to deliver such things as concern Spain only But above allâ— care must be taken that the Souldiers be not used like Beasts who if they have but their wages duly paid them and if when they are wounded they be carefâ—lly looked to and be encouraged also to shew themselves Valiant men through the hopes of Military glory and by hearing good Preachers and by rewards they will then never think either of running away or of Revolting which are two of the greatest Mischiefs that can befal an Army I would also have some persons appointed out of some of the Religious Orders to commit to writing the famous and memorable Acts of each particular Souldier which should be read openly before the King when ever He bestowes rewards upon his Souldiers For this is the reason why the Barons refuse to serve in person in the Wars saying The King himself is not there to be an eye witnensse of my Valour and I cannot confide in the treacherous Memories of Envious Commanders Neither would I have the Souldiers to be rewarded with Mony only but sometimes also with some Coronet either of Oak or of Olive which is a most Magnificent argument of Honour to them and of no charge to the Prince and by this means they will be the more faithfâ—l and constant to Him For an other mans Mony may in like manner buy and sell perhaps that Faith which you have so purchased of them but such Honour it cannot seeing it is a most ignominious thing even in the esteem of an Enemy himself for any one to forsake his King And therefore it should be lawful for any man to kill such a one as should begin to run away or that goes abroad a pillaging without the leave of his Commander which very thing hath often hindered the obtaining of Victory against the Enemy and those that are of least account in the Army do by these courses enrich themselves while the Valiant Souldier fights it out to the last drop of blood in his body What Souldier soever shall fill up the place of his slain fellow-Souldier or protects him and saves his life he should have a Coronet of Oak granted him This was called by the Romans Corona Civica That Souldier that shall first get upon the Enemies Walls should have a Mural Coronet made of Herbs wreathed together in form of a Coronet which he should recieve at the hands of the General whiles the rest of the Army standing round about shall celebrate his Gallantry with Acclamations and Songs according to the ancient custome of the Romans For these two things Punishment and Reward are the two Pillars whereon all Military Discipline is founded and built the Former whereof deterrs the Souldier from wicked courses as the latter pricks him on to do gallant things the Former was devised for the restraining of Vileâ— Rebellious spirits as the latter was for the Encourageâ—ent of the Generous and Valiant the former serves instead of a Bridle as the later doth of a Spur. Alexander the Great erected for the honour of his Souldiers that were Slain at the River Granicus Statues of Marble in a most stately manner The King of Siam that he might encourage his Souldiers to fight bravely took care to have the names of all those that had behaved themselves Gallantly in the Wars to be registred in a Book and afterwards to be recited before him which was the custome also of King Ahasuerus as the holy Scripture testifieth Whensoever there are any designs on foot for the gaining any large Kingdom or Empire the King ought alwayes to go in person to the Wars because that Princes that are Warlick alwaies get more then those that are sluggish and negligent which is a consideration of great importance for all such Princes as desire to enlarge their Dominions But if they care only to preserve their own they may then stay at home themselves provided that they set Valiant and faithful Commanders over their Souldiers However it will concern a Prince that he get an opinion of being a Warlike man unlesse he mean to be despised by all People or let him make an open shew that he loves Wars And to the end that He may be the more secure of Victory let him alwaies take with him good store of Souldiers that so he may neither lose his reputation nor be despised by his Enemies Those Defeats of his Armies are the least hurtful to Him where He himself was not present at the Engagement Strength of his forces at Sea wherein the Genoese Portugals and Hollanders do most excel is also a most necessary businesse For whoever shall make himself master of the Seas the same shalll command all by Land also CHAP. XVI Of the Treasury of Spain IT is necessary that the King have a full Treasury if it be but for the keeping up of his Reputation abroad for as the World goes now a dayes the Power of Princes is valued according to the fulnesse of their Purses rather then the largenesse of their Territories And therefore not only in the time of War but of peace also it behoves a Prince to have alwaies good store of ready Mony by him For it is a very hard and dangerous businesse also especially when He is now already engaged in a War to expect and wait till monies can be raised Tolle moras Semper nocuit differre paratis It is necessary therefore that there be Monies alwayes in a readinesse for the raising of Souldiers in an instant least while you are employed in getting Mony together your Enemy be before hand with you To this end Augustus Caesar erected a Military Treasury as Suetonius testifieth and that he might alwaies and without any trouble be provided of Mony for the raising and paying of his Souldiers he filled the same with New Taxes and Impositions And certainly very many wonder how it comes to passe that the King of Spain whose yearly Revenues amount to above twenty Millions hath not by this time made Himself Universal Monarch of all Christendome nor hath all this while so much as as once set upon the Turk To whom I answer that this is nothing at all to be wondred at if they would but take notice that the reason of this it because He hath not the skill to lay hold on Occasion when it is offered Him which very thing hath hitherto upheld the Fortune of all Great Empires For there was an Occasion given him at the Uniting of the Kingdomes of Castile and Arragon and of Naples and Millan but there was a much fairer offered to Charles the V. who was a man of a Warlike spirit being King of Spain was afterwards chosen also Emperour of Germany by al which advantages He might have been able to have made himself Lord of the whole Earth had He but known as well how to give Lawes to those He conquered as He knew how to conquer them This Prince took Tunis and having driven thence Ariodenus the Turk
and how great Errours we have of late years committed in reference to them that so for the future we may be the more wary as to this Particular The French Nation being descended from Iaphet by Gomer by their strength and the force of their Armes and having also their Religion and the Fates Propitious to them have had very great Successes in that under the Conduct of Charles the Great and King Pepin they arrived to so great a Monarchy as they then had And certainly all the other Princes of Christendom had at that time an eâ—e upon the Kingdom of France and if the French had but crusht the Impiety of the Mahumetans when it was yet but in the Bud they might easily have compassed the Monarchy of the whole World and that so much the rather by reason that their Rivals the Spaniards were divided into Many several Kingdomes and were besides held in Play with the Moors who had invaded their Country so that at that time they were not at leasure to interrupt the French or to take them off from their Designes as the French at this day hinder Them in theirs But for as much as the French have not the skill of carrying a Moderate Hand in Government over such Forraigners as are under their Subjection but are too Impatient and Indiscreet they could never yet attain to so great a height of Power For they are apt to arrogate too much to themselves shewing no gravity at all they permit their Subjects to do what they please and so sometimes they use them too cruelly and sometimes again too gently having no regard at all to their own defects and weaknesses And hence it hath come to passe that though they have gotten many things abroad yet they have not been able to keep any of them For in One eveningâ— they lost all Sicily and almost in as short a time the Kingdom of Naples too together with the Duchy of Millan and for no other reason but only because that they knew not how through want of Prudence in Governing to oblige their Subjects to them by the Love of the Publick Good nor yet took any care to draw in others to put themselves under their Protection For when the people once perceaved that there would be very litle or no difference to them in respect of their Libertyâ— whether they served the French or the Spaniards they would not vouchsafe so much as to draw a Sword in their behalf And for the very same reason did the King of France and the Duke of Millan several times lose their Dominion over the Genois We may add hereto in reference to the French the Discord that was betwixt the Sons of Charles the Great because that one of them would be King of Italy another of Germany and a third of France and likewise the weaknesse of the French Nobility who would needs all be free Princes and live of themselves without any Head such as are the Duke of Burgundy the Earl of Flanders the Duke of Bretaigne of the Delphinate of Savoy the Count Palatine of the Rhine with diverse others each of which would needs be an Absolute Prince of himselfâ— So that as well for these Reasons and because of their being dâ—vided in their Religion and also as well by Fate as by God himself and besides by not laying hold upon Occasion when it was offered they seem to be excluded from ever attaining to the Universal Monarchy of the whole World And therefore the Majesty of the Universal Dominion over all seemes rather to incline toward the Spaniards both because Fate it self seemes to have destined the same unto Them as also because it seemes in some sort to be their Due by reason of their Patience and Discretion But because that the very Situation of the Country the manner of their Armes in War and the natural Enmity that there is betwixt the French and the Spaniards seem to require that France should be continually in War with Spain and should be still interrupting their Glorious Proceedings like as also when it was in a flourishing state under Charles the Fifth it was hindred by Francis King of France and as it may also at this day be troubled by the Hereticks of France and their King Henry the Fourth who is a Valiant and Warlick Person these things I say being considered it nearly concerns the King of Spain seriously to consider the state of his own Affaires and withal to weigh the Power of France and to be sure when any fit Opportunity is offered to fall upon them with all his might to set upon them on that part where they are Weakest that â—o that other part where they are more powerful may sink of it self Seeing therefore that they are weak not in Armes but in Wisdom and Brain He ought to manage his War against them accordingly And therefore first of all he must be sure to lay hold on Fortune and Opportunity whensoever they offer themselves as evidently appeares by the example of that good Fortune that delivered the aforenamed King Francis and Germany into the hands and power of Charles the Fifth by which means had he pursued that Opportunity he might have crushed all the Princes that were his Competitors for he ought immediately to have bent his whole strength against France and by the assistance of the Germans to have repressed and curbed the Insolency of the French I say by the assistance of the Germans for they as being the more Fierce Nation of the two have alwaies been as an Antidote against the Fiercenesse of the French And hence it is that the Franconians Normans Swedes Gotlanders Danes and other Northern Forraign Nations have alwaies in a manner been to hard for the French that lye not so Northerly as they And therefore as I said Charles the Fifth ought immediately with an Army of Germans to have set upon France And after that he should have put Guards of Spaniards into all their Castles and strong Holds and should have placed Italians in all their Courts of Judicature and have appointed them to regulate their Lawes and then should either have brought France wholly under his own Power and Obedience or else should have put it into the hands of some Petty Princes to be governed by them and so should presently have declared Himself Head of the Christian World But he instead of doing thus had recourse to that Vain uselesse course of securing himself by marriage chusing rather to winne over to him his Rivall Neighbour by Fair meanes which is never to be done but with those that are farther off and which is especially to be declined when a Prince hath so Potent Neighbours that are his Antagonists for an Empire For the Fâ—ench had first a design of making themselves Universall Monarchs of the World before the Spaniards had any such thought whom the French afterwards envied when they found them aspiring that way A second Opportunity of keeping France under in such
