whom it was imputed as a great fault that he would rather call to his ayd Philip King of Macedon then put his Cities into the hands of Cleomenes a Spartan Quod si omnino saith Plutarch Cleomenes injustus fuerit atque Tyrannicus tamen Heraclidarum genere patria 〈◊〉 suisse quidem iis qui rationem aliquam Graeciae Nobilitatis 〈◊〉 Spartanorum obscurissimum potius quam primum inter Macedonas Ducem deligendum fuisse Whereupon our Lord God meaning to give the man Regall power over the woman to the end it might be tolerated with more contentment made her of a ribbe of Adam And to conclude in Deuteronomy he commanded his people they should not choose a stranger to be their King But because this my opinion is full of difficulty seeing oftentimes a City desires to be governed rather by a stranger then by one of their owne Citizens it will be necessary to use distinction either it is the first time a Kingdome is erected or else they have been used to Regall power before if it be the first time they will then rather choose to serve a stranger then one of their own Citizens First because knowing the Citizens beginning they are apt to scorne him So it fell out with the Israelites the first time they had a King for being most desirous to see who it should be when they saw it was Saul they scorned him Num salvare nos poterit iste despexerunt eum Secondly it happens often by reason of factions that are in the City for such desire rather to be governed by a stranger as a man indifferent then by a Cittizen that is an enemy Seeing such a one comming to the government would certainly sill the City with blood and slaughter Whereupon Livy saith Cum pars quae domestico certamine inferior sit externo potius se applicet quam civi cedat A third reason is drawne from envy for an envious man endeavours alwaies to obscure the worthinesse of his Countreymen as lying more in envies way then a stranger whereof S. Hierome saith Propemodum naturale est semper cives civibus invidere invidia autem est tristitia de aliena excellentia ut est proprii boni diminutiva Bonum autem absentium non 〈◊〉 nostra quia non confert eis Ideo non invidemus bona autem praesentium conferunt bonis nostris comparatione excellentiae eorum ostenditur parvum esse bonum nostrum hoc est illud Diminui And of this we have the example of our Lord Christ who being persecuted by his Countreymen was invited by Abagarus a forraine Prince that would have made him in part King with him in his City A third reason may be this that Countreymen know a man from his infancy when there is yet no vertue in him and thereupon consider him but as such a one still where strangers that come not to know a man but in his perfection cannot nor know not how to consider him other then as such So the said S. Hierome saith Quia cives non considerant praesentia viri opera sed fragilis â—…ecordantur Infantiae It is therefore no marvell that the Florentines chose rather to be governed by a French man then by one of their owne Citizens Our Lord God knowing how difficult a thing it is to choose at the first time ones own Countreyman to be Prince In the old law to the end the Israelites having a desire to have a King and not yeelding one to another might not subject themselves to a stranger he made a law they should choose none to be their King but only an Israelite Non poteris alterius generis hominem in Regem facere quod non sit frater tuus But because he knew it would be a hard matter for them to agree upon the choyce at the first time he therefore made that election himselfe Eum constitues quem Dominus Deus tuus elegerit de medio fratrum tuorum And when lastly he came to choose him to the end he might be lesse envied he tooke a course that causeth least envy and that was by Lot But if the people have been accustomed before to a Regall subjection in this case they will rather like to be governed by one of their own Countrey then a stranger and so much the more if some of his family have beene Governour before there being then no place for either envy feare or for equality It is therefore no marvell that Caesar was but ill beloved and was slaine and that 〈◊〉 lived quietly and had the love of all men seeing Caesar raised his House from equality and Augustus found it in superiority in which the Dictatour had left it whereupon when I consider how it happened that our Lord God would at the first time make a King by election and afterward would have it to goe by succession in David I cannot conceive a better reason than this that he knew after the first time the election of a King would be without difficulty In this particular let every one be of what opinion he please but for this other point I doe not thinke it will be denied me that all Cities and Provinces like better to be governed by a particular Prince that dwels amongst them then by any other how great soever he be For this cause it was that the Spaniards were not well pleased when Charles the fifth was made Emperour and were ready to rise because they feared he would leave dwelling in Spaine and make his residence in Germany This desire was the cause that the Persians to have a King in their owne Province set up Cyrus against Astyages who resided in Media and out of this desire the Brittaines covenanted with the King of France that his eldest sonne comming to the Crown his second sonne should be Duke of Brittaine whereof there can be no other reason but the desire to have a particular Prince that should dwell amongst them as being indeed of speciall benefit to the people First because living amongst them he spends those Revenues in the Country which he drawes from the Countrey Secondly because of the greater care the Prince hath of them and because of the peoples neernesse to their Lords eare to whom they can present their suites in their own persons without wasting themselves in journeys and lying at Innes Lastly because if the Prince being Lord of many Provinces reside in one of them the other must be faine to be governed by Deputies of that Province The Emperours of Rome residing in Italy governed all the Provinces by Italians a thing most distastfull to all the people because to one that is not grieved to be subject to a Prince that is a stranger yet it grieves him to be governed by men of a Province that is a stranger as many people that are content to be subject to the King of Bohemia yet refuse to be subject to the Kingdome of Bohemia And the King of France after many
That the power of a few cannot consist in any number better then in three The fourth Discourse THe Common-wealth of Rome leaving the government of one and passing by the number of two where it stayed a while under Marius and Sylla setled at last in the number of three the first time under Caesar Crassus and Pompey the second time under Anthony Lepidus and Augustus Which how much better it was then to have stayed in two every one may know that will but consider either Philosophically or Theologically or Politically what great force there is in the number of three for the conservation and union of things Indeed Aristotle had no better way to shew the necessity of the Materia Prima then this seeing there being a forme and a privation which are two it was never possible they should be united together but in a third in which and by which they might be conjoyned Also the schoole of Theophrastus contented not it selfe to deliver for Principles Radicall moysture and Naturall heate knowing that two alone are destructive but he added a third that is salt and cold and dry to the end that with cold he might associate Radicall moysture and with the dry Naturall heate and consequently make a perfect union of the three that is Salt Sulphur and Mercury It is therefore no marvell if Divines also make a Trinity in the Deity not only a Father and a Sonne but also a Holy Ghost who as many of them say unites the Father with the Sonne and it is very convenient that from that Essence which is one there should come three a child of unity Againe if we examine it Politically why three should be conservative we shall finde it manifest of it selfe because if one of the three should aspire to be sole Prince presently the other two would joyne and oppose and utterly frustrate his designe And if two of the three should grow at variance the third would either by interposing reconcile them or standing neuter as onely a looker on they would grow friends of themselves for feare least the other should reape the benefit of their victory And therefore Aristotle found fault with Plato for making a Commonwealth to consist of only Prince and People and consequently of only two formes saying it had been much better to have made it to consist of three which yet to many seems a Paradox because as multiplying of good makes a more good so multiplying of evill makes alwaies a more evill And why then would he rather have three corruptions then two for no other cause as I conceave but that he would plainly shew he knew the number of three to be conservative and the number of two destructive there being nothing that more ruines Cities then to be divided into two without a third as Aristotle in many places shews and praising that City for the best which is full of middling sorts of men for no other cause but because there are in it the three that is rich poore and of a middling ranke and shewes that where these are not it is impossible a City should continue To come then to a Monarchy it was of necessity that the number of three should be destroyed and to destroy three It was of necessity either by encreasing it to bring it to foure or by abating it to bring it to two just as the apostate Lucifer would have done to divide and destroy the heavenly Monarchy when leaving the circumference founded upon the divine Center he framed another higher Circle founded upon the center of himselfe bringing the one to two which because it could not continue he was therefore cast into Hell where seeking againe to destroy the Divine Monarchy by bringing it to two he perswaded Eve to eat the forbidden fruit We may say then that as long as the number of three stood firme in Crassus Caesar and Pompey So long the government came not to be a Monarchy but as soon as Crassus died and that the number came from three to two there presently grew dissention between Caesar and Pompey till Caesar at last made himselfe sole Emperour Likewise in the Triumvirate of Augustus none of them was so hardy as once to stirre but Lepidus being gone out of the three there fell discord between Mark Anthony and Augustus who by the death of the other remained sole Emperour It is therefore no marvell that the Jewes seeing the government of Judges was to come to two under the sonnes of Samuel