by Machiavell which maintaineth his subjects in division and partialitie and which seekes to sley all them which love the commonweale and which desire a good reformation a good policie in the commonweale There are also other tokens and markes whereby to know a tyrant as them which wee have before alledged out of doctor Bartolus and them also which hystoriographers have marked to have been in Tarquin the proud For they say when he changed his just and royall domination Dioni Halic lib. 4. into a tyrannicall government he became a contemner and a despiser of al his subjects as well the meane people as the nobilitie and Patritians he brought a confusion and a corruption into justice he tooke a greater number of waiting servants into his guard than his predecessors had he tooke away the authoritie from the assembly of the Senate which it alwaies before had moreover hee dispatched criminall and civile causes after his fancie and not according to right hee cruelly punished such as complained of that change of estate as conspirators against him he caused many great and notable persons to die secretly without any forme of justice hee imposed tributes upon the people against the auncient forme and regalitie to the impoverishing and oppression of some more than of others hee had also spies to discover what was said of him and afterward punished rigorously such as had blamed either him or his government These be the colours wherewith the hystories do paint Tarquin when of a king he became a tyrant and these are ordinarily the colours and liverie of all tyrants banners whereby they may be knowne It seemeth that Tarquin forgot nothing of all that a tyrant could doe but that he slew not Brutus which was a fault in the art of tyrannie as learnedly Machiavell noteth it which fell to bee his ruin But the cause hereof was that Brutus in the court counterfeted the foole wherby Tarquin had no suspition of him For none but wise men and good people are suspect and greevous to tyrants but as for counterfeting fooles unthrifts flatterers bauds murderers inventors of imposts and such like dregs and vermine of the people they are best welcome into tyrants courts yet even amongst them are not tyrants alwaies without danger for amongst such fooles sometimes happeneth a Brutus who at last will plat out their ends so that ever their lives hangs by a small thred as Denis the tyrant sayth But the example of Hieronimus another tyrant of Sicilie is to this purpose well to be noted This Hieronimus was the sonne of a good and wise king called Hiero whom also they well called tyrant because he came not to that estate by a legitimate title although he exercised it sincerely and in good justice who when he died left this Hieronimus his sonne very young and under age For the government therefore of him and of his affaires he gave him fifteene tutors and amongst them Andronodorus and Zoilus his sonnes in law and one Thraso which he charged to maintaine the countrey of Sicilie in peace as he himselfe had done by the space of fiftie yeares of his raigne but especially that they should maintaine the treatie and confederation which he had all the length of his time duly observed with the Romanes The said tutors promised to performe his request and to change nothing in the estate but altogether to follow his footsteps Straight after Hiero was dead Andronodorus being angry because of so many tutors caused the king who was then but 15 yeares old to be proclaimed of sufficient age to bee dismissed of tutors and so dispatched himselfe as well as others of that dutifull care they ought to have had of their king and countrey After he got to himselfe alone the government of the kingdome and to make himselfe to bee feared under the kings authoritie hee tooke to him a great number of waiters for his guard and to weare purple garments and a diademe upon his head and to goe in a coach drawne with white horses altogether after the manner of Denis the tyrant and contrary to the use of Hieronimus yet was not this the worst for besides all this Adronodorus caused the yong king his brother in law to bee instructed in pride and arrogancie to contemne every man to give audience to no man to bee quarelous and to take advantage at words of hard accesse given to all new fashions of effeminacie and riotousnesse and to bee unmeasurable cruell thirstie after bloud After Andronodorus had thus framed to his minde this yong king a conspiration was made against him unto which Andronodorus was consenting to dispatch and sley him but it was discovered but yet executed which A conjuration discovered yet executed was strange For one Theodorus was accused and confessed himselfe to bee one of the conspiracie but being tortured and racked to confesse his complices and parteners in that conspiracie knowing he must needs die and by that meanes desiring to be revenged of that yong tyrant he accused the most faithfull and trustiest servants of the king This young tyrant rash inconsiderat straight put to death his friends and principal servants by the counsell of Andronodorus who desired nothing more because they hindered his deseignes This execution performed incontinent this yong tyrant was massacred and slain upon a straight way by the conspirators themselves which before had made the conjuration the execution whereof was the more easie by the discoverie thereof because as is said the tyrants most faithfull friends and servants were slaine Soone after the tyrants death Andronodorus obtained the fortresse of Siracuse a towne of Sicilie but the tumults and stirres which he raised in the countrey as he thought for his owne profit fell out so contrarie to his expectation that finally he his wife and all their race and the race of Hieronimus were extermined as well such as were innocent as they that were culpable And so doth it ordinarily happen to all young princes which by corruption are degenerated