grown it will be difficult to judge whether they were the product of Nature or Art Let them incourage Vertue with Honour brand Vice with Infamy and Disgrace excite Emulation by Example these things have a great Effect upon all Tempers tho' more on some than others Those who are of a Generous disposition Glory influences most the Melancholy Ignominy the Cholerick Emulation the Inconstant Fear the Prudent Example which is generally of most efficacy with all especially that of Ancestors for often what the Blood could not Emulation does perform 'T is with Children as young trees on which you must Graff a branch as I may say of the same Father to bring them to perfection These Grafts are the famous examples which infuse into Posterity the Vertues of their Ancestors and bear excellent fruit That therefore it may be conveighed as it were thro' all the Senses into the mind and take deep Root there should be the particular industry of his Instructors and consequently they are not to be proposed to the Prince in ordinary Exhortations only or Reproofs but also in sensible objects Sometime let History put him in mind of the great Atchievements of his Ancestors the glory of which eternized in print may excite him to imitate them Sometimes Musick that sweet and wonderfull Governess of the passions playing their Trophies and Triumphs will be proper to Raise his Spirits Sometimes let him hear Panegyricks recited upon their Life to encourage and animate him to an Emulation of their Vertues now and then reciting them himself or with his young Companions Act over their Exploits as upon a stage thereby to inflame his mind for the force and efficacy of the action is by degrees so imprinted on him that he appears the very same whose person he represents Lastly let him play the part of a King amongst them receive petitions give audience ordain punish reward command or marshal an Army besiege Cities and give Battel In experiments of this nature Cyrus was educated from a little Boy and became afterwards an eminent General But if there be any inclinations unbecoming a Prince discernible in his Infancy he should have the Company of such as are eminent for the opposite Vertues to correct the Vices of his Nature as we see a straight Pole does the Crookedness of a tender Tree tyed to it Thus if the Prince be covetous let one naturally liberal be always at his Elbow if a Coward one bold and daring if timorous one resolute and active if Idle and Lazy one diligent and industrious for those of that Age as they imitate what they see or hear so they also easily copy their Companions Customs To Conclude in Education of Princes too rough Reprehension and Chastisement is to be avoided as a kind of Contempt Too much Rigour makes men mean spirited nor is it fit that he should be servilely subject to One Man who ought to Command all It was well said of King Alphonsus Generous Spirits are sooner corrected by words than blows and â—ove and respect those most who use them so Youth is like a young horse that the Barnacle â—urts but is easily governed by the gentler Bit. Besides that men of generous Spirits usually conceive a secret horrour of those things they learnt thro' fear on the contrary have an inclination and desire to try those Vices which in their Childhood were prohibited them Affections too much confined especially such as nature endows a Prince withall break out at last into Despair as Exhalations hard bound within the Clouds into Lightning He that imprudently shuts the gates upon natural inclinations is the occasion of their attempting to get thro' the Windows Some allowance is to be made to humane infirmity which is by some innocent diversions to be raised to Vertue this method they took who had the Care of Nero's Education 14 Quo facilius lubricam Principis aetatem si verâ—tutem asper nareâ—ur voluptatibus concessus retineret Tac. 13. ann The Tutor ought to chide the Prince in private not before Company least he rather grow obstinate when he sees his Vices are publick In these two Verses of Homer is very aptly contained how a Prince ought to be instructed how to obey Advise Command him and what 's good suggest He will obey when for himself 't is best Hom. 2. Il. EMBLEM III. BY the industry of some ingenious and carefull hand one while watering another time defending it from the injuries of Wind and ill Weather the Rose grows and as the Bud opens unâ—olds its little leaves into a circular form A flower strangely pretty but which flatters only the Eyes and is subject to so many casualties that in this its infinite delicacy 't is by no means secure The very same Sun which saw it bloom sees it also whither and that without any other benefit than just shewing the World its beauty it brings so many months Labour to nothing nay oftentimes wounds the very hand that planted it nor could it be otherwise than that such rank tillage should produce thorns Of Coral a Sea shrub there 's quite another account to be given for that growing under Water and continually tossed by the Violence of Waves and Tempestuous Winds becomes so much the harder and more beautiful nay then first is it more illustriously useful when it has underwent the rage of so many Elements Such contrary Effects arise from the different manner of growing of this Shrub and that Flower in respect of softness and hardness The same happens in the Education of Princes for they who are brought up so tenderly and closely that neither the Sun Wind or other Air can come to them but that of perfumes prove too delicate and little fit for Government they on the contrary are strong and able who inure their Bodies to laborious Exercises It 's also convenient to use ones self to Cold from our infancy as a thing of great advantage to health and that will enable us to undergo Military duties 1 Est etiam utile sâ—atim ab ineunte aetate frigoribus assuescere hoc 〈◊〉 tum ad vâ—letudinem tum ad munera militaâ—ia commodâ—ssimum est Arist. Pol. 7. cap 17. By these Exercises Life is prolonged by Voluptuousness and Luxury shortned a Vessel of Glass formed with a blast of the Mouth is with a blast broken Whereas one of Gold wrought with a hammer resists a hammer 'T is no matter if he that lives a private and retired Life be delicate but one who is to support a Kingdom as Atlas the Heavens upon his shoulders had need be strong and robust A Common-wealth has not occasion for a Prince only for a shew but in the Field also and in time of War and in Scripture we find an effeminate King mentioned as a kind of divine punishment 2 I will give Children to be their Princes and Bâ—bâ—s to rule over them Isaâ— 3. 4. The advantage or disadvantage of this different Education was visible in
which has been my Fortune having afterwards met with in other Authors those Emblems which I at first thought my own Invention which I therefore thought fit wholly to omit not without Prejudice to my Design for my Predecessors have made use of several Figures and Motto's which has oblig'd me to take up with others less proper Also some Political Precepts which though my own as to the Invention at least yet I have found since to be of other and far more ancient Authority I have therefore Inserted the Authors Names in the Margin that due Honour may be paid to Antiquity 'T was the Happiness of the Wits of former Ages that they could engross from their Posterity the Glory of Invention I have made it my Design and Care to Interweave this Web with some Threads of Cornelius Tacitus without doubt the most accomplish'd Master of Princes and who most judiciously penetrates their Nature and the Customs and Intrigues of Courts as also the Miscarriages and Success of Governments with Precepts and Sentences taken from this Great Man as with my Hand I lead the Prince whom I would mould by these Emblems that he may without danger gather Flowers transplanted hither from anothers Garden and purg'd from the Venom and Thorns which their native Soil frequently subjects them to or the rankness of those times produc'd In this Second Edition I also illustrate the principal Maxims of State with Proofs from Holy the Scriptures for those Politicks which are refin'd in that Furnace may be truly call'd Silver try'd and refined seven times in the Fire of Truth 8 Psalm 12. 7. The Words of the Lord are pure Words as Silver tried in a Furnace of Earth purified seven times And who would learn of a Heathen or Impious Person when the Holy Spirit is so ready to give Instruction In explaining the Emblems I am not too prolix that the Reader may not lose the Satisfaction of discovering their meaning of himself If by Chance in my Discourse I sprinkle a little Learning it is not out of Ostentation but to enlighten the Prince's Mind and render the Instruction more agreeable The whole Work consists purely of State Maxims and Rules those being the fittest Materials for such a Politick Building however I don 't barely propose them but intermix them with the whole Discourse applying them all along to particular Cases to avoid the Danger of general Precepts It has been also my Endeavour to render the Stile polite but without Affectation short too and concise but not obscure which in Horace's Judgment was a difficult Matter 9 Brevis esse laboro obscurus fiâ— Hor. and of which I have not yet seen an instance in the Castillian Language I have however made an Essay towards it knowing that what is written to Princes should be neither idly Sententious nor superfluously Copious Their time is precious and he does not a little obstruct the Publick Interest who with empty and frivolous Discourse diverts them from Affairs of greater Importance I don't so wholly confine my self to the Institution and Direction of Princes but that I also descend to Governments reflect upon their Growth Preservation and Fall and so to frame a Minister of State and a prudent Courtier If at any time I am liberal of my Commendations of any 't is to excite Emulation not to Flatter to which I am very averse for it were a Crime unpardonable to publish to the whole World Flatteries and those too engraven in Brass or to make my self guilty of the very same thing which I so much reprove and discommend in others If I speak the Truth with too much Freedom 't is to be imputed to Ambition which is so deeply rooted in Mens minds that without Fire and Sword 't is incurable The Doctrine is general but if any one shall from â— Resemblance of Vices think himself levell'd at or that what is blam'd in him is commended in others 't is not my Fault 10 Tac. 4. ann Qui ob similitudinem alâ—ena malefacta sibi objectari putant As also when I reprove Princes Actions or reflect upon Tyrants or only on the Nature of Sovereignty it being no new or unusual thing for a good Prince to do ill when either he is not clearly inform'd of the Truth or governed by ill Counsellors The same I would have understood of Common-wealths if in any thing I seem to dislike them for either my Reflections are upon what is very usual in Communities or at least comprehend not those crown'd and well constituted Republicks whose Government is Generous and Royal. I have us'd Examples both Ancient and Modern those for their Authority these partly as being more persuasive partly too because by Reason of Propinquity of time the State of Affairs is less altered and consequently may with less Danger be imitated and a Prudent and Politick Judgment may more safely be formed thereon which is the principal Advantage of History Nor is our Age so barren of virtuous and great Atchievements as not to have furnish'd us and our Posterity with good Examples 11 Tac. 4. â—ist Besides really it were black and envious in us to extol ancient without the least regard to modern Actions 12 Ibid. I am well assur'd Reader that Books of this nature which treat of State Affairs are like †Estafermos Statues which in running at the Quintin all aim at with their Lances all strike I well know that whoever designs to be an Author must submit to the Black Ink and Press of Detraction which I design'd to signify by this Emblem but withal I am not ignorant that the blacker that Ink with which the Letters are daub'd and the closer the Press wherewith they are press d the fairer afterwards and more conspicuous they appear THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER I Will not endeavour with Rhetorical Flourishes to captivate any Person into a good Opinion of my Author or his Work being sensible I should therein do an Injury to his Memory who has so often declared his Aversion to Flattery I only desire the Reader to remember always that he was by Birth a Spaniard and though Educated in the Church of Rome was by Profession a Lawyer and Statesman who being generally wiser are less bigotted to the foolish Principles and Practices of that Religion However as I think it on the one Hand needless to vindicate the Illustrious House of Nassau from his partial Reflections which were modish in the Spanish Court when he wrote 1 The first Edition that I know of was at Munster Anno 1642. which being near six Year before the Conclusion of the Peace there may serve as some Apology for the Author's Reflections on the Princes of Orange and other Heroes of the Adverse Party the whole World being satisfied in the Iustice of their Cause the Heroick Prosecution thereof and what Additional Laurels they justly acquir'd thereby so on the other side I would not be thought to
consequent to it incurable Vertues that improve and increase with our Age have not only the precedency of others but excell even themselves 13 Iâ— is good for a Man that he bear the Yoke in his Youth he sitteth alone and keepeth silence because he hath born it upon him Lam. 3. 27 28. Of the four Winged Animals in Ezekiel's Vision the Eagle one of that very number was carried higher than all those four 14 They four had also the face of an Eagle Ezek. 1. 10. for because she as soon as hatcht began to have Wings the others not till long after she not only appeared above them but her self too For want of a suitable consideration of this I Imagine it is that many persons usually commit the Care of their Sons as soon as they come into the World to Women who with the idle fear of shadows agreeable to the genius of their Sex enfeeble their minds and stamp other Effoeminate passions on them which with time take deep root 15 Train up thy child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Prov. 22. 6. To avoid this inconveniency the Persian Kings Commited theirs to the care of persons of worth and prudence 16 Nutritur puer non à Muliere nâ—trice parum honorifica verum ab Eunuchis qui reliquorum circa Reem optimi videantur Plur. primo Aâ—cib But above all Children's natures are to be taken particular notice of it being impossible without it to draw a true Scheme of Education Now no Age is more proper for it than their infancy when nature as yet free from envy and dissimulation 17 Iâ—venes non sâ—nt maligni moris sed facilis moris propterea quod nondum viâ—â—â—nt 〈…〉 sincerely discloses it self when in their Forehead Eyes Hands their Smiles and other motions of their Body their passions and inclinations appear without disguise The Ambassadours of Bearn having power given them by the illustrious William of Moncada to Choose which of his Sons for their Prince they thought fit upon observation that Ones hand was Clinched the others open Chose this latter interpreting it to be a sign of Munificence and Liberality as it afterwards prov'd If an Infant be of a generous and great Mind at hearing his own commendations he smooths his Brows looks pleasantly and smiles on the contrary when discommended he is concerned blushes and casts his Eyes on the ground if of an undaunted Spirit he looks stern is not terrified with shadows or threats if Liberal he despises toyes and presents or readily parts with them again to others if revengeful he continues Angry is all in Tears till he have satisfaction if he be Cholerick the least trifle puts him in a heat he lets fall his Brows looks dogged and threatens with his fist if Affable with a sweet Smile and alluring Eye he wins favour and acceptance if Melancholy he avoids Company delights in solitude is often complaining seldom Laughs and generally looks sullen if he be Airy he unfolds the Wrinkles of his Forehead and now gratefully fixing his Eyes seems to dart a pleasing light by and by with a kind of Complacency withdrawing them and agreeably pleating his brows betrays the Chearfulness of his Mind Thus does the heart represent the other Vertues also and vices in the face and exterior motions of the Body till more cautious Age has taught it to Conceal them In the very Cradle and Nurse's Arms the whole court admired in your Highness a certain natural pleasantness and grateful Majesty and indeed that grave carriage and presence of Mind which appeared in you Highness when the Two Kingdoms of Castile and Leon took an Oath of Allegiance to you exceeded the ordinary capacity of your years I would not have however these reflections of mine upon infancy be look'd upon as infallible and without exception for nature sometimes deviates from her Common Road and deceives the too curious Enquirer there are some who tho' vitious in their infancy when at years of discretion take up and Reform which happens perhaps because one of a great and haughty Spirit despises Education and consequently is subdued by his natural passions while right reason is too weak to resist them till that getting strength He acknowledges its errours and corrects them effectually 't was a cruel and barbarous Custom therefore of the Brachmans who either killed or exposed their Children after they were Two Months Old in the Woods if there appeared in them any tokens of an ill nature As inhumane were the Lacedaemonians who threw theirs into the River Taygetes Both seemed to make no account of Education of right reason and free-will which usually correct and regulate natural affections This also seems unaccountable when nature joyns some eminent Vertues with the most enormous Vices in the same person as too different slips are often grafted upon two branches which growing out of the same Root produce different nay contrary Fruits bitter and sweet This was Visible in Alcibiades of whom 't was a question whether he was more eminent for his Vertues or Vices And thus Nature works ' ere she has begun to know her self but reason afterwards and industry correct and polish her operations Lastly since I proposed to my self by these Emblems to give an exact Model of a Prince from the Cradle to the Tomb It won't be amiss to accommodate my rudiments and stile to each particular Age as Plato and Aristotle have done At present I Advise that special Care be taken to render his Arms and Legs active by Exercise If by chance any of his Limbs should be crooked they may be straightned by artificial Instruments 18 Caeterum ne propter teneritatem membra torqueantur nationes quibusdâ—â— artificiosis instrâ—mentis utebantur Arist. lib. 7. Pol. cap. 17. Let â—rightful spectacles which may injure the imaginative faculty be kept from him Let him not be suffered to look asquint at any thing Use him gradually to the shaâ—pness of the Air nor should Musick be Wanting to quicken his Spirits now and then for whatever new thing Children meet with that 't is they admire that makes the deepest Impression on their Imagination EMBLEM II. WIth Pencil and Colours Art admirably Expresses every thing Hence if Painting be not Nature it certainly comes so near it as that often its works deceive the sight and are not to be distinguished but by the touch It can't it 's true animate Bodies but it frequently draws the Beauty Motions and Affections of the Soul Altho' indeed it cannot intirely form the Bodies themselves for want of matter yet the Pencil so exquisitely describes them on Canvass that besides Life there 's nothing that you can desire more Nature I believe would envy Art if she could possibly do the same but now she is so kind as in many things to use the Assistance of Art for whatever the Industry of this can perfect that Nature does not finish
Spectatours of their Art and to whom they leave their Works and Monuments of their Labour To all this may be added that Flattery mixt with Errour sometimes commends in a Boy for Vertue what by no means deserves that name as Lewdness Ostentation Insolence Anger Revenge and other Vices of the like nature some men erroneously perswading themselves that they are tokens of a great Spirit which withall induces 'em too eagerly to pursue these to the neglect of real Vertues as a Maid sometimes if she be commended for her free Carriage or Confidence applies her self to those rather than Modesty and Honesty the principal good Qualities of that Sex Tho' indeed young men ought to be driven from all Vices in general yet more especially from those which tend to Laziness or Hatred they being more easily imprinted in their minds 5 Cuncta igituâ— mala sed ea maximè quae turpitudinem â—abent vel â—dium parent sunt procul à puâ—ris removend Arist. Pol. 7. c. 17. Care therefore must be taken that the Prince over-hear no filthy or obscene expressions much less should he be suffered to use them himself We easily execute what we make familiar to us in discourse at least something near it 6 Nam fâ—cile turpia loquendo efficitur ut homines his proxima facient Arist. Pol. 7. c. 17. Wherefore to prevent this Evil the Romans used to Choose out of their families some grave Ancient Matron to be their Sons Governess whose whole Care and Employment was to give them a good Education in whose presence it was not allowable to speak a foul word or admit an indecent Action 7 Coram quâ neque dicere fas e at quod turpe dictu neque facere quod inhonestâ—â— factâ— viâ—eretur Quint. dial de oraâ— The design of this severe discipline was that their nature being prâ—â— served pure and untainted they might readily embrace honest professions 8 Quo disciplina ac severitas â—o pertimebat ut sincera integra nullis pravitatibus detorta uniâ—scujusque natura toto statim pectore arriâ—ereâ— artes honestas Quinâ—il Ibid. Quintilian laments thâ—â— neglect of this manner of Education in his time Children being usually brought up among servanâ—â— and so learning to imitate their Vices Nor says he 〈◊〉 any one of the family concerned what he says or doâ—â— before his young Master since even their parents donâ—â— so much inure them to Vertues and Modesty as Laâ— sciviousness and Libertinism 9 Nec quisquam in tota domo pensi habet quiâ—â— coram infante domino aut dicat aut faciat quando etiam ipsi parenteâ— nec probitâ—i neque modestiae â—arvulos assueâ—acâ—unt sed lasciviae libertaâ—i Quint. ibid. Which to this day is usual in most Princes Courts nor is there any remedy for it but displacing those Vicious Courtieâ—â— and substituting others of approved Vertue who may excite the Princes mind to Actions more generous and such as tend to true honour 10 Neque enim auribus jucunda convenit dicere sed ex quo aliquis gloriosus fiat Eurip. in Hippol. When a Couâ—â— has once bid adieu to Vertue 't is often Changed but never for the better nor does it desire a Prince better than it self Thus Nero's family were Favourers oâ— Otho because he was like him 11 Pâ—ona in euâ— auâ—â— Neronis ut similem Tac. 1. Hist. But if the Princâ— cannot do this I think it were more adviseable for him to leave that Court as we remember Iames thâ— 1st King of Arragon did * Mar. Hâ—st Hisp. when he saw himself Tyrannized over by those who educated and confined him as it were in a prison nor can I give those Courâ—â— any other name where the principal aim is to enslave the princes will and he is not suffered to go this way or that by choice and at his own pleasure but is forcibly guided as his Courtiers please just as Water 〈◊〉 conveighed thro' private Channels for the sole benefit of the ground thro' which it passes To what purpose are good natural Parts and Education if the Prince is suffered to see hear and know no more than his Attendance think fit What wonder if Henry the 4th King of Castile †Mac. Hist His. proved so negligent and sluggish so like his Father Iohn the Second in all things after he had been Educated among the same Flatterers that occasioned his Fathers male Administration Believe me 't is as impossible to form a good Prince in an ill Court as to draw a straight Line by a Crooked square there 's not a wall there which some lascivious hand has not sullied not a Corner but Echoes their dissolute Course of Life all that frequent the Court are so many Masters and as it were Ideas of the Prince for by long use and Conversation each imprint something on him which may either be to his benefit or prejudice and the more apt his Nature is to Learn the sooner and more easily he imbibes those domestick Customs I dare affirm that a Prince will be good if his Ministers are so bad if they be bad an instance of this we have in the Emperor Galba who when he light upon good Friends and Gentlemen was governed by them and his Conduct unblameable if they were ill himself was guilty of inadvertency 12 Amicorum libertorumque ubi in bâ—nos incidisset sine reprehensione patiens si mali fâ—rent usque ad culpam ignaâ—us Tac. 1. Hist. Nor will it suffice to have thus reformed living and animate figures in a Court without proceeding also to inanimate for tho' the graving Tool and Pencil are but mute Tongues yet Experience has taught us they are far more eloquent and perswasive What an incitement to Ambition is Alexander the great 's Statue how strangely do pictures of Iupiter's lewd Amours inflame Lust besides for which our corrupt nature is blameable Art is usually more celebrated for these kind of things than Vertuous instructive pieces At first indeed the excellency of the workmanship makes those pieces Valuable but afterwards lascivious persons adorn the Walls with them to please and entertain the Eyes There should be no statue or piece of painting allowed but such as may Create in the Prince a glorious Emulation 13 Cum autem ne quis talia loquatur prohibetur satis intelligitur vetari â—e turpes vel picturas vel fabulas spectet Arist. 7 Pol. cap. 17. The Heroick Atchievements of the Ancients are the properest subjects for Painting Statuary and Sculpture those let a Prince look on continually those read for Statues and Pictures are â—ragments of History always before our Eyes After the Vices of the Court have been as far as possible thus corrected and the Princes humour and inclinations well known let his Master or Tutor endeavour to lead him to some great undertaking sowing in his Mind Seeds of Vertue and honour so secretly that when they are
