of their falling out otherwise so that a man may well say that such a thing came to him by Fortune which falleth out besides his thought when he vndertaketh any worke with deliberation Epicurus said that Fortune was such a cause as agreed neither to persons times or manners Theophrastus speaking of Fortune saith that she looketh not whereat she shooteth that oftentimes she delighteth in taking away that which is gotten with very great paine but especially in ouerturning those felicities which as men think are best staied and assured Iuuenal saith that when it pleaseth hir she maketh a Consul of a Rhetoritian likewise cleane contrary hauing this propertie in hir to reioice greatly in the varietie of chances to deride all the deuices of men oftener lifting vp into the place of soueraigne authoritie such as are vnwoorthy thereof than those that deserue the same Amongst the Ancients the Romanes honoured Fortune more than all the rest esteeming of hir saith Pindarus as of the patron nurse vpholder of the citie of Rome They builded for hir many sumptuous Temples wherein she was adored vnder sundry names honorable titles for a Goddesse of singular power insomuch that they thought themselues more beholding to hir for the greatnes prosperity of their Empire than to vertue Sylla hauing attained to the soueraigne authoritie of a Monarch and of Dictator yeelded himselfe all his actions to the fauor of Fortune saying that he reputed himselfe to be Fortunes child and thereupon tooke vnto him the surname of Happie Which opinion seemeth to haue preuailed greatly with him in causing him after he had committed infinite proscriptions murders cruelties voluntarily without feare to giue ouer the Dictatorship to lead the rest of his yeeres in all assurance quietnes as a priuate man to passe repasse through all Italy without any gard euen in the midst of them whome he had so much offended We read also that when Mithridates king of Pontus wrote vnto him concerning the war which he had vndertaken against him saying that he maruelled how Sylla durst buckle with his great fortune especially knowing that she had not deceiued him at any time whereas she neuer knew Sylla Consul he returned this answer For this selfe same reason thou shalt now see how Fortune doing hir dutie will take hir leaue of thee to come to mee Iulius Caesar gaue a certaine argument of the assurance he had in Fortune when entring vpon the sea in a little Fregate in a very tempestuous weather and the Pilot making some doubt of waighing vp the Anchor he sayde thus vnto him Be not afrayde my friende for thou cariest Caesar and his Fortune Augustus his successour sending his Nephew to the warre wished that he might be as valiant as Scipio as well beloued as Pompey and as fortunate as himselfe attributing to Fortune as a principall worke the honour of making him so great as he was To this purpose also it is reported that great acquaintance and familiaritie growing betweene Augustus and Antonius his Companion in the Empire they often passed away the time togither with sundrie sortes of plaies and pastimes wherein Antonius alwayes went away vanquished Whereupon one of his familiar friendes well seene in the arte of Diuination tooke occasion many tymes to vtter his mind vnto him in these or the like speeches Sir what do you so neere this yoong man Separate your selfe farre from him Your fame is greater than his you are elder than he you command moe men than he you are better exercised in feates of Armes you haue greater experience but your familiar spirite feareth his and your fortune which of it selfe is great flattereth his and if you sequester not your selfe farre from him she will forsake you and goe to him Thus we see what great estimation the Romanes had of Fortune yea they stood in so great awe of hir power that Paulus Aemilius that great Captaine sayd that amongst humane things he neuer feared any one of them but amongst diuine things he alwaies stoode in great feare of Fortune as of hir in whome there was small trust to be placed bicause of hir inconstancie and mutable varietie whereby she neuer vseth to gratifie men so liberally or to bestow such absolute prosperitie vpon them but that some enuie is mingled withall Oh deceitfull Fortune said Demetrius thou art easily found but hardly auoyded They that haue laboured most in painting out this fained Goddesse say that she hath a swift pace a loftie mind and a hawtie hope They giue hir light wings a globe vnder hir feete and in hir hand a horne of abundance full of all such heauenlie and earthlie things as are exquisite and pretious which she poureth foorth liberally when and where she pleaseth Some put a wheele into hir hands which she turneth about continually whereby that part which is aboue is presently turned downeward therby giuing vs to vnderstand that from hir highest preferment she throweth downe in one instant such as are most happy into the gulfe of miserie In a word we may well compare hir to a glasse which the brighter it is the sooner it is broken dasht in peeces Histories the treasurie of antiquitie set before our eies innumerable examples of common and contrary effects which are wrought by this inconstant Fortune and those oftentimes practised vpon the same persons whome of smal she hath made very great and after taken them downe lower yea made them more miserable if I may so speake than they were at their beginning Hannibal that renowmed Captaine of the Carthaginians that redouted enimy of the Romanes after notable victories obtained sundry times against thē was in the ende vtterly ouerthrowen and compelled to flie hither and thither and to haue recourse to forraine princes into whose armes he cast himselfe for the safetie of his person and after long wandring being old spent he setled himselfe with the king of Bithynia But Titus Flaminius whom the Romanes had sent embassador to that king required to haue him that he might put him to death For quoth he as long as he liueth he will be a fire for the Romane empire which wanteth but some one or other to kindle it When he was in the vigor and strength of his age neither his hand nor his body had procured so great damage to the Romanes as his good vnderstanding and sufficiencie in the arte of warre had done being ioined with the hatred he bare them Which is nothing diminished through old age neither yet through the alteration of his estate and fortune bicause the nature and qualitie of maners continueth alwaies Hannibal being aduertised of this request of Titus stieped poison in a cup of drinke which he had kept a long time against an extremitie But before he dranke thereof he vttred these wordes Go to let vs deliuer the people of Rome from this great care