Queen he ought at that instant to be very hot in his love to her for it is of great concernment to the whole World what the seed of the King be And I could wish that all men did observe these Rules But the World is now come to that passe that men take more care to have a generous Breed of Horses then to have generous Children Then must his Queen when she is with Child use some Moderate Exercise that so the Child may be the stronger When she hath brought forth a Son there must be some woman that is a Gentlewoman provided to be his Nurse which Gentlewoman must also be a Wise woman and of a high Spirit too For the Manners are suckt in together with the Milk of the Nurse When the Child is grown up to some Maturity He must converse with Men rather then with Women and he must delight himself with the looking upon Mathematical Figures and also with Maps and draughts of the Kingdoms He is born to He may also look upon Horses and Armes but he must not be suffered to run about to idle Childish sports and plaies as were the sons of Cyrus Cambyses and Darius as if they had been born for themselves only and not for their People and who therefore as Plato saies came to destruction He must have Religious Tutors both Bishops and Commanders that are eminent for their knowledge in Martial affaires He must also have Eloquent persons that may instruct him in the Art of Aratory and informing him rather in the Solid Rules then the trifling Quiddities of Grammer After he hath grown past a Child he must then exercise both his Mind and his Body also for Valour and Wisdom are Virtues that are proper to Princes And we are to know that whaâ— Prince soever shall use the Exercise of Body only and not of his Wit as well his own as his Subjects he shall be a slave to him that exerciseth his Wit too And hence it is that the King of France and his Officers of State yeilded themselves up to Calvin as the Germans did to Luther both which so bewitched their eyes that they took all for right and good whatsoever these laid down before them And thus the Tartarians also after they had made themselves Lords of the whole East were at last made fools of by Mahomets Priests And if they are not enslaved by Wicked Ingeniouâ— Men yet how ever they are slaves to those that are Good as well as Ingenious And hence we see that those Kings of Iudah and of Israel that were both dull and wicked persons were given up into the hands of Elias and Elisha and others who set them up and deposed them from their Thrones for their Ignorance of their own Religion The Consuls of Rome likewise were in subjection to their Priests And again on the other side he that exerciseth his Wit only is brought under the power of him that exerciseth his Body and Feats of Armes Whence it is that the Popes have so often been made the laughing stock of the Goths and Lombards and that Platonical King Theodoricus the second K. of Ravenna was subdued by Belisâ—rius But that King that exerciseth himself both these waies he is the truly wise King And hence it was that the Romans never exercised their Wit without the exercise of the Body too as Salust informs us I adde moreover that a King ought not to bend his studies wholly to and to spend all his time in one certain Science onely as did King Alphonsus who became one of the most famous Astronomers in the World following the Example of King Atlas who was overcome by Perseus a valiant Man of Armes as the Fable tells us nor yet would I have him to addict himself wholly to the Study of Divinity as Henry the VIII did who by this means utterly ruined his own Wit But he ought to have several Tutors for each several Science and be a hearer of each of them at their several appointed times But the Knowledge most fit for the King is to know the Division of the World into its parts and of his own Dominions the different manners and Customes of the several Nations of the Earth and their Religions and Sects as also the stories of all the former Kings and which of them was a Conquerour and which was overcome and for what reasons And for this purpose he must make choice of the best Historians that have written He must likewise know the several Lawes of Nations and which are wholsome Lawes and which not and the Grounds they were made upon But chiefly He is to be well skilled in the Lawes of his own Kingdome and of the Kings his Predecessors and to understand by what means Charles the Fifth got here or lost there and how Maximilian sped in his wars So likewise with how many and what kind of Nations and Kingdomes They made their Wars and how the same Nations may be subdued He must also give an ear to all sorts of Counsels but let him make choice of and publish as His own the Best and Soundest onely Let his rule be also to inflict all punishments upon his Subjects in the name and by the Ministry of his Officers but to confer all benefits and rewards upon them with his own hand and in his own name In a word he must be adorned with all kinds of Vertues and let it be his chiefest desire to leave to His Successors Himself an Example worthy of their Imitation as it must be his care to imitate all the wisest of his Predecessors Those Affections which he ought with his utmost power to restrain are Grief Pleasure Love Hatred Hope Fear and lastly Mercy also For when a King shewes himself to be cast down by any Ill Fortune that hath befallen him He betrayes his own Weaknesse discourages his Subjects and lastly gives himself wholly to grieve for the same for which King David was justly reproved by Ioab when he lamented so excessively the death of his Son Absalon As on the contrary side when he is too much lifted up with Joy for any good successe it argues in him an abject and servile Disposition and Temper And especially if he addict himself to keep company with Buffoons and Jesters and give himself up to excessive Banquettings and other the like pleasures he must needs be despised by his Subjects as Nero was who minded nothing but Stage-Playes and his Harp or Vitellius and Sardanapalus who giving themselves over wholly to Women and Feasting were therefore scorned by their Subjects and deposed with the losse of their Lives And indeed the Love of Women will very often endanger him unlesse he fortifie his mind against it as it happened to the most Wise Salomon himself and especially of his own Wife who commonly hates her Husbands nearest and most intimate friends conceiving that the greatest share of His Affection is due to Her self in so much that she will hate and persecute the
do not in time fall into the hands of one man who perhaps upon the first Opportunity given may revolt from him as did the Nobility of Iapan who being grown great in power made opposition against their King in the City Meaco which was also done by the Barons of France who thereby hindered their own Monarchy and as Scanderbeg did to the Turk and so likewise the Princes of Ta entum and Salerne and many other in the Kingdom of Naples who made the same Attempts against their Kings both those of Arragon and of Anjou too Now the Mischeifs which these Barons bring upon the People and consequently upon their King are these They come to Naples and to the Court and there spending their mony profusely and lavishly they make a great shew for a while and get in favour with the Kings friends and at length having spent all they return poor home and make prey of whatsoever they can that so they may make themselves whole again and then they return to Court again running round still as it were in the same Circle in so much that we see these mens Territories much more desert and naked then the Kings in Italy are all through the default of the Barons themselves And then if the People have been infested with any Pestilential Diseases or have suffered by the Turks They presently beg of the King to have the yearly Taxes to be remitted for some certain time the payment whereof they themselves require at the hands of the People and in the Kings name too and that with all the severity that may be which the Prince of Rogebo had the confidence to do after the battel with the Turks And lastly under the pretence of the Camera as they call it that is to say that the Country may be freed from quartering of Souldiers they extort from the Subjects many Thousands of Crownes And they find out a Thousand other wayes of fleecing the poor Subjects that so they may never want Supplies either for their Luxury or their Prodigality And notwithstadning that the Spaniards believe that this Lavishnesse of theirs makes for the Kings Advantage and renders his state the more secure because that those that are so given to rioting and Luxury are never any gatherers and hoarders up of vast Sums of Mony which may prove the Instruments of Rebellion yet the plain truth of it is they do him much hurt for they by this meanes reduce the People from whom the greatest part of the Kings Revenues come to a poor low condition For the remedying of which Mischeif it would do well if there were a Law made that no Baron should have above 3000. Crownes of yearly Revenues and that whatsoever any of them hath more it should not descend to his Successor but should go after him to the Exchequer I speak here onely of such Baronies as shall be conferred by the King upon the Grounds aforesaid As for the Ancienter Barons it would do well if there were some Competitions cherished among them that by this means by their contentions they might keep one another under and so likewise that at every Seven years end there should be such an Assembly called together as I spake of before and that the Barons should be freed from all Bonds Likewise that every Baron should every three years find the King as many Souldiers and Horses as he hath Thousands of Crowns of yearly Revenue Let him also divide the Titles of Honour and besides he may do well to create many