and perfect Nature to strengthen himself in his Youth to create generous Thoughts in his Mind and in all things to please the People for the Person of a Prince should not only court the Minds but Eyes too of his Subjects 12 Persâ—â—â— Principis non solum animis sed etiam oculis servire debet â—â—vium Cic. Phil. 8. who choose to be governed by him in whom they see most Ornaments of Nature and Vertue Our most Catholick King Your Highness's Father by the pains he took and resolution he shewed at a Chase by his Valour and Dexterity in Military Exercises his singular Carriage and Vivacity in publick Actions what vast Reputation did he gain How beloved by their Subjects and esteemed by Foreigners were the Kings Ferdinand the holy Henry the II Ferdinand the Catholick and the Emperour Charles the Vth. in whom Beauty and a just Proportion of Body were joyn'd with Industry Vertue and Valour But those Exercises are better learnt by Conversation and in Company where Emulation enflames the Mind and awakens Industry For this reason the Kings of the Goths Educated the Sons of the Spanish Nobility in their Courts not only to lay an Obligation upon those Families but that their own Sons might have their Education and learn the Sciences with them The same those of Macedon used to do 13 Hâ—c cobors velut seminariâ—m Ducum Praesectâ— uâ—que apud Macedonas fuâ— Curt. among whom the Court was as it were a seminary of Commanders Which good Custom is either utterly forgot or at least has not been hitherto in Vogue in the Court of Spain 'T were otherwise the properest means in the world to engage the Hearts of foreign Princes to institute Seminaries of that Nature to which their Sons might travel and be instructed in Arts and Sciences worthy a Prince From which also this advantage would arise that the King's Sons would insensibly be accustomed to the Manners and Genius of those Nations and meet with a great many among them who with singular Affection and Gratitude for so good an Education would return the Obligation with their Service To this Eâ—d King Alphonsuâ— sirnamed the wise in the Second of his excellent Laws call'd the Partidas has drawn up a Catalogue of those Arts and Duties it is proper for Kings Sons to be exercised in For all these Exercises nothing renders a Prince so fit as Hunting for herein Youth exerts it self becomes strong and active that gives occasion to use Military Arts to view Ground measure the time know when to expect when assault and strike what use to make of Accidents and Statagems There the sight of the Blood of wild Beasts and the trembling Motion of their Limbs as they expire purge the Affections fortify the Mind and inspirâ—generous Thoughts such as despise Fear and Danger for the Solitude of a Wood and that Silence which usually is kept in Hunting raise the Thoughts to glorious Actions 14 Nam sylvae solitudo ipsumque illud silentium quod venationi daâ—ur magna cogitationis incitamenta sunt Plin. lib. 1. Epist. ad Cor. Tac. Lastly all those Exercises are to be used with that moderation that they render not the Mind either wild or stupid for the Mind is no less harden'd with too much Labour and made as it were callous and insensible than the Body 'T is therefore not convenient to fatigue both at the same time for these Labours have contrary Effects that of the Body is a hindrance to the Mind that of the Mind to the Body 15 Nam simul mentem corpus laboribus fatigare non convenit quonâ—am bi labores contrariarum rerum efficientes sunt Laboâ— enim corpâ—â—is menti est impedimento mentis â—utem corpori Arist. Pol. 8. C. 4. EMBLEM IV. KNowledge is necessary in a Governour in a Subject natural Prudence is sufficient nay sometimes meer Ignorance In the Idea and Contrivance of a Building the Brain is employed in the Fabrick it self the Hand labours Command proceeds from Understanding and is quick-sighted Obedience is ignorant generally and blind 1 Praeest autem naturae qui valet intelligentia praevidere Arist. Pol. 1. Câ—p. 4. He is by nature a Commander who is most intelligent Whereas others are so either by Succession Election or Conquest which depend more upon Fortune than Reason Wherefore we shall reckon the Sciences among the politick instruments of Government so Justinian Imperial Majesty says he ought to be Armed as well with Laws as Arms that the time of peace and War may be equally well governed 2 Imperatoriam Majestatem noâ— solum armis decoratam sâ—d etiam legibus oportet esse armatam ut uâ—rumque tempus belli pacis recte possit gubernari Juâ—â— in prooem Inst. This 't is you have exhibited in the present Emblem under the figure of a Cannon levelled for the better aim by a quadrant the Emblem of the Laws and Justice for this should so manage Peace and War that what 's Just be always in View and Reason be the mark at which all things be aimed by the medium of Wisdom and Prudence 'T is related of Alphonsus King of Naples and Arragon that being ask'd upon this Subject which he was most indebted to his Arms or Studies he made answer That 't was from his Books he had learnt Arms and the Laws of Arms 3 Ex libris se arma armorum Iura didiâ—isse Panorm lib. 4. But some one may perhaps think these Ornaments of Learning are more convenient for the body of a Commonwealth which the word Majesty seems to import than the Prince who being distracted with Publick Business can't apply himself to them that 't were sufficient to make Learning flourish if he entertained and patronized Men of Ingenuity which the same Emperour Iustinian did who tho' himself utterly illiterate with the Assistance of Men of the greatest Learning whose Conversation he had got the Reputation of an eminent Governour For my part tho' I make no difficulty to grant that even men of no literature may sometimes govern a Commonwealth well as we have instances in K. Ferdinand the Catholick and many others yet this only holds in those Genius's that Experience has improved or at least such as are endowed by Nature with so acute a Judgment that they can determine any thing without danger of Errour 4 Eâ—si prudentia quosdam impetus à natura sumaâ— tamen perficienda doctrinâ est Quint. lib. 12. C. 12. But tho' Prudence may have some efforts from Nature yet t is to be perfected by Learning for to know well how to chose what 's good and reject the contrary a general knowledge is almost necessary and a long observation of Examples both past and present which is not perfectly to be attained without labour and study nothing therefore is so necessary to a Prince as the Light and Ornament of good Literature For for want of the knowledge of these
of Towns Forts and Cities buried in their own Ashes and Countries very populous changed into most Solitary Deserts Nor yet could that Thirst of Humane Blood be quench'd or satisfied 'T was no new thing then to try Pistols and Swords upon Mens Breasts as Bodies of Trees and that not only in the heat of Battel but in cool Blood 't was then a very agreeable Spectacle to see the deformed Looks and trimbling Limbs of Men exspiring How often have Mens Bellies ript open served for Mangers Sometimes in those of Women 't is dreadful to mention it their tender Embryo's were mixt with Straw and Oats and made Provender for Horses At the Expence of Life 't was try'd how much Water a Man's Body would hold or how long one could live without Sustenance Nuns were violated Daughters of good Families dishonoured Wives ravished in the very sight of their Parents and Husbands Women as all other Spoil or Plunder were either sold or exchanged for Cows or Horses and Labourers were put to Chariots and compell'd to draw them as Horses and to make them discover where their Riches lay hung by the Feet and Members and thus let down into hot Furnaces There Children were barbarously murdered before their Eyes that Paternal Affection might in the Grief of these their dearest Pledges effect what self-love could not oblige them to In Woods and Forests where Wild Beasts find refuge Men could not for the Blood hounds chased them thence and brought them to the Stake The deepest Lakes weâ—e not secure from so Ingenious Coveâ—ousness and Rapine the Effects of these wretched People were rak'd thence with Hooks and Nets Not so much as dead Mens Bones were suffered to rest Tombs and Grave-stones were thrown down to search under them for Treasures There 's no magical no devilish Art which they put not in practice to discover their Money Many thousand Men perished by Cruelty and Covetousness not by their own Baseness as the Indians whose Extirpation Divine Justice permitted for having been so many Ages Rebels to their Creator I mention not these things to accuse any Nation in particular for I am assured most if not all have acted their Parts in this Barbarous and Inhumane Tragedy but only to vindicate that of the Spaniards from Calumny The sweetest and best fram'd Mind is sometimes in danger of transgressing its Limits 'T is the weakness of our frail Nature to be subject to commit the most brutish Action if it want the Bridle of Religion and Justice EMBLEM XIII THE Moon supplies the Sun's absence in presiding over Night upon the various Motions upon the Increase and Decrease of that depend the Vigor and Conservation of things here below and although that is as much more beautiful as these be obscure and of themselves weak as receiving their Being from its Light yet there 's no one either upon that account or for its other innumerable Benefits takes much notice of it even at the height of its Splendor But iâ— it be at any time by the Interposition of the Earth Eclipsed and discover the defects of its Body not as before illuminated by the Sun but dark and opacous immediately all Mens Eyes are upon it all observe it nay this Accident Curiosity long before anticipates and measures its Steps every moment What are Princes but a kind of Terrestrial Planets and Moons on which that Divine Sun of Justice diffuses its Rays for the Government of the Earth For if those Stars have Power over things these have over minds This I imagine made the Persian Kings endeavour by a sort of false Rays to imitate the Form of the Sun and Moon to make themselves esteemed equal to those Planets Sapor one of them in a Letter to the Emperor Constantius called himself Brother to the Sun and Moon 1 Rex Regum Sapor particeps sideâ—â—m frater sâ—iis Lunae Constantio fraâ—ri meo salâ—tâ—m Ammâ—in Marcel lib 4. Princes their Dignity makes conspicuous among other Men as placed in the highest Orbs of Power and Empire and so exposed to all Mens Censures They are Colossâ— or vast Statues whose Parts can't bear the least Disproportion one to another but others Eyes will presently be upon it They ought therefore to be very circumspect in their Actions since they are the Objects of the whole World's Attention and tho' their good ones pass sometimes without Remark their Faults will never escape Observation Curiosity employs a hundred Eyes and far more Ears to penetrate Princes most Secret Thoughts They seem like that Stone in Zachariah upon which were Seven Eyes 2 Zach. 3. 9. For which reason in the highest Grandeur there is least Liberty 3 Qui magno imperio â—â—â—diti in excelso aeâ—aâ—em agunt eorumque fact◠〈◊〉 mortales novêre ita maximâ fortunâ â—â—inima licentia est Salust The Prince's Hand keeps time in that Musical Consort which good and prudent Government makes if this time be not regular and even there arises a Confusion of Voices and the Harmony is disordered in others in that all follow the Motion of that Hence 't is that States generally resemble their Princes and sooner the ill than the good for as Subjects use so carefully to observe their Vices they make an Impression on their Minds and are easily afterwards imitated out of Flattery For Vicious Princes not only commit Vices themselves but infuse them into their People and are more blameable for the Example than the Fault and experience tells us that bad Habits commonly do more mischief than the very best do good for such is the perverse Inclination of our Nature that it rather studies to imitate Vices than Virtues How Great how Excellent were those of Alexander the Great Yet the Emperor Caracalla strove to resemble him in nothing but that Habit he had of leaning hiâ— Head on his Left Shoulder Though indeed some of a Prince's Vices prejudice himself only others affect also the Commonwealth as Tacitus has observed in Vitellius and Otho 4 Vitellius ventre gula sibi ipsi hostis Otho luxu saevitia audatia Reipub. exitiosior ducebatur Tac. 2. Hist. Yet they are all extreamly prejudicial to Subjects by the Example they give Our easy Tempers are biass'd by Princes 5 Flexibiles in quamcunqâ—â— partem ducimur à principibus atque ut ita dâ—cam sequentes sumus Plin in Paneg. we follow their Example whether they be Good or Evil like those Wheels in Ezekiel's Vision which in all things exactly followed the Motion of the Cherubims 6 Ezek. 10. 1â— Each Action of Princes seems to be a Command to be obeyed by Imitation 7 Ea conditio principum ut quicquid facianâ— praecipere videantur Quinciâ— Subjects imagine they do their Prince an agreeable piece of Service in imitating his Vices and seeing these are Masters of the Will Flattery easily perswades her self this must be the way to gain it Thus Tigellinus grew daily more Bold and Confident
thinking his ill Practices would be less unacceptable if he could engage his Prince Nero to be his Associate in them 8 Validioâ—que indies Tigellinâ—â— malas artes quibus pollebat gratiores ratus si principem societate sâ—eleris obstringeret Tac. 14. Ann. By this means 't is the Commonwealth is disordered and Virtue confounded Princes should therefore lead such a Life so form their Manners that all may learn by them to be Virtuous and Honest which advice they have given them by King Alphonso in the Sixth of his Law For if Vices extinguish the Lamp of Virtue in a Prince who ought like a Beacon to give Light to all and shew them the securest Course to Sail in he cannot avoid dashing against Rocks the Vessel of the Commonwealth it being impossible for that Government to be well ordered where the Prince has abandoned himself to Vice For says King Alphonso the Nature of Vice is such that the more a Man uses it the more he loves it The People easily slight and contemn Laws if they see him that is the very Soul of them not observe them Thus as the Moon 's Eclipses prejudice the Earth so the Prince's Faults are the Destruction of his Kingdom For the Punishment due to them God Almighty generally inflicts upon the Subjects too and that deservedly for that in following his Example they make themselves Accessary to the same Crimes as 't is related in Scripture of the People of Israel under Ieroboam 9 And the Lord shâ—ll give Israel up becâ—use of the Sins of Ierobâ—am who did sin and made Isâ—ael to sin 1 Kings 14. 1â— The bare Shadow of an ill Action which obscured King Roderigo's Fame kept the Liberty of all Spain in Darkness for many Years wherefore that barbarous Custom of the Mexicans is in some measure excusable who at the Inauguration of a New King obliged him to take an Oath he would Administer Justice not oppress his Subjects that he would be in War strenuous and valiant In a word that he would †Lop. Gamar take care the Sun continued his Course and preserved his Splendor that the Clouds should give Rain and the Rivers Water and that the Earth should produce its Fruit plentifully For the Sun himself obeys a Holy Prince as Ioshua experienced for a Reward of his Virtue and the Earth is more than ordinary Fertile out of Gratitude in a manner to the Justice of Kings towards their People This is what Homer would signify by these Verses The King who takes Religion for his Guide Who does for 's Subjects wholesome Laws provide For him the willing Earth shews all its Stock Corn Wine and Fruit for him the teeming Flock Brings double Births the Sea opens all its Cells Where Iustice reigns their Peace and Plenty dwells The goodness of a Year is not to be judged of so much by good Fruit as the Justice of the Prince 10 Annum 〈◊〉 non tam de bonis fructibus quam de juste regâ—â—â—tibus existimandum Boetius And 't is very much the Opinion of the Vulgar that those who Govern them are the only Cause of their Happiness or Misery nay they often impute to the Prince even Casualities as the Roman People did to Tiberius 11 Qui mos vulgo forâ—uita ad culpâ—â— trabentes Tac. 4. Ann. Let not a Prince perswade himself that his Viceâ— will be less censured for suffering them to go unpunished in others or having them in common with the People as 't is related Witiza did For though Subjects love Libertinism they hate the Author of it which was the reason it cost him afterwards his Life being by all Men hated for his scandalous way of living What we usually Censure in others as highly Base and Infamous in our selves we scarce allow to be Infirmities of Nature The greatest Defect in our selves we easily connive at but in a Looking-Glass can't suffer the least Spot Such a one is a Prince in whose Person his Subjects have a view of themselves nor is any thing more unpleasant to them than to see him sullied with Vice Nero was not at all less infamous for having many Companions in his Debaucheries however he thought thereby to avoid Scandal 12 Ratusque dedecus emoliri si plures 〈◊〉 dasset Tac. 14. Ann. Nor should Princes imagine themselves secure from a self-consciousness of their good Actions for whenever the People can't inform themselves of their Actions they begin nicely to examine them and always put the worst Interpretation upon them wherefore 't is not enough for them to do well but necessary also that the means they use have no appearance of Evil. And how will that Man have any thing secret who can't be without his own Grandeur and a Retinue of Courtiers nor do any thing alone whose Liberty draws with it so many Fetters and Golden Chains whose noise every one hears This was signified in the Person of the High-Priest by those little Bells that hung round the bottom of his Garment least he should forget that his Steps were exposed to all Mens Ears 13 And he compassed him with Pomegranates and with golden Bells round about that there might be a sound and a noise made that might be heard in the Temple Eccl. 45. 9. All the Guards both within and without a Prince's Palace all the Courtiers that attend him in his Chamber or Closet are so many Spies of his Words and Actions nay and very Thoughts attentively observing all his Gestures and the Motions of his Countenance that discoverer of the Heart Thus according to the Psalmist's Expression Their Eyes look unto his Hands 14 Psal. 122. 2. But if they observe any failing in a Prince though they pretend to conceal it yet they love to discover it either to get the Reputation of Persons discreet and well acquainted with the Government or that of Zealots Here they look on one another and no one daring to open his Mouth they speak most by their Silence The Secret boils and bubbles within them agitated by the fervent desire they have of revealing it till at last it overflows 15 His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shâ—t up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing and I could not slay Ier. 20. 9. Tongues run to Ears This Man discloses it to that having first obliged him by Oath to Secrecy that in the same manner to another so that while no body knows 't is known to all Thus as 't were in a moment Calumny passes from the Closet to the Offices thence to the Streets and Publick Places But what wonder is it if this happens among Domesticks when Princes are not assured even of their own faithfulness however desirous they are to conceal their Vices and Tyrannies for their own Conscience accuses them as it happened to Tiberius who could not forbear disclosing to the Senate the Miseries which he suffered from his Crimes 16 Quippe Tiberium
real ones to those who with a firm Faith and Assurance expect them from Divine Providence How can an infinitely Just God give success to these Arts which seem to call in question his Care and Concern for things here below that counterfeit his Omnipotence and ascribe to him what he is not the Author of What certainty in Religion can the People promise themselves if they see it wrested to serve the particular Ends of Princes and that 't is nothing but a Veil with which they cover their Designs and give Truth the lye That Policy is certainly very unsafe that is cloak'd with Fraud very weak and tottering that is supported by contrivance EMBLEM XXVIII PRudence is the Rule and Measure of Virtues without that these degenerate into Vices Wherefore as other Virtues have theirs in the Appetite this has its residence in the Intellect from thence presiding over them all Agatho calls it a great Goddess This it is which constitutes the three Forms of Government Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy and assigns each of them their Parts conformed to the Subjects Nature having its Eyes always intent upon their Preservation as the principal end of Politicks Prudence is the State 's Anchor the Prince's Compass Where this Virtue fails the very Soul of Government is wanting ' T is this says King Alphonsus which makes see things as they are and judge what they may be making us act therein decently without Tumult and Precipitation 'T is the peculiar Virtue of Princes 1 Nam recte disponere recteque judicare qui potest is est Princeps imperator Menand and that which above all others renders a Man compleat which makes Nature so sparing in her Dispensations of it having given many great Wit and Capacity very few great Prudence for defect of which the more eminent Men are in Dignity the more dangerous is their Government for as much as they easily transgress the limits of Reason and are ruined besides that one of Command requires a clear Judgment to discern all things as they are in themselves to weigh and give each thing its just value This nice Examination is of very great consequence in Princes and as Nature contributes much to it so does Observation and Experience more The Virtue of Prudence consists of several Parts reducible to these three Heads the Memory of past the Knowledge of present and the Prospect of future times All these differences of time are represented in this Emblem by a Serpent the Emblem of Prudence upon an Hour-Glass which represents Time present winding it self about a Scepter and viewing it self in the two Glasses of past and future with this Verse of Virgil translated from Homer including all three for the Motto What are what were and what shall come to pass which Prudence looking into regulates and composes all its Actions These three Times are the Mirror of Government in which by observing the past as well as present Errors and Miscarriages it dâ—esses and beautifies it self by private and acquired Experience Of the former I treat in another place The acquir'd is either attain'd by Conversation or History Conversation is very beneficial thought something more limited being apprehended with less difficulty abundantly more satisfactory of all Doubts and Questions and consequently more improving History is a general Representation of all the Ages of the World and by the benefit of that the Memory recals the Time of our Ancestors The faults of those who were instruct them that now are Wherefore 't is necessary that the Prince search for true Friends such as will relate with sincerity things both past and present And since they are as Alphonsus King of Naples and Arragon us'd to say Like Histories that neither flatter nor conceal or dissemble the Truth let him admit them particularly into his Council carefully observing the neglects and failings of his Predecessors by what Tricks they have been put upon the Court Artifices the intestine and foreign Ills of Kingdoms and examine whether he be not in danger of the same Time is the best Master of Princes Past Ages are a kind of Hospitals where Policy Anatomizes the Carcasses of Monarchies and Commonwealths which once flourished thereby the better to cure the Ails of the present They are the Sea-Charts wherein by the Wrecks or prosperous Navigations of others Shores are discover'd Seas sounded Sands and Rocks found and all the Lines of Government marked out yet are not all Books good Counsellors for some advance Knavery and Deceit which because more practised than truth many have recourse to 2 Who seek Wisdom upon Earth the Merchants of Merrhan and Theman the Authors of Fables and Searchers out of Understanding none of these have known the way of Wisdom or remember her Paths Baruch 3. v. 23. The most secure are those dictated by Divine Wisdom Here a Prince hath for all manner of Accidents a compleat System of Politicks and safe Precepts to govern himself and others by 3 All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness 2 Tim. 3. 16. For this reason the Kings of Israel were commanded to have always by them the Book of Deuteronomy and to read some part of it every day 4 And he shall read therein all the days of his Life Deut. 17. 1â— 'T is God we hear him we learn of as often as we turn over those Divine Oracles The Emperor Alexander Severus had always near him Persons well vers'd in History to tell him what other Emperors had done in dubious Matters 5 Praeficiebat rebus literatos maximè qui historiam norant requirans 〈◊〉 in talibus causis quales in disceptatione versabantur veteres imperaâ—â—â— fecissent Lamp With this Study of History your Royal Highness may securely enter the dangerous Sea of Government having the experience of things past for a Pilot to Steer you in the Conduct of those present both which your Highness ought to manage so as to keep your Eyes fixt on Futurity still looking forwards to prevent dangers at least to render them less injurious 6 She knoweth things of old and conjeâ—â—â—eth aright what is to come Wisd. 8. 8. According to these Aspects of Times your Highness's Prudence ought to judge of things to come not by those of the Planets which being few in number and having their Motions stated and regular cannot possibly though there were some Virtue in them foretel such variety of Events as fortune produces or free-will prepares Nor are Speculation and Experience sufficient whereupon to ground any certain knowledge of Causes so remote Let your Highness therefore be pleas'd to cast your Eyes on the times past from Ferdiâ—â—â—d the Catholick to Philip the Second and comparing them with those that have pass'd from thence till now consider whether Spain be now as well-peopled as rich and plentiful as then whether Arts and Arms flourish as much whether Trade and