speaking bicause a rash and inconsiderate worde may be corrected presently but that which is once set down in writing can no more be denied or amended but with infamy As therfore a man had need of a readie and quicke wit to be able to speake wel so great wisedom is very necessarie to write well yea the same rules and precepts that belong to speaking agree also to writing Besides writing is called of many a dumb speech which ought to be short and full of instruction Caesar in a letter which he sent to Rome frō the Persian battaile wrote but these three words Veni vidi vici that is to saie I came sawe and ouercame Octanian writing to his nephew Cains Drusus said thus For asmuch as thou art nowe in Illyria remember that thou deseendest of Casars that the Senate hath sent thee that thou art yoong my nephewe and a citizen of Rome Plato writing to Dionysius the yoonger vsed these words onely To kill thy brother to double thy tributes to force the people to forget thy friends to take good men for thine enimies are the works of a tyrant Pompey writing to the Senate from the east parts saide thus Fathers of the Senate Damascus is taken Pentapolis subdued Syria Ascalonia and Arabia are confederates and Palestina is vanquished We see then the maner of writing vsed by the ancients for which breuitie they were as much esteemed as the great discoursers of these tiems after inst occasion of correction But to returne againe into the path-way of speaking we haue in Cicero a notable instruction for this matter Let our speech saith he be sweet and pleasant not headstrong and when we discourse let vs not be so long that we hinder others from speaking For speech of all other things ought to be mutuall and equall Moreouer we must haue respect to that thing whereof we speake If a man discourse of graue matters he must adde a certaine seueritie but if he speake of delectable things a pleasant and gratious behauior Aboue all things we must take heede that our speech discouer not some vice to be in our manners which commonly falleth out when we speake euill of a man in his absence either to mooue laughter or to his shame and reproch We must also remember if our speech vpon some occasion comming betweene intermit the first discourse that it returne againe in conuenient time But that is as thinges fall out For all take not pleasure in the same things nor at all times And as we haue begun vpon some occasion so we must end by some meanes Now bicause in euery action of our life the perturbations of the soule are to be eschewed we must be carefull that our speech be voide thereof namely that it be without choler without extreame affections also without carelesnes and other such like imperfection Especially we must striue to make it knowne that we loue reuerence those with whom we speake Further we must know that silence in due time and place is profound wisedome a sober and modest thing and full of deepe secrets This caused Archidamus when he saw that Hecatus the orator was blamed for not speaking one worde at a banquet to answere for him that they which knowe how to speake well know also the time of silence Hyperides likewise being at a feast amongst a great assemblie verie full of noise pleasure and being asked why he spake nothing answered thus It is no time now to discourse of those things for which I am fit and as for those things which the time nowe requireth I am vnfit Bias being mocked of a babler bicause he spake nothing all a supper while answered him thus How is it possible that a foole should holde his peace at the table The ambassadours of the king of Persia being at a feast with a citizen of Athens and seeing Zeno the great philosopher say nothing they began to flatter him and to drinke to him saying what shall we tell the king our master concerning you master Zeno Nothing else quoth he but that you saw an olde man who knew wel how to holde his peace at the table And truly no speech vttred did euer so much good as many kept in haue profited and that which is restrained may be spoken at any time but a worde giuen out can no more be called backe againe For words as the poet saith haue wings and are presently dispersed euery where and manie repent that they haue spoken but neuer that they held their peace How many examples do histories set before our eies of men who through the intemperancie of their toongs haue throwne themselues headlong into infinite calamities of mightie cities and great estates destroied and ouerthrowne through the disclosing of some secret The citie of Athens was taken and destroied by Sylla the Romane dictatour who by his spies was admonished of the pratling of certaine old men in a barbars shop where they talked of a certaine place of the town that was weakest and woorst defended The ouermuch talke of one only man was the cause that Rome was not deliuered from the tiranny of Nero. For seeing one of the prisoners that was taken by the tirant to be dismaid bicause he shuld be put to death he willed him to pray to God that he might escape but vntil the morrow onely then he should haue cause of reioicing Wherupon the prisoner thinking with himselfe that it were better for him to chuse a certaintie than to expect an vncortainty and to prefer a safe way to saue his life before a iust disclosed this speech to Nero who knew wel how to remedy the conspiracy The gentleman of Normandy who in his confession told a Franciscan frier that he was once minded to haue killed king Fraunces the first may wel be placed amongst these ouermuch speakers For the king being aduertised hereof by the Franciscan frier sent the poore penitentiarie to the court of parliament where he receiued sentence of death Those that are nobly roially brought vp saith Plutark learne first to hold their peace then to speake Therfore Antigonus the great being demanded by his son at what houre the campe should dislodge art thou afraid quoth he to him that thou alone shalt not heare the trumpet He trusted not him with a secret matter to whom the succession of the empire was to come teaching him thereby to be more close and secret in such matters Euerie particuler man likewise ought to be no lesse aduised in vsing great discretion when the questiō is of vttring any thing which a man would haue concealed For he saith Plato to whom one discloseth a secret getteth the others libertie Now in this laudable silence which we commend here we haue this to marke wel that when the question is of speaking a truth or of profiting another we ought not to doubt in any case what pretence soeuer there be to speak vtter maintaine
