and chuse rather to submit unto it to be at rest if they can then to have War in resisting it and incline rather to peace by servitude than by Victory Insomuch that a Minister of State ought ot take great care not to act by Imitation not to frame his Conduct by th' Example of strangers not to follow remote Idaea's and not to suffer himselfe to be couseâ—ed by what is practised in the Government of another State which he may see powerfull and happy that if the Physitians of Italy and Germany handle in a different manner the Diseases of those Countries If the Morall have not an exact and indivisible Medium for the virtue it teacheth If the Church for fastings and abstinencies be lesse Indulgent in relation to the people of the East than of the North And if all proceeds from the inequality of Complexions which ariseth in part from the difference of Climates and places Why should not the same Considerations be received in the Conducts of States where not onely the Constitutions of men are unlike and their manners contrary but their foundations are different and their policy diverse And where the Contest brought to maintain them is the more ardent because 't is raised under the pretence of generall good and is upheld by the multitude of them who are interressed and from publique force Le ts come t'Examples The severity which the Spaniards affect and which is conformable to their Constitution is necessary for Spain and those Melancholick and glorious Spirits are more stirred up then the spirits of others by the shame of punishments and by the hope of rewards Their Inquisition which appears so dreadfull and which is so formidable to all other Nations it one of the principall causes of the peace which they enjoy and of that high tranquillity wherein they repose themselves Errour dares not openly appear there There 's no contagion for their spirits and if there be any remainder of Mahometism after the forcing away of so many thousands of Moores it lies concealed in their hearts or passeth not out of Caves and Darkness They serve not onely against Infidelity and for security of Consciences Many Crimes purely civill which cannot be punished according to ordinary formes are sent thither and sometimes innocent persons are there exposed who are to be made Examples for th' Interest of the State and to save th' honour of the Prince The disgrace of Antonio Peres is a famous Evidence That person who had no greater Crime than to be esteemed by his Masted The Sacretary of Don John of Austria was killed in the Inquistion by Philip's Order and to have th' assurance of it after he had been diâ—… years variously vexed was at last condemned to th'Inquisition and if the people of Saragoca had not taken him away by force he had made experiment of the danger of keeping a great Persons secrets and of being th' Instrument of an Action he would not have known But when they undertook to settle in other places that severe Inquisition 't was then that the spirits of the people Mutined That Tempests have been seen t'arise and that they have run to violent Remedies to hinder them Heresie entered into Flanders under Charles the fifth and Religion began to be altered there by the Trade with England and Germany Graniuelle who commanded there repaired to the Inquisition to smoother an evil that seemed weak because it was new and began onely to shew it selfe and to bud But he spoiled all with that Remedy and whether he was forced by a good zeal as is probable or with a desire to ceaze on the Goods of the discovered persons as he was accused He caused so many to dye and provoked so many other persons that th'Emperour was constrained to suppress that pursuit The seeds nevertheless of the Disease dyed not though they were laid asleep The'Ulcer was concealed but not healed and a part of the people passed since from Heresie to Revolt which they have changed with the time into a lawfull Dominion The Spaniards believed also that the Inquisition after their manner would secure the Conquest of Naples That it should serve as a Bridle for that untamed Horse That it would hold that changeable and unstable people under the yoak and abate the highest heads of that Kingdom who loved naturally disorders but they were deceived And so soon as Don Pedro of Toledo attempted it Naples rebelled and the people took Arms as for their common Liberty and if th'Emperour had not taken away that Design and if the Pope should have consented to the proposalls of Cardinal Caraffe they had hazarded the losse of that State and what they had in Italy So soon as Philip the second war returned from Flanders into Spain he sent divers Heretiques to be punished He pardoned neither Sex or Quality He caused the Effigies of Constantine Pontius the last Confessor of his Father to be burnt He Commanded Bartholme Arch-Bishop of Toledo to be arrested This Proceeding astonished all the world And if that Prince did not spare the memory of him who held in his Arms the dying Emperour and received his last Breath nor the chief Prelate of the Spanish Dominions and who was heard with Admiration in the Councill of Trent And if he protested daily that he would bring Wood to burn his Children if they were Heretiques What grace could be expected from him by nocent persons There 's no question but that severity hath preserved that Country from Heresie and made impressions on the people whose nature is circumspect and seeks safety in all their undertakings And as to th' Example of the Prince and that by his Advice endeavours have been used t'exercise the same proceedings in France The same success hath not been encountred whether that the Remedy was unseasonable or that our humour mour is uncapable to submit to force It seems that the door t'Errour was opened upon that occasion Many to whom new things were odious were lost by the Curiosity to know what the Doctrine was for which so many persons did run with vehemency to death and suffered with joy That vain Image of constancy amazed weak spirits and them that knew not That the Justice of the Cause and not the Rigour of Torments made Martyrs imagined that they could not cheerfully perish but for the Cause of Jesus Christ Severity then is not good but for the speculative and fierce humours as the Spaniards are who consider alwaies the furture and the consequence of things To whom gentlenesse appears Cowardize who neglect them that flatter them and make themselves to be feared of them who make discovery of fear It acts also powerfully upon the fearfull and Coward people as they of th' East where th' heat of the Air dissipates that of the Body and dryes up excessively the spirits which are th'Instruments of Boldnesse and Courage so Monarchies have taken their beginnings in those Countries the people being easily reduced under the power
THE MINISTER OF STATE VVherein is shewn The true use OF Modern Policy BY MONSIEVR DE SILHON Secretary to the late Cardinall RICHELIEU Englished by H. H. Tandem didici animas sapientiores fieri quiescendo LONDON Printed for Thomas Dring And are to be sold at his shop at the George in Fleetstreet neare Cliffords Innt 1658. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE LORD THE LORD VISCOUNT SCUDAMORE My Lord THis Translation makes its first addresse to your Honour 's Accurat judgment but craves no protection for the Matter or Expressions of the Originall For the Matter is but the result of your Reasonings and the Expressions but the repetition of your Eloquence In th' Author two things besides his exact knowledge in Civill and Divine affairs are very remarkable his Love to Truth and Hatred to Detraction As to Truth he holds it forth as the best most permanent Policy for Princes and their Ministers of State Buy the Truth but sell it not saies Solomon Magna est Veritas praevalebit As to Detraction he condemns the practice of it in all persons and gives th' example t'others For he is sparing in the discovery of some sharp Truths and permits the Matter Errours or Crimes to publish the men And it were to be wished that personall obloquie were not as modeable in our daies as new dresses In the businesse of Religion he may be found zealous but not superstitious and rather of the Gallican then Papall perswasion Deceits and Vices are decryed by him in what subject soever he finds them Piety and Vertue highly exalted For he made them if report be true his daily exercise as knowing that nothing can be perpetuall but what is founded upon Piety or Vertue for they are equall in the Ballance when Vices endure no equality And being bred in the School of that eminent and successfull Cardinall of Richlieu and cherished in his Conversation and House did collect the most resined products of his Policy Wit and Experience and gather the choicest Flowers of his Garden The Book had a very high esteem in France at the publication in Paris and hath justified its credit in the present use as an approved Jewell and it cannot go lesse in value here where Learning and good Wits abound and the judgment of discerning a true Diamond from a Pibble stone though never so well set equall if not superiour to any Nation of the World My Lord Forgive th'excercise of your patience so long in the Porch of this beautifull and regular Edifice raised from the materialls of the Brain and adorned with the Beauties of Rhetorick and Examples drawn to the life But the Key being now in your hand your Lordship may enter at pleasure and dismisse My Lord Your Lordships humble Servant H. H. ADVERTISEMENT READER I Have some Considerations to represent unto thee concerning this VVork whereupon I beseech thee to cast thy eyes The first is in relation to the Matter which is composed of Reasonings and Examples As to the Reasonings thou shalt know them to be wholly mine and a pure product of my witt and by consequence imperfect and tastes of the weakenesse of the principle from which it is derived When I discourse of past Occurrences and of things hapned in the Raignes of the King If the true motives have not alwaies been encountred by me nor the essentiall causes of their successe I have nothing to say to thee but that I had not the spirit of Divination That I have not received remembrances or instructions from any person And that th'Actions of Princes are like great Rivers the beginning and springs whereof sew persons have seen though an infinite of persons see the course and progresse of them If any person thinks my Judgement too free chiefly when I speake of the Pope and the matters of Rome I beseech him to consider that gentler Consequences cannot be drawn from th'Examples that are brought If th'examples are false I have not invented them the springs are well knowne There 's cause neverthelesse to praise God that some of the Pastors who have governed his Church have not been so black as they are painted If they are true there 's cause to admire the Divine Providence in preserving his Church