into tyrants So fals it out also to all them which are corrupters of princes to draw them into habits of all wickednesse Lastly here would not bee omitted altogether this wickednesse of Machiavell who confounding good and evill together yeeldeth the title of Vertuous unto a tyrant Is not this as much as to call darkenesse full lightsome and bright vice good and honourable and ignorance learned But it pleaseth this wicked man thus to say to plucke out of the hearts of men all hatred horror and indignation which they might have against tyrannie and to cause princes to esteeme tyrannie good honorable and desirable 16. Maxime A Prince may as well be hated for his vertue as for his vice THe emperour Pertinax saith Machiavell vvas elected emperor Cap. 19. Of the prince against the vvils of his men of vvarre vvhich before had customably lived licentiously in all vices and dissolutenesse under the emperour Commodus his predecessor
in hearing interrogating and confronting them with him that is accused Therefore hee sent the cause and the parties to Iunius Rufus Governour of Macedonie commaunding him to examine diligently the witnesses and take good advisement whether they were good men worthy of credit and if Alexander the accuser could not prove well his accusation that he should banish him to some place This commandement of the emperour Adrian hath since been marked by the Lawyers which since made a law thereof Behold how men must proceed when it lies on mens lives and not to beleeve Marmosets and reporters neither beleeve papers without seeing or hearing witnesses and the accused without searching whether the witnesses be good men or no as is done at this day for at this day there is nothing wherof magistrats make a better market than of mens lives But let us passe on Froissart lib. 2. cap. 173. lib. 3. cap. 63 68. and other following and lib. 4. cap. 92. c. I would now rehearse an example truly tragicall of king Richard of England who was sonne of that valiant and victorious prince of Wales This king came to the crowne very yong and had three good uncles about him the duke of Lancaster Yorke and Glocester by whose counsell for a certaine time hee governed well his kingdome But the earle of Suffolke whom the king made duke of Ireland entred so farre into the kings favour that he governed himselfe after his fancie Then took he occasions to talke so of the kings uncles as was very strange for he told him that his uncles desired nothing but to deale in the affaires of the kingdome to obtaine it to themselves a thing which they never thought And did so much by his reports that the king put his uncles from his counsell and from dealing with any of the affaires of the kingdome whereof the people and especially the Londoners were so evill contented that they rose up and made warre against the king or rather against the duke of Ireland and they were at a point to give the battell one against the other But the duke of Ireland who was generall of the kings armie lost his courage with great feare that he had to be slain or taken and therfore fled passed into Flanders where he finished his dayes never after returning into England As soone as he was fled his armie was dissipated the kings uncles seized upon the kings person established a new Counsell by justice executed some of them which were of the duke of Ireland his adherents A longtime after another Marmoset called the earle Marshall gained the duke of Ireland his place and was so farre in the kings good grace that he governed all as he would One day this earle Marshall talking with the earle of Darbie eldest sonne of the duke of Lancaster the earle of Darbie chanced to say Cousin what will the king do will he altogether subject the English nobilitie there will soone be none it is plainely seene that he desireth not the augmentation of his kingdome But he held this talke because the king had put to death chased away a great number of gentlemen and caused the duke of Glocester to die a prince of his blood and yet continued in that rigour to make himselfe be feared and revenging still that which was done in the duke of Irelands time The earle Marshall answered nothing to the speeches of the earle of Darbie but only marked them in his heart Certain daies after he reported them to the king and to make them seeme of more credit he profered and said hee was readie to enter into the campe against the earle of Darbie to averre the said words as outragious injurious against his Majestie The king not measuring the consequence of the deed in place to make no account of these words sent for the earle of Darbie his cousin germane and after hearing before him the earle Marshall speak his wil was they should enter into the camp and fight it to utterance But the kings Counsell conceiving it might come to be anevill example such great lords to slay one another and that the earle Marshall was not of equall qualitie unto the earle of Darbie they counselled the king to take another course namely to banish from England for ever the earle Marshall because he had rashly appealed and challenged unto single combat a Prince of the bloud to banish also the Earle of Darbie for ten years only for speaking the aforesaid words of the king his lord The king following the advice of his Counsel by sentence given by himself banished the earle Marshall out of England forever the earle of Darbie for six years only moderating his Counsels advice foure years When the earle of Darbie came to depart there assembled in the streets before his gates at London more than fortie thousand which wept cried lamented his departure extreamly blamed the king and his Counsell insomuch that going away he left in the peoples hearts an extreame anguish and greefe for his absence and a very great amitie towards him yet notwithstanding he left England and came into France Whilest he was in France the duke of Lancaster his father