in the end the earle of Richmond ouercame king Richard enioyed the kingdom quietly and was called Henry the seuenth hauing married Elizabeth daughter to Edward the fourth both of them beyng the sole heires of the families of Lancaster and Yorke By means of this mariage the dissention ceased in England and the red and white Roses were ioyned togither in one armes There was no Countrey more afflicted than Spayne both by ciuill warres and by Neighbour-states when it was diuided into many kingdomes The Moores ouer-ranne it on the one side the French and Englishmen deuoured it on the other taking part at the first with the dissentions that were in Castile between Don Peter and Don Henry next with the contentions that arose betwixt Castile and Portingale which caused much euil to both the kingdomes But since that Spaine hath been vnited it hath extended hir dominion into Afrike and into the New found Ilands borne armes in Germany and in Hungary commanded ouer the chief Ilands of the Mediterranean sea ouer Naples and Sicilia ouer Millan and Flanders Contrarywise Italy hauing in former times hir forces knit togither obtained the Empire of the world but being now diuided into many Seignories and Potentates that agree badly togither and hauing suffred all the calamities in the world by ciuil warres lieth open to the iniuries of strangers Through the same cause the power of Germany is greatly diminished wherin not long since the princes of Saxonie were banded one agaynst an other Iohn Fredericke Phillip Lantgraue of Hesse the Duke of Wittemburg with many free cities rebelled against the Emperour the peasauntes rose against the Nobilitie to set themselues at libertie the Anabaptists possessed Munster made a botcher their king and held out the siege for the space of two yeeres Hungaria which had valiauntly resisted the Turkes almost two hundreth yeeres togither was at length subdued by them through the diuisions that were in the countrey as Polonia is greatly threatned by the Moscouite In Persia after the death of king lacob his two sonnes stroue for the gouernement of the countrey but the Sophie Ismael commyng in the meane tyme vpon them with his new religion slew one of them in battell and compelled the other to flie into Arabia and so possessed the kingdome which he left to his children Phillip the eleuenth Duke of Burgundie easilie subdued Dinan and Bouines in the countrey of Liege which were separated onely by a riuer after they had ouerthrowen themselues by their dissentions whereas before he could not obtaine his purpose And whilest the kings of Marrocke warred one with another for the estate the Gouernour of Thunis and of Telensin made himselfe king renting a sunder his two prouinces from the rest to erect a kingdome Concernyng Frenchmen they haue beene often and many times molested with seditions and ciuill warres as well as others The nobilitie of Fraunce was almost all slayne at the battell of Fountenay neere to Auxerre by the ciuill warres betweene Lotharius Lewes and Charles the balde And Champagnie lost so many of the nobilitie in warre that the Gentlewomen had this speciall priuiledge graunted them to make their husbandes noble When king Iohn was prisoner in England Charles his sonne Regent of Fraunce beyng at Paris to gather money for his raunsome there fell such a diuision betweene the king of Nauarre who tooke part with the Parisians and the Regent that the people vnder the guiding of Marcel Prouost of the merchauntes ranne to Charles his lodgyng where the Marshalles of Cleremount and Champagnie were slayne euen in his chaumber and presence and their bodies drawen ouer the marble stones The like was done to Reignold Dacy the kings Attorney besides many other murders so that the Regent had much ado to saue himselfe without Paris But the forest factions that euer were in Fraunce were those of Burgundie and of Orleans which caused a most grieuous cruel ciuill war that lasted 70. yeeres with murders robberies and vnspeakable cruelties Both of them one after another called in the Englishmen to succor them who afterward seazed vpon the crowne It was a pitifull thing to see France cruelly tormented both by hir owne subiects by strangers to see it void of right equitie without magistrates without iudgements without lawes which had no abiding place amongst fire and force where violence onely raigned All this was procured by the ambition of these two houses each of them seeking to obtaine the gouernment of the kingdom vnder Charles the sixt whose wittes fayled him By the means of these diuisions Henry the fift king of England taking to wife Katherine the youngest daughter of king Charles was put in possession of Paris by the duke of Burgundie and proclaimed heire and Regent of Fraunce by the consent of three estates held at Troy But the death of this Henry and the duke of Burgundie forsaking the alliance of the Englishmen with the valure and good behauiour of king Charles the 7. as also the loue and fidelitie of the Frenchmen restored the kingdom to that estate wherin it is at this present Now if France hath heretofore suffred so much by ciuill warres and domesticall seditions if all forraine estates haue receiued so many sundry alterations and incredible wounds by the same means how can we looke for lesse nay rather haue we not already seene the like or greater calamities amongst vs through our dissentiōs priuate quarels between certain houses contending one with another being chiefly mooued with ambition and desire to gouerne Why doe we not acknowledge this first cause of our miseries that we may lay aside all hatred crept in amongst vs vnder pretence of diuersitie of religion that we may reunite our mindes so much diuided to the good and common quietnes of vs all and liue vnder the obedience of our Prince with that fidelitie for which Frenchmen haue been alwais praised aboue other nations Do not so many examples both of auncient and later times make vs see thus much that if we redresse not this contention this goodly and florishing kingdom which heretofore hath growen great by the concord and obedience of our auncestors is readie to fal into vtter ruine and subuersion through our factions diuisions and part-takings Shall this little that remaineth of the French monarchie which in former times hath had all the empire of Germany the kingdoms of Hungarie Spaine and Italy and all the bounds of the Gaules to the riuer of Rhine vnder the obedience of hir lawes shall it I say be thus laid open as a praie and that by hir owne subiectes caried headlong with such passions that they make the way plaine and readie for strangers to bring them vnder their miserable bondage Shall it be said among our posteritie that our selues haue encouraged them to vnder-take that which not long since Spaine Italy England the Lowe countreys the Pope the Venitians being
Of the Harmonie and agreement that ought to be in the dissimilitude or vnlike callings of subiects by reason of the duty and office of euery estate 743 67 Of Peace and of Warre 754 68 Of the ancient Discipline and order of Warre 764 69 Of the office and duty of a Generall 772 70 Of the choise of Souldiors of the maner how to exhort them to fight and how victory is to be vsed 783 71 Of a happie Life 794 72 Of Death 804 THE FIRST DAIES WORKE of this Academie with the cause of their assemblie WHen GOD by his infinite and vnspeakable goodnes beholding with a fatherly bountifull and pitifull eie our poore France which most cruel against it selfe seemed to run amain most furiously to throw it self headlong into the center of some bottomlesse gulfe had sent from heauen the wished-for newes of peace in the midst of ciuill and domesticall armies which a man might say were of purpose prepared for the finall ouerthrow of this French Monarchie that hath florished so long time sparing by his heauenlie grace and fauor and that in despite of them the bloud of those men who held foorth their right hand to cut off the left among manie who touched with the loue of their countrie and with true zeale to pietie reioiced at this so well liking and healthfull newes fower yong gentlemen of Aniou who came togither to serue their Prince and to sacrifice their liues if need required for the welfare and safetie of the Common wealth were none of the last that sought out one another and met togither to testifie ech to other as their mutuall kindred and sworne frendship did inuite them the ioy which filled their souls arising of so happie and vnlooked for successe and alteration of affaires to the end also that they might giue glorie and praise to him who for the benefit of his knoweth wel how to take order euen in those things which according to the iudgement of men are desperate and past recouery And that which gaue them greater occasion to reioice for this peace and so diligently to seeke out one another was this bicause contratie to hope they saw the meanes offered them to returne home and to continue an exercise that greatly pleased them which not long before the last fal of France into troubles they had happily begun Now to let you readers vnderstand what this exercise was these fower gentlemen being of kin and neere neighbors and in a maner of one age were by the care and prudence of their fathers brought vp and nourished togither from their yoong yeeres in the studie of good letters in the house of an ancient wise gentleman of great calling who was the principall stocke and roote of these fruitfull buds This man by reason of his manifold experience and long abode in strange countries knew that the common corruption of French youth of it selfe inclined to pleasure proceeded chiefly from the ouer great licence and excessiue libertie granted vnto them in the Vniuersities of this Realme as well through the fault and negligence of the gouernors and tutors in them as also bicause of the euill gouernment of the townes at this day He knew also that they were no lesse abused who thinking to auoide this dangerous downe-fall at home did send their children to studie abroad amongst strangers where the traffike and merchandise of mischiefs is more common and easie to be made bicause they feare not that newes will presently or so speedily be caried to their parents as if they were neere vnto them Oh how well woorthie of eternall praise is the prudence of this gentleman bringing to my remembrance Eteocles one of the most noble Ephories of Lacedemonia who freely answered Antipater asking fiftie pledges that he would not giue him children least if they were brought vp farre from their fathers they should change the ancient custome of liuing vsed in their owne countrie and become vicious but of olde men and women he would giue him double the number if he would haue them Wherevpon being threatened by this king if he speedily sent him not of the youth we care not quoth he for threatenings For if thou command vs to do things that are more greeuous than death we will rather choose death so carefull were the men of old time that the dressing and trimming of these yoong plants should not be out of their presence But let vs go on with our matter This good and notable old man hauing spent the greater part of his yeeres in the seruice of two kings and of his country and for many good causes withdrawen himselfe to his house thought that to content his mind which alwaies delighted in honest and vertuous things he could not bring greater profit to the Monarchie of France than to lay open a way and meane to preserue and keepe youth from such a pernicious and cancred corruption by offering himselfe for example to all fathers and shewing them the way to haue a more carefull eie in the instruction of their children and not so lightly to commit them to the discipline of vices by the hands of mercenarie and hired strangers And this was begun vpon these fower yoong gentlemen whom he tooke to his owne house by the consent of their parents offering himselfe to the vttermost of his power to helpe their gentle nature which appeered in them woorthie their ancestors by training it vp first in the feare of God as being the beginning of al wisedome secondly in humane learning and knowledge which are necessarie helps to liue well and happily to the benefit of the societie of men To this end after that he himselfe had shewed them the first grounds of true wisedome and of al things necessarie for their saluation according to the measure of grace giuen him from aboue and as their age could conceiue them he labored earnestly to haue in his house some man of great learning and wel reported of for his good life and conuersation vnto whom he committed the instruction of this yoong Nobilitie Who behaued himselfe so wel in his charge that not greatly staying himselfe in the long degrees of learning which being ordinarie and vsuall in our French Colledges are often more tedious besides losse of time than profitable to youth after he had indifferently taught his schollers the Latine toong and some smackering of the Greeke he propounded for the chiefe part and portion of their studies the morall philosophie of aucient Sages and wise men togither with the vnderstanding searching out of histories which are the light of life therein following the intent and will both of him that set him on worke and also of the parents of this Nobilitie who desired to see their children not great Orators suttle Logitians learned Lawiers or curious Mathematicians but onely sufficiently taught in the doctrine of good liuing following the traces and steps of vertue by the knowledge of things past from the first ages vntill this present that they
die with him to vexe himselfe through impatiencie what meanest thou poore man quoth he to him doest thou not thinke thy selfe happie that thou maist die with Phocion The feare and appreheusion of death doth astonish as we commonly say the stoutest but not the most vertuous For they know as Plautus saith that he dieth not who for vertues sake is put to death Callicratides Generall of the Lacedemonians being readie to giue battell to his enimies the soothsaier after sacrifice done to the gods said vnto him that the intrals of the sacrifices promised victorie to the armie but death to the captaine Whereunto he answered as one without all feare although he beleeued it as an oracle from heauen Sparta consisteth not in one man For when I shal be dead my countrie shall be nothing lessened but if I recule now and draw backe the reputation thereof will be diminished Whereupon substituting in his place Cleander as successor in his office he gaue battell wherein it happened vnto him as the soothsaier had told him If we desire infinite such examples histories are ful of them euen of those who loued rather to kill themselues which a Christian neuer ought to do but onely to suffer death patiently if it be offered vnto him than to commit any thing vnwoorthie their vertue Themistocles being vniustly banished from Athens retired to the king of Persia whose great fauour and benefits receiued caused to say to his children We had beene vndone if we had not beene vndone as also to promise that he would imploy himselfe in his seruice Notwithstanding when he saw the war begun againe betweene this king and the Athenians wherein he was offered a great charge he chose rather to hasten his death by a poison which he tooke than to seeme to be pricked or prouoked with malice against his vngratefull countrie-men least thereby he should obscure and blot the glorie of so many goodly exploites triumphes and victories which he had obtained Nowe if death can not stoppe the course of vertue how much lesse can any other weaker accident do it Old-age which diminisheth and consumeth all the strength of the bodie coulde not weaken the great vertue of Agesilaus king of Lacedemonia who being fower-score yeeres of age and seeing the glorie of his countrie brought to nothing by that victorie which the Thebanes had obtained against him withdrewe himselfe into the seruice of a king of Egypt and tooke the charge of a captaine vnder him that through the good seruice he should do him he might deserue whereof he assured himselfe to haue succour of him for his owne countrey affaires Enuie saith Thucidides is heard to be ouercome and followeth great estates and potentates Honour glorie and riches are but firebrandes to kindle it Notwithstanding the excellencie of vertue oftentimes triumpheth ouer it so that the enuious are constrained to speake well of vertuous men We see then cleerely and haue better experience thereof in our selues if we be decked with vertue that she is of an inuincible force and that all things are tamed by hir For who can doubt that through hir great empires monarchies commonwealths estats and cities haue much more florished than through force