from decay and spot in the time of corruption of some of its members and in maintaining of it in health the plague being so neer it That is to say as I understand it that nothing was altered of the meanes which God hath appointed to guide us to our supernaturall end That the Doctrine of Faith which is one of the Principles that makes us act Christianly and which hath workes for her nearest end is alwaies the same That the Sacraments which conferr and increase grace in us by virtue of the Institution of Jesus Christ and not by virtue of what we bring unto it of ours as of a meritorious cause are not changed for the number their matter or their forme That the permanent and incorruptible State in these two things is found only in that holy Hierarchy which makes that mysticall Body of Jesus Christ which is composed of a head that represents it and of many principall subalterne members who hold of that head and with an admirable dependency and union amongst themselves That it never hapned that this Head and those members to whom it belongs to guide others have together and with a common consent fayled against these two things and that it will never happen to th' end of the world at least if the Promises of God are eternall and his word unchangeable and therefore no person is to wonder if out of the Church there be no salvation since the Church only containes that means that brings us thither and preserves inviolable the substance and number of the Sacraments and the purity of th'Evangelicall doctrine Moreover and for what respecteth every member of the Church in particular That God hath left them in the hands of their counsell to beleeve or live as they please that hee hath put before them fire and water that they may make their choyce and that he imposeth no necessity upon them but leaves them be power of their will that 's to say the power to follow that good or to forsake it to doe evill or to abstaine from it When I speake then with liberty of the vices of some Popes and of the corruption of some of their Agents I doe not thinke to wrong Religion nor to offend the Church The Cardinall Baronius relates with much more soverity or lesse allay then I doe the abuses which overstowed the Court of Rome when two famous whores Theodosia and Morosia governed it and the Popes of that time A man must not alwaies set himselfe against known truths Who support ill causes lose their credit make themselvs to be suspected when they have good ones to defend resemble certain persons who being equally honest to all the world are not so to any person and putting neither
Being a Prisoner to a King of Granada He gained him to the service of his Master and perswaded him to given himselfe up to Ferdinand who would have had much trouble to overcome him He withdrew the Colonnes and the Ursines from th' interest of France for to cast them upon th' interest of Spain And knowing well that long and inveterate hatreds as they were of both Families are fatall to the parties where they enter and dangerous in the occasions that awaken them He reconciled the differences and for a time healed th'Emulation they laboured of He was moreover so zealous of the Greatnesse of his Master and so passionate for the good of his Affaires that he quitted his Conscience and broke his faith to whom he had given it As in the Treaty he made with the Duke of Calabria whereof I shall speak in another place and when he seized with subtilty upon the person of Caesar Borgia and deceived that subtil person who had deceived so many other persons Th'incomparable qualites then of this person and infinite services which he had done to his Master rendred him a suspected person And though they love treason yet they hate the Traytors on the contrary the Virtue of Gonsalve gives Apprehensions and Alarms to Ferdinand for whom it had gained Kingdoms And the conquests also of Naples and th' entire reduction of that of that State being finished He began more willingly than he should have done to lend his Ear to the complaints made against him And the Calumny became insolent to assault him when it received credit from his Master 'T is impossible that they who have Commissions for great Commands should give content to all the world And 't is hard to give imployments to all such as believe to merit them or recompences to the esteem that every Person hath of his services and to the value he sets upon them and therefore there are alwaies persons that do complain because some do believe themselves ill used and who make spight and hatred to succeed at the rate of the good they have been disappointed of This unhappinesse befell the great Captain And it happened also that the complaints made against him in Spain were not disagreeable to Ferdinand who sought occasion onely to destroy him and did not act an Injustice willingly but when he had some pretence of Justice for to colour it 'T is strange what torments and inquietudes the reputation of Gonsalve gave to Ferdinand all the rest of his life The most loyal and best disposed of all his Subjects He to whom he owed a part of his Greatnesse who rendred him more formidable to other Princes then all the rest of his powers held his soul on a perpetuall wrack And he never had any Enemy from whom he suffered so much and so long as from him He was almost perswaded to extream Remedies to be rid of him and if he had not apprehended that in missing of his stroak he gave him occasion to become a Rebell he had caused him to be arrested upon the single Motions of Jealousie and had given an instance of the force of the greatest of all humane passions which is the love of Soveraignty This passion which so much vexed Ferdinand is worthy to be represented and th'Artifices used by the greatest Polititian of the world to ruine his own subject are too subtill and too curious to be concealed from a person of State The moderation also of Gonsalve and the strength he had to resist his own Greatnesse which was in his power and to repel a temptation which had a Kingdom for prize deserve to be proposed to the subjects of other Princes The sixth Discourse Th' Artifices used by Ferdinand to destroy the great Captain FErdinand then upon the bare complaints of discontented persons whereof the number is ever great against them that govern lesseneth the power of the great Captain and reduceth him to the ordinary Authority of Vice-Kings in a Kingdome which he had conquered How sensible this thing was to a person of great courage and what Emotion it ought to raise in the heart of Gonsalve may be judged by the displeasure all men have to fall and to be degraded in th' eyes of the world And it may be judged by the hatred all men naturally bear to ingratitude but they onely that exercise it and by th' injustice it contains that not onely the services that have been rendred shall be frustrated of the reward which hath been merited but that they also shall be th' originall of the disgraces suffered and of th' ill entertainments because a sufficient Recompence cannot be received Gonsalve notwithstanding subdued his resentments and appeared much greater in conquering himselfe in so ticklish an occasion then he had done in conquering so often th' enemies of his Master The patience wherewith he supported this injury did not sweeten Ferdinand nor cure his sick spirit On the contrary it made it irreconcilable He hates him the more whom he had newly offended because he gave him cause to resent it and takes the moderation which Gonsalve used for an Artifice because his passion would not suffer him to attribute it to the greatness of his Courage That made him resolve to bring him back from Naples though his presence there way yet very necessary and to deliver himselfe at once of all his feares and of all his apprehensions in removing him from that place where he was so powerfull He commands him then to return into Spain since th' affaires of Naples as he said were in good condition and informs him that he had use in other places of his person and of his service The great Captain prepares for his departure but not with that nimblenesse which Ferdinand desired To whose inquietude precipitation would have appeared slow since it seemed to him that he could never be soon enough healed of the distrust which did torment him This slowness which was for his service and for the confirming of Ferdinand's authority in the Kingdom which Gonsalve would not leave tottering encreaseth his feares and multiplies his jealousies Th' Enemies of Gonsalve close with this humour in Ferdinand Envy again riseth against his Virtue and there were but too many persons in Spain and in Italy who cryed down his Faithfulnesse and represented his Ambition to such a height that it would not fail speedily to compell him to assume the Pitle of Soveraign whereof he exercised the Power That made him again resolve to send Peter Navarre to Naples with private Orders to ceaze upon the person of the great Captain and to make a Prisoner of him in the new Castle And at the same time to lay him asleep and for fear the distrust he had of him should occasion the injury he feared if it were discovered he writes him a Letter by which he doth promise him at his return the great command of Saint James A dignity that did not truly equall the services of Gonsalve nor pay the