died The king to heape up his evill lucks caused to be taken seized into his hands all his lands goods because they fell to the earle of Darbie Hereby hee got great hatred and evill will of the Nobilitie and of all the people Finally the Londoners which are a people easie to arise made a complot and part against the king and secretly sent word to the earle of Darbie that hee should come and they would make him king The earle arriving in England found an armie of the Londoners ready So went he to besiege the king Richard in his castle unprovided whom he tooke and imprisoned and caused him to resigne unto him the Realme and Crowne of England King Richard was put to death in prison after hee had raigned two and twentie yeares a thing very strange rigorous and unheard of in England or in any kingdomes nigh unto it And so the earle of Darbie who had beene banished from England remained a peaceable king and was called Harry the fourth of that name This earle Marshall who kept at Venise knowing these newes died ragingly This was the end of this Marmoset and the tragicall evill hap whereunto he brought his master and that upon words reported which were never spoken as any evill speech of the king but onely for the greefe hee had that they of his Counsell governed so evill the kingdomes affaires Which words should nor ought not to have been taken up nor reported to the king and being reported unto him he should have made no account of them to have alwaies presumed rather well than evill of his cousin Germane Herodes borne of a lowe and base race was created king of Iudea Galalie Samaria Joseph Antiq â—ib 14. cap 23.
answeres devised at the pleasure of priests to deceive men in the Temples of Apollo of Iupiter Ammon or of any other of the Paynim gods he sheweth himselfe to be very ignorant and to have read little yet I will not deny but sometimes the priests entermedled somewhat of their owne many times but it is certaine that the said Oracles were diabolicall answeres which the devill made himselfe or caused to bee made by some hee or shee priest which he brought into extasies and out of their sences and so caused them to say what hee would and most often hee answered in verses but commonly ambiguous in two sences For how could those hee or shee priests which commonly were unlearned and knew nothing give an answere in verse It was also impossible that they could have advertisements from Religions so farre off as men came to consult of those Oracles yea especially of such particularities whereof ordinarily answeres were demanded of those Oracles to bee able to give answeres to any good purpose But I will not stay more amply to proove this point for they which have read very little of ancient writings know well how certain it is that these Oracles were voices proceeding from devils which the Painims served under these names of Apollo of Iupiter and other like gods Plutarke in a treatise he made of the defect of Oracles sheweth That the Oracles were not things invented by priests but concerning the failing of Oracles he is found very much distracted and troubled not knowing how to resolve that question For there must be presupposed that in his time which was during the kingdome of the emperor Traianus and before a good while there were no more Oracles insomuch that that good philosopher was much abashed and perplexed from whence it should come But because that point is well woorth the knowledge and dooth come well for our purpose in this place I will handle the same more at large You must then understand that Plutarke who was a great Paynim philosopher Of the defailance of Oracles to finde out the cause of the failing and decay of Oracles entreth into a question whereof he like a Paynim resolves himselfe but to prove his opinion he useth certaine narrations which may well bring us to the truth of the cause of the defailancie and ceasing of Oracles He then entreth into disputation of the nature of the gods and after many discourses hee resolveth that there are but one sort of gods which the Elders called Demi-gods which are mortall although they lived long as five hundred or a thousand years and he thinketh that these demi-gods are they which the gods have engendred with mortall women For the auncient superstition wherwith certaine philosophers have beene led beleeved that the gods sometimes descended below to cohabitate with women and this served to keepe the honours of great Ladies which sometimes forgot their duties Plutarke then would hereof inferre that it might be those gods which answered at Delphos and Delos and other places were but halfe gods and so might be dead and that therefore might happen the said ceasing of Oracles Yet hee held not this opinion nor any other very resolutely but he propoundeth it for such as would like it and it seemes to be the opinion which he himselfe best approveth But I doe not thinke that any at this day will be of this opinion for in truth it tasteth of his Paganisme being ignorant and far straying from the true knowledge of God of Religion yet to prove that the said demigods are mortal he makes a discourse very notable and worthy the knowledge An hystorie of the death of the god Pan. He saith then that in the time of the emperour Tiberius one Epitherses a schoole-master in a towne of Greece embarked himselfe upon the sea to saile into Italie and placed himselfe in a ship charged with marchandize and wherein there were many people Making their way they passed one day at night nigh unto the Islands called Echinades and there the sea was so calme that they could perceive no wind insomuch that the ship floating upon the water brought them by little and little nigh unto Paxo Where being arrived as some supped and other did other things behold an high and intelligible voice which cried Thamus Thamus This Thamus was the master of the ship whose name the most part of the passengers knew not This