duest not decide a difference where parties were so equall Gaston is slain at the Batted of Ravenna by his death Italy changed her face our affaires began then to decline There was no further need of Gonsalve and Ferdinand was delivered of the feares which had so strongly vexed him and so long pursued him The great Captain after that continued intirely estranged from Court and from affairs and a very little after quitted the world where his virtue was become unprofitable because it was too great and where he had lost the good graces of his Master for having overmuch merited them The seventh Discourse Of the disgrace of the Duke of Alva SInce we are upon the subject of Disgraces which happen at Court and tempests which are there raised Let us add the Duke of Alva's to the former examples He was one of the greatest Captains Spain hath brought forth since the death of Gonsalve He performed threescores years services to Charles the fifth and to Philip his Son and with so strange a misfortune that he was ever odious to th' one and never beloved of th' other He made War almost in all the parts of Europe and in Africa he had the Command of the Germane Army where the first League of Protestants was beaten and one of their Commanders taken Prisoner He preserved the Kingdom of Naples to Philip He staid the progress we made into Piedmont He suppressed the growing Rebellion in the Low Countries and though his conduct was too violent and that the severity of his deportment and too great Inclination for blood had forced the people into dispair yet if he had not been recalled when he was of most use there 'T is believed that he had finished the reducement of them or hindered them from growing greater And neverthelesse after so long Course of services and so many years spent for his Masters Philip forbids him the Court for a light fault for an inconsiderable Cause which carried onely the shadow of disobedience His Country-house he assigns him for his Prison and neither his services past nor his Age which was worthy of some respect nor the good wishes of all the people of Spain nor th'entreaties of the Pope who interceded for him could bend Philip or prevail with him for his Liberty But at last the businesse of the succession of Portugal hapning and Philip having need of a Commander of Reputation to manage the War which he had there prepared It was of Necessity to repair to the Duke of Alva He accepted the Command with an incredible Gentleness and without obtaining so much as the permission to see the Court And He was to raise the Regiments of Foot as He said from Towns to conquer Kingdoms The success of that War was such as Philip could desire it But the Conclusion was glorious for the Duke since he dyed after the reduction of Portugal and in the Palace of Lisbon where he had given Entry to his Master I do not truly find it strange that so many Princes are unthankful because it may be they think all to be due to them and that they are not indebted to any person But I cannot but admire the faithfulnesse of those great persons of whom I have lately spoken and that Generall obedience they have given to their Masters even then when they were so ill used This is the Cause that I will adde another example to the former and of a person of the number of the most famous of the Age past Albuquerque subdued Ormus took Goa and settled th' Empire of the Portugals in the East-Indies He caused the power of his Masters to be adored where their name was not so much as known before his time His Conquests enriched Portugal and the precious Jewels which the Sun-rising engenders in th' East past in abundance since his voyages through all Europe After all these services and in his great Age Manuel King of Portugal sends him a successor and he had the displeasure to see himself stript of an honour he had not received and of a Dignity he held not of the bounty of him which took it from him but from his personall valour The news truly of that Affront which was the recompence of his long and profitable services troubled him much at the first And making a great disturbance in his soul forced him to say these words Good God of how many Evills do I find my selfe encompassed If I am faithful to my King I offend men and I offend my King if I follow the Inclinations of men But this violent passion being appeased and that his reason was returned he justified the proceedings of Manuel and reduced willingly to the condition of a private person If Death which sometimes happens too late to many great persons had not ceazed on him before he arrived at Goa from Ormus You may believe that Albuquerque was solicited by his friends to possess himselfe of that State and to establish himselfe in a place where he was powerful and where he had in his favour the love of the people 'T is therefore the Custome of Princes not to permit long the Government of a Country to him that hath subdued it for fear lest in time he take root there and that the sweetnesse of the Command and the Conveniency of making himselfe Master should cause in him the Desire of it So Ferdinand of Castile left not the Government of the West-Indies to Christopher Columbe who had made the discovery of them So the same Prince withdrew that great Captain from Naples as hath been above expressed So Fernant of Cortes was recalled from the Kingdom of Mexico which he had gained for Charles the fifth So the Peru was filled with Combustion and Wars because the Pizarres who had made the Conquest would not acknowledge the Governour which Philip the second had sent thither nor obey in the place where they had accustomed to command The Eighth Discourse That in th' affaires of State men do that sometimes which they would not do and that there are inevitable Faults THat a Minister of State then suffer not himselfe to be transported with his charge nor be drunk with the fume of it That it be alwayes in him under jealousie And consider that 't is of the nature of Glass and not of the Diamond and that if it have some Clearness yet 't is frail And that he may the better comprehend this truth and make use of th' instruction it bears he must know that he is to defend himselfe not onely from men and the designs of Envy But that he must also depend upon some superiour power that will make him when it pleaseth to forsake his prudence and compell him to act against his proper Maxims that will carry him whither he would not go and will so Invert his understanding that he cannot but commit voluntary faults nor to enter the precipice which he shall see open in the midst of his way That if in the war of
Being a Prisoner to a King of Granada He gained him to the service of his Master and perswaded him to given himselfe up to Ferdinand who would have had much trouble to overcome him He withdrew the Colonnes and the Ursines from th' interest of France for to cast them upon th' interest of Spain And knowing well that long and inveterate hatreds as they were of both Families are fatall to the parties where they enter and dangerous in the occasions that awaken them He reconciled the differences and for a time healed th'Emulation they laboured of He was moreover so zealous of the Greatnesse of his Master and so passionate for the good of his Affaires that he quitted his Conscience and broke his faith to whom he had given it As in the Treaty he made with the Duke of Calabria whereof I shall speak in another place and when he seized with subtilty upon the person of Caesar Borgia and deceived that subtil person who had deceived so many other persons Th'incomparable qualites then of this person and infinite services which he had done to his Master rendred him a suspected person And though they love treason yet they hate the Traytors on the contrary the Virtue of Gonsalve gives Apprehensions and Alarms to Ferdinand for whom it had gained Kingdoms And the conquests also of Naples and th' entire reduction of that of that State being finished He began more willingly than he should have done to lend his Ear to the complaints made against him And the Calumny became insolent to assault him when it received credit from his Master 'T is impossible that they who have Commissions for great Commands should give content to all the world And 't is hard to give imployments to all such as believe to merit them or recompences to the esteem that every Person hath of his services and to the value he sets upon them and therefore there are alwaies persons that do complain because some do believe themselves ill used and who make spight and hatred to succeed at the rate of the good they have been disappointed of This unhappinesse befell the great Captain And it happened also that the complaints made against him in Spain were not disagreeable to Ferdinand who sought occasion onely to destroy him and did not act an Injustice willingly but when he had some pretence of Justice for to colour it 'T is strange what torments and inquietudes the reputation of Gonsalve gave to Ferdinand all the rest of his life The most loyal and best disposed of all his Subjects He to whom he owed a part of his Greatnesse who rendred him more formidable to other Princes then all the rest of his powers held his soul on a perpetuall wrack And he never had any Enemy from whom he suffered so much and so long as from him He was almost perswaded to extream Remedies to be rid of him and if he had not apprehended that in missing of his stroak he gave him occasion to become a Rebell he had caused him to be arrested upon the single Motions of Jealousie and had given an instance of the force of the greatest of all humane passions which is the love of Soveraignty This passion which so much vexed Ferdinand is worthy to be represented and th'Artifices used by the greatest Polititian of the world to ruine his own subject are too subtill and too curious to be concealed from a person of State The moderation also of Gonsalve and the strength he had to resist his own Greatnesse which was in his power and to repel a temptation which had a Kingdom for prize deserve to be proposed to the subjects of other Princes The sixth Discourse Th' Artifices used by Ferdinand to destroy the great Captain FErdinand then upon the bare complaints of discontented persons whereof the number is ever great against them that govern lesseneth the power of the great Captain and reduceth him to the ordinary Authority of Vice-Kings in a Kingdome which he had conquered How sensible this thing was to a person of great courage and what Emotion it ought to raise in the heart of Gonsalve may be judged by the displeasure all men have to fall and to be degraded in th' eyes of the world And it may be judged by the hatred all men naturally bear to ingratitude but they onely that exercise it and by th' injustice it contains that not onely the services that have been rendred shall be frustrated of the reward which hath been merited but that they also shall be th' originall of the disgraces suffered and of th' ill entertainments because a sufficient Recompence cannot be received Gonsalve notwithstanding subdued his resentments and appeared much greater in conquering himselfe in so ticklish an occasion then he had done in conquering so often th' enemies of his Master The patience wherewith he supported this injury did not sweeten Ferdinand nor cure his sick spirit On the contrary it made it irreconcilable He hates him the more whom he had newly offended because he gave him cause to resent it and takes the moderation which Gonsalve used for an Artifice because his passion would not suffer him to attribute it to the greatness of his Courage That made him resolve to bring him back from Naples though his presence there way yet very necessary and to deliver himselfe at once of all his feares and of all his apprehensions in removing him from that place where he was so powerfull He commands him then to return into Spain since th' affaires of Naples as he said were in good condition and informs him that he had use in other places of his person and of his service The great Captain prepares for his departure but not with that nimblenesse which Ferdinand desired To whose inquietude precipitation would have appeared slow since it seemed to him that he could never be soon enough healed of the distrust which did torment him This slowness which was for his service and for the confirming of Ferdinand's authority in the Kingdom which Gonsalve would not leave tottering encreaseth his feares and multiplies his jealousies Th' Enemies of Gonsalve close with this humour in Ferdinand Envy again riseth against his Virtue and there were but too many persons in Spain and in Italy who cryed down his Faithfulnesse and represented his Ambition to such a height that it would not fail speedily to compell him to assume the Pitle of Soveraign whereof he exercised the Power That made him again resolve to send Peter Navarre to Naples with private Orders to ceaze upon the person of the great Captain and to make a Prisoner of him in the new Castle And at the same time to lay him asleep and for fear the distrust he had of him should occasion the injury he feared if it were discovered he writes him a Letter by which he doth promise him at his return the great command of Saint James A dignity that did not truly equall the services of Gonsalve nor pay the
