men they will swagger for titles and respect yea it becomes Lord euen of themselues for reason of more waight that in another mans case should haue preuailed with the eyes of ambition seemes dwarfish weake and little That wise and warlike seruant to the kingdome of Spaine * The Duke of Alua. the Duke of Alua hath much of his glory dusked by an Historian that relates the (a) Don Antonio Prior of Crato commonly called the King of Portugall Prior of Crato would haue come to a good composition but hee would not heare of it because it could not haue bin then said he conquered Portugal with the sword of such a valew were a few idle words as his masters profit and his own truth were thought things meete to giue place to this wind to this nothing But behold how Fortune sometimes playes the same part that wisedome doth and brings a succesfull end to false beginnings Vnde bellum ciuile atrocissimum esset consecutum nisi mors pene repentina constantium ante sustulisset thus doth that blinde guide make arguments to ouerthrow iudgement thus vpon the death of Alexander de medicis Cosimo was inthroned being scarce out of the downe of his childhood without much paine or study that had cost his predecessors much trouble much care so doth it please the diuine wisedome to demonstrate to mortall eyes their impotency for it is hee there is no fortune it is hee that makes those things that seeme to haue idle beginnings proue profitable at the end Both these examples though in some things different yet agree in the demonstrating those things that wee vnderstand not and therefore call chances haue often as faire an end as things proposed which is the will of heauen to teach vs earthlings that our purposes cannot go whither they are cōmanded without his pleasure At his Coronation His Coronation after he seemed modestly to mislike his greatnes the common tricke of ambition who still desires to seeme carelesse of what he chiefely thirsts after if it be not so it is as with vs all that like those things that are farthest off hee vsed often to protest Nihil se amplius assecutum quam vt occupatior interiret a speech that me thinkes drawes the nature of his place liuely and withall the happinesse of his place for there cannot be a more noble state then that which perforce bids vs to bee industrious and busie a more worthy businesse can there not bee then the imployment of a Prince hee feeles not death that dyeth thus he hath other businesse then to breed thoughts of terror and for them that find greatnesse and yet make death terrible it comes from the abuse of their authority for they truly vsing it are vnsensible of smart and feare not death nor his worst countenance After his possession of the Empire hee inuaded Persia drawne the more willingly by a perswasion that his body had gotten Alexander his soule and should haue his successe Good Lord into what vncertaine and ridiculous imaginations are they led that haue not the anchor-hold of Religion Went it no further then this it were most precious for it keepes our thoughts in good order which otherwise would make vs all as wilde as mad-men for we bred Monsters and mis-shapen things in our braine which did not the conscience reduce into fashion which conscience is the childe of Diuinity wee should not touch one another for feare of breaking but sometime such a perswasion carrieth higher and handsomer then euer meant inforcing imitation I knew once a fellow meane enough and as meanly qualited being sayd to be like a great man began to ingender stirring thoughts of spirit of well doing and at the last arriued at the pitch of an indifferent worthy fellow but within a while this must be cast off It is not amisse at the first to giue children plummes for learning their lesson but afterwards they must loue learning for knowledges sake these for vertues Of the happinesse of his perfections and then of his imperfections his temperance His temperance carried with it a number of commodities for besides health it maintained the strength and viuacitie of his spirit which the aboundance of eating and drinking is wont to quench at least kill his sleeps were thereby lesse the drowner of the spirits being the image of death the maker of the vnderstanding dull His moderate sleepe and senselesse but the best quality is the cooling of lust which banqueting and excesse is wont to kindle in the body and the body to fire the minde but this abstinence brings the other vnder and curbes lust which vsually melteth away and so becommeth the maintainer of the life of man His example is not of the least consequence the life of the Prince being the book of the subiect The Princes example the subiects booke from which nothing may withdraw them though his abundance may seeme to license him and exempt them they will take it for no answere Prouidence of time and treasure nor in trueth is it sufficient for I thinke they were lent him to doe others good with not himselfe hurt prouident in spending his treasure parcimonious of his time both strengtheners of himselfe for