demanded a King considering that two and foure which proceeds from the same root is no lesse a child of the divell then three and one which is the root of it is the child of God And therefore God blessed not the second day and in the creation the Holy Ghost by the mouth of Moses makes mention of three things the Heaven the Earth and the waters Which perhaps moved Plato in his Timaeus to make three Elements three and one being union two and foure dis-union Cuncta Discordiis civilibus fessa nomine Principis subimperium accepit Of what kind of Discord the Authour intends to speake The fifth Discourse BEing by occasion of this passage of necessity to speake of discords and oftentimes to commend them though with some distinction I cannot omit to explaine my meaning which is that where I affirme discords fit to be fomented I mean alwaies amongst the enemies of the Christian faith amongst whom discords are of such benefit that the Prophet Abacuck in expresse termes saith Fluvios scindes terrae which S. Hierome expounding saith Reges terrae adversum populum tuum dimicantes divides disperges For in holy Scripture by Rivers oftentimes are meant Kings because as rivers watering the fields in fit time and place make them fruitfull or otherwaies with unseasonable overflowing destroy them so Kings with the sweetnesse of justice increase or otherwise with unmeasurable cruelty overthrow the Kingdome The Prophet therefore desires that the Princes of the Earth may be divided meaning such Princes as make a God of earthly things to the end that by such division they may more easily be overthrown there being nothing more hurtfull not only to the good but even to the wicked themselves then the concord of the wicked As S. Austin declares it where he saith Sicut multum nocet discordia inter bonos ita valde dolendum est quando mali pacifice vivunt quando vero discordant tunc mundus aliqualiter tranquillatur Nam sicut concordia malorum contraria est concordiae bonorum ita optandum est quod boni pacem habeant mali discordes sint nam per discordiam mali aliquando optimi efficiuntur cognoscentes quid sint quid erunt From these words it may be clearely gathered that it is as great a good to put discord between the wicked as to preserve union between the good and therefore Abraham in his Sacrifice divided the Goat and the Ram but the Turtle-dove and the Pigeon he divided not
the enterprise Obsidionem Hierusalem distulit ratus ejusmodi civilibus discordiis facilius Judaeos consumptos deleri quam armis Romanorum and after a while assaulting the City he destroyed it I observe moreover in that Chapter of Jonas that the sunne came not first upon the Prophets head but the worm that dried up the gourd so also we must dry up our adversaries with discords and then set upon them with our Armies This Coriolanus meant when he appointed his souldiers to spoile the fields of the Plebeians but to leave the fields of the Senatours untouched which he did not do for any hatred to the people but out of a further reach by this means to foment their discords The importance of this the ancient Romans knew well who after the first warre in Sicily seeing the Carthagenians I may say their naturall enemies in a great streight through the revolt of the Cities of Africke and the rebellion of their own Army yet never for this made warre upon them which would rather have brought concord to their enemies then victory to themselves but letting them tire and weary themselves with their own discords they then set upon them so wearied and without shedding of blood made themselves Lords of all Sardinia with encrease of Tribute But in case they would not stay so long till the enemy might trie out himselfe they should then do wel to bring with them in their Army some person of the blood and that hath pretension in the state but yet so as to do it without forcing When Charles the eighth had intention to make warre upon Bajaset the great Turke because he knew how vain a thing it were to beleeve that a Kingdome in Religion in customes and in language different should receive him he therefore tooke with him the brother of Bajaset and the like did Situlces King of the Thracians and Osman Basha by the commandement of Amurath going to destroy the King of the Tartars took with him Islan brother of that King and it succeeded well whereupon as Argentone relates Lewis the eleventh stood in feare of the league only because they brought his brother along with them But if the discords be inveterate and the Citizens through them grown weak it is then alwaies time to assaile them and there can be no doubt of victory Thus Greece was easily overcome by any stranger that tooke this opportunity And thus much concerning discords of Citizens between themselves or of Cities that are under one Lord in which it is sufficiently shewed how a stranger ought to carry himselfe Now we will shew what course he ought to take with other Provinces or Cities that are in discord between themselves These Cities then are either of equall force or of unequall if of equall then ought he to foment both sides and thereby they comming at last to be unequall he shall then take part with the weaker side but yet so as not to weaken himselfe as Croesus in Justin teacheth us who ayding the Babylonians against Cyrus he so much weakned his own Army that after the taking of Babylon he also himselfe was easily overcome And therefore he saith Ibi fortuna prioris praelii that is of Babylon percussum jam Croesi exercitum nullo negotio fudit The matter therefore must be so carried that if the contrary side happen to be Conquerour yet you may be able to maintaine the warre your selfe if conquered it will then be easie for you to make your selfe Lord both of the one and the other For it is not fit when a man may have need of his money and his Forces in defence of himselfe that he should rashly wast them in the service of another Such was the counsell as Thucidides relates that Nicias gave the Athenians while he disswaded them from the warre in Sicily there being no discretion to uncloath 〈◊〉 selfe to cloath another Which is so true that it is written by the Holy Ghost in Ezechiel while speaking of the foure beasts he saith Sub 〈◊〉 autem pennae eorum rectae alterius ad alterum and this as S. Gregory interprets it intends to expresse the ayd that is due from a man to his neighbour It follows after 〈◊〉 duabus alis velabat corpus suum to shew that for ayding of others it is not fit to dismantle our selves To return to our purpose in that we spake of before that is what way is to be held in ayding the weaker side a better example cannot be given then that of Phillip King of Macedon who seeing the Cities of Greece at variance between themselves he fomented the weaker side and after he had wearied the one and the other he brought them both under his Dominion Philippus Rex Macedonum saith Justin libertati omnium insidiatus dum contentiones civitatum alit auxilium inferioribus ferendo victos pariter victoresque subiâ—… Regiam servitutem coegit According to this advice Ferdinand King of Spaine fomented so well the discord between Francis King of France and him of Aragon that weakning the one and oppressing the other he made himselfe Lord of the Kingdom of Naples without wasting of either souldiers or money a Kingdom gotten before by the King of France with so much blood This also many Writers attribute to the Venetians vvho calling Lewis the tvvelfth into Italy hoped by this means to make themselves Lords of many Cities in Lombardy and Romagna with this conceit Lewis il Moro called in Charles the eighth King of France but this man endangered himselfe unhappily and the other were not far from absolute ruine Upon occasion whereof I cannot omit to shew their errour who make doubt that a third man should enjoy the benefit of their victory and what remedy there is for it Secondly how it happened that Ludovico Sforza by raising discord between the King of France and them of Aragon lost his state when Philip by raising discord between the Graecians and also Ferdinand King of Spaine got so much by it Concerning the first there can no better counsell be given to two who striving together have a third looking on to set upon the winner then to perswade them to peace or else juridically to heare their differences but because this seldome or never hath place amongst Princes and warre oftentimes for many occasions either cannot or will not be avoyded therefore I cannot better deliver my opinion then by shewing the example of Metius who being upon the point of striking battell with Tullus Hostilius and knowing that which side soever was victor must needs not having to fight with sheep exceedingly weaken it selfe with losse of souldiers whereby the Thuscans who were equall in Forces to the one and the other and by this losse of men should remain the stronger might take occasion to draw the victory of the conquering side to themselves he invited Tullus Hostilius to a parlee and with these reasons perswaded him to put the fortune of the victory upon a few that not
be not a stranger whereupon Tacitus speaking of Venâ—…ne given to the Parthians to be their King shewes that because he was of different customes from the Parthians though of better than theirs he was with ignominy expelled the Kingdome Accendebat dedignantes ipse diversus â Majorum institutis raro venatu segni equorum cura quoties per urbem incederet lecticae stamine fastusque erga patrias epulas irridebantur Graeci Comites ac vilissima utensilium annulo clausa sed prompti aditus obvia comitas ignotae Parthis virtutes nova vitia quia ipse majoribus aliena perinde odium pravis atque honestis For the very same reason the Gothes tooke it ill that Amalasunta caused Attalaricus to be brought up in the Roman customes although they were better than their own And therefore Isabel Queene of Spaine by her last Will left Ferdinand her Husband to be Governour of Castile for so long time untill Philip who was to succeed being a stranger might learne the customes of the Spaniards And for this cause the Jewes at the comming of the Messias were troubled together with Herod and liked better to be in subjection to one of their owne customes though a stranger as Herod was than to the Messias that was of different though better customes although they knew by the words of Moyses Prophetam suscitabit Dominus de medio fratrum tuorum that he should be their owne Countreyman of which S. Chrysostome gives the reason Fuerunt isti turbati quia injusti non possunt gaudere de adventu justi Secondly because difference of Language is a most odious thing and this out of his singular providence God foreseeing and meaning to hinder 〈◊〉 enterprise to