New Lords finding out for them New Titles that so the smalnesse of their number may not encrease their dignity and honour Let Him take care also that the Lordships and Lords Mannours of the Kingdom of Naples Millan Spain and the Nâ—therlands may be bought by Forraigners that is to say by the Genuese Florentines French and Venetians that so the Barons that are the Natives may be brought lower and the Forreigners may bring the King in a large yearly Revenue out of their own Country Lordships By which means I dare be bold to affirm that the King shall have greater power and Command at Genoa then at Millan because that nothing can be done or resolved upon at Genoa without his knowledge and consent whiles the Genueses will alwayes be in fear of losing the Lordships they have in the King of Spains dominions And by this means also the King shall not need to trouble himself about allowing them maintenance as he is with the Millanois for Whosever is fed by thee he is thy servant And thus have the Florentines alwaies been servants to the King of France into whose Dominions they have liberty of Traffick allowed them But there must be care taken that no Fortified Places be ever put into the hands of any of the Barons And besides there must be such Provision made as that all the Sons of the said Barons should have Spaniards for their Tutors who shall Hispaniolize them and train them up to the Habit Manners and Garbe of the Spaniard And when these Barons shall once begin to grow Powerful He must take them down yet under the pretense of honouring them by sending them away to some Office or Charge that lies in some place far remote from their own Lordships and where they shall be sure to spend more then they get And again when ever the King shall please to take his Progresse into the Country let him so contrive his Gists as that He may lye upon these Barons and so under the pretext of doing them Honour may force them to be at a great charge in entertaining Him Let Him give a willing ear to the People when they make any complaints of them Neither ought Nobility to be higher prized by the King then Virtue which is a Rule that deserves to be observed above all the rest Besides in all the Metropolian Cities in his several Kingdomes as at Lisbon Toledo Antwerp and the rest as well in this as in the other Hemisphere the King under pretext of doing them honours may constitute in each of them five eight or ten Ranks or Orders of Barons such as are at Naples that when they are to treat of any Affairs of State each of them may go into his own Order and Place For being thus divided they will never be able to determine any thing that shall be Prejudicial to the King by reason of the Ambition that will be amongst them and so where there shall be three Lawes perhaps made to the Kings prejudice there will alwaies be eight made for his advantage And the common People also may in like manner be distributed into their several Classes and Ranks And this is much the more honourable and secure way then to cause divisions and sidings into parties among them which is the counsel of some Writers who have a Saying Divide impera Cause Divisions among thy subjects and thou shalt rule them well enough The King must alwayes make much of such persons
He made Muleasses King of that place without changing the former State of the Kingdom at all After this He conquered Germany that is to say the Protestant Princes there whom He devested of their Electoral Dignity substituting into their places their Brethren and Kinsmen but otherwise leaving them in the same state He found them And although He had once got Luther himself into his hands and power yet looking after the empty Fame only of being accounted a Merciful Prince He let him go again that so he might have the opportunity forsooth of seducing all Germany and the Nâ—therlands He took Fâ—ancis the King of France and then set him again at liberty that so he might raise up a new War against Him and thereby frustrate all that He had done before He also took in the Cities of Sienna Florence and bestowed them upon the Family of the Medici that so He might procure himself more powerful enemies by the bargain For whosoever is raised by any one to some degree of Power what service soever is due from him to his Rayser he will be sure to decline the doing it as much as he can and therefore he seeks all the occasions he can of shaking off the Yoak that he may make his Benefactor his Enemy which very thing was done by the Dukes of Florence and by Maurice Prince Elector of Saxony against Charles the Fifth And indeed such Benefits as by reason of the greatnesse of them cannot any way be returned commonly they draw a hatred upon the Virtue of the Benefactor as we see it evidently fell out in the case betwixt the aforementioned Francis King of France and Charles the Fifth Another cause that this Monarchy hath not yet hitherto been brought about is this because that Philip could not succeed his Father not so much as in the War and therefore lost both the Low-Countries together with the Imperial Titles But that Affliction which also fell upon him by the losse of Charles his Son was the most grievous of all the rest for he would have been able to have maintained the Wars in His stead which seeing the King of Spain is not able to do He is constrained alwaies to defend and make good the bounds of his Kingdom rather then to endeavour to enlarge them and to look to his Commanders and see that they do not pillage the Countries where their Command lies and enrich themselves out of the Kings Treasure it being their onely care how to keep up such a Trade of War by which they may make advantage to themselves rather then any way enlarge the Kings Dominions I shall therefore here lay down these Rules though they are not so proper for this place that when any new Country is conquered that is of a different Religion and manner of Government the Natives are presently to be removed out of it and carried into some other Country where they may serve as Slaves and their Children are to be Baptized and may be either put into the Seminaries before spoken of or else sent into the New World and into this conquered Country may be sent Colonies of Spaniards under the conduct of soâ—e Wise and faithful Commander Which Course ought to have been taken by Charles the Fifth at Tunis who should also have carried away Muleasses to Naples And He should by right have done the very same thing in Germany namely in Saxony in the Marquisat of Brandenburg and the Lantgravedome of Hessen into which Countries He should have sent New Colonies under the Command of New Governours The Free Cities also He should have suppressed and have taken away their Priviledges and lastly He should have made Three Cardinals the Governous of all Germany But when any New Country is taken in that is not of a different Religion but only differing in Government let Him then change nothing at all in matters that concern the People but only let Him set strong Guards upon the Country and let the Chief Officers be chosen all out of the Kings party but the Inferiour out of the Common People of the place the Lawes whereof may also be altered by little and little and made to conforme to the Kings Lawes either by heightning or abating the rigour of them according as the Condition and Temper of the place shall require All Authors or Heads of Factoins must be presently removed out of the way either by Death if they have been Enemies or if they have been friends they must be carried away into Spain that they may there receive Baronies for their reward or may have liberty of free Traffick into the Kings Dominions granted them But the Chief Heads of such People as He shall subdue He must never suffer to continue in their places which course ought to have been taken with the Strozzi Medici Cappones Petruccij and other Ringleaders and Heads of Factions at Sienna and Florence And indeed the same Course should have been taken with Francis King of France that so he might have had no further opportunity of attempting any thing against Charles the V. But as for the Hereticks and Luther the best way would have been to have suppressed them under some other Pretense presently after the breaking up of the Diet at Ausburg as I shall shew hereafter And if Chaâ—les the Fifth had but taken these Courses He had never left behind him so much work and trouble for King Philip and perhaps his young son Charles too might have been alive at this day and might perhaps by His Arms have added Africk Hungary Macedonia Italy and England to his Dominions But He as I have before said was the onely cause of all those Evills which we see at this day So that I do not wonder at all that notwithstanding the vast Treasures of the King of Spain yet the bounds of His Monarchy are not all this while enlarged But I rather wonder that so Wealthy a Prince hath not laid up all such his Revenues for Necessary Uses against times of need which might have been his ruin For if so be his Negotiation by Sea should be stopt or interrupted but for one five or six yeares space together or that his Plate Fleet should be intercepted in its return home from the West-â—ndies would it not be so sore a cut to him as that he must of necessity be forced to oppresse his own snbjects by laying most heavy and unusual Taxes upon them and so draw upon himself their Hate and besides should he not also undoe all his Merchants and defraud his Souldiers of their Pay and by that means be in danger of losing them upon every the least Occasion And indeed it is a thing much to be wondred at how and which way such vast Summes of Mony should come to be wasted and yet the King not any thing at all the better for it for we see that He is still Poor for all this and is almost continually borrowing Mony of others And therefore I say that it