Covenant and with it the fortune of th' house of Israel He hath also permitted that the wealth of the new world should pass into other hands then theirs That their Fleet should be beaten and that Heretiques whom they name Rebels made use of the treasures against them which were destined for th' oppression of a Prince whom they took for their Enemy in regard that he was not their subject or ought not to be their Neighbour without depending on them Yet praised be God we have been wiser for what the King had undertaken his Constancy was never tyred and He Acted not by halfs nor laboured without Effect no irregular passion could make diversion upon his designes He finished all of them He hath dissipated all th' ill humours of the State He hath confounded the Rebellion of his subjects and our Allies have seen all the powers of France displayed and all the vertue of the French to master their ill fortune and draw them from the bottom of the pit In that miraculous passage over the Alpes when Italy saw her deliverer to descend and that Milan durst take some free breath and Naples think of a gentler Domination who would not have believed that the King would have pursued his Victory and taken in Italy a Revenge of the losses of his Auncestors And neverthelesse by a Councell that was understood a few persons and by an extraordinary prudence he quirted the deceitfull appearance of good He retired from Italy and contented himselfe for that time to stench the blood of it and bind up the wound for to finish in Langnedock the Cure of an Evill that was in its Crisis and which a greater stay might have made incureable But of that we will make God aiding hereafter a discourse apart The Tenth Discourse That Princes do approve but of the Services they Command and punish oftentimes them that are done against their Orders LEt a Minister of State know that he doth alwaies ill when he acts against th'orders are given him That in the State good intentions are not warrantable if th' effects are not agreeable to the Prince That the works of supererogation are not current there and that the services that are rendred if they are not commanded are things put to hazard which are exposed to the capricious humour of a person interressed and shall sometimes be condemned by him who would be sorry if they were not done who drawes profit from them and hereby accommodates his affairs so true it is that reason of State is a strange thing and that the Condition of men and chiefly of publique persons is unhappy Th'Examples will declare better then discourse which is to be observed in this matter The Carthaginians punished with death the Captains that had gained a battel without advice and against the rules of War nothing is read answerable to the jealousie the first Romans had for Command They could not give a good countenance to the successes which were obtained with disobedience And there were Fathers who would not give life their Children that were victorious in Combats that had been forbidden them At the siege of Cambrey or of Dourlans the Count Fuentes caused the head of a master of the Camp to be cut off who in an assault advanced further then he was commanded and took a post of very great Importance And though the profits of these happy faults and of those blind successes remain to the Prince and Country 'T is certain there 's cause for their punishment to hinder th' imitation which is often dangerous And for th'Evill is in it that the Judgement of a superiour should be sleighted by a particular person and his Authority violated Amongst us these Attempts are praised when they prosper and they are not punished when they are unfortunate But it is a condition inseparable from our humour and an effect of that blindnesse which possesseth almost all France To neglect prudence and Order and to have an esteem onely for Impetuosities and to Idolize nothing but Courage Observe an Example very remarkable in our time and a fault of another nature then the prudence and love of the Country would have advised and the Prince to whom it was of Advantage judged it worthy of punishment At the peace which was made 1617 by the Mediation of the King betwixt the Republique of Venice and the Arch-Duke Ferdinand who is now Emperour The King of Spain and the Duke of Savoy The Republique of Venice employed Octavian Buon as their extraordinary Embassador a Gentleman of great opinion among the Citizens to manage that affair with the Gussony their ordinary Embassadour near the King The Instruments given to their Embassadours commanded them not to consent to any Treaty of peace but on condition the Galleres which had been taken from the Venetians at Spalatre by the Duke of Ossone should be restored and that that blot was taken out from th' honour of the Republique They had also Orders though not so formall and express to oppose th' union that was in forming between the two Crowns to give joyntly the Law to Italy and to the rest of Europe Neverthelesse the Spaniards who sayl with all winds and raise profit out of all occasions put a great value upon th'Evidences of Esteem and Affection they made out to the King in submitting to him so great differences and exposing of their affairs to the judgement of his Agents But to sell this honour to him at a very dear rate they pressed th' union whereof I have spoken Union which they had long in their thoughts and had sought since France was delivered of the Spanish Invasions and had secured her selfe of their Ambushes Union to which they aimed with the same heat they did at the Monarchy since it was to be the Bridge to passe them safely and the necessary principle for the ruine of other Christian States and losse of their liberties Bentivoglio Nonce and now a Cardinall and Protector of France joyned his good endeavours to those of the Spanish Embassadour in favour of that so much desired Union and fatall Intelligence However if that design fail they would have peace not being able any longer to make War That Gradisque which the Venetians besieged was upon its last breath That the Duke of Savoy swollen with the reliefe was come to him from France was powerfull and Don Petro of Toledo weak and his Army shattered since the siege of Vercel They would have I say peace but after their manner and upon a vain shadow of honour which they believed to have done us and upon a light smoak of difference wherewith they thought to have intoxicated us They would exempt themselves from Evils which hung over their heads they would have it neverthelesse with vapouring and reputation as if fortune had been propitious to them They would have no mention made of it in the Treaty of the restitution of the Ships of the Republique and that the Ships should remain with them as Trophies of
't is not to be forgot that God hath raised a Person to second his great and just inclinations who having an understanding and virtue above the Ordinary of men hath imployed all his wit and virtue for his Masters Greatness and Glory He laid aside the consideration of a particular Capacity so soon as he became a publique person nothing could divert him from doing his Prince good service He feared not the hatred of great persons nor the bitings of the people And he kept his way and pace at well through the contradictions and resistance was made him as through th'acclamations received and the prayers given him Then also when he might have landed after a glorious Voyage when Envy was silent and reduced to observe the future finding nothing in his past Actions for reproof but for Commendation when he might have enjoyed the sweetnesse of that Rest which attends happy troubles and honourable labours He would not because it was necessary for us that all forraine winds were not laid and that disturbances were busie amongst our Neighbours and Allies He chose rather to commit a full and entire glory as his was to the hazards of the future alwayes doubtfull and subject to revolutions than to permit his Master and Country to desire his care and aid And that which is most admirable is that his love so necessary and duty so inviolable have sometimes prevailed with him to suspend resentments which troubled him nearer then his personall preservation which were dearer to him then his life and which he preferred to all his fortune at Court and to all the greatness of the world In pursuance of this I say also what concerns the manners of particular persons and their Government Charity commands us to lay out on them the best Colours and most favourable Interpretations But when the question is of the good of States and Interest of Princes a greater severity of Judgement must be used All appearances of Evill must be attended with distrust and divers expedients must be used to avoid surprises and to secure against Ambushes The reason is that 't is not permitted to commit small faults in such great and general matters and that the will doth not engage to prepare us against deceit when a great opinion is had of the honesty of the persons that are to be treated withall But if precaution be at any time necessary and if there be need at any time of preservatives against so subtill and piercing a contagion 't is principally in that season when Treachery makes a part of politique Prudence and where the simplicity of them who suffer the surprise is more shamefull then the perfidy of them that deceive to their own advantage Add th'Artifices that are imployed to disguise it and the subtilties which have been invented to represent it under another name then its own and cause it to pass under shews contrary to its nature insomuch that though it be alwaies condemned by the mouth and in Coversations I doe not see nevertheless that 't is cast out of the commerce of Princes and use of affaires but by th' event when it proves fatall let us conclude then that in these occasions diffidence is the Mother of safety and not to be deceived preparation must be made as if it were to be expected The Twelfth Discourse That a Minister of State ought endeavour to make his Deportments more Profitable than Eminent THat a Minister of State ought to be a stranger to th'Apprehensions of the vulgar that he ought not to be subject to the weakness of Low spirits nor to touch upon th' objects which entertain them That he know how to make difference betwixt the reality and apparance of things betwixt the solidity and the brightnesse that he prefer not Glass before Gold because th' one is more shining and luminous and th' other more dark He must not value so much the colours of the Bow in heaven which are but a beam of light fixed for an hour in some drops of water thickned in th' air as the firm lasting Colour of the Ruby Emerode and Opale He must make a noble expence when it shall be necessary and be splendid on important occasions and appear for th' honour of his Master He must not neglect th' occasions whose principall Quality resides in Magnificency As the Embassies that are made upon the coming in of a King upon the Crowning of a Pope for an alliance or a marriage but let him not fall sick upon such expences nor be transported nor make it the greatest Ornament of his conduct and choysest expression of his life nor fix his greatness upon a transitory Pomp nor his glory upon a Magnificence that flyeth away and above all to beware that instead of being magnificent he become not prodigall for as Vice cannot be made beautifull what Ornaments soever are put upon it 'T is certain that the people are provoked when a vain ostentation is made of their substance and a triumph of their sweats and pains They are amazed and at a stand but in the same manner as they behold the pulling down of Temples and th'overflowings of Rivers Wise persons are troubled when the principal force of the State is dissipated the security of peace and th' instrument of War which is Money in superfluous expences since there 's never enough for the necessary occasions The things which I have said are chiefly in relation to the people which astonish and ravish them at the instant they make them afraid There are other things also which touch upon the great Spirits and transport th' highest Courages Such are th' Arms of War and th' objects of Valour There 's no virtue in th' opinion of the greatest part of men more in esteem than this and no matter is more acceptable for Conversation nor any Entertainment more bewitching then th' effects of War wherefore Historians shun the times of peace and dead seasons as Mariners do the gentle seasons and calms of the Sea on the contrary they triumph in War and in Tumults the Seditions and Insurrections of the people are the lights of their writings and their fairest subjects and most excellent Arguments are raised upon the Ruine of Empires and the death of great persons wherefore they that frequently read Tacitus do not so much fix upon the subtilties and deceits of State whereof his Books are full beyond probability at upon the routing of the Roman Legions upon the Revolts of Armies against their Generalls upon th'inundation of the Sea and wrack of Fleets Th' Art of Tiberius to govern is not read with so much pleasure nor the Artifices of Sejanus to establish himselfe as the poysoning of Germanicus or the violent death of Seneca The dexterity practised by Tiberius in the name of Sejanus is not so earnestly considered and the subtil and captious Letter he wrote to the Senate to be rid of him and whereof he was an Hearer as the punishment of a person who had raised his