voice cried twice before the master would answere At the third time hee answered unto which the voice yet cried with an higher sound That as soone as hee should be come against the Palodes he should make knowne unto the inhabitants there that the great Pan was dead Epitherses said That at that word all the companie which were within the ship were exceedingly afraid and astonished So it came into a consultation amongst that people if the shipmaster Thamus should doe that which was commanded him by that voice And this resolution was taken That if when they came against the Palodes the winds were strong and good for them they should passe on without stay or saying any thing but if the sea were calme and had no winde that then Thamus should signifie unto the inhabitants of Palodes that which the voice had commaunded him Beeing then there arrived and having the sea calme without wind Thamus got him into the hind-decke or sterne of the ship and turning his face towards land right against Palodes hee begun to crie with an high voice The great Pan is dead He had no sooner atchieved ended this speech but all the whole companie in the ship heard a great crying and lamentation of many mixed with a great admiration Finally when they were arrived at Rome each of them within the ship spread abroad the fame of this thing insomuch that it came to the notice of Tiberius the emperour who sent for the captaine or master of the ship Thamus who told him al at length Tiberius beleeving it was true that the great god Pan was dead desired to know what god that was Some learned people which he had about him told him That that Pan was the sonne of god Mercurie and of Penelope Behold here the account which Plutarke makes of god Pan his death and further sayth That in his time many heard this hystorie rehearsed by one Aemilianus sonne of the said Epitherses But if we consider the circumstances of this hystorie we shall find That this voice was a signification of the death of Christ which caused Oracles to faile and overthrew the power of the devill And it is credible that those lamentations which were heard at Palodes were the complaints of evill spirits to which were delivered the signification of their kingdomes destruction And to prove that this hystorie should bee so understood First wee must consider that it is reported to be in the time of Tiberius under whom our Lord Iesus suffered death and passion Certaine also it is That Tiberius enquired of Iesus
indeed to fast the vigils and Lent but is there any place in the world where they carelesse for fasting vigils and Lent than at Rome It commandeth chastitie to priests but is there any place in the world where priests Cardinals and others are more furnished with whoores and bauds It also commandeth them to serve their benefices but of an hundreth priests which are at Rome there are scant one doth it their Religion forbiddeth the sale of benefices sepulchres sacraments and dispensations but is there any place in the world where there is a greater trafficke of them than at Rome It forbiddeth simonie but where are there any simoniakes if not at Rome and in Italie I speake onely of the ordinances which the Romane Church hath made yet her selfe doth not observe them For if I would alledge the ordinances of God which shee observeth no more than the other I should too tediously rehearse them all But breefely the Romane Church hath invented a thousand traditions wherewith it hath burdened the shoulders of poore Christians to their great abashment but in the meane while the Church it selfe will keepe none of them rather that holy seat dispenseth with all them of Italie and Rome and indeed there is no place in the world where the Popes ordinances are lesse observed than there nor where all Religion is in more contempt as Machiavell himselfe confesseth Let Christians then make their profit of this confession of Machiavell and so let them flie the spring of impietie of Atheisme of corruption of manners and of the contempt of all Religion least God punish them and make them perish with such wicked men as make open profession thereof 7. Maxime Moses could never have caused his lawes and ordinances to be observed if force and armes had wanted THe most excellent men mentioned in bookes sayth our Florentine vvhich became princes by their owne vertue and not by fortune vvere Moses Cyrus Romulus Theseus and such like for fortune only gave them the occasion and the matter to execute their vertue As Moses found the people of Israel in captivitie and servitude in Aegypt Cirus also found the Persians malecontent of the proud government of the Medes And Romulus found himselfe deiected from his birth place the towne of Alba Lastly Theseus found the towne of Athens full of troubles and confusions Without vvhich occasions comming by fortune the vertue of their courage had not appeared as also vvithout their vertue such occasions had served thē nothing All those occasions then made these persons happie and their excellent vertue knew well how to make profit of occasions THis Atheist willing alwayes more strongly to shew That hee beleeved not the holy Scriptures dare vomit out this blasphemie to say That Moses by his owne vertue and by armes was made the prince of the Hebrewes We see by the bookes of Moses that he was as it were constrained of God to take the charge to draw the Hebrew people out of Aegypt to bring them into the land of Canaan a place of the primitive of spring of this people And after hee had accepted that charge we reade That God gave him power to doe many miracles before Pharoah and all the people of Aegypt that he might suffer the Hebrew people to returne in peace into the countrey from whence they first came After having obtained permission to returne we see how the people were guided on the day time by a visible and apparent cloud which went before them and in the night by a pillar of fire We