Capitolinus though by Valour he had delivered the Capitol of Rome from the French who beleaguered it yet afterwards growing seditious was thrown down from the Capitol which by his great Renown he had formerly delivered 12. That Prince which scrues up the Pins of Power too high will break the Strings of the Common-wealth Wise Princes make use of their Prerogative as God Almighty doth of his Omipotency upon extraordinary occasions 13. The Prince is the Pilot of the Common-wealth the Laws are his Compass 14. Reversionary Grants of Places of Profit and Houour by Princes are the bane and ruin of Industry but acts of Grace and Bounty are the golden Spur to Vertuous and Generous Spirits 15. In Holy things he that strikes upon the Anvil of his own Brain is in danger to have the sparks flie in his face 16. A Kingdom is like a Ship at Sea whose Ballast should be the Princes Coffers which if they be light and empty she doth nought but tumble up and down nor can be made to run a direct and steady Course Therefore it 's the interest of Princes to have a good Treasure against all Extremities for Empty Coffers give an ill sound 17. That Prince who upon every Commotion of the Subject rusheth presently into Open War is like him who sets his own House a fire to rost his Eggs. 18. That State which goeth out of the Lists of Mediocrity passeth also the Limits of Safety while Sparta kept her self within those boundaries that Licurgus presented unto her she was both safe and flourishing but attempting to enlarge her Territories by new acquists of other Cities in Greece and Asia she every day declined 19. Rather than the least dishonour shall fall upon the State it 's prudence sometimes to preserve the Honour of the Publique to cast the Male Administration upon some Favorite or Councellor and offer him a Sacrifice to Justice 20. Charles the Fifth laid the loss and dishonour he received in the invasion of France by way of Provence to Anthony de Leva The Spaniard to cover the Dishonour they received in their attempt against England in Eighty Eight cast it upon the Duke of Parma in his not joyning with them in convenient time So did Charles the Sixth of France upon the Duke of Berry in his Design of Invading England as many Wise Princes and States had formerly done 21. Reputation abroad and Reverence at home are the Pillars of Safety and Soveraignty 22. Taxes which the Soveraign Levies from the Subject are as Vapors which the Sun exhales from the Earth and doth return them again in fruitful Showers 23. Too great a City in a Nation is like a bad Spleen in the Body Natural which swells so big as makes all other parts of the Body lean therefore some sober persons have conceived that it 's more Prudence to have three Cities of equal Power that in Case one should Rebel the other too might Ballance or give Law to the Third A great City is the fittest Engine to turn an Old Monarchy into a New Common-wealth 24. That State which doth not Subsist in Fidelity can never continue long in Potency 25. Wise Princes must sometimes deal with Mutinous Subjects as the Sun did to take away the Passengers Cloak not as the ruffling Winds to blow him down 26. There is nothing which doth more impoverish a Prince than Imprests of Mony at great usance for thereby a Prince is brought to one of these two Extremities either to overthrow his Dominions and Finances whereof the French Kings are Examples or else to play Bankrupt and pay none as King Philip of Spain hath done to the Merchants of Genoa Florence Ausburgh and almost to all the Banks in Christendome 27. Tumults may be raised by Men of little Courage but must be maintained by Hazard and ended with the Loss of the most Valiant 28. In Popular Tumults it's safer for a Prince with some yielding to condescend to Peace than by staning upon high Points of Honour to Hazard the Issue of a Battle wherein the King cannot win without his weakning nor lose without danger of his undoing Lewis XIII of France was a sad and mournful instance hereof 29. When any mischief grows in a State and becomes formidable it 's many times more Prudence to temporize with it than by force to attempt the redress of it For they who go about to quench it kindle it the more and suddenly plucks down that mischief upon their Heads which was then but feared from them By Courting or dissembling the mischief if it doth not remove the evil at least it 's put off for a longer time 30. Charles the Fifth even he who was Surnamed the Wise of France at such time as he was Regent in France his Father at that time being a Prisoner in England by evil Counsel of some being ignorant in matters of State at once suspended all the Officers of France of whom he suppressed the greatest part appointing Fifty Commissioners for the hearing such Accusations as should be laid against them for Extortation and Bribery by them committed whereupon all France was in such a Tumult by reason of the great number of such as were Male-contents as that shortly after for Remedy thereof he by Decree in the High Court of Parliament in Paris was forced to abrogate the former Law 31. It 's a noble Ambition and absolutely necessary for a Prince to believe none of his Subjects more worthy