ones is often highly extoll'd The same thing is usual in Virtues the same shall create one Prince a good another an ill Character this is the Times and Subjects If the Nobility be unruly the Commonalty dissolute and licentious the Prince that tries to reduce them to Reason will not escape the name of bad Every Kingdom would have a Prince of its own Stamp Whence 't is that though a Prince govern by the same good Methods as have in anothers Government been applauded yet shall he not be so well receiv'd nor equally commended excepâ— the Subjects of both alike good Hence t is not without danger for a Prince to bâ— wholly guided by Examples it being veâ—y difficult iâ— not absolutely impossible that in any one Case thâ—â— should be an equal Concurrence of all those very Circumstances which are in another These Second Causâ—â— of the Coelestial Orbs turn round continually and form each Day new Aspects of Constellations by which they produce their Effects and the Changes oâ— Things And as the Stars once appearing never retuâ—â— exactly in the same manner again so neither have thâ—â— the like Operations upon things here below and by the Variation of some Accidents the Successes too 〈◊〉 varied in which Chance has sometimes more Efficaâ— than Prudence Others Examples in my Opinion deceive Princes no less than to follow none at all Wherefore what has happened to others deserves Conâ—ideration to establish a prudent Policy not that all its Maxims should be squared by â—heir Rule and that exposed to the Hazard and Uncertainty of Casualties Others Events are to be an Instruction not a Law 1 Plures aliorum eventis docentur Tac. 4. Ann. Those Examples alone can be imitated with any Assurance that result from Causes and Reasons essentially good and common to the Law of Nature and that of Nations for they are at all times the same As aâ—so those of such Princes as have preserved themselves in Credit and Honour by Religion Justice and Clemency and other Virtues and Moral Actions Yet in these Cases too careful Attention is required for Manners and the Reputation of Virtues often change nor is it new or unusual for a Prince to be ruined by the â—ame that at another time made him flourish All these things therefore Prudence ought to consider aâ—d not put too much Confidence in its self but consult the various Accidents that every day happen not looking upon things to come as certain however discâ—eet Judgment and Diligence seem to have seaâ—cht and provided â—gainst them For Events are not always correspondent to their means nor do they at aâ—l times depend upon the ordinary Connexion of Causes where Humane Counsels usually take Effect but on that supeâ—ior Cause which directs all other This makes our Thoughts and Suppositions so uncertain and the hopes â—ounded thereon so subject to Disappointment No one was in all Mens Opinion farther from the Empire than Claudius yet Heaven had then design him for Tiberius's Successor 2 Quippe faâ—â— spe veneratione potius omnes destinabantur Imperâ—â— quam quem fatuâ—â—m Principem forâ—una in occulto teneâ—â—t Tac. 3. Ann. This is more common in the Eâ—ection of Popes wherein humane Industry is very often baffled Divine Providence does not always use natural Means at least sometimes produces by the same different Effects drawing streight Lines by a crooked Rule so what should have been advantageous proves frequently prejudicial to the Prince The same Pillar of Fire in the Wilderness gave Light to God's People and filled the Enemies Camp with Darkness The greatest Humane Prudence is oftentimes at a loss wheâ—e a Man expected Secuâ—â—ty he sometimes finds Ruin as it happened to Viriatus who was betrayed and killed by those very Ambassadors he had sent to the Consul Servilius A Misfortune we have once sustained we don't easily believe we shall suffer again but on the contrary presently persuade our selves Prosperity will continue oâ— at least return This Confidence has been destructive to many in that it disarms Prudence This World is a vast Sea of Events tossed by various and unknown Causes Let us not be too much elated if by chance we bring our Nets to shore full with the Success of our Wishes nor on the other side dejected if they prove empty we ought always to cast them and expect the Consequence with the same equality of Mind 'T is impossible for that Man to enjoy any Rest who promising himself a prosperous Issue of his Design sees a contrary Event and is destitute of a Remedy for it Misfortunes cannot surprize one that expects the worst nor will disappointed Hopes expose him to Ridicule as they did the Persians in the War against the Athenians who had a great while before furnished themselves with Marble from Paros to inscribe the Victory on which their hopes had long ago anticipated but being afterwards overcome the Athenians made use of that very Marble to erect to Revenge a Statue an everlasting Monument of the Persian Folly To presume to know things to come is in a manner a Rebellion against God and a foolish Contention with Divine Wisdom which has indeed permitted Human Prudence to guess at but not foretel things of this Nature that in this uncertainty of Accidents it may acknowledge it self more subject to and dependent on its Creator This makes Policy so cautious and provident in its Resolutions well knowing how short sighted the greaâ—est Humane Wisdom is in Futurity and how â—ncertain those Judgments are which are grounded upon Presumption If Princes could foreseeu future Contingences their Councils would not so often miscarry And this I take to be the Reason that as soon as Saul was elected King God infused into him the Spirit of Prophecy 3 1 Sam. 10. 6. From what hath been said may be gathered that although Antiquity be venerable and there be really something Royal in the ways she hath opened to Posterity for Experience to pass more securely yet 't is visible many are ruined by time so that they grow impassable and consequently the Prince ought not to be so diffident of himself so religiously to tread his Ancestors Steps as not upon occasion to venture to go another way of his own Innovations are not always dangerous it is sometimes convenient to introduce them Were there no Alterations the World would never be perfected which advances in Wisdom as it does in Age. The most ancient Customs were new And what we now see without Example will be hereafter a Precedent What we now follow by Experience was begun without it Our Age also may leave many glorious Inventions for Posterity to imitate nor is every thing the Ancients have done the best no more than all the Moderns do now will be approved by After-ages Many Abuses have descended to us from our Ancestors and many severe Savage Customs of the Ancients time has mitigated and changed for the better EMBLEM XXX INgenious Rome that Virtue and Valour might
more influenc'd by Ambition than Clemency so that he deprived him of his Kingdom and Title Thus Dangers deceive us and we find that to be the greater which we chose as the lesser There can be no assurance in Counsel grounded on Principles that depend on anothers pleasure We deceive our selves in supposing others will act nothing but what is agreeable to Religion Justice Relation or Friendship or but what is consistent with their Honour and Interest Not considering that Men are not always guided by their Advantage or Duty but rather by their private Passions and Sentiments and consequently their Actions are not only to be examined by the Rule of Reason but also by that of Malice and the Experience of the ordinary Injustices and Tyrannies of the World Dangers are a Prince's best Masters The past teach 〈◊〉 to remedy the present and prevent the future Those of others are 't is true instructing but they are easily forgot Our own leave in the Soul some Marks and Scars of the losses sustain'd as that which has once wounded the Imagination does fear Let not then contempt or forgetfulness ever erase them especially when having escapâ—d a Danger we fancy the same will never return or if it does will not annoy us for though some one Circumstance which is very unlikely to happen a second time may remove Dangers yet other succeeding new ones make them unavoidable EMBLEM XXXVIII FROM Nature this universal Commonwealth of things and Empire of mixt Bodies derive their Original the supreme Government of which she lays claim to and for the more firm establishment and more secure maintaining of it has made her self so loved by them that the Elements even in the midst of their contrariety with an admirable consent conspire to preserve it All things would be soon dissolv'd did they hate Nature their Princess and Sovereign who with mutual ties of Love and Benevolence as with the fastest knot unites them It is this Love which holds the Earth in Aequilibrio and makes the Orbs of Heaven whirl round it Let this Monarchy of things created founded in their first Being be a Lesson to defend their Persons and Subjects by affection the most faithfull guard they can have about them 1 Corporis custodiam tutissimam esse putatam in virtute amicorum tum in benevolentia civium esse collocatam Isocr ad Nic. Claud. Not Guards nor Groves of Pikes defend like Love This is the only impregnable Fort 2 Salvum Principem in aperto clementia praestabit vivum erit inexpugnabile monument â—n amor civium Sen. de Clem. lib. 1 ca. 19. For which reason the Bees elect a King without a Sting for he has no need of Arms who is beloved by his Subjects Nature would by no means have it in his power to hurt whose duty 't is to govern least he become odious and promote his own ruin The greatest and most absolute power a Prince can have says K. Alphonso is when he loves his People and they reciprocally love him The body defends the Head upon account of the Love it bears it in consideration that this directs and preserves it else would it not hold up its arm toward the threatning blow Who would expose himself to Hazards except he had a Love for his Prince Who protect and defend his Crown The whole Kingdom of Castile sided with the Infant Henry against K. Peter the Cruel because the one was beloved by all the other as universally hated The first Principle of the ruin of Kingdoms and all the Revolutions in States is Hatred The Kings Ordonno and Fruela the Second were so abominated by their Subjects that the very name of King became odious Castile was reduc'd into a Commonwealth and the Government divided between two Judges one of which administred affairs of Peace the other those of War †Mar. hist. Hisp. Portugal never took up Arms against its Kings nor revolted from its obedience the reason is it bears a sincere affection towards them and if at any time it has excluded one and admitted another 't was because one was belov'd the other for Male-administration hated It was the advice of Iames the First of Arragon to Alphonso the Wise to seek rather the Love than Fear of his Subjects and to ingratiate himself with the Clergy and Commons that he might be the better able to grapple with the Nobility which Counsel if he had follow'd he had never lost the Crown Nero no sooner ceas'd to be lov'd than Conspiracies were form'd against him a thing which Subrius Flavius upbraided him with to his face 3 Nec quisquam tibi fidelior militum â—uit dum amari meruisti odisse â—aepi postquam parricida Matris Uxoâ—is auriga histrio incendiarâ—us extitisti Tac. 15. ann A King's Power and Majesty consist not in his own Person but in the Affection and good Will of his Subjects If they be disaffected who will oppose his Enemies 'T is Preservation makes the people want a King but that can never be expected from one who makes himself hated The Arragonians prudently foresaw this when having call'd to the Crown Peter Altharez Lord of Borgia from whom the most ancient and illustrious Family of the Dukes of Gandia is descended they afterwards repented and would not have him for their King because they saw he us'd them with Austerity and Rigour even before his Election Contrary to what Ferdinand the First King of Arragon did who by Love and Benevolence engag'd the hearts of all in that Kingdom as also in Castile during his Reign there We have seen many Princes ruin'd by Fear none ever by Love If therefore a Prince would be formidable let it be to his Enemies but let him endeavour to be belov'd by his Subjects without which though he come victorious over them he will at last fall by the hands of these As it befell Bardanus King of Persia 4 Claritâ—â—ine paucos inter senatum Regum siperinde amorem inter populares quam metum apud hostes quaesivisset Tac. 11. ann Love and Respect may be joyned but not Love and servile Fear He who is fear'd is hated and he who is hated is by no means secure Quem metuunt oderunt Quem quisque odit periisse expedit Enn. He who is fear'd by many also fears many And what greater misfortune is there than to command those who obey through Fear and govern Bodies rather than Minds The difference between the just Prince and the Tyrant is That one uses Arms to maintain his Subjects in Peace the other to protect himself against them If the strength and power of a Prince hated be small he is much exposed to danger from his Subjects if great yet much more For the greater their fear is the more sollicitous are they to provide for their Security as apprehending his cruelty will encrease with his Grandeur as in Bardanus King of Persia whose Glory made him more severe and insupportable
to his Subjects 5 Iâ—geus gloria atque eo fâ—rocior subjectis intolerantior Tac. 11. ann If not for fear of danger at least in gratitude a Prince should avoid being terrible to those by whom he reigns Whence that was a very unworthy saying of Caligula Let them hate me so they fear me as if the security of Empire consisted in Fear Whereas no power can be lasting where fear bears the sway And though Seneca said He knows not how to govern who is too fearfull of Hatred Fear defends Kingdoms 'T is a Tyrannick Maxim or is to be understood of that vain Fear which sometimes Princes are in of offending others even when their Commands are just which doubtless is dangerous and not a little derogatory from their Authority He can never reign who wants Constancy and Courage to despise the Hatred of ill men to preserve the good Nor is Caligula's Sentence justifi'd by that of the Emperor Tiberius Let them hate me so they approve me For no action of a person hated is ever approv'd Hatred blames all and puts the worst Construction on every thing When once a Prince is hated his good actions as well as bad are interpreted against him It seems necessary for a Tyrant to keep his Subjects in awe in as much as his Empire being violent must be supported by violent means there wanting those two Obligations of Nature and voluntary Subjection which as Alphonso the Wise says are the greatest Debts a man can owe his Lord. And the Tyrant sensible that without these bands 't is impossible there should be real Love between him and his Subjects endeavours by force to make Fear effect what ought to proceed from natural Affection and as his disturbed Conscience fears Cruelty against it self it exercises it upon others 6 Wisd. 17. 11. But the lamentable examples of all Tyrants abundantly shew how short-liv'd this method is For though we see the Empires of the Turks Muscovites and Tartars have been continued for many Ages by Fear alone yet these barbarous Nations ought not to be made a Precedent Their Manners are so savage that they seem to have more of the Brute than the Man being commonly led more by Punishment than reason and consequently by that only can be kept in subjection as Brutes are not tamed but by Force and Fear Yet generous Spirits suffer not themselves to be compell'd or cheated into Obedience but are induc'd thereto by sincerity and reason For says King Alphonso our people being loyal and couragious their Loyalty ought to be maintain'd by truth and their Courage by right and justice There is usually 'twixt the Prince and his Subjects such a kind of inclination and natural Sympathy as renders him amiable without any more care for a Prince who deserv'd Hatred is sometimes lov'd and on the contrary one hated who merited Love And though eminent Vertues and Accomplishments of Mind and Body are wont of themselves to challenge Love yet they have not always this effect unless accompained with an agreeable kind of Humour a sweet obliging Air which through the Eyes as Windows of the Mind shews the inward Goodness and engages mens Affections Besides that accidents which could not be prevented or some sinister apprehension may so break this Love and good Will between the Prince and Subject that it can never after be re-united yet much may be done in that case by skill and address in knowing how to govern to the satisfaction of the Nobles and Commons avoiding giving them any occasion of displeasure and behaving himself in all particulars so as to create a good opinion of his Government But since the means whereby the Affections of Subjects may be procur'd are every where scatter'd through this Book I shall only say here in general that nothing contributes more to the obtaining it than Religion Justice and Liberality But because without some Species of Fear Love would be soon turn'd to Contempt and the edge of Regal Authority blunted 7 Timore Princeps â—ciem authoritatis suae non patitur hebescere Cic. 1. Caâ— it is highly requisite that Subjects entertain such an awe as arises from Respect and Veneration not thaâ— which is the result of danger from Injustice and Tyranny So necessary it is for a Prince to make himself feared by not suffering Indignities maintaining Justice and abhorring Vice that without such an awe in Subjects 't would be impossible to be long secure For all naturally desire Liberty and the inferior part of man rebells against Reason and is incorrigible but by Fear The Prince must therefore tame his Subjects as the Horse-courser breaks his Colt the figure of the present Emblem who with the same hand strokes and curries him and threatens him with the Whip Both the Rod and the Manna were kept in the Ark of the Tabernacle to intimate as I imagin that Rigour and Clemency should be joyn'd in the Prince's person God's Rod and Staff comforted David for if that wounded this supported him 8 Ps. 22. 4. Exod. 19. When God gave the Law of the Decalogue to the Israelites on Mount Sinai he at once terrified them with Thunder and Lightning and pleasing allur'd them with Heavenly Musick both the one and the other is necessary to preserve a Love and Veneration in Subjects Let this therefore be the Prince's Study to make himself at once lov'd and fear'd lov'd as the Protector of his People fear'd as the Soul of the Law upon which all their Lives and Estates depend lov'd for his Rewards fear'd for his Punishments lov'd for his Goodness fear'd for his Authority lov'd as a Promoter of Peace fear'd as Arbiter of War So that the good in loving him may find cause to fear the Bad in fearing him may find something to love in him This Fear is as necessary to the preservation of the Sceptre as that which proceeds from the Pride Injustice and Tyranny of the Prince is prejudicial and dangerous to it in leading to Despair 9 Ita agere in subjectis ut magiâ— vereantur severitatem quam ut saevitiam ejus detestentur Colum. The one procures his Liberty with the Prince's Ruin God breaking the Staff of the wicked and the Sceptre of such as rule with too much severity 10 Isa. 14. 5 6. Whereas the other by conforming himself to Reason studies to avoid his Anger and Punishment This Fear is of the same brood with Love For there can be no Love without fear of losing the Object lov'd and care to continue in its favour But since 't is not so much in the Prince's power to beget Love as Fear 't is better for him to ground his security on this than that alone which as the product of the Will is various and inconstant nor is any artificial Flattery any forc'd Complaisance sufficient to gain the Hearts of all That Prince I take for a great Governour who alive is fear'd and dead lov'd by his Subjects as Ferdinand
Tac. 16. ann EMBLEM XLVI AN Oar under Water appears crooked and broken which is caus'd by the refraction of Species so in many things our opinion deceives us For this reason the Sceptick Philosophers doubted of all things and durst affirm nothing for certain A wary piece of Modesty and prudent Distruct of humane Judgment and not without ground for to a certain knowledge of things there are required two dispositions that which is to know and that which is to be known the first is the Understanding which uses the external and internal Senses to form Imaginations the external are variously chang'd according to the abundance or defect of humours The internal are also subject to changes either from the same cause or from the different Affections of the Organs Whence proceed such different Opinions and Judgments one judging differently of the same things from another and both with equal uncertainty for things change their shape and colour with their places by being near or at a distance or because none are purely simple or because of natural Mixtures and Species which interpose between them and the Senses so that we can't affirm things are so and so but that they seem such forming an Opinion not certain Knowledge Plato found a yet greater incertainty in them when he consider'd that there was nothing of so pure and perfect nature as God and that in this life we could have no perfect knowledge of any thing but saw only things present and those too Reflections and Shadows of others so that 't was impossible to reduce them to a Science Not that I would have a Prince a Sceptick for he who doubts all determines nothing nor is there any thing more pernicious to Government than Hesitation in resolving and executing I only advise that he would not be too positive in his opinions but believe that he may easily be deceiv'd in his Judgment either through Affection or Passion or false Information or Flattery and Insinuation or because he don't care to hear truth which prescribes bounds to his Authority and Will or because of the uncertainty of our own apprehension or lastly because few things are really what they appear especially in Policy which is now a-days nothing but the art of cheating or not being cheated wherefore they ought to be viewed in different lights and a Prince ought carefully to consider and weigh them not slightly to pass them over least he should give credit to appearances and groundless Stories These Cheats and politick Tricks can't be well known unless the nature of man be also known for the knowledge of him is absolutely necessary for a Prince that he may know how to govern and beware of him For tho' Government be an invention of men 't is in no danger but from them for Man has no greater Enemy than Man The Eagle hurts not the Eagle nor the Serpent the Serpent but man is continually plotting against his own kind The Dens of Beasts are open and unguarded but three of the four Elements are not sufficient for the guard of Cities viz. Earth cast up into Walls and Entrenchments Water confin'd to Ditches and Fire enclos'd in Artillery That some may sleep the rest must watch What instruments are there not invented against Life as if it were not of it self short enough and subject to the infirmities of Nature and thoâ— the Seeds of all Vertues and Vices are in man as their proper Subject 't is with this difference that those can't grow and increase without the Dew of celestial and supernatural Grace but these do spontaneously bud out and flourish which is the effect and punishment of man's first Sin and as we always suffer our selves to be led by our Inclinations and Passions which hurry us to ill and as there is not the same danger in Vertue as in Vices we therefore will lay before a Prince a short description of deprav'd human Nature Man is then the most inconstant Animal in the Creation pernicious both to himself and others Changes with his Age Fortune Interest and Passion nor does the Sea vary so oft as his condition He is deluded by empty appearances and through self-conceit persists in his Errour Revenge and Cruelty he esteems praise-worthy and honourable Is well vers'd in Hypocrisâ—e and can dissemble his Passions a great while With Words Laughter and Tears he conceals his Thoughts Veils his Designs with Religion Confirms and maintains Lyes with Oaths Is a Slave to Hope and Fear Favours make him ungratefull Dominion proud Constraint vile and abject Law fearfull Benefits he inscribes on Wax Injuries receiv'd on Marble and those he offers on Brass He is subject to Love not out of Charity but an appearance of good A mere Slave to Anger In Adversity prostrate and cringing In Prosperity arrogant and proud What he commends in himself and affects he wants calls himself a true Friend but knows not what Friendship means Slights his own and covets oâ—hers goods The more he has the more he desires The good Fortune and Prosperity of others kills him with Envy Under shew of Friendship he is the greatest Enemy Loves the Rigour of Justice in others but hates it in himself This is a description of humane nature in general nor are all these Vices in one person but dispers'd in several And though a Prince think that some one is wholly free from them let him not therefore be less cautious of him for there is no certainty in the Judgment which is made of the condition and nature of men Vice often puts on the Mask of Vertue the better to deceive and the best of men may be deficient sometimes either through human frailty or the inconstancy of the times or necessity or interest or appearance of publick or private good or over-sight or want of knowledge whence it happens that the good are not less dangerous than the bad and in case of doubt 't is more prudent for a Prince to avoid the danger remembring not to offend but to defend that as Ezekiel said Briars and Thorns are with him and he dwells among Scorpions 1 Ezek. 2. 6. whose Tails are always ready to strike 2 Semper cauda in ictu est nulloque momento meditari cessat ne quanâ—o desit occasioni Plin. lib. 11. c. 25. Such generally are Courtiers they all advance their own pretensions by deluding the Prince or by removing his best and most deserving Favourites by means of his own power How often have waves of Envy and Jealousie been interpos'd between the Eyes of the Prince and the Minister's actions making those appear crooked and disloyal which are drawn by the rule of Justice and his Service Thus Vertue suffers the Prince loses a good Minister and Malice triumphs in its Practices which that he may practically know and not suffer Innocence to be wrong'd I will here set down the most usual There are some Courtiers so subtle and cunning that while they seem to excuse their Rival's