reade so many miracles done by God in their passage through the red sea and in the desarts and how Moses did nothing but by the counsell and power of God alone With what boldnesse then dare this stinking Atheist disgorge this talke to say that Moses was made the prince of the Hebrew people by his owne vertue and by armes Could hee by any other meanes than by the Bible know how and what way Moses came to be governour of the Hebrew people for all Paynim authors speak little thereof and that which they speake is but as they read in the said bookes of Moses or by hearesay of such as read them seeing it is certaine that wee have no prophane author in light that were not many worlds after Moses If then Machiavell can say nothing of Moses his doings but by his owne bookes with what impudencie dare hee deliver out a contrarietie from that is there written For to say he was made prince of the Hebrew people by his owne vertue and by armes that is as much as to denie streight that God constrained him to accept that charge to conduct the Hebrew people and that the said people came out of Aegypt by the miracles of God and that they were conducted by the cloud and pillar of fire and that God nourished them all the way of the desart which is indeed to denie all that is written in the bookes of Moses Assuredly there is no man of so heavie and dull a judgement but he may wel know that this most wicked Atheist hath taken pleasure to search out the most savage Maximes that could bee devised assuring himselfe That he should ever find monsters of men which also would delight in absurd and bestiall opinions and would give passage and way to his doctrine And yet the better to shew his beastlinesse this doctrine may be overthrowne even by the writings of the Paynims themselves Trebellius Pollio writeth That Moses was onely familiar Treb. Pollio in Clau. Cor. Tacit. annal lib. 21. with God Cornelius Tacitus going about to calumniate and blame the Iewish Religion contained in the bookes of Moses confesseth That the king of Aegypt made the Hebrew people to goe out of his countrey for sores rottennesse and other maladies wherewith the Aegyptians were infected The Poets and Philosophers when they sometimes speake of Moses doctrine they call it sacred Oracles shewing therby that they confesse That the deeds and writings of Moses came from God and not from his owne vertue But with what impudencie dare Machiavell compare Moses to these idolaters Romulus and Theseus What similitude had they with Moses in their life or in their death Romulus and Theseus were two bastards rude violent men in their youth whereof the one slew his brother and the other his sonne the one finished his daies slaine and massacred by his citizens and the other was banished and chased from his owne Can any finde the like in Moses But this Maxime of Machiavell hath no need of a more ample confutation for the truth is so cleare and apparent to the contrarie that a man may manifestly see that this Florentine is a most wicked slaunderer and impudent lier Yet thinke I good to marke another beastlinesse and ignorance in that he saith That Theseus came to the domination of Athens because hee found the estate of Plutarke in Thes the Athenians in confusion for cleane contrarie he came unto it
should not see such changes of one estate into another nor all thing mixed in a confusion as wee see Therefore a strange warre in a strange country seemeth not to be very damageable but something necessary to occupie and exercise his subjects but domesticke and civill wars must needes be shunned and extinguished with all our power for they be things against the right of nature to make war against the people of their countrey as he that doth it against his owne entrails Therefore saith Homer Right wicked are those men which love not parents deare Sottish no lesse are they which familie doth hate Iliad 9. But most ungodly they their countrie which doth feare With civile warres so direfull to a quiet state The prince also ought to consider that by civile warres he more weakeneth himselfe and his subjects in one yeere than by a strange warre he can do in thirtie yeeres civile warres also are without comparison more ruinous and dangerous than strange warres are To this purpose is there in Titus Livius a notable oration made by the Romane deputies unto Marcius Coriolanus which was vnjustly banished from Rome and Lib. 2. Dec. 1 Dionis Halic lib. S. who yeelded himselfe to the Volsques enemies of the Romanes was elected captaine of the Volsques to make warre upon his country for as he laied siege to Rome there were sent to him in ambassage five great Romane lords whereof some were his parents and all his friends the one of which called Marcus Minutius spoke thus for them all Wee are not ignorant deere lord and friend that great wrong hath beene done unto you at Rome to banish and drive you from your countrey for which you have done so much and so many times so well fought for it that you may bee accompted as a second father or founder we know well also that by good right you are greived and despited against us for so unjust a judgement and wrong as is done you For naturallie hee that is injured is watchfull against him that injureth him yet wee cease not to mervaile that with reason you discerne not them upon whom you may justly take revenge from them which have done you no evill nor outrage but you indifferently repute for enimies as much the culpable as the innocent your friends as them that hate you which doing you violate the inviolable lawes of nature you confound right and wrong equitie and iniquitie yea you forget your selfe so much as you make warre upon your selfe in so doing upon your bloud We which are your friends and of the auncientest Patricians are sent hither by your countrey and ours to complaine in her name for that you violate naturall right to pray you to cease from this warre and