it is not true Valour at least it is no part of the Motive wherewith it ought to be animated that is the preferring the Sense of true Honour before our own Lives According to these Principles though the Saying of Agesilaus was excellent when to one who demanded of him how he came to perform such great Exploits he answered It was by despising Death Yet not to abuse this noble Thought it is necessary that we add another Saying of Cato the Elder who tells us In the Perils of War he makes a great Difference between those that love Vertue and those who are weary of their Lives Indeed it must be the Love of Vertue that animates Valour and the principal Wheel that puts it into its due Motions Zeal for Justice ought not only to be the Pretence but the Cause of War And a Prince is obliged to have the same Motive in prosecuting his Enemies by his Arms as in arraigning Offenders by his Laws for his Enemies are looked upon as convicted Criminals the Declaration of War is their Sentence of Condemnation and because this Sentence cannot be so easily executed as the others he sends his Armies to be his Sheriffs and Executioners And the same Effect which the Punishment of a private Criminal hath on a Nation the Punishment of a Nation hath on the Universe or as we may say in the great Republick of the World CHAP. V. Examples against the strange Errour of those who believe the exact Practice of Justice to be an Obstacle to Valour AND yet notwithstanding all this some Men there are in the World who imagine that the exact practising of Justice is an Obstacle to Valour If in the fixed Humour whereinto this fundamental Errour hath cast their Minds they are not capable to be disabused by Reasons they ought to be cured by Examples Marcus Aurelius is the most famous amongst the Emperors for Vertue purely Humane St. Lewis is the most renowned amongst all Kings for Christian Piety They were both very valiant St. Lewis was the first that descended from Ship-board into Egypt in the sight of the Enemy he fought with incredible Obstinacy in that Fight where he lost his Liberty And during his Imprisonment he discovered such a noble Assurance of Mind that the Prince of the Barbarians being near Death the Admiration that they had for the Vertue of their generous Captive put them upon Deliberation whether they should not chuse him for their Sovereign As for Marcus Aurelius he ended his Days in an Expedition in Almaigne He underwent all the Duties of a Soldier and a Captain and had made great Advances if he had not been surprized by Death The Example of this Prince and that of his Son do well demonstrate that Justice is serviceable to Valour instead of being prejudicial to it and that that Courage which is not founded in the Love of Vertue is obnoxious to great Disorders Commodus the Son of Aurelius had been carefully educated by his Father with all the Exactness imaginable This Education was in him joyned with an auspicious Birth he had a vast Genius he was strong dexterous and of a good Mind and nothing was wanting to make him a great Prince but his Will to be so His Father had no sooner rendred up his Life but he thinks of nothing more than returning to Rome though one might have well represented to him that Rome was every where where the Emperor was He abandons an assured Victory and patching up a dishonourable Peace with the Alemaignes sets forward for Italy without being at the Pains to consider whether it would not beget ill Impressions of his Conduct in the Beginning of his Reign We come now from seeing an old Emperor who had rather die under his Military Labours in the Bed of Honour than quit the Design he had formed and we see after him a young Prince full of Vigour who to wind himself out of the Fatigues of War eschews an Enterprize to which the Memory of his Father and his own Honour should have engaged him Instead of embracing a lawful Occasion for the Acquests of Glory he rather chose to expose himself to the View of the Romans in the Equipage of a Gladiator and by throwing of Darts to kill Panthers or Lions in an Amphitheatre CHAP. VI. Why it is that at this Day all the World hath not the Opinion they ought to have upon the Obligation of joyning Justice to Valour IF all Men at this Day have not the Opinion they ought to have of their being obliged to joyn Valour with this other Vertue which is the Rule of all Morality perhaps it comes from hence that in this Monarchy as in many others they have made a Separation of the Gown from the Sword as if they were distinct Functions and do not think it proper that the same Men might be Magistrates and Captains too It is true the Sovereign Administration of Laws and Arms resides in the Person of the Prince but it is in no other properly but in him that this Union is to be found And yet in some sort he hath declared himself for the Military Employment since he every Day bears the Badges of it and even in the actual Administration of Justice he wears a Sword by his Side But the Ancients did not determine of Things after this Rule Amongst them the Charge of Consul that of Praetor and many others were no less for the Wars than for Peace Insomuch that there were some that in a Moment passed from the Tribunal to the Camp and after having heard Causes pleaded and been Pleaders themselves were sent to command and to fight in the Army Fabritius was a Man of an undaunted Spirit Both the Cato's were exceeding valiant And the same Justice which restrained them from suffering their Judgments to be corrupted excited them not to suffer themselves to be vanquished in Battels We find the like Examples in the Graecian History Phocion and Aristides had no less of Courage than Integrity They gave to Aristides the Surname of Just they might as well have given him the Surname of Valiant 'T is true he never commanded the Army in Chief but he distinguished himself in all the Wars where he served either as a Soldier or as an Officer and he behaved himself admirably well in the Battels of Marathron Salamine and Platea Now in the Republicks of Greece no manner of Profession could exempt a Man from his Service in the Wars or at least was incompatible with Arms. We could name Philosophers who have joyned Justice with Valour Socrates saved Alcibiades in a Battel and darting himself through the thickest of his Enemies rescued him out of their Hands Zenophon after the Death of Clearchus was one of the Captains in that famous Retreat which amongst the Criticks in the Art of War passeth for one of the finest Master-pieces that ever was performed CHAP. VII What is the Extent of Military Obedience AS it is an important Thing SIR for