make himselfe a Monarch he confounded the Tongues and thereby easily gave a stop to their proceeding On the contrary when our Lord meant that his Apostles should make some fruit of their labours he would not have them preach in a strange Tongue and therefore gave to every one of them all Tongues that so more easily they might draw men to receive the Faith And the Romans knowing what advantage there is in this compelled all their subjects when they spake in the Senate to speak in the Roman tongue And Rabsaces knowing of how great importance the likenesse of Language is to win the love of the people to the end the Israelites might the willinger receive the government of Senacherib though Sohna the Jew out of a contrary end prayed him to speak in the Syriack tongue Loquere lingua Syriaca ad servos tuos yet he an understanding man as is written in Esay Clamavit Lingua Judaica whereupon Esay in another place shewing the hate and feare which the City of Hierusalem had of the King of the Assyrians amongst other causes names their differing in language Populum impudentem non videbis populum alti sermonis ita ut non possis intelligere disertitudinem linguae ejus Thirdly when to difference of customes and language there is added remotenesse it will adde no doubt a great degree of distastfulnesse First because they will be more obnoxious to the dangers of warre And therefore the Tribe of Dan seeing Lais to be farre off from Sydon which had then the government attempted to bring it in subjection and it tooke effect And that this was the cause that moved them may be gathered from words in the Booke of Judges Euntes igitur quinque viri venerunt Lais videruntque populum habitantem in ea absque ullo timore juxta consuetudinem Sydoniorum securum quietum nullo eis penitus resistente magnarumque opum procul a Sydone atque a cunctis hominibus seperatum And that by this meanes they easily made themselves Masters of it is written also a little after where he saith Sexcenti autem viri tulerunt sacerdotem quae supra diximus veneruntque ad Lais ad populum quiescentem securum percusserunt eos in ore gladii urbemque incendio tradiderunt nullo penitus ferente praesidium Eo quod procul habitarent a Sydone So it happened to the Saguntines who being farre remote from the Romans their confederats were destroyed before they could be ayded And therefore the Armenians standing in doubt of this put themselves into the hands of Mithridates and revolted from the Romans So the people of Syria desired to live under the government of the Parthians as being neere unto them and neighbouring upon them Secondly because people that are farre off must of necessity be governed by a Deputy who by reason of the Princes remotenesse must have great authority given him and consequently may at his pleasure contrary to the Princes meaning play the tyrant over them For all those things that have motion from another and a motion of their own besides how much they are lesse neere to the first mover so much they are more able to move their owne way From hence it is that the Moone being of all the Planets the farthest off from the Primum mobile is moved faster in her own motion and slower in the diurnall motion than any of the other The contrary whereof is seen in Saturne which being neere to the Primum mobile hath the slowest motion and makes the least resistance Yet in the second and third case they will more easily be tolerated although as well in this as in that there is a generall rule that seems to crosse it which is that every City would gladly have a Prince that should be resident amongst them and also be a native of their City That one of the same Nation and City is most acceptable is plainly seen because the people for the most part waves justice and regards not so much the generall good to choose the worthiest as their private benefit to choose the neerest And therfore the Prophet Esay saith Apprehendet enim vir fratrem suum Domesticum patris sui dicet vestimentum tibi est Princeps noster esto Where S. Thomas observes well that every one seeks to make him King that is neerest and not him that is best Indeed this respect of neernesse is of speciall force as we may see in David who being chosen King was followed only by the Tribe of Juda Sola autem domus Juda sequebatur David So Abimelech was more willingly received of the Sichemites then the sonnes of Jerobeam when he said unto them Simul considerate quod Os vestrum Caro vestra sum They were all presently moved to say to him Frater noster es The Milanesi exposed themselves to a thousand dangers out of a desire they had to be governed rather by one of the Sforzi then by the King of Spaine or France And the Faentines chose rather a bastard of Manfredi then to be under the Church So the Armenians as is said before subjected themselves to 〈◊〉 and revolted from the Romans Finally we have a notable example of this in the life of Aratus to
times losing Genoua by this meanes at last he resolved to govern it by Genuesi So in Milan he made Trivultio Governour wherein though he erred yet the errour was in the Individuall and not in the Species as putting the government into his hand that was Head of a Faction But if the Prince be resident in the Province though he be a stranger yet with better liking he will be tolerated because such commonly not only govern the places where they reside but all other places subject to them by Citizens of that Country where they reside The King of Spaine residing in Spaine governes all his subject Kingdomes by Spaniards a thing which not onely winnes love to the Prince but profit also to the Province To this may be added that those people shall alwaies receive more favours who are neere to the Fountaine from whence those favours come then they shall doe that are further off seeing as S. Thomas learnedly observes how much a thing is neerer to its beginning so much it partakes more of the effects of that beginning And for this cause Dionysius Areopagita saith that the Angels as being neerer to God than men are do therefore partake more of the divine goodnesse then men do I cannot omit to advertise that all the difficulties before spoken of are easily allayed after the first heats are once passed as oft as there is found a prudence and graciousnesse in the Prince which is indeed of marvellous great moment as was seen in the Romans who though they hated strangers and were resolved to have no stranger be their King yet when 〈◊〉 a stranger was propounded to them in regard of his eminent vertue they accepted of him Whereof Livy saith Romani veteres peregrinum Regem aspernabantur and a little after Audito nomine 〈◊〉 patres Romani quanquam inclinari opes ad Sabinos Rege inde sumpto videbantur tamen neque se quisquam nec factionis suae alium nec denique Patrum aut civium quenquam praeferre illi vero ausi ad 〈◊〉 omnes 〈◊〉 Pompilio Regnum deferendum decernunt Whereupon it is no marvell if at this day many Provinces and Cities whereof some have a Prince that lives farre off and some a Prince that is a stranger of customes and language different yet they all live in great contentment only thorough the just government of him that rules them I desire therfore that this discourse of mine may be received as of the times past my purpose being to search out the reasons of things have formerly happened and not expressely or tacitely to taxe any Prince Common-wealth or City nor so much as any particular person For above all things I abhorre slandering and specially of those to whom as superiours I owe Reverence Caeterum Augustus subsidia dominationi Claudium Marcellum sororis filium admodum adolescentem Pontificatu curuli Aedilitate Marcum Agrippam ignobilem loco bonum Militia victoriae socium geminatis consulatibus extulit mox defuncto Marcello generum sumpsit Tiberium Neronem Claudium Drusum privignos Imperatoriis nominibus auxit What meanes Princes may use with safety to set them in a way that are to succeed them in the government The eighteenth Discourse IT is plainly seen that Augustus to the end the Senatours nor any other should ever hope to reduce Rome to its ancient forme of government held this for a speciall Maxime of State to advance his neerest kinred and to set some one of them in the way for managing the Empire that so making him privy to all affaires making him known to the fouldiers making him beloved of the people and lastly making him favoured of the Senatours both he after his death might have his way made to come to the Empire and on the contrary no hope might be left for any to attempt any thing against the life of the Prince being propped up with so many Pillars And therefore Vt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insisteret he raysed Marcellus he advanced Marcus Agrippa and after them Tiberius Nero 〈◊〉 Drusus 〈◊〉 and Lucius sonnes of Agrippa and lastly would have Tiberius to adopt Germanicus and 〈◊〉 to be his successours And accordingly 〈◊〉 advanced to the Consulship and other honours 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 and after them Caius Caesar. Whereupon by the example of such great men this course perhaps may be thought worthy of imitation as well for securing ones selfe from danger as also for lessening in part the burthen of those great labours which so great a dignity brings with it so much the more as we have in Cornelius Tacitus a manifest example of Sejanus who by no other meanes was stopped in his course but onely by the number of successours Tiberius had ordained and this stopping as in conspiracies it useth was cause at last that the Prince discovered all his practices But because of the other side the desire of rule blinds the minds of the most inward and domesticke friends It seemes to be no safe course for a Prince whilst he lives himselfe to give any great authority to successours For Invidia Regni as Livy saith etiant inter Domesticos infida omnia atque infesta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 caused his sonne to be elected King but this served not his sonnes turne who thereupon would have killed his father So Absolon meant to do and when with safety he might have expected the Kingdome after the death of his old father David he would rather with wickednesse prevent it and run 〈◊〉 allong into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith 〈◊〉 upon another occasion tarda cum securitate praeniatura vel cum exitio properant And therefore Selim being assumed into part of the Empire by his father Bajaset could not stay to expect it with peace but sought by the death of his father to make himselfe sole Lord. And the like intention had Mustapha towards Sultan Solyman and thereby lost his life Finally this advancing of his successours had but ill lucke with Augustus for Tiberius as is commonly conceived caused him to be poysoned and with Tiberius it proved not much better who also towards the end of his life had the kindnesse of Caius Caesar to helpe him to his death For resolution it may be said that where a State is quiet accustomed to passe by succession in children legitimate there it is in no wise sit to take them into part of the Empire there being no cause with ones owne danger to take away hopes where there are none or to seeke for props where no part threatens ruine But on the other side when the State is in danger not accustomed to live under a Prince and is apt to rebellions in such case it may doe well to call him that is to succeed to be a cosort in the Empire To this purpose it seems the example tends which Tacitus relates of Augustus he caused Tiberius to be called Filius to shew he was his successor Collega Imperii to enter him in managing affaires Consors Tribunitiae
