by faring deliciously Pliny saith of grasse Plin. That Quanto peius tractatur tanto prouenit melius The worse it is vsed the better it proues As with it so is it with man Homo sicut faenum Man is but as grasse or as the flower of the field Which is no sooner vp but is cut downe no sooner flourisheth but it fadeth and all it's beautie no sooner appeareth but it perisheth and withereth away and is no more to be seene And the more wee make of much our selues the lesse while we liue We are alwayes crazy soone downe but not so soone vp Quickly fall into a disease but long ere we can get out of it Loosing our strength before we come to it and waxing olde before euer wee be aware of it But if a man will lay aside this Cockering and pampering vp of himselfe and habituate himselfe to labour and trauaile he shall passe his life the better For health neuer dwells with delights nor strength ioyne hands with choice fare Nor shall hee euer doe any famous Acts and worthy renowne that feares to take paines and is willing to take his ease The Emperour Hadrian was singular herein Frigora enim tempestates ita patienter tulit vt nunquam caput tegeret Hee did indure colds and all kinde of fowle weather with that patience that hee neuer put on his hatt but alwayes went bare-headed And Alexander the Great would tell his Soldiers that it was for lazy Companions and effeminate fellowes to apply themselues to the pleasures and contentments of this life but for Noble hearts and generous spirits to accustome themselues to labour and to take paines In a word Temperance is a vertue very necessarie for all estates it will sute well with all but more particularly with Kings and Princes and great persons because it is in it selfe a vertue so gentleman-like so worthy Noble persons and so proper for royall Maiestie As likewise for that they liue as they doe amidst so many regalos and delights so many curious meates and a thousand other occasions whereby if they doe not arme themselues with this vertue not onely their liues but their soules are like to incurre the great danger For like theeues in a mans owne house or close traitours lurking in secret corners some while one some while another are neuer from their elbow till they deliuer them ouer into the hands of death or at least hoxe their courage and cut off their health Which in good Kings so much importeth and which all men desire may be long and prosperous The want whereof in a particular person importeth little but in them it mattereth much in regard of the great losse which the Common-wealth thereby receiueth For on their welfare dependeth the generall comfort and gouernment of the whole kingdome which when it is wanting in them that want is common to all Let then the conclusion of this discourse be That Kings ought to keepe an orderly and temperate diet hauing more regard to the law of Nature and vnto Christian reason then to their greatnes of state and Maiestie of Empire And to carry themselues amidst so many occasions of pleasures and delights with that modestie and moderation as if they were without them if they haue a minde to preserue their bodies and their soules healths and to giue vnto all a good example which is another as already hath beene said so powerfull a remedy for to perswade other Princes and Potentates of his kingdome to the embracing of this vertue And besides that obseruation of Hipocrates Quod plures cecîdit gula quam gladius That surfeiting hath killed more then the sword Let those that place all their care in these their delights and pleasures consider that saying of Cato That our much carefulnesse in this causeth much forgetfulnesse of God And there are some that count it an honour and reputation vnto them to eate and to drinke though Sanitas est animae corporis sobrius potus and because they are great in estate they will also be great feeders Which indeed is not Greatnesse nor Lordlinesse but great basenesse and vnbeseeming their authoritie to suffer themselues to be giuen to gluttony and to the excesse of eating and drinking Saint Bernard did blesse himselfe and much wonder at so much time and wealth as herein was spent and at so many Cookes and other Officers herein employed And that he should be the most commended and best rewarded that could inuent any other new kinde of choice dish then had by gluttonies curious enquiry been as yet found out And all to giue gust to the Gust and to please the palate with the losse of their honour the wasting of their wealth and to their great hurt both of bodies and soules But these must I inroll in the list of vnfortunate persons Eccl. 10.17 and account that kingdome happy as the wise man saith where the King and his Peeres liue soberly and temperately Beata terra cuius Rex nobilis est cuius Principes vescuntur in tempore suo ad reficiendum non luxuriandum Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the sonne of Nobles and thy Princes eate in due season for strength and not for drunkennesse §. II. Of another remedie against excesses and superfluities depending on the example of Kings A King being as hath beene said the soule and heart of a kingdome and like another Sunne which with its light and motion affoords light and health to the world being the true picture and liuely Image of God vpon earth and he that is most being iust like vnto him hath a great and precise obligation lying vpon him both by his life and example to giue life vnto his kingdome and to set himselfe as a patterne before his subiects that and they being that mysticall bodie whereof he is the head And see what dependencie the members in mans bodie haue on the head the same or little lesse haue subiects on their Kings And if that be sound and good it is well with all the members but if ill affected all of them suffer with it The Prouerbe saith Cum caput dolet catera membra dolent When the head aketh the rest of the members ake with it And as it is so true as nothing more so is it more in Common-wealths then mens bodies For as the humours of these are in or out of order according to those which the head communicateth vnto them So likewise the composition of a whole kingdome dependeth on the good or ill composition of their King and Head Whence it followeth that the same necessitie which a body hath of a good head the very selfesame hath a kingdome of a good King being that he as hee is King as already hath beene deliuered doth therein supply the Office of the Head And therefore it was well said of Plato That the inclining of a King to good or ill is the inclining of the whole kingdome according to his scale
that which now is it will appeare vnto vs that your present Princes doe not come much behinde their good Predecessours And that which is good stands alwayes in a way or degree of ablenesse to become better and that which is not so may be bettered in the end Time is a great proficient it attaineth to all and can doe all And your Maiestie whom God preserue may likewise in time doe the like if you will really and resolutely affect the same and that you will be pleased to put in execution what in these Aduertisements shall seeme good in your eyes And seeme they or not seeme they good vnto you sure I am that my desire in these in the rest and in all shall indeuour to hit the marke whereat it aymeth God direct it as I desire For mine owne part J rest well contented with my paines and hold my selfe well paid for my labour in hauing put them into your Maiesties hands And that you shall vouchsafe to dwell a little vpon them For matters of State Justice and Gouernment and of things of this high nature is a King-craft and a knowledge or science that deserues your care and discourse Let others doe as they lift particular men may follow their particular pleasures and delights But this well becommeth Kings The Argument of this Booke is the Head of Mans body beginning at the vnderstanding till we come to the last of the senses For therein and thence they haue the principium or beginning of their operations And as in mans body so in the mysticall body of a Common-wealth Kings are the Head to whom Regiment Gouernment belongs and what choyce they are to make of those who are to assist them therein the qualities which they ought to haue and how they should carry themselues towards them How they shall come to discouer the humours affections mindes and dispositions of their Ministers And in a word how they ought to behaue themselues in all and with all I search not into the secret closet of any mans bosome nor touch vpon any particular person it being the least part of my intent and purpose I treate onely in the generall and manifest vnto all that what I write being certaine and true and grounded vpon principles and certaine causes may serue to reforme amend and correct and if neede bee alter those fashions and customes they finde to bee amisse This I am bold to vtter vnto your Maiestie and dedicate the same with that securitie and confidence which mine owne knowledge doth promise and prompt vnto mee being not ignorant that I talke and discourse with mine owne proper King and Lord whom I humbly beseech that hee will bee pleased out of his great prudence and naturall pietie to runne all this ouer with his eye and to cast his cloake ouer my faults And though no doubt his Maiestie may meete with some yet my minde telleth me that he may likewise light vpon something in this Treatise that may be of some profit for the seruice of his Maiestie and for the conseruation of that authoritie and greatnesse of place which he so iustly possesseth and for the good of the Common-wealth For there is not that Booke saith Seneca so vnprofitable whence some good may not bee gathered And though this in supposall or it 's owne nature may be small and of little or no price yet is it of no lesse noble and royall a condition to receiue a little louingly and with a gratious acceptance then to giue much liberally All this your Maiestie doth with all and I assure my selfe you will likewise doe the like with me For the naturall Loue which I beare vnto your Maiestie meriteth no lesse nor the minde wherewithall J doe it And herewith I shall in some sort satisfie my desire which is to hit the marke I ayme at and that obligation wherewith I was borne to serue you whom I shall neuer willingly offend And euermore in all my prayers and sacrifices I shall humbly on my knees beseech the Almighty God to preserue your Maiestie to giue you many and those most happie yeares and that hee will conserue you in his diuine grace and humane Greatnesse with much augmentation of Estate both Temporall and Eternall Amen Your Maiesties seruant and Chaplaine Fr. Iuan de Sancta Maria. A Table containing the Chapters and Paragraphes of this Booke Chap. 1. WHerein it is briefly treated what is comprehended in this word Republicke together with it's definition Chapter 2. What the name of King signifieth Chapter 3. Whether the name of King be a name of Office Chap. 4. Of the Office of Kings Chap. 5. Of the reason and vnderstanding of Kings and of their wisedome Chap. 6. How Kings ought to carrie themselues in those businesses which their vnderstanding comprehendeth not Chapter 7. A prosecution of the former Discourse shewing how Kings are to take Councell And what signes they are to marke and obserue for their better knowledge Chap. 8. Of the diligences which Kings are to vse in the Election of their Ministers and Councellours Chap. 9. Of the qualities which Kings are to consider in those whom they are to make choice of for Ministers and Councellours Chap. 10. Hee continues the discourse of the Qualities of Ministers and Councellours Chap. 11. Of other Courses and Meanes which Kings may take for the notice of such persons in whom the said Qualities concurre Chap. 12. How Kings ought to carry themselues towards those Ministers whom they finde sufficient for the Gouernment both of Peace and Warre Chap. 13. The Author prosecutes the same Subiect and shewes how Kings ought to carry themselues with their Councells and Councellours Chap. 14. It is demanded by way of Question Whether Kings ought inuiolably to obserue the foresaid Order Chap. 15. Whether it be fit for Kings to vse much the remitting of businesses Chap. 16. Of the sence of the fight that is of those businesses which Kings ought to reserue for their owne view and to dispatch with their owne hands Chap. 17. Hee prosecuteth the same matter and shewes How Kings ought to carry themselues towards those that finde themselues aggrieued Chap. 18. Of the sense of Hearing And the Audiences which Kings ought to giue Chapter 19. He goes on with the same Matter treating of the Audiences of Ministers and Councellours Chap. 20. Of the vertue of Iustice the naturall sister and Companion of Kings Chap. 21. Of the parts of Iustice in Common and in particular of Iustice commutatiue Chap. 22. Of Iustice distributiue Chap. 23. How and in what sort limitation in giuing may sute with the greatnesse of Kings Chap. 24. Of the repartment and diuision which is to bee vsed in the conferring of offices And of the knowledge of such persons as ought to be nominated for the said offices Chap. 25. Whether Honours Offices and dignities are to be conferred on those that sue for them Chap. 26. Of the sense of smelling that is of the prudence of
