what I would say in defence of Letters which help to forme th' Art of a Minister of State and sometimes serve for a Guid and Torch to them who are to walk ofton in the dark and amongst Precipices It remaines now to speak a word of Eloquence which is as th' hand of that Art and Instrument wherewith it enters the hearts stirs up the passions gives to things the form she pleaseth and renders her selfe Mistress of Men and Businesses 'T is a quality of an incomparable perfection which requires all the favours Nature can bestow upon a Body and Wit All the polishings that Labour and Industry can bring unto it and all that good Custome and Experience can adde unto it 'T is so full also of Glory that 't is never exposed to Disdains as sometimes the Sciences are She makes her selfe to be feared if not to be beloved she hath Lightnings as well as Crowns She raigns in all places and to that height that she undertakes to change the order of Providence and to take away the use of Liberty from the Causes to which God had given it This Quality then which cannot be perfect nor in its true Dignity without Virtue and Philosophy is worthy of the Cares of a Minister of State It wonderfully adornes Peace and is of great service in time of War 'T is by her power that th' Ancient Orators protected the Innocency of particular persons and defended oppressed Provinces 'T is by her force that the fall of States hath been sometimes prevented and fatall Conspiracies dissipated 'T is by her that Cicero merited honours which he preferred to the Triumph of Conquerors And by her he pretends to have place amongst the Founders and Restorers of the first Common-wealth of the world 'T is she that hath often secured the Victories that were doubtfull that hath given courage to the Souldiers that had lost it that struck fire and boldnesse into the souls of them who compelled Fortune to favour them and that would die or overcome And without speaking of Xenophon of Caesar and of the greatest Captains of Antiquity who have gained in the Modern Ages a higher and clearer Reputation than Scander-beg than the great Captain and than Gaston of Foix And is it not true that these three great persons have alwaies begun to prepare the Victory by Discourse and by perswasion which after they compleated by Conduct and Valour In effect it is no small favour which God hath done to the reasonable soul by giving it power to communicate its thoughts and to bring to light its affections And Speech is a present of an extraordinary price wherewith she may distribute part of her excellencies She can give without losse and make rich without becoming poor she can see the Treasures abroad she hath within her selfe the Lights that beautifie her and those admirable Representations whereof she is at the same time the Painter and the Table And 't is for that chiefly that she hath received so exquisite a Guift For in relation onely to the Body and the single necessities of th' animall life 'T is probable that Nature would have given it certain signs and some exterior Motions to express them as it hath done to Beasts and little Children But as health of it selfe is a silent good and is scarce felt if pleasure do not animate it and delight give it life so the Dignity of Speech is unknown if it be not accompanied with Graces and expressed with Pomp. It seems that Reason scorns to go abroad unless she be adorned that she hath no force without allurements and effects Complaisancy that she may be useful And 't is Eloquence and that divine faculty whereof we speak which fits and trims Reason to so high an Admiration 'T is she that doth furnish her with Flowers and Ornaments 'T is she that causeth Reason not onely to bring Light to be understood but also stirs up Love to be followed I will not speak here of the knowledge of Sr. the Cardinal nor of the wonder that laying out so much time for Action and Directions for publique Affairs there should remain to him any time for his study and for to gain that generall knowledge he hath of all good things It were also to be ignorant of his strength and dignity of his subject To speak of his Eloquence it were to seek light from the Sun to undertake the publishing of that Divine Faculty which is every day admired in Councills which hath so eminently appeared in Assemblies done so great services to France and hath so often by his Mouth and Pen made the Christian truths to Triumph 'T is such and his soul is so strangely imbued that as there are places in the world from whence nothing is taken but what is perfumed and odoriferous In liker manner even the most familiar Discourses and ordinary Entertainments of Sr. the Cardinall hold forth some Tincture and give some taste of the virtue fo that excellent quality The Fifteenth Discourse That the Councill of a Prince ought to be composed a few persons 'T Is of importance that the Councill of a Prince be reduced to a few Heads so as they be well chosen and that the number be not the Evidence of his Dignity but the Merit and Virtue of his Counsellors Unity is the last measure of the perfection of things and the first of all Beings is the most single of all others This Being is God himselfe who without suffering Division of Parts or mixture of Qualities is infinitely perfect within and infinitely active without and by a power infinitely pure and infinitely single and without th'adjunction of any forraine virtue hath produced the wonders we see and that variety of subjects which are united to make the world And without him the most