the man and not the woman and the honours that are done to the women ought to passe by the way of their husbands and therefore it is said in Esay 〈◊〉 invocetur nomen tuum super nos This course Tiberius tooke most notably who when his mother made any suite in his name he presently granted it and more then so he many times at the suit of Livia required those things of the Senat which without blushing he could not have asked but when it was moved to give her honours immediately without passing by the meanes of Tiberius he then presently opposed it saying Moderandos foeminarum honores But if we speake of those Princes that live securely in peace and are well setled in their states as at this day many are in Italy then either those women that should governe together with the men are in judgement and understanding fit for it or else they are altogether unfit if unfit it may then be enough for them to looke to matters at home and Domesticall affaires but if fit I cannot then thinke any thing more just or more convenient or more profitable to a Prince then to call such women of his blood to beare a part of the burthens of government both because by their experience and prudence they may assist the Prince as much as any other and also because by reason of their owne interest and the singular affection they beare to their husbands their sonnes or nephewes there can be none found that with more sincerity and faithfulnesse and without any by-respects will helpe them to beare so great a burthen as a Kingdome is and so much more as they are alwaies like to be partakers as well of the dangers as of the profits of the Prince A thing which is not found in strangers and such as are mercenary whose profit oftentimes lookes another way and is divided from the Princes profit Whereupon S. 〈◊〉 upon that place of Esay Pater filiis notam faciet veritamet saith Non revelatur servo veritas quia servus nescit quid faciat Dominus ejus sed nec Mercenarius rapitur ad contemplandam veritatem quia propriam quaerit utilitatem And therefore Augustus a most wise Prince had often conference with Livia Numa Pompilius with Aegeria Cyrus with Aspasâ—…a Tarquinius with Tanaquill and Justinian with his wife Theodosia Princes therefore ought not to despise the counsels of women of their blood but to hold them in great account whereof in my opinion there is in Genesis a Golden Text Sara having spoken to Abraham to send away Agar and Ismael it seemes he was not very willing to give credit to the words of a woman which God knowing said unto him Omnia quae dixerit tibi Sara audi vooem ejus Moreover when our Lord God made the woman he said Faciamus ei Adjutorium simile sibi and why then should we seeke after other helpers and not take those who are made of purpose for our ayd According to this my opinion was decided the controversie in Tacitus betweene Valorius Messalina and Caecina where it was concluded that in governments which stand in danger it is not fit to bring in women but very fit in governments that are peaceable and secure In which I say more that a Prince who is yong cannot doe better then not onely to be counselled a thing in part also fit where States are dangerous but to suffer himselfe also to be governed by women Theodatus King of the Ostrogothes in the beginning of his Raigne carried himselfe with great moderation as long as he agreed with his wife but when he left to follow her advice he filled with injustice all his Kingdome The Emperour Constantinus Sestus never governed well but when he suffered his mother Irene to direct him And Salomon never runne into disorderly courses as long as his mother Bersabeâ—… lived of whom he scorned not to be taught as himselfe in the Proverbs saith Filius fui patris mei tenellus Vnigenitus coram matre mea docebat me atque dicebat suscipiat verba mea cor tuum custodi praecepta mea vives And therefore S. Chrysostome upon S. John saith Nihil potentius muliere bona ad instituendum informandum virum quodcunque voluerit neque tam leniter anticos nec magistros patietur ut conjugem admonentem atque consulentem habet enim voluptatem quandam admonitio uxoria cum plurimum amet cui consulit multos possum afferre viros asperos immites per uxorem mites redditos mansuetos Who knowes not that Tiberius never plunged himselfe so much into all kinds of wickednesse as after his mothers death And the reason which all men alledge to prove women unfit for government is of no force of force I know in generall but that in particular women should not be as fit as men I hold it a great folly to thinke having my selfe although but yong not onely found written in Histories but seene in experience many women able to have governed the whole World and to these the frailty of their sexe is so farre from being a hinderance that rather they are worthy of the more praise for overcomming naturall defects with supply of vertue Vix dum ingressus Illyricum Tiberius properis matris literis excitur neque satis compertum est spirantem adhuc Augustum apud urbem Nolam an exanimem repererit acribus namque custodiis domum vias sepserat Livia laetique interdum 〈◊〉 vulgabantur donec 〈◊〉 quae tempus monebat simul excessisse Augustum rerum potiri Neronem eadem fama detulit That at one and the same time to make knowne the death of the Prince and the assumption of the successour is a thing very profitable for States that stand in danger The foure and twentieth Discourse THere is nothing makes me more beleeve that Tiberius had given order to his mother to poison Augustus then his very being far off from Rome at the time of his death an invention followed by all those who by such meanes have taken away the life of great personages So did Piso after he had as is said poysoned Germanicus so did Lodowick Sforza who knowing that his Nephew had taken poyson and could not long be living he would not stay in Milan but went to Piacenza to the King of France The cause as I thinke why they do so is to the end the World may not suspect they had any hand in their deaths and although they cannot but thinke that men of understanding will suspect them the more yet this is nothing to the Prince who seeks but to a voyd the heat of the people who without any judgment are carried through love or hatred to doe such things as men of judgement would never doe Tiberius was then in Slavonia when his mother sent him word of Augustus his sicknesse who as may be thought was dead before Tiberius came to Nola yet he oftentimes gave forth he had good
without this course they were never able to live in peace So the Romans as long as the race of the Tarquins continued were never without warre And this is one of the causes I alledged why the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar had not so good successe as the conspiracy of Lucius Brutus against the Tarquins because in this they destroyed not onely the line of the Tarquins but all those that were of the name where in that of Caesar they onely cut downe the tree but left the roote behind from which sprung up Augustus who receiving nourishment and ayd from those very men that had killed his unkle in a short time he grew to be so great a Tree that he crushed them to pieces that went about to cut him downe For this very cause in Aegypt in Cappadocia in Soria in Macedonia and in Bythinia they often changed their Kings because they tooke no care to extinguish the line of the former Lords but onely to get their places And therefore Bardanus in Tacitus is justly blamed who instead of extinguishing Gotarze the former Lord stood loosing his time in besieging the City But these and a thousand other examples which for brevity I omit it may be held for a maxime of State that whosoever gets a Kingdome from another he ought to root out the whole line of him that was Lord before But this rule cannot be thus left without some aspersion of impiety and therefore for resolution I think best to distinguish because if we speake of a Christian Prince that hath gotten the state of another who is enemy of the faith he may justly doâ—… as best pleaseth him by any way whatsoever to take them away that can pretend to the State yet not so neither unlesse he find them so obstinate in their â—…ect that there is no possible meanes to remove them from their errour and so much our Lord God himselfe by the mouth of the Prophet Samuel appointed Saul to do to Amalech 〈◊〉 ergo vade percute Amalech demolire Vniversa ejus non parcas ei non concupiscas ex rebus 〈◊〉 aliquid sed interfice a viro usque ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 atque Lactantem But if we speake of a Christian Prince that by force gets possession of a State from one of the same faith let him never goe about to destroy the line of him that possessed it before for besides that it is a thing unworthy of a Christian it seemes to me to be rather their invention who meaning to live wickedly would be glad to have no bridle for if a Prince shall carry himselfe lovingly towards his Subjects using them as children and not as servants he need not be afraid of any whomsoever For this cause the Senatours of Rome having driven out the Tarquins had more 〈◊〉 to governe the City as fathers then to extinguish the line of him that had been Lord which was indeed incomparably more for their good as in the second booke of the first Decad of Livy every one may see Rather many times it is better to bestow honours upon them from whom a state is taken and to leave them a part thereby to reteine the rest more securely So did Cyrus who having taken Lydia and dispossessed Craesus who was Lord of it before he left him at least a part of his patrimony and gave him a City to be his owne And indeed if he had done otherwise he might easily have lost all therefore Justin