paterne of warre but that it did helpe him greatly to iudge of the nature and seate of those places which he frequented in his countreys And bicause all landes are like in some things the perfect knowledge of one countrey which often vse of hunting bringeth may helpe one to iudge well of an other Publius Decius Tribune of the souldioures in the armie which Cornelius the Consull led against the Samnites beholding the Romane host brought into a valley where they might easily be enclosed of the enimies went to the Consull and sayd Doe you marke O Cornelius the toppe of this mountaine aboue our enimie It is the fortresse of our hope and safetie if we make haste to take it seeyng the blind Samnites haue forsaken it We see then how profitable yea how necessarie it is for a captaine to know the beyng and nature of countreys which helpeth a mā much in that principall point touched before by me namely to compel his enimies to fight when he perceiueth that he is the stronger and hath the aduantage of them if he be the weaker to keep himself from such places where he may be cōpelled therunto This is that wherby Caius Marius who was sixe times Consull got the renowne to be one of the greatest captains in his time For although he were Generall of many armies and fought three great battels yet was he so warie in all his enterprises that hee neuer gaue his enimies occasion to set vpon him and to force him to fight And that was a notable aunswere which he made to the Generall of his enimies who willed him to come out of his campe to battell if he were such a great captain as men reported him to be Not so quoth he but if thou art the great captaine compell me to it whether I will or no. This is one thing also wherein the Head of an armie must be very vigilant that all secrecies be closely kept among the captaines of his host For great affaires neuer haue good successe when they are discouered before they take effect To this purpose Suetonius saith that no man euer heard Iulius Caesar say To morrow we will do that and to day this thing but we will doe this nowe and as for to morrow we will consider what is then to be done And Plutarke saith in his treatise of Policie that Lucius Metellus beyng demaunded by a Captaine of his when hee would giue battell sayde If I were sure that my shirte knew the least thought in my hart I woulde presently burne it and neuer weare any other Therefore affaires of warre may be handled and debated of by many but the resolution of them must be done secretly and knowen of few men otherwise they would be sooner disclosed and published than concluded Notwithstanding it is very necessarie that the General should oftentymes call a councell so that it be of expert and ancient men and of such as are prudent and voyde of rashnesse But in all cases of necessitie a man must not stand long in seeking for reason but suddenly set vpon them For many tymes sundry captaines haue vndone themselues in warres vpon no other occasion but bicause they lingred in taking counsel when they should without losse of tyme haue wrought some notable enterprise Moreouer for the instruction and patterne of the dutie and office of a good Head and captaine of an armie we can alleage none more woorthy to be imitated than Cato of Vtica a Consul of Rome who had the guiding of a legion when he first tooke charge vpon him For from that tyme forward he thought that it was not roial or magnificall to be vertuous alone being but one body therfore he studied to make all that were vnder his charge like himselfe Which that he might bring to passe he took not frō them the feare of his authoritie but added reason thereunto shewing and teaching them their dutie in euery point and always ioyning to his exhortations reward for those that did well and punishment for such as did euill So that it was hard to say whether he had made them more apt for peace or for warre more valiant or more iust bicause they were so stout and eger against their enimies and so gentle and gracious to their friends so feareful to do euil and so ready to obtaine honor The vertue of Pompey is also worthy to be followed of euery great captain f or the temperance that was in him for his skil in armes eloquence in speech fidelitie in word as also bicause he was to be spoken with and so louingly entertained euery one And if with these things the example of the same Cato be followed in his prudent liberalitie and diuision of the spoils and riches of the enimies that captaine that so behaueth himself shal deserue eternal praise and please all those that follow him For when this vertuous captaine had taken many townes in Spaine he neuer reserued more for himselfe than what he did eate and drinke there He deliuered to euery one of his souldiors a pound waight of siluer saying that it was better that many should returne to their houses from the warre with siluer than a few with gold and as for the captains he sayd that during their charges and gouernements they should not grow and increase in any thing but in honor and glory For the conclusion therefore of our speech we note that a Generall of an army desirous to bee obeyed which is necessarie must behaue himselfe so that his souldiors may thinke him woorthy to prouide and care for their necessary affaires Which thing will come to passe when they see that he is courageous carefull that he keepeth his place and the maiestie of his degree well that he punisheth offenders and laboureth not his men in vaine but is liberall and performeth his promises made vnto them Of the choice of Souldiors of the maner how to exhort them to fight and how victory is to be vsed Chap. 70. ACHITOB A Gamemnon generall Captaine of the Graecians before Troy speaking of Achilles and being grieued bicause he refused to succour them hauing been offended by him sayd That a man beloued of God is in the place of many men in a campe and far better than a whole company that is vnruly and cannot be gouerned but with great paine and care This reason was the cause that good men heretofore were greatly honored in war and much sought after by great captaines bicause they were very religious and vndertooke nothing before they had prayed to their gods and offered sacrifices after the maner of their countrey Also after they had done some great exploite they were not slouthful to giue thē thanks by offrings and hymnes song to their praise But all these good considerations haue no more place amongst vs than the rest of their warlike discipline principally in that no regard is had what maner of men