deceiv'd by the Flattery of the people that he believ'd they could not bear his absence from Rome though for never so small a time and that his presence comforted them in their Adversity 15 Vidisse civium moestos vultus audire secretas quarimonias quod tantum aditurus esset iter cujus ne modicos quidem egressus tolerarent sueti adversum fortuit a aspectu Principis refâ—veri though he was really so odious that the Senate and Nobility were in doubt whether he was more cruel in his Absence than his Presence 16 Senatus Primatâ—â— in incerto erant procul an coram atrocior haberetur Tac. 15. ann There are other ways to know Flattery but few Princes care to make use of them it being so agreeable to their inclinations and nature and so we see Coiners punish'd but not Flatterers though the last are most guilty these gild and counterfeit our Money those our Vices putting them off even to our selves for Vertues This is a great fault which is still decry'd yet still maintain'd in the Courts of Princes where Truth appears not without danger especially with haughty and passionate Princes 17 Contumacius loqui non est tutum apud aures superbas offensioni proniores Tac. 4. ann Bernardo de Cabrera lost his life for his friendly advice in some affairs to Peter the IVth of Arragon notwithstanding his signal Services and his having been his Tutor He who advises or informs another seems to accuse his Actions and Judgment which Princes won't endure for they think he don 't sufficiently respect them who talks to them freely Gutierrez Fernandez of Toledo with an honest and well-meaning Sincerity told King Peter the Cruel what he thought of his Government and advis'd him to moderate his Severity which meritorious Advice the King took for such a crime that he caus'd him to be beheaded for it * Mar. hist. Hisp. A Prince looks upon him as his Judge who observes his Actions nor can he endure him who finds fault with them The danger is in admonishing a Prince what he should do not what he would do 18 Nam suadere Principi quod oporteat multi laboris periculi Tac. 1. hist. which is the reason Truth is so timorous and Flattery so audacious But if any Prince would be so generous as to think it base and mean to be coax'd by Flattery and look upon it as a contempt for others to pretend to impose upon him by false praises and speak more of his Grandure than his Person 19 Etiam ego tu simplicissimè inter nos hodie loquimur caeteri libeâ—tius cum fortunâ quam nobiscum Tac. 1. hist. he would soon be rid of this sort of cattle by arming himself with severity for none will dare attempt a stanch and severe Prince who fathoms the truth of things and has learnt to contemn vain Honours Tiberius with the same composure of countenance heard the freedom of Piso and the Flattery of Gallus 20 Audiente hâ—c Tiberio ac silente Tac. 2. ann And though he dissembled so well he knew the Flattery as he did that of Ateius Capito considering their Thoughts not their Words 21 Intellexit haec Tiberius ut erant magis quam â—t dicebantur Tac. 3. ann Let a Prince also publickly gratifie those who shall be so ingenuous as to tell him Truth Thus Clisthenes the Tyrant of Sicily did who erected a Statue to one of his Counsellors who contradicted his Triumph by which he wonderfully gain'd the hearts of his Subjects and encouraged his other Counsellors to speak their Sentiments more freely King Alphonso the Twelfth being once advising about an affair of great moment with his Sword in his right hand and his Sceptre in his left spoke to this effect Come says he speak all your minds freely and frankly advise me what you think for the glory of this Sword and the advantage of this Scepter * Mar. hist. Hisp. Happy that Kingdom in which Counsel is neither embarrass'd by Respect nor aw'd by Fear All men know the baseness of Flattery but they know too the inconveniencies of Truth and see more danger from this than that Who would not speak with more sincerity and zeal to Princes were they all of the same temper with Iohn the Second King of Portugal who when one petition'd for some vacant Office reply'd That he had long since promis'd it to a faithfull Servant who never spoke to please but to serve him and the State †Mar. hist. Hisp. But this generous Sincerity is very rarely to be found Princes being usually of King Achab's mind who calling a council of Prophets would have Micah excluded because says he he doth not prophecy good concerning me but evil 22 1 Kings 22. 8. For this reason Ministers often run great Risques who through zeal are too forward in telling their Thoughts of future dangers that they may be seasonably prevented For Princes had rather not know them than fear them their ears are prepar'd for the soft Harmony of Musick but can't bear the jarring sounds of impending dangers Whence they chose for their Counsellors and Confidents such as will tell them nothing but what they approve of 23 After their own Lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers 2 Tim. 4. 3. and not what God inspires as the Prophet Micah did 24 And Miâ—ah said as the Lord liveth even what my God saith that will I speak 2 Chron. 18. 13. What wonder then if without the light of Truth they lose their way and are lost Would these Tell-truths be guided by Prudence doubtless a Prince would more value Truth than vain and empty Flattery but there are few who use it seasonably or with that Modesty and Address that is requisite For all that are free are morose and offend Princes with the asperity of their Looks especially when arm'd with Truth for some Vertues are odious such as obstinate Severity and a Spirit not to be gain'd by favours For Princes think themselves slighted when they see those measures which are usually taken to obtain their favour are contemn'd thinking he who does not study to acquire them neither acknowledges himself their Subject nor has occasion for them The Superiour uses the Lancet or incision Knife of Truth to cure the distempers of the inferiour but this only a caustick which without pain benumbs and wears away the parts infected in the Superiour To be troublesome with unseasonable and improper Truths is rather Malice than Zeal rather Sauciness that Admonition God himself uses singular Prudence and Caution in revealing them for though he might have told Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar their future Calamities by Ioseph and Daniel yet he chose rather to do it by Dream when the Senses were â—ull'd and Majesty buried in Sleep and even then not clearly but by Figures and Hieroglyphicks that there might be some time allow'd for their Interpretation to avoid
visible in him Africk still mourns and shews upon the sooty Faces of its Inhabitants the rashness of Phoebus if we may use the Philosophy and Morality of the Ancients in lending his Chariot to his Son Phaeton an unexperienced Youth and one who did not in the least merit such Promotion and this is the Danger all Elections carry with 'em which are made at a jump and not gradually by which Experience teaches 'em to know the people and to rise by degrees Tiberius though a Tyrant never advanc'd his Nephews without this Caution and particularly Drusus whom he would not make a Tribune till after eight years Experience 5 Neque nunc properè sâ—d per octo annos capto experimento Tac. 3. ann Preferment to an unexperienc'd person is Favour but to one of Experience a just Reward Yet is not Experience in all things as neither all Vertues requisite for every Office but only those who regard each in particular for that which is proper and requisite for one is not always for others Experience of the Sea is useless in Affairs at Land and it does not follow that he who knows how to manage a House or ride a Horse can also marshal an Army 6 Nam unum opus ab uno optimâ— perficitur quod ut fiat munus est Legumlatoris providere nec jubere ut tibia canat quisquam idem Galeâ—â—s conficiâ—t Arist. 2. Pol. cap. 9 In this Lewis Forza Duke of Milan was mistaken when he committed the Conduct of his Army against the King of France to Galeaze St. Severin who was very dexterous in managing Horses but understood little of Affairs of War Mottathias made a more prudent Choice when seeing himself near his End he chose for General Iudas Macchabee a robust Man and well vers'd in Arms and for his Counsellor his Brother Simeon a Man of Judgment and Experience 7 1 Macch. a 65. In this we have seen great Errors in changing the reins and administration of Governments These are different in Kingdoms and Common-wealths Some respect Justice others Plenty some War others Peace yet though they are so different in themselves there is nevertheless a certain Faculty or civil Vertue which unites 'em and makes them all tend one way to the Preservation of the State each aiming at this by means proportion'd to the Office he is in This civil Vertue is different according to the several Forms of Government which differ according to the means and methods of governing for which reason a Man may be a good Citizen but not a good Minister for 't is not sufficient that he be endu'd with several moral Vertues unless he has also civil ones and this natural Disposition so proper to Administration and Government 'T is therefore necessary for a Prince to know the Nature and Inclinations of his Subjects that he may better know how to employ 'em for upon this good Choice all the Actions of his Government depend The Genius of Herman Cortez was particularly proper for the Conquest of India that of Gonzalez Fernandez of Cordova for the War of Noples and if they had been exchang'd and the first sent against the French and the latter against the Indians doubtless they had not been so successful Nature has not given Man a like Qualifications for all things but only one excellence for one Office whether it be Frugality or Prudence and 't is certain Instruments do most Service when they are made use of by one not by many For this reason Aristotle blam'd the Carthagians for that among them one person officiated in many places there being no Man fit for all 8 Sic enim optimè instrument a proficiâ—nt si eorum singula non inultis sed uni deserviant Arist. lib. 1. Pol. cap. 1. Nor is it possible as the Emperour Iustinian remark'd 9 Nec sit concessum cuiquam duobus assistere Magistratibus utriusque Iudicii curam peragere nec facile creâ—endum duabus necessariis rebus unum suffâ—cere L. F. de Asses to mind two without forgetting one or t' other A Nation is much better govern'd when in that as in a Ship every Man knows his Birth for though perhaps a Man may be found capable of all Affairs it do's not follow that they shall be all assign'd him That great Copper Vessel for Sacrifices called for its largeness a Sea and supported by 12 Oxen before the Altar of the Temple of Solomon 10 â— Chron. c. 4. 5. contain'd 3000 measures yet they never put in above 2000 11 1 Kings 7. 26. 'T is by no means convenient to accumulate all Offices and Preferments upon one person to the Envy and Dissatisfaction of all but whether for want of Knowledge of persons or for that they won't take the pains to look for fit Men it usually happens that Princes imploy one or at most a very few of those who are about them In all Affairs whence Promotions and Rewards are scarce and so Emulation grows cold and all things move slowly For the same Reason 't is not good for two persons to be employed about the same Affair for that makes it confus'd like a Picture drawn by two hands the methods of Painters being always different one is quick the t' other slow one loves Lights the t' other is more for Shades Besides this 't is impossible two should agree in the same Conditions Counsels and Methods or that they should not disagree to the great Detriment of the Negotiation and Prince too These second Causes have each their distinct Office and separate Operations For my part I think it more adviseable to commit an Office to one person less capable than to two though more sufficient since therefore the good Election is a thing so necessary and its Success so difficult 't is not adviseable for Princes to relie too much upon their own Judgments Pope Paul the III. and King Ferdinand the Catholick first consulted the people suffering it as if carelesly to be published before they made their Choice the Emperour Alexander Severus proposed his Choice to all that each person as if he were interested in it might freely declare his thoughts of his Capacity or Incapacity 12 Ubi aliquos voluisset vel Rectores Provinciis dare vel Praepositos facere vel Procuratâ—res id est rationales ordinare nomina eorum proponebat Lamp in vit Alex. Sev. Though the peoples Approbation is not always to be depended on Sometimes 't is in the right sometimes 't is in the wrong 13 Haud semper errat famae aliquando eligit Tac. in vit Agr. 't is oft deceived in Mens Natures and hidden Vices Moreover Industry Self-interest or Malice and Emulation spread this Report among the Mob either in their Favour or otherwise Nor is a Ministers behaving himself well in small Offices sufficient to recommend him to greater for Preferment makes some more vigorous and active others careless and lazy
be granted to none else for he exposes Loyalty to evident Danger who grants any one a Power too absolute The Royal Crown put upon a Subjects Head tho' but in jest will make him proud and think himself above what he is The mind of a Subject should not experience this Royal Grandeur and Glory of reigning for afterwards abusing it he usurps it and that it mayn't return to him from whom he had it he Plots and contrives his Ruine the Divine Writ in one Chapter gives us Examples of Kings put to Death by the hands of their Subjects for having raised them too high Solomon for all his Wisdom fell into this misfortune and ran the same Risque for having made Ieroboam President of all the Customs of the House of Ioseph 2 1 Kin. 11. 28. and we read that he had the Impudence to lift up his hand against his King 3 1 Kin. 11. 26. Let Princes then take it for a Maxim of State not to promote one too much above others or if they are oblig'd to it let it not be one but several that they may Balance one another and mutually keep each other in their Devoir by a reciprocal Examination of one anothers Actions and Designs 4 Est autem omnis Monarchiae cautio communis neminem facere nimis magnum aut certè plusquam unum facere ipsi enim inter se quid quisque agat observant Arist. 5. Pol. c. 11. The Emperour Ferdinand II. did not sufficiently observe this piece of Policy when he gave the absolute Command of his Armies and Provinces to the Duke of Fridland whence sprang so many misfortunes and amongst the rest the loss of that great Man which was meerly the effect of too much Power Let not Princes be deceived by the Example of Pharaoh who committed all his Power into the hands of Ioseph who preserv'd his Kingdom 5 Gen. 41. 40. for Ioseph was the Emblem of Christ and there are very few Ioseph's to be found now adays Each would depend upon himself and not upon the Body which this present Emblem represents by a Branch encircled with a wicker Basket filled with Earth such as Gardiners use where it by degrees takes root and so being cut off insensibly becomes a Tree independant of the Stock without the least respect to its Greatness This Example shews the Danger in making Governments of Provinces perpetual for Ambition having once taken root claims 'em as its Property he who is so accustom'd to command will afterwards scarce be brought to obey France shews us many Examples of this written in its own Blood Even God's Ministers in the Kingdom of Heaven are liable to slip 6 Job 4. 18. the Perpetuity of great Offices is an Alienation from the Crown the Scepter will be useless and of no force and will stand in awe of that very Power it has been so prodigal of Liberality will want a Dowry and Vertue a Reward The Minister becomes a Tyrant in the Government which he is sure of for Life that Prince whom he sees preserves his Authority he respects as his Master but him who does not he despises and at last rebells against him Therefore Iulius Caesar limited the Pretorship to one Year and the Consulship to two And the Emperour Charles V. advised his Son Philip II. not to continue Ministers in Office too long especially in places Military to give the greatest to persons of mean Fortune and Embassy's to the rich thereby to weaken ' em The Bravery of the great Captain in Italy made King Ferdinand the Catholick suspect him so that he recall'd him and if he did not then wholly mistrust him at least he would no longer hazard his Loyalty by the Continuation of the Vice-Royship of Naples And though that great Politician Tiberius continued Ministers in Posts all their Life-time but this was upon such Tyrannick Considerations as ought not to enter into the Thoughts of a prudent and just Prince 7 Id morum Tiberii suit continuare Imperia ac plerosque ad fine◠vitae in eisdem exercitibus aut Iurisdictionibus habere Tac. 5. ann Princes ought therefore to take advice from Nature the Mistress of true Politicks who does not allow its Celestial Ministers of light a perpetual Authority and Government of the World but certain fixt Seasons as we may see in the Motion and Reigns of the Planets that they mayn't lose the right of disposing of 'em and to prevent the usurping her Authority and Power besides she considers that the Earth would be ruined if it should always be governed by the Melancholy of Saturn or the heat and fury of Mars or the severity of Iupiter or the subtilty of Mercury or the levity of Venus or the inconstancy of the Moon In removals of this Nature great Care ought to be taken that Ministers should not take it to be a slur upon their Reputation to be removed from greater to lesser Places for since there are not many that Minister would be of no use who when he has been employ'd in the highest would refuse to Officiate in lower Places and though Reason requires that Rewards should be equal to Deserts yet in this Point the Subjects reason should be guided by the Princes interest when his Service or the publick Advantage is in the Case not that he ought to be put into any inferior Post out of Contempt or Disgrace for so the importance of the Negotiation makes amends for the meannes◠of the Office If any Offices may be continued long they are Embassies◠for their Business is only to intercede not Command not to give Orders but to negotiate at their Departure all Acquaintance with their native Countrey dies and all Intimacy with the Prince with whom they negotiate and his Ministers cease Forts and Garrisons which are as it were the Keys of the Kingdom should be at the immediate Power and Disposal of the Prince King Sancho was ill advised when by reason of the Minority of his Son Don Alonso III. he order'd those of the Nobility who were Governours of Cities to remain till his Son was fifteen years old which occasioned many grievous Calamities to that Kingdom As for other Offices let 'em be but for a time for their too long continuance makes the Ministers proud and endangers their Loyalty This Tiberius knew though he did not practise 8 Superbire homines etiam annua designatione quid si honorem per quinquennium agitent Tac. 2. ann Vertue is tired by Industry and Expectation yet should not Offices be of too short continuance so as the Minister can reap no benefit or experience in 'em or so as to make him too ravenous like Hawks in Norway because of the shortness of the day but in troublesome and dangerous times publick Offices and places of Trust ought to be continu'd longer least they should upon removal be conferr'd upon raw unexperienced Persons So Augustus did upon the defeat of Quintilius Varus
'll be more prejudicial to the Princers Affairs than one who understands nothing Counsels are worth nothing when revealed and there is more danger in good Resolves unseasonably discover'd than in ill ones executed with Secrecy let a Minister therefore avoid Discourse with those who are not entrusted with the same Secret Let him shut his Heart against those who would dive into it for in discoursing of Affairs the Design is easily discovered with the Maxims by which the Prince governs The Lips are the windows of the Heart the opening of which discovers all within The Eyes are so pure and free from Avarice that they won't admit the least Atom and if by chance any thing though never so little gets in it obstructs their Sight or at least makes them see things double and different from what they are the Minister who receives Presents will be blinded with the dust of them so as not to be able to discern things rightly but only as Self-interest shall represent ' em Though the Eyes are two yet they see but one and the same thing they both agree in the truth of the Species which they receive and in transmitting them to the sence by the Optick Nerves which are united that they mayn't enter severally and deceive it If the Ministers don't unanimously agree in advising for the best without being divided in their Sentiments by love and hate or any other reason the Prince will be always in doubt or confusion without knowing which Counsel is best And this inconvenience falls out when one Minister thinks he sees and understands more than another or when he has not Judgment enough to distinguish which is best 9 Eccles. 8. 20 or when he is byass'd by his own Passions or desire of Revenge But a Minister should be free from all these so as to have no other Purpose or Design than the Service of his Prince Such a Minister says Alphonso the Wise is called in Latine Patricius being as it were a Father to the Prince which Title is taken from the resemblance it bears to the natural Father for every Father is naturally inclined to advise his Son in all things for his advantage and Honour so he who governs the Prince by his Counsels ought to love him and advise him with Sincerity preferring his Honour and Interest above all things not respecting the Love or Hatred Interest or Prejudice that may ensue and all this without Flattery not minding whether he be good or bad like a Father in instructing his Child †L. 7. tit 1. p. 4. Nature has divided the Jurisdiction of the Eyes by a Line interpos'd not but that they both agree in Operation assisting one another with a Zeal so mutual that if one turns to one side the t'other does so too that they may have a more certain Cognizance of things neither regarding whether they be within their Sphere or not the same Agreement is absolutely necessary amongst Ministers whose Zeal should be so universal that they should not only regard those things which their Office obliges 'em to but also those that belong to others there is no Member but for the preservation of the whole Body sends its Blood and Spirits to the assistance of that which is out of order For a Minister to be an idle Spectator of anothers Calamities shews malice envy and want of respect to the Prince This proceeds often from a love of Self-interest and Glory or least he should by assisting his Friend endanger his own Reputation or else that he may flourish more upon his Friends misfortune Such Ministers only serve themselves not the Prince Whence proceed Divisions in the State Army and Revenue by which many good opportunities are lost many Towns Castles and Provinces ruined Ministers should mutually communicate their Designs and Actions as the Cherubims did their wings in the Temple of Solomon 10 2 Chron. 3. 12. As uâ—eful as Eyes are to the Body Nature has given it but two because more would breed confusion and obstruct the Susception of things 'T is the same in Counsellours for when there are too many Consultations are retarded Secrets revealed and Truth confounded for their Votes are only counted not duly weighed and the greater number carries it and thence proceed generally all misfortunes in Common-wealths The multitude is always blind and thoughtless and the wisest Senate if composed of too many will have a mixture of the Ignorance of the vulgar A few Planets give more light than many Stars and the multitude thereof in the Via Lactea darken one another by the refraction of their own Light so that 't is darker there than in any other part of the Sky Two great a number makes Liberty sawcy and stubborn and difficult to be reduced to the Princes Will 11 Populi Imâ—erium juxta libertatem paucorum Dominatio Regiâ— lâ—bidini proprior est Tac. 6. ann As it often happens in Parliaments and general Assemblies let therefore the Prince have just so many Ministers as are sufficient to govern his State carrying himself indifferently to them all not being ruled wholly by one for he can't see so well with one as with all thus Xenophon said when using the same comparison he called the Ministers of the Kings of Persia their Eyes and Ears 12 Hinc factum est ut vulgò jactarunt Perâ—arum Regem multos hâ—bere eâ—ules auresque multas quod si quis putet unum oculum expetendum Regi eum egregie falli certum est unus enim paâ—ca videat paâ—ca 〈◊〉 Xenoph. lib. 4. Cyri. such a Minister would usurp all the Dignity and Majesty of the Prince to himself for that the Prince is oblig'd to see with his Eyes 13 Et Majestas qui 〈◊〉 imperium habere apud Ministrum solâ—t Regi aut Principi 〈…〉 relinquitur Plutarch Princes are generally so taken with some one Minister that with him they negotiate all manner of Affairs though he be never so great a Stranger to them hence proceed so many Errours in their Resolutions for neither can Men of Learning give proper advise in Military Affairs nor Souldiers in those which relate to Peace upon which Consideration the Emperour Severus advised with every one in those matters which particularly belonged to them 14 Unde si de jure tractaretur in consilium solos doctos adhibebat â—â—vero de re militari milites veteres senes ac bene meritos locorum peritos Lamp in Vit. Alex. By all these Qualities of the Eyes the Body is govern'd without 'em it can't move one step securely 't will be the same in the Government which wants good Ministers Without these Eyes the Scepter would be blind for there is no Prince so wise as to be able to decide all Affairs himself †L. 1. tit 9. p. 2. Since Royalty says K. Alphonsus admits of no Companion nor has occasion for any 't is necessary for the Prince to have about