and might of armes The sequele of our discourses shall furnish vs with examples hereof Now to conclude our present matter knowing that vertue deserueth so great praise in regarde of hir fruits and of hir woonderfull great effects we say that she is the onely good both for honestie profite and pleasure between which there is such a coniunction that they cannot be seperated one from another as hereafter we may intreat more at large so that the seuering of these three things to attribute them to other earthly and perishing goods is the fountaine of all vice deceit and mischiefe If then trouble losse hazard or danger are to be found in the practise and exercise of this holie and sacred vertue as euen the greatest worldly happines is counterpoised with euill and difficultie ought we not to dispise all such things yea death it selfe for that happie recompence which is assured vnto vs not onely of immortall glorie and praise which the men of old time promised to themselues but also of life euerlasting whereof the most of them were ignorant Let vs not be like to a little child for he that is a child in minde differeth nothing from a childe in age who seeing a trifle wherewith he plaieth taken out of his hand casteth away for anger that which he holdeth in his other hand although it be some daintie thing and good to eate But let vs with feruent zeale and burning affection alwaies imbrace this so precious and chaste beautie I meane vertue which alone filleth the life of man with true sound and perfect contentation Let all things come behinde vertue after the example of so many excellent and ancient personages who ought to make vs blush for shame when we consider that the care of earthly goods hath the first place amongst vs. Anacharsis a Barbarian being led with the onely loue of vertue left the kingdome of Scythia to his yoonger brother went into Graecia where he profited so well with Solon that he deserued to be placed in the number of the seauen Sages Now if three things after we haue asked them of him who only can and will giue them vnto vs meete togither in vs namely Nature Reason and Vse we may by them being directed illuminated and guided by the spirit of God attaine to the top of humane perfection in this rich vertue which being thus grounded like to a strong and liuely plant will take sure footing and roote within vs. If she meet with a good and well disposed nature that is able to endure labor that is tilled by reason with the precepts of philosophie whereby it is made firme mightie and fruitfull then vse and exercise will bring foorth the fruits thereof as well for our owne as for the common profit of men Of Vice Chap. 6. ACHITOB AS he that is ignorant of goodnes cannot loue it or boast except it be falsly that he seeketh after it and if he should find it yet he could not acknowledge it or reape any profit thereby so he that knoweth not euill can neuer hate it sufficiently much lesse shun it or keepe himselfe from falling into the snares and ambushes thereof where it lieth in continuall watch to surprise and ouertake men Ye shall haue very few but say that they are enimies to euill and that they labour to driue it as far from them as they can But what As they neuer knew what goodnes meant so they knowe as little of the contrarie Now hauing by our last speech declared sufficiently that vertue is the onely true good of the soule it is out of question that vice which is altogither contrarie vnto it is the onely euill thereof and the fountaine of al the miseries of man
fifteene dayes he had gotten with child a hundred virgins of Sarmatia which he had taken prisoners in the warre Chilpericus the first king of France to the end he might the better enioy a whore called Fredegonda whō afterwards he maried compelled his first wife named Andeuora to become a religious woman and put to death two children which he had by her through the counsaile of his sayd concubine Then hauing in his second mariage taken to wife Galsonda daughter to the king of Spaine he caused her to be strangled and maried Fredegonda who perceiuing afterward that he noted in himselfe this loosenesse of life and offensiue kind of gouernment caused him to be slain A iust punishment suffred by God for his intemperance Xerxes monarch of the Persians was so intemperate and giuen to lust that he propounded rewards for those that could inuent some new kind of pleasure And therfore comming into 〈…〉 infinit number of men to subdue it he was ouercome and repulsed by a small number as being an effeminate and faintharted man Epicurus a learned philosopher was so intemperate that he placed the soueraigne Good and Felicitie in pleasure Sardanapalus monarch of Babylon the first of the foure Empires was so addicted to lust and intemperance that he stirred not all day long from the company of women being apparelled as they were and spinning purple Whereby he became so odious that two of his lieutenants iudging him vnworthy to command ouer Asia and ouer so many good men as were vnder his Empire raised his subiects against him and ouercame him in battell Wherupon dispairing of his safetie he caused a great Tabernacle of wood to be set vp in a sure place within the cloister of his palace and compassed it round about with great store of dry wood Then he caused his wife and his concubines whom he loued best to enter into it and all the wealth he had to be brought thither This done shutting himselfe within it his Eunuches and seruants according to the othe which he had taken of them put fire to the said frame and so this miserable king of the Chaldeans and Assyrians with all that was with him was suddenly consumed with fire and ended his monarchie which his victorious lieutenants diuided betwixt them the one taking himself for king of Babylon the other of Medea Antonius one of Caesars successors in the Empire procured his own ruine through intemperance loosenes and stirred vp against himselfe the enuie and murmuring of the Romans for his retchlesnesse of feats of Arms in that warre ouer which he was generall against the Parthians For to the end he might quickly return to his concubine Cleopatra Queene of Egypt he hazarded all in such sort that without doing any thing worthy his first reputation he lost more than twentie thousand of his own men Afterward Octauius his companion in the Empire beyng armed against him that he might reuenge the iniurie which he had done him in forsaking his sister whom he had wedded to liue in his vncleannes gaue him battell wherein Antonius seeing his friend Cleopatra flie who had born him company in that warre folowed her with three skore of his owne gallies albeit the fight was yet equal the victorie doubtful Thus he betraied those that fought for him to follow her who already had begun his destruction to the end she might accomplish the same as in deed it fel out after For being besieged within Alexandria by the said Octauius and without hope of safetie he thrust himself through the body with his sword wherof he died and Cleopatra also procured her own death by the biting of the serpent Aspis Boleslaus the second king of Polonia being giuen to all vncleannes and filthines made no dout to take women by violence from their husbands Whereupon the bishop of Cracouia often admonished him therof and when by reason of his obstinate perseuerance he proceeded against him euen with excommunication he was caried headlong with such fury that he killed this holy man After that his subiects comming against him he was constrained to flie into Hungarie where falling mad he slew himself The emperor Adrian tooke such glory and pride in al execrable vices that he commanded a Temple with a sumptuous tombe to be made for a naughtie man named Antinoüs whō he had miserably abused in his life In our time Iohannes a Casa Archbishop of Beneuento and Legate in Venice wrote a booke in praise of the abominable vice of Sodomitrie Sigismundus Malatesta lord of a part of Romaignola a prouince of Italy striued to haue carnal knowledge of his sonne Robert who thrusting his poinado into his fathers bosom reuenged that great wickednes By these examples and infinit others whereof histories are full it appeereth sufficiently that man burning with intemperance careth not at what price with what shame hurt or hinderance he may come to the execution and practise of all such pleasure delight as he propoundeth to himselfe As if he purpose to haue his fame continue for euer he will not stick to do it although it be by some notable wickednesse And thus we read of him that burnt the Temple of Diana which was accounted the fift wonder of the world was two hundred eight and twentie yeeres in building by the Amazones within the citie of Ephesus in Asia The planks thereof were all of Cedar wood and the doores and garnishing of the wals of Cypres This wretched caitife confessed that he put fire to that sumptuous building for no other cause than to leaue his fame and renowne behind him in the world but commandement was giuen that none should fet down his name in writing Neuerthelesse he is named Erostratus by Solinus and Strabo from whence came that prouerb This is the renowne of Erostratus vsed when any man seeketh to be famous by a wicked act which we may also apply to all intemperate men As touching the defect of Temperance wherof mention was made in the beginning of our present discourse and which hath no proper name but vnproperly is called by some Stupiditie orsencelesnes it is rarely found amongst men who by nature are giuen to pleasure and caried away with all kinds of desires lusts For where shal we find any so dul blockish that hath no feeling of pleasure and that is not mooued with glory and honor Such a man may be truly taken and accounted as one void of sence and feeling like to a blocke Neither doth it belong to temperāce to be depriued of all desires but to master them For that man as Cicero saith that neuer had experience of pleasures and delights neither hath any feeling of them ought not to be called temperate as he that hath done nothing which may testifie his continencie and modestie Thus ye see we haue no matter offred wherabout to bestow time in reproouing this vice of defect frō which men are
the renowme of his high enterprises got to himselfe the surname of Great being readie to saile by sea and to passe into Italy whether he was to cary a certaine quantitie of wheate to meete with a famine according to the commission giuen him of the Senate there arose a very great tempest insomuch that the mariners made great doubt to weigh vp their anchors But his resolution beeing well made before and grounded vpon the dutie of a noble hart he tooke shipping first of all and caused the sailes to be spread in the wind saying with a loud and cleare voice It is necessarie that I go but not necessarie that I liue Caius Marius who was six times Consul being in war against the Allies of the Romanes that were reuolted inclosed himselfe one day with trenches and suffered a thousand iniuries and vaunting speeches both of his enimies and of his owne men but yet cared nothing at all for them nor went from his deliberation which was that he would not fight at that time And when Publius Sillo one of the chiefe captaines of the enimie cried vnto him saying If thou art such a great Captaine Marius as men report of thee come out of thy campe to battell Nay doe thou quoth he againe vnto him if thou art a great Captaine compell me to come out to battell in despite of my teeth Afterward this Marius shewed himselfe to be one of the most valiant and courageous men of his time aswell in the discomfiture of the said enemies as in two other battels which he wan against the barbarous Cimbrians and Flemings who were entred into Italy to inhabite there in one of which battels about a hundred thousand fighting men were slaine in the field Agis king of Lacedemonia being resolued to fight his Councellors told him that there was no reason so to doe bicause his enemies were ten against one It must needs be quoth this courageous Prince that he which will command many must fight also against many We are enough to put naughtie men to flight The Lacedemonians vse not to aske what number there is of the enemies but onely where they are The answer which Dienecus made to one that told the Councell of Grecia that the multitude of the Barbarians was so great that their arrowes couered the sunne commeth neere to the courageous saying of king Agis For concluding with their opinion who perswaded to fight Dienecus made this answer Thou tellest vs very goodnewes For if the multitude of the Medes is such that they are able to hide the Sunne they will offer vs the meanes how to fight in the shadowe and not in the heate of the Sunne We may not heere passe ouer with silence the testimonie of inuincible Fortitude which alwaies findeth meanes to effect hir glorious purposes giuen by Themistocles when he saw the sundrie opinions of the Chieftaines of the Grecian armie vnder the leading of Euribiades the Lacedemonian touching the place where they should fight with Xerxes fleet The greatest part determined to forsake Salamis where they were at that time and to retire to Peloponnesus fearing the great force of their enimies who were about twelue hundred vessels whereas they themselues had but three hundred But Themistocles sent Sicinnus his childrens Schoolemaister secretly in a Sciffe towards the Persians aduertising them of the resolution which the Grecians had taken to flie faining as he made Xerxes beleeue that he fauored their side Vpon this watchword Xerxes sent part of his armie to the other side of Salamis Whereupon the Grecians considering that they were enuironed resolued and setled themselues as men constrained to fight and in deed the victorie remained on their side to the confusion ouerthrow of their enemies who departed out of Grecia which otherwise would haue been greatly shaken had not Themistocles vsed this notable stratageme thereby to staie the shamefull flight of his Countreymen It was this vertue of Fortitude which caused Damindas the Lacedemonian to make this answer to one who told him that the Lacedemonians were in danger to suffer much mischiefe if they agreed not with Philip who was armed against the Grecians O my friend quoth he that art halfe a woman what euill can he cause vs to suffer seeing we make no account of death it selfe Dercyllides being sent from Sparta towards king Pyrrhus to know wherefore he marched with his armie vpon their borders and vnderstanding of him that he commanded them to receiue againe their king Cleonymus whome they had banished or else he would let them know that they were not more valiant than others alreadie subdued by him made this answer If thou art a God we feare thee not bicause we haue not offended thee but if thou art a man thou art no better than we The answer which certaine Polonian Embassadors made to Alexander the Great who threatned their countrey sheweth also the excellencie of their courage We are afraid quoth they to him but of one only thing namely least the skie should fall vpon vs. Thunder as Plato saith terrifieth children and threatnings fooles Anaxarchus being likewise threatned by the same Monarke that he should be hauged Threaten this quoth he to thy Courtiers who feare death for my part I care not whether I rot in the ground or aboue ground Socrates also answered thus to one that asked him whether he were not ashamed to commit any thing that would procure his death My friend thou doest not well to thinke that a vertuous man ought to make any account either of danger or of death or to consider any other thing in all his actions than this whether they are iust or vniust good or bad If we desire to see farther what effects Fortitude bringeth foorth in the greatest and most sinister dangers Marcus Crassus shal serue vs for sufficient proofe When he was three skore yeeres of age albeit he had receiued the foile in a battell against the Parthians wherein the greatest part of his armie was destroied and his sonne being Captaine of a thousand men was slaine whose death seemed more to astonish the rest of his men than anye other danger yet he shewed himselfe in this mishap more vertuous than euer before went through all his bands crying aloud in this manner It is I alone my friends whome the sorow and griefe of this losse ought to touch But the greatnes of the fortune and glorie of Rome remaineth whole and inuincible as long as ye stand on your feete Notwithstanding if yee haue any compassion of mee seeing mee loose so valiant and vertuous a sonne I praye you shewe the same by changing it into wrath against your enemies to take vengeance of their crueltie and be not abashed for any mishap befallen vs for great thinges are not gotten without losse Patience in trauels and Constancie in aduersities haue brought the Romane Empire to that greatnes of power wherein it is now
