to keep with his Passions But having once possest themselves of his Mind they seise on all the avenues and leave not so much as an enterance for his Confessor How weak and tender soever his inclinations may be to ill they water it and dress it with so much care that presently there springs up a great tree from a little seed and a violent and opinionated habit from a light disposition These are the Petroniusses and the Tigillio's about Nero these are the Advocates of Voluptuousness who plead its cause against Vertue and often succeed better then Pleasure it self when she presented herself to young Hercules and made him an Oration at the foot of the two ways It 's incredible to think how many charms they use without employing those 〈◊〉 Magick of which the people forbear not to accuse them Good God how ingenious are they to invent new pleusures to a sated and disgusted Soul with what pungent sharpnesses do they awaken the sleeping lusts which languish and can no more For this purpose rather then want extravagant appetites stranger objects and unknown meats they will seek them at the ends of the world even beyond the bounds of nature even in the licentiousness of fables To their sence the Sibarites were but grosâ—ly voluptuous for matter of delights Naples and Capua the corrupters of Hannibal understood nothing at all Nor do they at the first blow become Masters Vertue and they for a time dispâ—teto gain favor in the Court of a Prince of eighteen years Sometimes she gets the better and sometimes she yields it them They with her share the Affections the Mind and the Time Burrhus is hearkened unto but they hinder him from being believed They are like Seneca's ballance but at last they carry away all with them The Epicure destroys as much in three days as the Stoick builds in five years at least a man may say that having taken the place they by piece-meals undo the whole frame they assault their Masters good parts the one after another From Venial sins wherein they find this young soul resuming the battel and being upon his defence they lead him from step to step to Tyranny and Sacriledge At first they content themselves to breath in his ears That it is not necessary for a Prince to be so much an honest man That its sufficient if he is not wicked that he would put himself to too much trouble to make himself beloved that he ought onely to hinder himself from being hated That solid and perpetual Probity is too heavy and too difficult But that its image which changeth not hath the same splendor as the original and produceth the same effect That from time to time a vertuous action which is no great matter of cost being fitly performed may serve to entertain his reputation Thence they go farther and leave him not in so fair a way after having made him esteem Good as an indifferent thingâ— they make him approve Ill reasonable they afford Vice the colour of Vertue If he have a mind to dispatch himself of one of his Parents against the express defences of the Religion of the State which for bids us To shed the blood of the Empire they counsel him to cause them to be strangled with a Bow-string that one drop of it may not be spilt and that Religion may be satisfied If there be an Incest in his thoughts and that this Incest is combated with some remorse they presently come to the relief of his disturbed spirit They ease his pains by a wonderful subtilty representing to him â—hat there is indeed no law which permits a Brother to lie with his Sister but there is a fundamental Law of Monarchy and Mistris of all the Laws which permits a Prince to do what he will To authorize these great escapes great examples are not wanting They tell him it is not in Turky and amongst Barbarians that he is to look for examples Gods own People the holy Nation will furnish you with more then enough That King who built the Temple was also the founder of a Seraglio and we at this day see at Constantinople but a copy of what was formerly to be seen at Jerusalem You content your self with one woman onely and he that was wise above others the wise Solomon had six hundred which the holy Scripture calls legitimate without reckoning those which are otherwise But you have heard speak of the last will of his Father David and of those gallant things which he commanded by his Testament I shall not exaggerate these things consider only by how many deaths he counselled his Son to secure his own In the Law of Grace you cannot find more sweetness you stagger you apprehend at the driving away of a Brother the committing of a Cousen German to prison The Great â—onstantine that most holy most Religious and most Divine Emperor as he hath been called by the mouth of Councils hath done more without deliberation Do you not know that he caused his own Son to die upon the first suspition which he had of him It 's true he regretted his death and acknowledged his innocency But this acknowledgement came too late and his regret lasted but Four and twenty hours he thought himself quit by causing a Statue to be erected to the deceased with this Inscription TO MY SON CRISPUS WHOM I CAUSED TO DIE UNJUSTLY After this do you make a difficulty to discharge your self of a burthen which incommodates you to take out of your way a man who disturbs you in the world and who treads upon your heels a Cosin in the third or fourth degree who hath a design to leap over all these degrees that he may put himself in your place Have you any consideration for the character and for the person of Church-men who refuse to render you a blind obedience Charlemayn who is one of the Saints of the Church and a Predecessor to the Kings of France had not such a respect as you have He killed with his own hands an Abbot in his Vesture at the Altar ready to say Mass for having denied him I know not what Do you reserve your absolute Authority dare you not use force when the good of your affairs requires it The example of the same Charlemaine will take from you all the scruples your conscience can make although they tell you of his capitular degrees he knew neither a better nor greater right then that of Arms the pommel of his sword served him for his Seal and Signet Do not think that I would make you believe this this is History and is to be taken according to the letter To this day there are still Priviledges found granted and donation of Lands made by the good and orthodox Emperor Rowland and Oliver being present sealed with the pommel and which he promised to warrant with the edge of the same sword There have been Favourites I do not tell you where but there have been Favourites who have