hart as that which vndoubtedly is comprehended vnder the first part of Fortitude which Cicero calleth Magnificence or a doing of great excellent things yet notwithstanding it seemeth that this word Magnanimitie carieth with it some greater and more particular Empasis that a man may say that the wonderful effects thereof appeare principally in three points whereof I purpose here to discourse The first concerning extreme and desperate matters as when a man is past all hope of sauing his life wherein perfect magnanimitie always knoweth how to find out a conuenient remedie and wise consolation not suffering himselfe to be vexed therewith The second respecteth dutie towards enimies against whom generositie will in no wise suffer a man to practise or to consent to any wickednesse vnder what pretence so euer it be nor for any aduantage which may be reaped thereby The third causeth a noble minded man to contemne and to account that thing vnworthy the care of his soule which others wonder at labor by all means to obtaine namelie strength health beauty which the Philosophers call the goods of the bodie and riches honor and glory which they say are the goods of fortune and likewise not to stand in feare of their contraries Amongst the woorthy and famous men of olde time whose names and glorious factes crowned with an immortall Lawrell are ingrauen in the temple of Memorie we find no praise woorthie of greater admiration or that ought to awaken and stirre vs vp better in Christian dutie than the effects of this vertue of Magnanimitie vpon these three occasions presently touched Whereof one effect is that we yeeld not against reason nor passe the limits of duty by fainting vnder that heauy burthen of extreme distresses which the horror of death bringeth with it but that euen in the midst of greatest agonie which seemeth intollerable in mans iudgement we shew such grauitie and woorthines that we depart not in any sort from the peace and quietnes of our soules but with constancie and cheerefulnes of spirit meditate vpon the ioy of that hauen of saluation which we behold with the eyes of our soule whereinto through a happy death at hand we shall shortly be receiued Another effect is that we accomplish so farre as our frailtie can approch to perfection the commandement of the diuine will by louing our neighbors as our selues and by abstaining euen in regard of our greatest enimies from doing procuring or consenting yea by hindring that no treacherie or treason should be wrought them nor any other thing vnbeseeming that naturall loue which ought to be in euery one towards his like and further by procuring them all the good and profit that may be The third effect of this great vertue no les wonderful thā the rest is in that a noble minded man solong as he liueth wholy withdraweth his affection from worldly and corruptible things through a stedfast constant reason and lifteth it vp to the meditation and holy desire of heauenly and eternal things The remedy which these great personages destitute of the right knowledge of the truth most commonly vsed when their affaires were past all hope of mans helpe was death which they chose rather to bring vpon themselues by their owne handes than to fall into the mercy of their enimies whereby they supposed that they committed a noble act woorthie the greatnes of their inuincible courage And if peraduenture they were surprised and forced in such sort by their enemies that they were compelled to become their prisoners they neuer desired them to saue their liues saying that it beseemed not a noble hart and that in so doing they should submit both hart and bodie to him who before had but the bodie in his power Cato the yoonger being brought to such extremity in the towne of Vtica that by the aduice of all those that were with him he was to send Embassadors to Caesar the Conqueror to practise an agreement after submission to his mercie yeelded therevnto in the behalfe of others but forbad that any mention should be made of himselfe It belongeth quoth he to those that are ouercome to make request and to such as haue done amisse to craue pardon As for me I will account my selfe inuincible so long as in right and iustice I shall be mightier than Caesar He it is that is now taken and ouercome bicause that which hitherto he denied to take in hand against the Common-wealth is at this present sufficiently testified against him and discouered Neither will I be beholding or bound to a Tyrant for an vniust matter For it is a point of iniustice in him to vsurpe the power of sauing their liues like a Lord ouer whome he hath no right to command After many other speeches of Philosophie vsed by him standing much vpon that Stoicall opinion that onely a wise and good man is free and that all wicked men are bond men and slaues he went alone into his chamber and slew himselfe with his sword Sylla the Dictator hauing condemned to death all the inhabitants of Perouza and pardoning none but his Host he also would needes die saying that he would not hold his life of the murtherer of his countrey Brutus after the battel lost against Augustus Caesar was counselled by certaine of his friends to flie I must flie in deed said he but with hands not with feete And taking them all by the hand he vttered these words with a very good and cheerfull countenance I feele my hart greatly contented bicause none of my friends haue for saken me in this busines neither complaine I of fortune at all but onely so farre foorth as toucheth my countrey For I esteeme my selfe happier than they that haue vanquished as long as I leaue behind me a glorie of vertue for hazarding all liberally to free from bondage my brethren and countreymen Which praise our conquering enemies neither by might nor money can obtaine and leaue to posteritie but men will alwaies say of them that being vniust and wicked they haue ouerthrowne good men to vsurpe a tyrannous rule and dominion that belongeth not vnto them After he had thus spokē he tooke his sword and falling vpon the point thereof gaue vp the ghost Cassius also his companion caused his owne head to be cut off by one of his slaues whom he had made free and kept with him long time before for such a necessitie The historie which we read of the Numantines commeth in fitly for this matter which we handle heere For after they had sustained the siege of the Romanes fourteene yeeres togither and were in the ende inclosed by Scipio with a very great ditch of two and fortie foote in depth and thirtie in breadth which compassed the citie round about the Consul summoned them to commit themselues to the clemencie of the Romanes and to trust to their promise seeing all meanes of sallying foorth to fight and of