fidelitie and many other good deedes wherof many men taste and which procure to a man greater good will of euery one are proper to mildnes and meekenes called by an ancient man the characters of an holie soule which neuer suffer innocencie to be oppressed as Chilo said which lead noble harts slowly to the feasts of their friends but speedily to the succouring of them in their calamities This vertue of meekenes is truly most necessarie for a valiant man For without it he should be in danger to commit some actions which might be iudged cruell And seeing that a noble minded man commeth neere to the diuine nature he must also resemble it as much as may be in gentlenes and clemencie which adorneth and honoreth those especially that are lift vp in dignitie and haue power to correct others True it is also that they are deceiued that commend and as it were adore the bounty of great men and Magistrats who of a certain simplicity without prudence shew themselues gratious gentle and courteous towards all men Which is no lesse pernitious to an Estate than is the seueritie and crueltie of others For of this ouer-great lenitie among many other inconueniences an impunitie of the wicked is bred and the sufferance of one fault quickly draweth on another Therefore the mildnes of those that haue power and authoritie ought to be accompanied with seueritie their clemencie mingled with rigour and their facilitie with austeritie This is that which Plato learnedly teacheth vs saying that the noble and strong man must be courageous and gratious that he may both chastice the wicked and also pardon when time requireth And as for those offences which may be healed he must thinke that no man is willingly vniust Therefore Cicero saith that it is the property of a noble minded man simply to punish those that are most in fault the authors of euill but to saue the multitude And thus the rigour of discipline directing meekenes and meekenes decking rigour the one will set foorth and commend the other so that neither rigour shall be rigorous nor gentlenes dissolute By the learned sentences of these Philosophers it is very euident that the vertue of meekenes is not onely a part of Fortitude which can not be perfect without it but hath also some particular coniunction with all the other vertues yea is as it were the seede of them and induceth men to practise all dutie towards their neighbours But bicause the order of our discourses wil offer vs matter and occasion to intreat particularly heereafter aswell of iustice and of reuenge of wrongs and ininries which a man receiueth of his enemy as also of other vertues heere briefly mentioned we will now come to certaine notable examples of meekenes gentlenes mildnes and goodnes of nature The first that commeth to my remembrance is Philip king of Macedonia who giueth place to none in the perfection of these gifts and graces When it was told this good Prince that one Nicanor did openly speake ill of his maiestie his counsellors being of opinion that he was to be punished with death I suppose quoth he to them that he is a good man It were better to search whether the fault commeth not from vs. And after he vnderstood that the said Nicanor was a needy fellow and complained that the king neuer succoured him in his necessity he sent him a rich present Whereupon afterward it was told Philip that this Nicanor went vp and downe speaking much good of him I see well said he then to his Councellors that I am a better Phisition for backbiting than you are and that it is in my power to cause either good or euill to be spoken of me The good disposition of Antigonus king of Macedonia commeth in here not vnfitly vpon the like occasion For hearing certaine souldiers speake ill of him hard by his tent who thought not that the king could ouerheare them he shewed himselfe vttering these onelie words without farther hurting of them Good Lord could you not go further off to speake ill of me And to say truth such gifts and graces become a noble Prince very well yea he cannot more woorthily and more beseeming himselfe giue place to any wrongs than to those that are done to his owne person As contrariwise those men are vnwoorthie their scepters who cruelly reuenge their owne iniuries pardon such as are done to others yea such faults as are directly against the honor of God A Prince wel instructed in vertue saith Xenophon in his Cyropaedia ought so to behaue himselfe towards his enemie as to thinke consider that at some time or other he may be his friend Was there euer Monarch more feared of his enemies than Alexander the Great inuincible in all things he tooke in hand insomuch that he would not onely force al humane powers but also times places themselues and yet who hath left greater proofes of meekenes and curtesie than he As he was on his voyage vndertaken for the conquest of the Indians Taxiles a king of those countries came desired him that they might not warre one against another If thou said this king vnto him art lesse than I receiue benefits if greater I will take them of thee Alexander greatly admiring and commending the grauitie and courteous speech of this Indian answered thus At the least we must fight and contend for this namely whether of vs twaine shall be most beneficiall to his Companion so loath was this noble Monarch to giue place to another in goodnes mildnes and courtesie Heereof he gaue a great argument after he had vanquished Porus a very valiant Prince of whome demanding how he would be intertained of him this king answered Royally Neither would he giue him any other answer albeit Alexender vrged him thereunto For he said that all was contained vnder that word As in deede the Monarch shewed that he was nothing ignorant thereof For he did not onely restore his kingdome vnto him but inlarged it also wherein he surmounted his victorie and procured to himselfe as much renowne by his clemency as by his valure Had he euer any greater enemie than Darius vanquished and subdued by him And yet when he saw himselfe letted from vsing towards him any bountie worthy his greatnes bicause Bessus one of his captains had slaine him he was so displeased therwith that he caused the murderer to be punished albeit he was one of his familiar friēds with a most cruel death causing him to be torne asunder with two great trees bowed down by main strength one against another vnto each of which a part of Bessus his body was fastened Then the trees beyng suffered to returne backe again to their first nature with their vehement force rent asunder the body of this poore and miserable wretch Iulius Caesar was of such a curteous disposition that hauing conquered Pompey and all his enemies he wrote to his friends
in Rome that the greatest and most pleasant fruit which he gathered of his victory consisted in sauing daily the liues of some of his countrymen who had borne armes against him as in truth he did so And for a great proofe of his meekenes and gentlenes that speech may serue which he vttred when he vnderstood that Cato retiring into the towne of Vtica after the losse of the battell had killed himselfe O Cato sayd this monarch beyng then very pensiue I enuy thee this thy death seeing thou hast enuied me the glory of sauing thy life I neuer yet denied clemencie sayd that good emperor Marcus Aurelius to him that demaunded it of me much lesse haue I euil intreated or offred dishonor to any that trusted in me Neither can any victory be called a true and perfect victorie but that which carieth with it some clemencie To ouercome is a humane thing but to pardon is diuine Hereof it is said the same vertuous prince that we esteeme the greatnesse of the immortall gods not so much for the punishment as for the mercie which they vse The clemencie and bountie of Dion the Syracusian is woorthy of perpetuall memory For hauing brought to ruine the tyrannie of Dionysius the yonger recouered the libertie of his countrey one of his greatest enemies named Heraclides being a very pernitious felow fell into his hands whereupon all his friends gaue him counsail to put him to death Vnto which Dion wisely answered that other captains and heads of armies vsed commonly to imploy most of their studie in the exercise of armes and of warre but as for himselfe he had long since studied and learned in the schooles of the Vniuersitie to ouercome anger enuy and euery euill affection and will the proofe whereof consisted not onely in behauing himselfe well towards his friends and towards good men but also in pardoning and in the exercise of gentlenes and humanitie towards his enemies so that he had rather excell Heraclides in bountie and curtesie than in power worldly glory And although quoth he mens lawes auouch it to be more iust to reuenge an iniurie receiued than to offer it to another yet nature teacheth vs that both the one and the other proceed of the same imbecillitie and how soeuer that man is hardly altered who hath gotten an habite of wickednesse yet are there few men of so brutish vntamed a nature or so sauage in reclaiming that their peruersnes cannot in the end be wel ouercome by beneficence when they see that men returne good turnes againe and againe into their bosome By these learned discourses it appeareth that Dion forgaue Heraclides and bestowed vpon him great benefits Lycurgus the reformer of the Lacedemonian estate by whose meanes that common-wealth so long tyme florished doth yet passe all those before alleadged through the goodnes and mildnes of his gentle nature This graue and gratious personage hauing receiued such a blow with a staffe that one of his eies was put out in a sedition stirred vp against him in the citie bicause of the rigor of those lawes which he had established there after the sedition was appeased had the offender deliuered into his handes to punish him as he thought good But he not hurting or displeasing him at all kept him in his house and instructed him in all vertue good discipline and within the yeeres ende he brought him foorth into the publike assembly being no lesse vertuous and well nurtured than before he was vicious vsing these words vnto the people Behold I restore him vnto you beyng mild gratious and fit to do you seruice whom ye gaue to me proud outragious and dissolute O acte beseeming the soule of a christian rather than of an Ethnike which ought to make thē greatly ashamed who for the least wrong receiued of another would not stick to slay not one mā only but a thousand yea ten thousand rather than their worldly honour should be hurt or touched which pretence of honour they vse verie often to colour their brutishnesse withall Now leauing here the ancients of whom we haue a million of testimonies in the reading of histories I thinke we shall do well to propound here vnto our princes beyng too much inclined to reuenge iniuries the clemencie of king Lewes the 12. who succeeding Charles the 8. in the kingdom would neuer reuenge himselfe of any outrage or iniurie done vnto him euen than whē he was but duke of Orleance In so much that beyng incited by some to punish one that was his great enemie during the life of his predecessor he answered That it would not beseeme a king of France to go about to reuenge iniuries offered to a duke of Orleance Neither ought we to let passe in silence the goodnes and clemencie of that great king Frances who goyng in person to chastice the rebellion of the Rochelers forgaue them and put not one to death saying That albeit he had no lesse occasion to reuenge this iniurie than the Emperor Charles who punished very cruelly those of Gaunt yet he had rather encrease his prayses by preseruing than by destroying his subiects After his example king Henry the 2. hauing giuen in commission to the duke of Montmorencie Constable to chastice the rebellion of the countrey of Guyen and especially the inhabitants of Burdeaux afterward gaue out a generall absolution and forgaue the racing of the Town-house the paiment of two hundred thousand pounds the defraying of the charges of the armie wherein they were condemned And truly as it belongeth to the sun to lighten the earth with his beames so it appertaineth to the vertue of a prince to haue compassion vpon the miserable Yea so many as stand in need of mercy and beyng woorthy therof craue for it ought to find harbour in the hauen of his excellencie Now to come to the end of our present discourse if by so many examples which we haue touched and innumerable others of which histories are plentifull we may note amongst the famous noble and courageous men of old tyme such effects of meekenesse gentlenes bountie mildnes clemencie and humanitie towards their enemies no doubt but they endeuored to do much more for their friends brethren and countreymen for whose safetie they feared not many times to die as heretofore we haue seene examples thereof and may see more hereafter And how much lesse would they haue failed to succor them in all other duties and charitable offices So that if we be men and not monsters in nature let vs learne what are the fruits not onely of true Christians but also of true humanitie and of nature not being wholy depraued and corrupted to the end that framing our maners mild gentle and gratious to the succor benefite and profite of euery one and following the steps and traces of the vertue of Fortitude and Magnanimitie which is neuer churlish idle or proud we may liue a happy life directed to hir
peraduenture they will say that they knowe no other life but this that they liue onely for the world without beleefe or hope of a second and eternall life And albeit they confesse a second life with their mouth yet their deeds declare sufficiently that they are altogither ignorant of the nature and happines of the other life and that they care not greatly to come vnto it But let vs that are better instructed imitate Socrates who being counselled to reueng a wrong receiued made this answer What If a Mastie had bit me or an Asse giuen me a blow would you haue me serue writs vpon them So let vs behaue our selues towards them that are froward vitious making a great deale lesse account of their iniuries than of a blow that hurteth which they cannot do at all to our honour As for good men we shall neuer be hurt by them Now if we draw neere although neuer so little to the perfection of such a nature much lesse ought we to be prouoked stirred vp through any laughter or gibing which cannot touch or offend any but those that are troubled and caried away with passions Thus much did Socrates wisely giue one to vnderstand who told him that certaine mocked him I do not quoth he thinke that I am mocked Heereupon I remember a notable answer made by one Ptolemaeus king of Egypt who was counselled to punish a Grammarian The king demanding of him by way of gibing who was father to Peleus he made this answer that he desired first to knowe who was Lagus his father noting thereby that the king was borne of base parentage If it be vnseemly quoth Ptolemaeus to his friends for a king to be mocked it is also as vndecent for him to mocke another Now although it be our dutie to tread vnder foote all desire of reuenge to make no account of iniuries and mocks yet is it lawfull for vs sometime if we be disposed and no greater offence arise thereof to stop the mouths of such as are iniurious impudent with a little short replie not in wrath or choler but with a certaine meekenes and graue smiling and somewhat nippingly so that it passe not the bounds of modestie Cato knew well how to behaue himself after this sort who being iniuriously dealt with all by one that had alwaies liued wickedly said thus vnto him I am not able to deale with thee in this manner by contending with iniuries For thou hast throughly vsed thy selfe both to vtter reproches freely and to suffer with ease when any man offereth thee wrong or iniurie But as for me I delight neither in hearing nor in vttering them Likewise Demosthenes answered another in this sort I will not enter into this combat with thee wherein the vanquished is better than the vanquisher Plato also being touched with iniurious speeches said Go on to speake ill seeing thou didst neuer learne to speake well Lysander Admirall of the Lacedemonians being reuiled with many bitter speeches said to him that offered the iniurie Spue out boldly my friend spue out boldly and often and spare not to see if thou canst emptie thy soule of that euill and wickednes wherewith it is replenished Shall we thinke now that these famous men making so small account of iniuries wrongs had any other bound than right and iustice onely in the hatred of the vices of wicked men or that they would haue sought by