to hearken unto a good peace offering to agree unto you all that shall be to your honour and utilitie We confesse that great wrong hath beene done you in your banishment but who hath done it unto you The people say you gave the voice for my condemnation True it is wee can not deny it but all the people is but one voice although the most part were against you they then which have given their voices for your absolution doe they merit that you should make war upon them as heretikes And we Senators which have beene so sorrowful at your evill ought you account us as your enemies But women and children what have they done unto you must needes so many innocents fall into perill and danger to bee slaine pilled and saccaged that have done you no wrong but rather favoured you If wee demand of you wherefore you would rase and destroy our goodly buildings framed by our ancestours where are the statues and images of their victories and triumphs and wherefore will you abolish their memories what can you answere assuredly you can have no colour to doe this thing unles you will say that friends and enemies culpable innocents dead and living ought equally to suffer vengeance of the injurie was done you a thing unmeet to bee done yea to be thought on by a man that hath never so little reason you should consider deere lord and friend the inconstancie of the affaires of this world the mutabilitie of mens spirits and to excuse the misfortune which happeneth unto you to our great greefe and accept an honourable returne into your country which desireth you that for it you may continue to imploy your vertue as you have done in times past by this meanes shall you leave after you a good and holie reputation of your vertue to your posteritie and if you doe otherwise you shall leave after your death a remembrance that you were an enemie a saccager and ruiner of your poore countrey where you were borne and wher you have beene tenderlie and honourably nourished yet more there is that so long as you live you shall bee an horror and execration to all the world yea even to the Volsques which are now your friends yea all the world will flie your companie as a theefe or robber We therefore pray you deere lord and friend that you will forget the injurie that you have unjustlie received and accept an happie healthfull honourable returne into your countrie into your house where your poore mother is your deere wife your friends and deere children which extreamely weepe and lament your absence and especially since it was made knowne unto them that you come with a strong hand to put them to the edge of the sword as well as others After these ambassadors had thus spoken there was yet sent to Coriolanus Veturia his mother Volumnia his wife carrying in their armes his little children accompanied with a great number of noble women When Coriolanus see arive in his campe these embassadours and after his mother and wife houlding his little children in their armes were fallen downe on their knees weeping then nature forced and burst that hard and obstinate courage of his so that straight a peace was made and hee ceased to warre upon his countrey If wee know not what mischiefes and calamities comes of civile warres there might be many examples set down thereof but alas we Frenchmen know too much thereof and yet manie are enhardened to persever therein and they cannot bow their hard courage to desist from ruinating and warring against their mother and countrey This Paynim Coriolanus may make them ashamed who did not persever in making war upon his countrey although his courage were rude and full of vengeance but suffered himselfe to bee vanquished by reason but they make warre in a contrary course not making any accompt either of reason love or pietie that they ought all to have towards their countrie parents and friends letting loose the bridle to their passions and vengeances bursting ruinating massacring sleying pilling and destroying from top to bottome their parents friends fellow-citizens neighbours and generally all our poore countrey which our poore ancestours left us so ritch and
man guards himselfe from them as from a furious beast and the first that can get him at advantage thinkes he doth good to the common weale when he riddeth him from the world yea each man watcheth to catch him in his snare Therefore no man will give a prince so dangerous and so detestable counsell as to use Borgia for a pattern of imitation unles he would carry him unto the top and fulnesse of all wickednesse and cruell tyrannie which seemeth to bee the end whereat Machiavell aimeth as wee shall see more at large heereafter But whereas Borgea saith hee caused the head to bee taken from Messier Romiro Dorco the executioner of his crueltie I confesse it was true and avow that he did well therein For if Messier Romiro would excuse himselfe and say that his master Borgia commanded him to doe such cruell executions that were no good excuse because hee should rather have forsaken his estate and goverment than to commit cruelties without any forme of justice against the law of God and reason The civile lawes themselves willeth that none should obey his prince when hee commandeth any massacre or unjust slaughter till thirtie daies bee past after the command that in the meane time either their friends or the magistrate may persuade the prince to pacifie his choller and to hearken unto reason And because the law hereupon made by the emperours Gratian Thesiodus and Valentinian is worthie to be marked I doe thus translate it If it happen that heereafter say they wee command any rigorous vengeance contrarie to our accustomed manner against any we will not that straight they suffer punishment nor that our command be straight way executed but that the execution surcease the space of thirtie daies and that in the meane time the magistrate keepe the prisoner safely Given at Verone the fifteenth