to obtain the Honour of Assertor of his Countrey 's Liberty 2 Itaque Monarchas non ut sibi vendicent Monarchiam invadunt sâ—d ut famam gloriam adipiscantur Arist. Pol. 5. cap. 10. It should therefore be the Princes Care to abolish this Superstition of false Honour and to promote the Worship of the true Let not a Prince disdain to honour Merit either in Subjects or Strangers for this does not derogate from the Prince's Honour no more than the light of a Torch is diminished by the lighting of another by it for which Reason Ennius compares the Charity of a person who instructs a wandring Traveller in his way to a Flame He who t' a wandring Man his way has shewn Lights t'others Torch and never hurts his own * Ennius From whence proceeds Cicero's Advice that whatever kindness can be done another without Detriment to ones self let it be done even to a Stranger 3 Ut quicquid sine detrimento accommodari possit id tribuatur velignoto Cicero From both these Sentences the present Emblem is taken a lighted Candle in a Candlestick the Emblem of Divinity and supream Authority at which two others are lighted to signifie that a Prince may bestow Honour upon those who deserve it without Detriment to his own His Honour is borrowed not his own who is afraid of wanting it when he confers it on others Springs continually flow and are never empty The Fund of Honour in Princes is inexhaustible be they never so profuse All respect them as the only Magazines of Honours from whence every one expects his share so the Earth with its Vapours refreshes the Air which returns them in Dew upon the Earth again And this mutual Correspondence between the Prince and his Subjects King Alphonso the Wise knew when he said that these in Honouring him honour'd themselves because from him they expect Honour and Preferment where this mutual Honour is there Affairs flourish in Peace and War and the Government is established Nor does a Prince shew his Majesty more in any thing than in the Honours he confers All natural Bodies the more noble they are are the more generous and free of their Vertues and Gifts To give Riches is humane but the distribution of Honour belongs to God or his Vicegerents In these Maxims I would perfectly instruct your Highness especially in that of honouring the Nobility who are the main support of Monarchy Let your Highness hearken to your glorious Predecessor King Alphonso the Wise who in laying down Maxims for his Successors speaks to this Effect Furthermore he ought to respect and honour the Nobility for their Riches and for that they are an Honour to his State and he should respect and honour the Gentry as being his Guard and the Bulwark of his Kingdom Without Rewards Services flag but rewarded they flourish and make the Kingdom glorious Under an ungrateful King never any great Action was aâ—chieved nor any glorious Example transmitted to Posterity Those three brave Souldiers who broke through the Enemies Squadrons and fetch'd water from the Cistern scarce did any thing else remarkable because David did not gratifie them A Prince by once rewarding the Merits of a Family binds them to his Service for ever The Nobility is as much urg'd to Glory by the noble Exploits of their Ancestors and by Honours with which they were rewarded as by those which they themselves expect 't was upon this Account that your Royal Highnesses Predecessors bestowed eternal marks of Honour upon the Services of some great Families of Spain So King Iohn II. rewarded those of the Counts Ribadeo by permitting them to eat at the King's Table upon Twâ—lfth-day and to have the same Coat which his Majesty wore that day his Catholick Majesty granted the same Honour to the Marquess of Cadiz And order'd that they should have the Coat which he wore upon the Feast of the Blessed Virgin to the Marquesses of Moya he gave the Cup which the Kings should drink out of upon St. Lucia's Day to the Earls of Roca of the Family of Vera and to all of that House a Grant for each to exempt thirty persons from all Taxes the same King Ferdinand when he met the King of France at Savona invited the great Captain Gonsalvo to Table with him at whose house also he staid at his Entry into Naples and what wonder since he ow'd him his Kingdom and all Spain its Glory and Success †Mar. Hist. Hisp. Of him might well be said what Tacitus says of another brave and valiant General In his Body was all the beauty of the Cherusâ—i and whatever was done with Success was the result of his Counsel 4 Illo in corpore decus owne Cheruscorum illius consilia gesta quae prosperâ— ceâ—idâ—rint testaâ—atur Tac. 2. ann The Valour and Conduct of one Minister is often the Foundation and Rise of a Kingdom That which is founded in America is owing to Herman Cortez and the Pizarrs The single Valour and Industry of the Marquess of Aytona kept the Netherlands from revolting upon the Death of the Infanta Isabella and some of our present Ministers have been the chief Instruments in preserving the Empire in the House of Austria and of the Tranquility which Italy has so long enjoyed whose great Rewards have been a spark to kindle a glorious Emulation in others By recompencing one Service you purchase many more 't is a noble Usury which enriches Princes and enlarges and secures their Estates the Ottoman Empire flourishes because it encourages and prefers Valour in whomsoever it is conspicuous The Fabrick of the Spanish Monarchy arrived at this Perfection because King Ferdinand the Catholick and after him Charles V. and Philip II. knew how to hew out and proportion the Stones to its bigness Princes complain of this Age of being barren and not productive of such great Spirits not considering that the Reason is that they don't look for them or if they do find them that they don't give them sufficient Encouragement but only promote those who are about them which depends more upon Chance than Choice Nature always produces some great Genius's but Princes don't always make use of them How many excellent Genius's and great Spirits are born and die in Obscurity who if they had been imployed and exercis'd in Business had been the Admiration of Mankind Ossat had died Chaplain of St. Lewis in Rome without the Glory of having done so many signal Services to France had not Henry IV. of France observing his great Abilities procur'd him a Cardinals Hat If a Prince suffers a great Soul to herd with the common Rout he will live and die like one of them without performing any thing remarkable or glorious Christ went up to the Mountain Tabur with three of his Disciples only leaving the rest with the multitude upon which their Faith immediately cool'd 5 Nam quod Domino in monte demorante ipsis cum turba
residâ— tibus quidâ—m tepor eorum fidem retardaverat Hilar. cap. 7. Sup. Matth so that they could not cure a possesâ— person 6 And I brought him to thy Disciples and they could not cuâ— him Matth. 17. 15. Great Spirits do not flourish nor Blossom unless they are water'd by the Dew of Favour That Prince therefore who shall sow Honours shall reap able Statesmen But he ought to sow them in Season and to have them always ready upon all Occasions for then they are rarely tâ— be found In this Princes are usually careless while they liâ—â— in Peace and Quiet thinking they shall never have need oâ— them Nor should a Prince honour and prefer only his Nobility and Ministers but also all others of his Subjects whose Actions shall be meritorious As King Alphonso prudently advises in his Laws where he says that a Prince ought to honour Vertue wheresoever he finds it though it be in the very meanest of his Subjects A Prince ought to be very cautious in the Distribution of Honours considering the time and weighing the Qualifications of the persons that they may be exactly adapted to their Merit For that distinguishes Dignities as the intrinsick worth of a Diamond makes it more valuable if Honours were all equal they would be less valued 't is a kind of Tyranny not to reward Desert and nothing more incenses the People than it a whole Government is disordered by the unequal Distribution of Preferments Rewards above Desert are a Scandal to the receiver and an Affront to those who deserve better One is gratified many offended To gratifie all alike is â—o reward none Vertue thrives not by equality nor will Valour ever attempt any considerable Action without the hopes of some particular Reward A Statue erected for one affects many with a glorious Desire of obtaining the same Honour In a word Honour suited to a persons Merit is a Spur to him an Encouragement to others and a means to preserve Obedience in the people But though nothing more firmly settles or more gloriously adorns a Prince's Throne than Distribution of Honours yet ought he diligently to take Care not to Grant away those which are proper to his own Dignity and distinguish him from others For they are not like Flames which passing to another Subject still remains entire in its own but all such which he shall confer on others will no more shine in him so that Majesty will be obscur'd nor will any make their Applications to him but to them to whom he has granted such Honours Tiberius would not permit even his Mother Livia to receive those particular Honours which the Senate design'd because he thought 't would diminish his Authority 7 Caeterum anxius invidia muliebâ—e fastigium in diminutionem sui â—ccipiens ne lictorem quiâ—â—em ei decern◠〈◊〉 Tac. 1. ann Even Ceremonies which were introduced either by Chance or Flattery and are now peculiar to the Prince he ought not to make common to others For though they are vain and empty they mark out the Borders of Majesty to Respect and Veneration Tiberius was disgusted that the same publick Prayers were made for Nero and Drusus which were made for him tho' they were his Sons and Successours in the Empire 8 Tum verò aequari adolescentes senectae suae uis hoentèr indoluit Tac. 4. ann the Honour of Princes vanishes when made common by promiscuous Flattery 9 Vanescit Augusti honor si promisâ— noribus vulgâ—tur Tac. 4. ann sometimes though as when Ministers do personate the Prince in his absence the same Honours and Ceremonies are to be paid them as are due to the Prince if present as we fee in Vice-Roys and Courts of Supream Authority which like Stars shine in the Suns absence but not in his Presence for then those marks of Honour are paid to the Royal Dignity represented in the Ministers who are as it were the Pictures of Majesty and the reflection of Supream Authority EMBLEM LIX NATURE the provident Disposer of all things has divided Countries from one another and hedg'd 'em in sometimes with Mountains like â—ast Walls sometimes entrenched 'em about with deep Rivers and sometimes with the Ocean it self that she â—ight put a stop to the Designs of humane Ambition for â—he same Reason she has constituted different Climates Naâ—ures Languages and Customs that in this great Diversity of Nations each might live amicably and in Unity among themselves not easily giving way to the Power and Tyranâ—y of Invaders Yet are not all these bars and fences of Nature able to check this insatiable Desire of Rule for Ambition is so great and so deeply rooted in Man's heart â—hat it thinks the five Zones too narrow for it Alexander â—hey say wept that he had no more Worlds to Conquer All the Blessings of Life nay Life it self for all our natural Inclinations to preserve it are all slighted for a moments Reign Humaya going to invade the Kingdom oâ— Cordova some of his Friends diâ—swaded him from it urging the danger of the Attempt Call me King to day sayâ— he and to morrow kill me there is no Passion in Maâ— more blind and dangerous than this This has cost many their Lives as well as Estates which they would have there by enlarged A certain Prince of Tartary usually drank ouâ— of a Cup on which was engraven the Head of a Prince oâ— Muscovy who in invading his Kingdom lost his own witâ— his Life about the edge of which was this Inscription This Prince by coveting mine lost his own Almost the same thing befell King Sancho who woulâ— have rob'd his Brothers of the Kingdoms which their Father King Ferdinand had divided between ' em Ambitioâ— is in danger when it but puts its Arm out of its Territories like the Snail which runs a Risque whenever it peeps out oâ— its shell 1 Testâ—dinem ubi collecta in suum tegmen est tutam ad omnes 〈◊〉 esse ubi exerit partes aliquas quodcunque nudavit obnoxium at que iâ— mum habere Cic And though Tyridates said That 't is for private Men to maintain their own but for Kings to invadâ— others 2 Et sua retinere privatae domus alienis ceâ—â—â— Regiam laudem esse Tac. 15. ann yet this is only then when reason and prudenâ—â— advise it and when Power has no other Tribunal than that oâ— Arms for whoever unjustly robs another of his Kingdom gives others opportunity and right to do the same to him first let a Prince consider the Danger of his own before 〈◊〉 thinks of invading another's Kingdom 3 Suam quisque fortunam in 〈◊〉 â—â—lio habeat cum de â—lieno deliberat Curtius for which Reâ—son the Emperour Rodolphus I. us'd to say 'T was bettâ—â— to govern well than to enlarge a Kingdom if King â—phonso the Wise had took this Advice he had never pursuâ— his Pretentions to the Empire to the so evident peril his own Kingdom
them but Succession makes these negligent and careless Whence 't is an Observation that those who acquire Kingdoms usually keep 'em and those who receive them lose them 27 Qui occuparunt imperia eoâ—um plerique eadem retinuâ—runt qui vero tradita ab aliis accepere hi statim ferâ— omnes amiserunt Arist. 5. Pol. 9. The Holy Spirit says that Kingdoms pass from one Nation to another because of Injustice Injuries and Deceit 28 Eccles. 1. 8. I conclude the present Discourse with two Cautions first that the Preservation of States does not always depend on their being far from the Causes of their Ruin but sometimes on their being near them 29 Conservantur etiam Respub non solum quiâ— procuâ— sunt ab iis â—uae interitum affâ—runt sed etiam quia prope sunt nam Timor intentiore curâ— Râ—iâ—ab consulâ—re câ—gis Arist. 5. pol. cap. 8. for Fear creates Care and Diligence the other is that 〈◊〉 in the Person of the Prince or in the Body of the State the least ill should be taken most Care of for they increase insensibly without being perceived till they are past Remedy 30 Ibid. A small Worm destroys the tallest Cedar the little Remora stops the Course of a Ship under sail frivolous Losses caus'd the Ruin of the Roman Empire A slight disorder of Body is often more dangerous than a real Sickness for that is not minded this diligently taken Care of We immediately apply Medicines to a Fever but never heed a Cold from which the greatest Distempers proceed EMBLEM LXI AN Harp Forms a compleat Aristocracy compos'd of Monarchy and Democracy understanding Presides several Fingers govern and many Strings obey not with a particular but general and common Harmony so that the Disproportion between the great and little ones don't spoil the Tune One may justly compare to a a Harp every Republick in which long Practice and Experience have appointed who shall command and who obey in which they have establish'd Laws elected Magistrates distinguished Offices prescribed set Rules and Methods of Government and instituted in each part of the Republick such Customs and Laws as are most conformable and consentaneous to its Nature This makes the first Institutions durable and not easie to be chang'd This Harp of Kingdoms and Commonwealths being thus fitted up and all the Strings tun'd and dispos'd in Order though any one should â—ansie he could better tune any one of them he ought to have a better opinion of the Prudence and Judgment of his Ancestors whom long Practice and dear bought Experience had instructed for some Ways and Methods of Government though they have some Inconveniences are yet better born with than alter'd A prudent Prince tunes the strings in the same Order they stand in not changing them without time or other accidents have so discompos'd them that they can't perform the Office they were first design'd for wherefore a Prince should perfectly understand this Harp of his Empire and the Grace and Majesty that attends it and be throughly vers'd in the Nature Qualities and Genius's of the Nobility and Commons which are its main Strings For as King Alphonso says in one of his Laws A King 's greatest Care should be to know Men for since tis them he has to do with an exact Knowledge of them is absolutely necessary * L. 13. tit 5. p. 2. In this consists the principal Art of Government To know his Subjects is a King 's best Art †Maâ—â— Those who have most apply'd themselves to this Study have govern'd with most Success Many take this Harp in their hand but few can finger it with Judgment few understand its Nature and can touch it agreeably Let therefore a Prince know that a Kingdom is nothing but an Union of many Cities and People and a joynt Consent to the Command of some one and the Obedience of the rest which Consent Ambition and Force introduc'd Concord at first rais'd and Concord preserves it Justice and Clemency keep it alive 't is the Care of others Safety its Spâ—rit consists in Unity of Religion its Increase Preservation or Ruin depends upon the Parts of which it is compos'd It admits of no Companion is expos'd to all Dangers In it more than any thing Fortune shews her Inconstancy 'T is liable to Envy and Emulation 't is in more danger in Prosperity than Adversity for then it lives in Security which creates Pride from whence proceeds its Ruin when young 't is weak and when old decrepid 't is as much in danger in continual Peace as in War It falls of its self when not exercis'd by foreign Arms and when it once begins to fall it cannot stop it self there is no Interval between its highest Elevation and its Ruin Emulation sometimes raises it and sometimes oppresses it If it be small it can't defend it self if great it can't govern it self it is better govern'd by Art than Force 't is fond of Novelties though they are its bane Vertue is its Health and Vice its Sickness Labour raises it and Idleness is its Ruin 't is fortified by Forts and Alliances and establish'd by Laws the Magistracy is its Heart Counsel its Eyes Arms its Hands and Riches its Feet This Harp is attended with a certain Majesty which is a Harmony springing from the strings of the People and approv'd by Heaven 1 1 Kings 2. 24. An Emblem of Power and Splendour of supream Jurisdiction a certain Force which draws Authority and Obedience to it the Safeguard and Preservation of the Government Opinion and Fame give it Life Love Security Fear Authority Ostentation Greatness Ceremony Reverence Severity Respect Pomp Esteem in Retirement the more venerable 't is in danger of Contempt and Hate It neither bears Equality nor Division for it consists in Admiration and Unity 't is constant in either Fortune Respect strengthens it Arms and the Laws maintain it it lasts not in Pride nor falls in Humility It lives by Prudence and Beneficence and dies by Force and Vice The strings of a Harp are the People which are naturally monstrous different from themselves inconstant and various govern'd by outward appearances without searching to the bottom of things they take Counsel of Report so void of means and reason that they cannot distinguish Truth from Falshood always prone to mischief The same minute of two contrary Affections by which they are always guided not by Reason by Violence not Prudence by the shadow not the reality Only to be tam'd by Punishment Their Flatteries are an aukward medly of Truth and Falsity they know no Medium they love or hate to Excess are extreamly Complaisant or extreamly Insolent either fear or frighten and when they fear are most contemptible Small Dangers at hand terrifie them strangely but great ones at a distance they are unconcern'd at If a Servant slavish if a Master haughty know not what Liberty is themselves and will not suffer it in others Bold