any other way for the satisfieng of those wrongs which they receiued Let vs consider how Scaurus behaued himselfe towards his enimie Domitius against whome he was to put vp a complaint by way of iustice There was one of Domitius his seruants who before iudgment was giuen of their processe came to Scaurus and said that he would disclose vnto him a matter of great importance against his maister which vndoubtedly would cause him that was his aduerse partie to gaine his suit But he not minding to heare him any further tooke order that he should be straightly bound and so sent him to his maister The meanes which Agesilaus vsed to make his enimies his friends in steede of reuenging himselfe vpon them are woorthie of eternall praise and ought to mooue vs greatly to correct our naturall imperfections so much inclined to reuenge For when he could come to the knowledge of them without any further shew he thrust them into publike offices and charges And if it fell out so that they committed any offence wherby they were drawn into iudgement he holpe them as much as he could by that meanes winning the friendship of euery one For although we commonly say that as one and the same sunne softeneth the waxe and hardeneth the clay so good deeds win the harts of good men but prouoke the wicked yet there is no man of so peruerse a nature whome a man cannot make his friend by plying him often with benefits and when occasion is offered by binding him with some notable good turne For this cause Augustus after the conspiracie of Cinna was discouered notwithstanding that he had him in his power being conuicted by his owne letter yet he did not onely forgiue him but taking him also by the hand sware friendship with him and bestowed vpon him great estates and dignities wherein Cinna afterward serued him faithfully And it seemeth that for the same reason the Venetians hauing taken the Duke of Mantua their deadly enimie in steed of taking his estate from him they made him their Generall captaine so that euer after he abode their faithfull friend Pontinus also an ancient captaine of the Samnites said that they were either freely to set at libertie the Romane armie which was surprized in the straights of the mountaine Apenninus and so make them loyall friends through the bond of so great a good turne or else to put them all to death thereby to take from the enimie a great part of his strength Neither may we heere let go in silence the discretion of Dionysius the elder king of Syracusa in punishing an iniurie Which example ought to cause all them to blush who in furie and choler after an iniurie receiued or after some report therof seeke presently for some cruell reuenge This king being told that two yoong men as they were drinking togither had spoken many outragious words of him he inuited them both to supper And perceiuing that one of them after he had taken a little wine into his head vttered and committed much follie and that contrariwise the other was very staied and drunke but a little he punished this fellow as one that was malitious and had been his enimy of set purpose but forgaue the other as being drunken and mooued by the wine to speake ill of him Concluding therefore our present discourse let vs learne that it is the propertie of a great and noble mind to be mild gratious and readie to forgiue and that
the meane time we will heere note that the deniall of Iustice hath procured to many their death or vndoing Phillip the first king of Macedonia was slaine by Pausanias a meane Gentle-man bicause he would not let him haue Iustice against Antipater who had offered him wrong Demetrius the besieger hauing receiued many requests and supplications of his subiects threw them all into the water as he went ouer the bridge of a riuer whereupon his subiects conceiued such hatred against him that within a while after his army forsooke him and yeelded themselues to Pyrrhus his enimie who draue him out of his kingdome without battell In our time Henrie king of Sweathland striking with a dagger a Gentle-man that asked Iustice of him stirred vp the Nobilitie and people in such sort against him that putting him into prison where he is at this present they elected his yoonger brother to be their king who nowe raigneth But for a more woonderfull matter we might heere rehearse how God to shew vnto vs his detestation of Iniustice hath sometimes suffered his iudgement to fal out in that very howre and time which such as were vniustly condemned did assigne to their vniust Iudges In the liues of the kings of Castile we finde that Ferdinando the fourth of that name putting two knights to death more through anger than iustly one of them cried aloud in this sort O vniust king we cite thee to appeere within thirtie daies before the tribunall seate of Iesus Christ to receiue iudgement for thy Iniustice seing there is no other Iudge in earth to whome we can appeale from thy vniust sentence Vpon the last of which daies he died likewise True it is some man may say that death is so naturall and the hower thereof so vncertaine although determined that no other cause thereof ought to be supposed but onely necessitie But yet when it followeth so neerely some notable wickednes committed and some disquietnes and torment of mind is mingled therewith in the soule as it commonly falleth out we may take such a death for a testimonie and beginning of the Iustice of God who will not suffer the vniust man to rule any longer but exerciseth his iudgements diuersly in due time and season vpon those that are not to giue an account of their doings to men like themselues And as for such as are of meaner estate and lower in degree God suffreth also many times their punishment to be notorious and that sometime by such as are not much better than themselues Heereupon Apollonius that great Philosopher said that in his peregrination ouer three parts of the world he maruelled most at two thinges whereof the first was that he alwaies sawe the greater theeues hang the lesse and oftentimes the innocent And thus it fell out in the time of king Phillip the long wherein a Prouost of Paris named Henrie Lapperell caused a poore man that was prisoner in the Chastelet to be executed by giuing him the name of a rich man who being guiltie and condemned was set at libertie by him But his reward followed him hard at the heeles being for the same accused conuicted hanged and strangled Not long after a President of the Parliament named Hugues of Crecy met with the same fortune for a certaine corrupt iudgement giuen by him Therefore let euery one of vs learne to flie from this pernitious vice of Iniustice namely from euery action repugnant to the dutie of christian charitie and destroying the bond of humane societie through the vtter spoiling of the riuers that flow from the fountaine of honestie And let vs be afraid through such impietie to fal into the indignation and wrath of the Almightie to whome onely as to the author of Iustice and to whome all time is as nothing it belongeth to define and to determine thereof when after what sort and how farre it standeth with reason all which things are vnknowne to vs. If he deferre sometime the punishment of Iniustice let vs know that it is for their greater and more greeuous condemnation who multiplie and heape vp daily vpon their heads iniquitie vpō iniquitie And for an example which great men ought to follow and not suffer Iniustice to be practised according to euery mans fancie or vnder any other pretence whatsoeuer we wil propound vnto them the fact of a Pagan king who shall rise vp in iudgement against them if they do otherwise The Prince I meane is Artaxerxes surnamed Longhand and king of the Persians who being requested by a Chamberlaine of his whome he greatly fauoured to do some vniust thing hauing by his diligence found out that he vndertooke this suit for another who had promised him thirty thousand Crownes called of them Dariques he commanded his Treasurer to bring the like summe vnto him and then said vnto his Chamberlaine Take this mony which I giue thee For in giuing it vnto thee I shall be neuer the poorer whereas if I had done that which thou requiredst of me I should haue beene more vniust Alexander Seuerus the Emperour handeled after another fashion yea more iustly a seruant of his who vsed like a horse-leech of the court to sucke their bloud that had to deale with his master by thrusting himselfe forward and profering his means to fulfill their request for a good reward by reason of the fauour which he bare him which turned to the great dishonor of his imperiall maiestie bicause a Prince ought not to make greater account of any thing than of the grace and fauor of his gifts and benefites This monarch caused him to be tied to a post and choked with smoke making this proclamation by sound of trumpet That they which sell smoke should so perish with smoke Now to enter into the last point of that matter which is here propounded vnto vs we must diligently note that as it is the dutie of all Magistrates and of such as haue authoritie ouer others to chastice to punish euery malefactor so likewise they must beware lest vnder pretēce of exercising Iustice they fall into another kind of Iniustice through ouer-much rigor which is as hurtfull or rather more than that vice whereof we discoursed euen now namely into Seueritie which causeth them to be misliked for crueltie and belongeth rather to a beastly and sauage nature than to the nature of man For clemencie and compassiō neuer ought to be separated from a good iust sentence which is to hold smal faults excused or but lightly to punish thē prouided alwayes that Iustice be not violated Clemencie saith the wise man is the true preseruation of the roial throne And therefore one of the ancients said that it was ill to be subiect to a prince vnder whom nothing was tolerated but worse when all things were left at randon We may alleage here for an example of ouer-great seueritie the fact of Manlius Torquatus a Consull of Rome who caused his
reuenged or called in question after that peace and agreement togither is made otherwise there would neuer be any assurance of peace or end of periurie From the selfe same fountaine of the profanation of faith and custome in lying it being the propertie of vice to ingender another vice for a punishment of it selfe proceedeth that pernitious plague of kingdomes and Common-wealths I meane Treason hated of God and men wherewith periured persons being bewitched feare not to betray themselues so they may betray others also and their countrey Whereupon they become odious to euery one euen to those who vsed them to serue their owne turnes in disloyall and wicked actions and in the end they receiue the reward due to their execrable impieties For this is the common affection that men beare towards such people so to seeke them out which notwithstanding is not the propertie of a noble hart when they stande in feare of them as they that want gall or the poison of some venemous beasts afterward to giue them ouer and to reiect bicause of their wickednes If a man be called slothfull he may become diligent if talkatiue hold his peace if a glutton temperate himselfe if an adulterer abstaine if furious dissemble if ambitious stay himselfe if a sinner amend but he that is once called a traitor there is no water to washe him cleane nor meane to excuse himselfe Nowe let vs come to the examples of the Ancients and know what zeale they bare to fidelitie and hatred to periurie and treason as also what recompence commonly followed and accompanied such things and with what reward noble-minded men did requite those that were disloiall and traiterous Attilius Regulus a Romane of great credite being taken prisoner in the Carthaginian warre and sent to Rome vpon his faith to intreat about a peace and the exchange of captiues so soone as he arriued gaue cleane contrarie aduice in the Senate shewing that it was not for the profit of the Common-wealth to make such an agreement Afterward hauing resolued with himselfe to keepe faith with the enimie he returned to Carthage where he was put to death very cruelly For his eie-lids being cut off himselfe bound to an engine he died with the force of waking Demaratus king of Sparta being in Persia with the king against whome a great man of Persia had rebelled was the meanes of their reconciliation Afterward this barbarian king hauing his said Vassaile in his power would haue beene reuenged of him thinking to put him to death But the vertuous Lacedemonian turned him from it declaring vnto him that it would redound to his great shame not to know how to punish him for his rebellion when he was his enimie and now to put him to death being his seruant and friend A reason truly well woorthie to be marked but very slenderly put in vre at this day Augustus hauing made proclamation by sound of trumpet that he would giue 25000. Crownes to him that should take Crocotas ringleader of the theeues in Spaine he offered himselfe to the Emperor and required the summe promised by him which he caused to be paid him pardoned him withall to the end no man should thinke that he would take his life from him thereby to frustrate him of the promised recompence as also bicause he would haue publike faith and safetie kept to euery one that came according to order of Iustice although in truth he might haue proceeded and giuen out processe against him Cato the elder being in warre against the Spaniards was in great danger by reason of the multitude of enimies who sought to inclose him round about And not being then in possibilitie to be succored of any but of the Celtiberians who demanded of him 200. Talents which are 120000. Crownes in hand for their wages the Councell tolde him that it was not by anie meanes to be gotten presently but yet promised to furnish them with such a summe and that within any time which they would appoint otherwise that it was more expedient not to meddle with them But this wise and wel aduised captaine vsed this occasion to very good purpose by resoluing with himselfe and with his souldiers either to ouercome their enimies or else to die after they had agreed with the Celtiberians that the Romane glorie should not be stained by the falshood of their promises For quoth he to his souldiers if we get the battell we will pay them not of our owne but at the charges of our enimies but if we loose the victorie none will be left aliue either to pay or to demand any paiment There was no talke among the Councell of these noble Romanes how they might deceiue their enimies or those whose seruice they were vrged to vse but they determined rather to die than to be wanting in their promise Likewise we may note that as their enterprizes thus grounded had good successe so periurie and violating of right were through the vengeance of God pursued for the most part with vnhappie effects contrarie to the platformes and desires of periured and faithles men or at leastwife that themselues were speedily punished for their wickednes And therefore when Tissaphernes Lieutenāt to the king of Persia had broken a truce which he had made with the Grecians they gaue him thankes by his owne Herald bicause he had placed the Gods in whose name the truce was sworne on their side And in deede he smally prospered after that in his enterprizes Cleomenes king of Lacedemonia hauing taken a truce for seuen daies with the Argians assaulted them the third night after knowing that they were in a sound sleepe and discomfited them which he did vnder this craftie subtletie bicause forsooth in the foresaid truce mention was made of the day onely and not of the night Whereupon the Grecians noted this as a iust iudgement of his periurie and breach of faith in that he was miraculously frustrated of his principall intent which was by the meanes of that ouerthrow to haue suddenly taken the citie of Argos For the women being full of wrath and iust griefe for the losse of their husbands by the cowardly treacherie of this Lacedemonian tooke those weapons that were in the said towne and droue him from the wals not without great murder and losse of the greatest part of his armie Whereupon within a while after he became furious and taking a knife he ript his bodie in smiling manner and so died Caracalla the Emperor trauelling with his armie towardes the Parthians vnder pretence of marying the daughter of Artabanus their king who came for the same purpose to meete him he set vpon him contrary to his faith and put him to flight with an incredible murder of his men But within a little after being come downe from his horse to make water he was slaine of his owne men which was noted as a iust punishment sent from God for his vnfaithfulnes