an enterprise ought alwaies to be committed to him who proposed it provided he be a capable person to perform it for therein he is excited to do well by the glory of Success and by the jealousie of his opinion which is a violent and imperious passion and strayning to defend the noblest and most exalted faculty of the Soul which is the Judgement seldom abates of the Contest and pursuit As also it is not safe to put th' execution of a design into the hands of them that voted against it who will be alwaies slow in Action who will bring to it but the halfe of themselves who will have but faint motions and conformable to the passions that shake them which are irresolution and distrust and who have wherewithall to comfort themselves in th' ill of success by the truth of the Prediction they had made and by the Reputation of Wisdom and providence they had gained to themselves Though it be so and much better that be who is capable to resolve be also capable to execute 'T is neverthelesse a rare encounter amongst men and as there are but few places on th' Earth which bring forth all that respects the pleasures of the Senses and the necessities of Life so there are but few souls that have all the virtues proper for Governments and it seems that the Law of humane Society as that of Nature would have a dependency betwixt the spirits of men as there is a Commerce and Communication betwixt divers Countries and different Nations of the World so the Coldness of Parmenio tempered th' heat of Alexander so the Wisdom of Cyneas restrained the Courage of Pyrrhus so Scipio observed th'orders of Laelius and Augustus found a temper in the prudence of Metaenas and valour of Agrippa to which nothing was impossible Wherefore a Minister of State that hath all these perfections ought to be of high price with his Prince The State ought to reverence him as an extraordinary person and the virtues which being severed merit a price and to be esteemed deserve highly some new respect and a particular Veneration when they joyn in a single subject for the generall good of the World At least 't is certain that th' ill which attends the great variety of Agents is avoided They that uphold them agree rarely together in the same Design Concord is seldom sound amongst them unless it be in Looks and Words because th' heart is false or interessed and Jealousie is there the stronger for that it proposeth to it selfe the possession of so great a good as the favour of the Prince and the power of the State They that are onely for Counsell and whose virtue shines only in the Cabinet Councell encline alwaies to peace how dishonourable soever 'T is then they truly raign when all other greatnesse bowes to theirs And that they see at their feet the glory of Armes and the Crowns of the Victorious On the contrary during the War they are out of countenance and their Authority declines in that troublesome season They are darkned by a profession that hath more pomp and light then theirs And in regard that those who are called to Command are usually extraordinary persons it makes them strongly jealous and apprehend th' encrease of power upon the spirit of their Master and the taking of root in his Inclinations wherefore they endeavour to make them unprofitable that they might be the lesse considerable They trouble them in their employments that they might be the lesse happy The great Victories make them more afraid then great Losses and our Generalls have often seen dis-banded th' Armies they Commanded and enterprises ruined whereof the Beginnings were plausible for having not timely received or in the fit Quantity the provisions necessary for continuing of the War They on th' other side prolong the troubles and lengthen the confusion to th'uttermost of their power to subsist in Credit and esteem They love the stormes because they help to guide the Ship They desire sicknesse because they are imployed in applying the Remedies but neverthelesse they would have no end made for fear of remaining idle Pylots and uprofitable Physicians Moreover they complain alwaies first They frequently accuse them of their own faults and ease themselves upon them of th' envy of their ill successes and disgraces that attend it And when it doth not so happen and that there should be amongst them a perfect understanding and generall agreement The Obligation neverthelesse which some of them are under to receive Orders for Action from others and that regular Dependency is over importunate and sometimes pernicious Whilst they consult the Councell of the Prince occasions do passe Things take another Countenance and so many unexpected Accidents happen for which suddain provision must be made that by their Violence they are carried away before Remedy can be applied and the businesse perisheth for not daring to relieve it when it was in their power This unhappinesse hath been particularly observed in some of our Neighbours States The Venetians have made little use of th' occasions of the War and their Generalls have often seen a good occasion passe away before them without daring to stay it or to hinder it from flying away because they had not the Senate's Order They begin also to withdraw from that dangerous Maxime and are no more so scrupulous as they were to permit them to act of themselves and to take th' Advantages which offer themselves It is also observed that th' affairs of the Low Countries suffered much for the same reason towards th' end of the life of Philip the second and that they changed extreamly by reason of the great delayes they were constrained to use at the time of the want of his health and decay of his age Th' ill was that they would take most cognisance of all things when they could worse do it and were most earnest to retain businesse when the time was elapsed That Prince changed his Conduct and in safer occasions he was accustomed to give almost a soveraign Authority to them whom he imployed The Duke of Alva had it most absolute when he came into Flanders to make War to the growing Rebellion Don John of Austria had it very large when he was chosen chiefe of the Christian League against the Turk after the Conquest of Portugal The Cardinal Albert had an unlimitted power to reform the Kingdom and Philip the second procured him a Legation that he might act with the greater Authority and he was at one and the same time absolute Judge of temporal and spiritual Affairs Insomuch that if the Cardinall had carried with him in his second journey beyond the Mountains a Commission as ample as some have described it and that the noyse which was but a Fable had been true it-had not been new nor without Example Our Neighbours have shewed us the way and that Nation also which understands th' Art of governing better then any Nation in the World But the
vast it had been unprofitable How much had they cryed out against us if we had suffered our Allies to perish and if that we had not reduced to obedience the rebellious French And neverthelesse so many different passions and all those irregular Motions did not stop our pursuit nor th' heat of an Enterprise which hath secured the foundations of the State and the foot of the Crown And at that last business of Italy How many disgracefull Discourses and outragious Murmurings did it produce against the Reputation of that great Minister of State It seemed that there were persons hired in all places of purpose to cry down his Actions His Enemies had found th' occasions they sought for to discharge their Malice with colour and vomited their Hatred with liberty The people that ordinarily wish ill to them that govern them and suffer themselves alwaies to be led by running Reports especially when they are bad remember no more th'evill from which they were delivered but demand the good which they could not so soon receive and few persons considered what was done nor the progress of the Kings Armes nor his Conquests but what was yet to be done Even our Allies applyed themselves to us for repair of their Losses And as if they could not be imprudent or unhappy in our Company It seemed good to them that we should answer for their faults and for their disgraces and the worst Accident of all was the sicknesse of the King so very violent that it gave no place for hopes to honest men and in such a conjuncture that if this Prince had dyed the world must have changed its face and must have taken another Course then what it ought to follow In this Confusion of Spirits and of Affaires the Constancy of Sr. the Cardinall lost not it selfe His Reason was still awake the Provisions for the reliefe of Casal were not interrupted and he made it appeare that the wise Man is above all passions and the true griefe he suffered for the love of so great a Master lest him strength and Address enough not to let go the Helme and to bring us to our Haven in spight of contrary winds The Third Discourse That a Minister of State cannot have an equall Soul unlesse he hath made tryall of Good and Bad Fortune THe quality whereof we have lately spoken and that invincible constancy which is necessary for a Counsellour of State is not a disposition of the soul which nature hath infused or that Philosophy hath compleated It hath besides these need of exercise to form it And that divine Temper which hath its Roots in our selves and hath cause to raise it selfe betwixt the Discourses of Reason and Examples of History ought to take its just growth from the Trials where fortune doth place us and from the various Countenances it shews unto us There 's nothing in the world she suffers with more impatience not that she beholds with more maligne and more envenomed eyes In every place where 't is found she assaults it in all places she forms parties against it she will have it by force or by Artifice and no causes or dissimulations shall be wanting to corrupt it nor rudenesse of violence that shall not be exercised to overthrow it So they that can warrant themselves against her designes and have power enough to resist her Charmes and her outrages have competent Qualities t' aspire to the Government of State wherefore Galba protests in Tacitus that he called Piso to the succession of th' Empire because he had been unhappy and constant And that he whom fortune could not overcome was worthy to command the people of Rome and to give Lawes to the Conqueror of Nations and Triumpher over th' Earth 'T is to know onely the Moyety of ones Life to have tasted onely of prosperity 'T is not to have sayled far to have the winds alwaies in Poope and the Sea propitious 'T is to have matter onely for a part of the virtues which compose a Minister of State to have been ever happy Adversity hath also her Virtues as night hath her Stars There are some that are wholly proper for it and which cannot be practised but in so rude a season nor appear but in tumults