occasion suffers it selfe to be led away by hatred and reuenge presently falls to taking of stones in their hands tearing vp the pibbles in the streetes as Cicero sets downe vnto vs that in the popular assemblies of Rome it so fell out that oftentimes they drew their naked swordes that the stones were seene to flye about their eares on all sides And when this head-strong multitude hath once broken the reines there is no keeping of them in nor can the wit of man deuise how to bridle them In a Monarchy the Monarke In an Aristocratia your Noble-men are supreme Iudges and Arbitrators and by this their supreme and absolute power they many times compose the differences of the subiects But in a Democratia and Popular Estate they are the supreme power and they themselues bandy one against another the fire of faction setting them in a consuming flame without acknowledging any superiour to decide the quarrell and compose their differences And therefore Aristotle sayd That there was not any Tyrannie either greater or more pernicious then that of an intire Communaltie which of it selfe is inclined to crueltie The Monarchy or Kingdome is freer from these burning feuers and by all is ranked in the best place and is stiffely maintained by the grauest Authors Of this onely shall I treate at this present It is called a Monarchy of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in Greeke signifieth One and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same with Prince which is as if we should say a Principalitie or a Kingdome where one alone is hee that commands and gouernes and the rest all obey All these three kindes of Popular Aristocraticall and Monarchicall gouernments were vsed in Greece and more particularly in Rome But Rome neuer came to be Mistresse of the World till shee was reduced to a Monarchie in the time of Caesar Augustus There are found therein 8. differences of States Husbandmen Trades-men Merchants Souldiers Iudges Cleargie-men the Nobility and the King which to speake more properly and as in diuers places it is deliuered by the blessed Apostle S. Paul is a Misticall Body which we call a Kingdome with it's Head For a king is the supreme Lord subiect onely vnto God That in S. Augustines and Diuus Thomas his opinion Aug. lib. 2. de Ciuit. Dei D. Tho. de regim li. 1. cap. 2. Arist Pol. 3. cap. 5. 10. Plat. Dial. de repub Prou. 8.15 as also sundry other Authors of diuers faculties amongst which are Aristotle and Plato the most excellent gouernment is that which acknowledgeth a Superior one King and one Head For all naturall and good gouernment proceedeth from One and that which comes neerest vnto Vnitie hath most similitude with that which is diuine and is by much the most perfect By God Kings reigne according to that of the wise man Per me reges regnant Per me Principes imperant By me Kings reigne and Princes decree iustice And God being one and most simple in his Being and Nature the Head of all the whole Vniuerse by Whom and Which all is gouerned with admirable and ineffable prouidence and is the Idea of all good and perfect gouernment it is not a thing to be doubted but that that shall be amongst vs the best which is most agreeable with his And if the Members of the body being many and bearing different Offices therein admit to be gouerned by a Head and that God and Nature hath so ordained it Why should not a Monarchicall gouernment be the best Most certaine therefore is it that it is mainely to be preferred before the other two Some will haue this Monarchicall gouerment to be the most ancient and that it had it's beginning from Cain Adams eldest sonne who was the first that did gather people together built Cities and did shut them vp and fortifie them with walls After the flood Nimrod the sonne of Chus and nephew vnto Cham Beros lib. 4. de Flor. Cald. secundum Philon. de Antiq. a man of valour and amongst those of those times the most able and strongest man was the first that reduced men to liue in a Communitie and to be obedient to one only King possessing himselfe of the Kingdome and Signorie of the World And before these euen in the very beginning of the Creation God began to establish this gouernment forme of a Commonwealth Act 17.26 For as S. Paul saith God would that all Mankinde should descend from one Man And Gods chosen people did euermore maintaine a Monarchie and did ordaine that the Supreme power should reside and remaine in One. The first gouernours of the world were Monarkes did gouerne with this Title all the Common-wealthes of the World haue generally desired to be gouerned by one king As appeareth by those of the Gentiles euery particular state hauing his peculiar King And were it not a great monstrousnesse in nature that one body should haue two Heads Much more were it that one kingdome should be gouerned by two persons Vnitie is the Author of much good and Pluralitie the causer of much ill The Roman Commonwealth did suffer much miserie and calamitie not because all would not obey One but because many would command All. And therforein their greater necessities they did create a Dictator so called because all did obay whatsoeuer he dictated and sayd vnto them For they knew well enough and did clearely and plainely perceiue That in the Empire of One the authoritie was the greater greater the obedience freer their determinations firmer their Councells speedier their resolutions and more prompt the execution of their designes In a word Command Signorie and Supreme power does better in one head then in many And therefore all doe vnanimously and vndoubtedly conclude That the Monarchie is the ancientst and the durablest of all other and it 's gouernment the best yet would I haue it to helpe it selfe with the Aristocratia in that which may be vsefull for it's aduantage That in regard of it's strength and execution doth by it's greater Vnion and force excell the rest This other which is composed of a few noble wise and vertuous persons because it consistes of more hath the more intirenesse prudence and wisedome and by conioyning and intermixing the one with the other resulteth a perfect absolute gouernment So that a Monarchy that it may not degenerate must not goe loose and absolute for Command is a madd-man and power Lunaticke but must be tyed to the Lawes as far forth as it is comprehended vnder the Law And in things particular and temporall must haue reference to the body of the Councell seruing as the brace or ioyning peece of timber betweene a Monarchie an Aristocracie which is the assistance and aduise of the chiefer and wiser sort For from a Monarchy not thus well and orderly tempred arise great errours in gouernment little satisfaction to the State and many distastes amongst those that are gouerned All men that
to vnderstand the place and Office which euery Member is to hold in the Common-wealth All the Members of the body saith he haue their particular Office but the Occupations and functions of euery one of them are diuerse and different The most important and of greatest Excellencie are those of the Head which is the superiour part of the bodie In which the Soule doth exercise her principall operations as those of the Vnderstanding and Will Arist Aly. lib. 3. de Anima the instruments whereof haue their habitation in the head There is seated the Sensus Communis or Common sense so called because it 's knowledge is common to all those obiects of the exteriour or outward sences There likewise is the Imaginatiue the Estimatiue the Phantasie and the Reminiscentia Corporall faculties which serue to those that are Spirituall as are the Vnderstanding and the Will In the Head are likewise placed the exteriour sences As Seeing Hearing Smelling Tasting Touching and other faculties and vertues wherewith the life of man is sustained and gouerned And therfore S. Ambrose calls it Imperialem Aulam the Imperiall Court because therein resides the Imperiall power or that Empresse the Will which ruleth and Commandeth all those powers and faculties as being obedient and subiect vnto her And wee may also stile it Regalem Aulam the Princes Pallace for therein abideth assisted by it's operations the Vnderstanding as a King in his Court. For if the Will bee tearmed an Empresse of it's Empire and rule The Vnderstanding is called a King because it directeth and gouerneth in Man and vnto Man all his operations Lactan. Firm. Lib. de Opificio Dei cap. 12. Heb. 1. c. 6.7 guiding them to their due and fit ends Lactantius contrary vnto Galen sayth of the Head that it is the first member that is formed in Man and hath the Primacie ouer all the rest And is for this cause called Caput which is the same with Principium as some Doctors doe expound it And in the Spanish tongue they call the first lines of a Processe Cabeca de Processo the head of the Processe or the beginning of it And it carryes the same signification in the Latin In capite libri scriptum est de me M. Varro Rob. Steph. in Thesau 1. Plato in Tim. id est in principio Libri And for this we haue not onely Varro's but also Robertus Stephanus his Confirmation Caput dicitur quod inde initium capiant Sensus It is called Head because from thence the sences haue their Head and Beginning As also for that the Head is the Well-head of Mans life From it haue their originall and in it do all the Sences liue It Sees Heares Smells and Tastes not onely for it selfe but for the whole body that is for the good and benefit of all the members and parts of the body Hence it followeth that the Institution of the State-royall or of a King which is represented in the Head was not ordained onely for the Kings owne vse and profit but for the generall well-fare of his Kingdome And therefore hee ought to See Heare Taste and vnderstand not only by him selfe or for himselfe but by all and for all He ought not onely to haue an eye to his important affayres but likewise