himself but only willeth vs not to be vnthākful for that which it pleaseth him to giue vs. And through this self same fountain of the corruptions of our soule we are bewitched with vnthankful forgetfulnes of those good turns which we receiue from our like yea vpon the least dislike of them which either with or without reason we forge in our braines we say that neuer any did vs good The vassaile for the least deniall or hard countenaunce which he receiueth of his lord forgetteth all the good turnes furtherances and fauours which before that time he had done vnto him The sonne complaineth of the father the brother of the brother the friend of the friend the seruant of the master Alas we see but too many such vngrateful wretches in France who euē betray sel daily them of whom they hold all their aduancement greatnes And if vnthankfulnes be familiar with the meaner sort let vs not thinke that it is farther off from those of higher calling For vpon euery light occasion especially if a man frame not himselfe to that vice which they haue in greatest recommendation they easily forget all the seruice that hath been done vnto them by reason of some new-come guest who will shew himselfe a seruiceable minister of their pleasures This commeth to passe soonest when they grow vp and increase in calling and greatnes bicause commonly as they mount vp in calling not being well instructed in vertue they waxe worse and worse in behauior But let them boldly take this for an infallible rule that an vnthankfull prince cannot long retaine a good man in his seruice For the hope of reward saith Plutarke is one of the elements and grounds of vertue and of that honor bountie and humanitie wherwith the prince recompenceth vertuous men thereby prouoking and alluring them to seeke the welfare of his estate This also is that which procureth the proceedings of Artes and Sciences and that which bringeth foorth notable wits as contrarywise all these things languish that are extinguished by litle and litle through the ingratitude and couetousnes of those that rule The ancients said not without cause that impudencie was the companion of ingratitude For if no beast as they say is so shamelesse as an impudent who is he that may be said to haue lesse shame than an vnthankful body Impudencie saith Theophrastus is a contempt of glory wrought in a man through the desire of vile and filthie gayne and that man is impudent that boroweth some thing of him whome he purposeth to deceiue Are not these the proper effects of the vice of Ingratitude which seeketh nothing else but to drawe away the commoditie and profite of euery one being vnwilling to doe good to any or to requite a pleasure receiued neither caring for true glory and immortall honor which followeth euery vertuous action grounded vpon dutie and honesty And truly it is a very hard matter for them to be answerable to their honor who seeke their owne profit as much as may be For we must know that in equitie and reason there is a difference betweene duetie and that which we commonly call profit yea they are distinct things and separated one frō the other as honestie is from such earthly commoditie This latter maketh men voyd of feare to breake a sunder and to dissolue whatsoeuer was ordeined and ioyned togither both by the law of God and man so that they may gaine thereby But the other cleane contrary causeth them to imploy liberally their goods trauell industrie and whatsoeuer else is in their power that they may profit euery one and that without hope of any recompence albeit they that receiue good turnes are bound to returne againe the like to their benefactors according to their abilitie and to acknowledge their kindnes For this cause amongst the lawes of Draco established among the Athenians there was a commandement that if any man had receiued a benefit of his neighbor and it were prooued against him long time after that he had been vnthankfull for it had ill acknowledged the good turne receiued I say that such a one should be put to death And although no histories are able to shew vnto vs any kings or princes which surmounted yea which matched Alexander the great in munificence and liberalitie or Iulius Caesar in pardoning iniuries yet we read of them that when they had knowledge of an vngratefull person Alexander neuer gaue vnto him nor Caesar euer forgaue him so greatly haue vertuous men alwayes hated ingratitude It is reported of the Storke that as often as she hath yong she casteth one out of the neast for the hire of the house and reward of him that lodged hir O barbarous ingratitude to behold him that hath been lodged serued and brought vp in a house and that with the sweate and labor of another to seeke and to endeuor the spoil of all that is therin euen to the honor oftentimes the life of his host Is it not the same vice of vnthankfulnes that soweth dissentions and quarels between the children the father between brethren kinffolks friends and all for want of acknowledging one towards another that bond of nature wherewith we ought to be tied and that secondary supply of good turns which knit vs vnseparably and make vs daily beholding vnto them if we consider exactly the nature of our estate which cannot stand without the succor and aide of many how great so euer we be But what We see by experience that which one of the Ancients said That all humane things growe to be old and come to the end of their time except Ingratitude For the greater the encrease of mortall men is the more doth vnthankfulnesse augment And yet we may note many examples in histories against this vice which ought to awaken vs in our dutie Pyrrhus is exceedingly commended by Historiographers bicause he was gentle and familiar with his friendes ready to pardon them when they had angred him and very earnest and forward in requiting recompencing those good turnes which he had receiued Which caused him to be grieued aboue measure for the death of a friend of his not as he said bicause he saw that befall him which is common and necessarily incident to the nature of man but bicause he had lost all means of acknowledging vnto him those benefits which he had receiued whereupon he reprooued and blamed himselfe for delaying and deferring it ouer-long For truly money lent may well be restored to his heires that did lend it but it goeth to the hart of a man that is of a good noble and excellent nature if he cannot make the selfe same man that benefited him to feele the recompence of those pleasures which he receiued This caused the ancients not onely to feare the note of ingratitude towards their friends but also to contend with their enimies which of them should do most good and shew greatest
may seeme hard to conceiue how two vices so disagreeing by nature may be found to agree in the same subiect we will soone beleeue it if we say with the ancients that it is the point of couetousnesse to gripe and to take Where and When it ought not and that this dealing is put in practise necessarilie vpon one of these two occasions eyther of niggardlinesse and sparing or for prodigalitie as they do that vniustly seeke for meanes to satisfie their fond desires and their vnprofitable and superfluous expences The common opinion is that they who put to no vse the richesse which they gette so couetously are more miserable than those that abuse them after they haue obtayned them by ill meanes bicause manye maye reape profite by these but of the other none no not their onely heires receiue more benefit than they do of hogs which is after their death But it falleth not out so altogither with kings and princes whose couetousnes ioined with prodigalitie is more hurtfull to their subiects than that which is ioined with sparing For this latter althogh it maketh them commit much iniustice and polling of their people to fil their treasuries yet when any need hapneth to the common-wealth either of forraine warre or of any other calamitie a good ground-work is laid in the bottome of their cofers for to redresse the same But the other maintained with the like iniustice leaueth nothing behind for prodigall princes wherewith to helpe themselues in time of necessitie Whereupon oftentimes proceedeth the finall subuersion of their estate weakened by exactions to the ouerthrow and vndoing of many who would haue been the sinewes of their strength and all to inrich a few who then will stand them in small stead or els bicause they wasted it vpon riot and superfluities wherby the warlike vertues both of themselues and of their subiects become degenerate bastardlike Of this we note that after a prince groweth to be prodigall and desirous of superfluitie and foolish expences no riches he hath will euer suffice him so that to satisfie his spending he must needs become couetous and vniust The like happeneth many times to the meaner sort and to men of all estates that they are couetous and prodigal both togither namely when they gather wealth by vnlawfull meanes spare to spend it in the workes of pietie that they may sowe it plentifully vpon delights and pleasures But the humor of niggardlines and neernesse is most common in couetous men whom Plutarke compareth to rats and mice that are in gold mines which eate the golden oare and yet nothing can be gotten from them but after their death Likewise he compareth them to pipes through which water being conueied into a cesterne nothing remaineth for them So couetous men heape vp treasures to leaue them to their heires that they also may afterward leaue them to their heires as their predecessors did and so neither the one nor the other reape any good or benefit by them vntill in the end either some Tyrant take all away by violence from that hold-fast or els some one that is the worst of the race succeedeth spending all dissolutely vpon pleasures This caused Diogenes iesting at couetous men to say that he had rather be their sheepe than their sonne bicause they are very carefull to giue their cattell meete pasture but in steede of feeding their youth with conuenient and profitable nourishment through good and vertuous education they marre spill corrupt them by grafting couetousnes in the soules of their children as if they ment to build within them a strong fort wherein to keepe their succession safely Whereas contrariwise they should learne of Cicero that the glory of vertue and of praisworthie and honorable deeds is the greatest riches which fathers can leaue to their children and more excellent than any other patrimonie whatsoeuer Socrates called a yoong man brought vp in ignorance and rich withall a golden slaue And that seruant answered not vnfitly when being demanded what his maister did who was a couetous man and one that hauing great quantitie of good wine sold it to others and sought for sowre wine in Tauernes for his owne drinking he said Albeit he hath great store of good yet he seeketh for euill But let vs now consider of some notable examples shewing foorth the pernitious effects which as we said proceed from these two vices Couetousnes and Prodigalitie Muleasses king of Thunes had his eies put out by his sonne that he might seaze vpon his treasures Priamus king of Troy fearing the taking of his citie sent Polydorus his yoongest sonne to his sonne in law Polymestor with a great quantitie of gold and siluer but he being desirous to possesse the same slew the child his brother in law for which afterward he receiued his deserued hire For Queene Hecuba comming vnto him and taking him aside into a chamber not shewing countenance of any discontentment with the helpe of hir women put out his eies The Emperor Caligula was so much touched with couetousnes that there was no kind of lucre or meane to get monie by how vnlawfull and wicked soeuer it were which he sought not out insomuch that he laid a tribute vpon vrine and sold his sisters gownes whome he had violated and sent into banishment And yet in one yeere of his â—aigne he spent prodigally 67. Millions of gold which Tiberius his predecessor had gathered togither Nero vsing great crueltie polling exaction and confiscation towards his subiects gaue to the ministers of his tyrannie in those fifteene yeeres wherein he raigned the value of 55. Millions of Crownes He caused a very stately gilt pallace to be built which tooke in compasse a great part of Rome but it was ouerthrown after his death that the memorie of such a cruell tyrant might be rooted out of the earth A notable example for such as thinke to get a vaine glorie by buildings that are more stately than necessarie and yet leaue behind them a notorious marke of their tyrannie and a perpetuall testimonie to posteritie that they haue raised their houses with the blood of their subiects Henrie the seuenth Emperour a Prince indewed with most excellent vertues was poisoned with an Host which an Italian Monke corrupted with monie caused him to take But what neede we seeke for such examples of ancient men to know the fruites of couetousnes when as the vnhappines of our age daily affoordeth vs new before our eies wherein we heare nothing almost spoken of but poisonings and murders hired with monie and all committed to this ende that the authors of them may haue their goods whome they kill for the satisfieng of their insatiable couetousnes Amongst many other who hath not heard of the cruell wilfull murder of a Gentlewoman of a good house and of hir men and maides by hir owne brethren in law done a few daies past A crueltie exceeding that of
seeing it lieth so heauy vpon them and the time seemeth vnto them ouer-long to stay for the naturall death of this poore old man whom they hate so extremely And yet Titus shall not obtaine a victory greatly honorable or woorthy the praise of the ancient Romanes who euen then when Pyrrhus their enimy warred against them and had wonne battels of them sent him word to beware of poison that was prepared for him Thus did this great vertuous captaine finish his daies being vtterly ouerthrowen and trode vnder foote by fortune which for a time had placed him in the highest degree of honor that could be Eumenes a Thracian one of Alexanders lieutenants and one that after Alexanders death had great wars and made his partie good against Antigonus king of Macedonia came to that greatnesse and authoritie from a poore Potters sonne afterwards being ouercome and taken prisoner he died of hunger But such preferments of fortune will not seeme very strange vnto vs if we consider how Pertinax came to the Empire ascending from a simple souldier to the degree of a captaine and afterward of Gouernour of Rome being borne of a poore countrywoman And hauing raigned only two moneths he was slaine by the souldiers of his gard Aurelianus from the same place obtained the selfe same dignitie Probus was the sonne of a gardiner and Maximianus of a black-smith Iustinus for his vertue surnamed the Great from a hogheard in Thracia attained to the empire Wil you haue a worthy exāple agreeable to that saying of Iuuenal which we alleaged euen now Gregory the 7. from a poore monke was lift vp to the dignitie of chief bishop of Rome Henry the 4. emperor was brought to that extreme miserie by wars that he asked the said Gregory forgiuenes cast him selfe down at his feete And yet before this miserable monarch could speake with him he stood 3. days fasting and barefoote at the popes palace gate as a poore suppliant waiting whē he might haue entrance accesse to his holynes Lewes the Meeke emperour king of France was constrained to giue ouer his estate to shut himself vp in a monasterie through the conspiracie of his own childrē Valerianus had a harder chaunge of his estate ending his days whilest he was prisoner in the hands of Sapor king of the Parthians who vsed the throte of this miserable emperor whensoeuer he mounted vpō his horse But was not that a wonderful effect of fortune which hapned not long since in Munster principal towne in the country of Westphalia wherin a sillie botcher of Holland being retired as a poore banished man from his country called Iohn of Leiden was proclaimed king was serued obeied of all the people a long time euen vntil the taking subuersion of the said town after he had born out the siege for the space of 3. yeeres Mahomet the first of that name of a very smal and abiect place being enriched by marying his mistres and seruing his own turne very fitly with a mutinie raised by the Sarrasins against Heracleus the emperor made himself their captain tooke Damascus spoiled Egypt finally subdued Arabia discomfited the Persians and became both a monarch a prophet Wil you see a most wōderful effect of fortune Look vpon the procedings of that great Tamburlane who being a pesants son keping cattel corrupted 500. sheepheards his companions These men selling their cattel betook them to armes robbed the merchants of that country watched the high ways Which