just price of his Actions but was the highest in Spain next to the Soveraignty As he was ready to execute this scandalous resolution a person of Credit arrives at Court from the great Captain with Letters which give him so great assurances of his fidelity and confirm with such strong Reasons the just cause of his stay that Ferdinand abated for that time the violence that transported him but at last finding no lawfull Causes or very visible pretences to use extream Remedies against Gonsalve and being not assured of the possession of Naples so long as Gonsalve was in condition to take it from him he resolved to go in person to draw him away He was hardly arrived at Genes but he understood of the death of his Son in law with whom he had so many troubles and who had handled him with so much indignity Reason seemed to advise him to go back and to retake the possession of the Government of Castile before any change might happen there that th' ill humours of that State were raised and that th' ill had taken root there by his absence That was represented to him by his Councill and by his servants which he had left in Spain But Naples must be provided for since he was so near He must pull the Thorn out of his heart which pricked him And although he would not expose his person thither when we were powerful there when we contested the Kingdom with him and that fortune then held in the Air the two scales of the Ballance where Victory hung uncertain He made no question to go thither to destroy the power of a person that was most faithful to him The prudence and dexterity of Ferdinand made a wonderfull noyse on this occasion which was heard in all places and whereon all Christendom was attentive At his Arrivall he made extraordinary Caresses to Gonsalve He gave him honours that would have satisfied the most ambitious spirit of the world He had no sufficient praises to extoll his vertue nor power enough to requite his services In brief one might have said that he would give him a share of his Authority and of his subject make his Companion In the mean time this great Captain is solicited from divers places to take more advantageous Conditions then he had from his Master The Pope with whom Ferdinand had founded intelligencies to make War against the Venetians desires him for the Generall of the Churches Armies The Common wealth of Venice offers him the Command of their Armies The Emperour endeavours to gain him for his service every person thought that Victory could not be severed from him and his reputation dispatched above th' halfe of Affairs His virtue truly was too fair not be tempted But it had force enough to repell Temptation and to resist the Baits wherewith Endeavours were used to corrupt it He had given infallible Evidences thereof to Ferdinand during the persecution of Castile And when almost all the Grandees of Spain had declared themselves in favour of his Son in law and adored that new Power Gonsalve stood firm and assured him that what change soever hapned to him in his fortune none should ever befall him in his affections This was truly admirable in an occasion where he had so many examples of failing and it may be some Cause to do it during Philips life Moreover being so able a person and having long acted by th'orders of Ferdinand It was not possible that he should be a stranger to his diffident Humour and to his Covetous Inclination and therefore ought to believe that his services would pass unrequited and that passion whereof his Master laboured against would not be appeased but by his Fall and Ruine However Ferdinand to defeat th'intentions of the Pope and to make void all solicitations that were made to Gonsalve endeavoured to perswade him that he had all the good opinion of the world of his fidelity gives him a Patent of the great Master ship of Saint James which was passionately desired by Gonsalve and prayed the Pope to grant the Archbishop of Toledo power to confer it upon him He well knew that the Pope would resist it and be troubled that Gonsalve should receive that dignity from any hand but from His and that so whilst Endeavours were used to overcome that difficulty and pass that Ditch he should be in Spain and out of Danger to be deboshed He grants him after that an Authentick Declaration of the great services he had received from him at of the esteem he had for his merits and for the inviolable zeal he had had for his Affairs He sends this Declaration to the Courts of all Princes of Christendom to efface said He th'Impressions that might have been made against the faithfulnesse of this great Captain and that no spot might remain upon the honour of so great a person He draws him from Italy and brings him with him by these eminent Artifices and Pompous Demonstrations of his good Affections The interview made at Savona with Lewis the twelfth enflamed his jealousie and rendred the Virtue of Gonsalve the more suspected because he saw it so much honoured by him to whom he had done so much Evill and from whom he had taken a Kingdom For Lewis obtained of Ferdinand that Gonsalve might dine in their company an extraordinary favour especially for a subject of Spain with his Soveraign At last he is conducted into Spain where all the hopes which had been given him and the magnificent promises wherewith he had been fed are reduced to the Condition of a private person in which Condition he is permitted nothing more then onely to live They labour to discredit him They use him ill in relation to his Parents All his desires are refused though very Civill and Just And notwithstanding this stripped person is Ferdinand's Flayl and a virtue destitute of all the helps of fortune troubles his spirit and puts him into great paines But as Princes feel not passions as other persons do and take or leave them according to their Interest The prosperity of Lewis the twelfth's Armes in Italy under the Command of Gaston of Foix and the disgraces of th' Army of the League whereof Ferdinand was a member enforced him to cast his eyes upon Gonsalve to send him thither This great Captain prepares for this Expedition Spain dis-furnisheth her selfe of brave persons for to follow him there and the greatest part of great persons notwithstanding the fiercenesse of their humour and good opinion of themselves resolved to accompany him thither This struck Ferdinand more then can be imagined And the greatnesse of Gonsalve that became higher then ever and th' ill condition of th' affairs of Italy which could not be recovered but by his virtue trouble him with irresolutions But fortune that had been so often favourable vnto him forgot him not in this occasion she would not give men the pleasure to see the two chief planets of the world in Conjunction and
to Conquer all and to carry by assault what makes resistance But that we are not able long to preserve that heat nor to maintain our Conquests The same may be said of the Spaniards that their designs have sometimes good beginnings which attain not alwaies their Ends because they are Immoderate That they begin well but finish not alwaies the work they undertake because they withdraw themselves to other work that they make not an end of all things they undertake in regard that they undertake too much at a time that they Grasp more then they know how to hold and devour more then they can digest 'T is not for want of patience but for their too great Ambition nor that they forsake the Labour for being a weary and to rest themselves but they suspend it or slack it in one place to attend it in another where they think to prosper better And as the Covetous person hath no sooner the desire in his heart of being rich but he desires suddenly to become rich The like is the condition of the ambitious person there are no degrees for the growth of passion 't is great as soon as 't is born and he hath th' unhappinesse that his Imagination knows not how to bound the Conquests which it meditates upon nor lengthen the time must necessarily be imployed to act them This hath happened to the Spaniards It may be said that they have found their enterprises more difficult then they were represented unto them in having too great an opinion of their own virtue or too little of other mens virtues Le ts come to the proof of this truth wherewith they have furnished us and whereof they have given us cause to beware They observed that th' Enterprise upon England and preparation for that Fleet which they called Invincible broke the course of the Victories of the Duke of Parma that it drayned Spain of Money and Men and hindred that Prince from receiving necessary recruits to continue the War They also acknowledged that the journies he made into France to relieve the League had unfurnished the two Countries of their best Souldiers and left those fair Provinces for a prey to their Enemies which had been so long their Indyes and since have been so long their Poverty and Church-yard We may indeed say here by the way and then we will return to our subject That Philip the second did not a little forget himselfe in these occasions and that his Conduct was then too wise or not wise enough That it was not truly ill argued for the subduing of the Hollande's first to ceaze on France and Conquer England to cut off at once th' Armes that supported them and force away the Dugs which fed the Rebellion of that people But also that it was too vast a Design for a Prince so decayed and a way too long and too dangerous for a person of so small strength and short breath That if he was transported by the zeal of th' house of God and could not suffer Religion to perish in the first Kingdom of the world If he was concerned in th' ill of France and if he so vehemently loved the Church that he could not permit so faire a member to be separated from her It must be confessed that his zeal had been commendable if it had been more prudent But he should have remembred that true Charity excludes not Justice that it perverts not th' order of things that it disorders not the duty of life and that it hath as much light as heat and of moderation as force And therfore that it had been better to withdraw the people from Heresie which God submitted to him and from rebellion wherein they were involved then to ingage in th' affaires of his Neighbours whereof he was not to give an Accompt and that he was more obliged to labour the Cure of his sick subjects then the lesser diseases of strangers But le ts speak the truth It troubled Philip much to lose so fair an occasion as that which then presented it selfe to gain by our disorders And he well saw that after the French were divided into Factions and that the Children had torn in pieces their Mother it would be easie for him to recollect the scattered members and the pieces of th' Inheritance That if the lost this Conjuncture he might after in vain desire it that the madmen might return to their senses and that they had been corrupted by Charmes and Drenches That they being cured might change their love into hatred and be animated against them who had put them into that Condition Though the Spaniards made the forementioned reflections they failed not to strike upon the same sands and to repeat their faults Th'Emperour had incredible success in Germany His Conquests forced in upon him like a Torrent God sent him Victories like those of the Children of Israel when they marched under the Conduct of Moses and Joshua and it was no more a Caesar by name and the vain Imagination of what he ought to be but he had the power and the majesty His Authority gave reputation to the Spaniards His Armies rendred them more fearfull than they were and they saw their desires crowned with the taking of Breda which Spinola boasted to have taken in spight of four Kings and th'ayds of divers Nations in League After that nothing was thought impossible for them And notwithstanding instead of pursuing the great progress which they had made in the Low-Countties and to follow their Fortune which marched before them they provoked troubles in Italy and sharpned the spirits of divers Princes in possessing themselves of the Valtoline The usurpation of that passage gave occasion to make a league for to make it free and the War was carryed into Piedmont whither they conveyed great forces which served onely to make th' affront more eminent which they received before Verrne and to augment the shame of that retreat But they fell not alone into the precipices They drew in the Emperour whose name they made use of to vex Monsieur of Mantouë To put I say a poor Catholique Prince into his shirt who reverenced him they compelled him to agree with the King of Denmark and to make a dishonourable peace with the Protestant Enemy They constrained him to take the Law of the Conquered to restore him his Losses and to let loose the Chain which pressed all Germany There 's apparance that if he had continued the designs he had in that Country and those in Flanders They had compleated His Happiness At least they had avoided the disgraces which happened unto them they had given no scandall to Christendom Boldne had been preserved and so Catholique a City had not entertained Heresie within its walls nor lamented the losse of th' ancient Religion But in this they had not onely men for Enemies but God seemed to declare and to make War against them And as he suffered heretofore the Philistins to take th' Ark of the