Rich and that He himself may have greater Testimonies of his Subjects Love and Fidelity which might easily be brought about if so be that those Rules before laid down touching the encreasing the Number of the Subjects and the remitting and abating the Taxes and Exactions laid upon them were but observed and if the King going into the Wars Himself in person would by that means chalk out to his Wise and Valiant Commanders and Souldiers the Way to Honour rather then to Covetousnesse and would also propose New Arts and Sciences So likewise if He would make some such Lawes to which those that are Obedient should have their former honours continued to them but the Refractory and Disobedient should have Disgraces cast upon them and to perswade Obedience to which Lawes there should in the Second place some Profit and Advantage be proposed for such but in the Third place before the Disobedient should be laid down the Fear of Punishment to which our Modern Writers absurdly attribute the First Place in Relation to the due Observing of Lawes who having regard to the Time rather then to Religion require Fear in Subjects rather then Love because that the Rulers of the Gentiles preferred this Later before the Former and so taught that Wicked Wretch Macchiavel and other the like Polititians those Rules But if there be no place left for a Reformation it is then necessary that respect being had to the Present Abuses there should be good store of Treasure got up together lest at length the King should be undone by Use-Mony or some other Losses should fall upon him in case the Plate Fleet should not return back from the West-Indies in three or four years together perhaps I shall first therefore lay down the Usual Rules in this case and then such other as I my self have thought upon First therefore there must be matter administred for the promoting of Vsury and Vsurers and every one of them is to be bound under a certain Penalty to have alwaies a stock of Monies lying by them that so when there shall be any Necessity the King may know where to fetch presently good store of Large Summes of Mony Which Course is to be taken in all the chief Cities both in the Kingdome of Naples and of Spain Then when any great War is near at hand the said Summes of Mony are to be called for at the said Usurers hands and that by the intervening too of the Popes Authority that so the King may not draw upon himself alone the Hatred and Ill Will of his Subjects Secondly let him introduce the Tribute of Apulia which was brought up by King Ferdinand through all the Provinces that are under him imposing it either in the same or some other the like Form Thirdly let Him cause all the Barons to bring in what summes of Mony they have binding them thereto in the name of Religion and the Crown of Spain to which they are joyned and engaged Fourthly let Him procure of the Popâ— Indulgences and Croisados for all his Kingdomes and those Summes of Mony that shall be raised by the same He shall lay up in some Treasury where they may encrease to such a quantity as that an Army may be raised out of them which may be sent into the Holy Land Fifthly let Him get an Injunction from the Pope that for the space of five years all Churches Monasteries Bishopricks and Parishes throughout all his Provinces shall pay in a certain sum of Mony into The Sacred Treasury so called as being collected for the making of a War against the Infidels that is to say Five in the Hundred of all their Revenues but so that every year there should be an abatement made of One As namely the first year they should pay Five in the Hundred the second year Fourâ— the third Three and so on till the five years be expired But the Venetians exact the Tenths And this Course may be takenâ— betwixt the King and the Pope under the Pretense of making a War upon the Infidels After all this is done let Him then appoint two Bishops to be the Treasurers of this Mony Sixthly let the King by his Treasurers traffick in every Country with such Commodities as are used there as in Calabria with Silks in Apulia with Wheat in Sicily with Oyl for by this means He will divert his Subjects from applying themselves to Usury and will cause them to attend more the Manuring of the Ground and withal will hereby mightily enrich Himself Seventhly let Him send out into every City and Town especially in the Kingdom of Naples a Commissary having a Counsellour joyned with him who shall be one of the Clergy to make enquiry into all Usurers and to cause Them to make it appear by the testimony of Three Witnesses that they have taken no other Use then what is allowed to be taken by the custome of the Kingdom and where they shall find any to have done otherwise to seize upon all they are worth and carry it away to some publick place for the King's use But then the King may afterwards restore half of it to them again if he think fit as for example suppose his Officers took away from any of these Usurers Ten Thousand Crownes He may then restore to the Owner Five Thousand Crownes of his Mony again For they are a hateful sort of People and are despised by all men so that you need never fear that they will rebel and besides the people when ever they see Them ruined will be very glad of it neither will any of them take their parts and indeed the Usurers themselves when they have half of their estates left them will think themselves very well dealt withal And with the rest of such Monies the King may set up A Bank of Charity where poor people shall take up Monies upon their Pawn but upon this condition that if they redeem not their Pawn by the Limited Time that then it shall be forfeit to the King And afterward with the Mony arising from hence He may drive a Trade of Merchandise as the Usurers themselves use to do or else He may with those monies erect Cloysters or Seminaries for Souldiers and Poor Women as hath been shewed before And if some of the Clergy were sent abroad with the like Commissions to inquire into the Barons also it would do them much good both in reference to their Soul Body and State who otherwise by their arts would swallow up and devour the whole World Eighthly let Him require an Account of all the Kings Ministers and Commissioners for the whole time of their being employed in their Offices and whatsoever Fines shall be set upon their heads let it be put into the Treasury or the King may remit half to them if he please or lesse as he shall see cause and by taking this course with them both Himself and his Subjects shall be much advantaged and have cause to rejoyce Ninthly let Him call all
enough upon Spain CHAP. XXI Of Italy SPain hath no Nation that is more a friend to It then Italy And therefore for the preserving of the Amity and Friendship of the Italians it is very fit that the King of Spain should so court and ply by Benefits and Gifts both the Neapolitans and the Millanois as that other Nations seeing it should admire the Felicity of those Two countries should withal wish themselve had the like good Fortune And this the King may do by remitting some thing of their Gabels and Taxes by increasing the number of Men in both those Dominions and He may also erect in both the Countries certain Seminaries out of which as out of these Trojan Horse may issue forth Able Persons that are skilled both in all the Liberal and Military Sciences and such as are withal most firm and resolved Catholicks as we have hinted before Which thing would certainly cause in Forreigners both Admiration and Astonishment neither would the King as the Opinion of some men herein is lose any thing at all thereby Let there be also some course taken for the Restraining of Usurers and let Him set up some Monti della Pieta as they call them that is Banks of Charity which are certain publick Houses where the poorer sort of Citizens have the liberty of taking up Mony upon their Pawâ—s Let them also restrain the grouth of the Nobility and let the Barons Prisons be visited sometimes for These are many times too cruel Neither would I have it in the power of any to imprison any man by any private Authority except it be in Case of Sedition or Violation of the Publick Peace or of Treason against the Prince and those that are Prisoners should be dealt more gently with then they have been hitherto wont to be for the Kings Officers by their Intolerable Cruelty have caused the King to be branded with that Infamous Name of a Tyrant especially in the Kingdom of Naples And I conceive it would make very much for the winning of the Love and Good will of the common People if the King would appoint One Commissary at least who should joyn to himself some of the Clergy and should go and visit all the Publique Prisons reforming what abuses they find there and should also take an Account of all Usurers and of the Inferiour sort of Publick Officers as hath been touched beforeâ— I would also have him to shew mercy to such as are Proscribed and Banisht persons under the Pretense of sending them into Africk and I would really advise Him once in seven years to â—end all such into the West-Indies As for those Souldiers which have alwayes hitherto been set over the subjects I would have them to be all disbanded and in their stead to have so much the greater Number of Gallies provided that should lye all along the Sea Coasts throughout all the Kings Dominions to guard and secure them against the Invasions of the Turk For these Souldiers have alwaies carried themselves very Insolently and proudly towards the People but have been still very backward and unwilling to go out in any Expedition by Sea against the Turks and besides when they have returned home from any such Expedition they have usually abused poor Citizens that have behaved themselves stoutly in the Fight cudgelling them and forcing from them such prisoners as they had taken and so afterwards in a Thrasonicall boasting way make their brags abroad that Themselves had taken those Turks prisoners which most base unworthy course we see practised in Calabria every day It were a better way therefore that the subjects themselves should take up Arms and go out against the Turks and should have at least half the Mony that the Prisoners taken in the War are valued at for by this means the King will have both Valiant and Rich men to Fight for Him neither shall He have cause to fear least the subjects through the hatred they bear the Souldiers for their Cruelties should seek to change their Masters and bring in some other to Rule over them Let Him also take order for the restraining of the knavish Diligence of the Officers of the Kings Exchequer who to maintain the Kings Right forsooth forbear not to use any manner of cruelty towards the poor subjects imprisoning them and extorting mony from them under any pretenses how unjust so ever But of these evils and their Remedies we have spoken sufficiently before where we discoursed of Iustice c. These Sea expeditions will render the King secure both from his Enemies abroad and his own subjects at home whereas on the contrary the Souldiers that are set over the Country people do at first but very little good and afterwards do none at all And therefore the putting of good full Guards into all the strong Holds upon the Sea Coast will be sufficient for the securing of the Inland parts and withall the People will by this means be kept in a Loving Awfulnesse and Dread of their Prince The best part of Italy that is to say the Kingdome of Naples and the Duchy of Millan is subject to the King of Spain and those other parts that are not so are stirred up by their several Princes who stand in fear of the Spaniards Potency against the Spaniards made to hate them whence it is that they are wont to threaten the King of Spain with two things The first is that they will call in the French and encourage them to set upon the state of Millan which mischief however the King might easily prevent if he would but place strong Garrisons in all the Frontier Towns of the said Duchy and would quite destroy all the small unfortified Villages that lying here and there scattered about are made a Booty by the Enemy that hath liberty to range up and down where they please And He might take order also as the Hungarians do that all the Provision of Cornâ—nd all the subjects Goods be carried into the Fortified Cities and Places of strength with all manner of Mechanical Instruments that so those that have fled thither in the time of any Siege or Incursions of the Enemy may have where withall to set themselves on work and may so get wherewith to keep themselves But Genoa lies very conveniently for the coming into the Kings Assistance and so doth Naples also if so be the King would but provide himself of such a Fleet as I spake of before to ly about those Seas in a Readinesse For it is a most certain Truth and that hath been confirmed by long experience that He that can make himself Master of the Sea shall give Lawes to the Continent and command it and shall be able to Land men whensoever and wheresoever he pleases and shall find it convenient to do so which the King of France should he be invited into Italyâ— could not be able to do It will be a good course therefore for the King of Spain to be in League with
