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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07680	Principles for yong princes Collected out of sundry authors, by George More, Esquire.	More, George, Esquire.; More, George, Sir, 1553?-1632, attributed name.	1629 (1629)	STC 18069; ESTC S113368	43,524	88

PRINCIPLES FOR YONG PRINCES COLLECTED OVT OF SVNDRY AVTHOVRS BY GRORGE MORE Esquire PROV 19. Heare counsell and receiue instruction that thou mayst be wise in the latter end Printed at London 1629. To the Reader HOnourable and courteous Reader though I had no intention to publish this collection yet now vpon some consideration and for that also I hold it as fit for yong Noblemen and Gentlemen to read as for yong Princes to vnderstand for that they may reap some profit thereby I thought it not inconuenient to commit the same to the Presse commending it to your good acceptance and fauourable Censure my meaning to you being of more value then my labour And so I rest denoted to doe you better seruice GEORGE MORE The Table of the Chapters contained in this Booke THe Regall and Politicke gouernment 1 Who fittest to gouerne 3 A Prince to be iust in his sentence 4 A Prince to be true of his word 8 A Prince to be constant in his act 12 A Prince to be secret 16 A Prince to be liberall 18 A Prince not to be couetous 19 A Prince to be learned 21 A Prince to be religious ibid A Prince not to shed innocent blood 23 A Prince to be circumspect in giuing credit to reports 25 A Prince to be mercifull 28 A Prince not to be proud 29 A Prince to be humble 31 A Prince not to exceede in anger 33 A Prince to be moderate in his dyet 35 A Prince to be continent of life 37 A Prince to beware of Parasites 39 Who to be of a Princes counsell 43 Not to commit the Gouernement of the Cōmon-wealth to one Counsellour onely 47 Not to place a Stranger in authority 50 Dangerous to take ayde of a Stranger 51 A Prince to get and keepe the loue of his Subiects 52 Who to haue charge in war 56 A Prince to bee well aduised before he begin Warre and carefull in his fight 61 PRINCIPLES for yong PRINCES CHAP. 1. The Regall and Politicke Gouernment AS in naturall things the Head being cut off the rest cannot be called a Body no more can in Politicke things a Multitude or Communality without a head be Incorporate Whereupon the Philosopher 1 Politicorum saith That whensoeuer of many is made one one amongst them must gouerne and the rest be gouerned Therefore a people desiring to liue in society together and willing to erect either a Kingdome or other Politicke Body must of necessity chuse one to gouerne that Body Who in a Kingdome of Regendo is called Rex And so by the people is established a Kingdome which gouernment is absolutely the best And as the Head of the Physicall Body cannot change the veines and sinewes thereof nor deny the Members of their proper strength and necessary nurriture no more can a King who is head of the Polliticke Body alter or change the lawes of that body or take from the people their goods or substance against their wils For a King is chosen to mainetaine the Lawes of his Subiects and to defend their bodies and goods So Brute arriuing in this Iland with his Troians erected here a Regall and Politicke gouernment which hath for the most part continued euer since for though we haue had many changes as first the Romans subduing the Brittaines then the Britaines entring againe then the Saxons then the Danes then the Saxons againe and lastly the Normans yet in the time of all these Nations and during their raignes the Kingdome was for the most part gouerned in the same manner that it is now Plutarke saith that at first all that gouerned were called Tyrants but afterward the good Gouernnours called Kings and the euill Gouernours Tyrants for in the beginning some men couetous of honour and glory did by their strength force the people to obey them and to subiect themselues to their lawes at their pleasure and so established onely a Regall gouernment which done by force and gouerned against all right and reason by rigour was accounted tyrannicall For though a man by force doe subdue Cities and Countries yet he ought to rule according to reason and if he know God according to the Law of God But when he is chosen or admitted King by the people and hath his power from them he may not subiect the people to any other power yet he hath a great and large prerogatiue which he may vse at his pleasure And here I thought not amisse to set downe some few Lawes and Customes of other Common-wealths wherby their good gouernment and life may appeare they not being Christians Ptolomeus King of Egypt feasting one day seuen Ambassadours at his request euery one of them shewed vnto him three of their principall Lawes and Customes And first the Ambassadour of Rome said wee haue the Temples in great reuerence we are very obedient to our Gouernours and we doe punish wicked men and euill Liuers seuerely The Carthagenian Ambassadour said in the Common-wealth of Carthage the Nobility neuer cease fighting nor the Common People and Artificers labouring