to the good of his Subiects Being that for them and not for himselfe onely a King was borne to the World Seneca lib. de Clem. Aduerte saith Seneca to the Emperor Nero rempublicam non esse tuam sed te reipublicae Consider that the Common-wealth is not thine but thou the Common-wealths Those first men who leauing solitude assembled themselues to liue in a Community knew full well that naturally euery one careth for himselfe and his owne people but no man that taketh care for all in generall And therefore they did agree amongst themselues to choose one of more especiall valour and worth to whom all might haue recourse And that he who among them all should be most renowned for his vertue prudence and fortitude should preside ouer all the rest and should rule and gouerne them that he should be watchfull ouer all of them that he should be solicitous of the common good and profit of them all and to be as carefull of them as a father would be of his children or a Shepheard of his sheepe And weighing with themselues that such a kinde of Man as this ought to be imploying himselfe not in his owne but other mens businesses could not be able to maintaine himselfe and his familie for then all did eate of the labour of their owne hands and the sweate of their browes they did ioyntly resolue to finde his house and to sustaine and maintaine him Regall power was first ordayned for the ease of the people that hee might not be withdrawen by other by businesses but apply himselfe wholy to those of the Common good and to publicke gouernment For this end were they established This was the beginning that Kings had and it ought to be the care of a good King to care more for the publike then his owne particular good All his Greatnesse is at the cost of a great deale of care trouble vexation and inquietude both of Soule and Body He is wearinesse to himselfe to others he is their ease their sustenance and their defence Like vnto your fayrest flowers and fruits which although they beautifie the tree they are not so much for it or for it's owne respect as for others Let not any Man thinke that all the good doth consist in the beauty and brauery wherewith the flower doth flourish and in the goodly shew wherewith the Great ones of the world doe gallant it your powerfull Kings and Princes are flowers but flowers which fade and wither wast their life to preserue others drawing care vpon themselues and affording comfort vnto others others more inioying the fruit then they themselues For as Philon Iudaeus saith A King to his Kingdome is that which a wise man to the ignorant a sheepheard to his sheepe a father to his children light vnto darkenesse and that which God heere on earth is to all his creatures For this Title he gaue vnto Moses when he made him King and Ruler ouer his people Signifying vnto him that he was to be as God the common father of them all Seneca lib. de Consolat ad Polib c. 26. For to all this doth the Office and dignitie of a King oblige him Omnium domos illius vigilantia defendit omnium otium illius labor omnium delitias illius industria omnium vacationem illius occupatio His subiects houses are guarded and secured by his Vigilancie their ease procured by his labour their delights inioyed by his industry and their merry vacations by his painefull imployments And therfore the Prophet Samuell sayd vnto king Saul anon after he was annointed King ouer Israel declaring vnto him the obligations of his Office Behold Saul now that God hath annointed
To a wise man halfe a word is enough And he that is wise and well vnderstands what it is to gouerne and to be a Head knowes that Gouernment and Charge or Loade is all one And that the words themselues Regere and Portare are Synonomyes and haue one and the selfe same signification For there is not any Gouernment or charge which is without it's burthen and trouble In that repartment and diuision of Offices which Iacob conferr'd vpon his children he marked out Reuben to be the first in Inheritance Gen. 49 3. and the greatest in gouernment Prior in donis maior in imperio Thou art my first in the excellencie of dignitie Hierom. in Traduc Hebraicis in Gen. the excellencie of power which S. Ierome renders Maior ad portandum The greatest to beare For Empire and bearing are both one thing And by how much the Empire is the greater by so much the greater is the toyle and trouble and the burthen the heauier St Gregory in his Moralls saith That the power Gregor lib. 24. Moral c. 26. Dominion and Signorie which Kings haue ouer their subiects ought not to be esteemed an honour but a trouble Potestas accepta non honor sed onus aestimatur And the blindest Gentiles did attaine to this light of truth And one of them vsed the selfe same phrase of speech speaking of another that was much puffed vp and well contented with the charge and office which Apollo had allotted him Ouid. Metam Laetus erat mixtoque oneri gaudebat honore So that to rule and Command is a Mixture of a little honour and much trouble And the Latin word which signifieth honour doth not differ more then in one Letter from that which signifieth a loade or burthen Onos onus For H. is but an aspiration Nor was there euer that man yet wanting nor euer will be to take for Honours sake this burthen vpon him Though all of them can be well content to take as little of the loade as they can vpon them but as much of the Honor as you will howbeit this is not the securest Course But I shall conclude this Chapter with this Aduiso That the Office of a King consists not so much in the outward operation though in this hee is not to faile as in the inward apprehension Which in it's own nature may imbrace infinite things not as infinite but as such as may be reduced to a few points nor no more then shall be pointed at in this Treatise Which ought alwayes of a wise prudent King to be well vnderstood to make vse of as many of them as hee can and which do more particularly appertaine vnto his Office and to leaue the rest vnto his Ministers A King must be like the Heart in the Body which solely of it selfe cannot performe all those offices which all the members more particularly may But by the helpe and meanes of diuers Instruments members and Organs diffusing sending forth their vertue vnto them it findes it selfe in the operation of them all The king is the heart of the kingdome and must worke therin like it not doing all by himselfe for that is impossible and instead of doing good would do hurt by keeping himselfe in his proper Station without transiliating that Circle which more particularly belongeth vnto him and performing those Offices which another cannot execute for him by his great power and vertue he may in a diffusiue manner haue recourse to all the parts euen the most remote of his kingdome take a care of all and haue a hand in all And this care is as proper to a King as it is to the heart it being impossible for the heart to liue without care And from thence it takes it's name and Appellatiue Cor saith Isidore dicitur à cura Isidor lib. 4. Etym. or which is the Heart is so called à Cura from it's care For it is that which takes care of Mans life Ego dormio Cor meum vigilat I sleepe but my Heart waketh Cant. 5.2 While Man sleepes the heart still beates and taketh care of the life and conseruation of the whole body sending forth to all the parts thereof it 's naturall vertue and heate without the least dis-carefullnesse in the world loosing it's owne quiet to giue Man ease And therefore the Spouse called her Beloued her Heart because hee performed this office with her And the like must a King doe in his Kingdome He must watch and forgoe his owne sleepe and quiet that his Vassalls may take their ease and rest vpon paine of being vnfaithfull and defectiue in that fidelitie which is due vnto the office of a King 1. Tim. 5.8 This made S. Paul to say Si quis suorum curam non habet fidem negauit If any prouide not for his owne hee hath denied the faith and is worse then an Infidel The heart likewise hath another property very proper vnto Kings which is it 's continuall beating on the left side The Author of Nature being desirous by this secret to teach Kings that they should apply themselues with more care to the weakest part and that which hath most neede of their helpe The right side is more assisted with naturall heate and blood then the left which is more stript of these fauours And in this the Heart showes that Kings should shew their King-craft and the finenesse of their care towards poore needy people and such as are destitute of all humane fauour For to the rich and mighty blood aboundeth and nothing is wanting vnto them God doth illighten Kings which are the Heads of the people to the end that they may doe in their Kingdomes all that which a good Head ought to doe with it's body by whose offices wee will goe discoursing those of the mysticall Head of this body of a Common-wealth which is the King beginning first with the vnderstanding and it's pertinencies or whatsoeuer appertaineth thereunto which is the first in perfection and whereunto in regard of it's Actiue beginning and end the rest of the Sences are in ordination According to that measure of Light which he shall vouchsafe to Communicate vnto vs who is that true Light which illighteneth euery Man that commeth into the world CHAP. V. Of the reason and vnderstanding of Kings and of their wisedome IN good and true Philosophy and the best receiued Diuinity it is auerred that the vnderstanding and naturall reason is the most principall power that is in Man by which he is distinguished from Beasts and is the principium radix the ground and root of wisedome And by how much the more ingenious a man is of better vnderstanding by so much the more is he capable thereof and the more intensiuely doth he loue it And for this cause did Pythagoras call wise men Philosophers Louers or coueters of Wisdome because the possession thereof doth set an edge on the desire and makes a man