than himself nor more fit to govern when he hath not this good opinion of himself he suffers himself to be governed by others whom he believes more fit than himself and by this means falls into many infelicities This was the unhappiness of Philip the Third of Spain though a Prince of eminent parts yet suffering himself to be governed by the Duke of Lerma he became of so little esteem with his People and had no ways to free himself from those Indignities which were cast upon him but by becoming a Church-man and a Cardinal 32. A Wise Prince when he is obliged to make War ought to make it powerful and short and at first to astonish his Enemies with formidable Preparations because by this means it returns to good Husbandry and the Conquests made through fear of Arms reacheth farther than those made by the Arms themselves 33. Punishment and Reward are the two Pillars where on all Kingdoms are built the former serves for restraining of vile Spirits the latter for the encouragement of the generous The one serves instead of a Bridle the other of a Spur. 34. The love of the Subject is the most sure Basis of the Princes Greatness and Princes are more secure and better defended by the love of the People than by many Troops and Legions Every Wise Prince must suppose that times of Trouble may come and then will be necessitated to use the service of Men diversly qualified therefore his care and study must be in the mean time so to entertain them
Passion for men contrary to Iron are worst to be wrought upon when they are hot It 's more Prudence to pass by Trivial Offences than to quarrel for them by the last you are even with your Adversary but by the first above him If you have an Injury done you you do your Adversary too much honour to take notice of it and think too meanly of your self to revenge it Let me advise you to dissemble an Injury when you have not the power to revenge it and generously to forgive it when you have the means to do it It 's a noble way of Revenge to forget and scorn them for Resentment doth but encourage that Malice which neglect would dissipate Lewis the Twelfth of France being advised by some of his Council to punish such as were Enemies to him when he was Duke of Orleans answered like a Prince That it did not suit with the glory of a King of France to revenge the injuries done to the Duke of Orleans If you be displeased with every Peccadillo you will become habitually forward Learn to be patient by observing the inconveniences of impatience in other Men. If you have an infelicity upon you by your impatience you super-add another to it He who submits to his Passions at the same time is a Slave to many Tyrants I prefer the freedom of my Mind and the serenity of my Soul not clouded with Passions before the Empire of the World It will be the test of Prudence in you without any Passion to indure the Injuries and Follies of other Men If you cannot indure them in others you may make them your own For first you lose your Judgment and then offend your Self and so Passion will praecipitate you into that Ill which you would avoid If any Man doth me an Injury I am not disturbed but must pity him for he is the first offended and receives the greatest damage because in this he loseth the use of Reason Every day I meet with Bravo's false and perfidious Persons but they can do me no harm because it 's not in their power to disquiet me or to make me act any thing dishonourable neither am I angry nor disaffected toward them because they are by Nature near unto me for they are all my Kinsmen by participation of the same Reason and Divine Particle If at any time I have an injury done me by them I convert it to my own advantage I know how to avoid them and they discover to me my own Weakness where I may be assaulted therefore I study to fortifie that place And if an Ass doth kick me as many times he doth I never use to put him into the Court. I speak this to you not that I would have you without sense for Chi la fa Pecora il Lupo la mangia He who maketh himself a Sheep the Wolf will devour him It was a Maxime worthy of Caesar's Gallantry Nec inferre nec perpeti SECT 11. I Shall commend unto your practice that Excellent Precept of Pythagoras Nil turpe committas neque coram aliis neque tecum maxime omnium verere teipsum And believe it a good Man will blush as much to commit a Sin in the Wilderness as upon a Theatre The less the occasion of Sin the greater is the Nature of it And to justifie a Fault is a greater Sin than to fall into it And let me tell you Sin is Masculine and begets the like in others and many times like Venom it infects the Blood when the Viper is dead which gave the Wound Therefore take care that the bright Lustre of your Vertues may inlighten the whole Sphere wherein you move I would not have you like a Sun-Dyal in the Grave of no use As to Acts of Charity and Vertue let not your heart be a narrow Island but a large Continent be your own Almoner and dispose of your own Charity but as to Favours and Kindnesses imitate the Wise Husbandmen who when they sow their ground do not throw all their Seed in one place but scatter it and believe me small and common courtesies do more oblige than great favours