when the king of Persia vnderstood of he sent a captaine with a 1000. horse to discomfit them But Tamburlane delt so with him that ioining both togither they wrought many incredible feates of armes And when ciuil warre grew betwixt the king and his brother Tamburlane entred into the brothers pay who obtained the victory by his means therupon made him his lieutenant general But he not long after spoiled the new king weakened subdued the whole kingdom of Persia And when he saw himselfe captain of an army of 400000. horsmen 600000. footmē he made warre with Baiazet emperor of the Turkes ouercame him in battel and tooke him prisoner He obtained also a great victorie against the Souldan of Egypt and the king of Arabia This good successe which is most to be maruelled at and very rare accompanied him always vntill his death in so much that he ended his days amongst his children as a peaceable gouernour of innumerable countries From him descended the great Sophy who raigneth at this day and is greatly feared and redoubted of the Turke But that miserable Baiazet who had conquered before so many peoples and subdued innumerable cities ended his dayes in an iron cage wherein being prisoner and ouercome with griefe to see his wife shamefully handled in waiting at Tamburlanes table with hir gowne cut downe to hir Nauell so that hir secrete partes were seene this vnfortunate Turke beate his head so often agaynst the Cage that he ended his lyfe But what neede we drawe out this discourse further to shewe the straunge dealinges and maruellous chaunges of fortune in the particular estates and conditions of men which are to be seene daily amongst vs seeing the soueraign Empires of Babylon of Persia of Graecia and of Rome which in mans iudgement seemed immutable and inexpugnable are fallen from all their glittering shew and greatnes into vtter ruine and subuersion so that of the last of them which surpassed the rest in power there remaineth onely a commandement limited and restrained within the confines of Almaigne which then was not the tenth part of the rich prouinces subiect to this Empire Is there any cause then why we should be astonished if litle kingdoms common-wealths and other ciuill gouernments end when they are come to the vtmost ful point of their greatnes And much lesse if it fal out so with mē who by nature are subiect to change and of themselues desire and seeke for nothing else but alteration Being assured therefore that there is such vncertaintie in all humane things let vs wisely prepare our selues and apply our will to all euents whose causes are altogither incomprehensible in respect of our vnderstandings and quite out of our power For he that is able to say I haue preuented thee O fortune I haue stopped all thy passages and closed vp all thy wayes of entrance that man putteth not all his assurance in barres or locked gates nor yet in high walles but staieth himselfe vpon Phylosophicall sentences and discourses of reason whereof all they are capable that imploy their wils trauell and studie thereupon Neither may we doubt of them or distrust our selues but rather admire and greatly esteeme of them beyng rauished with an affectionate spirite He that taketh least care for to morow saith Epicurus commeth thereunto with greatest ioy And as Plutarke saith riches glory
aliue as after their death by refusing to ouer-liue them Queene Hipsicrates the wife of king Mithridates cōmeth first to mind who bare such loue towards hir husband that polling hir selfe for his sake although she was yong and very faire she acquainted hir selfe with the wearing of armour and rode with him to the war And when he was ouercome by Pompey she accompanied him in his flight through all Asia whereby she mollified the griefe and sorow which he receiued by his losse Triara wife to Lucius Vitellus brother to the emperour Vitellus seeyng hir husband in a daungerous battell thrust hir selfe amongst the souldiours to beare him company and to helpe him both in death and life and fought as well as the valiauntest amongst them When king Admetus his wife sawe hir husband very sicke and heard the answere of the oracle which was That he could not recouer except one of his best friendes died for him she slew hir selfe When the wife of Ferdinando Gonçales a prince of Italy knewe that hir husband was prisoner and in daunger of death she went to visite him and putting on his apparell abode in his place whilest he beyng clothed in hir garmentes saued him-selfe Zenobia Queene of Armenia seeing hir husband Radamisus flie from a battell and not beyng able to follow him bicause she was great with childe besought him to kill hir Which when he thought to haue done she was striken downe with the blowe of a sworde but being taken of the enimie and throughly healed Tyridates the king who had vanquished hir husband maried hir afterward for the great loue that was in hir The princesse Panthea loued hir husband Abradatus so well that when he died in Cyrus campe she slue hir selfe vpon his bodie Artemisia Queene of Caria for the great loue she bare to hir husband that was dead dranke all the ashes of his bodie meanyng thereby to be his sepulchre When Iulia the wife of Pompey sawe a gowne of hir husbande 's all bloodie wherewith he had offered some sacrifice she imagined that he was slayne and so died presently after When Porcia the wife of Brutus heard of hir husbandes death and perceiued that hir kinsfolkes tooke away all meanes of killing hir self she drew hote burning coles out of the fire and threw them into hir mouth which she closed so fast that shee was choked thereby Sulpitia beyng carefully restrained by hir mother Iulia from seeking hir husband Lentulus in Sicilia whither hee was banished shee went thither beyng apparelled like a slaue banishing hir selfe voluntarily rather than she would forsake hir husband Octauia sister to Augustus and wife to Antonius notwithstanding the iniurie that hir husband offered vnto hir in preferring before hir a Queene that was nothing so yong or faire as she bare such great loue towards him that setting aside al intreatie of hir brother she would neuer leaue hir husbands house but stil brought vp his children by his first mariage as carefully as if they had been hir owne Moreouer she sought by all means to reconcile those two emperors saying that it was an vnworthy thing that two so mightie princes the one for the euil intreatie of his sister the other bicause he was bewitched by a wicked woman should warre one against another As this vertuous princes had taken hir iourney as far as Athens where she ment to take shipping to seeke out hir husband being then in war with the Parthians bringing with hir souldiers mony furniture other munitions he sent hir word that she should passe no farther but stay for him at Rome This she performed and sent him all the aboue named things not seeming at all to be offended with him Wheras he in the mean while skorned hir sporting himself with Cleopatra in the sight and knowledge of all men and afterward delt worse with hir when the warre was begunne between him and Augustus For he sent a commandement to Octauia at Rome to go out of his house which she presently obeied albeit she would not therefore forsake any of hir husbands children but wept and bewailed hir mishap which had brought hir to be a principal cause of that ciuill warre Aria the wife of Cecinna followed in a little boate vnto Rome hir husband who was taken prisoner bicause he had borne armes against the emperour Claudius Being there condemned to die she would haue borne him companie but that hir sonne in lawe and hir daughter stayed hir When she sawe that she strake hir head so hard agaynst the wall that she fell downe amazed and beyng come to hir selfe agayne sayde vnto them You see that you can not hinder me from dying cruelly if ye stay mee from a more gentle death They being astonished at the fact and at hir words suffered hir to do what she would who then ran to the place where hir husband was and slewe hir selfe first after she had spoken thus courageously vnto him I am not Cecinna sorie for that which is done but bicause the race of thy life must end When Seneca was condemned to die by Nero and had libertie to chuse what kind of death he would he caused his veines to be opened in a bath His wife Paulina of hir owne accord did the like to hir self in the same bath mingling togither their blood for a greater vnion and coronation of their long and perfect loue Whereof Nero being aduertised presently commanded that hir veines should be stopt constraining hir thereby to liue a little longer in continuall griefe Hipparchia a very faire rich woman was so farre in loue with the Philosopher Crates who was hard-fauoured and poore that she maried him against all hir kinsfolks minde and followed him throughout all the countrie being poorely apparelled barefoote after the Cynick fashion Pisca seeing hir husband pine away daily through a great and strange discase which he had concealed from hir of long time hauing at the length knowledge thereof and perceiuing it to be incurable she was mooued with pitie for the euill which he suffered whom she loued better than hir selfe and therevpon counselled him with great courage to asswage his griefe by death and the better to stirre him vp thereunto she offered to beare him companie Whereunto hir husband agreeing they imbraced each other and cast themselues headlong into the sea from the top of a rocke The king of Persia taking prisoner the wife of Pandoërus whom he had vanquished and slaine would haue maried hir But she slew hir selfe after she had vttered these words God forbid that to be a Queene I should euer wed him that hath beene the murderer of my deere husband Pandoërus Camma a Greekish woman of the countrie of Galatia bare such loue to hir husband euen after his death that to be reuenged of a great Lorde called Synorix who had put hir husband to death that he might marrie hir she gently
the Lord shal smite him or his day shall come to die or he shall descend into battel and perish The Lord keepe me from laying my hand vpon the Lords annointed This word is directed to vs all it ought to teach vs not to sift out the life of our soueraign prince but to content our selues with this knowledge that by the wil of God he is established set in an estate that is ful of an inuiolable maiestie Moreouer we read in Iosephus that the holiest men that euer were among the Hebrewes called Essaei that is to say true practisers of the lawe of God maintained this that soueraigne princes whatsoeuer they were ought to be inuiolable to their subiectes as they that were sacred and sent of God Neither is there any thing more vsuall in all the holy scriptures than the prohibition to kill or to seeke the life or honour not onely of the prince but also of inferiour magistrates although saith the scripture they be wicked And it is said in Exodus Thou shalt not raile vpon the iudges neither speake euill of the ruler of thy people Now if he that doth so is guiltie of treason both against the diuine and humane maiestie what punishment is sufficient for him that seeketh after their life According to mens lawes not onely that subiect is guiltie of high treason that hath killed his soueraigne prince but he also that attempted it that gaue counsell that consented to it that thought it Yea he that was neuer preuented nor taken in the maner in this point of the soueraigne the law accounteth him as condemned alreadie and iudgeth him culpable of death that thought once in times past to haue seazed vpon the life of his prince notwithstanding any repentance that folowed And truly there was a gentleman of Normandie who confessed to a Franciscan frier that he once minded to haue killed king Francis the first but repented him of that euill thought The frier gaue him absolution but yet afterward told the king thereof who sent the gentleman to the parliament of Paris there to be tried where he was by common consent condemned to die and after executed Amongst the Macedonians there was a law that condemned to death fiue of their next kinsfolks that were conuicted of conspiracie against their prince We see then the straight obligation wherby we are bound vnto our princes both by diuine and humane right Wherfore if it so fall out that we are cruelly vexed by a prince voyd of humanitie or els polled and burthened with exactions by one that is couetous or prodigall or despised and ill defended by a carelesse prince yea afflicted for true pietie by a sacrilegious and vnbeleeuing soueraigne or otherwise most vniustly and cruelly intreated first let vs call to mind our offences committed against God which vndoubtedly he correcteth by such scourges Secondly let vs thinke thus with our selues that it belongeth not to vs to remedie such euils being permitted onely to call vpon God for helpe in whose hands are the harts of kings and alterations of kingdoms It is God who as Dauid saith sitteth among the gods that shal iudge them at whose onely looke all those kings and iudges of the earth shall fall and be confounded who haue not kissed his sonne Iesus Christ but haue decreed vniust lawes to oppresse the poore in iudgement and to scatter the lawfull right of the weake that they may praie vpon the widowes and poll the orphans Thus let all people learne that it is their duetie aboue all things to beware of contemning or violating the authoritie of their superiours which ought to be full of maiestie vnto them seeing it is confirmed by God with so many sentences and testimonies yea although it be in the hands of most vnwoorthy persons who by their wickednes make it odious as much as in them lieth and contemptible Moreouer they must learne that they must obey their lawes and ordinances and take nothing in hand that is against the priuiledges and marks of soueraigntie Then shall we be most happy if we consecrate our soules to God only and dedicate our bodies liues and goods to the seruice of our prince The ende of the fourteenth daies worke THE FIFTEENTH DAIES WORKE Of a Monarchie or a Regall power Chap. 57. ASER. WHen we began yesterday to intreat of the sundry kinds of estates and gouernments that haue been in force amongst men and of the excellencie or deformitie of them we reserued to a further consideration the monarchie or kingly power vnder which we liue in France This forme of regiment by the common consent of the woorthiest philosophers and most excellent men hath been always taken for the best happiest and most assured common-wealth of all others as that wherein all the lawes of nature guide vs whether we looke to this little world which hath but one bodie and ouer al the members one only head of which the wil motion and sense depend or whether we take this great world which hath but one soueraigne God whether we cast vp our eyes to heauen we shall see but one sunne or looke but vpon these sociable creatures belowe we see that they cannot abide the rule of many amongst them But I leaue to you my Companions the discourse of this matter AMANA Among all creatures both with and without life we alwais find one that hath the preheminence aboue the rest of his kind Among al reasonable creatures Man among beasts the Lion is taken for chiefe among birds the Eagle among graine wheate among drinks wine among spices baulme among all mettals gold among al the elements the fire By which natural demonstrations we may iudge that the kingly and monarchicall gouernment draweth neerest to nature of all others ARAM. The principalitie of one alone is more conformable and more significant to represent the diuine ineffable principalitie of God who alone ruleth al things than the power of many ouer a politicall body Notwithstanding there hath been many notable men that haue iudged a monarchie not to be the best forme of gouernment that may be among men But it is your duetie ACHITOB to handle vs this matter ACHITOB. This controuersie hath always been very great among those that haue intreated of the formes of policies and gouernments of estates namely whether it be more agreeable to nature and more profitable for mankind to liue vnder the rule of one alone than of many neither side wanting arguments to prooue their opinion Now although it be but a vaine occupation for priuate men who haue no authoritie to ordain publike matters to dispute which is the best estate of policie and a greater point of rashnesse to determine therof simply seeing the chiefest thing consisteth in circumstances yet to content curious mindes and to make them more willing to beare that yoke vnto which both diuine humane nature and equitie hath subiected them I purpose here to waigh