might be bred vp such subiects in qualitie learning and vertue that out of them Election might be made of fit men for greater Counsells And that the Presidents should be chosen out of the said Councells in which they were bred vp it is very conuenient and grounded vpon good reason For hauing beene conuersant in them some yeeres by the concourse of so many things as dayly offer themselues thereby will be better knowen their talent and capacitie their truth their treating their integritie and all the worth and parts of their person whereby the election that shall be made will be much the better more certaine in the things vndertaken and more safe and secure in matter of conscience And who is he can doubt but that those Counsailours which haue beene for a long time in your supremer Councells will haue greater knowledge of the qualitie and substance of those businesses which are treated in them together with those necessary circumstances which make for their better expedition Besides they will more prefectly know the State wherein the businesses of that Tribunall stand without being driuen to haue recourse vnto others to be better informed spending and loosing much time therein Againe they know which is a matter of no small consideration the rest of the Counsailours as also their condition their abilitie their cleannesse of hands and heart and their good or bad parts for there better then else where are they discouered And this knowledge is very necessary in Presidents for to deliberate and make choise vpon all occasions of the fittest persons that are to be trusted with businesses of importance And it is of no lesse consequence to take notice of the suitors and pretenders for to know how to carry themselues towards them to take particular knowledge of the good customes ceremonies preheminencies and priuileges of those Councells that they may be kept and obserued and that the authoritie of the Tribunall may be maintained and all discordes and Competitions a voyded All these things are learned with time and that experience which euery one hath of his proper Councell wherein it is very requisite that the President be a Master and not a Schollar as he is who enters newly into a Councell though he haue serued many yeares in another and of no little inconuenience are the nouelties which they both attempt and do who are admitted without this experience being desirous to accommodate and order things according to the measure of their own discourse And howbeit the want of experience be in Counsailours a matter of much consideration and may be tolerated and borne withall in some yet in realtie of truth the lacke thereof in a President is intolerable and very preiudiciall to the whole Common-wealth And from thence arise many great mischiefes and those remedilesse For some out of ignorance and some out of flatterie do leane to their opinion whereby many vniust decrees passe whilest the experienced and wiser sort which euermore are the fewer haue not power equall to their sufficiencie to turne the course of the streame And for th s reason so many difficulties offer themselues so many differences are raised amongst them and so many resolutions delayd and put off and peraduenture erre in the end too which would haue required a quicke and speedy Dispatch But when a President hath that experience which is needfull he will not gâ—ue way to these delayes but being priuie to his own sufficiencie and confident that he is in the right looke what he presseth and affirmeth the authoritie of his person and place will make it good and strike a great if not the only stroake in the businesse For these and diuerse other reasons in all well-gouerned Common-wealths and Communities I wouâ—d haue them make choise for Gouernment of such subiects as haue beene bred vp and liu'd some yeares in them for they cannot but haue a great aduantage of those that are strangers thereunto though otherwise of equall parts And this is the trace and tracke of the Holy Ghost marked out vnto vs by S. Paul Heb. 5.1 Omnis enim Pontifex ex hominibus assumptus pâ—o hominibus constituitur For euery high Priest taken from among men is ordained for men For it matetreth much that the head be of the same substance as is the body and that all the members be of one and the same kinde not to haue a head of gold a body of brasse and feete of clay like vnto Nabuchodonazars image but that all the whole body be one and the selfe same flesh and bone all of the same matter and informed with the same forme That bundle of sheafes which Ioseph saw his like the King-sheafe lifting vp his head higher then the rest and if we may beleeue the Rabbins reaching as high as heauen and those of his brethren prostrate on the ground doing homage thereunto is the Embleme of the body of a Councell it's President like vnto that of king Pharaoh And the sacred Text doth not say that that tall and high sheafe was different in matter from the rest but that all were of the same eare and stalke giuing vs thereby to vnderstand that he that is to be the Head or President of the whole body of a Councell though he be to be higher then the rest in the dignitie and hight of his Office yet for all this God would not that he should be made of any other kinde of matter then were the rest of the members That he should not be some great block-headed Lord or a man without wit or learning that in his carriage and manner of life he should seeme to be cut out of another peece of cloath but that hee should bee of the selfe same qualitie fashion and profession And that the President of euery Councell should be chosen from amongst the Counsailours themselues that they be moulded out of the same Masse and lumpe as well the feete as the head that there goe as we say but a payre of sheares betweene them and that they be clad all in one and the same liuerie And God giuing order to his Vice-roy and in it to all Kings how he was to choose a President that should be the Head and ruler ouer his people saith thus vnto him Eum constitues Deut. 17.15 quem Dominus tuus elegerit de numero fratrum tuorum Thou shalt in any wise set him King ouer thee whom thy Lord thy God shall choose One from among thy brethren shalt thou set King ouer thee And howbeit God had heere exprest himselfe so plainely and that he himselfe had the nominating of the person and therefore there could be no errour in the Election yet it seemeth God was not satisfied heerewith but comes presently with another Prouiso and a second Mandatum saying Thou mayst not set a stranger ouer thee hominem alterius gentis which is not thy brother He must not be of another people or of another familie As if he should haue said not
giue them iust cause to grieue and complaine that for them onely there is neither King Fauourite nor Minister to haue accesse vnto This Rapsodye and multitude of eares and the difference between the one and the other King Dauid giues vs to vnderstand in that his Audience which he crau'd of God Domine Exaudi orationem meam auribus percipe obsecrationem meam Psal 143.1 Heare my prayer O Lord bow downe thine eare and hearken vnto my supplication He saith Heare me O Lord but how or in what maner With thine eares I beseech thee Tell me thou holy king why dost thou say with thine eares Might not that phrase of speech beene spared Or wouldst thou happely that God should heare thee with his eyes or his mouth No certainly But because it is a vsuall custome with Kings that gouerne great Monarchies who by reason of the varietie and multitude of businesses cannot by themselues giue eare vnto all and informe themselues of the truth to remit part of them to others that they may heare the Parties and informing themselues of the busines may send it afterwards to the Consulta there to be debated One comes with his Memoriall to the King The King wills him to speake vnto the President or to such a Secretary that he may inform But Dauid here saith Remit me not O Lord vnto any other for remissions are remissions the very word telling vs that to remit a busines is to make it remisse and slow and that there is vsed therein so much remission that a mans life is oftentimes ended before his busines Auribus percipe Doe thou thy selfe heare me with thine owne eares without remitting me to the hearing of others But to heare all and in all partes without remission to other mens eares who can doe this saue onely God And for my part I am of opinion that they alluded vnto this who as wee told you painted their God without eares for to giue vs thereby to vnderstand that it is peculiar onely vnto God to heare without eares and to heare all without standing in neede of other Oydos or Oydores For such a necessitie were in God a defect But in Kings it were a defect to doe otherwise for they are notable to heare all of themselues and therfore must of force make vse of other mens eares And therefore as Nature in Mans body hath disposed different Members necessary for it's proper conseruation as the eyes to see the eares to heare the tongue to talke the hands to worke the feete to walke and all of them to assist to the Empire of the soule So in like manner this Mysticall body of the Common-wealth whereof the King is the soule and Head must haue it's members which are those his Ministers which are Subiect to the Empire of their king by whom hee disposeth and executeth all that which doth conuene for it's Gouernment conseruation and augmentation Arist de Anima Aristotle renders the reason why your huge and extraordinary tall men are but weake And as I take it it is this The rationall Soule saith he is solely one indiuisible and of a limited vertue or power and that it cannot attayne to that strength and force as to giue vigour to those partes that are so farre distant and remote in a body beyond measure great Now if the body of this Monarchie be so vaste and exceeding great and goes dayly increasing more and more and that the Soule of the King which is to gouerne it to animate it and to giue it life doth not increase nor is multiplyed nor augmented at least in it's Ministers How is it possible that a King of himselfe alone should bee able to afford assistance to all And to giue life and being to so many partes and members that are set so far assunder so great is the Office of a king especially if he be Master of many Kingdomes that it is too great a Compasse for one mans reach and it is not one man alone that can fill and occupie a whole Kingdome and be present in all it's partnes And therefore of force he must make vse of other folkes helpe and more particularly of those which serue him instead of eares such as are all your superiour Ministers of Counsells These great Officers are called in the Spanish Oydores of Oyr To heare And the eares of the head are called Oydoras of their hearing And your Iudges of the land Oydores Hearers of Mens causes And as they are alike in name so ought they likewise to be alike in Office and to resemble the Originall which it representeth to the life and it 's true nature Now what Office is most proper and most naturall to the eares you will all grant mee that it is to heare alwayes neuer to be shut Your eyes haue their port-cullis which they open or shut as they see cause The mouth hath the like But the eares like bountifull house keepers haue their doores still open and those leafes which they haue on either side are neuer shut neuer so much as once wagge And it is Pliny's obseruation That onely man Plin. natur Hist lib. 2. of all other creatures hath his eares immmobile and with out any the least mouing And Horace holdes it an ill signe to wagg them but a worse to stop them Sicut aspides surdae obturantes aures suas Psal 58.5 Like deafe adders stopping their eares that they may not heare sicut Aspides which are fierce and cruell creatures and of whom it is sayd that they are borne as deafe as a doore naile and to this their naturall deafenes they adde another that is artificiall whereby they grow more deafe by poysoning that part and by winding their tayle close about their head and sometimes laying the one eare close to the ground and stopping the other with the tipp of their tayle that they may stop and damme vp all the wayes by which the Voyce of the Charmer might enter in Vnto whom Dauid compares those who being Oydos del Rey the Kings eares or to speake in the vsuall phrase Oydores del Reyno the Kingdomes eares doe shut and stop their eares that they may not giue due and fitting Audience Being naturally enemies to their owne profession which is to heare seeking out shiftes and tricks that the Cryes and Complaints of the poore may not come to their eares There is not any crueltie comparable to this to see a poore suitor trot vp and downe a moneth or two together labouring to haue Audience and in stead of letting him in hath the doore still shut against him Nature would not allow doores to the eares yet these that are the Common-wealths eares make profit of the doores of their houses and command them to be kept shut your suitors they come and goe but my sennior Oydor my Lord iudge he that should haue his doores open to giue open hearing to all Comers is shut vp in his closet and cannot be spoken withall