And whereas others are made poor by Oppression make you as many Beggars as you can by your Bounty And if you design to gain all Interests make all Interests Gainers SECT 12. OUt of your Acquaintance chuse Familiars and out of those pick Friends But let me advise you never to make a Coward your Friend or a Drunkard your Privy-councellor for the one upon the approach of the least danger will desert you and the other will discover all your secrets both dangerous to Humane Society Friendship is a sacred thing and deserves our dearest acknowledgments A Friend is a great comfort in solitude an excellent assistance in business and the best protection against injuries In the Kindness of my Friend I sweeten the Adversities of my Life by his Cares I lessen my own and repose under his Frienship When I see any good befall him I rejoyce and thereby increase my own happiness Therefore I cannot but hug the Resolution of that Philosopher who when he was dying ordered his Friend to be inventoried amongst his goods A Friend like a Glass will best discover to you your own Defects But never purchase Friends by Gifts for if you leave to give they will leave to love Love is built upon the Union of Minds not the Bribery of Gifts and the more you give the fewer Friends you will have An Enemy is better recovered by Kindness than a Friend assured Have a care in making any Man your Friend twice except the Rupture was by your own mistake and you have done Penance for it When you have made choice of your Friend express all Civilities to him yet in prudence I would advise you to look upon your present Friend as in possibility to be your future Enemy I never have forsaken my Friend but when he hath first forsaken himself and Vertue which was the True Lovers Knot which first united us and if at any time I renounced his Familiarity yet in respect of my former intimacy I retained an Affection for him and wished him well I do profess my self a Citizen of the World and have such an Aversion to any thing that is unkind that I look upon an injury done to another as done to my self And many times when I have heard that my Friend was dead I have bemoated my Eyes with Tears and could as passionately have wept over his sacred Urn as that Graecian Matron did for the loss of her Mother But when I had considered it was more Kindness in me than Prudence for I might as reasonably have wept that my Friend was born no sooner as that he should live no longer SECT 13. STudy not only to preserve your Estate but justly to increase it Mony is the Heir of Fortune and the Lord Paramount of the World Riches are the Keys to Greatness and make the access to Honour more easie and
the midst of them lived in Peace and Prosperity Factions in State never long hold their ground for if they be not suppressed by the power of the State they will be ruined by some Distempers rising in their own Party But in Popular Commotions if you stand Neutral you will be sure to run the fortune of the Bat to be picked by the Birds and to be bitten by the Mice I am of that boon Courage that I had rather be devoured by a Lion than stung to death by Flies Neither can I suit my self with those Persons who act for their advantage like the Bird whereof Leo Affricanus makes mention which when the King of Birds demanded Tribute would always rank himself amongst Fish and when the King of Fishes required his Service would be always with the Birds But if any signal infelicity shall happen to fall upon you the only way is not to sit still but to resolve upon action for so long as nothing is done the same accidents which caused your misfortune do still remain but if you act something you may deliver your self However you express a brave Spirit that you durst attempt it But that which is out of your power let it be out of your ear you may if you think fit give your self much trouble but leave God to govern the World as himself pleaseth If you will live comfortably let God alone with his Providence and Men with their Rights SECT 24. IF you aim at advancement be sure you have Jovem in Arca otherwise your flight to Preferment will be but slow without some Golden Feathers You must study to enworthy your self into the favour of some great Person upon whom you must lean rather than upon your own Vertues if not you will be like a Hop without a Pole for every one to tread upon Though Vertue be a Patient for Honour and Preferments ought to be an encouragement for Worth Yet in the Epoche and Account of Times we have observed that Men of the greatest Abilities are on Design supprest and they deal with Persons of the best Accomplishment as the Birds in Plutarch did who beat the Jay for fear in time she might become an Eagle And it hath been the unhappy sate of many Vertuous Persons who like the Axe after it hath hewed out the hard Timber to be hanged up against the Wall unregarded or like a Top which hath been for a long time scourged and run well yet at last to be lodged up for a Hobler But methinks it 's great pity to see the Courtain drawn between a Vertuous Person and Preferment Yet I cannot with Carneades maintain that Injustice is to be preferred before Justice or that it 's better to be a Knave than a