probably have been next to have been swallowed up by them This very Slownesse of his was the reason why the Spaniard gained the lesse and was also the longer held in expectation and besides by gaping in this manner after what belonged to others became hated by all So true is that Common Saying namely That there is no place Inexpugnable into which an Asse laden with Gold can but get in But then this is also to be added to that Saying namely that That Golden Asse or that Asse laden with Gold must have many Horses laden with Iron to come after it that so while the Citizens are all busied in weighing and telling out their Mony Thou mayest in the mean time make use of thy Iron in the subduing and taking in of that Place To this we may adde that the Spanish Commanders as well as the French plaid booty as we say neither of them fighting for the Victory but for Gain onely And the reason of this was because that neither the King himself nor his Son were present in person in the Army And besides the Duke of Parma durst not at first in the beginning of the War hazard all in a Battel without Commands from the King by which means the King of Navarre had time given him to gain over to him the French Nobility whom the Spaniard had before wrought over by his Mony to His side only by an Opinion they had conceived of his Military Valour And in this He imitated those other most Valiant Princes who neglecting the Common People made it their only businesse to oblige the Nobles to them only Which hath been the Ancient Custome with the Polonians Persians and French And because that the Nobles think it a thing too much below them to march with Foot Souldiers hence it is that these very Nations have alwaies been very strong in Horse but have still been but weak in Foot And seeing the businesse is come to this passe that the King of France hath now won to himself the Affections both of his Subjects the French and of the Pope also and hath thereby got himself more Renown then if he had beaten the King of Spain himself it is now to be feared that He may sometime or other attempt to take in some part of Spain also For He is of a Turbulent Unquiet Spirit neither can the French hold while they have well settled a Country that they have newly taken in but they must on still and fall upon some other and this the King of France must the rather do because that being out of Mony He is forced to forrage abroad and take from others that he may haâ—e to pay his own men And therefore it will be necessary that the King of Spain take care that the Frontiers of Spain and the Duchy of Millan also be well guarded and fortified and also that he carefully observe these following Rules The first whereof is that he enter into a League with the French who are his Competitors and the Second is that He hinder the coming of any Assistance to him either from England or from Italy both which things may be effected one and the same way namely if He do but perswade the Pope that the King of France hath a purpose of Assisting the Hereticks and that should he but once come into Italy he would scatter abroad the Poyson of his Heresie every where and that Tuscany and the Venetian Territories will first be the Seat of the War and afterwards will be his Prey Let the King of Spain therefore deal with the Pope that He would interdict the King of France the contracting of any League or Friendship either with the Queen of England or with any other of the Hereticks such as are the Genevians Helvetians and Rhetians or Grisons for these would be able to assist him very much Let the Pope also make Him swear that He will go to the Holy Land and there joyn with the Italians in the Defence of the Christian Faith But the best course of all would be that the Nobility of France and of Italy should all joyn together and should be sent in an Expedition against Greece and that there should also be another Association made betwixt the Princes of the House of Austria against the Hereticks For if that the Christian Princes were but thus dispersed and kept at a distance one from another the Kingdom of Naples together with that of Spain and the Duchy of Millan also would have none to stand in fear of but would be secure on all sides and besides the King of Spain might in the mean time bethink himself what waies were the best to be taken for the reducing of the Netâ—erlands over whom were he but once Conquerour the forenamed Princes would be so much astonished at the report of that his Victory and of his Military Strength that they would never dare to attempt any thing against Him no though they should return home Lords of all Asia For although Pompey was a Conquerouâ— in Assia yet he was not able to stand against Caesar that had now subdued the Belgick Provinces For the Belgians by reason of their Fiercenesse in War put Caesar much more to it to subdue them then those of Asia did Pompey who was for this reason also inferiour to Caesar in Power Now in case that Henry the Fourth should die as he begins now to be an old man and hath neither Successor nor Wife or if he should marry and should leave a Son behind him yet probably he would be under Age and so Conde would either be the next Heir to the Crown or else would at least have the Administration of the Government put into his hands during the Minority of the Prince whose Ancestors having alwaies been the Leaders and indeed the stirrers up of the Hereticks of France in all their Wars were the Authors of shedding so much Catholick blood I say should things come to thiâ— passe it would then concern the King of Spain to lay hold on that Opportunity in proposing to the Consideration of the Catholicks of France whether they thought would be the better course to make choyce of Conde or else of some Catholick to be their King remembring that He is the Son of that Father that acted so much Cruelty upon the Catholicks which this Prince suckt in with his Nurses Milk The King of Spain must also so order the matter as that if He cannot bring it about that the Kingdome of France should be divided in Judgment upon this particular he must then deal with them that it may be conferred upon some one that they shall pitch upon by way of Election Or else in the last place He must speedily have recourse to the Arts before set down which King Philip failed in before And this manner of Electing a King upon condition that he be a Catholick would very much please the Italians and the Catholick Princes of France also would very willingly assent
be forced by the necessity of imposing upon his Subjects Unusual Taxes to gain their ill will and lose their Affections which was Caligula's Case heretofore who after that he had in riotous courses fool'd away all his own Estate was necessitated presently to snatch away other mens Certainly whosoever takes in hand any high and difficult Attempt under the Assistance of a Favourable Fate he must necessarily be Couragious and daring and indeed every Great and Memorable Enterprise requireth a certain Extraordinary Valour and Courage which yet in case the successe should not be answerable would be called Rashnesse As for example it was accounted a Bold undertaking in Columbus to go in search of a New World but plain Rashnesse in Vlisses only because the one escaped safe but the other suffered shipwrack But when a Prince hath effected his desiâ—es he must then have an eye to the uncertainty of Fortune and must therefore take heed how he is too bold and daring the observing of which Counsel being neglected by Charles the Fift was the cause of bringing to nothing all that he had atchieved before in Germany for he did not take the same wise Course to preserve what he had gotten as he had done in the getting of it And the case was the same also with the great Iulius Caesar. And then again in war there is a necessity of using severity that so the Souldiers may all be kept to their several duties and besides those that perform any Signall peices of Service are to be rewarded accordingly which Course unlesse it be taken they will begin to spurn at the Government and break out into seditious wayes as Tiberius his Army did when it was in Germany and will fall to an insolent course of Plundering and robbing and so by these meanes will bring the Victory they had gotten before to nothing as it happened to Conradinus the Swevian and Charles of Anjou Therefore after any Conquest gotten over a Kingdom the Conquerour must modestly use his Victory and endeavour to please the People For otherwise he will alienate their affections from himself and they will be apt upon all occasions to invite in his Enemies to fall upon him as it happened to Rehoboam and Charles of Anjou in Sicily and to the Carthaginians after the First Punick War and to Aecolinus against whom his subjects the Citizens of Padua shut their gates as likewise to Nero who though Prince of it was yet called The Enemy of his Country And although many Crafty Practises are now in use among Princes for the keeping of their Subjects in due obedience yet I dare boldly affirm that they will in the end prove destructive to those Princes For we see that Tiberius that Grand Artifex of Subtleties and Craft was miserably hated by his Subjects and so led a very sad life because he found he was not loved by any body so that he was fain to put some or other every day to death as contemners of his Majesty and so to be ever of a troubled disquieted mind which certainly may better be called a Death then a life Therefore the highest and most advantageous Craft that a Prince can make use of is to shew himself Beneficent Religious and Liberall toward his Subjects yet this in so moderate a way as that by this means he give them not occasion to despise him as happened to Pope Celestine the Fifth But let us now proceed to those things that more Particularly concern Spain As I have before shewed by Divine Reasons that there can be no Universal Monarchy among the Christians expected save that of the Pope and have also declared how he is to be dealt withal so I shall now prove by Reasons of Policy that there can be no Monarch in the Christian World unlesse he have his dependance upon the Pope For certainly what Prince soever hath any other that is superiour to Him though in Religion onely and not in point of Armes as the Pope is he can never attain to an Universal Monarchy For whatsoever He shall take in hand it will be successelesse and he shall be as it were crushed in pieces by the superiour For All Religions as well the False as the True do prevail and are Victorious when they have once taken root in the Minds of men upon which onely depend both their Tongues and Armes which are the onely Instruments of attaining Dominion Thus we see that Iulius Caesar when any were created Consuls if the Poâ—tifex Maximus came and sayd They were not created Rightly they were presently by him put by and so whensoever he was to enter into a fight if the Augurs said that The Pullen would not eat their meat he forbare to go on and did onely what he was directed to by their Omen And therefore when the same Caesar had fallen upon a resolution of making himself A Monarch he opposed Cato as much as possibly he could and endeavoured by all possible meanes to be chosen to be the Pontifex Maximus Which when he had once attained unto he acted another way and took upon himself all the Martiall Offices that were to be administred by the sword that so he might drive on his designs the more securely and withal by his gifts obliged all the Souldiery so to him as that they refused not to bear arms for Him even against their Country and to assist him in his designs of changing the Government of the state So in like manner Cyrus would be called by the Title of Gods Commissary that so no Prophet might pretend to be greater then Himself And Alexander the great would be accounted the son of Iupiter Ammon for the very same reason It is also very evident that no Monarchy in the Christian World hath arrived to the Height by reason of the obedience which is due to the Pope And hence it is that Mahomet when he aspired to a Monarchy brought in first a New Religion which was quite different from what was before For Armes cannot effect any thing against Religion if they be overmaster'd by another more powerful Religion though a worse if so be it be but entertained by the People For as much therefore as there is no more powerful Religion found in the World then that of the Roman Christian it is evident that neither Spain nor France can attain to any greater Dignity then It. And hence it was that Charles the Great when he had a design upon the Universal Monarchy of the World took upon himself the Title of being The Protector of the Pope and indeed so long as he stood up in a defence of Christianitie he became Great If the King of Spain therefore do in like manner aspire to the same Height it is necessary that he frame some New Religion but this neither God nor Reason permits him to do For First this is never to be done but in the very Infancy and beginning of a Kingdom as you may see in the examples of Mahomet Romulus
