Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	law_n	prince_n	sovereign_a	3,774	5	9.4515	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B11821	Horæ subseciuæ observations and discourses.	Chandon, Grey Brydges, Baron, d. 1621.; Cavendish, Gilbert.; Newcastle, William Cavendish, Duke of, 1592-1676.; Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679.	1620 (1620)	STC 3957; ESTC S105996	135,065	562

for which they be seuerally at seuerall times made being infinite The disease commonly in our knowledge hauing the prioritie of the remedy And thus the reuerence and duty wee owe to Lawes is nothing else but obedience to reason which is the begetter correcter and preseruer of the very Lawes themselues those therefore who will not obey them do come more neere the nature of Brutes and Saluages then men indued with reason but I goe on If a reason be demanded why all Countreys doe differ and vary so much in their customes and Lawes I answere that it proceeds from the custome of the first inhabitants As we may see where there are seueral plantations by one people they seuerally giue different orders customes according to the intent and purpose of the first Planters and according to the necessitie and end of the present Plantation as may bee obserued in the different Constitutions Lawes in our two late Plantations of Virginia the Bermuda's And though I confesse that these originall customes may in time bee altered vpon seuerall occasions diuers changes of gouernment as in the Roman State or vpon conquest as with vs yet I doubt not but that some reliques of the old customes would remain to perpetuitie if a people be not wholly extirpate I should now punctually search the seuerall Authors and Inuenters of Lawes amongst different Nations together with their diuers oppositions and emulations one with another but that would bee too long and vncertaine I will therefore onely in a word touch the originall and growth of Law amongst the Romanes as being more certainely knowne and of larger extent You must vnderstand that at the first they had no other set Law then the will cōmandements of their Princes That gouernment being changed and so their constitutions extinct the people were thē gouerned by precedent custome without any direct written Law but that continued not many yeeres Then the law of the 12. Tables succeeded which the Romans in respect of their own defects had borrowed from the Grecians these as in Lawes it commonly happens being subiect to dispute were forced to be reconciled and decided by the authority and arguments of the most great graue learned men which afterwards being collected gathered together became a kind of volume body of Law and so afterwards before the Common-wealth was subuerted receiued by diuers men in sundry ages seuerall additions but after the gouernmēt was Monarchical the present Emperors did adde to the old or confirm or abolish them according to their own will and power And all together is that which is commonly knowne by the name of the ciuill Law because it continues to be the most practical generally receiued Law of the world and that though all Countreys haue Municipall Lawes of their owne yet this Law in euery place carries some sway and authority in some places more and in some lesse and that an aspersion is cast vpō the ground foundation of our Lawes in being different contrary to the original beginning of the ciuill Law I will briefely parralel them together wherin if any do not find so punctuall an agreement as hee expects let him remember that the nature of a cōparison implyes but a similitude and affinity of one thing to another and not a totall and absolute agreement The Law which the Romans vsed and so we is either written or not written Those that were written saith Iustinian were of these kinds 1. Lex and that is such a Law as was made by the people but first propounded by the Senat. Such are those Lawes with vs as are confirmed by the lower House of Parliament propounded by the higher 2. Plebiscitum and such were the Lawes made by the whole people the order of Patritians excepted offered to their cōsideration by the Tribune like those Lawes that be approued by the Cōmons in our Parliament and propounded by the Speaker 3. Senatus consultu those were such Lawes as were ordained by the power and authoritie of the Senat to which we may resemble the consultations directions of the Kings Councell and the Decrees of the Star-chamber 4. Principum Placita which were Constitutions appointed by the Soueraign power of the Prince some of them being personall not exemplary others more publike of which kinde with vs be al the Kings Edicts Proclamations of what kind soeuer 5. Magistratuum Edicta as the cōmandements of the Generals in the Field Gouernors of Prouinces and the prime Magistrates in great Cities like as with vs is that power which is deputed to the Deputy of Ireland the Presidents of York Wales the Lieutenants of euery Shire and the Iurisdiction of Magistrates according to their particular customes priuiledges and immunities in the great Cities Corporations of this Kingdom And lastly Responsa Prudentū which were the Iudgements and opinions of such as were appointed to be Iudges and expounders of the Law and iust of that