qui crediture sunt per verba 〈◊〉 in me 〈◊〉 omnes 〈◊〉 sint sicut tu Pater in me 〈◊〉 in te So this is a cleere Text and by every one interpreted to be meant of that unity which ought to be in all the faithfull which our Lord God would have to be like the unity of the Divine Persons and as in them there is a reall distinction of persons in unity of Essence so in the many faithfull there ought to be one Spirit one love one will They then that have plurality of persons in one will are in that manner one as the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost are as in the Gospell our Lord Christ expounds it And now who is he that by the force of so many reasons will not confesse that an Optimacy as being more profitable more Noble more potent more naturall more secret more concordant and finally more like to the government of God is farre a better kind of state then Monarchy As for authorities I commonly make no great reckoning but only of those which I am bound to beleeve by commandement of the holy Church other authorities must convince by reason and this leave S. Austin gives me where he saith Neque quorum libet disputationes quamvis Catholicorum laudatorum hominum velut Scripturas Canonicas habere debemus ut nobis non liceat salva Honorificentia quaeâ—…illis debeatur hominibus aliquid in eorum scriptis improbare atque respuere si forte invenerimus quod aliter senserint quam veritas habet divino adjutorio ut ab aliis intellecta â—…nobis Talis ego sum in scriptis alionum quales volo esse intellectores meorum And in another place he saith Sacrae Scripturae est adhihenda fides alios autem Scriptores licet nobis impugnare But because it becomes not my youth and weaknesse to stand in defiance with so many excellent and worthy men I will endeavour to make it appeare that some of the Authours cited before for the contrary spake not in our sence and that some of them speake of our side some of them irresolutely and some again with passion Beginning then with the holy Fathers I say they spake in another sence meaning it of the spirituall Monarchy and though many times they speake generally which may reach as well to a temporall Monarchy yet this they did to the end that Heretickes seeing it granted them in the government of Cities an Optimacy to be better then a Monarchy should not from hence take occasion to affirme the like of the spirituall Monarchy And this is a course that hath been much used by the holy Fathers who sometimes have not yeelded to things most cleere and evident onely because they would not give hereticks occasion by ill interpreting them to make simple people encline to their opinions It is a matter cleere and evident and granted by all Divines that in God there are three Hypostases and yet many of the holy Fathers and particularly S. Hierome have not been willing to grant it for no other reason but least Gatholicks granting three Hypostases heretickes should thereupon make simple people beleeve that in God there were three Essences and this interpretation is made of it by all the Doctours upon S. Thomas Leaving then the opinion of these Fathers who speake in another sense let us come to Philosophers where I cannot but account my assertion safe having Aristotle Plato and Pythagoras of my side And it availos not to say that Aristotle in his Ethicks understands it one way and in his Metaphysicks another seeing Aristotle when he speakes of the same things in divers Bookes speakes of them diversly and Arts and Sciences consider oftentimes the same things and yet not in the same manner A Philosopher and a Physitian both of them consider the same body but a Physitian considers it as it is capable of healing and a Philosopher as it is capable of motion So as I never make reckoning of the authority of Aristotle but in places where he handles Ex professo because many times he discourseth in one manner morally in his Ethicks and in another manner diversly in his Politickes so in his Rhetoricks he speakes of felicity in one manner and in his Ethicks in another In his Physicks he discourseth as a Philosopher one way another way in is Problemes The authority then of Aristotle in matters Politicall must be taken from his Politicks where I am much deceived but he is of my opinion though all men cite him for the contrary I know not how he could possibly speake more plainely then where in his Politicks he saith Si ergo plurium Gubernatio bonorum autem virorum omniae Optimatium dicitur unius autem Regnum optabilius esset civitatibus ab optimis Gubernari quam a Rege And in a thousand other places whereof some are cited here and there in my Discourse and other every one may looke out of himselfe being all so cleere that they have no need of my interpreting them It is true indeed that once he was transpoted to say that the Regall government is the best of all because a Tyranny is the worst but he