my fathers house King Ioram reigning in Israel there was so great a Famine and so sore a Dearth in that Kingdome that two women by consent did agree to kill their children and to eate them by turnes Which the King had no sooner heard of but that he was so inwardly grieued therewith that in expression of his sorrow he rent his garments according to the custome of the Hebrewes on such like sad occasions and put on sack-cloath within vpon his flesh 1 King 14.43 Because Prince Ionathan did but dip the tippe of his rod in the hony-combe when as his father King Saul and all his men of warre were fighting against the Philistins God was much offended with it Thereby teaching Kings that on the like occasions they ought to be the first that should abstaine from their pleasures and delightes signified by the Hony-combe That valiant Captaine Vrias was a good master of this doctrine who being returned from the Armie to the Court 2 King 11.11 called thither by the King would by no meanes be perswaded to goe home to his owne house to refresh himselfe and make merry with his wife though his Maiestie willed him so to doe And the reason which he rendred why he would not doe it was this Arca Dei et Iuda habitant in papiliâ—nibus c. The Arke and Israel and Iudah abiding in Tents and my Lord Ioab with the whole Army lying incamped in the open fields without any other shelter and being in that great danger that they are shall I then goe into mine house to eate and to drinke and to lye with my wife Por salutem tuam et per salutem anima tuae non facium reâ— haenc As thou liuest and as thy soule liueth I will not doe this thing And not only in the common calamities of a whole Common-wealth but also in those particular ones of great persons that haue beene seruiceable to the state it is fit and requisit and well will it become Kings that they make shew of their sorrow by laying aside their feastings and all other kinde of solacings and mirthfull Intertainments 2 King 3.33 When King Dauid vnderstood of the death of that braue Commander Abner he wept bitterly before the people and commanded that none should taste bread or ought else till the Sunne were downe saying vnto his seruants Ibi. vers 38. Num ignoratis quoniam princeps et Maximum cecidit hodiè in Israel Know yee not that there is a Prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel But some will say that we do not well in aduising Kings or the Common people on sad occasions to forbeare their sports and pastimes it seeming vnto them that they ought rather then to seeke after them for the diuerting of melancholy and banishing of sorrow Vrging Pluâ—arâ—es authoritie who reprehendeth those men who when they are already merrily disposed hunt after intertainments and pastimes wishing them to doe that when they finde themselues sad and heauie for then they haue most neede of it Here vnto I first of all answer that the reason is not alike in a particular person as in a King and a Common-wealth which as wee sayd before are to be considered and vnderstood as a body with it 's Head And as in a mans body the head doth naturally feele the paine of the arme the foote or any other member So Kings which are the Heads of the people are to haue a feeling of their subiects miseries to pittie the ill case wherein they at any time are as if it were their owne And this was that which moued the Apostle S. Paul to say Quando patitur vnum membrum compatinutur omnia membra 1 Cor. 12.26 When one member suffreth all the members suffer with it This is that Trauazon or coupling peece of timber in a Common-wealth and this both humane policie and mans naturall disposition doth require that when we see others suffer we should suffer with them in our common coÌ„passion towards them And the Law of charitie goes somewhat farther and would stretch this obligation to a greater and higher perfection as was to be seene in the sayd Apostle Quis infirmatur et ego non infirmor 2. Cor. 11.29 Quis scandalizatur et ego non vror Who is weake and I am not weake Who is offended Cor. 11.2.29 and I burne not And in that which the Prophet Ieremie sayd Ierem. 20.9 who crossing the Kings humour and opposing his vaine pleasures and delights and representing the truth of things vnto him and what was fitting for him to doe his heart was all on a flame a burning fire was shut vp in his bones and hee was weary with bearing and could not holde so farre was he transported and so mightily inflamed with the zeale of the Kings and the Common-wealthes good Secondly I say That as before hath beene deliuered by mee I do not pretend to debarre Kings and Common-wealths of their pleasures and recreations But my desire is which I wish with all my heart that they may be such as may be harmelesse and vn-offensiue with out remordment and sting of Conscience and without the murmuration and notice of the people And this may easily be done by doing of that which the glorious S. Ierome aduiseth vs to doe ex necessitate virtutem making a vertue of necessitie but I doe not say ex necessitate but ex voluptate virtutem That is to say I would haue them to place their delight and content in that which is true vertue and godlinesse in cumplying with the obligations of their Office and Calling in giuing free and frequent Audience in hearing those that are wronged and oppressed in disposing of Offices in Dispatching of businesses or in causing them to be dispatcht and to spend their time or the most part thereof in these and the like cumplying with that of that Royall Prophet In virtute tua Laetabitur Rex Psal 21.1 super salutare tuum exultabit vehementer The King shall ioy in thy strength O Lord And in thy Saluation how greatly shall hee reioyce And from thence will follow that which presently followeth in the next Verse Desiderium cordis eius tribuisti ei Ibi. 2. et voluntate labiorum eius non fraudasti eum Thou hast giuen him his hearts desire and hast not with-holden the request of his lips King Salomon sayes of himselfe that he gaue his desires as much as they could desire that he gaue himself ouer to his delights contents with that freedome and libertie as suted with the greatnes of so powerful a king But that which he got therby was not the content which he sought after but distaste irkesomnes wearines griefe vexatioÌ„ of spirit which he himself hath left firmed signed with his own name for an example not only to all kings but to all the whole world Vidi in omnibus vanitatem Eccl. 2.11 et afflictionem animi et
Kings Paragraph 1 Of the Magnanimitie of minde which Kings ought to haue Paragraphe 2. Of the blandure gentlenesse and loue which Kings ought to haue Parag. 3. That it much importeth Kings to haue the good Loue and affection of their Subiects Parag. 4. Of sagacitie sharpnesse of wit and quicknesse of apprehension which Kings ought to haue Parag. 5. Of the Discretion which Kings ought to haue Chap. 27. Of the sense of Tasting and of the vertue of Temperance and how well it befitteth Kings Chap. 28. When and at what time sports and pastimes are worthiest reprehension in Kings Parag. 1. Of the Language and Truth which Kings and wherewith Kings are to treate and to be treated Parag. 2. That Kings ought to keepe their Faith and Word Parag. 3. Of that secrecie which Kings and their Ministers ought to keepe Parag. 4. Of Flatterers and their flatteries Chap. 29. Of the sense of Touching Parag. 1 Of Temperance Parag. 2 Of another remedie against Excesses and superfluities depending on the example of Kings Chap. 30. Whether it be fit for Kings to haue Fauourites Chap. 31. Of another sort of Fauourites Chap. 32 Whether it bee fit for Kings to haue any more then one Fauourite Chap. 33 Of the Conditions and Qualities of Fauourites Chap. 34 How Kings ought to carry themselues towards their Fauourites Chap. 35 Whether the Kinsfolke and Friends of Fauourites are to be excluded from Offices Chap. 36 The Conclusion of the former Discourse with some Aduertisements for Kings and Fauourites Chap. 37 Aduertisements for Fauourites and Councellours of State SAP 6. v. 10. Ad vos O Reges sunt hi Sermones mei vt discatis sapientiam non excidatis Qui enim custodierint iusta iustè iustificabuntur qui didicerint iusta invenient quid respondeant VVISDOM 6. v. 10. Vnto you therefore o Kings doe I speake that yee may learne VVisedome and not goe amisse For they that keepe holinesse holily shall be holy and they that are learned there shall finde defence CHAP. 1. Wherein it is breifly treated what is comprehended in this Word Republicke together with it's Definition MAny and those of the grauest sorte that haue beene well versed in all kinde of Learning haue written of a Republicke or Common-wealth And haue diuided and sub-diuided it into many and sundry species and defined it after diuerse and different maners A prolixe and tedious businesse and full of difficulties and farre wide of my intension which is in few both words and reasons to describe a mysticall body with it's Head and principall members and the peculiar Offices belonging to euery one of them leauing to such as shall take pleasure therein the multitude of vnprofitable Questions the ornament of humane Eloquence and the Magazine of prophane histories being of little truth lesse efficacie And taking thence my beginning whence all begin Arist lib. 3. Polit. cap 1. lib. 4. cap. 1. To wit from the definition or Description I say with Aristotle and Plato That a Common-wealth is no other thing saue an Order of Citizens and Cities in which and amongst whom nothing is wanting that is necessary and needefull for the life of Man It is a iust gouernment and disposition of many families and of a Communitie amongst them with a superiour authoritie ouer them And it is a Congregation of many people vnited together fraternized with certaine Lawes and rules of gouernment And because I will not loose time in things not necessarie I omit that gouernment which the Greekes call Aristocratia which is the gouernment of the Nobility as it is with the Signorie of Venice And your Democratia which is popular and consistes of the Many as that of Genoa and the Cantons of the Switz Which though approued by many haue their inconueniences and those no small ones For the Nobilitie and powerfull persons if they not perseuere in the obseruance of the Lawes of good gouernment they presently grow to be couetous and are much subiect to Ambition And because they are but a few they feare the multitude and for to conserue themselues exercise cruelty whereby in the ende it turnes to a Tyrannie For as Mecoenas saith The state of a few Lords is the state of a few Tyrants And he that is the most powerfull the most ambitious and best be friended and respected of the people vpon the least dissension ioynes with the multitude which being it is naturally enuious mutable and a friend to innouation will with a great deale of facilitie ouerthrow the Common-wealth And say the Nobles do not side but agree amongst themselues yet cannot they but liue in feare of the infidelitie of the Vulgar for ordinarily those that haue a hand in the gouernment are more enuied then those that haue none at al. Besides it is a weake kind of gouernment nor is it possible that these few Lords can in large conquer conserue a great Empire as can a King or a Monarke because the forces are lesse vnited in them then in him And the people which is little interessed hath no share or part in those honourable places carry a Capital hatred to your great persons and are hardly drawn to such liberall Contributions as may sustaine a War and subdue kingdomes Your popular Estate in falling from that equality which it pretendeth is easily conuerted into a licentious libertie or rather loosenesse pulling down some setting vp others and is much subiect to Alterations through it's inconstancie weake head-pieces of the Popular For as Tully saith the sea hath not so many stormes perills tempestes as hath this kind of Cōmonwealth And of force euery one attending his owne proper good and priuate interest it must runne vpon one of these two rockes Either on the Tyrannie of him that is the strongest and vpheld by the fauour of the Maior part liftes vp himselfe aboue them all Or on the Plebeian gouernment then which none can be worse for all then falls into the hands of ignorant people who put ordinary people into the highest places of honour and command without any distinction or reckoning of rich noble wise or vertuous What good Counsaile or sound Aduise can all the Communaltie giue put all their braines together in a doubtfull case or businesse of importance Eccl. 7.27 when as Salomon saith there is scarce one to be found of a thousand of abilitie and sufficiencie in this kinde But put case that such a one may happily be found amongst them how shall he be heard with silence What patience will their eares lend him What secrecie will be had in that which is treated be it of Peace or War that it be not divulged before it 's due execution your Tumultes and seditions shall be more ordinary and greater then in other states because your meaner sorte of people are gouerned more by their owne vnruly appetites and womanish longings then by reason and discretion And your base and cruell Vulgar which vpon the least