by the first hee comes not to neede others by the last not to complaine of time for they liue the shortest though most yeeres that mispend it a lamentable thing euen worse then mortality for this death is worse then that a great meanes of this was the custome of delighting the people His delighting the people and of honouring their gods with sundry publike sports and what might be the reason besides ignorance in the Roman State vpholding these I can but ghesse it might be with their Cōminalty as with our little children who if not feede with sports will growe wayward and crie so ticklish are popular States where it is but a step from the best to the worst that if they bee not kept busie they will mutiny and growe into mislikes to doe well they must be appointed their very thoughts with feeding them with light stuffe farre from the matter Wherefore if in no other respect Monarchike gouernment best the Monarchy is to be honoured as the Prince of gouernment and especially those of succession where the ambitious and rebellious nature hath not so much to worke vpon the people being euer most affectionate to the bloud Royall and God hauing expresly prohibited the vsing violence to his Anointed the secret meaning of these sports was best knowne to the Romanes but of the diseases of them I haue noted 2. Diseases in the Romane sports The first disease 2. In the time of Nero and both of them me thinkes likely to follow The one of them was when the Procurators Proconsulls or other Magistrates had abused the authority of their places with pilling and taxing the subiects of the Empire they came to Rome and made their peace with giuing the
people the sight of sword-plaiers or som such things Here is the Prohibition Edixit Caesar ne quis Magistratus aut Procurator qui Prouinciam obtinert spectaculum gladietorum aut ferarum aut quod aliud ludicrum aederet this is the medicine the disease followeth Nam ante non minus tali largitione quam corripiendis pecunijs subiectos affligebant dum quae libidine deliquerant ambitu propugnant It is a circumspection most behouefull for the Magistrate to take away the meanes of getting these keyes to open the peoples heart with which is to be certainliest performed with stopping all springs that would feed them but the fountaine of chiefe authority for otherwise they will like tame birds readily come to the call of him that giues them meate The other was The second disease how apt the celebrations were to nourish a lasciuious Prince shewing directing the way to softnesse excesse which is well approued by this Empire of liberty and festiualls and the ancient Laconian strictnesse where there was neuer riotous Prince in the other euery second or third Emperour a Monster Power in a wanton hand ruinates his charge there is not a more dangerous thing then power in a wantō hand which euery way ruinates his charge for if it liue to growe olde it becomes tyranny in the meane time corrupts himself and Common-wealth the naturall man louing bodily pleasures when cherished by the life of a lasciuious Prince the nature of it is doubled Est vulgus cupiens voluptatum si eo Princeps trahat laetum They are well contented with such a Gouernour alas their countenances are vnfit guides for a States-man me thinks they are like the sence of tast that neuer considereth the operation but taste faire otherwise was this Prince which he layes to his education though I think Nature had made him of too rough a mould to bee carried with such lightnesse yet might it be his familiarity with letters which carrieth the mind so high as most other things appeare base and contemptible this speech is the childe of such a minde turpe esse sapienti cum habeat animam captare laudes ex corpore it is a speech worthie of the worthiest mouth and proclaimes to the ambitious where to buy the best glory and commendations It resteth to tell what were the waights that made his vices His vices heauiest the lightnesse of his nature or inconstancy his pursuite of vnlawfull knowledges and lastly his ambition and cueoting dominion I doe not cry fie of inconstancy First his inconstancy c. or curse it for by the leaue of ages settlednesse there is neuer a Pesant in the world traines vp youth better I abhorre it in age and stop my nose at it but youths best lectures are read by inconstancy Prayse of inconstancy in youth neuer stampe mistris experience at my opinion for were it not lawfull for age to forget I should call you ingratefull for Inconstancy was your nurse and all the strange experiments you haue passed she carried you through But when age begins to decline a body it is time to leaue it hee hath spent his time ill that knowes not then what to trust to which knowne must be held to the death yea and in death Martyrdome one of the best deaths Martyrdome is one of the best fashioned cuts that Dame Atropos hath me thinks at that time Death playeth a gallant conductor and leads vs to an assault that passed deserues tryumph his ill directed knowledges deserue the greatest blame for all knowledges