kinde bee the resolutions of our Iudges which in writing bee deliuered vnto vs by the name of Reports and Cases Lawes vnwritten amongst the Romans were such as custome had introduced yet neuer suffred contradiction by a Positiue Law Such Traditions as they had receiued touching the ancient manner and forme of gouernment of their Ancestors in precedent times and of this nature with vs is our common Lavv grounded much vpō custom And the reason why these ancient customes may bee collected to be of so great force is because alwayes before their approbation it is to be conceiued that they had passed al censures for necessary and to be without offence and so hauing receiued this facile approbation are allowed and most religiously kept for Lawes of the greatest weight consequence which occasioned Cicero to write ante suam memoriam morem ipsum patrium praestantes viros adhibuisse veterū morem ac maiorum instituta excellentes viros retinuisse And beleeuing Dionysius testimonie Romulus in the first foundation of the Republique did thinke to strengthen and confirme it more with Lawes vnwritten then written peraduenture beeing of the same opinion Demosthenes notes of Licurgus who would not write his Lawes but to haue them more publike and better knowne would leaue them onely ingrauen in the memory of his Citizens But more precisely to distinguish betwixt Law and Custome that the tearmes as well as matter may be vnderstood you must vnderstand that where any forme or Law hath had any long continuance in practice without any knowne Author it then receiues the name of an ancient custome or mos Maiorum which though in name and Title it differ from a Law yet in power and authoritie it is the same which Vlpian confirmed when hee said Diuturnam consuetudinem pro Iure ac Lege in jis quae non ex scripto descendunt obseruari solere And there is great reason for it because Lawes are in esteeme and authoritie with vs for no other reason but in respect they haue had the reputation to bee allowed and made by the Iudgement of the people Then full as meritoriously doe those Lawes deserue esteeme which all men haue approoued for necessarie without any prescript or rule and this is the reason which makes our common Law originally grounded vpon ancient customes of equall power and authoritie with our Statutes FINIS

Augustus to streng then his gouernment preferreth Claudius Marcellus his Sisters sonne one as yet very young to the Pontificall dignitie and office of Aedile A Prince that hath raised himselfe to the Soueraignty of a State and is once quietly settled in it will for the most part haue a desire to make the same successiue and will take all opportunities that may further such his intention So Augustus doth now and adorns with offices and dignities all those vpon whom he thought he might make the Empire to discend Prouision of successors in the life time of a Prince besides that it is a kinde of duty they owe their Country thereby to preuent ciuill discord hath this vertue that it nippeth in the head and killeth the seedes of ambitious and traiterous hopes in those that thinke of alteration whereas the vncertainty of the succeeder breedeth and feedeth Treason in aspirers for many yeeres together If any man therefore had any hope aliue in him that when Augustus should dye the State might againe struggle for liberty or a new forme of gouernment might arise better to their own liking this prouidence of Augustus doth vtterly extinguish it First therefore he putteth his Nephew into these two places of great command that of Pōtifex the Aedileship whereof the former in matters of their Heathenish religion was of supreme authoritie In places of authoritie and subordinate command it is no small policy in the supreme gouernours and especially in the principall offices to place such as are either tyed in nature or necessitie vnto them that as they themselues haue supremacie in command so all their vnderministers may bee so fast vnto them that their actions may bee alwayes limited according to the will and affection of their Soueraigne by whom they were enstalled and ordained for that purpose to the places they hold This was one stay and strength of his gouernment to put into the hands of his Nephew as I may so say the Supremacy in matters Ecclesiasticall which is one of the chiefest guides of a Commonwealth Marcum Agrippam ignobilem loco bonum militia victoriae socium geminatis Consulatibus extulit Hee makes Marcus Agrippa one descended meanely but a good Souldier and companion with him in his victories twice together Consul After hee had aduanced his Nephew the next that he exalteth to dignity was his friend Wherein we may perceiue that in the opinion of Augustus when a Prince hath a Minister of valor and worth which may make him capable of great place the meanenesse of his birth ought to be no barre to his rising Againe in raising him first he should not neede to feare that hee might endāger him being one that could presume so little of his Nobilitie For a man that by his vertue raiseth himselfe from out of the common people shall more often get enuy from the multitude then any popular applause and consequently cannot be very dangerous So Augustus conferred that honour safely Besides Agrippa in