of the kalends of September in the yeere of the consulship of Antonius and Syagrius It is then seene by this law that Messier Romiro was justly punished as a man too prompt and forward to execute crueltie And if this law had been well observed in France there had not beene found so many and such rash massacres but the commonwealth had beene in farre better estate and the meanes of peace more facile and easie Moreover the prince which will propose one man alone as his patterne and exemplar True patterns which a prince ought to propose to imitate to imitate hee shall finde many which have beene as vertuous as Caesar Borgia was vicious But seeing the greatest and most excellent persons at all times were ever men that is to say not every way absolute but defectuous and vicious some way it is best therefore that a prince doe adict himselfe to imitate all vertuous men in generall and each of them in their particular vertues As if wee speake of heathen princes hee may propose to imitate the clemencie of Iulius Caesar in using his victorie for hee ever simply contented himselfe to vanquish without crueltie and with out bloodshed as farre as hee could Hee may propose to follow the moderation of Augustus Caesar in the government of the commonweale and his dilligence to establish peace in the whole Romane empire For he never omitted any thing which might bee a meane to bring all the world to peace and tranquilitie after the civile warres and he managed the commonweale with such moderation as it seemed rather a civile government than a monarchie He had also another vertue well worthie of imitation for he was a good justicer and himselfe not only dealt in making laws and ordinances according to the rules of justice but also he himselfe often heard mens causes and judged them their right hee was also a lover of learned men and of knowledge and greatly rewarded them and these vertues of Augustus were fit for a prince to imitate The bountie and lenity of Traianus the love of peace in Pius the deepe wisedome the humanitie and facilitie to pardon and the love and studie of good letters in Marcus Antonine are also worthie vertues for a prince to follow But without any longer stay upon Paynim princes which had not the knowledge of Christian religion a prince shall finde sufficient to imitate yea and not to goe farther than the kings of France Charlemaine was as generous and victorious as ever was Caesar yet besides this hee was very liberall towards good people a prince continent gentle facile to pardon enemies and endowed with a singular pietie and feare of God For hee caused ordinarily the Bible and S. Augustine to be read unto him and nourished poore people in his pallace which sometimes served himselfe at the table Saint Lewis was a good and wise king fearing God and a good justicer for hee often sent into all his provinces commissaries to bee informed of the abuses covetousnesse and rapines of magistrates and caused them which were found faultie to bee well punished Wee reade one thing of him not unworthie to be remembred That one day as hee was praying unto God reciting certaine petitions of the psalmes of David fit for that action one comes sodainely unto him to desire a pardon for one that had committed a fault which was death by law hee as sodainely graunted it but straight falling into a verse of the psalme which saith Beati qui faciunt Iustitiam in omni tempore Blessed are they which doe justice at all times hee immediately called him againe unto whom hee had graunted the said pardon and revoked it with this notable sentence That the prince which may punish a crime and doth it not is as culpable himselfe as hee that committed it and that it is a worke of pietie and not of crueltie to doe justice Besides he was very chast far from all lubricitie and never thirsted after revenge Charles le Sage was a very benigne and humble prince who did nothing but by well digested counsell without rashnesse loving the good and safetie of his subjects hee was also a prince that very much feared God he tooke great delight in reading the Bible and would his people should reade it and to that end he caused it to bee translated into French The Prince then which will determine with himselfe onely to imitate those three kings in the aforesaid vertues certainely hee shall have for himselfe a true pattern and example such as Christian prince ought to have and not to propose to himselfe this bastard priests sonne who was a very monster and an exemplar of all wickednesse I name him a bastard because according to the divine and civile law hee was not legitimate although by the cannon law the Pope may legitimate priests bastards and by consequent his owne as hath beene above touched Yet notwithstanding this question is not without doubt whether the Pope can legitimate his owne bastards Question if the pope can legitimate his owne children and the reason of the doubt is because the doctors of law hould That legitimation is
a gentle and kind prince For it often happeneth that such cruell judges which have bestowed great paines to make their dâ—lligence allowed of the cruell princes have beene after paid their wages and received their due recompence of some good prince succeeding Nabis was a tyrant who without right or title got soveraigne possession of the commonwealth of the Lacedaemonians and there committed many cruelties and Titus Livius lib. 5. Dec. 4. indignities The Aetolians a furious and cruell kinde of people esteemed that it would bee a great glorie and honour unto them if they could slay this tyrant any way and that all Greece especially the Lacedaemonians would thank them So they enterprised to joyne themselves unto him under a pretext and shew of Faith and socieâ—â—e the better to overthrow him Alexamenes was deputed captaine and conductor of the Aetolian forces to effect that enterprise who did so much as hee entered into league and