whatsoeuer that haue poysoned man His ill deriued knowledge with the perswasion of standing onely vpon his own strength are both feeble and impious they are like legges that haue onely strength to carry the body where it may destroy it selfe amongst these Magick and Astrologie Magicke and Astrologie the studies of vaine melancholicke natures Diuell-binders but especially the diuel-binders are the most sottish people in the world for what can bee more ridiculous then to thinke hearbs spels and circles can enforce infernall spirits to be ruled by mortall men or that God will giue a power to his Name abused But Astrologie is not so ill The other Magicke is the game that the diuell playes at fast and loose with man but the abuse of knowledge the disease of the finest metals deserues more pitty of all the great troupes that goe this way I find few arriued at an indifferent commendation I cannot tel they are cut off either by pride vanity or contempt this is the cousenage of partiality doe you thinke there is such an excellency in hauing slubbered an Aristotle Fie no. If you vnderstood Aristotle you might be bettered there is not such a vertue in genus and species as you haue set it downe in your Inuentory they are but names and Art it selfe but the stilts of a cripple for if we could go without them what should we do with them Vanity prides minority belongeth to this crue such are those that hauing taken a dosse of Cicero presently learne their tongues to dance a Cinque-pace these vtter Orations so like Ciceroes as they seeme the same so well can they enforce a circumstance and neatly slide from one limme of Rethoricke to another away with this whorish eloquence with this breath-marchandise it becomes not the grauity of a professed scholler no more then it doth a Generall reckoned to be skilfull at his needle The last is Pride in graine His contempt of others contempt an humor sodden in selfe opinion a disease killing the loue of his countrey countrymen the perswasion to make him to apply the riches of his mind to the benefit of others but this is taken away for contempt and loue were neuer friends and then he is no other then a buried Treasure To know what contempt is This disease is to bee knowne by separating his customes from the world by an eye ful of disdain by a countenance borrowed from the picture of some old Philosopher for no people am I more sorry then for these which abuse the picture of our first and most blessed state they that desire cure let them goe to Seneca Frons nostra populo conueniat and after more thorowly Id agamus vt meliorem vitam sequamur quam vulgus non vt contrariam I am glad yet that Seneca's time was troubled with these inke-horne Bragards as well as wee His ambition But this Emperours coueting dominion of which I shall speake like one in a dreame for I cannot think like a Prince and I am glad of it for they are thoughts too bigge for me but as I ghesse Ambition is more naturall and profitable in a Prince then priuate men for the definition of vtile honestum with them and vs is not all one our states and our professions differ and all one instrument will not serue vs. IVLIANS Dialogue of the Caesars His Dialogue of
vnderstand that his youth deserued not contempt and brought them to be assistants in the wars against Persia Caesar lower but no lesse politikely he tooke the occasion of his daughters death and in an office of affection presented the people with pleasures and nouelties munus populo aepulumque pronuntiauit in filiae memoriam quod ante eum nemo fecit this was a taste of their likings a loue letter of an Amorist which if taken more wil be taken Caesar seems in the difficulty of their conquests the worthier no nation of Alexanders being comparable either to the Gaules or Heluetians but in the vpshot alike both the Persian Pompey being greater in reputation then truth they did well as long as they went with the tyde it was the generation long before spent that made the Persian diademe shine with Imperiall title the vigor of necessity that is wont to moue magnanimity was taken away and now left an ouerflowing of fortune which makes men degenerate and become slothfull Pompey became great by the trauels of Lucullus and others neither his managing the ciuil wars was as it should be nor his aduersity rightly managed so that me thinks beholding him I behold nothing but a bubble of fortunes for their particular valours they were both valiant in their military discipline they differed which might be by the difference of their aduersaries nature and country in the speciall point of Armes they agreed to encounter the hearts of men as well as bodies Therfore did Alexander deny Parmenio the inuading his enemies by night answering the conquests of their hearts generally not of a particular army was the way the Empire of Persia being aboundant in men could neuer haue bin ouercome if their discourse could haue laid the Macedonian cōquests vpon any accident but then vanquished when feare should make them superstitiously adde to the