usurpation of his Throne by BAASHA which BAASHA happens to leave to his Son ASA Against ASA rises ZIMRI Captain of the Chariots kills him with all his kindred reigns seven days at the end wherof he burns himself for fear of OMRI who upon this occasion is made Captain by one part of the People as is also TIBNI by another The next Prize is plaid between OMRI and TIBNI and their Factions in which TIBNI is slain Upon this success OMRI out-doing all his Predecessors in Tyranny leaves his Throne and Virtues to his Son AHAB Against AHAB drives JEHU furiously destroys him and his Family gives the flesh of his Queen JEZEBEL to the Dogs and receives a Present from those of Samaria even seventy Heads of his Masters Sons in Baskets To ASA and JEHOSHAPHAT Kings of Judah belongs much Reverence But upon this Throne sat ATHALIAH who to reign murder'd all her Grand-children except one which was JOASH JOASH being hid by the High Priest at whose command ATHALIAH was som time after slain ends his Reign in being murder'd by his Servants To him succedes his Son AMAZIA slain also by his Servants About the same time ZACHARIAH King of Israel was smitten by SHALLUM who reign'd in his stead SHALLUM by MANAHIM who reign'd in his stead PEKAHA the Son of MANAHIM by PEKAH one of his Captains who reign'd in his stead PEKAH by HOSHEA HOSHEA having reign'd nine years is carry'd by Chap. 4 SALMANAZZER King of Assyria with the ten Tribes into Captivity Now might it be expected that the Kingdom of Judah should injoy Peace a good King they
of question that for the righteous execution of this Wo upon him or them by whom the Offence coms a War may be just and necessary as also that Victory in a just and necessary War may intitle one Prince or one People to the Dominion or Empire of another Prince or People it is also out of question that a Commonwealth unless in this case she be provided both to acquire and to hold what she acquires is not perfect which Consideration brings me to the Provincial part of this Model CHAP. IV. Containing the Provincial Part of this Model propos'd practicably THE word Province is with Roman Authors of divers significations By these it is taken somtimes for Magistracy as that of the Consul which is call'd His Province somtime for any Religion or Country in which a Roman Captain or General was commanded to make War but specially for such a Country as was acquir'd and held by Arms or by Provincial Right The word is of the like different use in Scripture as where it is said That AHASUERUS Esth 1. 1. reign'd over a hundred and seven Provinces by which are understood as well the divisions of the native as those of the acquir'd Territorys But where TANAIS the Governor writes to Ezra 5. 8. the King of Assyria concerning the Province of Judea it is understood a Country acquir'd and held by Arms which coms to the usual signification of the word with the Romans it being in this sense that the Governor FELIX ask'd PAUL of what Province he was Acts 23. 34. and came to understand that he was of Cilicia then a Province of the Roman Empire and this signification is that in which I take the word throout this Chapter THE mighty load of Empire which happen'd to the Common-wealth of Rome thro the Acquisition of many and vast Provinces is that wherto the Songs of Poets and the opinions of more serious Writers attribute the weight which they say oversway'd her But this Judgment tho in it self right is not in the manner they take it to be swallow'd without chewing For how probable it is that the Book III succeding Monarchy was able to support a weight in this kind which the Commonwealth could not bear may at this distance be discern'd in that the Provinces were infinitly more turbulent in the Reign of the Emperors than in that of the Commonwealth as having a far stronger Interest thro ambition of attaining to the whole to tear the Empire in pieces which they did while divers Provinces made divers Emperors which before could not hope to make divers Common-wealths nor to acquire safety by retreat to a petty Government But in this the acquisition of Provinces devour'd the Commonwealth of Rome that she not being sufficiently fortify'd by Agrarian Laws Plutarch in Graâ—ch the Nobility thro the spoil of Provinces came to eat the People out of their popular Balance or Lands in Italy by Purchases and the Lands that had bin in the hands of the Many coming thus into the hands of the Few of natural and necessary consequence there follows Monarchy NOW that England a Monarchy has bin seiz'd of Provinces one of them while France was such being as great as any one of the Roman is a known thing and that the Militia propos'd by the present Model contains all the causes of Greatness that were in that of Rome is to such as are not altogether strangers to the former no less than obvious Now of like Causes not to