and in the midst of storms The life of Sr. the Cardinall ought to be too highly raised not be exposed to this variety of Accidents and too eminent to want examples of every Virtue His Actions have deserved Clappings from all hands and praises from all Mouthes They have given him dayes of Triumph they have pierced the most retired parts of the World and in all places there are but a few Names so great as his after that of his Master But he hath had his back blowes and contradictions He hath not been exempted from private Misfortunes and publique Vexations Fortune and Envy have diversly exercised him notwithstanding his Courage failed him not his Conduct was equall The Revolution that surrounded him made no change in him and whatsoever hapned his soul was neither puffed nor abated this equality neverthelesse is not ordinarily found And as amongst the brightest Colours there are but a few that preserve the same lustre and the same apperance to the light of a Day and to the light of Torches Histories have also furnished us but with a few examples of Illustrious persons who have been equall in Prosperity and Adversity Spain commends the constancy of the Duke of Alva and that he was never so great as in his afflictions But it confesseth also that prosperity made him overflow that he was insolent when he was prosperous and that the Victories he gained were odious to his Masters though they were profitable unto them On the contrary let us consider the three Princes of Spain that have known how to raign for an Age and halfe and have dared to introduce immortall Designes in a form of Government where Soveraigns dye and which changeth often their Master Le ts consider I say Ferdinand Charles the fifth Philip the second and we shall find that all their lives have been nothing but a Composition of good and evill and a confusion of contrary things We shall there see Prosperity without Number Disgraces without Measures Wounds dressed with Laurels Triumphs adorned with Mourning and above all that constant and firm Courages and an immoveable Virtue Behold Ferdinand glorious in the reduction of the Kingdom of Granada and with the Title of Catholique Behold him triumphant in the Conquest of Naples and of the fortune of France Behold that a fancy gives him Navarre and that chance finds him an unknown world and new wealth This neither enflames him nor effeminates him He is not the more lazy nor the lesse vigilant He formes greater designs and layes the Platform of a Monarch which shall exercise his Nephews a long time and trouble the rest of other Nations and the peace of the world Moreover le ts contemplate thill sucesse of his life and th' other
acted in such manner that what Countenance soever th' Affaires have taken and whatsoever traverses the time hath raised he was never astonished nor cast down He abated nothing of his pursuit He continually respected the Dignity of the Master he served and the reputation of the Crown which he laboured to sustain And whatsoever happened unto him how strange soever the Tempest was he resolved to perish with the Government in his hand and to be able to say what Francis the first wrote to his Mother after the loss of the Journey to Pavia All is except th' Honour But this Courage which hath shined so eminently in Disgraces was not effeminated in proserity and that magnanimity which he expressed in his ill fortune when it undertook to exercise him changed it selfe into an excellent Moderation and into a most perfect acknowledgement of that which proceeded from th' hand of God and from the fortune of a Prince The Fourth Discourse That the Science to discover the merits of Men and t' employ them is necessary for a Minister of State ONe of the Noblest Conditions which formes the Minister of State and the perfection of Administration is the Science to discern other men and th' Art to employ them Truly as our soul how heavenly soever it is and all spirituall hath need of the Body to make its operations And as God makes uses of second Causes to govern with them the World and to renue Nature so a Minister of State how excellent soever he may be hath necessary use of a number of persons to labour with him and to help him to carry th'Engine of the State and burthen of Affairs 'T is the Pilot that ought to give Motion to all other Officers in the Ship 'T is th' head that ought to put in exercise th' Armes and th' other parts of the Body And as that ancient Captain found no Title so glorious nor Argument more magnificent to make himselfe known than to answer him who demanded of him If he was a man of compleat Arms or an Archer or a light Horseman That he was the person that commanded all those men there So a principall Minister of State ought to have a spirit superiour to other Officers of State and not to be ignorant of the Duties of Generals of Armies nor of the Duties of Judges nor of them who manage the Treasury This Condition is remarkable in Sr. the Cardinal and 't is true if a man have but one good Quality he knows how to make choice of it in the midst of many defects and to discern a Grain of Gold in the midst of Gravel and Dung The Earth is not more various in its proprieties nor the Heaven in its influences than men are in their Tempers and Inclinations And 't is an extraordinary thing to find a soul capable of all sorts of good or a Temper proper for all the functions of the soul Le ts place here some few of its Differences and of its Proprieties for the clearing of our subject They in whom Imagination is predominant and who have subtil hot spirits are very proper for th' Intrigue They are Rich in expedients and have present Apprehensions which warrant them from surprises which suffer them not to be confounded and which resist the first impression of Accidents which have not been foreseeen and the newness of Occurrences They speak ordinarily with grace and express themselves with facility Their Action hath somewhat I know not what that pleaseth and a certain Harmony which charmes the senses and glides even Reason and to th' Affections of the soul They are bold to undertake and for that Difficulties appear lesse to them then they are or beneath their strength They cast themselves blindly upon them they precipitate in stead of walking And if they meet with a Ditch in the way it stops them not either they fall in or leap over it They are pleased with Noyse and love Disturbance they appear strong in troubled times and the Consusion of Affaires is their element and the matter which is proper for them They do sometimes great things and 't is not possible that undertaking much all should succeed ill That they encounter onely if they fail in their choice Hazard where th' Election is of no use to them and that being so seldom wise they are never happy They are neverthelesse of great service and of incredible prosit when they fall under the Direction of a wise man who tempers th' heat by his judgement and moderates their impetuosity by his Prudence And as Philosophy observes That Choller serves for a spur to Virtue and puts life to it 'T is also true that when these active humours are accompanied with a good Sense and perfect Reason nothing seems difficult or impossible to them But also when they are Masters of their Actions and Arbiters of Affaires their Conduct is much to be feared It is more dangerous then profitable They cannot commit easie faults having alwaies great designes in their heads and they seldom fail of making them having not circumspection enough or foresight to avoid them They that are of a cold temper and in whom reason abounds are more fit to govern And though their Actions are not so glaring and tumultuous as th 'others are yet they are more lively and more efficacious The common people who have no understanding but for th' objects of sense and comprehends but what it sees and what it toucheth admires these lesse then the former persons They are neverthelesse of a higher price in the judgement of wise men and have the same Advantage of them th'Architects have of Masons that Pilots have of Mariners and that they who draw the designs of Pictures have of them who know onely how to mingle their Colours and to habit the Figures They seldom contribute to the fall of States by Imprudency in so much that the first Law they observe is to commit no faults As the first Inclination which Nature gives us is to shun th'Evill and what is contrary to us They seldom shipwrack because they know the nature of the Seas and of the Winds That they know how to foresee the Tempests and that they put out in time and gain timely the Haven They are fit for War and Peace they are good to gain and to preserve their Virtue is ever present and there 's neither condition of time nor exception of affaires that hinders them to act or renders them unprofitable There are others in whom Imagination may find heat enough to act if there were driness enough and if it were not drowned in the Flegme and in an abundance of moysture which duls and cooles it And neverthelesse they have not the vivacity of the first nor the prudence of the second I speak of that high and divine Virtue which resides in the understanding and in that supream Region of the soul which is the Guide and Torch of other Virtues and which chooseth the means of things that
weightiness nor perish but by the Corruption within and by the vices of the noble parts Such was th' Ancient Republique of Rome after that so many Nations had submitted unto it and that there remained nothing in the world wherewith to fill up th' Ambition of one of its Citizens nor sufficient to make him Great enough without the Ruine of his Country Such is also at this day the Empire of th' Ottomans whose body is so dilated and power so vaste that it seems that nothing ought to affright the Head but the Members nor dissolve the Masse but it s owne Parts There are others whose Extent truly is not small nor forces incosiderable But which have neverthelesse need of foraine Aidâ—… for to support them To fortifie themselves with Alliances To forme Leagues To make use of diversions In short to repaire with Industry what of force is wanting in them either for resistance or enterprize There are Princes who subsist onely by the Conveniences of their Country and by the benignity of its scituation Two great powers betwixt which It is shut up and to whom It serves for Barriere are in perpetuall jealousie that th' one or th' other will make its Accommodation of it there 's nothing that they would not do to hinder them from the change of Master and from submitting to a Domination by them suspected This passion of State hath been th' originall of great wars which have been seene in Piedmont since hundred yeares and of so much Spanish and French blood as hath been shed in that Province There are others who have quit themselves under a voluntary dependency upon a greater power or by reason of some good turne received or to be delivered of the Expence from disturbance and from feare which the Neighbourhood of a greater brings when he is no friend which is seldome but to their Advantage so he is in some sort the Master of the petty States which he protects without Citadelle and Garrison he Commands them and he receives when he hath need considerable supplyes of Money and Men. There are others who are under a forced Dependancy and are become Captives without thinking of it who have given the matter of their Chaine and furnished the Stuffe whereof the yoak was made that oppresseth them Covetousness hath precipitated the Genoueses into this unhappiness That villanous passion hath forged their servitude The Money which they have put into the hands of the Spaniards hath betrayed them and by an Inverted order the Creditors put themselves to the Mercy of their Debtors They cannot now unsay it they have given them pawns and cannot recover them and which they will not suffer them to loose A single free thought cannot enter their spirits They dare not accept th' aid of them who would redeem them for their Captivity and being slaves to their Money they must or necessity be to the Men who keep it for them On the other side 't is a pleasant way of gaining a State that which the Spaniards have practised towards the Genoueses It was never doned so good cheape in other places All others have cost them something if the Great Duke be obliged to the defence of the State of Milan they have rendered unto him the fortresses of the Toscane and given him Sienna If the Prince o Parma ought to furnish them with Men and Money for the same subject