spake then in Idaea meaning if there could be found one as much superiour to others as God is to men and therefore in another place where he leaves his Idaea and comes to Fact he saith that all Kings are tyrants seeing there cannot any one be found so much superiour to others in goodnesse as that he should be worthy to command alone Non fiunt nunc amplius Regna saith Aristotle sed si qua fiunt Monarchiae Tyrannides magis sunt Ob id quia 〈◊〉 spontanea Gubernatio est ac Majorum proprie plurimi pares sunt neque usque adeo praesellentes ut ad magnitudinem dignitatemque 〈◊〉 gradus se possint attollere And then that reason which Aristotle brings 〈◊〉 bona pessima is false and is not to be understood as men commonly take it To prove it to be false is easie seeing not onely Plato but Aristotle himselfe saith that the government of Optimates is better then the popular yet in the second of his Politicks he saith that the worst formes of government are a Tyranny and a Democracy so as if that reason were true the corruption of Optimates should be worse then that of the people Besides I should alwaies hold that the corruption of an Optimacy is worse then that of a Monarchy seeing an evill is so much worse as it is multiplied specially being impossible that those few should ever be in concord And in truth this reason may be strongly fortified by example seeing in the government of Caesar Pompey and Crassus and in that of Lepidus Anthony and Augustus both of them comprised under the worst forme of a few assigned by Aristotle the Commonwealth of Rome was more torne and wasted then under Nero or any other Tyrant whatsoever Then againe the proposition is
to equality but also they will not suffer any other to doe it resting satisfied in this that as themselves have many unequals their superiours so those have the Prince unequall and their superiour and in this at least they shall be equall that they are all of them inferiour to one But because obedience is hardly found especially in new states if there be not force concurring whereupon the Throne of Salomon which by Writers is taken for obedience was compassed about with twelve Lyons seeing they who desire to be obeyed ought together with generosity have force also to make them be obeyed and therefore the holy Ghost in the mouth of Salomon saith Sicut Turris David collum tuum quae aedisicate est cum propagnaculis mille clypei pendent ex ea omnis armatura fortium This Towre hath so many defences because it is put for a figure of obedience meaning to shew that they who desire to preserve obedience have need of all sorts of Armes to defend it for these causes Augustus knowing this and having an Army in his hand able to make him be obeyed by force if need should be he made the Souldiers sure to him by donatives of which they are most greedy whereupon it may be said that Augustus maintained his Empire neither by the Nobility nor by the people nor by the souldiers neither by love nor yet by force but by all of them together Et ad tuendam plebem Tribunitio Iure contentum ubi Militem donis Populum annona cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit How Princes may get the peoples love how a private man ought to make use of the peoples favour and what part it hath in bestowing the Empire The thirteenth Discourse AS safety is not enough to give the people satisfaction if it be not accompanied with plenty and therefore the Israelites though they lived safe under their leader Moyses yet when plenty failed they desired againe the servitude of Pharao so neither doth plenty give satisfaction if it be not accompanied with peace as was plainly seene in that people for when those men returned whom Joshua had sent into the Land of Promise to make known the fruitfulnesse of the Countrey yet when they heard there were in it great store of Gyants onely for this they liked better to stay in the Wildernesse in peace then to goe to a Land flowing with Milke and Honey with warre the desire of living quietly prevailing more with them than the enjoying of plenty Three things then are required in a people to make them absolutely happy safety from being oppressed by those at home peace with those abroad and plenty Whereupon our Lord God meaning to shew the happinesse in which his people should live expresseth these three things by the mouth of his Prophet Esay where he saith Sedebit populus meus in plenitudine pacis here is peace In Tabernaculis fiduciae here is safety In requie opulenti here is plenty Such a like happinesse Tacitus shewes that Rome had or to say better the people of Rome under the Dominion of Augustus where he saith Et ad tuendam plebem Tribunitio jure contentum see here by making himselfe protectour of the people he made them safe from oppressours at home Vbi populum Annona see here plenty Cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit see here the safety