of linking themselves to their bodies and to their reality They imbrace Probability because they have painted and embellish'd it after their mode But they reject the Truth because it 's none of their invention and that it hath its foundation in itself These Gentlemen fancie That everywhere there is Subtility and Design and that all the Actions of Man are premeditated Nothing presents it self to sight whereof they seek not the mystical and allegorical sense These subtile Interpreters of other mens thoughts never stop at the letter And when two Princes with all their strength and with all the power of their States assault one the other it 's believ'd they hold Intelligence to cozen the rest of the Princes They make Judgments very like those sportful ones which were made at Athens That the death of King Philip was not to be believ'd and that he had expresly caused himself to be kill'd to entrap the Athenians By this â—ll encounter we may perceive how far a perverse subtility will go and what the spirit of Greece is and of these Speculatives But there have been Speculators in all Countries there have ever been Alchymists and Bellows blowers who have distill'd humane things who have given more liberty then they ought to their conjectures and suspitions Because Jurius Brutus counterfeited the Fool they have misdoubted all other Fools They fancied that all Changelings imitated Brutus That apparent Simplicity was a hidden Artifice That those who knew nothing dissembled their Knowledge That the silence of those who said nothing was a cover for dangerous thoughts It was the opinion which a Roman Prince had of a certain weak-witted man of his time whom the Pages hiss'd and whom no body esteem'd but himself The History relates That he apprehended his secret vertues and that the universal scorn of the Court and five and twenty years Impertinencies in deeds or words before the face of all the world could never secure him from that man From the same Principle of False subtilitie those Visions spring which our Man finds to be so ingenious and which to me seem so ridiculous which the Doctors admire and I cannot endure At this passage Aristippus addressing his speech to the two Gentlemen who heard him Do you think says he that like these subtile Doctors Hannibal would not have taken Rome for fear it would no longer be profitable to Carthage and lest thereby he should have been oblig'd to finish that War which he had a minde to perpetuate Did Augustus in your opinion choose Tiberius for his Successor that his loss might thereby be regretted and thereby to seek glory after his death by the comparison of a life so much different from his Do you believe that the Counsel which was found amongst his Memorials to place good men in the Empire was an effect of his envy against Posterity Was he afraid that some after-time another man should be a greater Lord then he and the Commander of more Subjects Is it credible that the same Augustus made Love only out of Maxims of State and courted the Ladies of Rome but only to learn their Husbands secrets Is there any likelihood that his soul should move only according to rule and compass That all his actions were ballanc'd and that all his vices were studied In my conceit this is to make the World more subtile then it is 'T is to interpret Princes as some Grammarians explain Homer who find what is not in him and accuse him for a Philosopher and a Physitian in some places where he only is a forger of tales and a composer of songs Let 's sometimes content ourselvs with the literal sense Let 's not seek a Sacrament under every syllable and under every point Let 's not be so indulgent to our own minds nor so curious in searching into another man's We need not go so far to seek the Truth nor take things so high We need not relate to hidden causes and the Counsels of the past Age present Successes or which happen'd by Chance or which a slight Occasion hath brought to pass The Stoicks who would not that the leaf of a tree should move without the particular order of Providence nor that a wise man should lift up his finger without the leave of Philosophy judg'd not more advantagiously of God and of that Person who was nearest God then these Refiners presume of a Man who is often less then a mean one who hath but a quarter or half a share of the Reasonable who all his life never thought of being wise nor of drawing near God There is no Mean whereby to ajust their Opinions to our common capacity They cannot descend to us In the judgment which they make of Men they cannot presuppose a humane infirmity that is to say a Principle of errors and of saults A disease born with us from which nor Alexander nor Caesar were exempt A defect which draws after it so many other defects in the persons of the most perfect in the conduct of the wise and if you please even in that of Solomon himself Great Events are not always produced by great Causes The Springs are hid and the Machines appear and when the Springs