He hath received also the Citadelle of Pleasance But here they onely tendred th' hands to take the Money which hath been voluntarity unto them They enjoy it and are the Masters of it In leaving t' others the vaine Names of Creditours and if â—metime they give them somewhat by may of profit even that returnes to them and resembles the water of Certaine Fountaines which by a constrained Motion being forced out of its reserve returnes thither by a Naturall motion and by a necessary fall Let this be said in passage To conclude There are States which are not conserved but by reason of their weakness and in regard they are so inconsiderable that they deserve not the violation of Justice in a Conquerour nor that his Ambition be rendred odious for the desire of them such is the Common-wealth of Ragouse which is so little that to this day it hath not provoaked th' Appetite of the Turk so poor that almost all its Revenues is laid out to feed the great Persons of the family of Porte and to serve for entertainment to the Sangiaes who are their Neighbours A Minister then of State must know That every sort of State requires a different Conduct That th' one ought not to serve as Example to th' other for Government and when any business is to be had with them that they are to be treated withall according to their Power and Liberty Whilst the Common-wealth of Venice was in disorder with Paul the fifth and that Christendom was divided upon that Quarrell the Common-wealth of Genes fell into almost the like Inconvenience This neverthelesse did bend under the will of the Pope And having cast it selfe into a shamefull servitude was carefull to performe such Actions as might deserve the Name of a lawfull obedience and that Spaine whose Aide it wanted was but too much carried to dispose it to raise a prejudice against Venice On the contrary Venice remained inflexible in its pretensions because it had power to maintaine them and pursued the business to th' End that the Liberty which it had not received but from God and wherewith it was borne might not be weakned The designes then of the Pope which prospered for Genes were vaine for Venice and th' Inequality of those two states could not admit of the same Remedies though they laboured of the same Evill and of the like Accident The Eighth Discourse That a Minister of State ought not inviolably t' act that which hath been alwaies practised in the State HE not only acts safely who formes not his conduct upon that of strangers not treats equally with two unequall powers But a Minister of State is farre from that he ought to be if in the State where he acts he tye himselfe servilely to what hath been done before him If he dare not go out of the beaten Road If he have no other marke then th' example of them that have gone before him If he will alwaies walk upon their paces and adore only their foot-steps No comparison was ever more naturall or report more just than that of th' humane and politique body Th' Oeconomy of th' one may serve for Modell to th' other They are both subject to the same Accidents and to the same Symptomes Both of them have ordinarity the birth weak the progress proud and rapid the subsistence trembling and the fal precipitated And nevertheless each of those ages requires a different Regiment and a Conduct altogether diverse These considerations also have place in th' Ecclesiastique State and in the government of Soules And though its foundations be
to God and placeth him so much above other Men It seems to the greatest part of his Relations that they cannot with modesty stay in the crowd nor in th' obscurity of particular persons so long as th'Uncle or the Brother is encompassed with the greatest Lights of the world And therefore some of them are tenacious of all that may establish the greatness of their house and raise them to the State of their Ambition The Spaniards understand better then all the Nations of the world these practices and have larger Meanes t' exercise them then any other Nation The Pensions which they distribute without Measure The Livings they have to conferre in their States of Italy and to th' Advantage of them that act at the Court of Rome The Meanes t' advance their Relations to th' Offices of Peace and Warre Th'Estates which they sometimes give them or make the purchase thereof easie unto them and Advantageous and Rich Marriages which they procure for them are strange Engines to Shake the Probity of Italians if it be not very well Confirmed The marriage of the Heire of th' house of Jesualde of the most famous of the kingdome of Naples against th' expresse Clauses of he father's Will which Gregory the fifteenth dispensed in favour of one of his Nephewes gave th' entry to the Spaniards into the Valtoline rendred them Masters of that Valley under the name of another power gave that great wound t' Italy and th' Armes of Holy Peter aided there t' advance th' Ambition of Spaine and to weaken the Liberty of a Province where they are adored And Moreover when hopes are weak to draw a person to their party They then add feare T is not possible but that th' one or th' other of those Passions may have its Effect and they that resist their guifts and promises in relation to their Interests are carefull at least not to justle them the better t' avoyd the Tempests which they raise and the Persecutions they stir up Besides the Resistance they give them who aspire the Pontificate when they are of a Contrary Inclination They have yet other Expedients to make themselves to be feared I will not believe that they were the Principall Cause of th' unfortunate Ends of the Caraffes All three were hanged The deportments wherewith they abused th' Authority of their Uncle The Evills wherein they plunged Christendome by their ungoverned Ambition The fire which they kindled in the State Ecclesiastique and which endangered the destruction of it In short all that a great power armed with Impunity could produce of fatall gave but too much foundation for Justice to make so great an Ensample But 't is true also that the Contrivances of Spaine and th' Ardent pursuits which their Agents made against them did not abate the spirit of the Judges nor the Rigour of the sentence But without that the persecution wherewith they agitated the Cardinal Aldobrandin after the Death of Clement th' Eighth and the little safety he had also for his person till he had suppled them by Imploring their Aide Make out cleere Evidences how dangerous a thing it is to have been their Enemy or not to have been for them which is allmost the same thing Presently after the coming of Paul the fifth to the Pontificate That Cardinal found himselfe thrust at from so many places and saw so many snares laid about him and so many plots formed for his destruction that he was constrained to leave Rome and to retire to Ravenna whereof he was Arch Bishop nor did he find there the safety he sought for and th' unexpected stormes which there did arise compelled him to leave that place where he was bound to reside and to provide for his safety by his flight He retired then into Piedmont whereby the Duke of Savoy who knew th' originall of his Evill and the Remedy that might heale it who knew from what Corner the windes of the persecution blew and the Meanes to appease them Advised him to Cast himselfe into th' Armes of the King of Spaine and to employ his Mediation to reconcile him to the Pope No person is ignorant of the warre they made to the Cardinal Baronius and with what obstinacy they assaulted him for cleering the Rights of th' Holy Chair to Sicily and for publishing a truth they would have had concealed In that Treaty where that learned Cardinal endevours to prove that the Body of St Inques is not at Compostelle of Galico They have truly answered with Reasons and Proofs which much weaken the contrary opinion and make theirs very probable who support it by the beliefe of Christian Nations and ought to be known for publique satisfaction But in the Treaty of Sicily they have re-parted with Fire because it may be that reasons failed them and commanded the fourth Volume of th' Annales of that great Person to be burnt by the hand of a Hangman to declare the doctrine it contained criminall because it was not favourable to them Truly this evidence is to be rendred and praise to be given to the Spaniards That there 's not a Nation in the World which hath so violent jealousie as they for the Interests of their State and for the dignity of their Crown And it must also be said to the shame of ours that there are none so strongly labouring under a contrary passion as the greatest part of Frenchmen I will report the causes of both in the second part Besides this what did not the Spaniards in the Conclaves where the suffrages enclined to Baronius side to choose him Pope What Artifices did they leaven unattempted t' oppose that promotion What Efforts did they not employ to breake it and what Engines did they not set a going t' overthrow it The Cardinal of Sourdis stormed and made a noise to no purpose at their practises The greatest part of Honest men were scandalized and desirous to no better effect that the Church might be governed by a Person that had so much merited from her the wishes of honest persons were unprofitable They sighed in vaine for so Holy an Election Baronius his Enemies carried it and the generall Interests of Christendom gave place to the particular Interest of Spaine These Examples and many others astonish them who upon other accounts have no Inclination for that Nation and the fear which every person hath to procure himselfe Evill is the cause that many are diverted from doing the good they would if liberty were not interdicted and generosity assaulted by odious means and by those violent wayes I will handle in the second part Whether Christian Princes ought in Conscience to meddle with the promotion of Popes and how The Thirteenth Discourse That the Mediation of Popes is very profitable in the differences of Christian Princes and in th' Affaires of Christendome I Do not intend t' infer from the precedent discourse that Princes ought to be deprived of the Mediation of Popes nor to reject their offices
the son of Henry the fourth and from the Brother of Lewis the just As to Sr. the Cardinal t is certaine that he brought unto the work an extraordinary Contest of body and spirit and that the cares and diligence He used in that Occasion were incredible as th' effect that did arise from them He manadged it in such fort as a sick person is handled to whom so little of life remaines that the least sinister Accident that befalls him destroyes him and the least things forgot of what might be Cordiall would kill him Two hundred postes dispatched in lesse then two Months so many orders given within and without the Kingdome no advice neglected that had any apparance of Good so many vessells got together in so little Time and so many provisions made for the revictualing of the place besiged In Briefe all that humane Industry hath of Inventions All that prudence hath of Conduct All that diligence hath of activity and all that Courage hath of boldness employed in this Occurrence are th' Infallible proofs of what I have said But t' act in this Manner It imports that a soul be extreamely free and have no passion but for his duty That it be not divided and 't is not too much that it employes all its forces in Occasions whereunto enough cannot be brought and wherein th' Affairs are but imperfectly done if any other Inclination divide them That if we have seen great persons as Caesar burne with Love and Ambition and done incredible things That if he gave himselfe up to the pleasures of sense and to the conquest to the World It was that those two Passions never entred into contest in his spirit nor disputed of the Victory and when the last appeared the first gave it place and left the field free yet 't is not possible but they savoured of the relation and that the contagion of th' one could not but offend th' other This hapned even to Caesar as incomparable he was and the Love of Cleopatra had once almost destroyed him and had cost him with his Life th' Empire of the World If he had not by swimming passed the Nile to save himselfe But that Sr. the Cardinall hath this Liberty of soul whereof we speak I have elsewhere shewed and therefore unnecessary to be here repeated The Second Discourse That the true exercise of Politique Prudence consists in the Knowledge of Comparing things with things and to choose the greatest Good and t' avoid the