noble Natures and most excellent are the least composed and the most indivisible And we rejoyce much more in a sight not limited in th'extents of its objects and that can know all the colours of Nature and the Figures of all Bodies then if we had as many eyes as the visible Objects are divers and Colours different in nature So if it were permitted to make faire Dreams and magnificent Wishes it were to be desired that a Prince alone should make up his Councill That he were the sole Director of his business That he were the sole intelligence to give it motion and that he alone held the Helme and handled the Scepter But insomuch that such a Prince was never seen and that th'Idaea remaines in th' head of Xenophon that History doth not propose the like to us that th'imperfection of humane things suffers it not Lewis the Eleventh and that he who boasted that his Horse carried him and all his Councill did sometimes commit such enormous faults and foolish errours that all the world takes notice of them A Prince ought at least so to order his business that his power be not loose that it enlarge not and be restrained to
He had surpassed all the Moderne Captaines Considerations upon the principall things which the King hath done since the Landing of th' English in th' Ile Rhé which will declare some Conditions necessary for a Minister of State The third Book The First Discourse Of what Importance Care and Vigilancy are for a Minister of State and that nothing is to be neglected principally in Warre CAre Labour and Vigilancy are not things purely spirituall The body seems therein to have the best part and if they derive their Originall from th' understanding they determine in the matter and sensible objects do bind them They are the neerest causes of execution and without them a Minister of State may peradventure be wise but can never be happy On the contrary there 's no difficulty nor resistance which may not be forced by their aide with them fortune is constrained to follow Good counsells are assured Bad are corrected Things are supported and overthrown and that form is almost given to businesse which is proposed 'T is then of great Concernment to neglect nothing that may be profitable That no accident is to be esteemed smal if it may incommodate That every moment ought to be of precious esteem if it be necessary for us And that the Maxim of Morality be remembred That evill is raised out of the least defect in things and that Good to be such requires that every part be entire and sound Above all in great misfortunes in the violence of fortune that all advizes must be heard and all things attempted though they seem impossible For then much must be hazarded provided that it be not all unlesse we are constrained thereunto and cannot save our selves but in ruming a course to destroy our selves Moreover we ought t' Imitate the Wise Physitian who will never ordain dangerous Remedies and whose operation is doubtfull but they will trye diverse of whose goodnesse they may not be fully assured but that they shall not kill if they heal not and will not make th' evill worse if they do not ease it In a word 't is not to be believed what great and incredible effects are produced by an exact care by a constant diligence by an infatigable contest and by that prudent inquietude which alwaies acts which forgets nothing which never gives it selfe liberty and forceth at last what holds too fast and draws what will not follow Caesar was incomparable in these Qualities as in all other that forme a great Captain No person ever took more pains in the Warre or exercised more functions together in his Army nor that more desired to be present in all occasions or that was more obstinate t' execute his resolutions not to retire when he was once advanced and not to stand in the midst of an enterprize 'T is true that he deliberated much before he undertook any thing and did not cast himselfe blindly upon any designe He did not prepare to make war after he had begun to make it The provisions answered alwaies to the time he had forecast to make them continues and th' execution never deceived his providence But after that he lost not a moment of time nor an occasion of advantage and never remitted to the next day what he might execute the same day He seldome trusted but to his eyes and judgement and for the most part he went in person to view the Country he would assault and th' enemies he was to fight When th' occasion prest he made incredible Marches He passed Rivers by swimming t' avoid going about to gain Bridges He crossed the Seas in small Vessels to make the more diligence and chose rather to sayl in Storms then suffer his businesse to run hazard and to put his person in danger rather then his fortune And it must not be a wonder if in his profession he left all the men in the world behind him And if it hath been doubted To whom the victory had remained if Alexander had made Warre to the growing Common-Wealth No Question can be made but he was inferiour to Caesar who destroyed it in its most vigorous Age and in th' excesse of its force and made it fall from th' height of its greatnesse and from the top of its Power On the contrary the reason why the Reputation of so many Men is seen to passe with the time and their glory t' extinguish 'T is the diminution of Labour and the default of Vigilancy This diminution default proceed from severall causes The first is that as in the condition of particular persons a mans fortune doth not alwaies advance with equall pace and