't is not to be forgot that God hath raised a Person to second his great and just inclinations who having an understanding and virtue above the Ordinary of men hath imployed all his wit and virtue for his Masters Greatness and Glory He laid aside the consideration of a particular Capacity so soon as he became a publique person nothing could divert him from doing his Prince good service He feared not the hatred of great persons nor the bitings of the people And he kept his way and pace at well through the contradictions and resistance was made him as through th'acclamations received and the prayers given him Then also when he might have landed after a glorious Voyage when Envy was silent and reduced to observe the future finding nothing in his past Actions for reproof but for Commendation when he might have enjoyed the sweetnesse of that Rest which attends happy troubles and honourable labours He would not because it was necessary for us that all forraine winds were not laid and that disturbances were busie amongst our Neighbours and Allies He chose rather to commit a full and entire glory as his was to the hazards of the future alwayes doubtfull and subject to revolutions than to permit his Master and Country to desire his care and aid And that which is most admirable is that his love so necessary and duty so inviolable have sometimes prevailed with him to suspend resentments which troubled him nearer then his personall preservation which were dearer to him then his life and which he preferred to all his fortune at Court and to all the greatness of the world In pursuance of this I say also what concerns the manners of particular persons and their Government Charity commands us to lay out on them the best Colours and most favourable Interpretations But when the question is of the good of States and Interest of Princes a greater severity of Judgement must be used All appearances of Evill must be attended with distrust and divers expedients must be used to avoid surprises and to secure against Ambushes The reason is that 't is not permitted to commit small faults in such great and general matters and that the will doth not engage to prepare us against deceit when a great opinion is had of the honesty of the persons that are to be treated withall But if precaution be at any time necessary and if there be need at any time of preservatives against so subtill and piercing a contagion 't is principally in that season when Treachery makes a part of politique Prudence and where the simplicity of them who suffer the surprise is more shamefull then the perfidy of them that deceive to their own advantage Add th'Artifices that are imployed to disguise it and the subtilties which have been invented to represent it under another name then its own and cause it to pass under shews contrary to its nature insomuch that though it be alwaies condemned by the mouth and in Coversations I doe not see nevertheless that 't is cast out of the commerce of Princes and use of affaires but by th' event when it proves fatall let us conclude then that in these occasions diffidence is the Mother of safety and not to be deceived preparation must be made as if it were to be expected The Twelfth Discourse That a Minister of State ought endeavour to make his Deportments more Profitable than Eminent THat a Minister of State ought to be a stranger to th'Apprehensions of the vulgar that he ought not to be subject to the weakness of Low spirits nor to touch upon th' objects which entertain them That he know how to make difference betwixt the reality and apparance of things betwixt the solidity and the brightnesse that he prefer not Glass before Gold because th' one is more shining and luminous and th' other more dark He must not value so much the colours of the Bow in heaven which are but a beam of light fixed for an hour in some drops of water thickned in th' air as the firm lasting Colour of the Ruby Emerode and Opale He must make a noble expence when it shall be necessary and be splendid on important occasions and appear for th' honour of his Master He must not neglect th' occasions whose principall Quality resides in Magnificency As the Embassies that are made upon the coming in of a King upon the Crowning of a Pope for an alliance or a marriage but let him not fall sick upon such expences nor be transported nor make it the greatest Ornament of his conduct and choysest expression of his life nor fix his greatness upon a transitory Pomp nor his glory upon a Magnificence that flyeth away and above all to beware that instead of being magnificent he become not prodigall for as Vice cannot be made beautifull what Ornaments soever are put upon it 'T is certain that the people are provoked when a vain ostentation is made of their substance and a triumph of their sweats and pains They are amazed and at a stand but in the same manner as they behold the pulling down of Temples and th'overflowings of Rivers Wise persons are troubled when the principal force of the State is dissipated the security of peace and th' instrument of War which is Money in superfluous expences since there 's never enough for the necessary occasions The things which I have said are chiefly in relation to the people which astonish and ravish them at the instant they make them afraid There are other things also which touch upon the great Spirits and transport th' highest Courages Such are th' Arms of War and th' objects of Valour There 's no virtue in th' opinion of the greatest part of men more in esteem than this and no matter is more acceptable for Conversation nor any Entertainment more bewitching then th' effects of War wherefore Historians shun the times of peace and dead seasons as Mariners do the gentle seasons and calms of the Sea on the contrary they triumph in War and in Tumults the Seditions and Insurrections of the people are the lights of their writings and their fairest subjects and most excellent Arguments are raised upon the Ruine of Empires and the death of great persons wherefore they that frequently read Tacitus do not so much fix upon the subtilties and deceits of State whereof his Books are full beyond probability at upon the routing of the Roman Legions upon the Revolts of Armies against their Generalls upon th'inundation of the Sea and wrack of Fleets Th' Art of Tiberius to govern is not read with so much pleasure nor the Artifices of Sejanus to establish himselfe as the poysoning of Germanicus or the violent death of Seneca The dexterity practised by Tiberius in the name of Sejanus is not so earnestly considered and the subtil and captious Letter he wrote to the Senate to be rid of him and whereof he was an Hearer as the punishment of a person who had raised his
an enterprise ought alwaies to be committed to him who proposed it provided he be a capable person to perform it for therein he is excited to do well by the glory of Success and by the jealousie of his opinion which is a violent and imperious passion and strayning to defend the noblest and most exalted faculty of the Soul which is the Judgement seldom abates of the Contest and pursuit As also it is not safe to put th' execution of a design into the hands of them that voted against it who will be alwaies slow in Action who will bring to it but the halfe of themselves who will have but faint motions and conformable to the passions that shake them which are irresolution and distrust and who have wherewithall to comfort themselves in th' ill of success by the truth of the Prediction they had made and by the Reputation of Wisdom and providence they had gained to themselves Though it be so and much better that be who is capable to resolve be also capable to execute 'T is neverthelesse a rare encounter amongst men and as there are but few places on th' Earth which bring forth all that respects the pleasures of the Senses and the necessities of Life so there are but few souls that have all the virtues proper for Governments and it seems that the Law of humane Society as that of Nature would have a dependency betwixt the spirits of men as there is a Commerce and Communication betwixt divers Countries and different Nations of the World so the Coldness of Parmenio tempered th' heat of Alexander so the Wisdom of Cyneas restrained the Courage of Pyrrhus so Scipio observed th'orders of Laelius and Augustus found a temper in the prudence of Metaenas and valour of Agrippa to which nothing was impossible Wherefore a Minister of State that hath all these perfections ought to be of high price with his Prince The State ought to reverence him as an extraordinary person and the virtues which being severed merit a price and to be esteemed deserve highly some new respect and a particular Veneration when they joyn in a single subject for the generall good of the World At least 't is certain that th' ill which attends the great variety of Agents is avoided They that uphold them agree rarely together in the same Design Concord is seldom sound amongst them unless it be in Looks and Words because th' heart is false or interessed and Jealousie is there the stronger for that it proposeth to it selfe the possession of so great a good as the favour of the Prince and the power of the State They that are onely for Counsell and whose virtue shines only in the Cabinet Councell encline alwaies to peace how dishonourable soever 'T is then they truly raign when all other greatnesse bowes to theirs And that they see at their feet the glory of Armes and the Crowns of the Victorious On the contrary during the War they are out of countenance and their Authority declines in that troublesome season They are darkned by a profession that hath more pomp and light then theirs And in regard that those who are called to Command are usually extraordinary persons it makes them strongly jealous and apprehend th' encrease of power upon the spirit of their Master and the taking of root in his Inclinations wherefore they endeavour to make them unprofitable that they might be the lesse considerable They trouble them in