only some for Captains and Generals as the Sur-names of Countries which they conquered Trophies Triumphal Arches and Triumphs themselves but there were others for the Common-Soldiers They bestowed one sort of Crown upon him that first scaled the Walls they gave another to him who in the Heat of the Battel had saved a Roman Citizen And though the Materials thereof were but common and ordinary yet they valued them above precious Treasures A Monarch also takes himself to be honoured when he is called a Captain neither doth he despise the Title of a Soldier To speak properly Sovereigns have but two Sorts of Professions to rule their Subjects and to manage their Wars The First they teach their own Children in the Second they instruct their Children and their Subjects They take care themselves to form their Troops they are not ashamed to have the meanest of their Subjects for their Scholars and the same Mouth that pronounceth Laws to the whole Nation will give out Orders and Instructions to the raggedest of his Soldiers CHAP. III. It is more pleasant to read the Lives of Valiant than of other Princes WE pronounce the Name of Alexander and Caesar more frequently than those of other Princes We seem to feel a kind of Interest in their past Fortunes we fansie our selves concerned in their Conquests and to have some Share in their Triumphs we are charmed with a far greater Pleasure in reading of their Lives than that of Novelty we are more delighted to read their Stories over and over again than that of any other Prince though but once Notwithstanding a Thousand Republicans and Men of Commonwealth-Principles have endeavoured to palliate the Death of Caesar with specious Pretences yet at this very Day we cannot but look upon that Act as an Assassination and regard the Criminals for no less than Parricides We conspire against them who plotted against him we abhorr those of the Senate that were so cruel and it is our Opinion that the unfortunate End of those Conspirators was an Effect of the just Vengeance of Heaven upon them What Regret have we not also for Alexander to think he should be removed out of the World at so young an Age We lament his Death whether it were violent or natural We conceive that so great a Courage deserved a longer Life After he had conquered Asia we could have wished he had turned his Arms against Europe as he designed to do We imagine we should have been well pleased to have seen him attack the Romans who at that Time were making their Advances in Italy and were laying the Foundation of the most puissant Republick in the World And that which is here most remarkable is we do not cease to admire their Valour when at the same Time we know they have been unfortunate in their Enterprises Pyrrhus in many of his Expeditions met with more Disgraces than Success He was despoiled by Lysimachus of the Part which he had in Macedonia He was forced to abandon Sicily and Italy after he had spent six Years Time there He raised the Siege of Lacedaemon and was slain before that at Argos Yet notwithstanding all these Misfortunes we follow the Conduct of his Exploits with Admiration We wish his Success had been equal to his Courage and are sorry that all his Conquests should drop through his Fingers just as he had caught them with his Hands and after having vanquished his Enemies through a Thousand Dangers and Hazards that he was not so happy as to reap the Fruit of his Victories CHAP. IV. The Romans erected Statues to the Honour of Hannibal and they made all their Statues in a Military Habit. WE can alledge nothing that can redound more to the Glory of Valour than what is reported by Pliny that in Rome it self three Statues were erected to the Honour of Hannibal So that this implacable Enemy of that Republick had the Monuments of his Glory set up within the Precincts of that City wherein he had brandished his Terrours and the Ruin whereof he had solemnly sworn To this Remark of Pliny let us add another of Cicero's who observed that all the Roman Statues were made in a Military Habit. This Custom speaks much to the Praise of Valour for that they took it up out of Choice and not out of Necessity And although amongst the Romans the same Persons were Magistrates in Time of Peace as well as Captains in Times of War yet they did not think it proper to make Choice of any other Habit for their Statues or to represent them with the Ensigns of Magistracy In Truth we cannot say the same of the Graecian Statues we cannot observe any Preference on the Account of Arms in that Point The Graecian Heroes had no Habits upon their Statues either because it was an ancient Custom which they had in Reverence or else that they had a Mind to leave a Liberty to their Engravers to exercise their own Ingenuity who thereby might better shew the utmost Excellency of their Art in exactly delineating the Proportion and Shapes of Humane Bodies Graeca res est nihil velare ac contra Romana thoracas addere SIR I presume Your Highness will easily pardon me for citing to you a