Vertuous Honest Man But many times I am under such a Paroxism that I am almost induced to think that it 's better to be Fortunate than Wise or Just and cannot but with Brutus cry out virtus colui te ut rem at tu nomen es inane Therefore if you design to rise and become great I would not advise you to accomplish your self overmuch or study to be very Learned or Wise for I have observed that Wisdom many times gives a check to Confidence which is the Scale and Rundle by which many climb up to the Pinacle and I find by experience that under Heads and narrow Souls by Industry accompanied with Ambition and Covetousness work Wonders and do the Business of the World A little good Fortune is better than a great deal of Vertue and the least Authority hath advantage over the greatest Wit SECT 25. BUt let nothing disquiet you a Vertuous Person will at one time or another be thought good for something and a Wise Man will once in an Age come in fashion I am much pleasd with the Remarks of Themistocles upon the Atheneans who resembled himself to a Plane-tree the Leaves and Boughs whereof Men break off in fair Weather and run under it for shelter in a Storm You must know that Honours and Preferments are rarely the reward of Vertue but the Issue of Pleasure or Interest Is it not strange to observe a Person raised to the Dignity of a Constable of France for having taught Magpies to fly at Sparrows To what Grandeur do you think such another Person as Domitian if he had lived in that Princes time would have advanced himself unto who was so excellent at catching of Flies But let Honour be your Merit not your Expectation and attain to Preferment not by Winding Stairs but by the Scale of your own Vertues If you miss of it you must be content there is a Reward for all things but for Vertue And it 's sometimes a greater Honour to fail of the Reward of Merit than to receive it the glory and highest recompence of Noble Actions is to have done them and Vertue out of it self can find no Retribution worthy of her SECT 26. BEware of Ambition that over-rides without Reins lest you catch a Fall God gives Wings to the Ant that she may destroy her self the sooner And many Men like sealed Doves they study to rise higher and higher they know not whither little considering that when they are mounted to the Solstice of their Greatness every step they set is paved with Fate and their Fall how gentle soever will never suffer them to rise again Let it be your Ambition to be Wise and your Wisdom to be Good Reject Opinion and you are like a Ship in the Harbour safe It 's the unhappiness of many Men to covet the greatest things but not to enjoy the least The Desire of that which we neither have nor need takes from us the true use and fruition of that we have already A Wise Man like Empedocles Sphere is round and all like it self That which a Sober Man hath to do in this World is to make his life comfortable Ever think it 's the best living in the Temperate Zone between nec splendide nec misere If Heaven shall vouchsafe me such a Blessing that I may enjoy a Groat or a Mole-hill with content I can look upon all the great Kingdoms of the Earth as so many little Birds Nests And I can in such a Territory prune my self as much as Alexander did when he fancied the whole World to be one great City and his Camp the Castle of it If I were advanced to the Zenith of Honour I am at the best but a Porter constellated to carry up and down the World a vile Carcass I confess my Mind the Nobler Part of Me now and then takes a Walk in the large Campagne of Heaven and there I contemplate the Universe the Mysterious Concatenation of Causes and the Stupendious Efforts of the Almighty In Consideration whereof I can chearfully bid adieu to the World Depone hoc apud te nunquam plus agere sapientem quam cum in conspectu ejus divina atque Humana venerunt You will find by Experience which
rich as the Indies I am a little World and injoy all things within my own Sphere Honour and Riches which others do aspire unto I do now possess and enjoy them in my self Health is the temperate Zone of my Life and my Mind is the third Region in me there I have an Intellectual Globe wherein all things subsist and move according to my own Idea's Doth any Man rob you of your Goods consider that God by that Man takes back what he hath only lent you the thing you fore-saw is come to pass and what should amaze you That which hath happened out 't is but that which you have often seen and known All things by Nature in the Universe are subject to alteration and change How ridiculous then is it when any thing doth happen to be disturbed or wonder as if some strange thing had happened I must own my self as a part of the Universe and therefore cannot be displeased with any thing that happens to my particular share for nothing which is good to the whole can be hurtful to that which is part of it However Innocens sit Animus iniratâ fortunâ for Vertuous Persons like the Sun appear greatest at their setting And the Patient induring of a necessary evil is next unto a voluntary Martyrdom Adversity overcome is the highest Glory and willingly undergone the greatest Vertue Sufferings are but the tryal and touch-stone of