confederation with Nabis who at that time greatly feared the Romanes This league being past Alexamenes persuaded Nabis that both together they must often exercise their souldiers by bringing them into the fields to wrastle leape skirmish and practise other millitarie exercises to shun idlenesse and to make them good souldiers Nabis beleeved him insomuch as one day beeing in the field together Alexamenes came behinde him and threw him cleane over his horse with a blow hee gave him and then presently caused him to be slaine and massacred This being done Alexamenes his people returning towards the towne of Sparta from whence they departed thinking to seize upon the castle to guard themselves from all assaults of the tirants frinds but they could not obtaine it For the Lacedaemonians so disdained greeved at that most perfiidious villanus part of the Aetolians against their king Nabis although they desired no more than his death that they furiously rushed upon the Aetolians which were dispersed through the towne and looked not for their paines to be so recompensed that they slew them almost all and amongst them Alexamenes himselfe such as escaped the sword were taken prisoners and sould For the last example of this matter I will set downe that of Ioab David nephew 2. Samuel 2. 3. 20. 1 Kings 2. and constable unto whom hee did good and great services Yet David commanded Salomon his sonne that hee should put to death Ioab his cosin germane as hee did because of his perfidie for hee had slaine Abner and Amasa two other great captaines traiterously under the coulour of amitie Ioab seemed to have great causes to justifie his fact For Abner had slaine Asahel Ioabs brother and therefore Ioab could not but receive just sorrow and feeling thereof Moreover Abner had followed the contrary part to David standing for the house of Saul Amasa was a rebell and a seditious person against David and had followed Absalons part so it was evident if Ioab had had our Machivellists judges of his fact they would not onely have adjudged him innocent but for a remuneration they would have made him some great amendes with the goods of Abner and Amasa but the judgement of David which hee made at his death against his sisters sonne who had done him infinit good and great services shewed well how execrable and detestable Ioabs perfidie was to him And heereby princes have to learne to imitate this holy and wise king by whose mouth God teacheth them that they ought to observe their Faith and promise yea to their domage a doctrine fully contrary to the doctrine of this filthie and wicked Machiavell To conclude Perfidie is so detestable a thing both to God and the world that God never leaveth perfidious and Faith-breaking persons unpunished Oftentimes hee waits not to punish them in the other world but plagnes them in this yea often strangely and rigorously by exterminating as it were in a moment all their rase wives and children as the Poet Homer although a Panim hath wisely taught us saying Though straight the God of heaven lay not his punishment divine Homer Ili 4 At all times on the perfidious for his great periurie Yet neither hee himselfe nor child can skape his ire in fine No nor his wife but all destroyed by hand of his shall bee 22. Maxime Faith Clemencie and Liberalitie are vertues very domageable to a prince but it is good that of them hee have onely some similitude and likenesse THere is no necessitie saith our Florentine that a prince Cap. 18. Of the prince should bee garnished with all these vertues but it is requisit that hee have an appearance of them For I dare well say this that having and observing them in all places they will fall out mervelous domageable unto him And contrarie the maske and semblance of them is very profitable and indeede wee see each day by experience that a prince is often constrained to goe from his Faith and from all charitie humanitie and religion to conserve and defend his owne vvhich verely hee shall incontinent lose if exactly hee will observe all points which make men to bee esteemed vertuous MAchiavell sets heere downe three vertues Faith Clemencie and Liberalitie which hee reproveth in a prince as domageable and pernitious effectuallie to use them But whosoever can recover the maskes and similitudes of them as they are naturallie portraied hee shall doe well to adorne and decke himselfe with them as whores and courtizans doe which apparell themselves like women of honour to make men beleeve that they are honest and good women But I will not stand heere upon invectives to confute or cause men to detest such a filthie doctrine For what man is so brutall or ignorant that seeth not with his eie how Machiavell delights to mock play with the most excellent vertues amongst men As for the Faith which is and ought to bee amongest men for Machiavell speakes not of the Faith which is towards God wee have discoursed upon it in the former Maxime And as for Liberalitie wee shall speake upon it in another place Heere wee will speake of Clemencie and examine Machiavells doctrine whether this doctrine can bee domageable to a prince or no To shew that Clemencie cannot bee domageable but profitable to him unto Clemencie profitable honourable to such as are clement whom God imparteth that grace to bee indued therewith an argument drawne from the contrary concludes well and evidently for this purpose For if crueltie which is directly contrary to Clemencie bee pernitious and domageable to him that is infected therewith as wee have above shewed It followeth that clemencie and gentlenesse is both profitable and honourable to him that is indued and adorned therewith And indeede it is a vertue both agreeable and amiable with everie man which bringeth to whatsoever person it dwelleth in favour grace amitie honour and good will of every man to doe him pleasure All which are affections that can never bee idle nor without some operation