their employments that they might be the lesse happy The great Victories make them more afraid then great Losses and our Generalls have often seen dis-banded th' Armies they Commanded and enterprises ruined whereof the Beginnings were plausible for having not timely received or in the fit Quantity the provisions necessary for continuing of the War They on th' other side prolong the troubles and lengthen the confusion to th'uttermost of their power to subsist in Credit and esteem They love the stormes because they help to guide the Ship They desire sicknesse because they are imployed in applying the Remedies but neverthelesse they would have no end made for fear of remaining idle Pylots and uprofitable Physicians Moreover they complain alwaies first They frequently accuse them of their own faults and ease themselves upon them of th' envy of their ill successes and disgraces that attend it And when it doth not so happen and that there should be amongst them a perfect understanding and generall agreement The Obligation neverthelesse which some of them are under to receive Orders for Action from others and that regular Dependency is over importunate and sometimes pernicious Whilst they consult the Councell of the Prince occasions do passe Things take another Countenance and so many unexpected Accidents happen for which suddain provision must be made that by their Violence they are carried away before Remedy can be applied and the businesse perisheth for not daring to relieve it when it was in their power This unhappinesse hath been particularly observed in some of our Neighbours States The Venetians have made little use of th' occasions of the War and their Generalls have often seen a good occasion passe away before them without daring to stay it or to hinder it from flying away because they had not the Senate's Order They begin also to withdraw from that dangerous Maxime and are no more so scrupulous as they were to permit them to act of themselves and to take th' Advantages which offer themselves It is also observed that th' affairs of the Low Countries suffered much for the same reason towards th' end of the life of Philip the second and that they changed extreamly by reason of the great delayes they were constrained to use at the time of the want of his health and decay of his age Th' ill was that they would take most cognisance of all things when they could worse do it and were most earnest to retain businesse when the time was elapsed That Prince changed his Conduct and in safer occasions he was accustomed to give almost a soveraign Authority to them whom he imployed The Duke of Alva had it most absolute when he came into Flanders to make War to the growing Rebellion Don John of Austria had it very large when he was chosen chiefe of the Christian League against the Turk after the Conquest of Portugal The Cardinal Albert had an unlimitted power to reform the Kingdom and Philip the second procured him a Legation that he might act with the greater Authority and he was at one and the same time absolute Judge of temporal and spiritual Affairs Insomuch that if the Cardinall had carried with him in his second journey beyond the Mountains a Commission as ample as some have described it and that the noyse which was but a Fable had been true it-had not been new nor without Example Our Neighbours have shewed us the way and that Nation also which understands th' Art of governing better then any Nation in the World But the
loves it without being transported when she takes it not for the end of Virtue but for the pursuit of it and proposeth to it selfe a second Glory which is more certain than what Fortune doth distribute and than th' opinion which Men give There 's not a passion in the world so fair nor more profitable She takes away the tasts of all others that are base or effeminate She acquires Imitators of Virtue and by the present or near approaching Recompence which she offers her renders her more fertile and more efficacious To conclude The Constitution whereof we speak sends marks of its Nobility even to th'outside and to th'exteriour of Men It imprints there certain Characters which make him to be reverenced of them that see him It covers his face with Majesty it puts into his eyes a fire which is more bright than that of ordinary eyes and gives him in a word some beam of that Beauty whereof Jesus Christ himselfe hath not refused the praise and which by the means of the senses makes a suddain impression upon the will and gains before Discourse be entertained and reason perswaded I will not speak here of the Constitution of Sr. the Cardinall nor of a Good which he hath not done to himselfe but received it from th'Indulgence of Heaven and from the Cares of Nature There are truths which would not alwaies be published And this season would hardly permit them in his favour the knowledge whereof depends upon so profound and delicate speculation since she is ingenuous enough to Contest with him th' Experience of senses or to change the face of things which we have touched or seen I suppress then my Judgement in this subject to accommodate my self to the time and to th'Inclination which raigneth I will onely say in Generall that as there are Diseases which are to be discovered by th' encounter of several Symptoms and as for the discovery of Gold which is in th' Earth there are many signs which ought to appear above ground in the Superficies so you must conclude this high divine Composition whereof I speak by a multitude of great Actions of divers Kinds of different Condition which the same subject hath produced Let reflection now be made if there be a mind for it upon the life of Sr. the Cardinal Let past Governments be compared with his let it be examined what the King hath acted since he had him for his Instrument Let the Greatnesse the Variety and the number of things which have been done be considered Let the shortnesse of the time be observed which shuts up all these wonders and which amazeth th' Imagination of them who have seen them and will weaken for the future the faith of History And after that let every person judge of the Matter proposed according to his sense or passion and let him make himselfe voluntarily blind If he be afraid to behold a Light that offends him and a Truth that angers him I will not forbear t' observe that although Sr. the Cardinal in acting gives somewhat t' Honour That he is very sensible of the Glory of faire Actions and is not exempt from a sense which all generous souls partake of That neverthelesse hath never changed his Duty never did wrong to his Conscience and to the Counsells which he hath proposed He hath not onely considered the Justice of things but many times proceeded to Charity which is so seldom called to the Councills of Princes and which makes with Conveniency the two extreams betwixt which Reason of State is shut up This hath been seen particularly in the Conduct which the King observed towards th' Emperour and the Spaniards before he began the War of Italy and had renewed it but I will speak thereof in another place I return to the first subject of the precedent Discourse and to make it appear that Sr. the Cardinall in a soveraign degree hath the spirit of Discerning whereof I have above spoken I will fix upon some Elections which have been made since he was in the Government No person is ignorant of th'Eminency and of the weight of the Charge of the Keeper of the Seals 'T is one of the noblest parts of the Body of the State 'T is the generall form of the Justice of the Kingdom 't is an universal Cause whose Influence is not Circumscribed which penetrates within and without which makes its power known near and far and operates in all places where we have Communication or power And 't is of Importance that they who possess it deserve it and that they who exercise it fill it up And 't is true that for that Dignity the Kings choice could not fix upon a person worthier then that of Sr. of Chasteauneuf I speak not of the splendour of the Family from which he is come nor of the faculty it hath had to this day to give Illustrious persons to the state They are Accidents which are not Proprietics and Conditions which may fail in Families And though the seeds of good grow ordinarily with good blood 'T is not to be said that they ought alwaies to fructifie And though the Spring be very pure it follows not but the Stream may be poysoned or become troubled and taste of th' ill Qualities of the places it hath passed These Advantages then of birth and priviledges of fortune are but incitements to do well by th'Examples of their Predecessors To render the good the fairer which they encounter and to make the Counterpoyse in a promotion betwixt two equall Virtues But for Sr. of Chasteauneuf he hath no need of the Lights of his Ancestors to make himselfe seen He is sufficiently observable in himself besides the knowledge he hath gained He hath highly that which Nature gives which is the good sense He hath watched in Imployments and Negotiations He knows our affairs and the affairs of Strangers He is neither weak nor interessed His virtue is without Artifice and th'evill which represents it selfe publiquely or that cometh more dangerously under the vizard of good and with its Liveries is not capable to deceive or corrupt him wherefore he hath received nothing but what was due to his Services or to his Merit and therein the choice of the King hath but followed the publique desires and the Predictions have been made even from a former Raign And when it was in Question to relieve th'Island of Rhe and to uphold France ready to fall into precipice there was need of a man that despised Death and dared to cast himselfe on a manifest danger who had enough of affection to be willing to perish for his Master and prudence enough to manage the least Beam of safety that should appear and the highest Apparance for good to be seen in a deplorable Occasion But whom could Sr. the Cardinall propose or the King choose that was more capable for that purpose then Sr. of Chombert so th' Event did not deceive th'opinon had of the Virtue of so great