the constitutions of lawes aswell in the gathering of their duties and tributes as in their manner of life They vsed the seruice of Noble mens and of Princes children onely who were of the age of twentie yeeres and were instructed in all sciences The reason whereof was that the king being pricked forward with the sight of thē that were about him might beware how he committed any thing woorthie of reproch And truly there is nothing that corrupteth Princes so much as vitious seruants who seeke to please their sensuall desires and affections When the king arose in the morning he was bound first to take and receiue all the letters and requests that were brought vnto him that answering necessarie matters first all his affaires might be guided by order and reason Then he went to the Temple to offer sacrifice to the gods where the Prelate and chiefe Priest after the sacrifice and praiers were ended rehearsed with a loud voice in the presence of the people what vertues were in the king what reuerence and religion towardes the gods was in him and what clemencie and humanitie towards men Moreouer he told that he was continent iust noble-minded true liberall one that brideled his desires and punished malefactors with a more mild and light punishment than the greatnes of their sinne and offence required rewarding also his subiects with graces gifts that were greater than their deserts This done he exhorted the king to a happie life agreeable to the gods and likewise to good manners by following after honor and vertue and therewithall propounded vnto him certaine examples of the excellent deedes of ancient kings thereby to prouoke him the rather therunto These kings liued with simple meates as with veale birds for all dishes they kept very exactly all the lawes and ordinances of their countrie in euery point of their life which was no lesse directed euen in the least things than the simplest of their subiects And truly so long as the kings of Egypt were such zealous obseruers of their lawes and of iustice raigned peaceably among their subiects they brought many strang nations into their subiection gathered togither infinite riches whereby they adorned their countrie with great buildings and sumptuous works and decked their townes with many gifts and benefits The Barbarian kingdomes were the second kinde of Monarchy namely the ancient Monarchies of the Assyrians Medes and Persians whose Princes vsurped Lordlie rule ouer their goods and persons and gouerned their subiects as a father of a familie doth his slaues Which kind of gouernment sauoureth more of a tyrannie than of a kingdome besides it is directly against the law of nature which keepeth euery one in his libertie and in the possession of his owne goods Notwithstanding when by the law of Arms and of iust warre a Prince is made Lord ouer any people they properly belong to him that conquereth and they that are ouercome are made his slaues by the ancient consent of all nations and this maketh the difference betweene the Lord-like Monarchy and a tyrannic which abuseth free subiects as slaues Of this second kinde of Monarchy was the kingdome of Persia as Plato writeth vnder Cambyses Xerxes and other kings vntill the last Darius For vsurping more absolute authoritie to rule than was conuenient they began to contemne their Vassals and to account of them as of slaues and putting no more confidence in them they intertained into their seruice mercenarie souldiors and strangers whereby they made their owne subiects vnfit for warre and so in the end lost their estate when it seemed to haue attained to the top of worldlie prosperitie Such is the estate of the Turke at this day wherein he is sole Lord commanding ouer his subiects in rigorous manner aswell ouer the Musulmans as Christians and Iewes He vseth in his principall affaires which concerne peace and warre and matters of gouernment the seruice of runnagate slaues whom he placeth in authoritie changeth or deposeth as he thinks good without peril and enuie yea he strangleth them vpon the least suspition or dislike conceiued of them not sparing his owne children and others of his blood if they anger him So did Sultan Solyman deale with Hibrahim Bascha who was almost of equall authoritie with him insomuch that he was there called the Seignour king of the Ianitzaries the Bascha and king of the men of Armes Neuertheles in one night wherin he made him stay sup with him lie in his owne chamber he caused him to be slaine and his bodie to be cast into the sea The morrow after he seazed vpon his goods as confiscate and caried them away and yet no man euer knewe the cause of his death except it were this that he was growne too great and consequently suspected of his maister who was a Tyrant rather than a King Likewise he keepeth in his hands all the Lordships of his kingdome which he distributeth to men of warre who are charged to maintaine a certaine number of men of Armes and of horses according to the rate of their reuenew and when it pleaseth him he taketh them away againe Neither is there any man in all the countries vnder his obedience that possesseth Townes Castles and Villages or dwelleth in strong houses or that dare build higher than one storie or than a Dooue-house The great Knes or Duke of Moscouia exceedeth for seueritie and rigour of commanding all the Monarchs in the world hauing obtained such authoritie ouer his subiects both Ecclesiasticall and secular that he may dispose of their goods and liues at his pleasure so that none dare gainesay him in any thing They confesse publikely that the will of their prince is the will of God and that whatsoeuer he doth is done by the will of God The king of Ethiopia is also a Lordlike Monarch hauing as Paulus Iouius affirmeth 50. kings no lesse subiect vnto him than slaues And Frauncis Aluarez writeth that he hath seene the great Chancellour of that countrie scourged starke naked with other Lords as the very slaues of the prince wherein they thinke themselues greatly honoured The Emperour Charles the fift hauing brought vnder his obedience the kingdome of Peru made himselfe soueraigne Lord thereof in regard of goods which the subiects haue not but as they farme them or for terme of life at the most The third kind of Monarchy whereof the Ancients made mention was that of Lacedemonia wherein the king had not absolute power but in time of warre out of the countrie and a certaine preheminence ouer the sacrifices We made mention of their gouernment before The first kings in Rome were sacrificers also and afterward the emperors called themselues Pontifices that is chiefe bishops and those of Constantinople were consecrated as our kings of Frāce are In like maner the Caliphaes of the Sarasins were kings and chiefe bishops in their religion the
one in Bagdet the other in Cayre The king of Calecuth is chiefe of his religion and for this cause goeth before the other kings of India in dignitie and is called Samory that is to say God on earth The Pope commandeth ouer the temporalties of the church called S. Peters patrimonie as king and is reast of the latin christian churches as head of the religion I meane in those places of those persons where he is so taken and acknowledged The king of England certaine yeeres past tooke vpon him the title of king and supreme gouernor of the Church The fourth kind of monarchie is electiue not hereditarie in some places for terme of life as the empire of Almaigne the kingdom of Polonia of Bohemia and of Hungaria in other places for a certaine time as was the Dictatorship at Rome These estates are not commonly so sure and durable as those that are hereditarie bicause of the practises forestalling of voyces which are for the most part vsed wherupon seditions arise to the great detriment of those kingdomes For the prince being dead the estate remaineth in a pure Anarchie without king without lord without gouernment in danger of ruine like to a ship without a Pilote which is ready to be cast away with the first wind that bloweth Also a gate is set open to theeues and murderers who kill and slay at their pleasure vpon hope of impunitie as it is commonly to be seene as histories rehearse after the death of the kings of Thunes of the Souldans of Egypt and of the Popes of Rome where the seat being vacant the first thing that is commonly done is the breaking open of prisons the killing of iailers the letting out of guiltie persons and the reuenging of iniuries by all possible meanes and this continueth vntil the colledge of cardinals haue agreed vpon a successor And in deed in the yeere 1522. two were executed against whom it was prooued that at sundry tumults mooued at this election they had slaine an hundreth and sixteene men As touching the Empire of Almaigne their histories are full of impouerishmentes fallen vpon them through the election of their Emperours as well by ciuill warres as by murders and poisonings So that within three hundreth and three-score yeeres since the Empire fell vnder the election of seuen princes eight or nine Emperours haue been slaine or poisoned besides those that haue been shamefully thrust out of their imperiall seate Ecclesiasticall persones also haue not wanted ciuill warres about their elections wherein no such prouision could be made but that two and twentie Popes were cut off and many thrust out of their seate as may be seen in the Registers of the Vatican Nowe we must note further that among the electiue estates euery election is either of such persones as the Electours like of as in Germanie they doe not onely chuse for emperoures the princes of Almaigne out of diuers families but sometime straungers haue been chosen as Alphonsus king of Spaine and Richard Duke of Cornewall and brother to king Henry the third or else it is out of certaine inferiour estates as the Pope out of the Colledge of Cardinals and not long since the Souldan of Cayre out of the Mammeluckes vnto which degree of honour none could ascend except before he had been a slaue and a runnagate Christian so that afterward he commaunded absolutely in Egypt and Soria This estate hauing continued about three hundreth yeeres was not long since quite ouerthrowen by Sultan Selym king of the Turkes who tooke the last Souldane and caused him to bee caried vpon an olde Cammell all a-long Cayre and then to be hanged vpon one of the gates of that Citie The great master of Malta is chosen by the chiefe Priors of his religion as that also of Prussia was before the agreement made with the king of Polonia by which composition his estate was turned into a Duchie subiect to the crowne of Poland and of electiue made hereditarie The fift kinde of Monarchie is hereditarie and is properly called royall and lawfull whether the king come to the estate by right of succession as Thucidides writeth of the auncient kings or whether the kingdome be giuen by vertue of the lawe without regard had to daughters or to males descending of them as it is in this kingdome by the Salicke lawe or whether it bee giuen as a meere gift as the kingdomes of Naples and Sicill were giuen to Charles of Fraunce and since giuen agayne to Lewes of France first Duke of Aniow whether it bee left by will as the kinges of Thunis Fez and Marocke vsed to doe and as it was practised also by Henry the eight king of England who left his kingdome to his sonne Edward appointing Mary after him and after hir Elizabeth or by what other meanes so euer the Prince becommeth lord of the estate his monarchie is alwayes royall and lawfull if he in like maner bee obedient to the lawes of nature as he desireth that his subiectes should bee towards him leauyng to euery one his naturall libertie and proprietie of his goodes and looking to the profite and commoditie of the Common-wealth This kingly gouernment Aristotle compareth to Oeconomie For although a father of a familie gouerne his house after his pleasure yet he respecteth the commoditie of his familie Vnder this happie fourme of gouernement beyng the best of all wee may boast that wee liue in Fraunce through the goodnesse of our kinges who neyther ordaine nor put any thing in execution but by mature deliberation and counsaile which they take with the princes of their bloud and with other notable and graue persones whome they call neere vnto them as though their soueraigne power were ruled and moderated For first the king commaundeth nothing that taketh effect if it bee not signed by his Secretaries and sealed with his great seale that is to saye seene and approoued by the Chauncellour who is a seuere Controuler of all matters that passe All the kinges letters must alwayes of necessitie bee approoued by the iudges to whom they are directed and examined not only whether they were obtained by priuie insinuation or fraudulent dealing but also whether they be lawful or vnlawfull Yea in criminall matters the re-inabling of such as before were not capable of offices or dignities writs of repeale from banishment pardons remissions are skanned with such rigor by them that the procurers of such letters are compelled to deliuer them bare-headed and kneeling and to offer themselues prisoners of what estate soeuer they be in so much that oftentimes men are condemned and executed with their pardons about them As for the giftes and expences of the king whether they be ordinarie or extraordinarie the chamber of accounts examineth them narowly and many times cutteth off such as haue no good ground by reason that the officers are sworne to let nothing
children of Fraunce or to prouide for the gouernement of the kingdome or for other matters The kinges sate amongst them and were Presidentes except at one assemblie wherein was debated the noblest cause that euer was namelie to whome the kingdome of Fraunce belonged after the death of Charles the faire whether to his cosin Phillip de Valois or to Edward king of England his brother in lawe King Phillip was not President not beyng at that time king and besides a partie No doubt but the people receiue great benefit by this assemblie of estates For this good commeth vnto them that they may drawe neere to the kings person to make their complaints vnto him to present him their requests and to obtaine remedie and necessary prouision for redresse Whereby we may easily iudge that many who haue written of the duetie of magistrates and such like treatises are greatly deceiued in maintaining this That the estates of the people are aboue the prince which laieth open a gappe to the rebellions of subiects against their soueraign so that this opinion can haue no reason or good ground to leane vpon For if this were true the commō-wealth would not be a kingdom or monarchy but a pure Aristocratie as we haue declared heretofore Yea what shew of reason is there to maintaine this error seeing euery one in particular al in general bowe their knees before the king vse humbly requests supplications which his maiestie receiueth or reiecteth as it seemeth best vnto him But in this case we except a king that is captiue beside himself or in his infancie For that which is thē decreed by the estates is authorized as from the soueraign power of the prince Moreouer we may see what great good commeth to the king by the assemblie of his estates in the first speech which master Michael de l' Hospital Chauncellor of France made at the last assemblie of estates at Orleans Where he confuteth at large their opinion that say that the king after a sort diminisheth his power by taking aduise and counsell of his subiects seeing he is not bound so to doe as also that he maketh himselfe too familiar with them which breedeth contempt and abaseth his roiall dignitie But we may aunswere them as Theopompus king of Sparta did his wife who obiected this vnto him by way of reproch that by bringing in the Ephories and minglyng their gouernement with his he would leaue his authoritie and power lesse to his children than hee receiued it from his predecessours Nay said this Prince vnto hir I will leaue it greater bicause it shall be more assured The Emperour Aurelius sayd as much to his mother bicause hee freely heard euery one Besides as we see that in any great perill of sea or fire kindled to the daunger of publike profite no mans seruice or succour is reiected how base soeuer his calling is so it cannot but be profitable for the Estate when it is threatned with ruine and the affaires therof are of greatest importance to receiue the counsell of all that haue interest therein laying the opinions in the balance rather than the persons from whom they come And hereby the soueraigne maiestie and prudence of a Prince is knowen when he hath both power and skill to waigh and to iudge of their aduice that giue him counsel and to conclude with the soundest not the greatest side But to go forward with that which remaineth let so many as haue this honour to be ordinarie counsellors to