with an uniforme progresse That it stops toward th' end or moves slowly though it come with impetuosity and swiftnesse Insomuch that he who burnt with impatience in the beginning to quit poverty and laboured with Zeal to become Rich So soon as his desire is satisfied and that he sees himselfe in plenty H' abates of his cares and would enjoy with rest th'fruits of his industry So the man whose spirit is possessed with the passion of glory and meditates the great actions which do beget it when he hath attained his end That he hath filled the World with the reputation of his vertue and hath formed in himselfe a great opinion of himselfe Th' hunger of honour which pressed him at first becomes moderate and by consequent his first contest weakens and his ordinary diligence diminisheth A second cause of this diminution is Age and 't is no wonder if the body which destroyes it selfe grieves the Soul and if it operate not with the same vigour as it did when th' Organs are spoyled and th'instruments of use weare out This rule neverthelesse is not absolutely true and hath its exceptions as I have said elsewhere A third cause are the diseases which produce the same effects and more dangerous then Age because they produce them more suddenly and with more violence and 't is not possible that in the griefe of the body and weaknesse of nature a man can intend things that are without him and at the same time contest with the disease and businesse Besides what hath been said before of Phillip the second The Spaniards have also observed that their affaires in the Low Countryes declined with th' health of the Prince of Parma and began to change when he began to be sick and neverthelesse being of a very vast spirit and active humour He would not abate any thing of his accustomed occupations He would do more then he could He would retain the same authority in businesse as when he had his health He could not ease himself upon the cares of another and thought that nothing was well done but what was done by his Orders When he was hurt before Candebu He put the command of th' army into the hands of his Son and in regard he was but a young Prince and to whom experience was wanting and that sort of Capacity which comes not from study or nature He
gain a Province And not to go farre from past Ages and the memory of our Fathers Have we not seen with what facility Mahomet the second hath taken two Empires from Christians and carried from them Twelve Kingdoms Will it not be said that he did runne only in conquering and that th' exercise of a walke had been as long as the time of his Rapid Victories 'T is that in effects in those great Territories of Countrey and extent of those vast Regions there was not a good place but Constantinople And yet that place was lost rather by the Conwardise of Christians and in the fury of the justice of God than by the valour of the Turks and industry of the besiegers Selin the first had only the Mammeluns to defeat in the Field to be Master of all Aegypt and Syria and the progresse which the Grand Seignors made heretofore in Persia and the facility they found to possesse that Land proceeded from that they encountered not one strong Town that stopped them and hindred the Inundation of those Monstrons Armies which they brought thither On the Contrary who doubts but that the conquest of Rhodes was not more honourable to Soliman then that of th' Empire of Trobâ—sonde to Mahomet Who makes Question that Strigonia Buda Alba Royall and Zighet were not more eminent peeces and more famous Monuments for the glory of that Prince then a dozen Kingdoms for the other's glory And if he could have added Maltha and joyned Vienna to his other victories the past Ages had not seen fairer Trophies then his and he might have marched in Front with Alexander Caesar and Tamerlan though he had not run over so many Nations as they had done nor invaded so great a number of Countries To give some new Light to my subject and some extraordinary colours I will propose also that noble difficulty which some have written of To wit Which of the two Actions is most noble and meritorious either the gaine of Battell or the Taking of a good place without staying upon that which hath been said upon this subject It seems to me that the last of these Actions requires a more profound and more generall abilitie That it exerciseth more virtues and by Consequence there 's more honour in taking a Fortresse well defended then to win a Battell though it be well Contested The reason is that in a siege Men must fight above th' Earth and in th' Earth The strength of the place is to be overcome and the Resistance of men Fresh enemies are to be encountered which are Concealed and do expect Men are exposed to th' Artifices of fire and to those horrible Inventions which with death bring the torments of Hell and paines that are not naturall Long labours are to be endured Continuall watching and all th' Injuries of time Briefly Industry works more there then force and fortune acts lesse there then virtue That happens not in a Battell where Men fight onely above Ground against Men where all things are almost equall on both sides where Men are not consumed by Languishments and Travell and where four howers decides the business where Impetuosity doth act sometimes more then Conduct and valour gives not so much the victory as extravagancy of fortune as a command ill understood of th' Enemies side as an unexpected Accident and as a Pannique Terrour But to decide this doubt with a more exact and