considering whether 't was grounded upon Reason or no. Whence 't is that Ministers are afraid of declaring their Opinions and let slip many Opportunities without advertising the Prince thereof for fear of exposing their Favour and Reputation to the uncertainty of Casualties These Inconveniences a Prince ought most industriously to avoid by persisting constant in Adversity and excusing their Ministers when they are not notoriously to blame that they may more readily and couragiously assist him in overcoming them And tho' there are palpable Errours in some Resolves and Executions yet he ought to bear it calmly for what is once done as we say can't be undone we ought to reflect upon past Actions for Instruction not Affliction it requires as much Courage to pass by Faults as to encounter Dangers there is no Empire free from ' em He who is too timorous cannot resolve and oftentimes Irresolution is worse than Errour it self Business requires a quick and ready Genius if each particular should take up his whole time many must of necessity be neglected to the utmost Detriment of the Parties concern'd and of the Government in general EMBLEM LXIV THE Ancients in War made use of certain Chariots arm'd with Scythes which mov'd and executed at the same time the Wheels and Scythes being both govern'd by the same Motion those were no sooner whirl'd about but these did Execution with equal Speed and Effect and are therefore in the present Figure the Emblem of speedy Execution as those fiery Wheels in the Throne of God signified the Activity of his Power and the Quickness of his Operation 1 Dan. 7. 9. Let Prudence as we said before chuse a fit time for Consultation but let its Resolves and Executions have such a mutual Correspondence as they may both seem to move together without any interpos'd Delay For Consultation and Execution should joyn hands that they may assist each other in the Production of the desir'd Effects 2 Priusquam incipias censulito ubi consâ—lueris mature facto opus â—st ita utrumque per se indigens alter alâ—â—â—ius auxilio viget Sallust The Emperour Charles V. us'd to say That delay was the Soul of Counsel and speed that of Execution and that both joyn'd together were the Quintessence of a Princes Prudence King Ferdinand the Catholick had not been so successful in his undertakings had he not maturely weigh'd and speedily executed his Resolutions Were a Prince indued with both these Vertues he would never want Success which is ever the Daughter of opportunity which once past is not to be recall'd One minute brings us great Advantage or great Detriment wherefore Demosthenes blam'd the Athenians for spending too much time in Preparations saying that Opportunities would not wait their Delays If the Counsel be advantageous that time which is spent in Delay deducts from its Advantage There is no room for Delay in Counsels which are not valuable but in their Effects 3 Nullus cunâ—â—ationi 〈◊〉 est in eo coâ—â—â—lie quod non pâ—test laudari nisi peractum Tac. 1. Hist Counsel is an Embryo and unless Execution which is the Soul thereof gives it Life it dies 'T is the Product of the Understanding and an Act of practick Prudence which if it exert not it self but remains in Contemplation 't is nothing but a vain Imagination and Fancy Resolution says Aristotle should be executed with haste but deliberated with leisure Iames I. King of England advised his Son to be prudent and cautious in his Deliberations firm and constant in his Resolutions and prompt and resolute in his Executions for that for this last Nature had supplyed the Hands and Feet with so many Joynts and such ready Motion Delay is base and mean but speed great and Royal. 4 Barbaris 〈…〉 statim exequi regium videtur Tac. 6 ann This Vice of Delay is very frequent in great Kingdoms and proceeds from their too great Confidence of their Power as was visible in the Emperour Otho 5 Quo plus virium ac roboris è fiducia tarditas inerat Tac. 2. Hist As also from the unweildiness of the Wheels upon which its Grandeur is carry'd and least the Prince should run the Risque of losing what he already has he lives content within the Bounds of his own Empire That which is really Laziness and Sloth is call'd Wisdom as was that of the Emperour Galba 6 Et motus temporum obtinuit ut quod segnities erat sapientiâ— vocaâ—etur Tac. 1. Hist Empires in their Infancy acquire Strength and Vigour by dispatch whilst the Blood boyls and the Spirits of Glory and Ambition are active The Roman State throve by Action and Bravery not by those Dilatory Counsels which Cowards call Cautions 7 Agendo audendoque res Romana crevit 〈◊〉 hic signibus consiliis quae timidi â—â—uta vocâ—nt Tit. Liv. But after they are at their full growth their very Majesty and Authority supports 'em long though that Vigour and heat of Glory and Ambition be extinguish'd as the Sea keeps its Motion for a considerable time after the Wind ceases When therefore Empires are in this Vigour I don't so much disapprove of these tedious Deliberations For so they gain more time to enjoy quietly what they have gotten too speedy Resolutions being often attended with Danger In this Sence that of Tacitus is to be understood that Power is better preserv'd by cautious than rash Counsels 8 Potentiâ—â— cautis quam acrioribus consiliis tutius haberi Tac. 11. ann But when this Age decays and the Esteem and Authority of the Empire begins to Flag other methods ought to be us'd Counsels should be speedy and other means apply'd to recover its former Vigour before decrepid old Age comes on and renders it irrecoverable this difference of Ages is not considerable in small States but they should always be ready to spread their Sails to every favourable Wind which sits sometimes this way sometimes that As in the Circumference of the Horizon the Winds rule alternatively upon the Earth the Goths and other Nothern Nations had formerly very favourable Winds of which they made so good use loosing all their Sails that they penetrated even to Hercules's Pillars the then utmost limits of the World but this Wind ceasing another succeeded more favourable to other Empires Constancy in executing Resolutions whether they are the Prince's own or given him by others is always of great Importance For want of this Paetus could not triumph over the Parthians 9 Eludi Parthus tractu belli poterat si Paeto aut in suis â—ut in 〈◊〉 consiliis constantia fuisset Tac. 15. ann All eager and fiery Spirits quickly resolve and soon repent they are hot at the beginning but cold in the end of Affairs they aim at all but bring nothing to Perfection they are like the Animal call'd Calipes which moâ—es with great haste but advances not a Foot in an hour The management of all Affairs
King Alphonso the Emperor was surpriz'd at the Splendour and Magnificence of that Court affirming That he had not seen the like in all that Part of Asia or Europe which he had travell'd through in his Voyage to the Holy Land Such was then â—he Grandeur of one King of Castile though distracted with Civil Wars and the greatest part of his Kingdom possess'd by the Moors There are some Authors affirm That there was in this Kingdom in the time of the Holy War against the Heathens a Rendezvouz of a Hundred Thousand Foot Ten Thousand Horse and Sixty Thousand Waggons and that King Alphonso III. daily paid both the Soldiers Captains and Generals according to their Office and Quality These vast Expences and Provisions which at present seem incredible the single Kingdom of Castile could afford nay and at the same time maintain'd a greater Number of Enemies without the Assistance of Foreign Riches until a certain Biscayner roving upon the Sea by fortune got a sight of this New World either unknown to or forgotten by the Ancients and preserv'd for the Honour of Columbus who after the Death of this Spaniard diligently considering the Observations that he the first Discoverer had made undertook to demonstrate the Discovery of the Provinces which Nature seem'd designedly to separate from us by Mountainous Waves He communicated this his Project to several Princes hoping by their Assistance to facilitate his great and difficult Enterprize But all slighted it as vain and notionary Which if they had done through Prudence and Caution and not Distrust and Misbelief they had merited the same Praise which Carthage gain'd of old which when some Sailors were boasting in the Senate of the Discovery of a wonderful Rich and Delicious Island supposed to be Hispaniola caus'd 'em immediately to be put to Death thinking the Discovery of such an Island would be of more Detriment than Advantage to the Commonwealth Columbus at last applies himself to Their Catholick Majesties Ferdinand and Isabella whose Generous Spirits capable of many Worlds could not be content with one alone So that having received necessary Assistance he put to Sea and after a tedious and hazardous Voyage in which he encounter'd as great Danger from the Diffidence of his Companions as from the Sea it self he at last return'd to Spain laden with Gold and Silver The People flock'd to the Shore of Guadalquivir to admire these precious Products of the Earth brought to light by the Indians and thither by the Valour and Industry of their Countrymen But this great Plenty of them soon perverted all Things the Husbandman soon leaves Plough gets into his Embroider'd Silks and begins to be more curious of his Tawny Sun-burnt Hands the Merchant steps from his Counter into his Sedan and lolls it lazily about the Streets Workmen disdain their Tools and all forsooth must now turn Gentlemen No Money is current now but Silver and Gold and our Coin being wholly unmix'd and pure is coveted and desired by all Nations Gold and Silver now growing common all Things raise their Price In fine It befel our Kings as it did the Emperor Nero whom a certain African put a Trick upon telling him in his Grounds he had found a vast Treasure which he believ'd Queen Dido had buried there either lest too much Riches should enervate the Minds of her Subjects or lest they should invite others to Invade her Kingdom Which the Emperor giving credit to and thinking himself already sure of the Treasure squander'd away the Old Stock upon the Hope of these New-found Riches The Expectation of Riches being the cause of the Publick Want 10 Et divitiarum expectatio inter causas paupertatis publicae erat Tac. 16. Annal. Cheated by the same Hopes we were persuaded that we had no more need of fix'd and standing Treasuries but think our Ships sufficient not considering that all our Power depends upon the Uncertainty of the Winds and Seas as Tiberius said the Lives of the Romans did because their Provisions were all brought them from Foreign Provinces 11 At hercule nemo refert quod Italia externâ—e opis indiget quòd vita populi Romani per incerta maris tempestatum quotidie vivitur Tac. 3. Annal. Which Hazard Aleto consider'd when dissuading Godfredo from going to the Holy Wars he said * Tasso Shall then your Life upon the Winds depend And as Mens Hopes are generally above their Estates 12 Sâ—epe enim de facultatibus suis amplius quam in his est sperant homines Justin. Instit. quibus ex causis man § in fraudem State and Pomp encreases the Salaries Wages and other Charges of the Crown are enlarged out of Confidence and Expectations of these Foreign Riches which being afterwards ill and negligently managed were not sufficient to defray such Expences and this made way for Debts and those for Usury and Interest Necessity daily encreas'd and occasion'd new Expences But nothing was so prejudicial to the Publick as the Alteration of the Coin which though not consider'd should be preserv'd in as much Purity as Religion it self the Kings Alphonso the Wise Alphonso XI and Henry II. who did offer to alter it endanger'd both themselves and Kingdoms and their Misfortunes ought to have been a Warning to us But when Ills are fatal neither Experience nor Example can move us King Philip II. deaf to all these Cautions doubled the Value of Copper Coin which was before convenient for common Use and answerable to bigger Money Foreigners coming to understand the Value that the Royal Stamp gave to this paultry Metal began to Traffick with nothing else bringing us in vast quantities of Copper ready Coin'd in Exchange for our Gold Silver and other Merchandise Which did us more Damage than if all the Monsters and venomous Serpents of Africa had been brought among us And the Spaniards who us'd to ridicule the Rhodians for their Copper Money became themselves the Jest and Laughing-stock of the whole World Trade was ruin'd by this troublesome scoundrel Metal all things grew dearer and by degrees scarcer as in the time of Alphonso the Wise. Buying and Selling ceas'd and at the same time the Revenues of the Crown were diminish'd so that new Impositions and Taxes were unavoidable whence for want of Commerce the Wealth of Castile was spent and the same Inconveniencies renew'd proceeding one from another in a pernicious Circle which will at last prove our Ruine unless a Remedy be timely apply'd by reducing that king of Money to its former and intrinsick Value Who would not think that this World must be subdu'd by the Riches and Wealth of the other And yet we see there were greater Exploits perform'd formerly by pure Valour than since by all these Riches as Tacitus observ'd in the time of Vitellius 13 Vires luxu corrumpebantur contra veterem disciplinam instituta majorum apud quos virtute quam pecunia res Rom. melius stetit Tac. 2. Hist.
One have requir'd a Right to be preserv'd defended and maintain'd by him which is inconsistent with the Division of the Empire And since this Right is Common and Universal it ought surely to be preferr'd to private Love and Paternal Affection or to Desire of making Peace among his Children by the Ruine of the Publick Besides instead of making them agree it arms 'em with Power to quarrel with one another about the Dividends which cannot be made so equal as to satisfie all Brothers would live much more quietly if their Maintenance should depend upon him who Commands in Chief for so each would receive a Revenue sufficient to support the Grandeur of his Birth Thus Iehosaphat did 4 2 Chron. 21. 3. There being no Occasion for that barbarous Custom of the Turks or that Impious Policy of some who think no Government firm and secure unless its Foundation be mix'd with the Blood of all such who have but the least Pretensions to it as if that like Cement or Mortar fasten'd the Stones of the Building For the said Reason almost all Nations preferr Succession to Election well knowing that an Interregnum is liable to Dissentions and Civil Wars and that 't is safer to accept a Prince than to seek one 5 Minori discrimine sumi principem quà m quaeri Tac. 1. Hist. Wherefore since Succession is best 't is most agreeable to follow the Course of Nature preferring him whom she first sent into the World so that neither Minority nor any other Natural Defect is a sufficient Objection to this Right especially when there are greater Inconveniencies attend the admittance of another of which the Scriptures afford us very many Examples There is the same Reason and Right for the Succession of Women to the Crown in default of Heirs Male for otherwise the Crown would be subject to Divisions by Collateral Pretensions And though the Salique Law under the Pretence of the Frailty and Imbecility of that Sex if it mayn't rather be call'd the Envy and Ambition of Men does contrary to the many glorious Examples of the Valour and Conduct of the Female Sex urge many Inconveniencies which may seem to exclude them from the Administration yet is there none so weighty as to balance the Advantage of preventing an Interregnum Nay there are strong Reasons why they ought to be admitted it preventing Pretensions and Civil Wars about the Succession And besides matching the Heiress to some Great Prince there acceeds a considerable Addition to the Crown as it happen'd to the Kingdom of Castile and the House of Austria If the above-mention'd Inconveniencies are ever of weight 't is in small Principalities where the Heiress marrying with other Princes the Family may become extinct and one State be confounded with the other EMBLEM LXXI WHAT does not Labour overcome It subdues Iron softens Brass draws out Gold into the finest Wire and cuts the hardest Diamonds A soft Rope does by continual Motion wear the Marble Edge of the Well By this Consideration St. Isidore when he apply'd himself to Study overcame the Dulness of his Genius What Fort was ever so strong as that Assiduity could not conquer it The continued Force of that Engine which the Ancients call'd a Ram would make a Breach in the thickest and strongest Walls And we see now a-days that Castles though defended by Artillery Walls Ramparts and Ditches are at last forced to yield to the Spade and Mattock No Difficulty retards or checks a Constant Spirit The Temple of Glory is not situated in a delightful Valley nor in a delicious Plain but upon a rugged Mountain's Top not to be arriv'd at but by rough uncouth Paths over-run with Thorns and Brambles The Temples of Minerva Mars and Hercules Deities glorious for their Vertue were not built of Corinthian or Carv'd Work finely imbellish'd with curious Engravings as were those of Flora and Venus but after the Dorick Fashion rough and unpolish'd Nor did the Cornices and Chapiters of the Pillars shew any thing but that they were built by Labour and Industry not by Luxury and Ease 'T was not the Ship Argos's lying at Anchor in Port that preferr'd it to the Skies but it s daring the Wind and Sea and resolutely exposing it self to all Dangers and Difficulties Never did any Prince Enlarge his Territories by Effeminacy Luxury and Ease Labour Traffick and Industry are necessary to all but to none more than to a Prince for others are born only for themselves but a Prince for All. A Kingdom is not an Office of Repose and Rest. Certain Courtiers once were discoursing before Alphonso King of Arragon and Naples against the necessity of a Prince taking Pains Do you think then says he that Nature gave Princes Hands to do nothing That wise Prince had doubtless considered the admirable Composure of them their Joins their Readiness to open and their Strength to hold and also their mutual Aptness to do whatever the Mind proposes being as it were the Instruments of all Arts Whence he concluded that this exquisite Structure was not accidental or merely for no Use but for Pains and Toil Labour and Industry The Prince whose Hands are careless and unclinched will soon drop his Sceptre and give his Courtiers opportunity of catching at it As it befell King Iohn II. who so wholly gave himself up to the Diversions of Poetry and Musick that he could not endure the Weight of Affairs and either carelesly transacted them himself or left 'em totally to the Management of his Ministers rather chusing this sottish Ease than the glorious Labour of Government not at all regarding the Examples of his Heroick Predecessors So we often find that the Vertue and ardent Courage of Ancestors is wholly extinguish'd in their Posterity by the Luxury and Voluptuousness of Empire and so the Race of great Princes becomes degenerate as we see in Horses when they are remov'd from a dry and lean Pasture into one too fat and fertile This Consideration mov'd Frederick King of Naples upon his Death-bed to write to his Son the Duke of Calabria to inure his Body to Military Exercise and not suffer himself to be debauch'd by Pleasures nor vanquish'd by Difficulties and Dangers * Mar. Hist. Hisp. l. 28. 11. Labour and Employment is as it were the Anchor of the Mind without which it would be toss'd about with the Waves of Passion and dash'd to pieces upon the Rocks of Vice God enjoyn'd Labour to Man as a Punishment yet so as it might be at the same time the Means of his Quiet and Prosperity 1 Gen. 3. 19. Those Foundations and noble Superstructures of the Monarchies of the Medes Assyrians Greeks and Romans were not founded by Sloth and Laziness but by Toil and Labour It was that which so long supported their Grandeur 't is this which still preserves Oeconomies in Kingdoms For since it partly depends upon the mutual Assistance of Peoples Labours when they flag all those Conveniencies at the
same time cease which oblig'd Men to Society and Order of Government Divine Wisdom proposes the Example of the Ant to instruct Men in their Duty for that with great Care and Prudence lays up a Store in the Summer to supply its Necessity in Winter 2 Prov. 6. 6. Let Princes learn from this little prudent Animal timely to provide their Cities Forts and Garrisons with Necessaries and to make Preparations in the Winter to meet the Enemy in the Spring Nor is the Commonwealth of Bees less assiduous than these you shall never find them idle but continually employ'd both within and without their little Cells the Diligence of each causes the Prosperity of all And if the Labour of these little Animals can enrich the whole World with Honey and Wax What would a Kingdom do in which all the People should be equally Industrious For this Reason in China tho' it be so Populous that it reckons Seventy Millions of Inhabitants they all live in the greatest Affluence and Plenty there being none among them but exercises some Trade The Scarcity of things in Spain proceeds from the want of this not from the Infertility of the Soil for in the Countries of Muroia and Carthagena Wheat returns a hundred Corns for one and might thereby sustain a War for many Ages But this Misfortune arrives from the neglect of Husbandry Trades Business and Commerce the People even the meanest of them being so excessive proud that they can't be content with what Lot Nature has given them but aspire to something greater loathing those Employments which are not agreeable to their affected Grandeur The Reason of which seems to be that the Bounds between the Nobility and the Commonalty are not so well distinguish'd with us as in Germany But as Noble and Well-employ'd Labour is Advantageous that which is Nice and Superfluous is Prejudicial For Mens Minds are not less effeminated by soft and easie Employments than by Idleness Wherefore the Prince ought to take particular care to employ his Subjects in such Arts as tend to the Defence and Preservation of the State not to Luxury and Debauchery How many Hands are vainly wearied in adorning one Finger and how few in the Necessities of the Body How many are employed in making Conveniencies for Pleasure and Recreation and how few in making necessary Works for the Defence of Cities How many in Gardening and forming curious Figures in Box or Myrtle and how few in Agriculture Whence we see Kingdoms abound so much in superfluous Trifles and want those things which are most necessary Since therefore Labour is so conducive to the Preservation of a State the Prince ought to take care that it be continual and not be hindred by too great a number of Holy-Days such as the People through a kind of Pious Levity dedicate to Divine Worship For Experience shews us that such are more employ'd in profane Games and Sports than Religious Exercise But if Labourers would spend those Days as we read St. Isidore of Madrid did 't were to be hop'd that the Time would not be lost and that Angels would descend and hold the Plough But Experience has taught us the contrary One Holy-day in which all Arts and Trade ceases is more considerable than any Tax and as St. Chrysostom says Saints take no delight in being worshipp'd at the Expence of the Poor 3 Non gaudent Martyres quando exillis pecuniis honorantur in quibus pauperes plorant St. Chrysoft sup Matth. So that Holy-Days and Working-Days should be so divided as that those might not hinder the other 4 Oportere dividi sacros negotiosos dies quibus diviâ—a colerentur humana non impedirent Tac. 13. Annal. And it was argued in the Council of Mentz in the time of Pope Leo III. whether 't was not better either to reduce them to a less Number or else to transferr some of them to the next Sundays Though generally the End of all Actions is Rest yet 't is otherwise in those which belong to Government For 't is not sufficient for Princes and States to labour but their Labour must also be continual One Hour's Negligence in a Garrison frustrates the Care and Vigilance of many Months The Roman Empire which had been supported by the Labour and Valour of Six Ages was ruin'd by the Negligence of a few Months Spain would scarce repair the Loss in Eight Year which it sustain'd in Eight Months There should be no Interposition of Idleness between the Acquisition and Preservation of Empires The Husbandman has no sooner got his Harvest into the Barn but he immediately goes to Plough again his Labours never end but continually renew If he should rely upon his Grainery and leave his Lands untill'd he would soon find one empty and the other over-run with Weeds and Bryers But there is this difference between the Husbandman and the Prince That he has his Set-times of Sowing and Reaping but the Prince has not For in Government all Months are Septembers to Sow and Augusts to Reap in Let not a Prince believe that the Pains and Labours of his Ancestors excuse him for this Motion must be continual And as declining things surely fall unless supported by some new Force so do Empires unless sustain'd by the Strength of the Successor This is the Cause as we have observ'd of the Ruines of all Kingdoms When any Monarchy shall be once instituted and founded it should ne'er be idle but should imitate Heaven whose Orbs continue their Motion from their first Creation and if they should once stop the Generation and Production of all Things would cease The Exercise of States should be always continual and vigorous and not be corrupted by Idleness or Intermission as we see the Sea if not agitated by the Winds is kept in Motion by its Tides Citizens who carelesly give themselves up to Pleasure and Luxury without ever moving their Hands to Work or Labour are their own greatest Enemies Such Idleness plots against the Laws and Government and is nourish'd by Vice from whence proceeds all the Internal and External Misfortunes of States That Repose only is commendable and beneficial which is the Gift of Peace and which is employ'd in Trade and Employments and Exercises Military and Civil by which all enjoy a serene peaceable and secure Tranquility EMBLEM LXXII THE Steel would lost its Spring and the String its Force if a Bow were always bent Labour is necessary and beneficial but cannot continue without some intermission The Yoke does not always hang upon the Oxe's Neck The Force and Vigour of Things consists in Vicissitude From Motion comes Rest and from thence Motion again 1 Nostram omnem vitam in remissionem atque studium esse divisâ—â— Plat. de lib. Educat Nothing says the wise Alphonso can continue long which takes no Respite Even Land must be Fallowed that it may afterwards brings better Crops Vertue is refresh'd and strengthned by Rest