Sentence out of a Latin Author since you Your Self already so well understand that Language One Day I had the Happiness to see some of Your Composures and it was not without Admiration that I considered them They were so neatly exact that the severest Criticks might desire nothing more And we may with Truth affirm that the Progress You have made in Learning is far above Your Years CHAP. V. The Esteem Men have had for Valour appears by the Names which the Greeks and Latins have given to it and also by that we have given it in our own Language YOU have then observed SIR that the Latins by the Word Vertue particularly understand Valour as if they conceived Valour was the only Vertue or at least the Vertue by way of Excellency Besides some have thought probably enough that this Word is derived from a Name which signifies Man Virtus à Viro. The like Etymology is plainly evident in the Greek Tongue which not only gives the general Name of Vertue to Valour in calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but they also called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to let us understand that in this a Man may behold his true Character and that he is unworthy to bear the Name of a Man who is defective in Courage But neither the Greeks nor Latins have dignified this Vertue with so honourable a Name as that by which we render it in our Language Is it not a remarkable Thing that we have appropriated to it the very Name by which we use to express the Price or Worth of Things As much as to let us understand that Men are valuable more or less according to the Proportion of their Courage and that Valour is the only Fountain of Merit CHAP. VI.
of the most sage Philosopher in his Ethicks that there are more Praises attributed to just and valiant Men than to Persons eminent for other Vertues He might have added as in effect he hath observed in his Problems that the Valiant are more highly applauded than the Just In pursuing this I shall not follow the Example of those Orators who in their Declamations usually amplifie the Theme they have espoused and never fail to extol their present Subject above all others We must not be partial as not for the Men so neither for the Vertues It must be confessed Justice is the Principal of all And the Answer of a certain Prince both valiant and just was solid and fine When one demanded of him whether Valour or Justice was the more reputable he made this Reply If all the World would follow Justice Valour would be useless Yet nevertheless we do here in the bestowing our Acclamations as Princes sometimes do in the Dispensation of their Kindness The Measure of their Favours is not regulated according to the Proportion of the Merit of the Person only they have other Regards as Services rendred or to be rendred the Recommendation of great and necessary Ministers of State the Effect that their Largesses may have as to the Publick and a Thousand such like Considerations Farther Although Men generally esteem Justice more than Valour yet they honour Valour more than Justice they have always added a greater Splendor to the Reputation of this Vertue than to that of others and they have taken an extream Care in all Ages as to Men that live and die in the Wars to render their Lives illustrious and their Deaths honourable And it is not without good Reason that they do so for the Profession of War is the most penible in its Performances and the most hazardous in its Designs Perils are not amiable and lovely in themselves they must be recommended and imbellished with Glory And we may well say Justice it self hath advised Men to maintain this Conduct since it is but just that if Valour hazard all for the Defence and Preservation of the People that the People on their side should refuse nothing that may contribute to the Renown of Valour Now all these Reasons are more eminently apparent in reference to Princes We ordain Triumphs for them not only for having established good Laws but for having made great Conquests And not only the Esteem but the thankful Acknowledgments that People conceive for them is greater when they return from a Campaign full of Fatigues and Dangers than when they see them mount the Throne of Justice Because War is no less hazardous than it is painful and in the Exercises of Valour the King exposeth his own Life whereas in the Administration of Justice he bestows nothing but his Time and Labour CHAP. XV. Valour is necessary to a Prince for his own Conservation THough there were nothing but the Consideration of Honour to incite Princes to Valour one would think this were an effectual Motive to Royal Souls But this is not the only Thing Interest and Self-preservation obligeth them to be valiant Though Policy and Morality are nearly founded upon the same Principles and are guided almost by the same Rules yet it is less rare to find a just and generous Morality amongst private Persons than a just and generous Policy among States Those who are managed by just and generous Politicks are so much the more commendable but yet the Maxim I have propounded doth not cease to be true For if we consider the World now as it is and as it always hath been we shall find that Monarchies and Republicks are in a continual Defiance they are always in a State of War It is not so much great Rivers or a vast Range of Mountains that bounds their Dominions as a mutual and reciprocal Fear they have one of another From hence it is that they are pre-cautioned to fortifie themselves to have Garrisons Manned and Armies in Pay and to retain the Idaea of War in the midst of a profound Peace Valour is necessary where there is a continual Suspicion of Injustice and Jealousie of injuries to put one in a Capacity to repress Violence and to oppose Force with Force When a valiant Prince is set upon he often defends himself with Success