nor the Pphilosophers teaching The Cicilian said In our Common-wealth Iustice is exactly kept Merchandize exercised with truth and all men account themselues equall The Rhodians said at Rhodes old men are honest yong men shamefast and women solitary and of few words The Athenians said In our Common-wealth rich men are not suffered to be deuided in Factions nor poore men to be idle nor the Gouernours to be ignorant The Lacedaemonians said In Sparta enuy reigneth not for all men are equall nor couetousnesse for all goods are common nor sloth for all doe labour In our Common-wealth said the Ambassadour of the Sicyonians voyages are not permitted because they should not bring home new Factions Physitians are not suffered lest they should kill the sound nor Lawyers to take vpon them the defence of Causes and Sutes And to these may be added Anatharsis Letter to Cressus King of Lydia concerning the Gretians Know saith he that in the studies of Greece we learne not to Command but to obey not to speake much much but to keepe silence not to be contentious but to be humble not to get much but to content our selues with a little not to reuenge our harmes but to pardon iniuries not to take from others but to giue our owne not to take care to be honoured but to labour to be vertuous Lastly we learne to despise that which others loue and to loue that which others despise which is pouerty CHAP. 2. Who fittest to gouerne NOw to shew what manner of man is fittest to gouerne I reade in Liuie that men borne in Armes great in deeeds and rude in eloquence ought to be chosen Consuls and that men of quicke spirits sharpe wits learned in the Law and eloquent should be for the City For a Prince so the Consull was for his time ought to be a Martiall man stout and couragious as well to defend his subiects as to offend his enemies great and worthy in his

actions as well to be feared of his foes as to be beloued of his friends and not to be curious to speake eloquently but to deliuer his mind plainely and wisely it being more necessary for a Prince to doe well then to speake well For wise words are not commendable if the deeds be not answerable whereupon the Philosopher Pacuinus saith those are to be hated who in their acts are fooles and in their words Philosophers They that will therefore saith Plato haue glory in this life and attaine to glory after death and be beloued of many and feared of all let them be vertuous in doing good works and deceiue no man with vaine words And he counselleth the Athenians to chuse a Gouernour that is iust in his sentence true of his word constant in his act secret and liberall These be the principall morall vertues most cecessary in a Prince CHAP. 3. A Prince to be iust in his sentence FOr a Prince ought to be iust in his sentence according to the words of Salomon Sap. 1. saying Loue Justice you that Iudge the Earth For a iust King saith he Pro. 29. doth aduance his Countrey and the King that iudgeth the poore rightly his throne shall be established for euer Therefore he ought not to be led either by fauour passion or gaine but according to equity and iustice and to haue care that all his Counsellors and Magistrates doe the like And to attaine to this vertue of Iustice a Prince must call to God for wisedome which he cannot obtaine being of euill life For wisedome will not enter into a soule possessed with malice nor dwell in a body subiect to sinne saith Salomon Sap. 1. But if thou saith he call for wisedome and encline thine heart to Prudence then shalt thou vnderstand Iustice and iudgement and equity and euery right way Prou. 2. Therefore he prayeth saying Giue mee O Lord that wisedome which assisteth thy seate and cast me not off from the number of thy seruants for that I am thy bond-slaue and the sonne of thy bond-woman a weake man and of short life vnable to vnderstand aright what is Iustice and Law and whosoeuer is the most perfect and excellent amongst the sonnes of men he is to be accounted as no body if thy wisedome doth not assist him Sap. 9. All good and worthy Princes haue laboured to attaine to this wisedome and to execute iustice most exactly insomuch that some haue not spared their owne children so sacred a thing they held Iustice to be As for example Brutus who vnderstanding that his two sonnes were of the conspiracy for Tarquinus Superbus caused them both to be put to death in his owne presence Cassius likewise seeking to get the loue of the people and to make himselfe King was beaten to death by his father Pausanias Generall of the Lacedaemonians receiued 500 talents of gold to betray Sparta but Agesilaus his father vnderstanding thereof pursued him into the Temple of Minerua whither he fled for Sanctuary and caused the doores of the Temple to be nayled vp and so there made him dye of famine then his mother tooke his corpes and threw it to the dogs not suffering it to be interred Darius likewise King of Persia vnderstanding that his sonne Ariobrazanes ment to betray him to Alexander Magnus cut off his head Titus Manlius being challenged by one of the Latins to fight the Combate stepped