fidelitie and many other good deedes wherof many men taste and which procure to a man greater good will of euery one are proper to mildnes and meekenes called by an ancient man the characters of an holie soule which neuer suffer innocencie to be oppressed as Chilo said which lead noble harts slowly to the feasts of their friends but speedily to the succouring of them in their calamities This vertue of meekenes is truly most necessarie for a valiant man For without it he should be in danger to commit some actions which might be iudged cruell And seeing that a noble minded man commeth neere to the diuine nature he must also resemble it as much as may be in gentlenes and clemencie which adorneth and honoreth those especially that are lift vp in dignitie and haue power to correct others True it is also that they are deceiued that commend and as it were adore the bounty of great men and Magistrats who of a certain simplicity without prudence shew themselues gratious gentle and courteous towards all men Which is no lesse pernitious to an Estate than is the seueritie and crueltie of others For of this ouer-great lenitie among many other inconueniences an impunitie of the wicked is bred and the sufferance of one fault quickly draweth on another Therefore the mildnes of those that haue power and authoritie ought to be accompanied with seueritie their clemencie mingled with rigour and their facilitie with austeritie This is that which Plato learnedly teacheth vs saying that the noble and strong man must be courageous and gratious that he may both chastice the wicked and also pardon when time requireth And as for those offences which may be healed he must thinke that no man is willingly vniust Therefore Cicero saith that it is the property of a noble minded man simply to punish those that are most in fault the authors of euill but to saue the multitude And thus the rigour of discipline directing meekenes and meekenes decking rigour the one will set foorth and commend the other so that neither rigour shall be rigorous nor gentlenes dissolute By the learned sentences of these Philosophers it is very euident that the vertue of meekenes is not onely a part of Fortitude which can not be perfect without it but hath also some particular coniunction with all the other vertues yea is as it were the seede of them and induceth men to practise all dutie towards their neighbours But bicause the order of our discourses wil offer vs matter and occasion to intreat particularly heereafter aswell of iustice and of reuenge of wrongs and ininries which a man receiueth of his enemy as also of other vertues heere briefly mentioned we will now come to certaine notable examples of meekenes gentlenes mildnes and goodnes of nature The first that commeth to my remembrance is Philip king of Macedonia who giueth place to none in the perfection of these gifts and graces When it was told this good Prince that one Nicanor did openly speake ill of his maiestie his counsellors being of opinion that he was to be punished with death I suppose quoth he to them that he is a good man It were better to search whether the fault commeth not from vs. And after he vnderstood that the said Nicanor was a needy fellow and complained that the king neuer succoured him in his necessity he sent him a rich present Whereupon afterward it was told Philip that this Nicanor went vp and downe speaking much good of him I see well said he then to his Councellors that I am a better Phisition for backbiting than you are and that it is in my power to cause either good or euill to be spoken of me The good disposition of Antigonus king of Macedonia commeth in here not vnfitly vpon the like occasion For hearing certaine souldiers speake ill of him hard by his tent who thought not that the king could ouerheare them he shewed himselfe vttering these onelie words without farther hurting of them Good Lord could you not go further off to speake ill of me And to say truth such gifts and graces become a noble Prince very well yea he cannot more woorthily and more beseeming himselfe giue place to any wrongs than to those that are done to his owne person As contrariwise those men are vnwoorthie their scepters who cruelly reuenge their owne iniuries pardon such as are done to others yea such faults as are directly against the honor of God A Prince wel instructed in vertue saith Xenophon in his Cyropaedia ought so to behaue himselfe towards his enemie as to thinke consider that at some time or other he may be his friend Was there euer Monarch more feared of his enemies than Alexander the Great inuincible in all things he tooke in hand insomuch that he would not onely force al humane powers but also times places themselues and yet who hath left greater proofes of meekenes and curtesie than he As he was on his voyage vndertaken for the conquest of the Indians Taxiles a king of those countries came desired him that they might not warre one against another If thou said this king vnto him art lesse than I receiue benefits if greater I will take them of thee Alexander greatly admiring and commending the grauitie and courteous speech of this Indian answered thus At the least we must fight and contend for this namely whether of vs twaine shall be most beneficiall to his Companion so loath was this noble Monarch to giue place to another in goodnes mildnes and courtesie Heereof he gaue a great argument after he had vanquished Porus a very valiant Prince of whome demanding how he would be intertained of him this king answered Royally Neither would he giue him any other answer albeit Alexender vrged him thereunto For he said that all was contained vnder that word As in deede the Monarch shewed that he was nothing ignorant thereof For he did not onely restore his kingdome vnto him but inlarged it also wherein he surmounted his victorie and procured to himselfe as much renowne by his clemency as by his valure Had he euer any greater enemie than Darius vanquished and subdued by him And yet when he saw himselfe letted from vsing towards him any bountie worthy his greatnes bicause Bessus one of his captains had slaine him he was so displeased therwith that he caused the murderer to be punished albeit he was one of his familiar friēds with a most cruel death causing him to be torne asunder with two great trees bowed down by main strength one against another vnto each of which a part of Bessus his body was fastened Then the trees beyng suffered to returne backe again to their first nature with their vehement force rent asunder the body of this poore and miserable wretch Iulius Caesar was of such a curteous disposition that hauing conquered Pompey and all his enemies he wrote to his friends