always with Honour Besides It is certain they think more than once before they undertake any Thing against him So that he is seldom reduced to the Necessity of defending himself And in Truth he hath more of those that are secretly jealous of him than of declared Enemies It frequently happens that a single Man hath brought Safety to a Nation and Victory to an Army This great Confidence proceeds from the Reputation of the General whether it be in Politick Government or Military Discipline There is an ancient Saying which is very common That an Army of Harts conducted by a Lion shall be more formidable than an Army of Lions led on by an Hart. After Pyrrhus came into Italy and had beaten the Romans commanded by the Consul Albinus it was ordained at Rome that no Man should say that the Romans had been vanquished by the Epirotes but that Albinus had been worsted by Pyrrhus We must needs highly praise the Conduct of Eumenes who being to fight a Battel against Craterus and Neoptolemus the former whereof had a great Reputation and the other none when he understood that Craterus was ready to fall on him he made his Troops believe that it was Neoptolemus so that they engaged briskly in the Battel and never knew they had to do with Craterus till they had routed his Army and slain their General When Alexander was gone over into Asia there was great Reason of Fear for Macedonia almost all their Forces having followed the Fortune of that Prince Yet neither the Thracians Illyrians nor Graecians durst attack them or if they did it was with vain Attempts as the Lacedaemonians did with their King Agis And it was often said that the Advantages which the Macedonians gained over them was rather the Effect of Alexander's Renown than Antipater's Conduct and Valour When Henry the Fourth had conquered his own Kingdom Spain thought her self happy to make a Peace with him He enjoys his own Repose and caused France to enjoy hers He establisheth himself without Trouble in that Kingdom which in the preceding Age had been the Scene of so many outragious Broils and Rebellions No Person was so hardy as to set upon him but rather sought his Alliance And we know that at the fatal Time of his Death when he had made vast Preparations for War how he alarmed all other States and put Europe to a Stand. On the other Side when a Prince is defective in Courage he is despised by all the World and sometimes he is even abandoned by his own Subjects The strange Misfortune which happened to Severus the Emperor proceeded from the mean Opinion the Soldiers had of his Valour
Insomuch that God is in our Souls he acts immediately there and it belongs to him to do that which he pleaseth They deceive themselves extreamly who imagine that in making these Reflections on the Dependence of Men's Valour it should be capable to abate their Courage rather than to add more Assurance to it For as it is in Civil Societies the Power of our Friends creates in us rather Confidence than Fear so the Divine Omnipotence is so far from abating the Courage of those Persons that acknowledge and adore it that it elevates and confirms it And certainly I believe that all the Exhortations that ever have been made or ever shall be made to excite Men to Valour have not so much Force as one Sentence of the Old Testament alledged by St. Paul If God be for us who can be against us And that other in the Gospel Fear not them that can kill the Body but cannot destroy the Soul CHAP. XII What is the End of Valiant Actions AMongst the Circumstances which attend Actions the most essential of all is the End What is the End of the Actions of Valour The Pagans have propounded Glory for its End Christian Morality advanceth higher and to conceive aright of the Grandeur and Solidity of the Sentiments she inspires upon this Subject it is needful for us to consider it is in Valour as it is in other Vertues and that Military Actions ought to be ranked amongst the good Works to which the Reward of Heaven is promised There is in them this in particular that they are not only more painful and difficult than the others but they oftentimes put a Period to the Life of him that performs them and so he embraceth Death in the actual Exercise of Vertue If a Man closeth up his Life stretching out his Hands to assist the Poor and in the very Act of Alms-deeds and Charity or if he render up his Soul at the Foot of the Altar whilst he is applying himself to the Invocation and Adoration of God such a Death will with Reason be accounted as a Favour and will give us advantageous Thoughts of the Salvation of this Man We ought to have the same Opinion of a Death which happens in Military Expeditions And to make the Reflection more agreeable to this Notion it is not necessary that it must be a War waged against Infidels it is sufficient that in respect of the Prince the War be just and in respect of the Subjects that they are commanded by their Prince Then we may say that Death is a Sacrifice and he that suffers it is a Victim It will be objected without doubt that this Sacrifice may not be pleasing to God because it may suffer that Death and yet otherwise be in an ill State I agree it But this is not a Case peculiar to Valour only seeing that it may be also that he who dies in the actual Exercise of Alms-giving or of Prayer yet may not die in a good Disposition of Conscience There is only one Difference to be observed That Alms-giving and Prayer do not in themselves expose a Man's Life to Hazard but Military Actions are accompanied with Dangers and it is their very Business to encounter them Insomuch that we may soberly conclude thereupon that a Soldier is particularly obliged to take care of his Conscience and in that he is exposed to Death hourly he ought always to be well prepared to die daily It is not necessary to make a farther Research