haue had the estimation of sound iudgements and accounted wise in all kind of faculties haue held this to be the best and perfectest gouernment and with out it neuer Citie nor kingdome hath beene taken to be well gouerned Your good Kings and great Gouernours haue euer fauoured this Course whereas on the contrarie your bad kings and euill Gouernours transported with their pride haue runne another way And therefore in conformitie heereunto I dare confidently affirme if a Monarke be hee what he will be shall resolue businesses alone on his own head how wise soeuer he thinke himself without hauing recourse to his Councell or against the opinion of his Counsellours although he do Acertar and hit right in his resolutions yet therein he breakes the bounds of a Monarchie and enters into those of a Tyranny Of whose Examples and the euill successes insuing thereupon the Histories are full But one shall serue instead of many And that shall be of Tarquinius Superbus taken out of the first Booke of Titus Liuius Liv. lib. 1. who out of his great pride and haughtinesse of minde that he might rule all himselfe and haue none else to haue a hand in any businesse made it his Master peece to weaken the authority of the Roman Senate in lessening the number of Senatours Which he purposely did that he wholy and solely by himselfe might determine all whatsoeuer that occurred in the kingdome In this Monarchie or Kingdome there are three parts or parties to be considered of whom principally we are to treate The King The Ministers and the Vassalls And if in a humane body the Anatomie consideration of the Head be the nicest subtillest and most difficult what difficultie will it not be and what a daintie hand will it not require to touch talke and treate of a king who is the head of the Commonwealth And hence I inferre that for to treate of Kings and to prescribe them Precepts and Documents touching a Kingdome he ought to be such a wise King as was Salomon Who considering the difficulties and dangers which may in this matter offer themselues aduiseth all without any difference that they should not seeme to be desirous to seeme wise before their Temporall kings For no man howsoeuer fulfill'd with wisedome is speaking in his kings presence secure and safe Penes Regem noli velle videri sapiens Eccl. 7.5 Boast not thy wisedome in the presence of the King The reason is for that he that is the supreme soueraigne in Temporall power whom all acknowledge and obey as their Superiour risenteth it much to see himselfe inferiour in a thing of so greate esteeme as is wisedome and discretion Xenophon laying his foundation on this opinion introduceth Cambises instructing his sonne Cyrus King of Persia how he ought to carry himself in his Kingdome As also Alexander who receiued his Militarie Precepts from his father Philip and not from any other that was inferiour vnto him It is written of Agasicles king of the Lacedemonians that he refused to learne Philosophie of a famous Philosopher of those times it seeming vnto him that being a king it was not fitting he should be his Scholler whose sonne he was not As if he should haue sayd That he onely by a naturall obligation acknowledged him alone and that he contented himselfe with that which he had learned from him and would not acknowledge any other inferiour vnto him in birth though neuer so much before him in learning and knowledge But this difficulty I purpose to ouercome by proposing in this my Treatise vnto kings not mine owne Reasons nor those which I might draw from great Philosophers and humane Histories but from the words of God and of his Saints and from Histories Diuine and Canonicall whose Instructions kings may not disdaine nor take it as an affront to submit themselues thereunto be they being Christians neuer so powerfull neuer so supreme because the Author that dictates these Lessons vnto them is the Holy-Ghost And if I shall at any time alleage the Examples of heathen Kings and shall make some good benefit of Antiquitie and serue my selfe with the sentences of Philosophers that were strangers vnto Gods people it shall be very sparingly and as it comes in my way and as one that ceazeth vpon his owne goods if he fortune to light vpon them and taketh them from those that vniustly detaine and possesse them CHAP. II. What the name of King signifieth THis name of King in Diuine and humane Letters is very ancient and so old as is the first Man For in Gods creating of him euen before that there were many Men he made him King ouer all the beastes of the field And it is a most noble Appellatiue and that which is better and more neerely representeth vnto vs the Maiestie of God who very frequently in the holy Scriptures and with much propriety is called King And it is the common opinion of the Wisest that it signifieth one that rules and gouernes being deduced from the Latine word Regere which is to rule or gouerne Reges à regendo dicti sunt saith S. Isidore Ideò quilibet rectè faciendo regis nomen tenet sed peccando amittit And considering with more attention this it 's true Etymologie he is properly sayd to be a King who ouer mastring his passions doth first rule and gouerne himselfe cumplying as he ought with the obligations of his Estate without offence either to God or his neighbour and next hath a care to rule others and to procure all he can that all may doe the like And he that shall do the contrary laying his foundation on humane wisedom and reason of State regardeth more his own temporall commoditie and proper Interest then the good of the Commonwealth This suteth not with the name he holdeth nor may he be called a king neither is he so for himselfe nor for others because he neither knowes to rule himselfe nor others Malus si regnet saith S. Austen servus est Aug lib. 4. de Civit. Dei cap. 2. He hath the Appellation and honourable name of a king but in very truth see how many vices reigne in him so many times is hee a servant nay a very slaue It was the aduice of Agapitus to Iustinian the Emperour that he should haue an eye ouer himselfe and looke well to his actions for albeit he were a King and a great Prince yet the Title of King did then convene to him when he should be Master of himselfe and curbing his unruly appetites should of a King become a Vassall to Reason and Iustice Hee that is good and iust is a God vpon earth and from thence is the name of King deriued vnto him and is his Vicar in all causes for to maintaine his Subiects in Iustice and Truth by his Empire and Command and to sustaine all things in Order Policie and Peace And therefore a Law of the Partida sayes thus Lib. 2. lib. 7. Tit. 1. part
to couet it the more for it's treasure is infinite and no man can exhaust it And therefore the more a man hath of it the more he desireth it It is the retreit and receptacle of faith and of all the Arts and Sciences both practicke and speculatiue hauing an vniuersall aptitude to receiue them all into it selfe and vpon the apprehension of them to put them in execution And although it be a potentia or faculty of a limited power yet so great is it's capacity and of that amplenesse and ablenesse to receiue and containe that it seemeth infinite for let a man know neuer so much yet can he not fill vp his knowledge For such and such notions dispose the vnderstanding for others Knowledge begetteth knowledge and the more things a man knoweth so much the more easily doth he apprehend those he knoweth not till he come to the perfect inquiry and knowledge of the truth and by conuersing with the wise and exercise of good Letters hee goes still rising higher and higher And by how much the more a man is aduanced in his vnderstanding so much the more aduantage shall he haue of those which haue not the same measure Suting with that saying of the Comicke Poet who wondering to see the great difference betweene man man cryes out Homo homini quid praestat So much doth one man differ from another in wisdome and prudence that they seeme to be different species And hence is it that the aduantage which a wise man hath ouer those that are not so is to make him King ouer all the people Which lesson God taught vs in the first King he made choice of for his people who standing in the midst of his Subiects was taller then any of them from the sholders vpwards so that his head shew'd it selfe aboue them all 1 Sam. 10.28 And the word Melech which in the originall signifieth a king in that large eminent Letter which stands in the midst of it doth mistically giue vs to vnderstand the excellency that aboue others Kings ought to haue And therefore Plato stiled a prudent and wise Gouernour Virum divinum a diuine man presupposing that he should be somewhat more then a man and exceed in diuine wisedome all other Gouernours whatsoeuer Vbi sapiens ibi est Deus in humano corpore And therefore as God by way of eminency containeth the perfections of all the Creatures so as farre forth as a Creature can a wise King should and that with much aduantage possesse the perfections of all his people And the holy Scripture teacheth vs that God created man after his own image and likenesse giuing him Vnderstanding Memory and Will And hauing created him Gen. 1.26 made him King ouer all he had created Vt praesit piscibus Maris volatilibus Coeli bestijs vniversae Terrae c. To haue dominion ouer the Fish of the Sea and ouer the Fowle of the Aire ouer the Cattle c. And this was granted him and did accompany the common nature of men But to rule and command to be Lord and Gouernour ouer men themselues as are Kings is a farre greater matter and such as requireth a greater measure of Vnderstanding and Wisedome and he that hath most store thereof shall reape the most profit by it as he that wants it shall contrarywise finde the lacke of it Salomon the wisest of Kings as he was both wise and a King could better then any other informe vs of what importance are Vnderstanding and Wisdome in Kings In whose