valour of their enemies and think basely of their owne strengths not thus but to the same purpose Caesar neuer misliked the multitude of his enemies difficulty being euer a spurre to his actions That humor that Caesar possest his Souldiers with at the scorning life at the hands of Caesars enemies I find not in Alexanders yet had he one of the chiefe instigators the being stil a Conqueror for had Caesar sometimes lost they would haue growne weary This branch came first from the root of successe seconded by some gallant spirits of Caesars side emulated by their followers rewarded by Caesar both held the hearts of the souldiers by liberality the onely meanes to make them apt for great matters and his meanes that attempts great matters that which wee call the common good this is a chiefe limbe of the ingrossing which alienates the harts of subiects more then any thing and with those natures that must feele the effects of vertue with their hand no doubt liberality makes them daring the contrary Cowards Alexander maintained this honestest thankes to his Patrimony for a spirit that aimes at so great matters cannot determine those things dishonest that are any thing auaileable Suetonius sayth of Caesar Vrbes diruit saepius ob praedam quam delictum an impardonable fault for though fury smart or rapine may carry the common Souldier past the bounds of reason yet should the Generals minde be still one and behold nothing with so much loue as iustice but this was the violence of Ambition who dares displease right then her assistants Caesar after his victories vsed to giue his souldiers an accustomed liberty a president for all the successe dangerous for of all rewards and incouragements libertie is the most dangerous to the giuer Contrariwise Alexander then curbed his Souldiers doubting insolency the destinate disease of successe which he did by giuing education to the Persian youth and after imploying them a designe full of wisedome for his conquests hauing layd all things at her feete they had no need of his direction but hee of their loyalties which had they found and found before his possession of other strengths doubtlesse they would haue made him their slaue that counted himselfe Monarch of the World but this I find it discōmodious to rely vpon one assistant for two are not so likely to fayle as one and to say truth both will be the more true because they are two Equally did they subiect their bodies to rayse their reputations they knew the force of example and restrayned appetite for honours sake Alexander would not adde to the thirst of his companions with the quenching of his owne Caesar in a straight lodging gaue his friends the house and lay himself in the ayre I cannot say in the cold for he that is wrapt in the fiery thoughts of ambition cannot feele heate nor cold nor any of these distemperatures it is idlenesse that betraies vs to the opinion of aches and infirmities for he that imploies his minde carrieth his body about without feeling the burthen the vse of these is an excellent remedy against enuy meane fortunes thinking greatnesse loues greatnesse to nourish delicacy but this is disproued by partaking with their extremities Both intertained a sweetnesse of nature in bewayling the misery or death of their enemies which whether it came from the grounds of clemency or otherwise to wrap some other purpose in is hardly to be discerned for there is no such counterfaiter to the life as an aspiring disposition Thus Caesar sate vp the statues of Silla and Pompey thus Alexander kindly and honestly entertained the wife and mother of Darius Caesar took to mercy the relikes of Pompeys ouerthrowne Army Alexander suffered the mother of Darius to solemnize the burials of his slaine enemies which compassion is the onely balme to heale vp the wound of reuenge Lastly Caesar wept at the sight of Pompeys head and Alexander sharply executed the murtherer of Darius In the first I see how pretily dissimulation can apply her selfe sometimes for surely Caesar felt no remorse in the hardnesse of his labours such thoughts attend decay'd estates not the summer of fortune In the other one death serues two turnes for death rewarded him and death mitigated the rancor likely to spring out of the ashes of Darius About conspiracies Alexander spake as Caesar thought Satius est alieno me mori scelere quam metu meo they might haue liued longer if they had been of another minde yet I thinke they chose well for they chose the easiest for feare runnes diuision vpon death euery thought being an instrument of torment at the end they meete in the last course of greatnesse Alexander was a King and would needs be a god Caesar because not a King a King thus doe the baits of fortune coozen vs and stuffe vs with monstrous and vnnatural thoughts they dyed both violent deaths the end of violent ambition for who mislikes not that one should possesse so much of honour fame and dominion as would serue many Octauius comes againe whose beginning to speake resembles his life busie in the separating enuy and