presume like Effects were unreasonable The safety therfore of the foregoing Agrarian as hitherto propos'd or that Lands be divided in their descent must in this case be none at all unless there be som stop also given in their Accumulation by way of purchase lest otherwise the spoil of som mighty Province be still sufficient to eat out the People by purchase TO submit therfore in this place for ought I perceive to inevitable necessity it is propos'd Additional Propositions to the Agrarian THAT great Commonwealths having bin overthrown by the spoil of Provinces an Estate of two thousand pounds a year in Land be incapable of any Accumulation by way of purchase DONATIONS and Inheritances will be fewer than to be dangerous and as som fall others will be dividing in their descent But to resume the Discourse upon the Agrarian Laws which because they were not till in this Proposition complete remains imperfect That to Agrarian Laws som Standard is necessary appears plainly enough This Standard in a well founded Monarchy must bar recess and in a well founded Commonwealth must bar increase For certain it is that otherwise each of the Policys dos naturally breed that Viper which eats out the Bowels of the Mother as Monarchy by Pomp and Luxury reduces her Nobility thro debt to poverty and at length to a level with the People upon which no Throne ever stood or can stand such was the case of this Nation under her latter Princes And a Commonwealth by her natural ways of frugality of fattening and cockering up of the People is apt to bring Estates to such excess in som hands as eating out the rest bows the Neck of a free State or City to the yoke and exposes her to the goad of a Lord and Master which was the case of Rome under her perpetual Dictators But why yet must this Standard of Land in the present case be neither more nor less than just two thousand pounds a year Truly where som Standard was necessary to be nam'd I might as well ask why not this as well as any other yet am I not without such Reasons why I have pitch'd upon this rather than any other as I may submit to the judgment of the Reader in Chap. 4 the following computation or comparison of the divers Effects or Consequences of so many different Standards as by the rules of proportion may give sufficient account of the rest LET the dry Rent of England that is at the rate a man may have for his Land without sweating be computed at ten Millions This presum'd if you set the Standard at ten thousand pounds a year the whole Territory can com into no fewer than one thousand hands If you set it at five thousand pounds a year it can com into no fewer than two thousand hands and if you set it at two thousand pounds a year it can com into no fewer than five thousand hands It will be said In which way you please it will never com into so few hands as are capable of having it which is certain yet because the Effects in their approaches would be such as may be measur'd by their Extremes I shall pitch upon these as the readiest way to guide my Computation The Balance in a thousand hands might affect the Government with a hankering after Monarchy in two thousand hands it might usurp it as did the Roman Nobility and therby occasion a feud between the Senat and the People These not
Monarchy for the Judicial part of the Form may admit of a Jury so it be at the Bar only and consists of som such kind as Delegats or ordinary Judges with an Appeal to a House of Peers or som such Court as the Parlament at Paris which was at the institution in the Reign of HUGH CAPET a Parlament of soverain Princes 25. DEMOCRACY for the Judicial part of the Form is of som such kind as a Jury on the Bench in every Tribe consisting of thirty persons or more annually eligible in one third part by the People of that Tribe with an Appeal from thence to a Judicatory residing in the Capital City of the like Constitution annually eligible in one third part out of the Senat or the popular Assembly or out of both from which also there lys an Appeal to the People that is to the Popular Assembly Chap. X CHAP. X. Of the Administration of Government or REASON OF STATE 1. AS the Matter of a Ship or of a House is one thing the Form of a Ship or of a House is another thing and the Administration or Reason of a Ship or of the House is a third thing so the Matter of a Government or of a State is one thing the Form of a Government or of a State is another and the Administration of a Government which is what 's properly and truly call'd Reason of State is a third thing 2. THERE are those who can play and yet cannot pack the Cards and there are who can pack the Cards and yet cannot play 3. ADMINISTRATION of Government or Reason of State to such as propose to themselves to play upon the square is one thing and to such as propose to themselves to pack the Cards is another 