name he speaketh when he saith Per me Reges regnant Prou. 8.15 per me Principes imperant By me Kings reigne and Princes decree iustice To the wiseman the Scepter and Crowne of right belongeth For wisdome her selfe as being the most essentiall forme of Kings makes him King and Monarch ouer others And in all Nations almost they gaue the same name and the same Ensignes to Empire and Wisdome And S. Paul makes them Synonomies and will haue them to signifie one and the same thing She alone by keeping Gods commandements will be sufficient in a King to make him pleasing and acceptable vnto God and to be cut out according to the measure of his own heart And though some are of a larger heart and vnderstanding then other some yet with God to be wise is that which conueneth most both to King and Subiect By Esay the Prophet God promiseth to all his people a golden age happy dayes and fortunate times wherein all shall haue a share of happinesse peace equity iustice health content and abundance of fruits But comming vnto Kings he saith no more but that there shall not be any one that shall be a foole Non vocabitur vltrà is qui insipiens est Princeps This is a great happinesse But O Lord let mee aske thee Is a King of worse condition then his Subiects that thou shouldst promise so many good things vnto them and but one alone vnto him The answere hereunto is that our good God giueth vnto euery one according to his state and calling that which is fittest for him The Subiect who hath one to rule and gouerne him hath need of one to minister iustice vnto him to conserue him in peace and to make such prouision that he may haue wherewith to eate and the like But a King who is to rule and gouerne hath need of wisedome which is the life and soule of Kings which sustaineth the weight of a Kingdome and without which be they neuer so rich neuer so powerfull they shall be as fit for gouernment as a body without a head or an head without a soule And as from the soule the Sences are origined and from that essence result your passions so in like sort from wisedome resulteth vnto King and Kingdome all that good and happinesse that can be desired Wisd 6. 24. Rex sapiens stabilimentum est Ciuitatis A wise King is the vpholding of the people And a foolish King the ruine of his Subiects You shall not name that Nation either barbarous or ciuill which where Kings were made by election did not make choice of a wise and prudent King Iudg. 9.8 In that generall Dyet where all the Nations of Trees and Plants met seeing that without Law and without a King they could not conserue themselues in peace and iustice the first resolution they tooke was to choose a wise King And in the first place they nominated the Oliue a tree of many good parts and qualities and amongst other this the chiefest that it was the Symbole or Hierogliffe of wisedome which is all whatsoeuer can be desired in a King Psal 119.144 This alone did King Dauid desire for himselfe Intellectum da mihi vivam Giue me vnderstanding and I shall liue He did not desire life nor health nor riches but onely vnderstanding and wisedome And with this alone did he promise to himselfe eternall life and a durable Kingdome And
saue of a poore shadow to be thus mis-led Librorum numero circumstante The President before specified had a great many of bookes about him To shew how much it importeth that Iudges and Presidents bee Learned and well read in the bookes of their facultie Epiphanius saith That hee saw a Statua of Truth which in it's forehead had two letters the first and the last of the Greeke Alphabet in it's mouth other two and other two in it's brest and so through all the parts of it's body to it 's very feete So that this was all enamelled with Letters as the other was rounded with bookes Thereby giuing vs to vnderstand that that Man which is truly the man he ought to be and is to aduise and gouerne others his head hands and feete must be stucke full of Letters He must be learned from the sole of the foote to the Crowne of the head full of Letters hee must bee for in the discourses of the Vnderstanding in the working of the hands and in the moouing of the feete wee may easily guesse whether a man be wise or no Whether he hath studied or doth studie For though a man be neuer so wise neuer so learned hee still forgetteth somewhat So that it is not enough for him to haue studyed but it is requisit that he still continue his study that hee may repayre with that which he learneth the losse of that which hee forgetteth As in a naturall body that by dayly eating and drinking is restored which is by our naturall heate consumed Et oculis esset subclausis His eyes which are the windowes by which Passion enters vnto the soule were shut Because hee should not be led away with the respect to those about him For hee must not haue an eye and respect to the Estate and condition of persons to doe more fauour when it comes to point of Iustice to one then another And for this reason the sayd Aegyptians did ordinarily paint Iustice without a Head The Head is the common seate of all the Sences signifying thereby that by no one sence a Iudge should open a doore to Passion but that he should place them all in heauen without respect to any thing vpon earth And this is not to respect persons but Iustice Plut. lib. 1. Stobaeus Serus 46. Plutarke in his Moralls reporteth of the Thebans That in their Courts of Iustice they had the Pictures drawne of certaine reuerend olde men sitting in their due order and in the midst the President all of them without hands and their eyes fixed on heauen To intimate that they should alwaies stand in the presence of the Lord from whence is to come that Light which is to cleare the eyes of their intentions avoyding to cast them downe towards the ground that the Vapour of humane respects which is raysed from thence may not cloude and darken the sight of their vnderstanding They must be olde and wise because they are to iudge with mature Counsaile which accompanyeth that age And as it is ordred by their Lawes they must haue neither eyes to see nor hands to receiue bribes And if they would cut off their wiues hands too the cause would be the better iustified For in them your bribes finde an open gate and are so easie to be knowne in this kind of trading that there are few or none but take notice of it They haue the slight of hand and like Gypsies haue a fine facilitie in deceiuing and not hard to be wrought vpon to gaine by this vngodly course And looke what businesse they labour to effect they are vsually the least iustifiable And if they are disposed to fauour this man or that cause and will but set their friends and wits roundly to worke and doe their best they will shrewdly put a Iudge to his shiftes and driue him to that streight that Iustice shall hardly escape a fall I would haue iudges therefore with their hands off and their eyes out least that befall them which did a couple of their place and qualitie who came to see the Processe of a famous but false and loose woman who perceiuing that the reasons of the Relator did worke little vpon them appealed para vista de ojos that shee might appeare face to face and in her information when shee came Ore tenus shee cunningly discouered her beautie by a carelesse letting fall of her mantle and so bewitched them therewith that allowing for good those powerfull witnesses of her eyes and face they released her and gaue her for free But to say the truth it was her loosenesse that freed her and their lightnesse that condemned them making that fault light which before weighed heauie And how shal he freely administer Iustice who hath his heart captiuated and in the power of him and her that can turne and winde him which way they list and wrest him from goodnesse More Iudges haue bin vndone by Lightnesse then by Cruelty The one begetteth feare the other contempt And by the way let them take this lesson a long with them that not onely in reality of truth they conserue their credit without spot but likewise in apparance procure to giue such good Examples that the world may not iustly charge them no not with so much as a discomposed looke neither in the open streete nor Court of Iustice for euery bend from their brow or euery smile from their countenance is the Common peoples Almanack wher-by they make coniecture whether it is like to be faire or fowle weather reading in the face fauour to one and rigour to another Wherefore as their place is great so is their perill The way is slippery wherein they tread and therfore had need looke well to their feete Woe be vnto that Iudge which seeth and seeth not sees the best and followes the worst suffering his reason to be subdued by passion and himselfe by one poore slender haire of a handsome woman to be led by the nose whether shee will leade him For a good face is a tacite kinde of recommendation a faire superscription and a silent deceit which troubles the clearenesse of the minde making white appeare to be blacke and what is iust Exod. 23.8 Leuit. 19.15 to be vniust which was the cause why God commanded the Iudges of Israel that they should remoue their eies from the persons of those that were brought before them and place them wholly on the matter which they were to iudge And for the same reason did the Iudges of Areopagus heare all sortes of causes were they ciuill or criminall in the darke by putting out the Candles And your Athenians did sentence their sutes behind certaine Curtaines which might hinder their sight The Lacedemonians they were a little stricter laced for they did not onely deny eyes to those that went to Law and sued in their courtes but also debard them of eares and because they would prohibit them the power of informing the iustnesse of their cause but
feare and fore-runners likewise of the ruine and perdition of any Monarchy whatsoeuer as they haue beene heretofore of others that haue been ouerthrowne by the like meanes But to conclude with this sense and to shut vp the doore likewise to all the rest wee are to presuppose that which is very common both in diuine and humane Letters That by the hands wherein particularly consists the Touching are vnderstood workes because they are the Instruments by which they are done Moses deliuering vnto vs that the Hebrewes did see the wonders which God had wrought in their fauour saith Viderunt manum magnam quam exercuerat Dominus Exod. 14.31 They saw that great worke which the originall renders that great hand which the Lord exercised vpon the Aegyptians And besides this Pier. lib. 35. Tit. Opus it hath another signification as is obserued by Pierius Valerianus an open hand being the Symbole of eloquence expressing that efficacy and perswasiue power that lies in well couched words Works and words being both very necessary in Kings Execution in the one and Elocution in the other And because all Princes cannot performe these offices of doing and saying by themselues they must haue another tongue and other hands by which they must speake and doe and the tongue whereby they must speake and the hands whereby they must touch and handle all things for their owne are not able to doe it must bee their fauourites Policratus in his booke directed to Traiane saith That your great Lords in Court and Kings fauourites are the hands of the kingdome And as in mans body they are naturally disposed and ready prepared for to succour and assist all the other members so they should be at hand for to helpe and relieue all the necessities of the kingdome and to be the formost in all dangers and a thousand other occasions that will offer