what is the End of valiant Actions it is the same as of other vertuous Actions Valour propounds no less an Aim than the noblest of all Conquests that of Heaven She propounds an Immortality that is not feigned nor metaphorical as is that of Fame but a Life truly eternal and truly happy As to that other Immortality such as it is I mean the Glory which springs from Valour we must see of what Dispositions Christian Princes ought to be in this Respect I remember I have read a Notion in the Writings of an Ancient Father which at the first surprized me but it was very solid and very necessary upon this Occasion He preached to his People after this manner Have a Care of my Reputation It is your Interest rather than mine so to do I have no need of it for my self but I have need of it for you So a Prince stands in no need of Honour for himself He shall not be judged of God by his Reputation but by his Vertue He hath only need of it for his People to maintain his Subjects in their Duty to hinder his Enemies from undertaking any Thing against them and in a Word for a Thousand Things important to the Publick We cannot doubt then but that the Reputation of Kings is capable of producing great Effects be it either in Peace or War But all this hath no farther Regard to a Prince but during his Life Ought he then to neglect a Reputation which shall endure after Death No he ought not to neglect it but on the contrary to desire it not for himself but for others Which is the Motive we have formerly touched at and appears here to be manifestly true Indeed St. Lewis would not be e'er the less happy in Heaven though all the World were ignorant of the Actions he did on the Earth and we never had known he was valiant or that he had made War in Africa or had suffered Death as a Martyr It is not then a Felicity to St. Lewis that History speaks of him but it is an Happiness for those who are now living It is an Happiness in particular to You SIR who are animated by this Example and find in a Stem of your August Family the most perfect Model that the Church hath propounded for Princes As we may see by this that the Glory of great Kings produceth great Effects which are not confined within the Limits of their Days so we cannot deny but that they may propound to themselves to do such Actions which will never be forgotten and the Memoires of their Vertue will procure a continued and perpetual Benefit to the World We shall be yet more convinced of the Truth of this Maxim if we consider that there is a Proportion altogether equal between the Times and Places And as when a Christian Prince desires to be known out of his own Kingdom it is to render himself profitable to Strangers as well as to his Subjects In like manner when he desires to be famed after his Death it is to this End that after having served his own Generation he will be yet farther serviceable to Posterity CHAP. XIII Valour ought to be accompanied with Generosity WHen one is animated from so noble a Principle and hath propounded to himself so excellent an End he sometimes prohibits himself the Use of those Things which in themselves are allowable It is not enough to satisfie our selves that we are far from being guided by unjust Maxims but we
We love the Image of Valour in other Creatures which are hardy THE Lion cannot properly be said to have true Valour seeing that Valour is a Vertue and Vertue belongs only to Reasonable Creatures Yet Valour is so amiable that we love its very Image and Appearance in the Brute And we speak of the Lion with a kind of awful Esteem We attribute to him Actions of Generosity we say he will not insult over a vanquished Enemy that he will pardon them whom he hath brought under the Power of his Clutches We say when he sees himself in danger to be over-power'd by a Multitude he will not flee away in Disorder but make seasonable Halts and Turns he retreats in State and as it were facing his Enemies When a Man hath distinguished himself by his Bravery we bestow some Title upon him in our usual Language but when Eloquence or Poesie thinks to honour an Heroe it compares him to a Lion France which hath bred up many Persons who deserve that Appellation doth not bring forth Lions But when we know they are brought over from those scorching Climates where they are bred into our Country we are curious to go and view them we consider them with Attention and a kind of Respect we take pleasure to see them extend their Claws with which they can tear Elephants in pieces we love to hear his Roaring which has been the Terrour of a whole Country The same may be said of the Eagle We conceive lofty Thoughts of him we consider him as a Sovereign who exerciseth his Dominion in the vast Empire of the Aery Regions and makes his uninterrupted Progress through immense Spaces That which gives us so noble an Idaea of him is That he excels all the Feathered Creation in Courage and his Approaches to them are terrible The Word Prince in the Original signifies no more than Chief And this Title carries a smoother and more acceptable Sound to a newly-conquered People than all the other harsh Names which are as so many Marks of Arbitrary Sovereignty For this Reason Augustus as Tacitus hath well observed chose to govern the Empire under no other Title than that of Prince Dion to the same Sence reports of another Emperor who used to say I am the Master of my Slaves the General of my Soldiers and the Prince of all the rest of the Romans The most graceful Superiority is that which is founded in the highest Perfection And we attribute this Name to those who excel all others in their laudable Professions We therefore call Virgil the Prince of Poets and Cicero the Prince of Orators Of all those Royal Duties that God hath annexed to the Dignity of a Prince this Title carries in it an Eternal Advertisement to those