and Pythagoras for otherwise he must needs come to ruine by changing the Auspicia Regni the Fortune of the Kingdom as I may call it whose dependance is from Faith in Christ and then the People will immediately betake themselves to their Armes and revolt from him Neither indeed have any Monarchies been either more certainly or more miserably brought to destruction then when they have changed their Religion as is testified by Histories And then again the Pope and the rest of the Princes of Christendom would joyn their whole strengths together and would in a very litle time root him out of his Kingdom of Naples Millan and consequently also of the New World the rest of his Dominions And although these things were not done to Henry the VIII of England nor yet to the Duke of â—â—xony because their Territories were encompassed within small though well fortified Bounds yet for all that did they fail of succession and so their States went away from them And we have examples hereof also in Ieroboam Iehu Iulian the Apostate and others who for having changed their Religion incurred the hatred of their People and brought destruction upon themselves Unlesse we shall say that the Pope hath no power at all in Temporal things nor is any whit above either any other of the Bishops or theirs Surrogates or Chaplains in Authority or degree which is evidently contradictory to Gods Ordination by which He hath been constituted a Regal Priest and hath been armed with both the Swords as well the Civill as the Spiritual For were it otherwise Christ should be a very mean Law-giver and should be lesse then Melchisedech who was both King and Priest together which addeth both the greater Majesty as well as security to any Kingdom as I have proved in my Treatise Touching Monarchy against Dante who looking only upon the Priesthood of Aaron allowes to the Pope nothing but Spiritualties and Tithes only And which is more this impugnes also all Reasons of Policy because the Pope can never want those that will take up Armes in His defence in case He should not be able to defend Himself and that either by being moved thereunto through Zeal to Religion as the Countesse Matilda did against the Emperour Henry or else out of Emulation or some interest of Faction as it was in the Case of the Venetians making war upon the Emperour Frederick whom they compelled to kisse the Popes Foot or for both these reasons as when King Pipin and Charles the Great took up Armes in assistance of the Pope against the Lombards and others who waged war against him Thus we see that the Constantinopolitan Empire came to be destroyed for the Apostasy of Iulian and Constantius in like manner as all the Fredericks Henries and other Kings also of Naples suffered for the same Cause as often as they denied their Obedience to the Pope And certainly the Opinion and Beliefe which hath prevailed upon the Minds of all People touching the Christian Religion is of very great force and moves them to defend It to the utmost of their power so that whensoever the Pope hath excommunicated any Prince He doth at the same instant ruine him also Do but observe I pray you to what state Ferraria is reduced at this day But we have discoursed more copiously of this in the Treatise of Monarchy It is lastly against all Policy too for the Pope withholds the rest of the Princes of Christendom from invading Spain as he doth the King of Spain from invading them by continually composing their differences in like manner as he divided India betwixt the Portugals and the Spaniards and thus hath several times made peace betwixt the Spaniards and the French Venetians and Genowaies and so likewise betwixt Pisa and Florence which yet he would not so easily be able to do by the meer Reverence they bear to Religion For here in these Cases they have an eye as well to the force of Armes as to Religion for He that is in the wrong Cause may justly suspect the Popes joyning of his strength to that of his Antagonist and so for this reason he will the more readily obey the Popes Injunction as I have declared formerly in the forementioned Treatise And the King of Spain if he but declare himself for and stand up in the defence of the Pope shall be sure to have alwayes the assistance of His Forces at his devotion at any time which will be a good means of confirming his Kingdom to him And therefore I conceave it very necessary according to the Fate of Christendom that if the King of Spain would arrive to an Universal Monarchy He must declare himself publiquely to have his dependance from the Pope and command it to be published all abroad throughout the World that himself is the Cyrus that was before typified and the Catholick King that is the Universal Monarch of the World declaring this his Monarchy by his Religious Counsels and pious Actions and passing also by many litigious Controversies which he hath with the Pope and dwelling in the Tents of Sem making it appear to all the World that He is the Chief Defender of Christian Religion that depends wholly upon the Pope of Rome calling together also the Christian Princes to consult about the recovery of those Countreys they have lost and are at this day in the hands of Hereticks and Turks and He must proceed to the causing of such to be excommunicated as shall deny their assistance herein and lastly he must also take care that Pious and diligent Preachers be sent abroad into the World to promote this businesse For the Plain truth of it is that the Pope picks quarrels sometimes with the King of Spain for no other reason but only because he is afraid that in case he should subdue the King of France and the Princes of Italy hee would then make Him only as his Chaplain And this is the reason why He desires that they should alwayes be at variance one with another that so in case either of them should fall off from Himâ— by reason either of Apostasy or some quarrel or other He might have the other to assist him And this is the reason why he stirred up the Western Empire against the Eastern onely because they had forsaken their former Religion had had many Clashings with the Pope about It. But now if King Philip will but do that which is his duty as is before declared and will but give way to the Pope in some things which he pretends His Right and will besides send some Bishops and Cardinals into the Belgiâ—k Provinces and to the New world to dispose of and order things there he will by this meanes both free the Pope from this suspition and shall withall effect his own desires seeing that it is evident that the Pope by his Indulgencies and Croysados brings him in more mony then those Dignities which he bestowes upon Cardinals Archbishops Bishops and
Spaniards to keep those so large Kingdomes in Obedience And indeed those Dominions are upheld and made good to the Spaniard meerely through Opinion onely And for this very reason are they forced to disarme the People which causeth them to suspect Tyranny and Inhumanity from them and which makes many also forsake their Country as Solon told Periander the Tyrant of Corinth Besides seeing they are necessitated to treat the Subjects hardly they are therefore fain to get Switzers about them for their Life-guards as not daring to trust their persons with those whose hatred they have for these reasons contracted which was also the discourse of the same Solon to the aforesaid Tyrant of Corinth Another meanes and cause why Spain should want Souldiers is because that the Spaniards when ever they conquer any Country that abounds with all manner of delights they do so give themselves up to the full injoyment of those delights that they thereby soften and enervate themselves and laying aside all their Innate fiercenesse and yet withal securely relying upon their own strengths alone they are easily driven out thence again For this cause the Romans when they saw their Army to be grown Effeminate and much weakned by lying in Campania and enjoying the Pleasures thereof they presently reformed it And at Naples they never had any Native for their King by reason of the Delicacy of the Aire there and Venereal Pleasures whereby all their Manly Courage and Gallantry of Spirit is softened and taken down Neither could any Forreigners ever keep it long because that in processe of time they became cheap in the Peoples Eyes and so became a prey to other Forreigners as the Viscardians were to the Suevians the â—uevians to those of Anjou and those of Anjou to the Arraganians and at length to the French and the Castilians who afterwards under the Command of the Great Captain drove the French out of the said Kingdom of Naples The like hath also happened to â—ll those Fierce Nothern Nations that have heretofore possessed themselves of any Southern Countries for through the softnesse and delights of the said Countries they have at length become Effeminate and broken in their strength And by this meanes the Herulians became a Prey to the Goths and the Goths to the Grecians as the Lombards were to the French and as at length it befell to the Vandalls also and Hunnes Thus the Tartarians in like manner became the Laughing-stock and Scorn of the Turks but indeed the Turk now defends himself by his Guards of these Northern People after this manner After He had once perceived that the Courage of his own Nation began to cool He presently erected certain Seminaries of Souldiers they call them Seragli that is to say Cloysters or Enclosures into which he shut up all the likeliest and ablest-bodied young boyes of all the Nations that he had conquered where they should be taken off from acknowledging their own Parents and should be accustomed to reverence and own the Grand Signiour only as their Father and here they are also instructed in all Military Arts and in the Turkish Religion and out of these doth the Great Turk choose his Ianizaries for the guard of his own Person and of these same Ianizaries doth He afterwards make his Bashawes that is his Commanders and Counsellours in his Wars as also the Presidents of his