from forraine enemies which is peace for by the word Otium in this place as I shall shew in another discourse he meanes nothing else but peace But because many gather from this place seeing Augustus obtained and maintained his Empire by the love of the people that therefore this is the true way for all others to rise from a private man to be a Prince and the rather because a place in Aristotle confirmed by many examples seemes to concurre in this opinion where he saith Et profecto antiquorum Tyrannorum plurimi ex popularibus hominibus facti sunt I shall be forced in discoursing of this matter to proceed with distinction as finding many places directly contrary to this and particularly in the foresaid Tacitus who in another place shewes that the peoples favour is rather a ruine than a fortune to great men where in the third of his Annals he saith Breves Infaustos Rontani populi amores I say then that he who is in the peoples favour either he hath a mind to make himselfe Prince or he hath not if he have no such mind he shall doe better to avoyd those demonstrations with safety which without any benefit makes him runne into danger seeing a good intention is not sufficient where it is equally dangerous to have such imputation whether wrongfully or justly as Tacitus well saith Si objiciantur etiam insontibus periculosa because Princes as soone as they see the peoples favour enclining to another presently have him in suspition and therefore David began to be hated of Saul as soone as he knew the people loved him whereupon in the booke of the Kings the holy Spirit saith Posuitque eum Saul supra viros belli acceptus erat in occulis Vniversi populi maximeque in 〈◊〉 famulorum Saul and a little after Non rectis ergo oculis Saul respiciebat David a die illa deinceps Likewise when the mysticall David Christ was seene to the Jewes to enter triumphantly into Hierusalem on Palme-sunday with great applause of the people they presently began to conspire against him The like hapned to Germanicus whose case was much like that of Aristobulus both of them being gracious with the people young men of goodly presence both both of them next to the Crowne under most cruell tyrants Herod the great and Tiberius Nero both of them for the same causes put to death by fraud one bewalled counterfetly of Herod the other feignedly of Nero by whom in truth they came to their deaths Of these then it may be said Breves 〈◊〉 populi amores But if he that is in the peoples favour have an intention to make himselfe Prince we must then distinguish for either the peoples favour towards him growes out of a discontentment towards the Prince or it comes out of anger arising from some suddaine accident if in the first case he that will make use of their favour if he be able to hide it which is a difficult thing shall doe well to wait for some good occasion seeing he may assure himselfe that as discontentment encreaseth by little and little and is nourished in minds once discontented so it is hard or rather impossible it should vanish on a sudden and therefore if he stay for a good beginning where there hath preceded a good occasion as I have shewed in another discourse there can be no doubt of having good successe Princes therefore must take heed they give the people no such occasions which are so much more dangerous as they are lesse violent because in such cases men are not moved with every light wind but wayting for
to suffer him together with the dignity to get the love and affection of the Subjects This Augustus put in execution untill he was blinded by his wives intreaties For when he demanded the Tribuneship for Tiberius under colour of excusing him he laid open all his ill conditions thereby to make him odious Etenim Augustus paucis ante annis cum Tiberio Tribunitiam potestatem a Patribus rursus postularet quanquam honora oratione quaedam de habitu cultuque institutis ejus jecerat quae velut excusando exprobraret To what end should Augustus demand honours for Tiberius and himselfe dishonour him but onely to this that as by meanes of the dignity which could not be denyed him he meant to settle in him the succession so by meanes of making knowne his vices he meant to make him odiouâ—… and thereby secure himselfe that he might never be able through the peoples favour to contrive any plot against him Tiberius also made use of this course and therefore caused Drusus to be present alwaies at the sports of the Gladiatours to the end that by shewing himselfe delighted with the sight of blood he might be knowne to be of a cruell and bloody disposition and consequently be of all men hated Whereupon Tacitus discoursing upon the reasons why Tiberius himselfe would not be present at them amongst other he mentions this where he saith Non crediderim ad ostentandam saevitiam movendasque offensiones concessam filio materiem quamquam id quoque dictum est