are discovered we are astonish'd to see them so small and so weak we are ashamed of the high opinion we had of them A jealousie of love betwixt particular persons hath been the cause of a general War Names given or taken by chance The Green and Red at the Games of the Circus have made parties and factions which have torne in pieces the Empire The Motto or the body of a Device the fashion of a 〈◊〉 very the relation of a Domestick a Taâ—e told at the Kings going to bed is in appearance nothing and yet this Nothing hath been the beginning of Tragedies wherein so much blood hath been shed and so many heads made slie It 's but a Cloud which passeth and a stain in some corner of the Air which vanisheth rather then abides And yet it 's this light Vapor it 's this almost imperceptible Cloud which raiseth those fatal Tempests which States are sensible of and which shake the very foundations of the Earth Yet some foermerly have imagin'd that it was their Masters Interests which enflam'd all the World when it was only their Servants Passions I doubt not but the King of Persia made most specious pretences to justifie his Arms when he came into Greece and but that his Manifests told wonders of his intentions He wanted neither Pretences nor Right He forgot not that the great King came only to chastise the petty Tyrants and that he offer'd the People a rich and plentiful liberty in stead of a poor and barren servitude He falsified his design several ways and yet swore perhaps that this design was immediately inspir'd him from the immortal Gods and that the Sun was the primary Author of it Not withstanding some Manifests which he dispersed abroad and some color of Justice and of Religion
They easily comfort themselves for the shipwrack of the State so as there be but a Skiff in which they may but gain the shore and secure their own family We should very much deceive our selves if we took them for those violent Zealots who would be Anathema's for their Brethren and who earnestly desire to be blotted out of the Book of life so as those of their own Nation were pardon'd Yet a man cannot absolutely say that they have ill designs against the State and that they desire its ruine They reserve only to themselves their first and most tender affections Excepting their own Interest I believe their Masters would be very dear unto them But the mischief is that they are never without their Interest no more then from themselves They find it wheresoever they cast their eyes Their particular Profit presents it self every where as his own shape did to that Antient sick person who perpetually had it before him They cannot divide themselves from Business to look on it with the least freedom of Judgment They cannot extract out of their soul their Reason simple and pure without mixing it with their passions So that although they discover a Conspiracie which is hatching yet they oppose it not for seat of offending the Conspirators and to leave their Children such powerful Enemies They have not courage enough to utter a bold Truth if it be never so little dangerous in respect of the establishment of their fortune although most important to their Masters service A wretched and miserable Prudence They consider not that a Spy who gives advice is not more mischievous then a Sentinel who says nothing And that they are as well the cause of the Princes loss by their silence as the others by their treachery They consider not that leaving him to that danger whence they could withdraw him they do no less contribute to his ruine then those who drive and precipitate him into it They perceive not that Infidelity doâ—â— no hurt which Weakness is not as capable to perform This being so my Lord Is it not of them the Spirit of God would speak in chap. 22. of the Revelation when it placeth the Timerous in the number of Poisoners and Assassinates and other execrable men when it condemns them all to the second death to that death which is so strange and terrible to that lake burning with fire and brimstone I know not the true intention of the Holy Ghost and will not assure you that they are comprised under that rigorous sentence But yet I very well perceive that they are the last and the worst of all Cowards and that it is not so shameful to flie in a Battel as to give a timerous Counsel For at the least if we fall into misfortune in war a man may excuse himself either from the disadvantage of the Place or from the number of the Enemies or lay the fault on his own Men and as Dust the Wind and the Sun merit the glories of the Victorious so also are they guilty of the loss of the Vanquish'd At worst a man justifies himself by accusing Fortune which in all Ages hath been esteemed the Mistress of Event and the Soveraign Arbiter of Battells It is not so with Politick Assemblies whereinto this blind Power is not admited where the Mind acts freely and without constraint where Prudence quietly exerciseth its operations and finds none of those obstacles and impediments which oppose themselves to the effects of valor For which cause all the excuses of Soldiers and of Captains have no place amongst Counsellors and Ministers A wise man cannot warrant success but he ought to answer for his Intentions and for his Advice There 's therefore no baseness like to that which begins at our Chamber and removes not simply by the approaches and presence of Danger but which cannot endure the onely imagination of it but which shakes at the least mention made of it And to speak truth It must needs proceed from the entire annihilation of that liberty which is born with Man and from the last corruption of that Principle of Generosity and of that sense of Honor which we all have since it 's the cause we even deny to own or to consent to the Truth seeing in that condition a Man