Christ crucified and when from the Poverty and Abjection of the faithfull Miracles were seen t'arise It hath not been Inconvenient That the Church should be rich And since for the future the supernaturall meanes which have founded it ought to be in great Esteem with Men God hath also Consented that the Church should draw wealth from abroad Advantages which should render it the more Venerable and hold the people who regard not much more then th' Exteriour and are not moved but by th' objects of sense into respect that is due unto it But with Riches they say a thousand Evills passed into the Church Vanity and delicacies put themselves into the Throne of virtue The Charity of our Fathers is become the food of the profusion of our Nephews and the poor dye for hunger whilst they that ought t' ingage their Lives for them leave them not their Substance To this I answer that although they are vitious Ecclesiastiques because they are rich and that in many the License of Manners growes from th' Abundance of Goods It followes not therefore that the Church ought to be robbed That this is common to them with all good things to be exposed t'ill usage in th' hands of wicked persons That the Sacraments are not to be abolished because there are Men that commit sacriledge That God doth not deface the beauty of Nature because it serves for an occasion of sin to the weake and no person is bound to pul out his Eyes when they are unchaste and are ravished by forbidden Objects and dishonest Curiosities There are Church-men spoiled which would have been honest Men if they had not been rich And there are whose Life is full of Edifying of exemplary Charity whose virtue would be concealed in poverty and unprofitable Holiness Poverty and Riches are of themselves a Matter without Form They are susceptible of Contrary impressions They may receive the Figure of Good and Ill and neither of these things hath any Merit if Charity doth not raise it But the number is said greater of th' Abuses of Riches in the Church than of them that make good use of them and the intentions of them that have given them is oftner perverted than executed To that I also answer that It being supposed for truth it follows not that the Church should be made poor That God suffers th' iniquity of sinners and the vices of the World for some virtuous Actions that are therein exercised That he makes his Sun to shine upon a multitude of wicked for a small number of Honest men that serve him that he had forgiven six thousand culpable Persons if he had found Ten innocent persons in Sodom and Gomorrah And in the deluge which swallowed the World if there had been in it ten just Families He had not it may be made that great Example of Justice So both th' order of things and conduct of providence perswade us that Riches ought not to be banished from the Church for th' abuses at whose birth they serve for an occasion since they are the cause of a number of good Actions which are thereby done That they serve the best of virtues which is Charity and 't is certain that returning to the hands of secular persons they would be more dangerously imployed and would cause more ill and less good than in the hands of Ecclesiastiques What concerns the purifying of th' Ecclesiastique Order and to restore it to its first beauty and its originall innocency 't is a thing easter to be desired than done and which is not neither the worke of a little time nor of the common force of men It were to leap from one Extream to another To pass suddenly to such a severe Reformation It were to put new Wine into Old Vessels and to sew New Cloath to a torne Garment following the parable of our Lord And in driving away of Devills the custome whereof had taken away what was most offensive which is the scandall To introduce greater by filling their spirits with sharpness and the World with Tumults Th' Alteration is so generall th' Interests of temporall Princes are so confounded with the interests of the Church and the greatest part of men so fastned to their present condition That it would cost God lesse to raise the Dead than reduce things to the state of their birth and bring back all Christians to to the Aunc ent Discipline It sufficeth That in what state soever the Church is found every person may find salvation there If he will and that out of it none can avoid Damnation 'T is neverthelesse true that as 't is to purpose that the Miracles where upon the Church hath been founded be sometimes renewed and that the beliefe of things past be confirmed by some present Signe so though the Ecclesiasticall Order hath received some staines and lost its purity in some of its Members God alwaies raiseth some good souls which without forsaking of the Church sever from the corruption of particular Men and expresse in their life 's the Image of that great Virtue which appeared at the birth of Christianity and which was common to the first faithfull persons Considerations upon the Behaviours of Popes and their Agents which may serve for forewarnings to the Ministers of State of other Princes who shall have occasion to treat with them THough the following Discourse might have been handled more commodiously in the second part of this Worke where I shew at large how a Minister of State ought t' act with Strangers Nevertheless to keep such matters together which are best understood when they are joyned and not to weaken the light they draw one from another I will place here at one time what I had to say upon the subject of Popes and upon the precautions wherewith their advises ought to be received and they and their Ministers of State treated withall I say then that although the Popes of the first ages had only very pure thoughts and affections of fathers towards Princes who were their Children Neverthelesse since they have assumed another Quality than that whereby they represent Jesus Christ That they have mingled th' Interests of the Church with them of the World And that the Crown they carry hath as many Diamonds as Thorns Some of them have been found to have a Zeal very unlike to that of the first Popes who have followed other motions then th' effects of that Vertue which makes no Acceptation of persons Who have burnt in the passions of the World From Shepheards as they ought to have been were changed into Wolves and have sometimes made Abomination t' arise even into the Sanctuary And not to go out of the two last Ages Alexander the sixth did he ever discover any other passion to the world then that of making great his Children was there any meanes refused to gaine that end did he not for the love of it abuse prophane and divine things Did he not break all the Lawes of Christianity all
He had surpassed all the Moderne Captaines Considerations upon the principall things which the King hath done since the Landing of th' English in th' Ile Rhé which will declare some Conditions necessary for a Minister of State The third Book The First Discourse Of what Importance Care and Vigilancy are for a Minister of State and that nothing is to be neglected principally in Warre CAre Labour and Vigilancy are not things purely spirituall The body seems therein to have the best part and if they derive their Originall from th' understanding they determine in the matter and sensible objects do bind them They are the neerest causes of execution and without them a Minister of State may peradventure be wise but can never be happy On the contrary there 's no difficulty nor resistance which may not be forced by their aide with them fortune is constrained to follow Good counsells are assured Bad are corrected Things are supported and overthrown and that form is almost given to businesse which is proposed 'T is then of great Concernment to neglect nothing that may be profitable That no accident is to be esteemed smal if it may incommodate That every moment ought to be of precious esteem if it be necessary for us And that the Maxim of Morality be remembred That evill is raised out of the least defect in things and that Good to be such requires that every part be entire and sound Above all in great misfortunes in the violence of fortune that all advizes must be heard and all things attempted though they seem impossible For then much must be hazarded provided that it be not all unlesse we are constrained thereunto and cannot save our selves but in ruming a course to destroy our selves Moreover we ought t' Imitate the Wise Physitian who will never ordain dangerous Remedies and whose operation is doubtfull but they will trye diverse of whose goodnesse they may not be fully assured but that they shall not kill if they heal not and will not make th' evill worse if they do not ease it In a word 't is not to be believed what great and incredible effects are produced by an exact care by a constant diligence by an infatigable contest and by that prudent inquietude which alwaies acts which forgets nothing which never gives it selfe liberty and forceth at last what holds too fast and draws what will not follow Caesar was incomparable in these Qualities as in all other that forme a great Captain No person ever took more pains in the Warre or exercised more functions together in his Army nor that more desired to be present in all occasions or that was more obstinate t' execute his resolutions not to retire when he was once advanced and not to stand in the midst of an enterprize 'T is true that he deliberated much before he undertook any thing and did not cast himselfe blindly upon any designe He did not prepare to make war after he had begun to make it The provisions answered alwaies to the time he had forecast to make them continues and th' execution never deceived his providence But after that he lost not a moment of time nor an occasion of advantage and never remitted to the next day what he might execute the same day He seldome trusted but to his eyes and judgement and for the most part he went in person to view the Country he would assault and th' enemies he was to fight When th' occasion prest he made incredible Marches He passed Rivers by swimming t' avoid going about to gain Bridges He crossed the Seas in small Vessels to make the more diligence and chose rather to sayl in Storms then suffer his businesse to run hazard and to put his person in danger rather then his fortune And it must not be a wonder if in his profession he left all the men in the world behind him And if it hath been doubted To whom the victory had remained if Alexander had made Warre to the growing Common-Wealth No Question can be made but he was inferiour to Caesar who destroyed it in its most vigorous Age and in th' excesse of its force and made it fall from th' height of its greatnesse and from the top of its Power On the contrary the reason why the Reputation of so many Men is seen to passe with the time and their glory t' extinguish 'T is the diminution of Labour and the default of Vigilancy This diminution default proceed from severall causes The first is that as in the condition of particular persons a mans fortune doth not alwaies advance with equall pace and with an uniforme progresse That it stops toward th' end or moves slowly though it come with impetuosity and swiftnesse Insomuch that he who burnt with impatience in the beginning to quit poverty and laboured with Zeal to become Rich So soon as his desire is satisfied and that he sees himselfe in plenty H' abates of his cares and would enjoy with rest th'fruits of his industry So the man whose spirit is possessed with the passion of glory and meditates the great actions which do beget it when he hath attained his end That he hath filled the World with the reputation of his vertue and hath formed in himselfe