minding to deale in publike affaires gathered all his friends togither and told them that he renounced discharged himself of all their friendship bicause friendship many times caused men to yeeld and to step aside from their good and right purposes in matters of iudgement True it is that when we haue none but good men to our friends who are mooued and possessed with the same zeale to vertue that we are as before was mentioned we shall neuer fall into these inconueniences The example of Aristides the Athenian his loue vnto Iustice is woorthie of speciall remembrance For calling into the law an enimie of his after he had set downe his accusation the Iudges were so mooued against the accused party for the impietie of the fact in controuersie that they would haue condemned him vnheard so greatly did they trust to the honestie of the accuser that he had set downe nothing but the very truth But Aristides who for his great and rare vertue had before deserued the surname of Iust went with the accused partie and cast himselfe at the Iudges feete beseeching them that he might be heard to iustifie and to defend himselfe according as the lawes commanded Further one writeth of him that when he was vpon a time Iudge betweene two parties that pleaded before him one of them said my aduersarie hath done thee great wrong Aristides But he foorthwith interrupting his talke made this answer My friend declare only whether he hath wronged thee For I am heere to do thee right and not my selfe shewing thereby that Iustice ought to be executed without any priuate passion reuenge or choler wherewithall many at this day are ouercome Iunius Brutus Consul of Rome condemned his two sonnes Titus Tiberius to be beheaded being conuicted for conspiring the reentrie of Tarquinius race vnto the kingdome of Rome from whence they had been vanquished for wickednes and whoredome Truely a notable example and cleane contrarie to those that are fauourers and accepters of persons Phocion refused to helpe his sonne in law Charillus in iudgement being accused for taking certaine monie vniustly saying vnto him that he had made him his Allie in all iust and reasonable matters onely Alexander the Great vsed this commendable custome as he sate in place of Iustice to heare criminall causes pleaded that whilest the accuser declared his accusation he stopped one of his eares with his hand to the end he might keepe it pure vpright not admitting thereinto as he gaue them to vnderstand any preiudicate or false impression that so he might heare the accused partie speake in his own defence and iustification Truely an example meete for kings and princes that they should not lightly beleeue slaunderers nor giue sentence of execution presently vpō their report and perswasion bicause they ought not to take pleasure or to glut themselues as it were with some pleasant pastime in the corrections and punishments of men which is the propertie of a tyrant Neither ought they after the punishment is inflicted to repent them thereof which is a token of ignorance and basenesse of mind but Iustice must see execution done when reason and iudgement require and that without either griefe or pleasure Augustus Caesar knowing that Asprenas a very familiar friend of his was accused in iudgement and fearing that if he went to the place where the matter was to be heard he should offer wrong to Iustice as also that if he went not he should seeme to abandon his friend as iudging him culpable he asked counsail of the Senate with whom he resolued to be present at the iudgement of his friend but to speake nothing bicause in so doing he should neither do him wrong nor violate iustice Agesilaus king of Lacedemonia deserued likewise great praise for this vertue albeit he were a very assured friend to his friend and of a gentle nature readie to imploy himselfe in the behalfe of all them that stood in need of him Neuerthelesse when a friend of his contended with him about a matter which he desired to obtaine of this prince saying that he had made him a promise thereof If the thing quoth he be iust I haue promised it but if it be vniust I haue not promised but onely spoken it He vsed also to say that he esteemed Iustice as chiefe of all the vertues and that valure was of no valew if it were not ioined therwith yea would be needlesse if all men were iust And when certaine men who were sent vnto him to conferre about some agreement said one day vnto him that the great King would haue it so wherein quoth he vnto them is he greater than I if he be not more iust Whereby he iudged verie well that the difference between a great and a little king ought to be taken from iustice as from a kingly measure and rule according vnto which they ought to gouerne their subiects seeing they were at the first established to do iustice as Herodotus speaking of the Medes and Cicero of the Romanes make mentiō This is that which a poore old woman signified to Phillip king of Macedonia when she came to him to haue hir complaint heard To whom when the king made answer that he had no leasure at that time to heare hir she cried with a loud and cleere voyce Be not then king Whereupon this meeke prince by which name he said he had rather be called for a long time than by the name of Lord for a little while was so touched at the hart with the consideration of his dutie that he returned presently into his pallace where setting aside al other affaires he gaue himselfe many daies to heare all their cōplaints and requests that would come before him beginning first with the said poore woman Another time being ouertaken with sleepe and not well hearing the iustification and defence of one Machetas he condemned him in a certaine summe Whereupon the said partie cried out aloud that he appealed to Phillip after he should be throughly awake Which being noted by the said Prince he would needes heare him againe and afterward declared him not guiltie paying notwithstanding with his own money that summe wherein he had before condemned him that so he might keepe inuiolable the authoritie of his sentence The emperor Traian is iustly commended of Historiographers bicause he alighted from his horse as he was going to warre only to heare the complaint which a poore woman was about to make vnto him And truely nothing doth so properly belong vnto or is so well beseeming a prince of a good and gentle nature as the practise and exercise of Iustice Therefore when the Hebrews asked a king of Samuel they added this To iudge vs like all nations Yea these heads which had the soueraigntie ouer thē before were only in the nature of Iudges It is Iustice only which through the grace of God causeth kingdoms monarchies to flourish