certaine Policy I say that those Meanes are more noble and Estimable which produce th' End that is proposed and brings a Man to the Mark he Aimes at than they that leave a Man in the Middle of the way be they never so glittering and what shew soever they make And therefore if the gaine of a Battell were the Conquest of a Province as it heretofore hapned and the taking of a Towne the reducement of a single place as it falls out for the most part There 's no Question but the second Action is inferiour to the first and of an Inferiour Merit to that of th' other But when after the gaine of a Battell th' enemie continues strong where there are other armyes to fight and a number of good places which stop the Conquerour and put a Bridle to the victory Who doubts but the gaine of that Battell is lesse Considerable then the taking of a City which is th' head of a whole Countrey or of a whole party which will bring in all the rest to th' obedience of the victorious and after that no Resistance to be made but what shall be weake and rash Who doubts that Scipio did not more in subduing Carthage and making the Rivall of Rome the Subject of Rome than Hanibal did in the three Battells wherein he Conquered the Roman since Rome subsisted for all that and that the spring of the warr remained unstopt And therefore who can also doubt that the reducement of Rochell after the losse whereof we have seen a party fall which had so long a share in France and divided the Soveraigne authority which had offered so many affronts to our Kings which had so often opened our parts and our frontiers to th' Enemies of the State and made the Country of their Birth a Country of Conquest who can I say doubt that the taking thereof is not to be preferred before four Battails which have been gained against it because they left life and force to recover since that all-bloudy and coverd with wounds it was formidable unto them that had put it into that Condition since after that it gave the law to the victorious and forced a peace of as much advantage as could have been expected from a victory That consideration obliged th' Holy Father t' answer Cardinal Borgia who had represented unto him that he had not made the like demonstration of joy for the taking of Breda which he had done for the taking of Rochell The Taking of Breda was no more then the taking of a Towne whereof th' Hollanders had their Revenge a little after But the Taking of Rochell was beating downe th' head of a body and overthrowing the foundations of a Building The Sixth Discourse Of the Instructions may be drawn from the siege of Rochell and from what the King did after the Reduction of that Towne AFter the precedent Considerations le ts see what may be observed in that siege which serves for my principall designe and for th' Instructions of the Publique 'T is not Hannibal alone that knew how t' overcome and knew not how t' use the victory The like faults are encountered in all ages and the cause why sometimes Men are not happy enough is because Men are not alwayes wise enough Fortune alone may very well begin the greatnesse of a Man but she cannot finish it without virtue And though it be not in the power of expert Pilots to make the winds propitious It depends neverthelesse upon their Industry to make good use of them and to husband them well while they last
of being too Credulous T is to have too little Judgment or too great a distrust of ones selfe and in th' Affaires of the world Th' universall Maximes are not ever to be followed which are sometimes deceitfull though they are many times true But a great Minister of State ought to know how to distinguish what is manifestly false from what hath some apparence of true and what is feasable from what is Impossible 'T is not that 't is necessary that He possesse all th' Arts with the same perfection as they who make profession but of one But it sufficeth that he know them in such a degree and with so just a light that he may secure himselfe from th' Imposture though it be very subtile and observe what is good though it be not very excellent The fourth Consideration that th' Enterprize of the Ditch is th' Evidence of an extreame vast soul and of a Courage not distasted by Difficulties nor wearied by Time Th' Humours of the French are ordinarily too lively to langnish after a designe They will suddenly see th' End or abandon it what they carry not at the first Assault rebukes them The stroaks they lose weakens them as much as those they receive and their proper Impetuosity tyres them not lesse then the Resistance of what they Assault But the king hath made it appeare in this occasion whereof I speake that having not the vices of the French he had in an Eminent degree the virtues of other Nations and that he had a very great Boldness t' undertake and Constancy to pursue it and Patience to finish it The first spoile the Sea made upon the Ditch had shaken any other Courage but his and the violence of the Equinoctialls had daunted an Imagination lesse firme but He believed that the feare which might fall into the soules of Men commonly constant ought not to fall into his and that it was too little for his power and fortune t'overcome Men if he did not also resist the force of the starrs and Elements and what nature hath of most impetuous and rapid There are affaires which must be abandoned so soon as they are begun either in regard of their Impossibility or that they serve for hinderance to better and more profitable designes And 't is true that t' opinionate in