gallant Spirits SECT 33. ANd though you are fallen from your Princes Favour yet you may be a Rex Stoicus a King in our own Microcosme and he who knoweth how to rule that well may despise a Crown Thrones are but uneasie Seats and Crowns nothing but splendid Miseries A quel les Rey que nunca vio Rey. The change of your Fortune may diminish your hopes but it will increase your quiet you must understand that Favourites are but as Counters in the hands of great Persons raised and depressed in valuation at pleasure There is no constancy either in the Favour of Fortune or in the Affection of great Persons so that no wise Man can trust the one or depend safely upon the other But whatsoever the Traverses of Fortune are let no discontent surprize you if the thing be within your power manage it to your content if not it 's weakness in you to be disquieted Do your best that the best may happen out if that do not yet think it best However it will be but Piety in you to submit to Divine Providence A humble Soul like a White Sheet must be prepared to receive that which the hand of Heaven shall imprint upon it Never antidate your own Misfortune for many times Men make themselves more miserable than indeed they are and the Apprehension of Infelicity doth more afflict them than the Infelicity it self Hope will be your best Antidote against all misfortune and Gods Omnipotency an excellent means to fix your Soul If you be not so happy as you desire it is well you are not so miserable as you deserve if things go not so well as you would they should have done it 's well they are not so ill as they might have been If you seriously consider you have received more good than you have done and done more evil than you have suffered Measure not Life by the enjoyment of this World but by the preparation it makes for a better looking forward what you shall be rather than backward what you have been Believe me he that anchoreth one thought upon any thing on this side Heaven will be sure to be a loser in the end To serve God and keep his Commandments is the onely Wisdom and will at last when the account of the World shall be cast up be found to be the best Preferment and highest Happiness And so farewell remember your Mortality and Eternal Life Sententiae Stellares OR Maximes of Prudence To be observed by ARTISONS of STATE 1. THat Government is best tempered where a few drams of fear are blended with the Peoples love 2. It is the interest of Princes to make Acts of Grace peculiarly their own because they which have commonly the Art to please the People have commonly the power to raise them 3. He who putteth off his Hat to the People giveth his Head to the Prince for the immoderate Favour of the Multitude as it can do a Man no good so it will undo so many as shall trust to it It was said of the Earl of Sussex that he was grown so popular that he was too dangerous for the times and the times for him 4. He that gives a Prince Counsel by his desires sets Interest which cannot err by Passions which may 5. It may sometimes be the Interest of a Prince not only to remove Grievances by doing what is desired but even Jealousies by doing something which is not expected For when a Prince does more than his People looks for he gives them reason to believe that he is not sorry for doing that they desired 6. In popular Tumults many times nothing is more safe than speed and greater advantages accrew by Expedition than Delays for while some are in fear some in doubt others ignorant all may be reduced to the limits of Obedience and Fury when the first blast is spent turns commonly to Fear and those Persons which are the Heads of Rebellion whom the People honour and admire at first are at last plentifully repayed with scorn and contempt 7. When a Prince seeks the love of his Subjects he shall find in them enough of fear but where he seeks their fear he loses their love 8. Denial from Princes must be supplied with gratious usage that though they cure not the Sore yet they may abate the Sense of it but best it is that all Favours come directly from themselves Denials and things of bitterness from their Ministers Therefore if a Prince resolve not to answer a Request the least offensive way is not to use direct Denial but by delays prolong the time and so in place of effect afford good expectation Henry the Fourth of France was so courteous that when he would not answer a Petitioner he always so obliged him with some good word that he always went away satisfied 9. The more a Prince weakneth himself by giving the poorer he is of Friends 10. Equal Authority with the same power is ever fatal to all great Actions and therefore one wise General having but a thousand Men is more to be feared than twenty of equal Authority for they are commonly of divers Humours and judging diversly do rarely what is to be done And lose time before Resolutions can be taken 11. Reward and Punishment justly laid do ballance Government but it much concerns a Prince the hand to be equal that holds the Scale therefore if any Subject doth deserve never so highly of his Prince if he becomes afterwards a Malefactor he must be made an example of Justice without regard of his former Merit Manlius