robbed the common-wealth or of such as being preuented slew themselues were not made so that they that were accused might saue their liues by forsaking their goods yea by paying so much only as their accusers demanded But there are some of a cleane contrary disposition to Licinius who being readie to giue vp the ghost would gladly cary their wealth with them as we read of Hermocrates who by his wil made himself heire of his own goods Athenaeus maketh mention of another who at the houre of his death deuoured many pieces of his gold and sewed the rest in his coate commanding that they should be all buried with him Valerius Maximus telleth of one who being besieged within the town of Cassilina by Hannibal preferred the hope of gaine before his owne life For he chose rather to sell a ratte which he had taken for 200. Romane pence than to satisfie his hunger whereof he died quickly after and the buier being the wiser man saued his life by that deare meate Crassus Consul of Rome is likewise noted by Historiographers to be extreme couetous which caused him to swimme between two factions diuided for Caesar and Pompey seruing his owne turne by them both and chaunging many times from one side to another in the administration of the common-wealth He shewed himselfe neither a constant friend nor a dangerous enemy but soone forsooke both amitie and enmitie when he saw it would be profitable to him wherof the encrease of his substance gaue great proofe For when he first began to entermeddle in affaires his riches amounted but to 300. talents which according to our money came to about 180000. crownes but after when he purposed to go from Rome to warre with the Parthians he would needes know how much all his wealth came to And first he offred to Hercules the tenth of all his goods secondly he made a publike feast for all the people of Rome of a thousand tables and thirdly he gaue to euery citizen as much wheate as would finde him three moneths Notwithstanding all this he found that he was worth 7100. talents which amounted to foure millions two hundred and three-score thousand crownes He vsed to say that he accounted no man rich except he were able of his owne charges to hire and maintaine an armie bicause as no man can set downe a readie reckoning of the expences of warre as king Archidamas sayd so the riches that is to sustaine it may not be limited But in the ende his couetousnesse and ambition which commonly are not farre separated one from another led him to a violent death as we declared else-where Now as Crassus was blamed for couetousnesse so Pompey was as much commended and well thought of bicause he abhorred contemned it Whereof he gaue good proofe as also of great piety at the taking of the city of Ierusalem from the Iewes For when he entred into the Temple beheld the great riches thereof the table of gold the golden candlesticke a great number of vessels of gold with great abundance of good exquisite spice for smels knew moreouer that there was in the treasurie about two thousand talents of sacred siluer yet he would not touch it in any wise nor suffer any thing to be taken from it We that say we are christians follow a farre off the pierie of these heathen men whē as both great and small watch for nothing more than how to intrappe the goods of the Church to make them serue our delights and pleasures Moreouer we see that this cursed plant of couetousnes groweth as much in the house of prayer as in the courts of kings and princes The corruption also that hath folowed the same is knowen sufficiently in those men who to satisfie their vnsatiable desires call themselues protectors of this Hydra Ignorance to the destruction and perdition of their own soules and of ten thousand mo for whom they are to answer Iouian Pontanus rehearseth a pleasant history of a cardinall named Angelot who was well punished for his couetousnes This cardinal vsed when his horse-keepers had in the euening giuen oates to his horses to come downe all alone without light by a trap doore into the stable so steale their oates and cary it into his garner wherof he kept the key himselfe He continued his goings and commings so often that one of his horse-keepers not knowing who was this thiefe hid himselfe in the stable and taking him at the deed doing being ignorant who it was bestowed so many blowes on him with a pitchforke that he left him halfe dead so that he was faine to be caried by foure men into his chamber Iohn Maria Duke of Millan chasticed very iustly but ouer-seuerely the couetousnesse of a Curate who denied the seruice of his office in the burying of a dead body bicause his widow had not wherewith to pay him the charges of the buriall For the Duke himselfe going to the funerals of the dead caused the priest to be taken and bound to the corse and so cast them both into one pit A crueltie no lesse detestable than the vice of those wretches that sell the gifts of God and make merchandise of that which they ought to giue freely to the people Now to end our matter we maintaine this that couetousnes and vnlawful desire of riches is the root of all euill miserie and calamitie Moreouer it is more to be misliked in great men when it followeth riot and prodigalitie than if it be ioyned with niggardlines as wel for the reasons before touched as also bicause niggardly and couetous princes vse more carefully in their estates and dignities to prouide such men as are prudent and staied for the preseruation of their subiects knowing that their owne ruine dependeth of their vndoing Which thing voluptuous princes neglect bicause they dreame of nothing but of their pleasures and so prouide none but such as will serue their humor therein and flatterers or else such as will giue them most money wherewith to maintaine their delights And let vs further know that all couetous men go astray from the right way of truth and infold themselues in many griefs and miseries and become odious to euery one Besides not being content with their daily bread when contrarywise their desire is infinit they euidently mocke God as often as they make that petition bicause they labour to conceale and to dissemble before him that knoweth all things their couetous greedie affection whereas true prayer ought to declare and to open the inward meaning of the hart Let vs therfore that are better instructed learne that godlines with contentation is great gaine and let vs not wearye our selues in the heaping vp of treasure which the rust and moath may consume and eate and the theefe steale but let vs renounce riches and the world ouer which Satan beareth rule least in that terrible day he accuse vs before the