forth of his ranke and in Combate killed him yet because it was done without license his owne father being then Consull and Generall presently put him to death Posthumius likewise did the same to his sonne Fidericke Earle of Harlebecque and Forrester of Flanders hauing made very straite Lawes for the reducing of his Countrey to lustice and good life put his sonne to death for breaking the Law in taking a basket of Apples from a poore woman and not paying for them Edward the first put his sonne in prison Prince Edward for breaking the Parkes of the Bishop of Chester Henry the fourth also commended the Lord chiefe Iustice of England for committing the Prince to prison for transgressing the Law And King Antiochus had that care to haue Iustice ministred as he writ to all the Cities of his Kingdome that they should not execute any thing he commanded if it were contrary to Law but they should first aduertise him thereof The Emperour Justinian likewise commanded the Lawyers to be sworne that they should not plead in an euill and vniust cause The like Law was made in the ninth Parliament of James the first King of Scotland that all Counsellours and Aduocates before they plead any temporall cause should take oath and sweare that they thinke the cause to be good they plead Lewis the ninth King of France was a iust and vertuous Prince louing the good and punishing the wicked and was a Capitall enemy to sutes commanding the Iudges to doe speedy Iustice so that sutes then were laid away Alexander Magnus was so farre from being transported from Iustice as when any made complaint to him of another he slopped alwayes one eare saying he must keepe that for the party accused The Emperour Adrian was of that integrity in Iustice as one Alexander accused another before him called Aper and bringing his proofes onely in writing he said that his informations were but Paper and Inke and perhaps forged and that a man ought not to be condemned but by honest and substantiall witnesses and therefore he sent Aper to Rufus Gouernour of Macedonia from whence he was brought commanding him diligently to examine the witnesses against him and to see that they were honest and of good name King Edgar of England had likewise that care to doe Iustice as in Winter time he would ride vp and downe the Countrey and make enquiry of the misdemeanors of his Officers and Gouernours and punish them seuerely that offended the Law And as the followers of Iustice shall not onely be famous in this world but shall perpetually liue and receiue a kingdome of glory in the world to come as saith Salomon Sap. 5. So the Princes that minister iniustice and do not iudge rightly shall reape infamy and incurre the high displeasure of Almighty God as Salomon also witnesseth saying Hearken O Kings and vnderstand learne you who are Judges of the bounds of the earth in respect that power is giuen vnto you from aboue and strength from the Highest who will examine your works and search your thoughts and because when you were Ministers in his Kingdome you did not iudge rightly nor iudge rightly nor keepe the Law of Iustice nor walke in the way of God he will appeare vnto you quickely and horribly for most rigorous iudgement is done vnto those that gouerne With the poore and meane man mercy is vsed but mighty men shall suffer torments mightily Sap. 6. And the royall Prophet saith that God is terrible to the Kings of the earth Psal 75. Which doth very well appeare by the strange punishments

choller would be appeased Virginius being chosen Generall of the Roman Hoste refused it fearing to exceed in choller against Appius Claudius his enemy Crotis King of Thracia hauing a present brought vnto him of many faire vessels of glasse most curiously wrought after he had well recompenced the gift did breake them all himselfe of purpose fearing lest through choller to which he was subiect he should too seuerely punish any of his sernants if they by chance should breake any of them But the Emperour Valentinian was so ouercharged with choller that he fell into such a rage against certaine Ambassadours as he lost his voyce and speech and so was carried to his bed and let ten blood but bled not choller hauing burned and dryed vp the veines and so dyed Patience therefore is a happy vertue by which a man may preserue his body and possesse his soule saith Christ Luke 21. In your patience you shall possesse your soules And to attaine to this vertue Diogenes asked almes of the Images in Athens to make him take deniall patiently Aristotle being told that one railed on him was not moued but said whe I am absent let him beate me also And Socrates being abused spurned and kicked by an insolent fellow and seeing his friends offended therewith said How now my Masters if an Asse had kicked and giuen mee a rap on the shinnes would you haue me to yerke out and to kicke him againe Antigonus hearing his Souldiers reuile him behind his pauillion said to them you knaues could you not goe a little further off when you meant to raile vpon me One Nicanor rayled vpon Philip King of Macedonia for which his