is not so much as capable of the proposition of a difficult Good There is no way left to obtain so much from them as to set a good face on it even in a place of security to do so much as declare themselves without danger for the good of their Country to dispute their Rights in a chair and serve but for its tongue A strange thing They would rather accept of Servitude under the title of Peace then to resolve on a Defence which were to be effected with the arms and the blood of other Men We may also observe some Men who expect till ill Fortune be arriv'd that they may be astonish'd at it They have a bold spirit although they have a timorous soul These Men speak high when there is Time and Ground enough betwixt them and the Danger Cicero was after this manner couragious Never did the least word escape him which was not worthy of the Greatness of the Commonwealth He at least was valiant in the Senate and he methinks protests in some of his Letters That had he been invited to the Feast of the Ides of March he should have had nothing left Such a Citizen is not fit to fight a Duel He would not willingly in his doublet engage himself amongst Musket-shot He takes more care then other Men for the preservation of his life because he esteems it worth more then theirs and that it 's nothing unhandsom to fear the loss of a thing so precious He fears Death or to speak more civilly Nature fears it in him but he fears neither Envy nor Hatred but he equally despiseth the threats of Great men and the murmure of the People If his Forces are not sufficient to throw down Tyranny he makes use of his voice and of his breath to stir up others to the recovery of their liberty He at least calls Men to Arms as loud as he can and contradicts Ill if he cannot resist it All his opinions flie high for the Greatness and Glory of his Master He professeth enmity with all the enemies of the State Disgrace and Poverty are nothing grievous when he suffers them for a good cause And Death it self if it surprise him not and gives him but time to consider iâ— well he at last resolves to receive it like an honest man and puts on valor out of necessity By a long and serious meditation he forms to himself an acquired Courage which is no less staid then the natural Our Prudent persons arrive not at this height Besides Death they admit of so many other kinds of extremity that they still meet with some one or other which stops them the very first step they make rewards Good They despair
called to the Government in such troublesome times ought to uphold himself on these principles he ought to pass from the Philosophy of words to that of actions an unforeseen accident will never overthrow his Rules nor his Maxims because there can be no accident which he foresees not and smels not a far off He will neither apprehend the danger of his person nor the ruine of his fortune he will apprehend nothing but blame and an ill reputation And although Prudence be a Vertue principally employed for the preservation of him who possesseth it yet neither will Prudence hinder him from prizing several other goods more then his own life But when things grow better and times become less evil he for that will not sleep out a calm nor unbend himself from his former vigor Our wiseman will go before all disorders not onely with quick and penetrating eyes but also with a firm and an undaunted heart If he sees some signe of change appear and the least presage of a civil War he will endeavor to stiffle the Monster before its birth It would be vain to represent unto him those inconveniencies which threaten him in particular if he will oppose himself to a springing faction he will pass by all those considerations which stop the greatest part of our other wisemen and he will onely mind the performance of his duty without caring for the greatness of the danger he is engaged in Were there a Son or the Brother of a King who were perswaded to embrâ—il themselves he would never sharpen that Son or that Brother far less would he flatter them He will give counsel to the Father and the elder Brother which should neither be timerous nor cruel And if any man seek to estrange from him the affection of these young Princes he will rather serve them without their good will then please them by disserving them He will not so much respect what they would then seem to will as what hereafter they would indeed nor so much the interest of others wherein others engage them as he will their true and natural interests which can never be separate from those of the King and Crown After this manner he will undertake the publick Cause with a couragious Proâ—iâ—y and will not make the least appearance 〈…〉 indiscreet zeal appear his force will be without rudeness or sharpness his fidelity to his Master without hatred to his Masters Brother or Son he will manifest a respectful bolâ—ness and full of modesty in those occasion wherein others would ruine all by violence or negligence Howsoever as it was said at first he must be resolved come what will to the worst can happen to save the State he must be prodigal of himself he is the Kings own man He must not onely engage himself in a dangerous action the event whereof is doubtful but devote himself to an assured death if his Masters service exact it from him It 's this quality which is so necessary for a Minister To love the Princes person as much as the State the one and the other passion ought equally to possess his Soul one without the other being deficient we went yet further and after having answered what was alledged in de Aubignys History concerning the Dukes of Joyeuse and Espernon I thus return to our subject IT hath been formerly spoken of two Macedonians That the one loved Alexander and that the other loved the King it 's not well done to part what