greatest Evill And to consider whether the Counsell Sr. the Cardinall gave to passe into th' Iland of Rhé was grounded upon the Rules of Prudence And if the King did well to march into Languedoc after the taking of Suze 'T Is a strange Hazard and a hard necessity to be shut up betwixt two troublesome extreams and of two evills which present themselves joyntly to chuse the least This last is a thing which all the World desires to do and for which Nature hath imprinted in us a violent and sharp instinct The lesser Evills appeare good when they are preservatives from greater and physick is good by reason of the diseases it is ordained against But to know how to make use of so dangerous a Composition to know how t' hold the Balance strait that is filled with venemous drugs and whose odour strikes into th' heads of them that hold it and to discerne of things whose quality astonisheth the sense and confounds the judgement if it be not accompanied with Courage 'T is not th' Effect of an ordinary prudence 'T is not employed with lesse difficulty though with more compleasancy pleasancy when good things are to be compared amongst themselves and to discover the difference when the spetious things are to be distinguished from the profitable and them that have weight in them from them that make a shew when we are to be exercised amongst the Caresses of Fortune and the favours which she offers us to stop at the greatest of them I have observed two places amongst many others in the Life of the King where as I conceive he hath divinely prospered in these two kinds of Prudence as he hath made most wise choices upon the Counsels which have been proposed Th' one upon the Counsell Sr. the Cardinall gave to passe part of th' Army into th'lland of Rhé to fight th' English who without that had been Masters of it T' expose of one side those brave Troops and Choyse Souldiers sacrifice so much Nobility whereof there were Princes To send poor Boates against a Fleet of great Ships It seems truly to have hazarded much and to give up too much to Fortune But also on th' other side who shall consider that the losse of our Troop was not infallible but that th' losse of th' Iland was if they had not passed That the remedy was dangerous but that there was none other t'heal the disease and that one part of the State was ready to be divided betwixt Domestique Rebellion and forrain Domination if th'Iland had not been relieved must confesse that this Counsell was not lesse commendable in the spring than in the successe If it was very bold it was intirely necessary and one could not only not do better but it could not have been well done if it had been otherwise done Th' other observation is in respect of the Counsell which Sr. the Cardinall gave to hasten to Languedoc after the taking of Zusa It must truly be confessed that then there was a necessity to make a defence against the most subtile attempt fairest shew of good which might have seduced an understanding if it had not been very strong to make resistance On th' one side the State of Milan was in prey and that beautifull Countrey which heretofore gave so much love and jealousie to two great Princes To Francis the first and to Charles the fifth which cost France and Spain so much Bloud and put Christendome so often into a Combustion to know who should have it was ours without resistance It depended upon the King in apparance to become Master and to take revenge of th'affronts which we have received there and of the five times that they had driven us by force out of the Countrey It was unfurnished of men of War and there was but some miserable Troops that had escaped at the siege of Casal and which the sole report of our Armes had overcome All the Princes of Italy made us tender of their Aides and believed that th' Hower was come to take away the Fetters from their feet and deliver their Country from the yoak which was not naturall to it and from that violent Domination whose shadow was dangerous t' all its Neighbours and weakned their Liberty if not oppressed it The Emperour was diverted against the King of Denmarke and he could not draw his Armies from thence without abandoning his Victories and without betraying his good Fortune Spain had neither Men nor Moneyes It was astonished at the
back to his Enemies And before the Battail of Garillan He answered him that would have diverted him from fighting and giving of Battail who presented unto him that he was weake in respect of us and the Match ill made betwixt his Army and ours That he knew of what importance that Daye 's Labour was to his Master's Affairs and that he was resolved to perish that day or overcome 'T is true then that there are Occurrences wherein somewhat is to be submitted to Fortune Where the lesse is to be hazarded to save the greater And where when the Question is of the whole Affair not onely a part of the Forces is to be hazarded but also the Generalls of th' Army and those precious heads which command so many other heads ought to take resolution rather to dye than see the Victory in th' Enemies hands and t' outlive it at their Losse So did Caesar in Spain at the Battell where the Children of Pompey were slaine and the rest of that miserable Common-wealth finished their dest uction so did Monsieur of Andelot when he defended Orleans against th' Army of the Duke of Guise So did the Prince of Parma at the siege of Antwerp after that the Hollanders were seized of one part of the Ditch that th'Engine which they made to play had made them flye which defended it Th' one and th' other run with Swords in their hands to the Danger both were then transported Declaring that he would dye if it were impossible for him t'overcome and made appeare by his action somewhat that savoured of despaire or rather of that excesse which Philosophy attributes to the Heroes and distills into the souls of extraordinary persons Th' example of that pathetique virtue and of that generous emotion was not barren The Souldiers that saw it felt the same heat and by that means some of them forced th' Enemies from the Town where they were far entred and others Recovered the Ditch where th' Hollanders began to fortifie after they were lodged in it Le ts conclude then with th'Examples of the greatest persons of Antiquity and with the first of the Moderne That the passage of our Army into th' Iland of Rhé was not projected by chance and without th' Advice of Reason That it hath not been th' Effect of a light troubled by ill successe and of a Discourse confused by ill fortune but of a Resolution illuminated by that high prudence which diversifieth its conduct according to the diversity of accidents which happen which shift sayles according t' th' nature of the Winds which Reign Which knows t' apply Remedies to the state of the Maladies which dares quit th' High-wayes when'tis expedient to take the By-paths and which guides not alwayes common virtues but sometimes inspires and gives birth t'Heroique persons The Fourth Discourse Of the Alliances of bloud which are practised amongst Princes and whether the King was well advised when he made that Allyance with England I Treat at large th'Allyances of State in the second part of this work and particularly of that we have with the Turke and with the Republique of Holland There I do cleer many Doubts which respect the Soul and take away the stones of offence whereat they strike who have not known the foundation and stumble for want of Light I give nevertheless nothing to conveniency that is contrary to justice and flatter not the conduct of them who submit all other Reasons to that of State I take nothing there from God to give it to Caesar I hold the just Balance and stay at the temper which God hath advised in the prudence of Serpents and the simplicity of Doves Here I have thought it expedient to speak of th' Allyances which are practised in the families of Princes to justisfie that which hath been made with England All the spirits that were formalized at it are not yet satisfied The Wounds which are shut up leave all wayes some marks Some maligne impression remains a long time after a poyson is driven away and ordinarily the opinions that are left part not so neatly but some impression remains On th' other side they that have observed the sequells of th' Alliance whereof we speak who have seen the Depraedations upon our Seas and th'Invasions of our Ilands and th' other enterprizes th' English have made upon us Who have understood that their Ministers of State manadged that business with poysoned hands that they did undermine us when they seemed to help us That they stretched the Cloath whereof they were after call'd Merchants and laid the foundation of the War which they made against us These I say have believed that there was somewhat wanting in the prudence of our Ministers of State and that th' house was ill built that fell so soon to Ruine Wherefore having discoursed of that Warr I thought this the proper place to speak of the Alliance which did precede it I say then that th' Alliances of bloud which are entertained amongst Princes serve very little to divert their designes or to change their Inclinations The dispositions they find in their spirits are there left They put up nothing but at most palliate them and suspend for some time th' Action of the Causes which they cannot take away And though it falls out otherwise in the Condition of particular persons no Consequence is to be drawne for that of Princes The Quality of Soveraignes which Princes sustaine hath priviledged Duties and begets passions to which all others are subalterne The King in this is above Man The Consideration of Parentage is inferiour to that of the State and th' Obligations of blood which are bounded in a few persons ought to give place to th' obligations of the Charge wherein an infinite of Persons are Interessed To that truly Princes need not to be Exhorted They are but too much carried to it naturally They ordinarily offend lesse against their Dignity by default then by excesse The love they have for it degenerates rather into Jealousie then into Idleness And if you would have them forsake their interests and the good of their affaires It must be under the shew of something that resembles it And 't is not the will that a Man ought to propose to himselfe to be gained but th' understanding which is by Endeavour to be seduced But 't is true that of too Extreams which bound the duty of Princes they carry themselves oftnest to th' Excesse and that the passion for Commanding preserves not onely what belongs to them but makes usurpations upon all the Rights of Reason upon all the priviledges of Humane Society and upon all the Respects which are brought by Relations Th' Examples are so ordinary that a Man must have seen or heard nothing to call it in Question I will not speak of what hath passed in the time of the Pagans nor of that Ambitious Roman who caused her Chariot to be drove over the Body of her Father to whose kingdome her Husband ought