for God before their Prince As also when the Prince's Commands are prejudicial to his Patrimony or Reputation or inconsistent with good Government and depend upon the knowledge of some particular Matters of Fact or lastly when Distance or other Accidents shall seem to have made such an Alteration in the state of Affairs that it may be probably gather'd that had the Prince known these before he would not have given those Orders in this Case provided however there be no other considerable Danger in Delaying they may be deferred and excepted against modestly however and with all the Respect due to his Authority and Judgment with this Hope at least that upon better Information he may Command what is more proper to be done Thus the Great Captain did when contrary to the Orders of Ferdinand the Catholick he stay'd at Naples with his Army considering with what Impatience the Italian Princes expected the Result of the Interview between the two Kings Ferdinand and his Son-in-Law Philip I. and what a desperate Condition the Affairs of Naples would be in if he abandon'd them at that Juncture For all this if the Minister know his Prince to be so great a Lover of his own Counsels as rather to do amiss than admit of Instruction he may hold his Tongue and Dissemble for it were downright Folly for him to expose himself to Danger without hopes of a Remedy Corbulo was already engaged in some considerable Enterprize but the Emperor having Commanded him to desist he retir'd For tho' he knew those Orders were unadvisedly given yet he would not ruine himself by Disobeying them 10 Iam castra in hostili loco moliebatur Corbulo acceptis tamen à 〈◊〉 Imperatore literis quibus se recipere jubebatur re subita quanquam 〈◊〉 simul offenderentur metus ex Imperatore contemptus ex Barbaris 〈◊〉 brium apud socios nihil aliud prolocutus quam â—eatos quosâ—am Duces 〈◊〉 fignum recepâ—ui dedit Tac. l. 11. Annal. No Orders require so punctual Observance in the Minister as those which relate to Matters of State In this Case unless the above-mention'd Circumstances occurr or there be otherwise any considerable evident Danger in the Execution he is implicitly to Obey without giving any heed to his private Opinion and Argâ—ments For the Designs of Princes are often too deeply rooted to be penetrated by the Minister or rather they would not have him dive into them and therefore he should side with the Prince's Commands and presume upon his Prudence that so it ought to be Hence Dolabella when Commanded by Tiberius to bring the Ninth Legion out of Germany readily Obeyed although he wanted not Reasons to the contrary 11 Iussa Principis magis quam incerta belli metuens Tac. l. 4. Annal. If every one had liberty to canvas and examine what is enjoined all things would be confounded and infinite Opportunities lost A Kingdom as has been said elsewhere is like a Musical Instrument whose Strings the Prince tunes who runs them all over with his Fingers whereas the Minister touches only one and not hearing the rest sound cannot know whether it be too high or too low and would very easily be mistaken if he went to set it according to his own Fancy The Count de Fuentes by the liberty of his Years Zeal Services and Experiences crowned with so many signal Trophies and Victories gave him sometimes while he governed the State of Milan suspended his Obedience to King Philip the Third's Orders because he â—udged them improper and to proceed rather from the Self-Interest or Ignorance of his Ministers than his own Mind Which Example many afterwards have followed to the great prejudice of the Publick Repose and Regal Authority It would be of very ill Consequence for Ministers to be always allow'd to question whether what is Commanded be the Prince's Will or not an Abuse which usually has its first Rise from their knowing it not to be his own Hand that proportions and polishes the Stones designed for the Edifice of Government But suppose it be another's yet due Honour and submission ought to be paid to the Commands no less than if they came from his own Will and Judgment or else there would be nothing but Confusion and Disorder Zealous and Prudent Obedience reverences the bare Hand and Seal of its Sovereign But if Princes are too remote and there is Danger of their Orders coming too late even after the Event or that variety of Accidents particularly in Affairs of War may not allow Time for Deliberation and there be certain Intelligence that the Opportunity will be in the mean time lost it will be Prudence to give full Power of Acting as Occasion shall require lest that happen which befell Vespasian in the Civil War with Vitellius when Distance of Place made the Counsels come after the Events To avoid which Inconveniency Tiberius upon sending Drusus to Command the German Legions joined with him some Prudent and Experienc'd Counsellors whom he might Consult as Occasion required but a full Power to Act as he saw Opportunity When Helvidius Priscus was sent into Armenia he had a Commission to Act as he saw Occasion Inâ—fine this was the usual Practice of the Roman Senate to leave all to the Discretion and Conduct of their Commanders and to recommend nothing in particular to them but only all possible Care that the Commonwealth suffer'd no Damage An Example the Republicks of Venice and Florence are far from imitating who unwilling to let their Liberty lie at the Mercy of one Man restrain the Power of their Generals being forewarned by the Example of Augustus who turned the Arms upon the Commonwealth which he had taken up in its Defence against Mark Anthony This Freedom of Power the Ministers who are near the King's Person are wont to limit to encrease their own and render it necessary for all to pass through their Hands Whence it is that so much Time is spent in Deliberating and that Resolutions are taken too late to be executed or at least to have the Success that might be expected from them and consequently the Charges and Pains in Preventing is utterly thrown away It happens also sometimes that while there passes so great a Space of Time between the Accidents themselves and their being known and examined fresh Advice is brought of the State of Affairs with new Circumstances which make it necessary to alter the former Orders and after this manner Days and Years slide away without any Effect either of Resolution or Action EMBLEM LXXXI THE Forces of all Powers are limited those of Ambition alone the common Vice of Humane Nature infinite This the more it has the more it desires to have or rather is a kind of fiery Appetite by the Heart exhaled which draws Strength and Encrease from the very Matter it is apply'd to This Failing is greater in Princes than in other Men for to the Desire of Getting is joined that Glory of Commanding
to Dissemble or Punish with Rigour The prudentest Counsel certainly in the World For the Common People can never keep a Medium between two Extremes but always exceed in the one or the other 5 Alâ—i fortioribus remediis agendum nihil in vulgo modicum terrere ni paveam ubi pertimuerint impunè contemni Tac. 1. Annal. If the Matter require Expedition it is certain Ruine not to venture enough or not to use sufficient Precaution as it happened to Valens who wavering between the Counsels that were given him could not come to any determinate Resolution 6 Mox utrumque consilium aspernatur quod inter ancipitia deterrimum est dum media se quitur nec ausus est satis nec providit Id. l. 3. Hist. In Affairs of War Fear would sometimes appear prudent and to that end suggests Moderate Resolutions which serve but to encourage the Enemy and give him Time to look about him As King Iohn I. found who pretending the Crown of Portugal was devolved on him by the Death of Ferdinand his Father-in-Law resolved to enter that Kingdom alone and to have his Army follow whence the Portuguese gained Time to take up Arms in the interim which had never been done had he immediately fell upon them but he to avoid War left his Right to the Decision of Justice Threats signifie little if the Hand lifted up have no Weapon in it and do not sometimes punish Disobedience in earnest The Hastiness of the French makes them regard neither the past nor present Time and through the Heat of their Minds they are too adventurous and too precipitous in their Resolutions However this very thing oftentimes gives Success to them for by this means they avoid Luke-warmness and dispatch every thing in a trice The Spaniards on the other side are Dilatory that they may by long and much Consideration proceed with more Caution and out of an Affectation of Prudence use to Hesitate nay while they take Time to Consult lose the Opportunity of Execution The Italians know better how to make their Advantage both of the one and the other using the Opportunities as they present themselves Not like the Germans who are slow in Resolving lazy in Executing and consult only the present Time without any regard to the past or future Their Minds change with Events which is the reason they have so little advanced their Fortune it being otherwise a Nation which considering its innate Courage might extend its Dominions far and near To the same Cause may be ascribed the long Continuance of the Civil Wars the Empire is harrass'd with at this day which undoubtedly by resolute Counsel and Expedition might have been laid asleep long ago whereas by slow Counsels which yet pass'd for Prudent we have seen vast Armies upon the Rhine which might have made way even into France and forced it to an Universal Peace a thing has done them more prejudice than if they had lost several Battels For there can be no greater Overthrow than for an Army insensibly to waste and perish within it self It is this has made Havock of their own Country and the Places adjacent through which War ought to be carried when now its Seat is in the very Heart of Germany In all other Affairs of Civil Government Middle-Counsels may have place because of the Danger of Extremes and because it is of great Importance ever to take away from which you may afterwards in case of Necessity come to any one of the two with the less inconvenience Between these two Extremes the Ancients placed Prudence represented by the flight of Daedalus who came neither too near the Sun nor too near the Sea lest the excessive Heat of the one should melt or the Moisture of the other wet his Wings Iâ— Countries whose Inhabitants are not of a Servile Nature but of a Polite Genius and Generous Spirit the Reins of the People ought to be govern'd with so much Caution and Address that neither too much Indulgence shall breed Arrogance nor too much Rigour Aversion It is equally dangerous to curb them with Bits and Barnacles and turn them loose without a Bridle for they can neither endure all Liberty nor all Slavery as Galba told Piso of the 7 Neque enim hic aut in caeteris gentibus quae regnantur certa Dominorum Domus caeteri servi sed imâ—eraturus es hominibus qui neâ—â—otam servitutem pati possunt nec totam libertatem Tac. l. 1. Hist. Romans Always to execute Power is to wear out the Chain of Servitude 'T is a kind of Tyranny to go about to reduce Subjects to the model of an absolute Perfect State in that the Condition of Humane Nature admits not of it It is not necessary for a Government to be such as it ought to be but as it is capable of being for all things that are expedient are not possible to Humane Infirmity It is an Absurdity to wish there may be no Defect at all in a Common-wealth There will be Vices as long as there be Men. Excess of Zeal is the Spring of many Mistakes in Governors in not knowing how to conform to Prudence The same is Ambition when Princes affect to pass for Severe and imagining their Reputation consists in Ruling their Subjects so that they shall never in the least degree swerve from Reason and the Laws 'T is a dangerous Strictness which consults not the ordinary Passions of the Vulgar Open Address prevails more than Power Example and Complacency than Inhuman Severity Let the Prince therefore rather make believe he finds his Subjects good than value himself upon making them so which Tacitus commends Agricola for in his Government of Britain 8 Maluit videri invenisse bonos quam fecisse Tacit. in Vit. Agric. Let him not suffer himself to be deceived in the past Times so as to wish he could see those Good Manners he fancies were in those Days For Malice was ever the same in all Times but 't is a fault of our corrupt Nature always to like the Past better than the Present 9 Laudamus veteres praesentes carpimus annos Besides granting that Severity and Obedience were greater formerly yet this Age will not bear it if those Ancient Manners are alter'd in it This Mistake cost Galba both his Life and Empire 10 Nocuit antiquâ—s rigor nimia severitas cui pares non sumus Tac. l. 1. Hist. EMBLEM LXXXVI MAN's Mind has not been satisfy'd with the Speculation of Terrestrial Things but impatient that the Knowledge of the Heavens should be deferred so long as till after Death has broke the Prison of the Body and soar'd above the very Elements to find out by Reasoning what it could not by Touching Sight and Hearing and to this end hath form'd in Imagination an Idea of that most Beautiful Fabrick contriving a Sphere with such various Circles Equations and Epicycles as aptly represent the several Motions of the Planets
Care of the Publick Repose has raised the Walls of Cities so much above the reach of Men that they might not scale them but however many Soldiers at once closing their Shields and mutually joining and agreeing to lift one another up have got above their Battlements and stormed them All the Works of Nature are preserved by Amity and Concord and when this fails they decay and die The cause of Death being no other than a Discord of the Part whereon Life depends The very same happens in Commonwealths as common Consent made them a Society so a Dissention between the greatest or most powerful part dissolves again and dissociates or else new models them That City which by Concord was but one without it becomes two nay sometimes three or four for want of that Body of Love whereby its Inhabitants made one Body This Division engenders Hatred whence Revenge arises and from that a disrespect of Laws without the Authority of which Justice loses its force and where that fails Arms are taken up and a Civil War breaking out the Order of the State which wholly consists in Unity is confounded 2 Wisdom 18. 9. The Bees no sooner fall out but their Commonwealth is destroyed The Ancients to represent Discord painted a Woman tearing her Cloaths Et scissâ gaudens vadit discordia pallâ * Virg Now if it has the same effect between Citizens how will they be able to unite for their Common Defence and Interest How will they have God on their side who is Peace it self and so great a Lover of it that as Iob says with it he maintains his Heavenly Monarchy 3 He maketh peace in high-places Plato used to say Nothing was so pernicious to Commonwealths as Division Concord is the Ornament of a City its Walls and Guard even Malice it self cannot stand long without it Domestick Dissentions are so many Victories for the Enemy 4 Nostris illi dissentionibus discordiis clari vitia â—ostium in gloriaâ— exercitus sui vertunt Tac. in Vit. Agâ—ic as those of the Britains Galgacus said were to the Romans 5 Conversis ad civile bellum animis externa sine cura â—abentur Tac. Hist. l. 1. But notwithstanding these and other Reasons some Politicians assert That it is necessary for the Preservation of a State to sow Discords among the People and to this end alledges for an Example the Bees in whose Hives is always heard a kind of Murmurring and Dissention But alas this is so far from strengthning that it rather overthrows their Opinion for that Humming is not a Dissonance as I may say of Wills but a Harmony of Voices whereby these Creatures as it were encourage and stir up each other to the Labours of making Honey as Mariners do when they Hoise Sail. Nor is the Argument drawn from the contrariety of the four Humours in living Bodies of any force for 't is rather from this Conflict of theirs that proceed Diseases and Shortness of Life that which is Prdominant at last getting the Victory Hence Vegetables because without that contrariety endure longer What differs from and is at variance with it self must of necessity suffer and what suffers can never be lasting Who when a Republick is divided can keep the Flame of Dissentions within certain Bounds Who will afterwards quench it when All are involved in them The more Powerful Faction will now oppress the Weaker and that to Defend this to Revenge it self make use of Foreign Forces and so enslave the Commonwealth or else introduce a new Form of Government which will almost always be Tyrannical as several Instances witness It is not the Prince's Duty to distract the Minds of his Subjects but rather to keep them loving and amicable and besides 't is impossible they should conspire to love and obey him who are divided amongst themselves or consider not whence their Evil comes As often therefore as the Prince himself is the cause of Discord Divine Providence as it abominably 6 And a seventh doth my heart abhorr he that soweth discord among brethren Prov. 6. 14. detests it permits those very Means he thought to preserve himself by to be the Instruments of his Ruine For when the Parties come to know it they despise and abhorr him as the first Author and Promoter of their Differences King Italus gained the Affection and Applause of the Germans by never fomenting Dissentions and carrying himself alike to all For these then and such like Reasons the Prince should beware of letting Discords take root and rather strive to encourage the Union of his State which will easily be maintained if he look carefully to the Observance of the Laws the Unity of Religion Plenty of Corn and Provision to the equal Distribution of Favours and Gratuities to the Maintaining of Privileges if he take care that the Common People be employed in Mechanick Arts the Nobility in Publick Government Arms and Literature to prohibit Cabals and Clandestine Meetings to keep the Great Ones Frugal and Modest and the Inferiours Peaceable to restrain Privileged Persons and those who pretend to be exempt from Duties in a word if he see that Riches be reduced to a Mediocrity and Poverty remedied For from the Reformation and Regulating these results good Government and where that is there Peace and Concord ever flourish There is but one Case wherein it seems convenient and warrantable to kindle Discords in Kingdoms and that is when they are already troubled with Seditions and Intestine Broils for then to distract them into Factions will be a means to weaken the Power of the Bad the only end in that being to render Peace to the Good And it is a piece of Self-Preservation not to let Disturbers be at quiet inasmuch as the Concord of Ill Men is to the Prejudice of the Good as 't is to be wish'd that these may live Peaceably so it is that those may be in Discord For Good Men always come by the worst when Bad Men are united 7 Concordiâ— malorum contraria est bonorum sicut optandum est ut boni pacem habeant ad invicem ita optandum est ut mali sint discordes Impeditur enim iter bono um si unitas non dividatur malorum S. Isid. The Discord we condemn as pernicious to Common-wealths is that which arises from Hatred and Enmity not that Contention which has place between several Conditions and Members of the same Commonwealth as between the Lords and Commons the Soldiers and Tradesmen For that Contrariety or rather Emulation by the very diversity of Natures and Ends keeps up a Distinction in the Degrees and Spheres of the State and supports it nor are there Seditions but when the States combine together and make every private Person 's the Common Interest just as from the commixtion of the Elements and the meeting of Rivers and Streams proceed Storms and Inundations It concerns the Prince therefore to employ all his Care
whereon Life depends If what Timorousness and Solicitude spends Abroad to keep the Monarchy in Security Prudence would lay out at Home in maintaining Forces both by Sea and Land in Fortifying and Garrisoning Strong Holds Forts and Cities the remote Provinces would be abundantly more safe and if any one should be lost it might easily be recovered by the Forces within Rome was able to defend it self and even to retake all that Hannibal had gotten from them nay even to overthrow Carthage it self by keeping all its Wealth and Strength within the Bowels of the Commonwealth Not that I say this with a desire to persuade Princes always to refuse their Money to their Friends and Neighbours but only that they might be very careful how they lay it out and rather assist them with Men than Money for this stays with them that receiv'd it whereas those return to him who sent them And this is to be understood when there is no danger of engaging themselves in the War by drawing it into their own States or of getting their Friend greater Enemies as also when it is more Expensive and liable to more Inconveniences to aid with Money than Arms For one of the two ways State-Interest absolutely requires us to defend a neighbouring Prince as often as our Fortune is inseparably joined with his it being prudenter to carry on a War in another's State than to feed it in the very Heart of our own Thus of old it was the peculiar way of the Romans to make War far from Home and by the Fortresses of the Empire to defend the Fortunes of their Allies 11 Fuit proprium populi Romani longè à domo bellare proâ—ugnaculiâ— Imperii sociorum fortunas non sua tecta defendere Cic. pro leg Man not their own Houses And this we ought to have learn'd from that Government that we might not be forced to lament at this day so many Calamities 'T is this Policy rather than Ambition that has moved the Swiss-Cantons to undertake the Protection of some People for though they were sensible this could not be done without great Charges and the running the Risque of their own Defence yet they thought it more their Interest to keep the War out of their own Territories The Confines of a neighbouring State are the Walls of our own and as such to be guarded with all the Care imaginable EMBLEM XCII EVen the Feathers of Birds are in danger when too near those of the Eagle in that these by that natural Antipathy surviving in them which is between the Eagle and the other Birds corrode and destroy them 1 Plin. l. 10. c. 3. Ael l. 9. c. 11. de Animal Thus Protection changes into Tyranny A Superiour Power observes no Laws Ambition no Respect What was committed to its Trust it afterwards detains as its own under colour of Self-Preservation Petty Princes think to secure their States by Foreign Aids and utterly ruine them They fall a Prey both to Friend and Enemy the former being no less dangerous from Confidence than the latter from Hatred With a Friend we live secure without the least Fear or Precaution so that he may easily strike us without any Danger on his side Upon this Reason I conceive was founded that Law which commanded the Oxe that had gored any one to be stoned 2 If an oxe gore a man or a woman and they die the oxe shall be sâ—rely stoned Exod. 21. 28. but says nothing of the Bull because we trust the Oxe more as being a Domestick Animal we every day make use of Ambition creeps in under the pretext of Friendship and Protection and that by their means is easily obtained which never could have been by Force With what specious Names did the Romans mask their Tyranny when they received the People of other Nations for Citizens Friends and Allies They admitted the Albani into their Common-wealth peopling it with those who before were Enemies The Sabines they made Free of their City and abundance of Countries called them to their Aid against their Enemies as the Protectors of their Liberties and Privileges and the Universal Arbitrators of Justice Thus they who of themselves could not have 〈◊〉 one Foot of Ground by the Ignorance of others extended their Dominions far and near At first they exacted but moderate Tributes of those Nations thus disguising their Treachery under the Appearance of Morality But when that Imperial Eagle had spread its Wings wider over the three Parts of the World Europe Asia and Africa she whet her Beak upon Ambition and discovered the Claws of her Tyranny The People then found their Confidence was miserably deluded and the Feathers of their Power destroyed under those of the Oppression of Taxes and the loss of their Liberty and Privileges and now the Tyranny was grown powerful could neither recover themselves again nor re-establish their Forces And to the end the Venom might turn into Nature the Romans invented Colonies and introduced the Latin Tongue thus to efface the Distinction of Nations and leave the Romans alone to enjoy the Empire of all This was that Eagle in Ezekiel's Vision with great Wings and many Feathers 3 And there was also another Eagle with great wings and many feathers c. Ezek. 17. 7. or as the Septuagint has it many Talons because such were its Feathers How often do Men think they stand under the one when they are really under the other How often do they think themselves covered with the Lily when stuck so fast amidst Thorns and Briars that they can't escape without tearing their Cloaths The City of Pisa put their Rights and Pretensions against the Republick of Florence under the Protection of Ferdinand the Catholick and the King of France and both agreed to deliver it to the Florentines under the pretence of the Repose of Italy Lewis Sforza employed the Assistance of the French against his Nephew Iohn Galeas and they having divested him of the Dutchy of Milan carried him Prisoner into France But what need is there to look so far for Examples Let the Duke of Mantua 〈◊〉 how dear another's Protection has cost him Let 〈◊〉 Elector of Treves and the Grisons say whether they have â—â—eserved their Liberty by admitting Foreign Armies into their States for their Defence and Protection Let Germany tell us how it finds it self under the Patronage of Sweden now the noble Circles of its Provinces heretofore the Splendour and Support of the Imperial Diadem are divided and broken now those sparkling Diamonds the Cities of the Empire its ancient Ornament are sullied and unset the Orders of its States overthrown and confounded the Harmony of its Politick Government destroyed its ancient Nobility stript and impoverished that of all its Provinces which knew best how to assert its Liberty now without the least appearance of it is trampled under foot and laid waste by the Fire and Sword of Foreign Nations and exposed to the Will of a thousand