that hee was a good Souldier deserued to haue the reward of his vertue which is honor And lastly as the companion of his Victories he deserued to participate of some fruit thereof Which Augustus might also cōsider not so much for his company in the warre as in the Victory For men reward the successe of actions done on their behalfes rather then the labour and vertue or the danger which they expose themselues vnto in the same The office of Consul was a great place and had beene in former times of supreme power in the Commonwealth yet Agrippa being a man of whose faith loue and worth he had had long experience and for the reasons before recited he doubted not to bestowe the same vpon him twice together and more then that intends to make him another stay and hope of the succession Mox defuncto Marcello generum sumpsit Shortly after when Marcellus was dead hee makes him his son in law The greatnesse of this benefit bestowed on one that could no waies exact or extort it frō Augustꝰ giueth here an occasion to enquire into the minds of all men in the matter of giuing and receiuing benefits Tacitus in the first booke of his Histories saith Beneficia eo vsque esse laeta dum exolui possunt That benefits receiued are pleasing so long as they be requitable When once they exceed that they are an intolerable burthen and men seldome are willing to acknowledge them for who but a man of desperate estate will set his hand to such an obligation as hee knowes hee neuer can discharge This is the reason that Princes are so slow in aduancing some men that haue deserued it because they cannot easily doe it according to their full merit or else they thinke it will not be so taken So that they should by rewarding them both pay and yet remaine in debt And generally all men but Princes most of all hate acknowledgement like not to haue such great Creditors in their eye but will rather bee content to take aduantage against them as against so many vpbraiders of ingratitude So that great seruices procure many times rather the hatred then the loue of him they are done vnto On the contrary when men can without lessening of themselues reward those to whom they haue been beholding so as to satisfie them according to their owne estimate they will then ouer-doe it and heape one fauour vpō another thinking by shewing their affection to them to gaine theirs in the same proportion but it falls not so out in humane nature for benefits encrease the loue of the bestower more then of him that receiueth them for as it is proprium humani ingenij odisse quem laeseris the propertie of humane nature to hate those they haue wronged so also is it on the contrary to loue those to whom they haue beene beneficiall Agrippa had done great seruice to Augustus but Augustus was now able without diminution of himselfe both to requite and surmount him and therefore leaues out nothing that may expresse his gratitude but makes him his Sonne in Law whereby his children might become heyres euen to Augustus his owne power which was the absolute soueraignty of the whole Empire Which act of Augustus as it proceeded out of affection so it also agreed with good policy for whom should hee more trust then one whose loue had beene so much shewed whose fidelity so much tryed And therefore he sets him neere himselfe and Marcellus being now dead bestowes on him the widdow Iulia his onely childe But heere I must haue leaue to transpose these few lines of the Author to the end that that which touches the aduancement of the children of Liuia may afterwards be ioyned together After this hee aduanceth the Children that Agrippa had by this match Genitos Agrippa Caium Lucium in familiam Caesarum induxerat nec dum posita puerili praetexta Principes inuentutis appellari destinari Consules specie recusantis flagrantissimè cupiuerat Hee

not looke vpon the cause but the Bribe the right but the power the truth but the greatnesse of the greater Aduersary Again it addes confidence to the poorer sort whē they see that equity not fauour procures the sentence and so by this means are conserued frō oppressiō And if it were not for this in what a miserable case were these lower degrees of mē subiect to be trod vnder feet by their imperious Aduersary then to haue no means left for redresse Fiftly it is the greatest honor and reputation a Kingdom or cōmonwealth can be ambitious of enioy to haue Iustice iustly distributed and people obedient to Lawes Iustice guarding the people by correcting cutting off such as giue ill example to the rest And in what Commonwealth soeuer this is neglected it breeds cōfusion amongst thēselues giues aduantage to their enemies causeth their disreputation to spread through the world Next to the honor of a Kingdome it is the safety of the King who being reputed to be as the fountain of justice so Iustice keeps the fountaine free from corruption infection or danger prescribing rules for feare it corrupt ascribing Antidotes for feare of infection preseruing his person reputation both frō sensible insensitiue danger wheras if Lawes bee neglected his person is more subiect to the attempts of Traitors his life to the tongues of malice and detraction his reputation to perpetuall infamy And lastly this is it that enriches and secures the