of Gaston of Foix and Neece of Lewis with Conditions that were Advantageous to us if they had been observed That which I have said neverthelesse was nothing in respect of what Philip did since the death of Isabella and after taht the succession of Castille was open unto him The things past were but sweetnesses for Ferdinand in Comparison of th' usage he received after that death The first stroakes did scarce raise the skin but the last entered deep and made Large and dangerous wounds Philip will go into Spaine not onely to take possession of what was his but to take from his Father in Law what belonged to him by the Testament of Isabella Ferdinand employed all his Prudence and all his subtilties to divert him They Contest long upon that Article Their wills were diametrically opposed what th' one would not have th' other desired and it had been lesse difficult t' accord Contraryes and to joyne extreams then t' adjust their pretentions Force being wanting to Ferdinand t' overcome th' heat of Philip He used diversion He caused Lewis the twelfth t' interpose who threatens him with his Armyes in case he went for Spaine and raised the Duke of Gueldiers against him who cut him out business in Flaunders and gave him enough t' entertaine him in that Countrey In th' End th'obstinacy of Philip being stronger then th' Artifices of Ferdinand and the difficulties which stopped him being taken away or sweetned they agreed upon the Conditions of his journey Thereupon Philip put himselfe on the way but with a resolution to break the Treaty he had made and not performeth ' Oath he had given to his Father in Law which he ought to have kept to an Enemy Being in Spaine he flatters the great Persons He unties them from Ferdinand He drawes them to his party who had but too great Inclinations for it and were but too earnestly carried t' adore the rising Power and a Light which began to shew it selfe Insomuch that Ferdinand found himselfe alone All his friends were unfaithfull to him all his Creatures abandoned him except th' Arch-Bishop of Toledo Ximenes and the Duke of Alâ—…a so true it is that there 's but little Assurance in the will of Men and that the Law of Interests is powerfull upon their spirits and the Memory of Good turnes received weake in Comparison future Benefits After that Ferdinand presseth an Interview with his son in Law The Counsellours of Philip oppose it with all their powers and raise troublesome difficulties to divert it They had seized upon the spirits of their Master and taken his will from him having prepossessed his understanding They were afraid that Ferdinand would take off the Charme and that the Reverence of a Father and dexterity of a Great Polititian would deface that usurped Empire and tyrannous Domination wherefore they omit nothing that might distate Ferdinand from the meeting he solicited and which he pressed for the Resistance They propose exorbitant Conditions which he accepts of They add shamefull Circumstances which he refused not They use him unworthily and he bears it and a Great King had the displeasure to receive the Law from petty Companions who abused th' Inclination of an easy Master At last th' Interview being resolved Ferdinand renders himselfe at the place appointed for that purpose but with a small traine and accompanied onely with two hundred Men unarmed and mounted upon Mules On the Contrary Philip advanceth thither in th' Equipage of a Man of warr with the Body of an army of Dutch which Marched before him and flanked with almost all the Great Persons of Spaine in armes and in the posture of persons who went rather to Warr then to a Treaty of friendship and to a fight rather then to a Reconciliation The two Princes met together in a Chappell which had been Chosen for that Interview Don John Manuell principall Counsellour of Philip and absolute disposer of his resolutions would assist at their discourse and but for th' Arch Bishop of Toledo who hindred him He had been present at a Conference which the Respect of proximity and the Dignity of those Two Princes would have to be secret After an hower and halfes discourse they part and the Conference passed without any mention made by Philip to the Father of his daughter nor of Ferdinand to his son in Law of his wife He dissembled for that time his desire though he had an extreame passion to see her and to Comfort his old age by the sight of an Object which was so deere to him and which was the Remainder of his substance There was a second Meeting betwixt these two Princes wherein some demonstration of friendship appeared or lesse coldness then at the first Interview But the Conclusion of all the Conferences was the first designe of Philip that Ferdinand should renouce the Government of Castile notwithstanding the disposition of Isabella and against the expresse Clauses of her Testament Ferdinand who had learnt t' obey the time and submit to Necessity who knew how to strike saile when the Tempest was too strong and to put in when it was not safe to saile Bends under his ill Fortune and resolves t' abandon Castille till a better season called it back and to banish himselfe voluntarily from a kingdome which he had so long Commanded Philip stops not there He endeavours all he can to discredit the past Government He annulls the greatest part of th' Orders his Father in Law had made He deposeth the principall officers and the principall Governours which had been placed by his Hand He would not if possible that one entire mark should remain nor one visible Impression of his Administration But it had been too little for him to have ill used his Father in Law and his Ambition it may be had been pardonable if it had at least pardoned his wife and if he had not used her ill who had brought him so faire States and such certaine Hopes She was truly the Queen of Spaine and who infused into her Husband th' Authority of Government and the Right of Commanding that Country And neverthelesse He would not suffer her in that society He would not permit that she who was Companion of his Bed should be the Companion of the Scepter which he had received from her hands and seeks shamefull pretences and odious Causes t' exclude her A warmer love was never seen than what that Princesse had for her Husband It seemed that she lived onely by the sight of him and dyed when she was severed from him That Excesse of passion and Imbecillity of soul changed in some sort her senses and the jealousie which mingled with the troubles of his Absence weakened a little her Braine and changed th' Organs and neverthelesse though that defect proceeded from so honest a Cause or so supportable Though Compassion ought to have obliged Philip to cover it if Love were wanting to do it and though Conveniency and his honour obliged him also to
a Quarrell and laboured with great Obstinacy the Ruine of one Another In that hard Accesse and cruell Conjuncture wherein she could not gaine without losse she proposed to herselfe to follow alwayes the fortune of the weakest to make the Counterpoise to the strongest and to dispose them to Reconciliation when both despaired of the victory which succeeded unto her Alliances are also good to preserve union and nourish th' Intelligence of Houses which otherwise are obliged to be of good understanding and which a Common interest doth conjoyne and bind Insomuch that if they make not the knot they tye it faster If they forme not the friendship they heat it if they do not introduce the concord they confirme it T is for that reason they are so frequent amongst the Princes of th' House of Austria and were heretofore betwixt them of France and Navarre and betwixt them of Castille and Portugall before th' union of those Crowns But what must be understood of most certain from Alliances and to which Princes who make them and their Counsellors ought chiefly to have an eye is to draw some present utility or some future good whilst the Wills of them who are conjoyned in Alliance are in heat and th' emotion which that Bond brings doth last Francis the first married Elnor Sister of Charls the sisth to recover his Liberty as I have said Phillip the second gave his youngest Daughter to the last Duke of Savoy to make him seise upon the Marquisat of Saluce and to cause the Gates of Italy to be shut against us and to deliver Milan from the jealousie which that neighbourhood gave it Ferdinand of Castille Marryed Germania Neece of Lewis the twelfth to break the Leagues which were framed betwixt Lewis the Emperour Maximilian and th' Arch Duke Phillip to his prejudice and to dissipate th' Intelligences of those Princes that were not favourable unto him In consideration whereof I say that the Alliance which the King had made with the King of England ought to be placed amongst his wisest Elections in the felicities of his Reign And that they who advised him to it could not give a sounder Counsel and that it hath been a great honour to Sr. the Candinall to have mingled his Cares with those of his Master and his disturbances with his Master 's for th' accomplishment of that worke 'T is not a small advantage to render ones enemies weake and to make a power retire that is contrary to us or suspected is a great advance But t is the perfection of wisedom to draw to ones selfe a good that was intended for them that love us not to gain that which we make them lose If we had not made haste Spain who suffered that Alliance t' escape their hands and which sometimes loseth her Advantages in seeking of them too cunningly and too great Had it may be renewed it And if that had been is it not probable that it had invention enough and Artifice for to keep us alwayes in Check by the means of England That it had manadged at pleasure the Protestants of France with their hands and had assured all his designes in making the Counterpoyse to ours with that party which was also entire That the losses which they lately received had affrighted them more then beaten them and that the sight of their wounds yet bloudy and the desire of revenge rendred them irreconcilable t is at least certaine that it diverted the Ruine and was opposed to its dammage That if England hath turned her Arms upon us if it hath since quarrell'd us and if the capricious humours of a particular person hath been the Torch of a publique dissention It was a stroak which was not in the power of humain discourse to foresee and the reason of State did not permit that a Prince should give so pernicious an example to his subjects as openly to favour Felony in the states of another Prince yet it may be said in truth that the peace which ensued that War and which was so advantagious to us is in part an effect of th' Alliance whereof we speak and the worke of that Princesse which shall be hereafter th' Indissoluble band of the friendship of the two Brothers and th' Immortall subject of the Concord of both Nations Adde to this th' Interest of Religion which is very considerable in this Alliance of the great good it produceth to have accustomed th' English to permit th' exercise of it in the Queen's family T is no small matter that they are made acquainted with our Holy Mysteries and that they are no longer offended at that which they have had a long time in detestation T is to be believed that this holy humanity which now is in safety amongst them shall not be there without a tast of its Graces and that th' Example of good souls to whom'tis permitted to provide for their safety without crime may touch them and bring them to the knowledge of that truth their fathers had forsaken The Fifth Discourse Of the Greatness and Importance of the Siege of Rochelle I Will not play th'Oratour upon the taking of Rochelle nor amuse my selfe with the Flowers of Rhetorique and th' Ornaments of that Science which hath not significant expressions how rich soever for the subject which I treat I will not exalt the glory of that siege by the Reputation of a City whose name hath passed to th' Indies with reputation by the course and Merchandize it made upon all Seas Th' Heresie and Rebellion to which it served for sanctuary in France The friendship of Protestants and hatred of Catholiques which it equally exercised had rendred it famous in th' Earth I speake not now of the place nor of th' advantages of its scituation where it seemed Nature had placed all she had of strength and Art had laid out all she had of Invention I passe by the comparison of the sieges of Tire and Antwerp which others have spoken of and which are inferiour to ours Though one of them was the principall worke of the Prince of Parma and the admiration of the past Age and the other th' great effect of the power of Alexander and th' Industry of Greece I take another way and will indeavour to declare the value of the Conquests which we have made in other Ages Heretofore nothing was more easie to a Conquerour then to subdue a Province and the gaine of a battell delivered up a whole Countrey to the victorious wherein there was scarce any strong place Now that th' Art of making Warre hath changed face and conduct That 't is in all Countryes almost reduced to cast up Earth and to retrench That few Battells are fought that the life of Men are better Husbanded and that an Army cannot March very farre but a Fortresse is in its way 'T is no marvell if there be as much difficulty and by consequence as much glory to take a Fortress of Reputation as there was heretofore to