4. REASON of State is that in a Kingdom or a Common-wealth which in a Family is call'd THE MAIN CHANCE 5. THE Master of a Family that either keeps himself up to his antient bounds or increases his Stock looks very well to the main Chance at least if his play be upon the square that is upon his own Abilitys or good Fortune or the Laws but if it were not upon the square yet an Estate however gotten is not for that a less Estate in it self nor less descending by the Law to his Successors 6. IF a People thro their own Industry or the prodigality of their Lords com to acquire Liberty if a few by their Industry or thro the folly or slothfulness of the People com to eat them out and make themselves Lords if one Lord by his Power or his Virtue or thro their Necessity their Wisdom or their Folly can overtop the rest of these Lords and make himself King all this was fair play and upon the square 7. REASON of State if we speak of it as fair play is foren or domestic 8. REASON of State which is foren consists in balancing foren Princes and States in such a manner as you may gain upon them or at least that they may not gain upon you 9. REASON of State which is domestic is the Administration of a Government being not usurp'd according to the Foundation and Superstructures of the same if they be good or so as not being good that they may be mended or so as being good or bad they may be alter'd or the Government being usurp'd the Reason of State then is the way and means wherby such a Usurpation may be made good or maintain'd 10. REASON of State in a Democracy which is rightly founded and rightly order'd is a thing of great facility whether in a foren or in a domestic relation In a foren because one good Democracy weighing two or three of the greatest Princes will easily give the Balance abroad at its pleasure in a domestic because it consists not of any more than giving such a stop in accumulation that the State coms not Chap. X to be Monarchical which one Reason of State being made good all the rest gos well and which one Reason of State being neglected all the rest coms in time to infallible ruin 11. REASON of State in a Democracy which is not right in its Foundations may flourish abroad and be one but at home will languish or be two Reasons of State that is the Reason of the State or Orders of the Nobility which is to lord it over the People and the Reason of the popular State or Order which is to bring the Common-wealth to equality which two Reasons of State being irreconcilable will exercise themselves against one another first by Disputes then by Plots till it coms at last to open Violence and so to the utter ruin of the Commonwealth as it happen'd in Rome 12. REASON of State in an absolute Monarchy whether Foren or Domestic is but threefold as first to keep its Military Farmers or Timariots to the first Institution next to cut him that grows any thing above his due Stature or lifts up his head above the rest by so much the shorter and last of all to keep its Arms in exercise 13. IN Aristocratical Monarchy Reason of State as to the whole is but one thing that is to preserve the Counterpoise of the King and the two or the three or the four Estates For in som Countrys as in Poland there are but two Estates the Clergy and the Nobility in others as in Sweden there are four the Nobility the Gentry the Clergy and the Commons in most others there are but three the Lords Spiritual the Lords Temporal and the Commons 14. IN Aristocratical Monarchy Reason of State as to the parts is a multifarious thing every State having its peculiar Reason of State and the King also his Reason of State with the King it is to balance the Nobility that he may hold them under Reason of State with the Nobility is to balance the King lest he should grow absolute Reason of State both with the King and the Nobility is to keep down the People and Reason of State with the People is to drive at their Liberty 15. IN Forms that are pure or in Governments that have no more than an absolute Prince or one State as absolute Monarchy and equal or pure Democracy there is but one Reason of State and that is to preserve the Form intire In Forms that are mix'd as in an inequal Commonwealth where there are two Estates and in Aristocratical Monarchy where there is a King and two if not three Estates there are so many Reasons of State to break the Form that there has not bin any inequal Commonwealth which either the People have not brought to Democracy or the Nobility to Monarchy And scarce was there any Aristocratical Monarchy where to omit the Wars of the Nobility with their King or among themselves the People have not driven out the King or where the King has not brought the People into Slavery Aristocratical Monarchy is the true Theatre of Expedientmongers and Stateemperics or the deep Waters wherin that Leviathan