a great opinion of himselfe Th' hunger of honour which pressed him at first becomes moderate and by consequent his first contest weakens and his ordinary diligence diminisheth A second cause of this diminution is Age and 't is no wonder if the body which destroyes it selfe grieves the Soul and if it operate not with the same vigour as it did when th' Organs are spoyled and th'instruments of use weare out This rule neverthelesse is not absolutely true and hath its exceptions as I have said elsewhere A third cause are the diseases which produce the same effects and more dangerous then Age because they produce them more suddenly and with more violence and 't is not possible that in the griefe of the body and weaknesse of nature a man can intend things that are without him and at the same time contest with the disease and businesse Besides what hath been said before of Phillip the second The Spaniards have also observed that their affaires in the Low Countryes declined with th' health of the Prince of Parma and began to change when he began to be sick and neverthelesse being of a very vast spirit and active humour He would not abate any thing of his accustomed occupations He would do more then he could He would retain the same authority in businesse as when he had his health He could not ease himself upon the cares of another and thought that nothing was well done but what was done by his Orders When he was hurt before Candebu He put the command of th' army into the hands of his Son and in regard he was but a young Prince and to whom experience was wanting and that sort of Capacity which comes not from study or nature He
to succeed I passe by that which they might have done who thought that the glory of Command was the ultimate End of Man and Ambition somewhat a nobler and a better thing then justice But even amongst the very Christians and in th' houses which Piety hath made famous that Passion hath been seen t' overflow to the prejudice of blood and violate th' holiest lawes of Nature and which the very barbarous people Reverence I will recite here a Memorable Example 'T is a thing sufficiently known in the world what th' house of Austria was to th' Alliance of blood and if devotion as t is said hath been the foundation of Greatness 't is well known that Alliance hath built it up and carried it from a Moderate beginning to that high Power wherein 't is seen and to that vast domination for which th' Heaven hath no Horizon nor th' earth Limits Maximilian the first hath gained by that means the Low Countries and those faire Provinces which by their fertility and by the wealth wherewith they abound have deserved to be called th' Indies of Europe Philip the first and his posterity have obtained by it all Spaine and those Countryes of the new world where the sun in retiring from us goes to beget Gold and those other unprofitable things whereof men are Idolaters Philip the second came to the Crown of Portugall by that meanes and to all those States which that Nation possessed in Asia in Afrique and th' East Indies That very Prince thought t' incorporate England to Spaine by the marriage of Mary his first wife that was Queen thereof But the judgments of God in that supplanted the prudence of men and permitted that Princesse to dye without Children either to suppress the growth of a Power which would have been fatal to the Liberty of Christian Nations or for the punishment of the Iniquities of th' English and that base Compliance wherewith they had received the Schism which Henry th' Eighth introduced amongst them and applauded the passions of that Prince who chose rather to quit the Church then to separate from a Concubine The same Philip also aspired to the Crown of France for his Children by reason of the Marriage of his third wife daughter of Henry the second and the most important Article wherewith th' Instructions of the Duke of Feria were Charged when he came to Paris during the league was to cause the Salique laws to be Abolisht and to root out from the spirit of the French their Aversion of having no Soveraignes that spin and of not submitting to th' yoak of Women Insomuch that it hath been allwayes the designe of the Spaniards and a premeditated prudence of the Princes of th' house of Austria to look about them and to cast their nets upon the parties that could joyne some new estate to theirs and under a Title so innocent and just t' extend their domination With what heat did they labour to cause the eldest Daughter of Lewis the twelfth to be given to Charles the fifth who brought for her Dowry the Dutchesse of Britanny and of Orleans and our pretentions for Italy How many propositions were made upon that foundation and how many treaties concluded which the Time hath made abortive and which Fortune laughed at Neverthelesse as they have been ever Industrious to draw to them as much as they could th'estates of their Neighbours They have been also carefull not to permit any of theirs to be alienated nor to suffer any division without knowing the Meanes of Consolidating it and to destroy the divided Members and the loose pieces Th' Emperour Charles never promised the Low Countryes or the Duthy of Milan upon the Marriage of his daughter or of his Neece with the son of France but with Intention to break his promise or at least with hopes that Fortune which had done such strange things in his favour that had so often given the Lye to Apparences and disturbed th' order of things for the Love of him and which had sometimes sent him prosperities which he desired not would exempt him from that Obligation under some plausible pretence as it did And when Philip the second transmitted the Low Countryes to th' Arch Dutchesse for her Dowry There 's apparence that he was assured that time would make up that Breach and that he made not so great a wound in the rest of his Estates without preparing the Remedies to heale it But to returne to my designe and make it appeare That th' Alliances of blood work softly upon the spirits of Princes and are but weake bonds t' hold their Amities I will represent th' originall and th' effects of that which hath been the most profitable to th' house of Austria and it may be the most dammageable to the Christian Common-wealth Philip the son of th' Emperour Maximilian married Joane youngest Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella Kings of all the dominions of Spaine Th' Eldest was married into Portugall according to their Custstome The Catholique King had also a son called John who dyed young and whom Spaine saw almost as soon put out as shine and had almost at one time the Contentment to see him come and the Griefe to lose him Presently after the death of that Prince th' Arch Duke Philip and Arch Dutchesse his wife who lived onely by the love she bare to her husband and was Idolatresse of all his motions and passions caused themselves to be Called Princes of all the Dominions of Spain to the prejudice of the Queen of Portugall to whom the Crownes did belong in priority of birth to her sister That attempt ill digested out season and that precipitated Ambition displeased Infinitely Ferdinand and Isabella who judged of the Tree by the fruits and gave their son in Law and daughter t'understood that they were to leave that borrowed Title and to put off that imaginary Quality and which did not belong to them Behold a very pleasant Beginning of Philips Ambition since it made Invasions upon its owne Relations and the first shew of that furious Appetite to reigne which hath vexed his Posterity After that he guided his Interests apart from them of his Father in Law He held him alwayes at distance he looked upon him only as a Prince which stood in his light and there was no other Communication amongst them but a continual Commerce of Complaints and disorders In a Treaty which Maximilian and he made at Blois with Lewis the twelfth being permitted t' either parties to Comprehend therein whom they would He made no more mention of Ferdinand then as if he had not related to him or that He had been indifferent to him He did also the same thing in another Treaty which his Father made at Hugano with the Cardinal of Ambois so Ferdinand had his Revenge in disavowing the Treaty his son in Law made at Blois with Lewis the twelfth for the kingdome of Naples and in Contracting a second Marriage and marying of Germania sister
of Gaston of Foix and Neece of Lewis with Conditions that were Advantageous to us if they had been observed That which I have said neverthelesse was nothing in respect of what Philip did since the death of Isabella and after taht the succession of Castille was open unto him The things past were but sweetnesses for Ferdinand in Comparison of th' usage he received after that death The first stroakes did scarce raise the skin but the last entered deep and made Large and dangerous wounds Philip will go into Spaine not onely to take possession of what was his but to take from his Father in Law what belonged to him by the Testament of Isabella Ferdinand employed all his Prudence and all his subtilties to divert him They Contest long upon that Article Their wills were diametrically opposed what th' one would not have th' other desired and it had been lesse difficult t' accord Contraryes and to joyne extreams then t' adjust their pretentions Force being wanting to Ferdinand t' overcome th' heat of Philip He used diversion He caused Lewis the twelfth t' interpose who threatens him with his Armyes in case he went for Spaine and raised the Duke of Gueldiers against him who cut him out business in Flaunders and gave him enough t' entertaine him in that Countrey In th' End th'obstinacy of Philip being stronger then th' Artifices of Ferdinand and the difficulties which stopped him being taken away or sweetned they agreed upon the Conditions of his journey Thereupon Philip put himselfe on the way but with a resolution to break the Treaty he had made and not performeth ' Oath he had given to his Father in Law which he ought to have kept to an Enemy Being in Spaine he flatters the great Persons He unties them from Ferdinand He drawes them to his party who had but too great Inclinations for it and were but too earnestly carried t' adore the rising Power and a Light which began to shew it selfe Insomuch that Ferdinand found himselfe alone All his friends were unfaithfull to him all his Creatures abandoned him except th' Arch-Bishop of Toledo Ximenes and the Duke of Alâ—…a so true it is that there 's but little Assurance in the will of Men and that the Law of Interests is powerfull upon their spirits and the Memory of Good turnes received weake in Comparison future Benefits After that Ferdinand presseth an Interview with his son in Law The Counsellours of Philip oppose it with all their powers and raise troublesome difficulties to divert it They had seized upon the spirits of their Master and taken his will from