of being too Credulous T is to have too little Judgment or too great a distrust of ones selfe and in th' Affaires of the world Th' universall Maximes are not ever to be followed which are sometimes deceitfull though they are many times true But a great Minister of State ought to know how to distinguish what is manifestly false from what hath some apparence of true and what is feasable from what is Impossible 'T is not that 't is necessary that He possesse all th' Arts with the same perfection as they who make profession but of one But it sufficeth that he know them in such a degree and with so just a light that he may secure himselfe from th' Imposture though it be very subtile and observe what is good though it be not very excellent The fourth Consideration that th' Enterprize of the Ditch is th' Evidence of an extreame vast soul and of a Courage not distasted by Difficulties nor wearied by Time Th' Humours of the French are ordinarily too lively to langnish after a designe They will suddenly see th' End or abandon it what they carry not at the first Assault rebukes them The stroaks they lose weakens them as much as those they receive and their proper Impetuosity tyres them not lesse then the Resistance of what they Assault But the king hath made it appeare in this occasion whereof I speake that having not the vices of the French he had in an Eminent degree the virtues of other Nations and that he had a very great Boldness t' undertake and Constancy to pursue it and Patience to finish it The first spoile the Sea made upon the Ditch had shaken any other Courage but his and the violence of the Equinoctialls had daunted an Imagination lesse firme but He believed that the feare which might fall into the soules of Men commonly constant ought not to fall into his and that it was too little for his power and fortune t'overcome Men if he did not also resist the force of the starrs and Elements and what nature hath of most impetuous and rapid There are affaires which must be abandoned so soon as they are begun either in regard of their Impossibility or that they serve for hinderance to better and more profitable designes And 't is true that t' opinionate in this is a Manifest imprudence That the shortest follies are the best and that the further a Man goes when he is out of the right way the more he wanders There are others which are infinitely important and are but difficult and of them an end must be had whatsoever they cost or perish or carry them After that th' Earle of Fuentes had besieged Cambray and reduced that City to the Tearms of being taken or of rendring Sr. of Vie entred with some Releefe So soon as he was Entred he changed all th' order of the defence and spoiled th' Enemies by the faults they had committed in beginning the Seige He dismounted their Cannon with his He made their Batteries to flye with his Mines He rendred unprofitable a part of their Labours and did Incommodate them in such manner that it was proposed in the Councell of the Spaniards either to raise the siege or to begin it againe and give it another forme Th' Earle of Fuentes knew well th' Errour which had been committed in the beginning and that the sheep wherewith he had to do were the same but that they were governed by another Shepheard notwithstanding that he protested that he would dye there rather then retire and that he had rather be obstinate in overcoming the Difficulties which were there in continuing the first designe then discover his Imprudence in quitting it and take by that Meanes courage from the souldiers and Reputation from his Armes When Caesar had laid downe before Alexia or Vercingentorix it was shut up with four and twenty thousand Men to defend it He saw come upon him four hundred thousand fighting Men which came to besiege him and such a fearefull Cloud of Men of warr to surround him That neverthelesse did not trouble him and insomuch that the Question was of the decision of a great Affaire and that he would with one onely Blow affright all the body of the Gaules He resolved upon a bold Charge He did not abandon the siege and marched to meet th' Enemies which drew towards him He defeated them and compelled the besieged t'yeeld and Vercingentorix t' humble itselfe and to lay its greatnesse at his feet which they could not preserve with all the force of the Gaules And after that the Spaniards had surprized Amiens The dead King did he not resolve to lose himselfe or retake it T'hazard rather all his State then to suffer that breach to remaine open and that it was begun in a place which discovered th' heart and left nothing secure even to the Gates of Paris This proceeding appeared at first a little strange and seems t' hold more of Despaire then of force and of obstinacy then Constancy That nevertheless is not so and that which seems to be beyond the Limits of virtue is not ever so but by Comparison These Limits are not fixed and immoveable They have Many degrees according to th' abilities of them that exercise them And th' Excesses which the Philosophers permit t' Heroique virtue and th' extreamities wherein they suffer which she passeth over Are not Excesses or Extremities for her but for th' ordinary virtues and for the Common of Men. If they that served the Duke of Aniou in the siege of Rochell had had the faithfulnesse of Sr. the Cardinall or his prudence if they had loved the Good of the State so well as he and the Reputation of their Master They had not advised him to rise at the Evening of taking of it and to give the victory that was Ripe and ready to be gathered They had rather imitated that Great Captaine and had said as th' other did at Garillan That they knew of what Importance that Enterprize was to the King and that it must be gained or perish But 't is not of new Date that there are people in the State which love Confusion and who Imagine themselves to be like Physicians who should not be Considerable without the sins of nature nor in honour if there were not sick persons The prosperities of the King stop not at the taking of Rochell our Armes were instantly beyond the Mountaines and Casall saw its deliverance at the sole noise of our passage That unheard-of Quickness equally surprized our Allyes and enemies and those who believed that the Conquest we had newly made was of the kind of those victories which make the victor to weep would never have imagined that without tireing or taking breath we went to force th' Alpes in the midst of winter and seek beyond the Mountaines a new harvest of glory The Rebells of Languedoc immediately after saw the King with them and we have seen in lesse then two Months all
part the principle of their Conduct and of all their Actions If Caesar had had but Courage in the degree he had it and that violent heat that gathers about th' heart at the sight of danger He had not effaced the glory of other Romans many had been found to have equalled him in that thing and Coriolanus Capitolinus Marcellus and Catiline also had disputed th' Advantage with him Courage alone had not rendered Epaminondas the chiefe person of Greece and Pelopidas and Leonidas and many others had not yeelded unto him in the Resolution of dying for their Country Ferrant Gonsalve had an admirable prudence and as it was said of Epaminondas That it was not known which of two Qualities prevailed most in him Knowledge or Valour For my part I make it a question whether Epaminondas was the greater Captaine or Counsellour whether he was more Capable to governe an Army or to guide a Negotiation And more proper to subdue Men or gaine them And to speake of ours Gaston of Foix had Courage and Good sense equally raised in him He acted at least as much with the last as with th' other The Command of th' Army of Italy against that of the League was given him not as to the most Famous but as to the most Capable and he did not so much sustaine the dignity of Generall by reason of the splendor of his Race as by reason of the Merit of his person I will give you two examples which will make it appeare That he was truly in all senses th' Head of his army and had a Wit superiour t' all them that obeyed him When he went to releeve Bologna he manadged that designe with so great secresy that he was on the way before his Army doubted it and was within it before his Enemyes knew it At the journey of Ravenna he alone ordered and disposed of the Battell Of three bodies which composed it He chose not one of them to command He reserved onely for himselfe a Troop of voluntary Gentlemen to be free and to charge where there should be need I speake not of his eloquence 'T is sufficient to say that it lives yet with honour in history and hath been admired of strangers and of them also who esteem'd us Barbarous It must be confessed that that Prince at th' Age of 22 years wherein he died was a compleat Man and that no life was so short and more glorious then his Th' head then and the good sense are more necessary for a Generall of an Army then Armes and impetuosity and 't is foresight that begets the victory rather then courage 'T is study Meditation and conference which ought to prepare the great Person whereof I speak and t is the Practique and Experience which finish and compleat them For that reason It was said of Epaminondas that never man knew so much and spake so little 'T is not that he esteemed silence a great virtue as some have interpreted nor that he preferred it to speech conducted by good sense But 't is that in effect he alwayes tumbled up and down some great designe in his Braine That he thought of raising Thebes of humbling Sparta and of subduing the Grecian people which to his time had been invincible How excellent Sr. the Cardinall is in this Matter How active and lively his Reason is how infallible and just his providence and how efficacious the disposition of his Conduct Le ts not amuse at words to declare it and let 's lend nothing of strange to a truth that hath no need of it le ts add nothing to th' effects and to what hath been touched or seen but a naturall Representation let 's leave th' Artifices and painting for moderate Beauties and for Common virtues For this effect I will content my selfe to speake of the second warre of Italy wherein he particularly presided and whereof he had the principall government under th' Auspicious Planets of his master I say then that it had been much to make a great Army subsist in Piedmoat if the Country had been favourable to us if abundance had been in all places and in a season when the passages had been easie to us But to make it live in th' enemies Country and where all men and all things were Contrary to us In a season when Barrennesse was in France and provisions were to passe the Mountaines when snows were at th' highest It must be acknowledged that it belongs not to a vulgar Providence to strike such stroakes It was to supply by his Wit and Conduct what was wanting to the nature of things And the Marquis of Spinola who never thought it seemed to have Reason to say that he who had most provisions would remaine victorious in that warr He believed infallibly t' have that advantage over us having th' Earth and Sea for him knowing that our Country Men are enemies t'orders without which armies suffer in the midst of abundance and wherewith they subsist intirely in the midst of want He remembred that at the warr of Genes th' army of the dead Constable was vexed with hunger though it was small Though it had Piedmont in its favour and made warre onely for th' Interests of the Duke of Savoy But when he saw that we resisted those great incommodities That we had found Remedies against those evills and new Inventions to carry the provisions 'T is then he confessed the French had changed their humours or at least that the sheep were the same but governed by other Shepheards These things truly are great and have been worthy of admiration from our enemies and of them wh'admire not much but themselves But they are not neverthelesse the Master-peece of Sr. the Cardinals industry nor the great effect of his prudence The preparatives for the release of Casal are a peece most Illustrious and Magnificent And as the works of the least eize are more ingenious then th' other and that 't is more difficult for an artificer to make a work of a small volume to prosper then a greater In like manner the foresight which operates much in little time and in a short intervall displayes a very large Matter is of a price and Gonsideration more exalted then that which is acted at great leisure which hath a free field t' extend itselfe which hath no bounds to Constraine it and which is not oppressed by the brevity of time and by the greatness of its object To raise thirty thousand men in lesse then six weekes Make them March through France and over the Mountaines during that time Give order for all necessaries T' enable them to live and subsist To send them to a Country spoiled with Contagion and into places where the plague might give feare to them that did not feare men against powerfull Enemies covered with Retrenchments and strong holds defended by a castell and a Town In a time when the disgrace the Venetians received at Valese ad th' unhappy success of their Armes The surprize