Another time when Tiberius saw Germanicus and Drusus contesting with the Senate he wonderfully joyed at it as well because their contention was about disparaging a Law as because of the hate they incurred by it Laetabatur Tiberius cum inter filios ejus leges Senatus disceptaret Having commended the course for a Prince to designe more then one successour by whom to be supported there must care be taken to hold the ballance even betweene them otherwise he shall expose himselfe to manifest danger in regard whereof Augustus never brought Tiberius openly forward untill such time as he was left alone Drusoque pridem extincto Nero 〈◊〉 ex privignis erat illuc cuncta vergere and that which followeth So Tiberius as long as Germanicus lived used them with great equality but after Germanicus death he then discovered his love to Drusus Tiberius Drusum summae rei admovet incolumi Germanico integrum inter Duos Iudicium But because it is a most difficult thing to observe this equality and to carry an even hand as that which was in Christ accounted a matter of admiration that he so carried himselfe toward his Apostles that they could never know which of them he favoured most every one thinking himselfe to be the man whereupon they often contended which of them should be the greatest it is fit to consider to which side the Prince ought rather to incline For resolution whereof I conceive that a Prince as indeed he can doe no lesse shall doe well to favour the weaker party for by meanes of his favour he shall make him stronger then the other and yet shall not need to doubt him as being of himselfe the weaker So did Tiberius who if ever he shewed any sparke of partiality it was to Drusus Nam senem Augustum devinxerat adeo ut nepotem unicum Agrippam Posthumum in Insulam Planasiam projiceret And a little after Nulla in praesens formidine dum Augustus aetate validus seque Domum pacem sustentavit postquam provecta jam 〈◊〉 aegro corpore fatigabatur That old men are apt to be carried away by women and of what age a Prince should be The nineteenth Discourse THe old age of Augustus as we may conjecture by these two Texts which for more conveniency I have joyned together brought forth in the City of Rome many evill effects First by suffering himselfe to be ruled by his wife Livia who with no small subtilty perswaded him to discard Agrippa Posthumus and to leave Tiberius Nero his successour in the Empire Secondly because thorough old age he was no longer able to governe the City his family or himselfe By occasion then of the first we will examine whether it be true that old men are apt and easie to be led away by women and finding it to be so we will shew the reason and by occasion of the second it will be fit to examine at what age a Prince is fittest to governe Concerning the first there will need no great labour to shew by examples and by reason that the wives of old men may obtaine of them whatsoever they desire Adonia the sonne of David had made himselfe King in his fathers life and by reason of age as being the eldest it was his due as Salomon himselfe confessed whilst denying a favour which his mother in behalfe of Adonia requested of him he said Ipse enim est frater meus major me yet how easily did Bersabee perswade her old husband David to put by Adoniah and to make her sonne Salomon his successour whereof the holy Scripture in the Booke of Kings saith Ingressa est itaque Bersabee ad regem in cubiculo Rex autem senuerat nimis And seeing the holy Scriptures have never a word that hath not some mystery in it we may well gather by these words Rex autem senuerat nintis were written to intimate that the suite of Bersabee was much facilitated by the old age of David Another example in the booke of Kings we have of Salomon who in his old age was so led away by his Concubines that most perfidiously leaving the true worship of God he set up Images built Altars and Temples unto Idols whereof the holy Spirit in the said Booke gives the reason saying that Salomon being now growne old was easily drawne away by women Cumque jam esset senex depravatum est cor ejus per mulieres ut sequeretur Deoâ—… alienos The effect then is manifest it remaines that we shew the cause why this should happen in old men and not in yong And first it may be attibuted to length of time for as a stone though never so hard is mollified and broken by often falling of water so the long suits of women accompanied with their dalliances and allurements are able to penetrate the hardest heart and therefore Job saith Lapides excavant aquae alluvione paulatim terra consumitur whereof Saint Gregory makes the like interpretation as I doe here of the example of Salomon Videamus qualiter lapides excavant aquae alluvione paulatim terra consumitur Salomon quippe immoderato 〈◊〉 atque assiduitate mulierum ad hoc perductus est ut qui prius Templum Deo construeret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etiam perfidiae substratus Idolis construere Templu non 〈◊〉 Sicque factum est 〈◊〉 ab assidua carniâ—… petulantia usque ad mentis persidiam perveniret Quid it aque aliud quam aquae excavarunt lapidem