him having prepossessed his understanding They were afraid that Ferdinand would take off the Charme and that the Reverence of a Father and dexterity of a Great Polititian would deface that usurped Empire and tyrannous Domination wherefore they omit nothing that might distate Ferdinand from the meeting he solicited and which he pressed for the Resistance They propose exorbitant Conditions which he accepts of They add shamefull Circumstances which he refused not They use him unworthily and he bears it and a Great King had the displeasure to receive the Law from petty Companions who abused th' Inclination of an easy Master At last th' Interview being resolved Ferdinand renders himselfe at the place appointed for that purpose but with a small traine and accompanied onely with two hundred Men unarmed and mounted upon Mules On the Contrary Philip advanceth thither in th' Equipage of a Man of warr with the Body of an army of Dutch which Marched before him and flanked with almost all the Great Persons of Spaine in armes and in the posture of persons who went rather to Warr then to a Treaty of friendship and to a fight rather then to a Reconciliation The two Princes met together in a Chappell which had been Chosen for that Interview Don John Manuell principall Counsellour of Philip and absolute disposer of his resolutions would assist at their discourse and but for th' Arch Bishop of Toledo who hindred him He had been present at a Conference which the Respect of proximity and the Dignity of those Two Princes would have to be secret After an hower and halfes discourse they part and the Conference passed without any mention made by Philip to the Father of his daughter nor of Ferdinand to his son in Law of his wife He dissembled for that time his desire though he had an extreame passion to see her and to Comfort his old age by the sight of an Object which was so deere to him and which was the Remainder of his substance There was a second Meeting betwixt these two Princes wherein some demonstration of friendship appeared or lesse coldness then at the first Interview But the Conclusion of all the Conferences was the first designe of Philip that Ferdinand should renouce the Government of Castile notwithstanding the disposition of Isabella and against the expresse Clauses of her Testament Ferdinand who had learnt t' obey the time and submit to Necessity who knew how to strike saile when the Tempest was too strong and to put in when it was not safe to saile Bends under his ill Fortune and resolves t' abandon Castille till a better season called it back and to banish himselfe voluntarily from a kingdome which he had so long Commanded Philip stops not there He endeavours all he can to discredit the past Government He annulls the greatest part of th' Orders his Father in Law had made He deposeth the principall officers and the principall Governours which had been placed by his Hand He would not if possible that one entire mark should remain nor one visible Impression of his Administration But it had been too little for him to have ill used his Father in Law and his Ambition it may be had been pardonable if it had at least pardoned his wife and if he had not used her ill who had brought him so faire States and such certaine Hopes She was truly the Queen of Spaine and who infused into her Husband th' Authority of Government and the Right of Commanding that Country And neverthelesse He would not suffer her in that society He would not permit that she who was Companion of his Bed should be the Companion of the Scepter which he had received from her hands and seeks shamefull pretences and odious Causes t' exclude her A warmer love was never seen than what that Princesse had for her Husband It seemed that she lived onely by the sight of him and dyed when she was severed from him That Excesse of passion and Imbecillity of soul changed in some sort her senses and the jealousie which mingled with the troubles of his Absence weakened a little her Braine and changed th' Organs and neverthelesse though that defect proceeded from so honest a Cause or so supportable Though Compassion ought to have obliged Philip to cover it if Love were wanting to do it and though Conveniency and his honour obliged him also to
of a single person and Ottoman had no labour to make slaves of them whom he subdued nor to banish liberty from his Dominions as the greatest of all Crimes On the contrary Gentlenesse is proper for the governing of the Germans and other people of the North. They are enemies to all force There 's not a Chain which weighs not with them thoughit be necessary and just And th' Abundance of heat and blood inspires them with undaunted spirits which makes them resist all sorts of Domination if it be not in their hands Wherefore they would have all persons governed by Common wealths or at least have no Kings which should not be Elective and subordinate to their Authority And for that reason also 't is very easie to make them revolt against the Church because it was their Mother and to make them hate the Pope because he was their Superiour Insomuch that I do not think that the death of seven and twenty Lords whose heads were cut off after the battail of Prague and that bloody spactacle which they boasted of to Germany procured so much terrour as it raised hatred against th' house of Austria and the Spanish Government And I do not believe that the manner of nourishing the War which Wallastein introduced into that Country The rigour of the Contributions there raised Th' oppression of the Towns taken or of them that obeyed have so much assuted the Victories of th' Emperour as they have disposed that people to Insurrections And if the prosperities of the King of Sweden continue that they may cause a strange revolution and destroy those violent Conquests which have neither foot nor root At the end of th' Account I do not see that th' Emperour hath made other Advantage of those great emotions which lasted so many years than in avoiding the Ruine that threatned him nor that he became the richer for making such an infinite sort of persons poor nor that he did other thing then impose a necessity to keep alwaies on foot a dreadfull Army to make them affraid or to see his greatnesse decline or to give over th' Ambition of rendring himselfe Master of Germany and of reducing the people to a totall deficiency from whom he could not take any away the will to rebell As to the zeal which he hath expressed to holy things and as to th'exercise of that Religion which he re-established in all places 'T is a work whereof th' Apparance is very plausible and Christian Yet insomuch that all-that is but without and that souls give place to Armes and obey not the truth 'T is to be feared that such a Reformation will fall in the change of th' Emperours fortune and that Heresie may more dangeously overflow than it idd if it ever recover impunity and its first License To further confirm what I have said I will make use of th'evidence of the Spaniards who confess that the Duke of Alva was too blame t' employ gentlenesse to gain the Portugals who were onely to be overcome And that is was to make them worse to flatter them in subduing of them On the contrary that severity lost the Flemmings and that the floods of Blood which he there made to run out the more provoked the rebellion and gave pretence to disobedience to shew it self which had been till then modest irresolute Gentleness then in generall is proper for the Conduct of the Northern people and severity for the Spaniards and them of th' East for the aforesaid Reasons They that are under a temperate Climate as the French and whose Complexions are tempred by the clemency of th' Heavens and the scituation of Country have also need of a moderate Conduct and of such a temper of Justice as takes impunity from vice and renders it not alwaies to the Culpable desperate Upon what hath been said 't is easie to judge that it is not alwaies safe to act by Imitation That th' Example of what is practised in a Nation is an ill principle for the Government of an other Nation That universal proposalls are dangerous in the publique And t' establish generall Rules to be observed of all People and upon all occasions is to fit the Robe of Fables to all the States of the Moon 'T is to give the same form to two contrary natures 'T is to range under and equall measure two different Quantities And that a Minister of State may the better comprehend this truth which is very Important Let him know that except some most generall propositions which are in the practice of affairs as th'ultimate principles of the Metaphysiques in the Sciences There ' none that is not disputed and contradicted which hath not reasons and examples to favour it and which are contrary to it as I have elsewhere shewed and therefore ought either alwaies to be followed or alwaies to be rejected Let 's see it by Experience and discourse in passing by of th' use of severity and gentleness since we are upon that subject they who advise that a Prince should rather make himselfe to be feared then loved and that Rigour supports a Scepter much better than Easiness of Manners and Indulgency may at once say That though it may be true that soveraigne Authority is equally preserved betwixt the feare and love of the people That nevertheless the means which gives birth to the first of these two passions are more certain then those that engender the second That their operation is more infallible and that good Deeds act not so certainly upon the spirits of men as punishments That 't is alwaies in the power of them who have Forces in their hands to make themselves to be feared But that it is not in the power of them that are good to make themselves to be beloved That men love voluntarily and by Election but fear for the most part of necessity and in spight of Reason and against the resistance of all discourse That for all times The Corruption of Mankind hath been such that it had had more need of Justice for to subsist then of the goodnesse of its Superiours That the State of innocency is very rare in the world but that of Repentance is common and in continual use that the Governours have been alwaies more exercise to heal Diseases than to preserve health and the good condition of States That in a word The Nature of the people is to fear much and to love little but neverthelesse that they love not the Reigns under which they live That they are never content with thei present Condition That they are sensible onely of the memory of things past and hopes of the future And that ordinarily the dead Princes are their delights And though sometimes they may have Love for their Masters and that their Inclination therein accompanies their Duty There 's no passion that changeth so easily in their understanding as this And whether the Manners of Princes change and degenerate or that they are disguised and falsifyed to