ought to remain entire why should we separate the King from Alexander and divide that poor Prince in pieces it were a violent division and a violence even to Nature it 's to cut one body into two the Kings interests are inseparably united with those of the State and I must confess that I cannot approve the meaness of Cardinal Birage who usually said I am not Chancelor of France I am the Kings Chancelor he might as well â—ave added And the Queen his Mother whose Creature he was not to take things at worse methinks he is not to be commended for so ill an expression Good Princes themselves protest They belong to others and owe themselves and all to the Commonwealth Magistrates and other Officers with far more reason ow themselves unto it They will never therefore at the same time give and take away the same thing their souls are too noble to be capable of so base an avarice will they repent themselves of their liberality will they secretly take back a present which they solemnly made before all the world for so I call the administration of Justice of good Judges and of good Laws Unless than Melanois reckoned France as nothing he could no way better then thereby have made it appear that he was a stranger to it and that to him it was altogether indifferent But let it not be displeasing to the Cardinal of Birague the Minister ought to love the King and State both at once together And if besides that he love some other thing his second affections must always ranck themselves under the subjection and orders of the first If he marry he ought not to contract himself with any who is suspected by the State or gives any cause of jealousie to his Prince but for this its too too much he ought to renounce his own Country he ought to break all the bonds of Nature he ought to sacrifice all for the good of the State if the good of the State require it He ought to make it appear that in a Monarchy there may be a young Brutus who prefers his duty before his Children and can even lose them when its necessary â—or the Kings service He shall witness himself another Marquis of Pisani who one day said of his only Daugher of she who since and to this day is the wonder of her Age If I knew that after my death she should be the wife of a man who were not the Kings Servant I would strangle her now persently with mine own hands But if the Minister be unmarried and if he keeps himself chaste it will be so much the greater advantage to his Masters affairs and they will be less subject to inconveniencies it wil be no smal matter That to him who ought perpetually to labor either with courage or with his mind defended pleasures are unknown which have turned so many wise men into beasts and led so many Victors in triumph but the ground of it indeed were that even he would be without legitimate passions which at least amuse and divert if they do not debauch and corrupt Domestick cares which usurp so much time from business will not rob an hour from such a Minister he will never think of the establishment of his Family he will not have one thought but for the Eternity of the State his affection which would have been divided betwixt his Wise his Sons and Sons in Law which would have run into other successions and other dependancies of Mariage so that the
before they ought so much as to be afraid They have always very great motives and very strong considerations very important causes these are the terms which they use that thereby they may avoid the performance of their duty And because there is no Maxim in Policie which is not combated by another Maxim as certain and as probable as that and that the Future hath as many shapes and faces as our imagination can fancie They turn it about to look upon iâ— only on that side which terrifies them and so with Reason defend themselves against Reason They always consider that the actions of men are exposed to many inconveniences and never consider that all the ill which may happen happens not whether it be that God by his grace diverts it or that we by our address shun it or whether the imprudence of the contrary party breaks the blow it being most certain that our faults often cast us into dangers from whence those of our Enemies withdraw us But they taking things at worst and presupposing as certain all doubtâ—ul accidents they regulate their deliberations as if they necessarily were all to happen and commonly act not at all because they â—ain would act but too securely Or perhaps they do not dive so deep into business and very seldom it is they bring them to the last point They content themselves with a light mediocrity of success and with the beginnings of good hap they dare not promise themselves the continuation of them to the end in the least thing So that with this their cold and heavy wisdom they may defer the fall but they cannot escape it they shore up the ruines which they are not able to relevate They at most gain but some days or weeks and keep their affairs in hand till some who are more bold operate on them more efficaciously It 's an observation of Aristotle That as the vivacity of Alcibiades his mind became extravagant towards his children the solidity of Phocion's chang'd into matter of weight when it descended from him to his race But let 's say more then Aristotle That the wisdom of these Ministers is not so long a time in degenerating into weakness into languors and into cowardise Before it pass thus corrupted to their children and to their posterity it spoils its self from its very issuing out of the soul and before ever it come to action It appears weak in their Propositions and in their Counsels which can be call'd neither prudent nor wise without speaking improperly without doing an injury to such fair Names without offence to true Wisdom What an error it is As if