this is a Manifest imprudence That the shortest follies are the best and that the further a Man goes when he is out of the right way the more he wanders There are others which are infinitely important and are but difficult and of them an end must be had whatsoever they cost or perish or carry them After that th' Earle of Fuentes had besieged Cambray and reduced that City to the Tearms of being taken or of rendring Sr. of Vie entred with some Releefe So soon as he was Entred he changed all th' order of the defence and spoiled th' Enemies by the faults they had committed in beginning the Seige He dismounted their Cannon with his He made their Batteries to flye with his Mines He rendred unprofitable a part of their Labours and did Incommodate them in such manner that it was proposed in the Councell of the Spaniards either to raise the siege or to begin it againe and give it another forme Th' Earle of Fuentes knew well th' Errour which had been committed in the beginning and that the sheep wherewith he had to do were the same but that they were governed by another Shepheard notwithstanding that he protested that he would dye there rather then retire and that he had rather be obstinate in overcoming the Difficulties which were there in continuing the first designe then discover his Imprudence in quitting it and take by that Meanes courage from the souldiers and Reputation from his Armes When Caesar had laid downe before Alexia or Vercingentorix it was shut up with four and twenty thousand Men to defend it He saw come upon him four hundred thousand fighting Men which came to besiege him and such a fearefull Cloud of Men of warr to surround him That neverthelesse did not trouble him and insomuch that the Question was of the decision of a great Affaire and that he would with one onely Blow affright all the body of the Gaules He resolved upon a bold Charge He did not abandon the siege and marched to meet th' Enemies which drew towards him He defeated them and compelled the besieged t'yeeld and Vercingentorix t' humble itselfe and to lay its greatnesse at his feet which they could not preserve with all the force of the Gaules And after that the Spaniards had surprized Amiens The dead King did he not resolve to lose himselfe or retake it T'hazard rather all his State then to suffer that breach to remaine open and that it was begun in a place which discovered th' heart and left nothing secure even to the Gates of Paris This proceeding appeared at first a little strange and seems t' hold more of Despaire then of force and of obstinacy then Constancy That nevertheless is not so and that which seems to be beyond the Limits of virtue is not ever so but by Comparison These Limits are not fixed and immoveable They have Many degrees according to th' abilities of them that exercise them And th' Excesses which the Philosophers permit t' Heroique virtue and th' extreamities wherein they suffer which she passeth over Are not Excesses or Extremities for her but for th' ordinary virtues and for the Common of Men. If they that served the Duke of Aniou in the siege of Rochell had had the faithfulnesse of Sr. the Cardinall or his prudence if they had loved the Good of the State so well as he and the Reputation of their Master They had not advised him to rise at the Evening of taking of it and to give the victory that was Ripe and ready to be gathered They had rather imitated that Great Captaine and had said as th' other did at Garillan That they knew of what Importance that Enterprize was to the King and that it must be gained or perish But 't is not of new Date that there are people in the State which love Confusion and who Imagine themselves to be like Physicians who should not be Considerable without the sins of nature nor in honour if there were not sick persons The prosperities of the King stop not at the taking of Rochell our Armes were instantly beyond the Mountaines and Casall saw its deliverance at the sole noise of our passage That unheard-of Quickness equally surprized our Allyes and enemies and those who believed that the Conquest we had newly made was of the kind of those victories which make the victor to weep would never have imagined that without tireing or taking breath we went to force th' Alpes in the midst of winter and seek beyond the Mountaines a new harvest of glory The Rebells of Languedoc immediately after saw the King with them and we have seen in lesse then two Months all
the places rendred or taken and those fearefull Bastions which have consumed twenty yeares labour and the wealth of that party humble themselves to his powers T is that virtue which the Romans called Celerity and which we call Quickness wherewith Caesar made himselfe Master in 40 dayes of Italy in 60 of Spain and in lesse then three yeares of all that which Rome had Conquered in more then seven hundred yeares 'T is with that virtue that Gastan of Foix in lesse then six weeks relieved Bologua Defeated the Venetians at Villa Franca retook Bresse and gained the battell of Ravenna This is to know how to make use of the victory but in in an admirable Manner 'T is to sayle as long as there is any wind 'T is to second Fortune 'T is to make use of th' occasion There 's glory in acting a number of great things but this a marvell to performe them in a little time and to place in a small intervall th' Actions that will honour the course of many yeares one victory neverthelesse begets another and as a needle rub'd with th' Adamant attracts many Prosperities tread upon th' heeles