subiect in all Kingdomes giues him his right protects him from wrong increaseth commerce and proclaimes traffique throughout all the world whereas if Iustice were not duely administred there would follow a diminution of our substances a generall disconsolatiō in our life a certain separation frō all trade with strangers And mark but narrowly and you shall seldom find that God euer blessed that Coūtry where Iustice was either neglected or abused Those therfore if any such insensible creatures be that dislike therestraint striue declaime against obedience to Lawes which may be truely termed the wals of gouernment nations they make themselues so cōtemptible as no obiection of theirs can be worthy the answering for a generall dissolution of Lawes in a ciuill body is the same with the conuulsion of the sinnewes in a naturall decayes and dissolution being the immediate and vnauoidable succeeders And yet a man had better choose to liue where no thing then where all things be lawfull which is the reason why all men haue thought it more dangerous to liue in an Anarchy then vnder a Tyrants gouernment for the violent desires of one must necessarily bee tyed to particulars in a multitude they are indefinite The first degree of goodnes is obedience to Lawes which be nothing else but vertue and good order of life reduced vnto certain rules and as reason hath the predominant power in our naturall bodies so the body Politick cānot subsist w th out soule to inanimate to gouerne to guide it that is Law proceeding from the reason counsels iudgemēt of wise men For where Lawes be wanting there neither Religion nor life nor societie can be maintained There be three branches that mens Lawes do spread themselues into euery one stricter then other The Law of Nature which we enioy in common with al other liuing creatures The Law of Nations which is common to all men in generall the Municipall Law of euery Nation which is peculiar and proper to this or that Country and ours to vs as Englishmen That of Nature which is the ground or foundation of the rest produceth such actions amōgst vs as are cōmon to euery liuing creature and not only incident to men as for example the commixture of seuerall sexes which we call Marriage generation education the like these actions belong to all liuing creatures as well as to vs. The Lawes of Nations bee those rules which reason hath prescribed to all men in generall such as all Nations one with another doe allow and obserue for iust And lastly the Peculiar Lawes of euery Country which mixe with the generall Lawes of all places some particular ones of their own this is that which the Romanes called amongst thēselues the Ciuill Law of their City and is indeed in euery Nation the Municipall Lawes of that Country as it were Lawes onely created for those Climates for those estates Take away the power of Lawes and who is it that can say This is my House or my Land or my money or my goods or call any thing that is his his owne Therfore euery mans state and fortune is more strengthened and confirmed by Lawes then by any will or power in those from whom wee receiue them for whatsoeuer is left vnto vs by the Testament of another it is impossible we should euer keepe it as our own if Law restrained not others claimes confirmed thē not vnto vs. In which respect Lawes be the strongest sinewes of humane societie helps for such as may be ouerborne and bridles to them that would oppresse So that we receiue much more benefit from Lawes in this kinde then from Nature for whereas men be naturally affected and possessed with a violent heate of desires and passions and fancies Lawes restrain draw them from those actions and thoughts that would precipitate to all manner of hazzards and ill which naturall inclination is prone enough vnto and do gouern direct alter dispose as it were bend them to all manner of vertuous good actions Wherfore Lawes be the true Physicions and preseruers of our peaceable life ciuill conuersation preuenting those il accidents that may happen purging and taking away such as haue broken forth sowing peace plenty wealth strength and all manner of prosperity amongst men And for those things that be ill but yet introduced by custome seuere and iust Lawes will readily correct for the force and power of Law doth easily dissolue an ill custome though it haue been of long continuance the excellency and praise of which Lawes can neuer be better illustrated then in that saying of Salomon Mandatum lucerna est lex lux via vitae increpatio disciplinae The commandement is a lampe and the law is light and reproofes of instruction are the way of life The dispensers and interpreters of the Law be the Magistrates and Iudges and all sorts and degrees of men whatsoeuer be tyed bound to the obseruance of the same To this purpose Solon being demāded What City was best gouerned answered That wherein the City obeyed the Magistrate and the Magistrate the Lawes and certainly that gouernment is better which vseth set and firme Lawes though not all of the best sort then that where the Lawes bee most perfect and exact and yet not obserued Lawes therefore ought to be the rulers of men and not men the masters of Lawes There is no doubt but that Lawes were at the first inuented as well to