themselues which neither are nor can bee wanting to Kings and kingdomes And therefore the Philosopher said of the hands that they are the Instrument of Instruments For without them nothing can be done neither can Kings of themselues do all They haue need of their Ministers and Fauourites which are their feet and their hands In the subsequent Chapters we shall discourse somewhat a little of them God grant that little or somewhat what ere it bee may worke some good And first of all we will treate whether it be fitting to haue Fauourites CHAP. XXXI Whether it be fit for Kings to haue Fauourites FAuourites being as they are the workmanship of Kings receiuing their forme and fashion from their good liking which creatures of their making wee haue mentioned in the former Chapter We shall handsomely fall here vpon that which in this is put to the question Nor is the answer thereunto very easie For a Fauourite being of the same nature as a particular friend and friendship being to bee inter aequales betweene those that are of equall condition it seemeth that those that are Subiects and seruants to their King and Master can not hold it with him whom they are to behold and treate with with a great deale of reuerence respecting alwayes his royall Maiestie which according to that other Poet No cabe en vn saco con el Amor is not in one and the same sacke with loue And without loue there is no friendship True it is that Aristotle and some other Philosophers affirme that this difference may easily bee reconciled forasmuch as hee that is in the higher and more eminent place may stoope so low and fashion himselfe in that euen measure to his Inferiour that they may both remaine vpon equall tearmes But this can hardly square and suite well with Kings towards their Fauourites For as it were an indecorum and vnseemely thing in a humane bodie that the head should abase it selfe and become equall with the shoulder so were it prodigious and monstrous that Kings which are Heads and hold that Soueraigntie which God hath giuen them should stoope so low to their Subiects that the eminencie should not appeare which they haue ouer them And that other meanes which may be vsed in raysing a subiect or Fauorite to that hight that hee may be equall with his King bringeth with that a great inconuenience For a Crowne Scepter royall cannot endure any fellowship with equality And therefore these two meanes may pare and fit well with friends that hauing professed friendship when their estates were equall the one growes inferiour to the other eyther good fortune or good diligence hauing preferred his fellow and friend But with Kings there cannot be held this correspondency and equality And it is King Salomons counsaill who saith That it is not fitting for any man to entertaine friendship and communication with those that are too mighty Ditiori te ne socius fueris Quid communicabit cacabus ad ollam Quando enim se colliserint confringetur Haue no fellowship with one that is mightier and richer then thy selfe For how agree the Kettle and the earthen Pot together For if the one bee smitten against the other it shall be broken And againe if you will but diligently obserue the sacred history of the Kings which were ouer Gods people you shall there finde little mention of Fauorites On the other side it will likewise seeme vnreasonable that kings should be debarr'd that without which to all mens seeming mans life cannot bee well past ouer Nemo sine amicis spectet vinere said the said Philosopher Let no man looke to liue without friends And the holy Scriptures are full of the commoditie and benefit which faithfull friends afford being as necessary for the life of man as fire and water and for no estate so important as for that of Kings who for that they haue so many so weighty and so secret businesses their estate were intollerable and more then they were able to beare if they might not haue the libertie of hauing friends with whom they might communicate and by whom they might receiue some ease of those troubles and care which great offices ordinarily bring with them Now for to giue satisfaction vnto that which is here pretended to be auerred we are to consider That Aristotle and other both Philosophers and Diuines teach which is no more then what experience plainly prooues vnto vs That there are two sorts of Loue or friendship The one Interessall or cum foenore whose end is its proper profit The other hath with it a more gentile noble intent which is to loue and wish well to that which deserueth to bee beloued and this is called Amor amicitiae the loue of friendship The other Amor concupiscentiae the loue of concupiscence And with very good reason for that therein there is not to be found the face of true friendship From these two Loues as from two diuerse rootes spring forth two different sorts of Fauorites The one who for their great parts and quailties haue deserued to carry after
estate and complexion of the man and according thereunto to make vse thereof and of it's vertue And therefore hee that hath by his Kings fauour the supreme disposall of all let him consider and know either by himselfe or by others that are his confident friends being as free as free may bee from naturall affections the dispositions and inclinations of men and together with this the qualitie of the offices and persons which are to gouerne and bee gouerned and let him imply euery one in that for which hee shall bee found fit and good And keeping this course he shall cumply with his owne inclination and naturall desires And shall therein do his King and countrey good seruice But for a conclusion and vpshot of all that is past let those aduertisements serue which follow in the subsequent Chapter CHAP. XXXVII The Conclusion of the former Discourse with some Aduertisements for Kings and Fauourites ALL those that write of the qualities of a good Prince doe agree in this that he ought to haue his will free independent subiect onely to God and his diuine Law without subiecting or submitting it to any other loue For it booteth little that he be Lord of many kingdomes if he be a slaue to that which hee extremely loueth That he ought to bee of a good courage and of a sound and setled iungement not suffering a superiour or equall in his gouernment For as wee said in the beginning of this Discourse kingdomes are by so much the more sustained and augmented by how much the more neare they approach to the gouernment of one Whereas on the contrary they runne much hazard when the reynes of the Empire are diuided and put into seuerall hands The Romanes neuer enioyed so much peace and plenty as after that Augustus Caesar was declared sole Lord of the Empire without dependance on any other Which aduise amongst many other good instructions the Emperour Charles the fifth gaue likewise vnto the King his Sonne to wit That he should be a very precise louer of Truth That hee should not giue himselfe ouer vnto Idlenesse And that he should alwayes shew himselfe a free and independant King not onely in apparence but in substance For it is very proper vnto Kings to rule not to be ruled And to administer their kingdomes themselues by their owne will and not by anothers For he will not be said to be a King who being to command and correct all should easily suffer himselfe to be led away and gouerned by others And therefore it is fit that hee should alwayes stand vpon his owne bottome and in none of his actions expresse himselfe to depend on the aide and opinion of others For this were to acknowledge a Superiour or a Companion in gouernment and to discouer his owne weaknesse Infirma enim est potentia saith Patritius quae alienis viribus nititur Patri to 2. li. 21. Tit. 3. That 's but a poore power that must bee vnder-propt by the strength of others In stead whereof I would haue him to sit in Councell and to treate and communicate businesses with such persons to whom it appertaineth as heretofore I said Saying onely now That that King is in a miserable and lamentable case that must depend on anothers helpe Vpon a certaine occasion Alexander the Great said Se malle mori quam regnare rogando That he had rather die then raigne by supplicating and intreating And no otherwise doth that King raigne who shewes himselfe a Coward and suffers the excellencie of his courage to bee ouerwhelmed and carried away with the current of hard and difficult things which many times offer themselues leauing the resolution of all to the mercie and fauour of others by whose helping hand it seemeth that he liueth and raigneth This said the Emperour Vespasian is to dye standing And as that King is dead which leaues that to another which hee can doe himselfe and which doth properly appertaine vnto his office and as he shall not truly cumply with his obligation if he should go about to draw solely to himselfe the gouernment of his whole kingdome much lesse in like manner shall he cumply therewith if hee should cast off all care from himselfe and relye wholly vpon others For Extreames in all things are ill And an extreme thing it were that hee should take vpon himselfe the whole weight and burthen of businesses and to haue all things passe through his owne hands it being likewise no lesse if he should shift off all from his owne shoulders and put his hand to nothing as did Vitellius and Iouinianus who did in such sort dis-loade themselues of their offices and ridde their hands of all matter of gouernment that all was ordered and gouerned by other mens arbitrement and none of theirs Of the former it is reported that he forgot that hee was Emperour And of the other that hee intended nothing but eating and drinking gaming and whoring So that both of them came to such miserable ends as their retchlesse and carelesse kinde of liuing had deserued Childericke King of France and third of that name is and not without iust cause condemned by the writers of those times for that hee did wholly quit himselfe of businesses and led so idle and vnprofitable a life that he tooke care of nothing recommending all to his great Fauourite Pipine who did rule and gouerne him as hee listed And there was not any meeting or conuersation throughout the kingdome wherein men did not mutter and murmure at it For their nimble and actiue nature could by no meanes indure that their King should be but the shadow of a King and stand for a Cypher sheltering himselfe vnder the shade of another Which could not choose considering how vsuall a thing it is but put spirit into Pipine and adde mettall to his power For it is very proper to the condition of men the more high they are in place and dignitie to desire the more honour and the more wealth There are but few of your great and powerfull persons which are not hydropicall and doe not thirst after new honours and new aduancements And some haue proceeded so farre in their pretensions that they haue presumed as this Fauourite did to quit the King of his Crowne Willingly hearkening vnto those flatterers about him which did whisper this in his eare and egge him on vnto it It likewise began to bee treated of amongst the great Lords of that kingdome How much better command and rule were in one Head then in two And how that all kingdomes had euermore a desire to haue but one Prince And that all prudent and wise men haue in reason of State held this gouernment to be the best and surest and that it was not fit that the vniforme body of a commonwealth or kingdome should bee subiect and obedient to two Heads To wit that one should enioy the name and title of King and the other possesse the power And that it were