Wisdom could never be couragious That it must always fear and always tremble These new Wise men are acquainted with the Wise men of Antiquity They have read Aristotle as well as we and yet have not profited by that old Oracle which Aristotle reports THAT A MAN MUST CALL DANGER TO THE RELIEF OF DANGER AND SAVE HIMSELF FROM ONE EVIL BY ANOTHER EVIL How deplorable soever the condition of the present is they cannot resolve themselves for Novelty or Change They would rather suffer Change then make and expect it then prevent it In stead of obeying the Oracle and tempting a second Danger they accustom and make themselves familiar with the first In stead of doing an endeavor to withdraw themselves from an evil course which they are fallen into they seek a supportable posture to abide in They are engag'd in Evil so as the Evil presseth them not and so as they recoil to the last extremity It 's sufficient for them so as Death be remitted to another time and that they in the mean time may enjoy only the intervals of an ill life Doubtless they would be of the opinion of a Spanish Poet who said That a Quartan Ague was a good thing because a man was secure to live a year with it at least to live six moneths at least from a sudden death What they do therefore is not to reign is not to conquer is not to triumph It 's only to live and that also after a strange manner It 's to spend the time from morning till after-noon and so to draw on till the next day Their Government is neither Peace nor War nor a Truce It 's a Rest of Idleness it 's a dead sleep which by artifice they procure the People which is neither good nor natural They know not how to cure but only how to paint the sick and make them look well They would reclaim Rebellion by Caresses they glut it with benefits and with gratifications But they thereby render it more powerful and nothing the better They increase it's force nor do they diminish its malice They sometimes take from it some Men which are to be sold and such Advantages as serve to no purpose and they perceive not that it is to cultivate disorder thus lightly to touch its branches and its buds and not to put the iron to the body and to the root All their Experience is but the History of Misfortunes which happen'd to those who durst and did undertake All what is not easie they call impossible and fear magnifying objects and almost infinitely multiplying every individual when three Malcontents retire themselvs from Court with their Train they fancy an Army of Enemies in the field which draws along with it Towns and Communalties without resistance And afterwards they do not put themselves in posture to chastise them but they seek to sweeten them and in stead of visiting them with Canons and Soldiers they send them Gown-men employed with Offers and Commissions and promise them far more then they could hope for by the Victory Thus they oblige a Prince to descend from his throne to treat with his Subjects They make a Soveraign a Private person and a Legislator an Advocate By this breach they break that distance which separates him from the People and change Power into Equality The Guilty ascend the Tribunal and deliberate concerning their own fact with the Judge they name the place of the Conference and it 's accepted they choose for this Parley such persons as they most confide in and they are granted them And they there speak neither of Grace nor of Pardon these terms would be of too harsh sound and would offend their ears But the offended Master solemnly declares That all was done for the good of his service and thinks himself beholding to those unfaithful servants for the injuries they have done him To conclude the Design of these men being onely to license the Company and to divide the Allyes they grant them more then they demand they are prodigal of the Publick Faith they husband not the Kings name and after this manner they bring him to the brink of two extremities equally dangerous For whether it be that he will keep his word by the ruine of his Affairs or whether he will establish his Affairs by the violation of his word he is still
the Enemies are powerful and numerous They answer They are a great many Men but few Souldiers That they are not true EEnemies but a mutinous Rascality If it be remonstrated that a passage cannot be made for the Army by that place which they purposed they labor and torment themselves so much about it that it seems as if they pretended to make it pass there by the onely force of their words I do not here fancy things which are not I do not create Artificial Men I know some My Lord and I could name them to you who act in Council after this manner who will yield neither to evident Reason nor to an established Custom nor to a received Practice They oppose the singularity of their Opinion to the consent of People and to a crowd of Examples The Briefs and the Bulls of Popes the Edicts and Declarations of Kings are for other men they are not concerned They break all publick Acts when they agree not with their particular sence Have we not first seen in Flanders and since in Italy a Spanish Minister who was of this humor he could never resolve to acknowledge for King of France the late K. Henry the Great he could never call him otherwise then the Bearnois or the Prince of Bearne when he meant him a favor The League was dead and without hopes of ever reviving The Peace of Vervins was published and all its Articles executed The Kings Reconciliation had been solemnly made with the Holy See The K. of Spain had sent him Ambassadors and had receiv'd his Yet all this could not make the spirit of the Minister stoop He would be more averse to France then Spain and more Catholick then the Church His opiniastrecy excommunicated him whom the Pope had absolved And he still remained