Princes remember the saying of Solon the wise That they are not called thither to please and to speake to their liking but to vtter the truth and to giue them good counsell for common safetie that they must bring with them for an assured and certaine foundation of their conference about state-affaires a good intent mooued with reason and iudgement to profite him not with passions or desires of vain-glory of couetousnesse of emulation of any other imperfection that leadeth them to their priuate profite that they must at the entrie of the councell chamber vnclothe themselues of fauour towardes some of hatred towardes others and of ambition in themselues and aime at no other marke than at the honour of God and safetie of the Common-wealth To this ende they must necessarilie be furnished with wisedome iustice and loyaltie As for skill and knowledge although it be requisite in counsellors of estate namely the knowledge of the lawes of histories and of the estate of Common-wealths yet sound iudgement integritie and prudence are much more necessarie Aboue all things they must hold nothing of other Princes and Seignories that may binde them to their seruice And yet now a dayes to receiue a pension of them is so common a matter but very pernitious in any estate that it is growen to a custome Agesilaus would not so much as receiue a letter which the king of Persia wrote vnto him but sayd to his messenger that if the king were friend to the Lacedemonians he need not write particularly to him bicause he would also remaine his friend but if he were their enimie neyther letter nor any thing else should make him for his part otherwise affected To bee short let counsellors of estate learne of Plutarch that it is necessarie for them to be free from all passions and affections bicause in giuing of counsell the mind hath most force towards that wherunto the will is most enclined As for feare danger or threatnings they must neuer stay them from doyng their duetie but let them constantly propound and maintaine that which they iudge to be good and profitable for the Common-wealth We read that the Thasiens making warre with great vehemencie against the Athenians published a decree that whosoeuer counselled or spake at any time of concluding a peace between them should die the death Within a while after one of the citizens considering what great hurt his countrey receiued by that warre came one day into the assembly of the people with a halter about his necke and cried with a loud voyce that he was come thither to deliuer the Common-wealth by his death that they should put him to death when they would and that for his part he gaue them counsell to abrogate that law and to make peace which was done and he pardoned Considius a Romane Senatour would neuer be from the Senate no not when Caesar ruled all by violence and did what pleased him and when none of the other Senatours came any more through feare of his force And when Caesar asked him how he durst be there alone to stand against him bicause quoth he my age taketh all feare from me For hauing from hence forward such a short time to liue in I am not greatly carefull to saue my life If kings did correct all those that giue them ill counsell as Solyman did one of his Bassaes who was his kinsman they would not so readily
consent to the passions of great men This Infidell caused him to be hanged bicause he counselled him to put a Gentleman to death vniustly which he had done that he might enioy his wife more casilie Now for the conclusion of our discourse we will here set downe the aunswer of one of the Hebrew interpreters to king Ptolemie who asked him To whome a Prince should trust or commit himselfe To those sayd this wise man that loue him so entirely that they cannot be drawen from him neither through feare gifts or gayne bicause he that aspireth to riches is naturally a traitour Let vs learne that a counsell wel instituted and compounded of good men is a most necessarie point in the establishment and preseruation of euery estate and as the olde Prouerbe saith Good councell is better than manie hands Let vs learne that all those that are called thereunto ought to aime at nothing but at publike profite of which the happinesse and greatnesse of the Prince dependeth who must not contemne the counsell and seruice of the least when they can profite the Common-wealth but heare them willingly and satisfie their iust requests Of Iudgements and of Iudges Chap. 62. ACHITOB WE are now my companions according as the sequell of our speech requireth to consider of Iudgements which I affirmed in the beginning to be one of those two things whereof euery Common-wealth consisteth and that according as they are ordained the affaires of the estate proceed well or ill Therfore I leaue the discourse of this matter to you ASER. No citie saith Plato can truly be called a city if it want iudgements well instituted and consequently iudges to exercise them AMANA Iudgements are lawfull to such as vse them aright and Iudges are to vs the ministers of God for our good as Saint Paule saith Now let vs heare ARAM vpon this matter ARAM. As it is a very dāgerous matter for an estate to wauer daily in deliberations and not to be well resolued touching the affaires thereof or after resolution to leaue them without speedy executiō so the establishment of many good lawes and ordinances bringeth greater peril thā profit to the same estate if they be not seuerely obserued kept For the authoritie of the soueraign magistrate in whose name they are made is so much the more cōtemptible amongst his subiects as they know that they are lesse obeied as though the fault proceeded from his insufficiencie of skil to command He that leadeth well before is the cause why he is wel folowed the perfectiō of the art of a good Querie of the stable consisteth in making the horse obedient in bringing him to good order so the principall effect of the knowledge of a king is to iustruct wel his subiects in obediēce To this purpose the establishment of good iudges ouer thē wil help well that they may take knowledge of such as gain-say and resist the publike lawes and ordinances of his maiestie who is to authorize their iudgements as the chiefe sinewes of the whole body of his estate For nothing euer caused Common-wealthes to flourish so much as the constant keeping of their countrie lawes and the strict execution of iudgements agreeable vnto them And as Cicero saith those estates that are neer their ouerthrow all things beyng in a desperate case fall into this miserable issue that men condemned by the lawes are restored and iudgements giuen are cancelled which things when they come to passe euery one knoweth that their ruine is at hand without all hope of safetie Moreouer forasmuch as the Prince knoweth that he is as it were bound and indebted for iustice he ought to be so much the more careful that it may be rightly administred by those to whom he cōmitteth that office especially seeing he must answer for it himselfe before god to whom he may not say that he charged the consciences of his iudges therwith so discharged his own Wherfore if he adorne his estate with resolute prudent officers who will exactly preserue the bond of the common-welth by the seueritie of their iudgements vpright holding of the balance no doubt but all kind of publike felicitie will issue from the same But let vs briefly consider what iudgement is the diuision of iudgements their administration what manner of Iudges ought to exercise them Iudgement is properly that which is ordained by the Magistrate obseruing the tenor of the law But forasmuch as through the infinit varietie of causes times places and persons which cannot be comprehended in any lawes or statuts whatsoeuer punishments were referred to the will and power of the Magistrates and the dammages of ciuill matters to the conscience religion of the Iudges that which they determine by resolute sentences according to their opinion is also called Iudgement although more properly it may be called a Decree For this cause we say that as there are two principall pointes in euery Common-wealth which Magistrates must haue before their eies that is the law and equitie so also there is the execution of the law and the duty of the Magistrate which consisteth either in commanding in decreeing or in executing Of Iudgementes some are called priuate some publike some criminall others ciuill Priuate iudgements are of bondages prescriptions Gardianships Wardships contracts testaments successions mariages Publike iudgements concerne hainous offences against God man as sacriledge treason restitution of monie or other bribes taken by Magistrats robbery of the kings treasure forgeries theft wilfull and constrained murders Plato speaketh at large of these in his booke of lawes and it would be an infinite matter and smally to our instruction to seeke out the diuers kinds of iudgements which either haue beene or are among men But this is well woorth the noting that amongest the ancient Grecians and Romanes all iudgements both priuat and publike were from point to point followed and with all rigor obserued and they that stood against them were prosecuted and set vpon with fire and sword Among other examples Diodorus rehearsech a storie of the Phocians a people of Grecia condemned by the iudgement of the Amphyctions in a certaine summe of monie bicause they had tilled a great deale of ground that was consecrated to the gods Which summe when they refused to paye they pronounced their countrie as confiscate and consecrated to the gods wherupon arose a warre called the holie warre made by the rest of the Grecians against them and in the ende their vtter ruine subuersion Whosoeuer was once accused of any crime before the Iudges in Lacedemonia although he were absolued yet he abode a certaine time after in that estate of a criminall person during which time enquirie might be made againe of him and newe iudgement giuen according to his desert If the Ephories condemned their kings in any summe yea if it were to death their iudgements were executed with all rigor The
of it What the law of nature is The diuision of the written law The diuision of the law of God Of the Morall law Of the Ceremoniall law Of the Iudiciall law Of ciuill or positiue lawes The diuision of ciuill lawes What ciuill lawes may not be changed The Salick law immutable What ciuill lawes may be changed A Prince may deny the request of his three Estates hauing reason and iustice on his side The change of lawes in a well setled Estate is dangerous A seuere decree of the Locrians against such as would bring in new lawes Mischiefs in a commonwealth must be resisted in the beginning The law is the foundation of ciuill societies Bias. We must not iudge of the law but according to the law Why the Lacedemonian lawes might not be changed The ancient law-makers No law before the law of God The necessitie and profit of a law The vpright and equall distribution of the law maketh a good gouernment To dispence with good statuts and daily to make new is a token of the decay of a common-wealth Examples therof in Caligula in Claudius How lawes may be kept inuiolable Two things required in the keeping of euery law Equitie is alwayes one and the same to all people The equitie of the morall law ought to be the end and rule of all other lawes Their opinion confuted who would tie all nations to the policie of Moses Theft punished diuersly in diuers nations How false witnes was punished among the Iewes Ciuil ordinances depend only of the soueraign ruler The end wherunto all lawes are to be referred The magistrate is the head the law the soule and the people the body of the common-welth The Nowne and Verbe are no parts of Logike but of Grammer The definition of a citizen in a popular state Other definitions of a citizen A general definition of a citizen Of the state of Venice Of the ancient estate in Rome Who are truly citizens The diuision of the whole people into three orders or estates The diuision of citizens in Venice and Florence In Egypt and among the ancient Gaules These gardes were the Senate and councell for state affaires consisting of 400. Burgesses Of the agreement that is to be kept between the estates of a common-wealth One cause of the â—â—serie of France at this present The office and dutie of subiects The soueraign magistrate compared to the Sunne Against them that thinke the magistrate to be a necessarie euil Prou. 24. 21. What is ment by honouring the King Rom. 13. 5. Subiects must obey their prince for the feare of God Of the seruice due to the prince Rom. 13. 1. 2. Tit. 3. 1. 1. Pet. 2. 13. 14. 1. Tim. 2. 1. 2. Priuate men must not busie themselues in publike affairs The counsailors of a prince are his eies eares and his officers are his hands Two kinds of publike power The difference between the prince the magistrate and the priuate man How farre subiects are bound to obey their prince and his lawes The titles of a good magistrate The behauiour of euil princes Tirants are naturally hated We must obey and reuerence vniust princes a well as iust Dan. 1. 21. 4. 14. Nebuchadnezzer Eze. 29. 18. 19. Dan. 2. 37. 1. Sam. 3. Iere. 27. 5. c. A tyrant called the seruant of God Ier. 29. 7. 1. Sam. 24. 7. 26. 9. 10. Dauid would not lay viosent hands vpon Sauls person These Essaei or Esseni were a superstitious sect among the Iewes that pretended to lead a most perfect kind of life Exod. 22. 28. A gentleman iudged to die bicause he once thought to haue killed his prince A sâ—uâ—râ— law against treason How we must behaue our selues vnder a tyrant Psal 82. 1. 2. 12. Esay 10. 1. The lawes of nature lead vs to a monarchie In euery kind of thing one excelleth A monarchie most significantly representeth the diuine regiment What a Monarchie or kingly power is Of a Duarchy that is of the rule of two The diuision of the Empire 8. Marks of soueraigntie Their reasons who mislike a Monarchie What excellencie is required in him that ruleth others The Persian Councell held for the establishing of their Estate Otanes oration The effects of a Tyrant Megabyses oration for an Aristocraty The dangers of a Monarchy A child Prince is a token of Gods wrath Darius oration for a Monarchy Against an Oligarchy A Monarchy concluded vpon in the Councell of the Persians of Romulus and of Augustus The commodities of a Monarchy Italy a praie to all hâ—r neighbours and â—â—y Of the antiquitie of a kingdome Ninus was the first that extended the limits of his kingdom What Estates were ruled Monaâ—chically The Dukedome of Venice is electiue What this word Emperour importeth Vpon what occasion the name of Emperour was first giuen to a Monarch The reasons alleadged against a Monarchie answered One iust Princ better than many good Lords and many Tyrants woorse than one Monarchies haue continu longest The opinion of many Politicks touching a mixt estate of a Common wealth The Lacedemonian estate mingled The Carthaginian Common-wealth was mixt The Romane estate mingled The estate of Venice compounded What agreemeÌ„t the French Monarchy hath with euery good policie Why men are diueisly affected vnto diuers formes of gouernments The praise of the French nation for their loue to a Monarchy The difference betweene the rule of a king and of a tyrant Fiue kinds of Monarchies How the first Monarchy came vp Gen. 10. 8. of the raigne of Nimrod Nimrod was the first king that warred vpon his neighbours Of the happie raigne of the king of Egypt They vsed the seruice onely of Noble mens children â—nd they wel learned The Priests of Egypt vsed to praise their Princes in the Temple before the people The diet of the ancient kings of Egypt Of the second kind of Monarchy The difference betweene a Lord-like Monarchy and a tyranny Marks of a tyrannicall gouernment Of the estate of the Turke The death of Hibrahim Bascha The Turke disposeth of all Lordships at his pleasure Of the Estate of Moscouia Of the king of Ethiopia The king of Ethiopia whipped his Lords like slaues Of the kingdom of Peru. Of the third kind of Monarchy What kings took vpon them soueraigntie in religion Of the 4. kind of monarchie which is electiue The dangerous state of an electiue kingdom when the prince is dead Examples therof in the kingdoms of Thuâ—es of Egâ—pt The great disorder in Rome vpâ—n the death of the Pope In the empire of Germanie In the Popedome All electiue princes are either taken indefinitely or out of certaine estates The Souldans of Cayre chosen out of the Mammelucks The great mastership of Malta electiue and that also of Prussia Of the fift kind of Monarchie which is hereditarie The Salick law excludeth daughters and their sonnes Kingdoms left by will Of the happy gouernment of the estate of France The Chancellor of France must approoue all