Provinces and Baronies and such of these as He finds to be studiously inclined aâ—d fit for the Book he chooseth out of them the Mufâ—ies and the Cadies that is to say the Priests and Judges So that although the race of the Turks should faile yet will he never be unprovided of an able Souldiery seeing that He takes such an order to have such brought up thus for his service in every Province by the Presidents of the said Provinces And the Romans of old to the end that they might never want Souldiers proposed great rewards and Honours for all such as should approve themselves Valiant in War Hence we read that Ventidius Marius and other Valiant and Wise persons arrived to so great a height of Renown among them till at length by this means they made themselves Masters of the Whole World The King of Spain therefore to the end that He may remove from his Souldiery these two Evils which It chiefly laboureth under must make use of these two Arts especially First He must presently take away from all People that he shall conquer all their Immovable Goods and must allow them only food and cloathing and so set them to manure the ground and as for their Sons He may make them either Souldiers or Husbandmen according as he shall find them fittest for either of these Imployments And this will be best done in such Countries as He shall have brought into his Subjection upon some certain Occasion according as Ioseph did in Egypt who taking his advantage by Occasion of the unexpected Dearth that arose there to the end that the People might the better be furnished with Corn he caused them to put all they had into their King Pharaohs hands from whom the Turks also have learnt this Art But there will be need of a very Wise Man that may be able to bring this about in our Country by taking good and plausible Occasions of doing the same Or else the King may constitute some Third Person as an Intermediate Lawgiver such as Ioseph was in Egypt or Plato who was â—ent for into Sicily by Dionysius the Tyrant by whose means He may in each several Province reforme the Politiâ— of three or five Cities there the examples whereof the rest will afterwards follow of their own accord when they shall but once take notice of the Benefits and Advantages that such a Reformation brings along with it And therefore for this end and purpose there must be care taken especially for the providing of Wise and Able Preachers for these places and I may â—elf have a certain Secret to communicate which would much promote this businesse which I shall reserve for the Kings own Ear. Or if the King of Spain have a purpose and reâ—olution of prosecuting the Course already begun although it seems not to be so proper a one for the New World my Opinion is that considering the Multitude of his conquered Vassals there and the Small Number of his Souldiers in comparison of them He ought to take this Course First of all let Him shew himself bountiful to the People by remitting their Taxes by mitigating the severity of the Lawes and by removing all occasions that the Inferiour Officers might have of seizing upon the Subjects Goods and restraining the Souldiers from abusing the Inhabitants where they come for which very reasons the People do not get so many Children as otherwise they would which might afterwards do the King service And hence also it is that their Daughters wanting good portions to put them off are fain to become either Nunnes or Whores and the Menâ— to
his Neighbours the Switzers and the Grisons and let Him chuse out of these Nations Thirty Thousand Souldiers to whom He shall in the mean time allow half pay till such time as He shall have Occasion to use them according as the Venetians are wont to do and this Army let him make use of for the repelling of any powerful Enemy assaulting hâ—m But yet lest these people encreasing their numbers should themselveâ— invade the Duchy of Millan which thing we know to have happened heretofore in the time of the Romans I would have this Army to be divided and some part of it to be sent into the Netherlands and another to Naples and there may some of them also be sent abroad as far as the West-Indies that so serving him abroad in His Wars they may at length be all destroyed And certainly should this People but keep at home and not go so much abroad to Wars as they do but should unite their forces together it would be a very easie matter for them to subdue all Italy but now whiles that they serve some of them under this Prince and some under that in their wars there is no great reason to fear any such thing of them However it would be a very good way to divide them as we have shewed and to send them abroad several waies The second thing that the Italians are wont to threaten the Spaniard with is that perhaps They may enter into a League with the Pope and the King of France to the Prejudice of Spain But this conceipt of theirs also the King of Spain may easily elude because no one of them dares do any thing without the Pope and the King of France as being not able of himself to defend himself much lesse to attempt any thing against others unlesse it be by chance and by taking some extraordinary Advantage as the Venetians did heretofore at what time the Popes were at War with the Emperours and when the Transalpines made bold to march over into Italy And therefore iâ— so be the King of Spain have but the Pope on his side He hath no need at all to fear the Princes of Italy neither indeed is there any Change made in any State or Dominion in Italy without the Pope and the Pope alone hath been the cause of all the Mutations that have happened in the Kingdom of Naples And in case the Pope should take up Arms against any Party or against any Common-Wealth in Italy He would presently prove the Conquerour by having recourse immediately to his wonted Helps such as are His giving out Indulgences against it and his absolving the subjects from the Oathes they have taken to be true to the same and by calling in others to His Assistance as Pope Iulius the second did at that time when He Excommunicated the Venetians at which time they were utterly crushed by him Now my Counsel to the King of Spain is that He would yeeld to the Pope and do whatsoever He would have and that He would give His Commands abroad as Constantine the Emperour heretofore did namely that the Pope shall have supream Authority in Last Appeals and so likewise that Two Bishops with the King who then holds the place of a Clergy man be Judges in all causes that shall be devolved unto them by way of Last Appeals And let it be agreed upon betwixt him and the Pope that what Princes soever shall refuse to submit hereto they shall be deprived by their Authority For if some of the Princes of Italy or indeed if all of them should fall off from the Pope the King of Spain who is the Vindicater of the Pontifical Authority being assisted by Croisados and other Aides from the Pope would by degrees ruin them all one after another or else bring them in Subjection under himself and thus whiles he yields to the Pope He is sure to have both His Affections surely united to Him and His power assisting him and he shall withal make himself Maâ—ter of the Princes of Italy's Dominions And this may possibly hereafter come to passe although as matters now stand all that the King can do is to make it his businesse to keep these Princes at difference amongst themselves and to make either the Duke of Parma or some other of them Sure to Him and then He need care but little for any of the rest Let him also give the Venetians the Tittle of being The Fathers of Italy and let him desire of them the favour to have some of the Principal of them sent to him whom he may imploy as Iudges in the Netherlands because that this Nation doth more willingly admit of Italians then Spaniards and of all Italians of the Venetian rather then any other and upon These Venetians so imployed by him let him confer the Dignities of Barons And seeing that it is known to every man that the Venetians are both very Just and also free from Ambition and so the fitter to be made use of if not for the gaining of any New Dominions yet certainly for the keeping of what are already gotten let the King so order the matter as that the Hollanders may be brought to desire Lawes to be prescribed them by the Venetians of which I shall say more hereafter And if by these Arts He could so far prevaile with them as to get them to give over their travelling to Alexandria and â—yria to traffick there and to take up a trade of Merchandise with those in the West-Indies as the Portuguez have done He would by this meanes in time make Himself Lord of the Venetians as He hath already of the Genoeses Now that he may also secure himself in the mean time from the Venetians it would be his best Course to provide himself of such a Navy as I spake of before and He should likewise do well to make use of the Archduke of Carinthia and His Neighbours the Grisons in his wars by this meanes to fright the Venetians the more And besides let him give entertainment to all such persons as are banished by the Florentines or by the Venetians and receive them into his service in his wars and he may do well to bestow extraordinary rewards upon them too that by this meanes he may draw others of them also over to him who may serve under him if neeed be even against their owne Native Country Which indeed was the frequent practise of the Duke of Millan and also many times of the King of France when for the same reason he invited in to him all the Banished Genoeses and Florentines And for the same reason also the Strozza's Piccolominies and the Lord Peter de Medicis might in these our times strike no small terrour into the Great Duke of Florence If therefore the King would have these Princes of Italy to continue at variance among themselves let him take heed how he strikes any fear into them for Fear is the onely meanes to unite them together and