on these terms till the year 1610. the very evening before when this Bearnois was ready to make himself Master of a considerable part of Europe and who knows whether he would not have begun with the Dutchy of Millan which this Minister was then Governor of purposely to have made him change his note THose Wisemen we yesterday made the examen of assure nothing at all durst not swear it were day at high noon are not certain whether those things which they see are objects or illusions when a man inquires their Sentiment they always say I THINK never I KNOW and in businesses which are most clear a man can draw nothing from them but PERHAPS IT MAY BE SO and WE MUST CONSIDER which proceeds according to Aristotle from an opinion they have conceived of the world which is generally ill and from appearances So that they may be sometimes deceived but they are indeed seldom deceived If they lose it 's because they play but too well It 's themselves and their misfortune which they ought to complain of and not of the advantages and wiles of their Enemies They also first seek Safety and afterwards Profit They govern themselves by a reasonable Discourse which concludes with profit and certainty Nor do they live according to moral Institution which proposeth what 's honest and hazzardous You may fancy quite the contrary of the others we now speak of who express themselves in affirmative terms who decide the most doubtful and the most imbroyled affairs with a THIS IS SO it CANNOT BE OTHER WISE THERE IS AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY THAT IT MUST HAPPEN SO these commonly quit the greatest of their interests for the least of their Passions they prefer praise to Presents and thanks before Rewards they promise themselves wonders from the future and from fortune they make their doubts their suspitions their hopes valid even to infinity Yet let us confess the truth to the advantage of the men of this day they are far more worth then those of yesterday in Aristotles Judgment Timerous persons are defective for as much as they aspire not to those things the Magnanimous are worthy of and for as much as they aspire not even to those of which themselves are worthy But the Audacious are excessive onely in that they aspire to those things which the Magnanimous are and not they worthy of I speak of Magnanimity as you may perceive with the rigor of Philosophers and not with a Poetical licence who might well call this days Men Magnanimous since they so call their Gyants their Phaeton and their Capaneus It 's certain that this Boldness and this Fierceness do not always displease the world In some encounters they have gained approbation and praise They have been esteemed and have succeeded in the person of that Roman who seems so honest a Man to my Lord the Duke d'Espernon and to Monsieur the Marshal Desdiguieres your Highness is pleased that I should remember you of the stile wherewith he wrote to the Emperor The fidelity of that Roman was without reproach and yet he was accused in his absence and found an Informer against him at Court He commanded an Army in Germany and had great credit and authority in his Province and among the Souldiery Being advertised of what had past at Rome and of the ill offices which were rendred him in the Pallace he wrote a bold and proud Letter to the Emperor the last words whereof were much like to these My Fidelity hath been pure and intire hitherto nor will I change it unless I am forced thereunto but whosoever comes to succeed me in my command I am resolved to receive him as if he had enterprized against my life LET US IF YOU PLEASE CAESAR AGREE LET THE WHOLE EMPIRE BE YOURS AND MINE MY GOVERNMENT Such men hardly hold intelligence with the Enemy but they easily bandy against their Master they are never Rebels out of a formed design and out of a malitious inclination but they may be made so by disdain and resentment they want not Fidelity so long as they are trusted These do no disservice but will serve after their own mode They will be Arbiters both of their duty and of their obedience One of these persons whom you know my Lord would prove unto me it 's not long since that he served his Master in disobeying him it was at an entertainment which lasted four hours betwixt us when I gave him a visit at his Government from your Highness By a nice distinction which he made of the King and of the State he told me that very lately and upon an occasion which was not yet past He had gone out-right to the good of the State without having hearkened to several different voyces which would have stopped him by the way alleadging to him the Kings rame Whereto he added grounding himself or a principle which he took somewhat high That the King his first Master Father to the King that now is had commanded him before his death that if such a time happened and such an accident occur'd he should not fail to do such a thing what contrary order soever were brought him from Court to hinder him That