who are honoured with it to surpass their Subjects in Merit as well as Power if ever they will be the Chiefs and possess in all Things the highest Rank They are then obliged to acquire more Glory than other Men but they cannot have more Glory if they have not more Vertue and the most renowned of all Vertues is Valour CHAP. VII Valour is the Ornament of all Ages and of the Female Sex when it is found there WIthout Valour Youth is despicable and with it Old Age is honourable What could be a more glorious Spectacle than to behold Antigonus in the Graecian History and the Constable of Montmorency in that of our own who at the Age of Eighty Years sought for Death in the midst of Battels and there they both found it Homer hath made us conceive a greater Esteem for Nestor in bringing him to the Siege of Troy than for the Father of Achilles or Vlysses whom he left snoring at home in their private Houses Certain I am we regard the Macedonian Soldiers called Argyraspides with Admiration They were the Flower of the Militia of that Kingdom they had served not only in all the Wars of Alexander but likewise in those of his Father Philip The greatest part of them were Seventy Years of Age and the youngest Sixty It was not because they were Niggards of their Lives that they lasted so long They were all covered with Wounds neither could they receive any new ones but upon their old Scars Valour is also an Ornament to the other Sex when it is found there Amongst all Queens we most admire Semiramis and Zenobia And it is impossible to think of a Name more taking than that of an Amazon CHAP. VIII Cowardice is the greatest Reproach to a Man COwardice is the most stabbing Reproach that can be put upon a Man From the Time that he is upbraided with it he takes up a Resolution either to perish himself or to avenge the Affront by the Death of his Accuser It seems a less Evil to him to kill or be killed than to suffer this Ignominy and frequently through a blind Fury he is transported to the heighth of Revenge Nay he had rather appear a perfect Criminal and more really guilty of other Vices than so much as to seem reproachable for this When Nature perceives that she hath been unkind in not befriending a Man with that Courage which is proper for him she gives him continual Advices to hide his Defect she will shift him away from all Occasions where his Weakness may be brought upon the Stage She presents to his Thoughts Duty and Honour that so she may lead him to do that upon Consideration which he was unable to do upon his first Thoughts And If she finds all this unprofitable then she sometimes inspires him with Despair which may seem to pass for Stoutness and Valour In short we may affirm there is no such rigorous and shameful Slavery as Servile Fear When a Man would always be in a State of Security he never is nor doth he deserve to be so The Fear of Dangers either honourable or necessary is the Lot of mean Souls and they whose Lives are least to be valued are most afraid of losing them CHAP. IX Whether a Man be Courageous or Fearful naturally I Am now come to a Thought upon this Subject which I know not if I can well express Nature having impressed the Law of Self-preservation upon all Creatures inspires them sometimes with very contrary Sentiments For we cannot doubt but it is from the same Principle of Self-Preservation which renders the Lion so undaunted and the Hart so fearful But if I may have Leave to abstract Humane Reason and to consider Man in the Resemblance he may have with other Creatures I believe Nature hath not placed him in the Rank of those who are fearful but of the Courageous This appears not only from the rash and hardy Actions which Men sometimes commit against the Light of Reason but also from the Salvage Nations and their manner of Living who are perpetually waging War one against another and seldom cease till their eager and bold Assaults ferment into Fury and Ferocity But Cowards which ought to make use of their
to them as Nature they would have left nothing for their Successours to do now but might have made themselves Masters of the Universe The Misfortunes of King John obliged Charles his Son not to hazard a second Disgrace but that Prince who in this then shewed his Prudence had before given Proof of his Courage Lewis the Eleventh who towards the Latter End of his Days had abandoned his Soul to the melancholy Terrours and Apprehensions of Death never gave Testimony of such terrifying Fears in all his Wars And one might have seen him give Personal Proofs of his Valour at the Battle of Montlheri Henry the Third had won three Victories before he was King which gives us to observe that it was his Slothfulness and not his Cowardice which was the Cause of his unhappy Reign He feared not the Danger of War but he dreaded the Labour of it He had been well satisfied to have fought every Year a Battle provided that after the Fight was over he might have been permitted to spend the rest of the Year in Idleness These are they whom Calumny may take occasion to asperse and yet they are free from this Fault of Cowardice The rest claim our Elogies rather than need our Apologies Prosperity sometimes failed them in the Event and Prudence was sometimes wanting in the Enterprize but their Courage never failed neither in the Enterprize nor in the Event There were no Adventures happened to them wherein their Valour was not shewed forth Kings are not made Prisoners of War so long as they remain in their Palaces But if any of them in commanding their Armies do fall into the Hands of their Enemies who manage the War by their Lieutenants it is plain that at the same Time they are vanquished they have appeared more courageous than their Conquerours Such have been the Princes from whom some are descended who have no reason to blush for their Ancestors