of one another Provided that men give not over That they are the same Chiefes that governe and the same souldiers that act and the same discipline that doth exercise them The Seaventh Discourse That the generall of an Army ought alwayes t' Intend th' End of an Enterprize and that Foresight serves more then Courage t' attain it and whether the King had Reason to make the truce was made at Carignan THat a Generall of Army propose to himselfe to go alwayes to th' End of what he shall undertake and that he know that if a good Beginning makes halfe the work that neverthelesse nothing is done if th' end faile and therefore let him make Choice of the most proper Meanes t' attaine it and not them that cost most fire th' Execution and have the most Pompe They shall be in their dignity and have the price they deserve when th' End is gained Let him not then be shaken at what the world shall say and that he remember the Conduct of Fabius Maximus who suffered the Roman people to wond his Reputation and endured the bitings of that Beast with many heads rather then quit the designe he had framed to destroy Hanniball without fighting him For at last he obtained of the same people the Sirname of most Great which they had not given to any but him and which they gave not to any other Captaine after him That he remember th'Answer the Prince of Parma made to the dead King when he sent him th' offer of Battell dureing the siege of Corbiell That his Master had sent him into France to relieve Paris and t'hinder the growth of Heresie That if t' attaine that End he found That the best and quickest Expedient was to give Battell that he need not doubt but he would give it if not That he would not fight at the will of his Enemies Th' end then Crownes the work and whatsoever a Man doth of Eminent and extraordinary If he stay in the way all that will not produce unto him but an imperfect honour and an Abortive of glory What served the gaining of four Battells by our Kings against the protestants to have spilt so much French and stranger's blood and lay wast so many Townes and provinces for that Quarrell since that Heresie and Rebellion have after that subsisted Of what use were so many past Expeditions into Italy and into other places since that after the fairest Entries and th' happiest Beginnings in the world The victory remained to our enemies From thence was formed that opinion which had its course amongst other people and which latter times have belied That nothing was to be feared from us but th' Assault and first heat That 's not to say as some have interpreted it That we are more then men at the beginning of Combats and lesse then women at th' End That 's not true and our valour hath sometimes a continued posture and equall pursuit and sometimes Accesses and Remissions as well as other nations But 't is true that ordinarily in the Beginning of our Enterprizes we bring a very hot Courage and a Resolution more then humane but a little after we abate we fall into languishment and defects we have no more force nor breath According to what I have said the Truce which we made at Carignan and which was so ill understood of the greatest part of the world deserves a particular praise since it gave us Meanes t' enlarge our Troops and to take away the Matter of the plague which made them desolate T' assemble new forces To prepare fara Revictualling of Casal and to deliver that place which was the nearest End of the warr we made and a part of the Generall In vaine without it had we so happily begun the warr and raised the siege of Pignerol at the face of three Armies and of four great Captaines In vaine with a handfull of Men should we have defeated so many enemies at Villana and overcome th'obstinate Resistance of th' old Regiments of th' Empire and in vaine should we have fourced at Carignan redoubles of three halfe Moons and beaten those brave Spaniards whose number of fighters was know by the dead and the Prisoners But as boldnesse discipline and obdience are the virtues of souldiers Prudence Conduct and constant Meditation of the Meanes which cause the victory are the virtues of Captaines and Generalls of Armies 'T is with these Qualities that they ought to distinguish themselves from them that are under them These are properly the forme of their profession They do constitute the difference Courage and the Contempt of death are not to speake properly but the body and the Matter and ther 's not so much glory for a Chief to go to blowes t' enter upon dangers when he must and when the occasion presseth as there would be shame Not to do it That would be more pardonable in a single souldier whose wounds are the springs of proverty and misery than in great persons to whom they are Characters of honour and the seeds of Immortality which give them place in History whose markes are venerable in th' eyes of a Prince and in th' eyes of the people and adorne them better then all their Ornaments and precious stones It should be a strange thing if the most illustrious profession of the world and the noblest of all the functions of life which is that of Commanding Armies should be so easie as that there were no more to do then to run to death and to castones selfe into danger to make him Worthy There would be too easie a bargaine had of eternity which it promiseth and the Gladiators might more lawfully pretend to it then those exalted soules which prepare themselves for it with great Cares who make the boldnesse of Reason to descend to th' heart and who make that divine