Counsell wold haue had him seuerely punished but the King very patiently answered first let vs see whether the fault be in him or in vs. And vnderstanding that Nicanor had deserued well and that he had neuer giuen him any thing sent him a rich gift After which Niconor spoke very much good of the King Whereupon the King said to his Counsell I see well that I am a better Physitian for backebiting then you are and that it is in my power to cause either good or cuill to be spoken of me CHAP. 17. A Prince to be moderate in his dyet NAture is content with a little therefore if a man doe either eate or drinke more then sufficeth nature it is superfluous and ingendreth euill humours corrupteth the body and weakneth the spirits and vnderstanding for Diogenes saith that the wit is made dul with grosse and immoderate dealing And Plato affirmeth that those who vse to eat much although they haue a good wit yet cannot be wise The reason is saith Plutarch because the body being ful of meat corrupteth the iudgement in such sort as maketh a man neither fit to giue counsell nor to gouerne in a Common-wealth nor to doe any good worke The Emperour Octauius Caesar had therefore ordinarily at supper but three dishes of meat and when he fared best he had but sixe And the Egyptians in their feasts and banquets had a dead body dryed brought in amongst them that the sight thereof might containe them in modesty and make them temperate in their feeding Ada Queene of Caria sent Alexander Magnus certaine skilfull Cooks whom he refused and sent her word that he had better then they were namely for his dinner early rising and walking a good while before day and for his supper a little dinner for in those dayes they did commonly eate but one meale a day as appeareth by Plato who being demaunded if he had seene any new or strange thing in Cicily said that he had found there a Monster of nature which did eate twice a day meaning Diogenes the Tyrant Agesilaus King of the Lacedaemonians passing his Army through the Countrey of Thracia they presented with meale fowle baked meates and all other sorts of delicate meates and conserues The meale hee was willing to take but not the rest yet through great intreaty he accepted of all and gaue all and gaue all sauing the meale to his slaues and being asked why he did so he said It is not conuenient for men who make profession of manhood and prowesse to eate such delicates for by pleasure delicate meats and drinkes the courage of man is abated Therefore Xerxes after hee had taken the great City of Babylon would not put the people to death but to be reuenged of them commanded them not to exercise any Armes but to vse and giue themselues to all pleasure feasting and drinking So that by this meanes they grew to be most vile and base people whereas before they were most valiant And by the great feasting and drunkennesse in Siracuse in Cicily the Romans tooke the towne and spoyled it The Emperour Vitellius was very riotous in his diet insomuch as at one supper he had 2000 seuerall kinde of fishes and 7000 dishes of foule but what followed Soone after hee was openly put to death by Vespasian Caligula likewise in riotous banquets in making sweet bathes and in other vaine and friuolous expences spent in one yeare 67 millions of crownes and in the end was killed Nero also was prodigal in the like charges and banquets sumpuous attire neuer wearing one garment twice And Sabina his wife had daily the milke of 500 Asses to bathe her in but their ends were pittifull The Emperour Adrianus was riotous in his youth and thereby diseased in his age which forced him to vse many Phisitians and medicines but could not be cured Therefore good order and temperate dyet prolongeth the life and preferueth wisedome Early rising also saith Plato and much watching are profitable to keepe a man in health and to augment his wisedome It doth withall increase deuotion for then a man shall find himselfe most apt to serue God CHAP. 18. A Prince to be continent of life BVt if he serue his belly with immoderate and too great delicates and pamper his flesh too much it will besides dulling of the wit make the flesh rebell against the spirit and fall to incontinency a vice wherof a Prince ought to haue a speciall care that he giue not himselfe to the lust of the flesh for it is a deuouring fire till all be consumed and rooting vp the seed of good workes saith Iob 31. And Luxuria eneruat vires effeminat artus It will make him weake and effeminate and destroyeth both body and soule losing thereby also sometimes both life and kingdome for by adultery Roderico last King of the Gothes in Spaine committed with the wife of Iulian Earle of Cewta when hee was Ambassadour in Africke he for reuenge brought the Moores into Spaine who therupon subdued the Countrey Osibright King of Northumberland rauished the wife of one Barne who to be reuenged brought in the Danes slew Osibright and made great spoyle in the land The Emperour Claudius married his brothers daughter and shee her selfe poysoned him Siphax King of Numidia transported with the loue of Sophonisba