with infinite charges and costes all kinde of trade hindered briefly there is no calamitie or miserie that aboundeth not in the Common-wealth in time of warre We may iudge that kingdome happie wherein the Prince is obedient to the lawe of God and nature Magistrates to the Prince priuate men to Magistrates children to their fathers seruants to their maisters and subiects being linked in loue one with another all of them with their Prince enioy the sweetenes of peace and true quietnes of mind But warre is cleane contrary thereunto and souldiors are sworne enimies to that kind of life For war maketh men barbarous mutinous and cruell as peace maketh them curteous and tractable We read that Englishmen were in times past so seditious and vntameable that not onely their Princes could not do what they would but also the English merchants were of necessity lodged apart by them selues For so the towne of Antwarpe was constrained to do where there was one house common for all merchant strangers except Englishmen who had a house by themselues bicause they could not abide to be ioined with others The chiefe cause of that strang qualitie was bicause their countrie bordered vpon two Estates and Nations that were their enimies namely vpon the Frenchmen and Scots with whome they had continuall warre but since they concluded a peace and ioined in league with France and Scotland they became very mild and ciuill And contrariwise the Frenchmen who were inferiour to no nation whatsoeuer in curtesie humanitie are greatly changed from their naturall disposition and become sauage since the ciuill warres began The like as Plutarke saith happened to the Inhabitants of Sicilia who by meanes of continuall warre grew to be like brute beastes Archidamus king of Lacedemonia knowing well the effects of peace and warre heere briefly touched by vs and hearing that the Elians sent succors to the Archadians to warre against him tooke occasion to write vnto them after the Laconicall manner in steede of a long discourse Archidamus to the Elians Peace is a goodly thing And another time he gaue a notable testimonie how farre he preferred peace before warre when he made this answer to one that commended him bicause hee had obtained a battell against the fore-said Archadians It had beene better if we had ouercome them by prudence rather than by force The selfe same reason of louing peace and of abhorring the breakers thereof was the cause why Cato in a full Senate opposed himselfe against the request which Caesars friendes made that the people should offer sacrifices by way of thanks-giuing to the gods for the notable victories which he had gotten against the Germanes of whom he had surprized and discomfited 300000. I am said Cato rather of this opinion that he should be deliuered into their hands whome he hath wronged without cause by violating the peace which they had with the people of Rome that they may punish him as they thinke good to the ende that the whole fault of breaking faith and promise with them may be cast vpon him alone and not be laid vpon the citie which is no cause at all thereof And to say truth wise men are greatly to feare all beginnings of warre For being in the end growne to some ripenes after that some men wanting experience in worldly affaires haue rashly and vnskilfully sowne the seede thereof hardly can the greatest and wisest kings plucke it vp againe without great labour and perill Therefore they that are too desirous and hastie to begin warre peruert the order of reason bicause they beginne by execution and force which ought to be last after due consultation But he deserueth greater honour and praise that procureth peace and winneth the enimies harts by loue than he that obtaineth victorie by shedding their blood cruelly For this onely reason saith Cicero we must begin warre that we may liue in peace and not receiue wrong but this must be done after we haue required satisfaction for the iniurie offered It was for these considerations that Phocion that great Athenian Captaine laboured to stoppe the warre which the people of Athens had determined to make against the Macedonians at the perswasion of Leosthenes And being demanded when he would counsell the Athenians to make warre when I see quoth he that the yong men are fully resolued not to leaue their rankes that rich men contribute monie willingly and Oratours abstaine from robbing the Common-wealth Neuertheles the armie was leauied against his counsell and many woondering at the greatnes and beautie thereof asked him howe he liked that preparation It is faire for one brunt said Phocion but I feare the returne and continuance of the warre bicause I see not that the citie hath any other meanes to get monie or other Vessels and men of warre beside these And his foresight was approoued by the euent For although Leosthenes prospered in the beginning of his enterprise whereupon Phocion being demanded whether he woulde not gladly haue doone all those great and excellent things answered that he would but not haue omitted that counsell which he gaue yet in the end he was slaine in that voyage the Grecian armie ouerthrowne by Antipater and Craterus two Macedonians and the citie of Athens brought to that extremitie that it was constrained to sende a blanke for capitulations of peace and to receiue within it a garrison of strangers Thus it falleth out commonly to those that seeke for war by all meanes either by right or wrong Euerie Prince that desireth it in that manner stirreth vppe against himselfe both the hatred and weapons of his neighbours he vexeth and greeueth his subiects vnwoorthily seeking rather to rule ouer them by violence than to gaine their good will by iustice he quite ouer-throweth his Countrie preferring dominion and greatnes of his owne glorie before the benefite quietnes and safetie thereof and often-times he diminisheth his owne authoritie and is brought in subiection to his enimies whilst he laboreth to possesse another mans right by force Augustus the Emperour said that to haue a good and lawfull warre it must be commended by the Gods and iustified by the Philosophers And Aelius Spartianus affirmeth that Traian only of all the Romane Emperors was neuer ouercome in battell bicause he vndertooke no war except the cause therof was very iust But we may say that no warre betweene Christians is so iustified but that still there remaineth some cause of scruple The testimonie of Antigonus the elder wherein he accuseth himselfe is very notable to shewe what great wickednes and iniustice is in warre when he vsed this speech to a Philosopher that offered and dedicated vnto him a treatise which he had made of iustice Thou art a foole my friend to come and tel me of iustice when thou seest me beate downe other mens townes Caesar answered little lesse to Metellus a Tribune of the people who being desirous to keepe him