he thought he was obliged in Conscience to follow the intentions of the greatest and wisest Prince in the world nor did he apprehend he could err by conforming himself to the sentiments of him who never committed faults But I pray go on to verifie that secret command which is yet come to the knowledge of no man nor even to the Queen Dowager of the late King To know of a truth of this the charms of Magick must be imployed the soul of the greatest and wisest Prince of the the Earth must be raised of him who committed no faults and it must be enquired whether that Minister who alleadgeth this alleadge it not falsely It 's a raillery to think still to belong to Philip under the reign of Alexander to endeavor to perswade ones Master that a man hath reason to disobey That opiniastrecy hath merit That it 's sufficient to serve well howsoever though against the will of him we serve Let such persons who thus will serve their own way be always if it be possible two hundred leagues from Court Let them be employed if it may be so in obscure places where ill examples being not so much looked upon are not so dangerous But it would not be well to call them near the persons of a Prince where respect is no less necessary then service and where they would be his Tutors rather then his Counsellors These are excellent men I do not deny it but this excellency under the power of another is not in its right place They love the State and their Country but they hate Dependence and Subjection their end is right but the means are oblique and seem contrary to their end For making the good of the Monarchy their object they use all the licence which may be used in a popular Government Further yet In serving they will serve like Soveraigns themselves have told me in their entertainments of near four hours That they were too old to submit themselves to the first elements of their duty When smiling at what they told me I went farther and told them They were too great to learn that lesson which a Doctor of the Court gave his Son in the Grecian history MY CHILDE MAKE THY SELF LITTLE Good Governors of Provinces and good Guardians of the Frontier good Porters of the Realm so long as you please But I grant not that you are good Ministers of State and good Courtiers after the same manner There are Affairs in which a man may take several parties and some diversly byassed which offer themselves of which we are to chuse that which is most proper to manage it well In such businesses they bring the same passion and are born away with the same miscarriages which we have already observed on the subject of News A man can never see them out of one extremity or other They would rather fall then descend they desire all or nothing they seek Death or Victory Yet methinks it 's much to carry away three quarters when one cannot obtain the whole That betwixt Death and Victory there should be Peace which is a good of an inestimable value which ought to be sought for by the Vanquished and desired by the Victorious But what is seemly with us nothing perswades them nor have they an ear for our remonstrances there is no way to divert their imagination from its object and to make them change their aim they are enemies to all accommodation and so bound to those rules which they prescribe themselves and to that rigor of exact Justice which exasperates them that it 's impossible to render them capable of Equity It 's not possible to make them take a reward for a thing when it 's lost They would have the same and not the like They combate the sence of the Law with terms of Law and injure themselves by doing themselves right They make me remember those Brothers so much celebrated in History who being equally to divide a Succession broke a glass to divide it cut a Suit in two that each of them might have his half If these go not so far and if this be to speak too much Let 's at least say that in business they know not of how great use these temperaments are and how profitably be employed for the perfection of Affairs by joyning things at a distance and by facilitating those which are difficult They understand not these Relaxations these Adjustments as they speak now in Italy This necessary mean which seems often to come from Heaven and which is needful to conclude bargains with particular persons and with far more reason Treaties of Peace betwixt Princes Leagues Offensive and Defensive Negotiations wherein the safety of People are concerned and the fortune of Kingdoms Our sullen vertuous persons will not admit of these Tempers nor of this Mean In a State which dies of old age they would do the same as if they governed in a newly established Commonwealth in the purity of its institution and in the vigor of its first Orders They speak of nothing but of an absolute Power but of the Autority of the Senate but of the force of the Laws although they are things which grow old as well as other things and which growing old grow weak Hearken unto Cato's opinion in Caesars cause He says we must load him with chains he doth not say we must first seise upon him we must send him in that condition to our Alleys whom he hath offended that they may do themselves right and that he may be punished for his unjust Victories These MUSTS are very difficult to be put in execution if Favor over-power Reason we must continues he have him come and plead his own cause in person and give us an account of his nine years Command All must be done according to Law that 's to say according to my intrpretation we must hazard all the Laws to observe Formalities I perswade my self Your Highness thinks this austere Commonwealths man to blame although never man was more praised then he Cicero was not only his particular friend he was his publick Admirer after his death he did somewhat more then make his Funeral Oration and what he did made way for Caesars two Anti Cato's Yet Cicero speaking confidently to Pomponius Atticus confesseth that the vertue of that man whom he so much admired was unprofitable for his Country He confesseth that that Divine man for so he called him was out of use and knew not how to accommodate himself to the condition of those times That when he gave his opinion in Council He thought he had been in Plato's Republick and not among the Lees of Romulus his People This word of Cicero explains a Verse of Virgil which your Scholasticks take no notice of yet it deserves the reflections of a Courtier In the description of his Hero's Buckler wherein divers figures were engraven when he would have represented that part of Hell which is inhabited by sacred Souls he makes Cato to