saith Craeso vita patrimonii partes urbs Barce concessa sunt in qua 〈◊〉 non Regiam vitam tamen proximam Majestati Regiae degeret And then shewes the benefit that comes by it where he saith Haec Clementia non minus Victori quam victo utilis fuit quippe ex Vniversa Gracia cognito quod illatum Craeso bellum esset auxilia veliâ—…t ad 〈◊〉 extinguendum incendium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Craesi 〈◊〉 apud omnes urbes erat ut passurus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belluÌ„ Gracia fuerit si quid crudelius in Craesum consuluisset If the King of France had done thus when Ferdinand of Aragon would have yeelded up the Kingdome of Naples to him if he would have left him but Lord of Calabria perhaps he had not lost both the one and the other and in truth it had been his best way to have done so at least for so long time till he might have made himselfe sure and firme in the Kingdome of Naples and then for the other he might have taken it from him againe at any time So did David who tooke away halfe of the substance which Saul had given to Mephibosheth and gave it to his servant Siba for a doubt he had lest he should desire his fathers Kingdome This interpretation Procopius made of it when he said Vt substantiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsius dejiceret ne Regnum affectaret alias enim illum qui adversus Dominum suum mendacium dixerat quem punire potius debebat nequaquam participem cumeo fecisset Alexander the Great when he waged warre with Kings farre off from Macedonia he not onely when he had overcome them never sought to extinguish their line but which is more strange to them from whom he had taken a Kingdome he restored the same Kingdome againe A great act of Magnanimity and which may and ought to be used in the like case to that of Alexander Magnus that is when Countries farre remote from the Seate of the Kingdom and in customes Iawes habit and language very different are easily overcome and so much the rather when the warre is waged more for desire of glory then for getting of ground seeing it is alwaies better to seeke to hold that by a way of clemency which by a way of force can never be held But in case it be feared least leaving the former Prince in the Countries taken from him he should practise to make a revolution he may then have states given him to governe in other places So Cirus did who having overcome the Medes and deprived Astyages of his Kingdome he would not leave him in Media and yet would not deale hardly with him neither but he made him Governour of Hyrcania and although Justin say it was done because Astyages himselfe had no mind to returne to the Medes yet to my understanding it is more likely that Cyrus did it as fearing least he who had procured his nephews death to bring himselfe to the Kingdome being now deprived of it would never be quiet when any fit occasion should be offerd to him Another way there is which others have used and it is to keepe such about themselves and to hold them in esteeme of Kings so Herod the great had begun to doe with Aristobulus and with Hyrcanes but the cruelty of his nature made him fall at last to take the same course that others doe This counsell therefore was much better followed by David who leaving Sauls patrimony to Mephibosheth the sonne of Jonathan
as instruments to execute and not as principals to deliberate For betweene the governing reason and the things that are governed there may intervene another reason two waies one when it supplies some thing which was wanting in the governing reason for example If it have not ordered and provided all things but left some to be ordered by the inferiour reason which it takes notwithstanding by meanes of the superiour reason providing and in this manner the inferiour reason is a meanes and intervenes as a reason to the disposition of the government Secondly the inferior reason may be a meane in the government as a servant and not as reason that is that the principall reason dispose all things how small and particular soever and then give the execution to the inferiour reason as to a servant In the first way our Lord God did not serve himselfe of the inferiour reason for he provided every thing great small universall and particular but in the second way he serves himselfe in the government of humane reason yet not as humane but as ministeriall And this is the doctrine of Cajetan whereupon if it be true that Kings are called Gods Ego dixi Dii estis filii Excelsi omnes then ought they as farre as they are able to imitate the Great Maker and Governour of all things that is to determine all things they are able to determine and leave the execution to their Officers But if a Prince shall leave it to his ministers to determine and provide things necessary for the state he shall not then make use of his ministers as ministers but rather as of reason which is nothing else but as of King Let a Prince therefore leave to his ministers such things as are proper for ministers and such as for their smalnesse need not the understanding of a Prince and though he be able to doe such things of himselfe yet by all meanes let him leave the care of them to his ministers for therefore in the Scripture we see all things of small moment were done by Angels it was an Angell that appeared to Agar they were Angels that destroyed the Tower of Babell Angels that burnt Sodome an Angell that shewed the way to Eleazar but great things were alwaies done by God himselfe as the delivering of the Hebrewes out of Aegypt the giving the Land of Promise to Abraham Isaak and Jacob and the reason why our Lord God would doâ—… thus say Writers was to the end least if the Hebrewes had received such great benefits from Angels they might have thought that all their good came from them and consequently have adored them as Gods So likewise if a Prince shall suffer his ministers to bestow great things upon the people they will be ready to take the minister for Prince as from whose hand they receive all favours Our Lord Jesus Christ going to raise Lazarus was able no doubt of himselfe to remove the stone from the grave seeing he was able to raise one that had been foure daies dead but because it was so small a matter he would not doe it himselfe but said to the Jewes Tollite 〈◊〉 lapidem whereof Saint Austin saith Sed quia ab hominibus fieri poterat homines facere praecepit quae autem Divinae virtutis erant sua potentia demonstravit So also a Prince ought to commit such things to servants which are proper for servants and doe such things himselfe as are proper for a Prince And yet to this opinion of mine the counsell of Jethro is no way discordant for though I grant that a Prince cannot doe all things of himselfe yet I deny not but he may doe all things of himselfe that are of importance for so we may finde did Moyses if the words be well considered Constitue ex eis Tribunos Centuriones Quinquagenarios decanos qui judicent populum omni tempore quicquid autem majus fuerit referant ad te ipsi minora tantum Iudicent See here how Jethro shews plainly that a Prince ought to doe all things himselfe that are of weight which is so true that if he doe otherwise he shall shew himselfe not onely ignorant and irresolute but by preferring his servants he shall give them occasion from getting authority to get into the Kingdome it selfe and set him at naught seeing there is no readier way to make ones selfe King then by drawing all businesses of the Kingdome into his hand And therefore Sejanus knowing this to be the onely meanes for attaining the Empire to which he aspired used many devices to worke himselfe into affaires so much that at last he got Tiberius to goe live in the Countrey to the end that the Emperour being out of Rome all matters might passe through his hands alone And indeed Tiberius was by this very neere to have lost at once both life and reputation but that perceiving at last his errour he would ever after not onely dispatch businesses himselfe when he was in health but even when he lay dying The like art and cunning was practised by Assan Beglerby of Greece and prime Favorite of 〈◊〉 the Great Turke who perswaded him not to stirre out of the Seraglio making him beleeve there were plots laid to kill him if he came abroad which Amurath sillily believed and kept himselfe up 〈◊〉 leaving Assan in the meane time to manage all affaires alone whereby he had a faire field to play the tyrant at his pleasure and the State had soon been ruined and with the State the Prince if Amurath at last perceiving his errour had not gone out of the Seraglio and provided in time for all things necessary No man knew this better then Lewis the eleventh King of France a Prince no lesse judicious then valiant in peace and warre admirable who tooke so much pleasure to dispatch affaires of his Kingdome himselfe that it may be truely said he died dispatching businesse Many opposing this opinion alledge that Princes are not Hackney men nor Porters to kill themselves with labour but with reverence I speake it I yet hold that either Princes must leave their States or else must be content to labour for the subjects good In figure of this it is that in Esay the 〈◊〉 power is laid upon the shoulders where he saith Dabo clavem domus David super 〈◊〉 ejus Likewise in the old law besides the twelve precious stones wherin were written the names of the twelve Tribes which the high Priest bore in his Rationall upon his breast there were also in two stones engraven six names apiece which by Gods appointment he carried upon his shoulders by which was intimated that it is not sufficient to have the subjects in his breast that is to love them but he must also carry them upon his shoulders that is endure any labour for their good And for this onely cause perhaps a Prince in Deuteronomy is likened to an Oxe that should not be dainty and given to rest but apt to