to impose In the Heat of Arms when Success is yet dubious to shew a Desire of Peace betrays weakness and gives Heart to the Enemy He that is too passionate for it at such a time never obtains it Valour and Resolutions are much better Persuasives to it Let the Prince then love Peace yet not to that degree as to commit Inâ—ustice or suffer Indignities for the sake of it Let â—im not look on that he has made with a Neighbour superiour in Strength to be safe for it can never be where the one is powerful the other weak 11 Quia inter innocentes validos â—also quâ—escunt Tac. de Mor. â—â—rm Ambition knows not how to contain it self where â—here is a prospect of Usurping any thing and specious Names and Pretexts of Moderation and Justice are never wanting to him that seeks to enlarge his Doâ—inions and aspires to be a Monarch For one who is so already aims at nothing more than the Enjoyment of his own Grandeur without going to intrench â—pon that of another or designing any thing against it 12 Vbi manu agitur modestia ac probitas nomina 〈◊〉 sunt Tac. ibid. EMBLEM XCIX HE knows not how to value the Quietness of the Harbour who has not felt the Storm nor is he sensible of the sweetness of Peace that has never tasted the bitterness of War Then first this wild Beast the sworn Enemy of Life appears in its true Colours when it is tamed To that agrees Samson 's Riddle of the dead Lion in whose Mouth Bees swarmed and wrought their Honey-Combs 1 And behold there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carkass of the lion Iudg. 14. 8. For when War is ended Peace opens the Doors of Commerce brings the Hand to the Plough re-establishes the Exercise of Arts the effect of which is Plenty as of that Riches which freed from the Fears that drove them away then begin to circulate Peace then as Isaiah the Prophet speaks 2 Lord thou wilâ— ordain Peace â—or us for thou hast wrought all our works in us Isai. 26. 12. is the greatest Good that God has bestowed on Mankind as War the greatest Evil. Hence the Egyptians to describe Peace represented Pluto the God of Riches as a Boy crowned with Ears of Corn Laurel and Roses to signifie all the Happiness it brings along with it God has given it the Name of Beauty in Isaiah saying his People should take their Rest in it as upon a Bed of Flowers 3 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places Isai. 32. 18. Et sedebit popâ—lâ—s 〈◊〉 in pulcâ—ritudine pacis Vulg. Even the most insensible Beings rejoyce at Peace How chearful how fertile do the Fields look which that cultivates How beautiful the Cities adorned and enriched by its Calmness On the other side what Desarts what ruinous Countries are not those where the Fury of War has ranged Scarce can one know now the fair Cities and Castles of Germany by those disfigured Carkasses Burgundy sees its Verdant Perriwig as I may call it dy'd in Blood and its Cloaths once so gay and fine now ragged and scorch'd up with amazement at so wonderful a Change Nature has no greater Enemy than War He who was the Author of the whole Creation was at the same time Author of Peace Justice gives it self up to its Embraces 4 Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other Psal. 85. 10. Laws tremble hide themselves and are dumb at the frightful sight of Weapons Hence Marius excuses himself for having done something against the Laws of the Country by saying he could not hear them for the Noise of Arms. In War it is equally unfortunate to good Men to kill and to be kill'd 5 Aequè apud bonos miserum est occidere quam perire Tac. Hist. l. 1. In War Fathers by a subversion of the Order of Mortality bury their Children whereas in Peace these bury them Here every one's Merit is considered and Causes examined In War Innocence and Malice run the same Fortune 6 Nam iâ— pace causas merita spectari ubi bellum ingruaâ— innocentes a noxios juxta caâ—dere Tac. Annal. l. 1. In Peace Nobility is distinguisht from Populacy In War they are confounded the Weaker obeying the Stronger In that Religion is 〈◊〉 in this lost that maintains this usurps Dominions the one breaks the haughty Spirits of Subjects and renders them Submissive and Loyal 7 Sed longa pax ad 〈◊〉 servitium fregerat Tac. Hist. l. 2. the other makes them haughty and rebellious This made Tiberius fear nothing so much as disturbing the Repose Augustus had left in the Empire 8 Niâ—il aque Tiberium 〈◊〉 habebat quam ne composita turbarentur Tac. Annal. l. 2. With Peace Delights and Pleasures encrease and the greater these are the weaker are Subjects and more secure 9 Quantâ pecuniâ dites voluptatibus opulentos tanto magis imbelles Tac. Annal. l. 3. In Peace all depends on the Prince himself in War on him that has the Command of the Armies Hence Tiberius dissembled all Occasions of War that he might not commit it to the Management of another 10 Dissimulante Tiberio damna ne cui bellum permitteret Tac. Annal. l. 4. Pomponius Laetus well knew all these Inconveniencies when he said That while the Prince could live in Peace he should by no means kindle War The Emperor Marcianus used this Motto Pax bello potior and certainly not without Reason forasmuch as War can never be convenient unless carried on to maintain Peace This is the only Good that Infernal Monster brings with it That of the Emperor Aurelius Caracalla Omnis in ferro salus was a Tyrannical Saying and fit for that Prince only who cannot maintain himself but by Force That Empire is of a short continuance whose support is War 11 Violentia nemo imperia continuit diu â—â—derata durant Seneca As long as the Sword is by the Side Danger is so too and though Victory be in one's Power yet Peace is rather to be embraced for there is none so happy but the Damage that attends it is greater Peace is the greatest Treasure Man e'er knew A Thousand Triumphs to it seem but few * Sil. Ital. No Victory can make amends for the Expences of it So mischievous is War that even when triumphant it throws down Walls as it was the Custom among the Romans Now then we have conducted our Prince amidst Dust and Blood and thus seated him in the quiet happy state of Peace our next Advice is That he do his utmost to preserve it and enjoy the happiness thereof without imbittering it with the Perils and Calamities of War David never took up Arms but when indispensibly obliged The Emperor Theodosius did not seek but rather found War It is a Glorious and Princely Care that of procuring
Peace Now Caesar 's Grandeur Caesar 's Glories reign His Conqu'ring Arm sheathing his Sword again * Propert. Nothing in the World is more an Enemy to Possession than War It is a wicked as well as foolish Doctrine which teaches that Seeds of Hatred should be nourished that Matter for War may be furnished whenever it shall be thought fit 12 Semina odiorum jacienda omne scelus externum habendum cum laetitia Tac. Annal. l. 12. He always lives in War who has it always in his Thoughts The Advice of the Holy Spirit is much more wholsom Seek Peace and pursue it 13 Psal. 34. 14. When a Peace is once Concluded the Laws of God and Man oblige to a faithful Observance of it even although transacted with one's Predecessors without any Distinction between the Government of One and Many both the Kingdom and Commonwealth for the Benefit and upon the Faith of which the Contract was made being always the same and never dying Time and Common Consent have Passed what was once Agreed upon into a Law Nor is Force or Necessity a sufficient Excuse for making War For if the Publick Faith might be violated for these things there would be no Capitulation no Treaty of Peace but might be broken under the same colour Francis I. was blamed for declaring War against Charles V. contrary to the Agreement made during his Imprisonment under pretence of Constraint By such Artifices and Equivocal Negotiations it comes to pass that none at all are firm so that to establish them it is necessary to demand Hostages or detain some considerable Place things which embarrass a Peace and fatigue the World with perpetual Wars The Prince then being free from the Toils and Dangers of War should apply himself wholly to the Arts of Peace according to Tasso Learning and Arts promote throughout your Realm Divert your Subjects Minds with Plays and Balls With equal Iustice punish and reward And out of Danger stand upon your Guard Yet not without reflecting how soon War may possibly disturb his Rest. Let not his Eye quit the Arms his Hand has laid down nor those old Medals influence him upon the Reverse of which Peace was described burning Shields with a Torch This was far from being a prudent Emblem for there is nothing so necessary after War as the preserving of Arms to keep Violence from making any attempt against Peace None but God alone could when he gave it to his People break the Bow as the Psalmist expresseth it cut the Spear in sunder and 〈◊〉 the Chariots in the fire 14 Psal. 46. 9. forasmuch as he being the Arbiter of War needs not Arms to maintain Peace withal But among Men there can be no Peace where Ambition is not restrained by Fear or Force This gave Occasion to the Invention of Arms which Defence found out before Offence The Plough marked out the Walls before the Streets were disposed and almost at the same time Tents were pitched and Houses built The Publick Repose would never be secure did not Care armed guard its Sleep A State unprovided with Arms awakens the Enemy and invites War Never had the Alps heard the Echo's of so many Trumpets had the Cities of the Milanese been better fortify'd This State is as it were an Outwork to all the Kingdoms of the Spanish Monarchy and each ought for its own Security to contribute to its Strength which joined with the Power of the Sea would render the Monarchy firm and unshaken Mens Hearts were they of Adamant could not supply the Defect of Walls King Witiza by demolishing these made the Moors so bold as to invade Spain when those Banks were gone which till then had stopt their Inundations 15 Mar. Hist. Hisp. Augustus was not guilty of this Negligence in that long Peace he enjoyed but appointed a Publick Treasury as a Provision against a War Except Forces be Exercised in Time of Peace and the Mind disciplin'd in the Arts of War it will not easily be done when Danger of Invasion shall have put all Men in a Consternation and they be more intent on flying and saving what they have than on their Defence There is no greater Stratagem than to leave a Kingdom to its own Idleness When Military Exercise fails Valour does the same Nature produces in all Parts great Souls which either Occasion discovers or want of Business burieth Past Ages have not furnish'd braver Men in Greece and Rome than are at this day born but they then appeared so Heroical because Desire of Rule made them use themselves to Arms. Let not a Prince be discouraged at the Sluggishness of his Subjects Discipline will fit them either to preserve Peace or to maintain War Let him keep them always employed in the Exercise of Arms for he that desires Peace must prevent War EMBLEM C. IT is a short breathing between the Cradle and the Tomb short I say yet 〈◊〉 of occasioning considerable Evils if ill employed Often does a Commonwealth lament whole Ages the Errour of one Moment On this Point turns the Fall or Rise of Empires One bad Counsel in a Minute throws down what has cost Valour and Prudence many Years to build 1 〈…〉 Taâ— Annal. l. 5. And therefore it is not enough in this Amphitheater of Life to have run well if the Course be not equal to the End He only receives the Crown who has lawfully touch'd the last Goal of Death The Foundation of Houses consists in the first Stones that of Renown in the last except they be Glorious it soon falls and is buried in Oblivion The Cradle does not flourish until the Tomb has first and then even the Briars of past Vices turn to Flowers for Fame is the last Spirit of our Actions which thence receive their Beauty and Lustre a thing never seen in an infamous Old Age that rather effacing the Glory of Youth as it happened to 2 Cesserunt que primâ— postremis boâ—aâ— juventae senectus flagitiosâ—â—â—â—teravit Tac. Annal. 1. 6. Vitellius The most perfect Stroaks of the Pencil or Chizel are not esteemed if the whole Work remain imperfect And if ever Fragments were regarded it was for being the Reliques of a once perfect Statue Envy or Flattery while Life lasts give different Forms to Actions but Fame unbyass'd by those Passions pronounces after Death true and just Sentences which the Tribunal of Posterity confirms 3 Sâ—â—m â—uique decus posteritas rependit Tac. Annal. 1. 4. Some Princes are sensible enough of how great Consequence it is to Crown their Life with Vertues but they are mistaken in thinking to supply that by leaving them described in Epitaphs and represented in Statues not considering that they blush to accompany him in Death whom they had not accompanied while alive and that the Marbles are as it were in Indignation to see the Counterfeit-Glory of a Tyrant inscribed on them but seem to soften to facilitate the engraving of that
Syria to be a Check to his Hopes and Designs 46 Quâ— Syriae imponeretur ad spes Germanici coercendas Tac. Annal. l. 2. Indeed the Constitution of States and Governments in Europe is such that there is little fear of those Dangers yet if the Genius of the Son should be so violent and terrible that the Remedies mentioned cannot sufficiently provide for the Father's Security let him consider whether it be proper to apply that which Philip II. used with his only Son Don Carlos the execution of which made Politicks admire its own Power struck Nature with Amazement and the whole World with Horrour But if he distrust the Fidelity of his Subjects because of their Aversion to his Son there is usually no better Remedy than to have him educated in some other Court and under the Protection of some greater Prince provided there be no danger of any Emulation between them with whom he may afterwards establish an Alliance This Motive prevailed with Phraates King of Parthia to bring up Vonones in the Court of Augustus 47 Partemque prolis firmandae amicitiae miserat â—aud perinde nostri meâ—u quam fidei popularium diffisus Tac. Annal. l. 2. Though this oftentimes produces a contrary effect the People being apt to hate him afterwards as a Foreigner who returns to them with strange Manners which was the Case of the same Vonones 48 Quamviâ— gentis Arsaciâ—arum ut externâ—m aspernabanâ—ur Tac. Annal. l. 2. In the Disposal of his Dominions to his Children the Prince cannot be too cautious inasmuch as it is sometimes the Advancement sometimes the Ruiné of a Kingdom especially in the Younger Sons who generally envy the Elder his Prerogative and in the Daughters matched with his own Subjects whence arise Jealousies and Uneasinesses which end in Civil Wars Augustus reâ—â—â—â—ting upon this refused his Daughter to a Roman Knight who might occasion Disturbance 49 Immensumqâ—â— attolli proâ—ideret qâ—em conjunctione taâ—â— super alios 〈◊〉 Tac. Annal. l. 4. and proposed Procâ—dejus and others who lived a calm and retired Life and intermedled not with Affairs of State 50 Proculejum quosdaâ— in sermonibus 〈…〉 Reip negotiis permixtoâ— Tac. Annal. l. 4. The Choice of a Tutor for the Son who is to succeed in his Non-age is another thing which demands all the Skill and Prudence the Father is Master of there being nothing more exposed to Casualties than that as we see present and read of past Examples of many Princes who during their Minority have lost their Lives and Kingdoms at least been reduced to great Distress 51 Wo to thee O land when thy king is a child Eceles 10. 16. For if the Guardianship be left to the Mother though that may be looked upon as most secure yet the Prudence and Experience requisite for such a Task are rarely to be met with in a Woman and most of that Sex want Courage to awe Subjects and gain Respect But should it fall to the Uncle Ambition of Rule is wont to break the strongest and most close Ties of Blood If it light upon the Ministers every one of them is wholly devoted to his private Interest which occasions Divisions among them Besides Subjects despise the Government of their Equals which is the Rise of Troubles and Civil Commotions and therefore out of all these Dangers and Inconveniencies the Prince must chuse the least considering the Nature of the State and of the Persons most capable of the Education of his Son and picking out a Class of Subjects whereby the Security of the Pupil may be so provided for that they cannot possibly unite and conspire to ruine him In this Case it is highly requisite that they be immediately brought into Business who are to have after the Father's Death the Tuition and Guidance of the Heir and Administration of the Government Nor is it the Prince's only Duty to get the Successor secured and instructed but he is also to prevent the Accidents of his new Government and their ill Consequence for when the Sails are changed the Ship is endanger'd and by the Introduction of New Forms Nature suffers because Things end faintly but begin with vigour 'T is from this Vicissitude of Things that those Dangers proceed which threaten upon the meeting of the Waves of both Reigns as it happens when one rapid River runs violently into another of an equal Current The Authority of the Successor is easily lost and Conspiracies and Innovations contriv'd against him 52 Quando ausuros exposcere remedia nisi novum nutantem aâ—hus Principem precibus vel armis adirent Tac. Annal. l. 1. and therefore the Prince should endeavour to make the latter part of his Reign so calm that the new one may be entred on without the least hazard and as Seamen when they enter the Port quit their Oars and furl their Sails so ought he to close his Government by laying aside all thoughts of Enterprizes and Wars by confirming ancient Alliances and making new ones particularly with his Neighbours that Peace may be setled in his Realms 'T is no less worthy Praise when Age draws on To settle Peace and Quietness at Home That no Intestine Broilâ— subvert the State Or pow'rful Neighbours War without create * Tasso Let him dissemble Injuries us Tiberius did with Getulicus 53 Mâ—ltâ—que gratia manâ—it reputante Tiberiâ— publicum sibi odium extreâ—am â—â—atem magisque fama quam viâ—stâ—re res suas Tac. Annal. l. 6. and Philip II. with Ferdinand de Medicis for at such a time the most prudent Princes order a Rainbow to be put over their Tombs for a Token of Peace to their Successors not a Lance fixed in the Earth to prompt them to revenge their Quarrels as the Athenians used to do Let him govern his foreign Provinces with Counsel and Address not Arms 54 Consilis astu res externaâ— moliri armâ— procul baâ—ere Tac. Annal. l. 6. and see that the Governors he sets over them be Eloquent Lovers of Peace and unexperienc'd in War lest they kindle it as it was done in the time of Galba 55 Hispaniae praeerat Clâ—vius Rufâ—â— vir faâ—undâ—s pacis artibus belli ineâ—pâ—â—tâ—â— Tac. Hist. l. 1. Let him compose the Minds of his Subjects and reconcile their Differences protect them from Injâ—ries moderate their Taxes and reâ—ove all Norâ—lties odiovs to the People Let him make choice of prudent Ministers Friends to peace and the Publick Quiet for by this means his Subjects Minds being formed to Ease and gentle Usage will promise themselves the same from the Successor and so not attempt any Innovation EMBLEM CI. MAny great Men have laboured by Speculation and Experâ—ence to form the Idea of a Perfect Prince It hath 〈…〉 this Royal Porcelain this 〈◊〉 Vessel of Earâ—â— no less brittle than others and more subject to Casualties than any particularly when the Potter is of the School of Matchiavel whence all
her self Thus we see man is born without any manner of knowledge or propriety of speech instruction and learning being left to draw the lineaments of Arts and Sciences on his mind as on a blank Canvass and Education to Imprint morality thereon not without great advantage to humane Society for hence it comes to pass that by One mans having Occasion for the Assistance of another the bonds of gratitude and affection are strengthened for Nature has sown the seed of Vertue and knowledge in all of us we are equally born to those goods of the mind which must be cultivated and quicken'd by some other hand 1 Omnibus natura fundamenta dedit semenque virtutum omnes ad ista omnia nati sumâ—s cum irritator accessit â—unc iâ—â—a â—â—niâ—â— bona veluâ— sopita excitantur Sen. Epist. 10. But 't is necessary these measures be taken in the tender years while the mind is fitter to Receive all manner of forms so readily apprehensive of sciences as to appear rather to remember than first learn them which Plato made use of as an argument to prove the immortality of the Soul 2 Ex hoc posse cogâ—â—sâ—â— animas immortales esse atque divinas quod in pueris mobilia sunt ingenia ad pâ—â—â—â—piendum facilia Plat. de Aâ— but if this be negleâ—â—â—â— in the first Age the affections by degrees get ground and their depraved inclinations make so deep an impression upon the will as no Education can efface The Bear no sooner whelps but licking the limbs of her deformed Litter while they are soft perfects and brings them to shape whereas if she suffered them to grow firm her pains would be ineffectual It was wiâ—ely done in my Judgment of the Kings of Persia to Commit their Sons in their Infancy to Masters whose care it should be for the first seven years of their life to Organize their Bodies In the second to strengthen them by using them to fencing and the like Exercises To these they after added four select Persons to give the finishing stroaks the first eminent for Learning made 'em Scholars the second a discreet sober man taught them to govern and bridle their appetites the third a Lover of Equity inculcated the Administration of Justice lastly the fourth eminently Valiant and Experienced in Warâ—are instructed them in Miliâ—ary Discipline especially endeavouring by incentives to Honour to divert their minds from fear and Cowâ—ardice But this good Education is particularly necessaâ—â—y in Princes as they are the Instruments of Politick happiness and publick safety In others the neglect of a good Education is only prejudicial to single persons or at least influences very few but in a Prince 't is not only against his private but every ones common interest whilst some he injures immediately by his Actions others by his Example Man well Educated is the most divine Creature in the World If ill of all animals the most savage 3 Homo rectam nactus institutionem divinissimum mansuetissimumque animal effici solet si vero vel non sufficienter vel non benè educetur eorum quae terraprogenâ—it ferocissimum Plat. lib. 3. de leg What I pray can you expect from a Prince who is ill Educated and has got the supreme power in his hands other evils of a Common wealth are of no long continuance this never terminates but with the Princes life Of what Importance a good and honourable Education is Philip King of Macedon was sensible declaring in his Letters to Aristotle upon the Birth of his Son Alexander his Obligation to the Gods not so much for giving him a Son as that he was born at a time when he could make use of such a Master and 't is certainly never convenient to leave nature otherwise good to her self and her own operations since the best is imperfect and requires some external industry to cultivate it as indeed do most things necessary for man's well being The punishment derived to us by the fault of our first parents being not to enjoy any thing without labour and the sweat of the Brow how can you expect a Tree to bear sweet fruit unless you transplant it or by grassing it upon stems of a more refined and generous nature correct its Wildness Education improves the good and instructs the bad 4 Educatio institutio commoda natur as bonas inducit rursum bonae naturae si talem institutionem consequantuâ— meliores adhuc praestantiores evaâ—ere sâ—imus Plat. Dial. 4 de Leg. This was the reason why Trajan became so eminent a Governour bâ—cause he added industry to his natural parts and haâ— the direction of such a Master as Plutarch Nor haâ— King Peter sirnamed the Cruel ever proved so barbâ—rous and tyrannical had Iohn Alphonso Duke of Albâ—querque his Tutor known how to mollifie and break hiâ— haughty temper There 's the same difference in Menâ— dispositions as in Metals some of which are proof against fire others dissolve in it yet all give way to the graving tools are maleable and ductile so there 's no humour so rugged but care and correction may havâ— some effect on Altho' I confess Education is not always sufficient of it self to make men Vertuous because many times under Purple as among Briars and Woods there spring up such monstrous Vices particularly in persons of a great Spirit as prove utterly Incorrigible What is more obvious than for young men to be debaâ—ched by Luxury Liberty or Flattery in Princes Courts where abundance of Vicious affections grow as Thorns as noxious and unprofitable weeds upon ill manured Land Wherefore Except these Courts are well instituted the care taken in a good Education will be to very little purpose for they seem to be like Moulds and accordingly so Form the Prince as themselves are well or ill disposed and those Vertues or Vices which have once began to be in repute in them their ministers transmit to posterity A Prince is scarce Master of his reason when his Courtiers out of flattery Cry up the too great Liberty of his Parents and Ancestors recommending to him some great and renowned Actions of theirs which have been as it were the propriety of his Family Hence also it comes to pass that some particular Customs and Inclinations are propagated from Father to Son in a continued succession not so much by the Native force of their blood for neither length of time nor Mixtures of Marriage are used to Change them as because they are established in the Courts where Infancy imbibes them and as it were turns them into nature thus among the Romans the Claudii were reputed Proud the Scipio's Warlike the Appii ambitious as now in Spain the Gusmans are looked upon to be Good Men the Mendozas Humane the Mauriques have the Character of Formidable the Toletan's Severe and Grave The same is Visible in Artificers when any of a family have attained an Excellency they easily transmit it to their Children the