nor themselves in Reading their History They are found in their proper Place when seated on their Throne And that they were altogether worthy of proceeding their Successours who have since had better Fortune Whose Destinies may raise in us a Compassion for them but will never cause us to be ashamed of them CHAP. XIX The Empire of the Ancient Persians was soon expired as also that of the Graecians And the Reasons thereof AND as some Kings have been always Valiant so have their Subjects never basely degenerated from the Principle of Courage So that we need not wonder that Monarchy hath preserved it self during the Course of so many Ages and that she promiseth her self a Duration equal to that of the Universe On the contrary the Empire of the Ancient Persians did not long subsist because Cyrus had those for his Successors which were not worthy of him They had more of Vanity than Valour They moved indeed with innumerable Armies they poured forth Soldiers by the Millions and with a ridiculous Arrogance vaunted that they would shovel Mountains into the Sea and lay Fetters upon the Ocean and yet after all these dreadful Cracks they were beaten sunk and chased by the little Republicks of Greece However we may say that Darius in whom this Empire expired was not defective in Courage but he had not so much as his Enemy seeing that though he was far stronger than he yet nevertheless he was surmounted by him When his famous Conqueror was dead without Children the Principal of his Captains became Kings One had Macedonia for his Part another Syria a Third Egypt But all these blazing Sovereignties not falling into Hands strong enough to sustain them were soon extinguished Perseus the last King of the Macedonians was but the Seventh in Succession from Antigonus The Seleucides which had Syria continued no long Time And the Ptolemey's whose Kingdom was the last which was reduced to a Province held not Egypt above two Ages Their Misfortunes came from a Defect of Valour Perseus of whom we have been speaking instead of shewing the Courage of a King after his Defeat carried himself with so much Baseness that the General of the Roman Army was ashamed of him when he came from the Battel apprehending that it would not be any Glory for him to conquer such a Man And when he saw him prostrate himself unworthily at his Feet Ah! saith he Do not dishonour my Victory And yet this Carriage was less to be blamed if possible than that of Antiochus of the Race of the Seleucides to whom the Romans sent Popilius to command him to depart out of a Country whereinto he had entred with his main Army So soon as he saw the Ambassador a-far off going over his Camp he humbly salutes him The Ambassador with a Fierceness not to be endured comes up to him without returning him any Salute and delivers him a Letter from the Senate Antiochus after he had read it told him He would deliberate upon whas was to be done Popilius presently making a Circle about this Prince with a Wand that he then had in his Hand said to him Deliberate if you will but before you go out of this Circle I expect your Answer Here You may behold a perfect Coward A King who in the midst of his Army had received such unworthy Carriage from an Envoy instead of being inspired with a just Indignation consulted only his own Fears and answered He would do what the Romans should desire of him As for Ptolemy can any one be guilty of a more sordid and treacherous Action than his when he sacrificed the greatest Infortunate to his infamous Politicks And the better to make his Court to Caesar makes him a Present of the Head of Pompey All these Princes so little worthy of their Sovereignty did but possess part of the Conquests of Alexander What became of Persia after the Death of this great Monarch There were but two Divisions made of those great Conquests one by Perdiccas and the other by Antipater It was in the second Division that Babylon fell to Seleucus He afterwards gained the Army of Nicanor Governor of Media and being also assured of Persia it was the best Division seeing that his Empire extended it self from the Egean Sea even to the Indies But at last all these Successors of Alexander and their Descendants not knowing how to agree amongst themselves nor how to conquer one another it happened that during their Dissensions a valiant Parthian named Arsaces mounts the Throne and became the Founder of one of the most puissant and illustrious Families that History presents to our Remembrance This Noble Family was not eclipsed as others were with the Rays of the Roman Splendor She gave Kings to the Eastern Nations and investing her self during so many Ages with Sovereign Power was never the Subject but always the Rival of that ambitious Republick These were the Princes called the Arsacides from the Name of their illustrious Founder who created so much Trouble to the Romans and abated their Pride by the
Exploits in their other Actions but in many Things will discover that they are tainted with the low Opinions and Errours of vulgar Souls It will appear that they were raised not by their Vertue but their Fortune In short There will many Occasions happen where their Weakness will betray their Dignity It is Admiration and not Pity that the Grandeur of Kings calls for Nothing is more undecent than to shed Tears upon a Throne nothing is so contemptible as a puling Sovereign Monarchs ought not to appear intimidated Crest-fallen or surprized They should settle their Minds in such a fixed State as not to stand in need of Consolation or if they do need it they ought to seek for it as one once said in the Bosom of the Commonwealth When a Prince is of this Disposition he renders his Life truly easie and finds not only Repose but Joy in the midst of Labours It sweetens the Bitterness of Adventures though never so vexatious it turns