fuerit abstergit Sic in herbarum superficie nocturni roris humor aspergitur sed diurm Luminis subito calore siccatur Sic spumosae aquarum bullae inchoantibus fluviis excitatae ab intimis certatim prodeunt sed eo celerius diruptae depereunt quo inflatae citius extenduntur Cumque 〈◊〉 ut appareant Crescendo peragunt ne subsistant I cannot bring a better example in conformity to this Doctrin then of Venice which was never in any great danger but when it was at the greatest as drawing then neere to the bound of Maximum quod Non whereupon if it had not beene for the strength of its scituation as Historians say assisted with the great Prudence of the Senatours and with the great valour of the Citizens in defending Padua It had utterly come to ruine And therefore Augustus seeing Non aliud Discordantis patriae remedium quam ut ab uno regeretur made himselfe Emperour wherein notwithstanding Christians must not imitate him whose duty it is to set Religion before Country and life and Common-wealth and all rather suffering death then be drawne to commit any wickednesse and rather then imitate Augustus follow the course of Marcus Aurelius who though he saw his Country upon the point of loosing and himselfe also thorough the wickednesse of his Compagnion yet he tooke all things patiently and would not put him to death though it was in his power to doe it For Conclusion I say that a Prince ought not to governe his Country by force although force bee sometimes necessary for correcting of Errours as Sallust teacheth where he saith Nam Vi quidem Regere patriam aut Parentes quamquam possis delicta corrigas Importunum tamen est Comparatione Deterrima sibi Gloriam quaesivisse That to Elect a wicked successour thereby to get glory to himselfe is a beastly Course The seven and thirtieth Discourse BY that which Tacitus and Dio relate many conceive that Augustus made choice of Tiberius whom he knew to be a proud and cruell man to be his successour to the end that the ill conditions of Tiberius so much differing from his owne might turne to his Glory I cannot indeed deny but that a worse successour is apt enough to make a lesse evill Predecessour be thought a good one which Galba well knowing speaking of Piso said Nero a pessimo quoque desiderabitur Mihi ac tibi providendum est ne etiam a bonis desideretur He seeing that if a wicked Prince should come after Nero his errours would be converted to the others Glory and this is so true that the holy Spirit in the mouth of Ezechiel said that the wickednesse of the Hebrewes before the comming of our saviour made the people of Sodome and Samaria to seeme Just which could not certainly happen but long of the Comparison Vivo ego dicit Dominus Deus these are the words of Ezechiel quia non fecit Sodoma soror tua ipsa filiae ejus sicut 〈◊〉 tu filiae tuae and a litle after Et Samaria Dimidium peocatorum tuorum non 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sceleribus tuis Iustificasti sorores tuas in omnibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quas operata es Ergo tu 〈◊〉 porta confusionem tuam quae vicisti sorores 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agens ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt a te And he that would see a passage more like to that of Tacitus let him reade those words in Jeremy where he saith Iustificavit animam suam aversatrix Jsrael 〈◊〉 praevaricatricis Iudae But yet this way of acquiring Glory attributed here to Augustus is not to be imitated not only of Christians but not so much as of impious Barbarians seeing there are better and directer wayes I meane not to governe well but speake onely of a successour because if they have children to succeed them in the Kingdome there will Glory enough accrew to the father if he give them good education whereby they may come to prove good This Salomon affirmes in his Proverbs where he saith Filius sapiens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as others read it Filius sapiens Gloria patris that is a wise sonne is the honour and Glory of his Father and keepes him alive after he is dead and therefore it is said in Ecolesiasticus Mortuus est pater ejus 〈◊〉 non est mortuus 〈◊〉 enim reliquit sibi post se and therefore Princes need not desire their successours should be worse then themselves seeing they may hope for more glory by them if they shall be better and therefore David tooke great Joy to heare that Salomon was like to be greater then himselfe had ever beene Sed Salomon sedet super Solium Regni Jngressi servi ejus benedixerunt Domino nostro Regi David dicentes Amplificet Deus Nomen 〈◊〉 super 〈◊〉 magnificet Thronum