of the whole Country and then by possessing goods there they will take occasion after the victory to make themselves the Lords or else not conquering the whole Country the contrary part will still be growing and then they not to loose the reward given them will either proceed slowly in the warre or else turne to that side that hath the better This Guicciardine attributes to Prospero and Fabritius Colonna who having beene rewarded by the King of France with Dukedomes and Castles in the Kingdome of Naples when they saw the Aragonesian side get the better they went and tooke pay of Ferdinand Therefore Princes shall do well to reward them in other states where they have not warred and where their reputation is not in Fame and thus I have knowne it many times done in our time Also they shall doe well not to put them into choller although faulty perhaps in other things so long as it is not in matters essentiall and proper to their places So did David with Ioab bearing with many Insolencies and murthers committed by him to the end he should not fall into choller and make Insurrection Concerning the suspition which the Prince may shew to have of a Generall and which is wont to be followed with rebellion It will be an easie matter to remedy that if the Prince will not fall to suspect for trifles which is the quality of base persons as Isocrates intimates in his Euagoras or else if suspecting him he conceale his suspition till hee remove him from the Army So did Domitian with Agricola So did Tiberius with Germanicus who removing him out of Germany sent him into Africk with Cueius Piso. And this the Queene Teuca in Polybius not observing was cause that Demetrius her Generall in Slavonia understanding that the Queene was by his Adversaries incenst against him and fearing her Indignation he sent to Rome to deliver into their hands the Citie the Army and all he had under his charge The third cause alledged before was the pride and reputation which victory brings with it for remedy whereof in particular and of the rest in generall there have beene advertisements given by many in divers manners The first way is for a Prince to goe himselfe in person and for a Common-wealth to send thither their Principall Magistrate so the Turke in times past hath used to doe to goe himselfe in person So the Common-wealth of Rome used to doe sending forth the Consul or Dictatour But in truth in this way the Remedy seemes to mee more dangerous then the evill because if the Prince goe himselfe in person hee must be sure to have alwayes the victory for otherwise if hee loose hee will either bee slaine or taken prisoner If â—…aine as was Charles of Burgundie what hinders but the victour may enter upon the State at least make spoyle of it If taken prisoner as was Francis King of France and Syphax King of Numidia I see not but his State will bee as much in danger and therefore of this mans State it was easie for Massinissa to get possession and for the other his Repuration and state and life were all Endangered We may then conclude that this way of encountring disorders is a dangerous way A second way is every yeere to change the Generall as the Ancient Romans used to doe and as at this day the Common-wealth of Venice in their Maritime Navy useth to doe But yet in this way also there may infinite disorders happen First if the Army chance to mutinie which is commonly the Correlative of an Army In this case a man new come not beloved not feared will be little fit to appease such tumults Secondly they that make warre in this manner are like to doe but little good because the Souldiers can have no confidence in such a one and it is the confidence in their Captaine that for the most part is the cause of victory For confirmation whereof wee may see in Livie that the same Army which under other Captaines was alwayes beaten when it came to be commanded by Furius Camillus had alway victory and this by reason of the great confidence the Souldiers had in him Thirdly there appeares another danger not inferiour to any and it is that when a Generall knowes he shall be changed at the yearâ—…s end either hee will not with any great heat begin that which he knowes he cannot finish or else beginning it and impatient that another should bee companion of his victory he will rashly and precipitantly hazard both the Army and himselfe which hath beene the cause that the Romans have lost whole Armyes as it happened at Trebia against Hanniball where Cornelius the then Consul to the end hee might have all the glory himselfe unadvisedly stroke battaile with Hanniball and was with much danger to the common-wealth utterly defeated of whom Livie saith Stimulabat tempus propinquum Comitiorum ne in novos Consules differretur O occasio in se unum vertendae gloriae But granting this Captaine should have made a good beginning and have prepared a faire way for victory yet certainely when he heares a successour is to come though he praecipitate not himselfe as Cornelius did at least he will doe all he can to hinder that another shall not rcape the benefit of his labours or otherwise will not stick to make any shamefull Peace as Marcus Attilius did who having beaten the Carthaginians by Sea and land and upon the point of obtaining a Compleate victory yet when hee heard another Consull was to come into Africk to the end the fruit of his labours should not be reaped by him he presently fell to a Treaâ—…ie of peace So Scipio one time by occasion of Tiberius Claudius another time of Cneius Cornelius precipitated the victory with making peace Ferunt postea saith Livie Scipionem dixisse Tiberii Claudii primum Cupiditatem deinde Cnei Cornelii fuisse in mora quo minus idbellum exitio Carthaginis finiretur There bee some that have hindred their successours from victory by overthiowing of purpose all that themselves had well begun such a one was Quintus Metellus who having very neere subdued Spaine when hee heard that Pompey the Consull was to come in his place he disbanded al his Souldiers gave all his provision of victualls to the Elephants and broke up the Army So also in Numidia hearing that Marius was to come his successour he endevour'd all he could to marre the Enterprise Others againe although their predecessours have done nothing to hinder them but have endeavoured to leave them the victory in a manner prepared yet to the end all should be attributed to themselves have refused to make use of the wayes and courses their predecessours had used Whereupon our Lord Christ when he would doe the Miracle of wine he rather made use of water a thing already created then of any new matter whereof Saint Chrysostome saith It was a manifest argument that he who made wine of water was
send the same Generall againe as the King of Spaine would have done after the defeat at Ravenna for if the French had followed the victory which was hindered by the death of the Generall the King of Spaine had determined to send Gonsaluo againe into Italy The last remedy which hath beene invented to prevent this danger specially in Common-wealths is to joyne two Generalls together in the Army So the Romans used often times to doe So the Carthagenians So finally the Athenians yet I cannot satisfie my selfe that this is a good way First because it is commonly the overthrow of the action as was seene by the King of France in the Kingdome of Naples by the Duke of Vrbine and by the Cardinall of Pavia in the Popes Army by Marcus Varro and by Paulus Aemilius amongst the Romans whereof in all Histories there are Examples Secondly this way is not sufficient to take away the danger we speake of as was seene in Augustus who although hee had two companions Hircius and Pansa joyned with him yet could not they hinder him from getting into his hand the Army of both the one and the other having first by devises put them both to death as Tacitus intimates where he saith Caesis Hircio Pansa sive hostis illos seu Pansa veneni vulnere effusum â—…five milites Hircium machinator doli Caesar abstulerant utriusque copias occupavisse Thus for a Prince to goe himselfe in person is dangerous to change his Generalls every yeere is not commendable to send one of his owne blood not safe to remove a Generall after getting a victory worst of all lastly to make more Generalls at once then one of little benefit and consequently how to avoyde this danger is very difficult The best counsell I could give should be that which Augustus gave to Tiberius Consilium Coercendi intra terminos Imperium and in briefe as much as may be to avoid warres and therefore Tiberius knowing these difficulties although he heard of the Rebellion of the Grysons yet hee made no shew of it because hee had no mind to send thither any person of reputation Dissimulante Tiberio damnum ne cui bellum permitteret But because it is impossible but that occasions of warre will sometimes happen I should like well in such case that a Prince being doubtfull of his Generall should goe himselfe to be neere the Army but not to bee in the Army or if in the Army yet hee should never expose himselfe to danger unlesse the maine of the state depended upon it This Charles the fifth King of France knowing for which hewas called Charles the wise would be himselfe in person in the Army but when the battaile was to be fought he then attyred a servant of his in his owne Armour and by this meanes the Army had the benefit of the Princes presence without the Princes danger Pyrrhus also put his Armour upon another finding how faine the Romans were to kill him David as long as matters were in manifest danger thought it necessary to fight himselfe in person But if the presence of the Prince can doe no more good or else if having lost a battaile he have Forces 〈◊〉 to renue his Army in this case a Prince should not doe well to goe in person and therefore David in the like case saying Egrediar 〈◊〉 vobiscum the people answered Non exibis 〈◊〉 enim fugimus non magnopere ad eos denòbis pertinebit 〈◊〉 media pars ceciderit de nobis a non satis curabunt quia 〈◊〉 unus pro decem millibus computaberis Otho therefore shewed little Judgement and had ill counsell when deliberating about a battaile against Vitellius he let it bee knowne that hee meant not to goe himselfe in person seeing when the maine of the businesse is at stake the Prince ought then to goe himselfe because if his Army should be lost he were as good be lost himselfe as was seene in Otho for he staying behind and not going in person in the Army both abated the courage and also the number of his Souldiers Their courage because they lookt for him Militibus ut Imperator pugnae adesset poscentibus Their number because hee retained many companies for his owne Guard and though Tacitus in that oration which Otho made seeme to shew he had forces enow to renue the Army and that he killed himselfe onely because hee would not doe the Common-wealth so much hurt yet I cannot beleeve that a man so wicked as Otho was would ever bee so Compassionate and take such pitty of the Common-wealth A Prince then ought to goe himselfe in person when either the danger is such that if the Army bee lost the whole state is lost or when it is such that Ioosing the battaile the Prince cannot doe better then to dye seeing there is no doubt but it is a great encouragement to the Souldiers to see their prince amongst them as it happened in the battaile at Tarus where the onely presence of the King was the cause they got the victory whereupon it is no mervaile that the Israelites going upon a difficult action and