King is possessed of the Kingdome of Oran there already where He is in continual Wars with the Moors who might easily all of them be conquered if he should but make One Invasion only upon them with an Army of Germans Neither indeed need the King fear any Obstruction to His Spanish Monarchy from those Parts For those Nations are much fitter to serve then to Command and bear Rule neither have They ever been able to conquer any of the Northern Nations but rather themselves have been alwaies conquered by Them excepting only Carthage which was a Colony of Tyre who yet were at length utterly ruined by the Romans And the Arabians also passed over out of Africk into Spain where they kept their footing for the space of Eight Hundred yeares yet were at length quite driven out again Neither indeed were they truly Africans but only the Novelty of their Armes together with that of their Mâ—hometan Religion encouraged them so far as to fall upon so bold an attempt But the Africans at this day are a very Weak unwarlike People and for as much as they are Naturally Envious Crafty and of a servile Nature the King of Spain by making use of one of the little Kings there might in a little time break in upon them and make his way to the most Inmost Countries of all Africk as the Romans of old did by the help of Mâ—sinissa And therefore Sebastian King of Portugal did wisely when he made use of the King of Fâ—z his sons for the getting and possessing himself of that Kingdom although he was not so very wise in venturing his own Person in that Expedition And indeed because that the sons of those Kings are wont to kill one another they are so much the more easily conquered if a man do but make any one of them over to him But seeing these People are so much divided among themselves there is no need of fearing them at all The King of Spain ought therefore to get further footing in Africk seeing that he hath opportunity enough of doing so by reason of the many strong Holds that He is Master of all along the Western and Soâ—thern Coast of Africk And He should do well to make over to him the above named Prester Iohn whom he should cunningly set against the rest and get him to make War upon them And the King of Spain may very easily contract friendship with this Prester Iohn by means of the Jesuites whom he may send thither And He should also by his Emâ—assadours sent to him for that purpose put him in mind of the Duty and Obedience that he owes to the Pope which was formerly done in the time of Pope Eugenius IV. and Clemens VII by means of the Portuguez and so should make a League with him There should therefore be sent thither such as are both true Catholicks and Learned men to instruct them in the Arts and in the True Religion both which they are as yet Ignorant of For they would be easily converted and that so much the rather because they say it hath been heretofore foretold them by a certain Prophetesse whose name was Sinoda that They were predestinated to joyn with the Latines and to root out the Turk and to set at Liberty the Holy Sepulchre of Christ. Seeing therefore that the King of Spain is Master of all the African shores He must make it his care that none may have any Fleets to passe by the said Coasts but that it may be free and safe for the aforesaid Prester Iohn by the assistance of the Portuguez to sayl into Palestine when ever he pleases by the Gulf of Arabia and there to fall upon the Turks and to do them what mischief he can And to this purpose He is to be furnished with all Necessary Means as namelyâ— Engines of War and other such Provisions whereby he may be the better enabled to conquer the Turk For if Mahumetanisme should but once be introduced into that Kingdom of his it would prove extreamly prejudicial to the whole Christian World and especially to Spain He may also come in by Egypt and so fall upon the Turk And if there were but a gallant Fleet lying about Naples that might go out at pleasure and scour the Seas all along the Northern Coast of Africk it might easily be brought under the King of Spain's power and those Slaves also that are at Algier and in Cyrene might be dealt with to rise up all at once and rebel in favour of the Spaniard And such a Fleet as I but now spake of might be maintained meerly by the Prizes that they should take and so by that means would both Italy be secured and all such other places also that are now obstacles to the Spanish Monarchy might be taken in CHAP. XXIX Of Persia and Cataia THe King of Spain must endeavour by all Means possible to hinder the Persians and those of Taprobana from putting out any Fleets of Ships to Sea and also the Arabians for these people would questionlesse be a great hinderance to his Affaires in the East-Indies and would annoy His Fleet in its passage that way and might also probably infect the New-converted Christians there with Mahumetanisme He ought therefore to build strong Castles all along the Coasts of Arabia and Ethiopia and so likewise upon the Coasts of the Arabian Gulf and also in all the Southern Islands that lye upon the Coast of Africk and Asia and He should enter into a League with the Persian against the Tâ—rk And yet perhaps He need not so much care to have the Turk quite extirpated for whosoever of those two should overcome the other whether the Turk or Persian he would thereby become so powerful as that he would be able to conquer the whole Christian World and so consequently to spoyl all the hopes of a Spanish Monarchy and it might prove as Prejudicial to Christendom to have the Turk ruined by any other but some Christian Prince as it would be for the advantage of Christendome that he should be conquered by the Christians themselves alone But yet seeing that the Turk does us continually very much harm breaking in upon us by Hungary Sclavonia and Africk it would be good Policy to set the Persian upon him and to take a course that He may have Guns and such like Artillery â—ent unto him to make use of in his Warres against the Turk For it was meerly the want of these that was the cause that He lost almost all Armenia and that the Turk is now so Potent in the East and that he so little fears the Persian as he does for by this means whiles he is making War upon the Christians in the West He is secure from all danger from Asia and so gets ground upon us daily more and more It would be convenient therefore to make a League with the Persian and especially in respect of the Kings Negotiations in the East-Indies because that His Fleet must passe by
Power over his Subjectsâ— that the Turk does over his He might easily surpasse him in Riches The King I confesse wants Mony but I have formerly shewed him by what waies He might gather together Mony enough to maintain a war against the Turk Now the Turk useth infinite Celerity and speed in putting what ever designs He hath in execution sparing no cost or charges for the providing of all things necessary for the same so that with the present Mony that he hath in his Treasury He presently raiseth Men and provides them Armes and gets all things immediately in a readinesse in order to the expedition He is upon and when he hath laid out all the Mony that he had in his Treasurie he then presently falls to filling it up again by laying fresh Impositions and Taxes upon his Subjects It is a necessity that is in a manner Peculiar to the Turk of making War upon his Neighbours round about and as it were in a Circle for they are all his enemies But now the condition of the Spaniard is otherwise For betwixt His Kingdome of Naples and his Duchy of Millanâ— there lye the Pope and the Tuscans who are united unto him by the Tie both of Religion and Friendship He lies something remote indeed from the Netherlands and the West Indies which notwithstanding render him worthy the more admiration because that by reason of his Fleets he lies as it were neer unto them and by meanes of the same he may possibly in time make himself Master of those other Parts also which he hath not yet possessed himself of as we shall shew hereafter The King hath also this advantage that although those Countries lâ—e at so great a distance from one another yet by the Tie of Religion they are all joyned to Spain Lastly whereas in Turky the Eldest sons of the Emperours are wont alwaies to make away with their Younger brothers this piece of Cruelty of theirs does but set a Note of Infamy upon them and it may easily so fall out that some One of these Younger Brothers may get away out of his Elder Brothers power and may be able afterwards to make War upon his Brother And we see that this had been like to have come to passe in Gemes the Brother of Bajazet who having gotten out of prison might have been able to have done his Brother very much Mischief and by the Assistance of the Christians might have made his way into Greece had he not by the Arts his Brother Bajazet used and by the treachery also of the Christians been taken off by Poyson And Selim although He did not desire to make Himself Emperour yet He made himself very strong at first only to preserve himself from being put to death but afterwards taking the Opportunity when it was offered him He turned both his Father and Brother out of the Empire and commanded them to be both put to death at which Juncture of Time that Empire might very easily have been utterly subverted and ruined And truly I conceive that the Total destruction of that Empire cannot be brought about any other way then by this one thing namely their most bloody Cruelty that they Practise upon their nearest and dearest Friends and Kindred For seeing that the great Turk takes as many Wives to himself as he pleases and so gets an Infinite number of Sons by them all which are most certainly assured that when ever their Eldest Brother comes to be Emperour They shall be all of them murdered it is very probable that some time or other there may Civil Wars arise in that Empire by which it may either be totally destroyed or at least may be divided into many parts which would give the Turks enemies an Opportunity of falling upon him and so of ruining him Neither need any one wonder that this hath not as yet happened to this very day seeing that this Empire is not of any so very long standingâ— For Ottoman who was the Founder of it died but in the Year of our Lord 1328. in the time of Pope Benedict XI And yet we know that there have already been bloody Wars amongst them which seems to confirm this our Prognostication and makes me the willinger to give credit to Torquatus the Astrologer who foretold that it would come to passe that in the time of the Sixteenth Emperour of Turky that Empire should fall to the ground namely when the Moon which is the Ensign of that Empire shall begin to decrease that is to say when It shall be divided into Two Hornes by two of the Great Turks Sons rising up one against the other and causing the Empire to be divided into Two parts One of which Brothers turning to Christianity shall come over to the Christians Now these Two Hornes signifie Two Kingdomes for Kingdomes are oftentimes denoted by the Ensigns or Armes of the same as we see in the Revelâ—tion of St. Iohn where the Kingdomes themselves are from their Insignia called sometimes Dragons sometimes Eagles and sometimes also Lions and the Prophet Ieremy calleth the Kingdome of the Assyrians by the name of a Dove because the Assyrians had the Figure of a Dove for their Ensign or Devise Now in this Particular the Spaniard is much more happy then the Turk because that His Sons do not fall out or hate each other for any such Cause Yea we see at this day that those of the House of Austria partly by reason of this very thing because they are Brothers and Kindred and partly also through fear of the other Christian Princes and of the Hereticks are at so much the greater Concord and Agreement among themselves And you shall scarse find more Brothers or Kindred in any one Princes Family then in that of Austria and yet have not these ever broken the Bond of Consanguinity one with another nor have ever raised any Commotions in their Republick through Ambitious Ends and Respects but have on the contrary preserved each to other their Just Rights Untoucht and have lived together in so Unshaken a Concord and Union as that they seem to be so many Bodies animated all with One Soul and guided all by One Will. We may adde hereto that the Younger Brothers of this House have hopes either of being made Cardinals or else of being Elected Kings of Poland or of some of the other Forreign Elective Kingdoms so that the House of Austria by reason of the Multitude of Sons growes the Greater whereas the Ottoman House does for the same reason decrease every day more and more not to say any thing how much the Turk's Subjects are offended with this Tyranny of his Experience also testifies that the Daughters of the House of Austria have by their Marriages with other Princes and the Inheritances thereby fallen to them very much advanced the Greatnesse of the Austrian Family and have enlarged their Dominions in a wonderful manner and besides they have also caused the hearts of their Husbands and of their