all the Thorns of the Crown into fragrant Flowers I thought it my Duty not to forget these Reflections in this Discourse although it was designed particularly to consider Valour in reference to the Profession of War wherein if I conformed my self to our Modern Way yet I am not very far wandred from the Maxims of the Ancient Moralists In short Those who have handled Valour in the largest Extent yet will be sure to inform us that Military Courage is the principal Part of it and that it shines brightest above all in the Occasions of War where the most apparent Dangers reign rampant and which are big with Things most capable to inspire Fear So that Valour above all relates to War as War does to Fighting which is the End of the Functions of that Discipline The Roman Soldiers were never idle they underwent more Pains than the most laborious Mechanicks and by this Means they arrived at those great Performances the Memory and Footsteps whereof astonish us at this Day But they laboured as Soldiers not as Mechanicks and never quitted the Military Character Hence it was that Corbulon was so severe that he punished a Soldier with Death because he was carrying Earth without having his Sword on Hence it was that the Obligation of Fighting never ceased until the Military Oath was altogether broken whereas before they might have been discharged from other Obligations To understand this well we must remember that the Romans had two sorts of Conge's or Dismission from the Wars One which they called Missio and that permitted the Soldiers totally to quit the Wars and to return to their own Homes The other they called Exauctoratio which dispensed with the Soldiers from their Military Employments but still they were obliged not to be far distant from the Army Those who had this sort of License lived out of the Precincts of the Camp they lived after what manner they pleased so long as they had nothing actually to do against the Enemy but when Occasion presented it self they joyned with the other Roman Soldiers who lodged in the Camp and all engaged together in the Battel CHAP. XXVI The Pleasures of Princes are Military Pleasures 'T IS from this Relation that Valour hath to War and War to Battel that the noblest Games have in all Times been the Representations of that Profession and of this Vertue There was never any Thing so celebrated in the World as the Olympian Games there used to be a general Concourse of all Greece and he who won the Prize not only made his Entrance as it were in Triumph into the Town where he was born but he had this farther Honour done him that the Year of his Victory bore his Name for the Annals were directed after this manner The Year wherein such an one was Victor in the Olympick Games it happened that We cannot doubt but that the Representations of Valour and War were very lively in the Solemnities of these Games 'T was for this Reason that after they were ended there appeared a War-horse in the midst of the Course One of the Ancients hath observed that for the same Reason the Exercise of Wrestling always went before that of Running because Wrestling represents the hot Engagement of the Fight as the Race represents the Pursuit The Romans that their Spectacula might the better resemble War would have them all to be dangerous and bloody not only in the private Combats of the Gladiators but also in those they called the Naumachies which were the Representations of Sea-Fights The most famous of all was that which was given them by the Emperor Claudius They filled an immense Space with Water which represented the Sea and caused an Hundred Ships to be floating thereon which were Manned with Twenty Thousand Malefactors or as one may say Slaves of Torment This Multitude thus condemned to kill one another might have been capable of acting strange Things had they once turned their Despair against the Spectators But to prevent such an Attempt this artificial Lake was hemm'd in with another Army and over those Troops ranged in Battalia sat the Emperor and his Courtiers in the highest Places of the Amphitheatre Then the Signal was given and these Hundred Ships being divided into two Fleets came to grapple and entred into a stiff and bloody Engagement We must confess these Sights were very inhumane the Lives of Men are too precious to be sported away and to be sacrificed to a Diversion Princes have wisely renounced these sorts of Pleasures and those which they have retained are purely military Hunting is a kind of War The Carousels Tilts and Tournaments are the Images of Combats The Shews in the Theatre have something of this and commonly act some Hero who hath been famous for Valour Besides in the most profound Peace the Prince appears in the Equipage of War he is surrounded with his Troops of Guards those with whom he frequently converseth are the Officers which command them they exercise their Soldiers before his Face they every Day demand the Word of him they daily render him an Account of their Functions and entertain him with nothing so much as what relates to their own Profession When he makes a Journey it is rather the March of an Army than a Progress The Order they then observe is not much different from the Military Discipline The Entries which he makes into the Towns are like to the Intradoes of a Conqueror they salute him by the Mouths of their Canons and whole Vollies complement his Welcome they erect Triumphal Arches for him and strew his Way with Palms and Lawrels Thus the Fortune of a Prince continually advertiseth him that he ought to be valiant insomuch that if he fail in this Vertue he can take no Pleasure in any Thing about him and so not taking any Pleasure he must needs be miserable CHAP. XXVII Every Vertue hath a Pleasure which is proper to it But this of Valour is the most sensible of all BUT if he delight in the