hearing that our Lord God their chiefe Prince would not goe himselfe but would send an Angell to be their Generall Et mittam 〈◊〉 tui Angelum ut eiiciam Chananaeum Amorrhaeum Ethaeum Pheresaeum Iebusaeum intres in terram fluentem lacte melle Non enim ascendam tecum that the people hearing themselves thus vilified made the greatest demonstrations of sorrow that could be Audiens autem populus sermonem 〈◊〉 luxit nullus ex more indutus est cultu suo so as if the Lord God did not goe himselfe the people could have no heart to undertake that Enterprise But if the state of the Prince though that Army bee lost be able in any sort to defend it selfe in this case the Prince shall do well not to goe himselfe in person but shall set onely One Generall over the Army and himselfe not to be farre off but so as in occasion of certaine victory hee may remoove into the Army This Joab teacheth us when he advised David to come into the Campe being now in his power to take the City of Rabbat to the end the glory of the Action might bee Davids and therefore in the second of the Kings he saith Misit Ioab nuntios ad David dicens Dimicavi adversus Rabbath capienda est Vrbs aquarum Nunc igitur congrega reliquam partem populi obside Civitatem cape eam ne cum a me vastata fuerit Vrbs Nomini meo ascribatur Victoria Maharbale left by Hanniball to Oppugne Saguntum left the Oppugnation in good termes and then stayed for Hanniballs comming Strataque omnia saith Livie recentibus ruinis advenienti Annibali ostendit In this manner a Prince shall fully secure himselfe from any Generall whose Reputationi growing onely from the victories hee hath gotten the Prince shall convert all
afterward tooke away and he put them in halfe a servitude being himselfe superiour in all causes The like conceit had Galba when he made himselfe sole Lord of the Empire as in the foresaid oration every one may see Augustus therefore is no more to be reproved then Cleomenes and Galba and Hiero are and if his purpose tooke not effect it is not to be attributed to his fault but to the ill fortune of his successour seeing as long as he lived himselfe till he came to his decrepit age he maintained the City in great quiet and the whole world in Peace Nulla in praesens formidine dum Augustus aestate validus seque Domum Pacem sustentavit And if to Romulus there had succeeded Tarquinius Superbus and to Augustus Numa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thinke the City of Rome had in her beginning beene ruined and after by Augustus beene restored And as after him the City of Rome fell to a Tyrant and the power of the Caesars ended in Nero so also the Power of Romulus ended in Tarquinius Superbus the Power of Cleomenes in himselfe that of Hiero in his nephew Hieronymus and finally that of Galba presently after his death fell to a Tyrant and all these Powers except that onely of Cleomenes came to ruine by wicked successours The reason why these mens power was not able to hold out long and to conserve their Cities in tranquillity is by some assigned to the accommodations which either are so ordered that all the parts of the City rest contented and then it will last or else the Accommodation 〈◊〉 founded upon the Person who by his authority makes it apt to continue and then it will last no longer then while he lives or at most till it fall into the hands of a wicked successour this in my opinion David knew well when in a Psalme he said Deus Iudicium tuum Regi da 〈◊〉 tuam filio Regis as though he would say it is not enough for the continuance of an empyre that the first King be good but it is necessary his successours be good also and then it is like to last a long time 〈◊〉 cum sole ante lunam in Generatione Generatione but because after Salomon there followed a wicked successour the Kingdome was in part dissolved So the Kingdome of Romulus succeeded well with him because there came after him Numa Pompilius who by giving good lawes filled it with Religion but afterwards in Tarquinius Superbus it came to ruine So also that of Hiero came to nothing through a wicked successour So the reformation which Augustus made of his Country succeeded ill to him because there came after him a Tiberius a Caius a Claudius and lastly a Nero who abrogating Lawes Religion it could not choose but come to ruine The reformations therefore are ill founded and never last long that are founded upon the Authority of one seeing the City is eternall the Prince mortall but then are reformations like to continue when they are founded upon those that receive them Wherein for another reason I would helpe my selfe with a doctrine of S. Thomas where he saith That when a forme comes to be perfectly received of the matter although the Agent that introduced the forme be removed yet the forme remaines in the matter still if Fire be introduced in Wood by another Fire though the agent be removed yet the Fire remaines in the Wood still but when a forme is introduced unperfectly or to use the word of S. Thomas Inchoative there If the Agent be removed either it lasts but little as water that is heated or else goes wholly away with the agent as the enlightning the aire by the departing of the Sun So likewise when a Prince hath perfectly introduced good Ordinances in the matter of a City although he die himselfe yet they will still remaine but if they be introduced but unperfectly that is not fully established then certainly either they will last but little as water heated or with his death that introduced them will die also as the enlightning of the Aire To returne to our purpose I said before that the City of Rome was not capable of liberty and therefore that Augustus was not too blame for not giving it liberty that it was not capable is manifest seeing in processe of time the Empire comming into the hands of such persons as more regarded the good of their Countrey then their owne dignity such as Trajan Antoninus Pius Marcus Aurelius and others were if they had knowne that it had been for the good of the City of Rome to have had liberty they certainly would have given it I have beene willing to give examples of Hiero as being indeed most like to Augustus For he being a Citizen of Syracusa had in his hand an Army for defence of his Countrey and by devises cut them all in pieces that were not for his turne and afterward with those very Armes he made himselfe Lord of Syracusa in which government he raised not himselfe above equality ruling with much prudence and contents of the Subjects as also he enlarged the Dominion of Syracusa and lastly intended to leave it in liberty but that he did it not there were two impediment the first because the City was not fit for it and therefore Livie saith Syracusaeque cum breve tempus affulsisset in antiquam servitutem reciderant And in the same booke speaking of the people of Syracusa he saith Aut servit 〈◊〉 aut superbe dominatur Libertatem quae media est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 modice nec habere sciunt A second impediment were the women who through desire of rule wrought so with him that he left his Nephew Hieronymus his successour a most perfidious and cruell man and farre differing from the conditions of his unkle Augustus likewise was a Citizen of Rome and had in his hand an Army for defence of his Countrey when he put all those to death that were able to oppose him and then turning those very Armes against his Countrey he made himselfe 〈◊〉 Lord in which government he used great equality shewed great prudence enlarged the Empire and lastly had a purpose to leave it in liberty whereof he had often speech with 〈◊〉 and Agrippa and if he left it not in liberty it was long of two things one because the City was not capable of liberty Non 〈◊〉 discordantis 〈◊〉 remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur and as Galba said of the Romans Nec totam libertatem nec totam servitutem pati possunt A second cause was Livia who having besotted the old man Augustus perswaded him to leave Tiberius his successour a cruell man and one that was no more of kinne to Augustus his conditions then to his blood as Tacitus shewes where he saith 〈◊〉 Tibero morum via And thus it appeares that Augustus and Hiero were very like but yet in one thing they had very unlike fortune for the Empire of Augustus ended not
thousand impertinencies to free himselfe but being forced at last to give her to him the Scripture relates that he then began to fea re David exceedingly whereupon it is said Deditque ei Saul Micholl filiam suam and it followes Michol autem diligebat eum Saul caepit timere David The most wise Salomon who also knew this danger when Bersabee unadvisedly asked Abisac the Shunamite for Adoniah answered Quare postulas Abisac Shunamite Adoniae Postula ei Regnum and as he denyed to Adoniah his wife So Tiberius denied to Agrippina her husband whereof Tacitus speaking saith Caesar non ignarus quantum ex Repubitca peteretur ne tamen offensionis aut metus manifestus foret sine reponso quanquam Instantem reliquit Likewise the same Tiberius knew that when Seianus demanded Livia who had beene the wife of Drusus it was as much as to demand the Kingdome and therfore denyed her to him saying Falleris enim Seiane si te mansurum in 〈◊〉 Ordine putas Liviam quae Caio Caesari mox Druso nupta fuerat ea mente acturam ut cum equite Romano senesâ—…at It is no marvell also if â—…itellius shewed to be afraid of Dolobella as being in the same case Tiberius was with Asinius Gallus having taken her to wife who had beene his wife before Vitellius metu odio saith Tacitus quod Petroniam uxorem ejus mox Dolobella in matrintonium accepisset vocatum per epistolas vitata Flaminiae viae celebritate divertere Interamnam atque ibi Jnterfici Iussit And therefore Phalti shewed great Iudgement who when Micholl marryed before to David was given him by Saul yet he never touched her but as Rabbi Salomon saith laid a sword betweene Micholl and himselfe when he was in bed with her to keepe him from touching her and indeed it was well he did so seeing no sooner was Saul dead but that David not thinking himselfe King if his wife were married to another said to Abner Non videbis faciem meam antequam adduxeris Micholl filiam Saul This therfore is a special help for attaining a kingdom our Lord God although he be able of himselfe to accomplish whatsoever he pleaseth yet as willing to make use of second causes he caused David to the end he might more easily attaine the Crowne to which hee was designed Abaeterno and to which Samuel had anointed him to take to wife adaughter of Sauls And Salomon who was all wisedome and prudence shews it us himselfe and finally the most subtile Seianus having an intent to get the Empire knew this way to be if not necessary at least most profitable Thus my intention is proved by Examples but because there is more force in Reasons to move the understanding and therefore Philosophers never speak but they bring their reason I have therefore sought out one which I have found me thinkes in Aristotle in his Books of generation where speaking how Elements are transmuted hesaith In Elementis habentibus Symbolam qualitatem facilior est transitus As the Earth which is cold and dry is more converted into water which is cold and moist then into aire which is hot and moist as agreeing with that in one quality of cold and disagreeing with this in both So in our case the attaining to a Kingdome being in a private person a transmutation more difficult then that of the Elements it will more easily be attained where there is one symbolizing quality then where there is none He therefore is more likely to attaine the Empire who being himselfe a privat man shall have a wife of the blood Royall then he that both himselfe and his wife are of private estates A Second Reason omitting Philosophicall to come to a Politicall is that people bearing affection to their Prince more easily suffer themselves to be governed as long at there remaines in the Kingdome any spark of his blood Darius a man of exceeding great Judgement comming from a private man to be a Prince for confirming him in the Empire tooke to wife a daughter of Cyrus as knowing of how great importance it was to have a wife of that blood which had beene King before where of Iustin saith Principio igitur Regni Cyri Regis filiam Regalibus nuptiis Regnum firmaturus in matrimonium accepit ut non tam in extraneum translatum quam in familiam Cyri reversum videretur The like consideration had the sonnes of Tigranes and if with them it had not good successe this happened upon other occasion and therefore good cause had Tacitus to marvell where he saith Nec Tigrani diuturnum Jmperium neque liberis ejus quanquam sociatis more externo in matrimonium Regnumque This brought Demetrius to be King of Macedon that he had Fila to wife who was daughter to the old King Antipator From this passage now spoken off with good consequence comes in the second that a Prince is in great danger who hath none but daughters seeing if he marry them hee can never be secure that his sonne in law will not take the Kingdome from him for the facility we have shewed to be by this occasion To meet with this danger many have taken divers courses the first hath beene to marry them to meane men and such as may have no thought of comming to the Empire before the time because such a one seemes rather likely to be assistant to the Prince in his affaires seeing he may justly hope for more faithfulnesse from a Sonne in law then from strangers and need not make doubt of a person that is not of any Noble Lynage This conceit was in Augustus and Tacitus expresseth it in the Person of Tiberius At enim Augustus filiam suam Equiti Romano meditatus est Mirum hercule si cum in omnes Curas distraheretur Immensumque attolli provideret quem Conjunctione tali super alios extulisset Cajum Proculeium quosdam in sermonibus habuit Insigni tranquillitate vitae nullis Reipublicae negotiis permixtos This indeed would be no ill course so long as those persons of meane condition be not of a spirit to aspire to the Empire such as those named by Tiberius were in whom those words of Tacitus are to be considered Tranquillitate vitae as though he would say a man free from audacious haughty thoughâ—… and such may safely and without danger be advanced to honour Whereupon Aristotle in his Politicks meaning to teach what kind of men may safely be raised made great he saith 〈◊〉 si queÌ„ extollere oporteat non 〈◊〉 cum qui sit moribus 〈◊〉 hujusmodi homines aptissimi sunt ad invadondu circa 〈◊〉 And if Augustus gave her afterwards to Agrippa Ignobilem loco bonum Militia victorâ—… socium this happened because he could not choose but feare Agrippa whereupon he was forced either to put him to death a thing most scandalous not onely in a Christian but even in a Heathen or at least to put
him in some certaine hope of coÌ„ming to the Empire This Dio in the mouth of Moecaenas teacheth us who speaking of Agrippa saith that when a Prince makes a servant too great and advanceth him too highly giving him excessive and unlimitted authority he hath then no way to secure himselfe but either to kill him or by some match to make him his kinsman Cyrus also followed this course who married his sister to Sibares a person of most base estate as he took the same course that Augustus did so it was upon the same occasion that Augustus had whereof Justin saith Sybarem Caeptorum quem juxta nocturnum visum ergastulo liberaverat comitemque in omnibus rebus habuerat all one with those words Victoriae socium Persis praeposuit sororemque suam ei in matrimonium dedit And because Galba tooke not this course with Otho which Cyrus tooke with Sybares and Augustus with Agrippa It lost him the Empire as in the first booke of Tacitus Histories is to be seene But yet in truth this course seems to me both very dangerous and very uncertaine because although he to whoÌ„ their daughter or other of their blood is married be himselfe a man ignoble and of little spirit yet he may have a sonne that may resemble his grandfather more then his father Astyages was of this opinion and put it in practice doubting the future husband of his daughter and no lesse the nephew that should be born of them Neque Claro 〈◊〉 saith Justin neque civi dedit filiam ne paterna maternaque nobilitas Nepotis animum extolleret sed de gente obscura tunc temporis Persarum Cambysi mediocri viro in matrimonium tradidit And see how vaine his conceit was seeing of her was born Cyrus who in few yeers took the Kingdome from his grandfather Astyages by force Again this course takes ill successe oftentimes through the haughtinesse of the women who though married to men of meane spirits and quiet dispositions yet stirre them up and provoke them to doe things which of themselves they would never doe or at least not doe so soon Tullia the daughter of Servius was one of these who impatient to wait upon succession forced in a manner her husband Orontes Tarquinius to enter upon the Kingdome with the death of her father thinking it but fit that being borne of the Blood-Royall she should be able both to give and to take away the Kingdome at her pleasure whereof she oftentimes complained Ipsa Regio semine orta nullum momentum in dando adimendoque Regno faceret Thus Tarquinius by the instigation of this infernall fury got possession of the Kingdome and it made Servius no whit the safer that he had married his daughter to Orontes Tarquinius a man as Livy reports of a mild and peaceable disposition Mitis ingeniiIuvenem To be briefe the daughters of Kings either cannot or know not how to live in a private estate And therefore Damarata the daughter of Hiero King of Syracusa and married to Andromadorus with such violence instigated her husband that she forced him extremely against his will to take possession of the Kingdome which Livy shewing where he alledgeth the reason why Andromadorus was moved to seaze upon the Kingdome saith Qui fessus tandem uxoris vocibus monentis nunc esse tempus occupandi Regnum A second way used by some for freeing themselves of this danger hath been to make such women to enter into Monasteries or to spoake after the custome of the Ancients into Temples and so remove them from their husbands and sonnes of whom there might be feare to the end that they in such places observing chastity the Princes might live secure from the one and the other This course was followed by Amulius who having driven out Numitor and killed his sonne he made his daughter who only remained under colour of honour to become a vestall Virgin thinking by this meanes to secure himselfe both from her and from any whom she should marry and from any sonnes that should be born of her where of Livy 〈◊〉 Fratris filiae Rheae Silviae per speciem honoris cum vestalem vestalâ—… legisset perpetua virginitate spem partus adimit But neither did this course do Amulius any good for of her were borne Romulus and Remus who deprived him of his Kingdome I finde therefore another way perhaps better and it is to keepe these women at home with him of whose husbands or sonnes there may be any doubt bearing many Princes in hand he meanes to marry her to them but in the meane time not to bestow her upon any for by this meanes not onely they shall be safe from any danger of their owne but from any also that may arise by enemies either forraine or at home seeing out of this hope every one will be ready to defend them and where by marrying her they might have one defendour indeed but him with danger now holding them all at a bay they will have many defendours without danger This course was notably put in practice by the Duke of Burgundy who as Argenton relates having one onely daughter he Promised her to the Duke of Guyenne and to Nicholas Duke of Calabria and to Philibert Duke of Savoy and finally to Maximilian Duke of Austria and as Argentone verily thinks never meant to marry her to any at all as long as himselfe lived And in truth if this Duke had carried himselfe as wisely in other things as in this he had never so foolishly overthrowne himselfe as he did Quippe Augustus supremis sermonibus cum tractaret quinam adipisci Principem locum suffecturi abnuerent aut impares vellent vel iidem possent cuperentque M. Lepidum dixerat capacem sed aspernantem Gallum Asinium avidum at minorem L. Aruntium non indignum si casus daretur ausurum Whether it be better to refuse Dignities or to seeke after them The one and fortieth Discourse AMongst the last secrets of State with which Augustus before his death acquainted Tibâ—…rius he propounded three for the Empire in a â—…verse manner One that desired it but was unworthy Another that was worthy but despised it A third able to discharge it and if occasion served would attempt it Of which three when Augustus dyed there was none left living but Marcus Lepidus who was the man that was worthy of it but despised it Omnésque praeter Lepidum variis mox criminibus struente Tiberio circumventi sunt We shall not need to examine which of these would have done best in the case proposed by Tacitus but rather consider the like persons in a Dignitie or Office which the Prince should give We will therefore examine First which is best either to deserve an Honour and despise it or else not deserving it to seeke it Secondly whether hee that deserves ought to stay till the Prince offer it or else put himselfe forward by some honest wayes to obtaine it Concerning the first It