ejus super thronum tuum rather indeed a wicked suecessour is a Prejudice to a good Prince Therefore writers say that Marcus Aurelius had dyed a happy man if he have not left Commodus his successour for this cause many of the Antients as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were of opinion that Children living might make their dead fathers unhappy in such sort that he who living was happy yet could not be called happy if after his death hee had ill 〈◊〉 and were unfortunate in his children To give therefore his successours good education is a matter of much honour to Princes and in case they prove not to have those vertues which are required in a Prince hee must not suffer Paternall piety to prevaile with him but wholly abandon and utterly dis inherit them of the royall dignity though as Aristotle saith it be hard for a father to doe This Plato expressed in his Common-weath who ordained that they should be Princes who in their Nativity had Gold mingled with Earth meaning that if their Sonnes had together with Earth either Iron or brasse in them they should not then be admitted to the Kingdome Qua propter ipsis Principibus Primo maxime Deus praecepit ut nullius rei majorem curam custodiamque 〈◊〉 quam natorum ut dignoscant quid ex quatuor his potissimum illorum animis sit immixtum si quis ex ipsis nascatur 〈◊〉 aut serreus nullo pacto misereantur sed honorem illi naturae convenientem tribuentes interopifices vel agricolas mittant and therefore Moyses was contented that our Lord God should chuse Iosuah of another Tribe to be his successour rather then his owne Sonne In consideration whereof Saint Hierome saith Moises amicus Dei cui 〈◊〉 ad faciem 〈◊〉 loquutus est potuit utique successores Principatus filios suos facere Posteris propriam relinquere dignitatem sed extraneus de alia Tribueligitur Iesus ut sciremus Principatum in populos non sanguini deferendum esse sed 〈◊〉 and this is the true way for acquiring of Glory so much more as it is more repugnant to Naturall affection And if
him in some certaine hope of coÌ„ming to the Empire This Dio in the mouth of Moecaenas teacheth us who speaking of Agrippa saith that when a Prince makes a servant too great and advanceth him too highly giving him excessive and unlimitted authority he hath then no way to secure himselfe but either to kill him or by some match to make him his kinsman Cyrus also followed this course who married his sister to Sibares a person of most base estate as he took the same course that Augustus did so it was upon the same occasion that Augustus had whereof Justin saith Sybarem Caeptorum quem juxta nocturnum visum ergastulo liberaverat comitemque in omnibus rebus habuerat all one with those words Victoriae socium Persis praeposuit sororemque suam ei in matrimonium dedit And because Galba tooke not this course with Otho which Cyrus tooke with Sybares and Augustus with Agrippa It lost him the Empire as in the first booke of Tacitus Histories is to be seene But yet in truth this course seems to me both very dangerous and very uncertaine because although he to whoÌ„ their daughter or other of their blood is married be himselfe a man ignoble and of little spirit yet he may have a sonne that may resemble his grandfather more then his father Astyages was of this opinion and put it in practice doubting the future husband of his daughter and no lesse the nephew that should be born of them Neque Claro 〈◊〉 saith Justin neque civi dedit filiam ne paterna maternaque nobilitas Nepotis animum extolleret sed de gente obscura tunc temporis Persarum Cambysi mediocri viro in matrimonium tradidit And see how vaine his conceit was seeing of her was born Cyrus who in few yeers took the Kingdome from his grandfather Astyages by force Again this course takes ill successe oftentimes through the haughtinesse of the women who though married to men of meane spirits and quiet dispositions yet stirre them up and provoke them to doe things which of themselves they would never doe or at least not doe so soon Tullia the daughter of Servius was one of these who impatient to wait upon succession forced in a manner her husband Orontes Tarquinius to enter upon the Kingdome with the death of her father thinking it but fit that being borne of the Blood-Royall she should be able both to give and to take away the Kingdome at her pleasure whereof she oftentimes complained Ipsa Regio semine orta nullum momentum in dando adimendoque Regno faceret Thus Tarquinius by the instigation of this infernall fury got possession of the Kingdome and it made Servius no whit the safer that he had married his daughter to Orontes Tarquinius a man as Livy reports of a mild and peaceable disposition Mitis ingeniiIuvenem To be briefe the daughters of Kings either cannot or know not how to live in a private estate And therefore Damarata the daughter of Hiero King of Syracusa and married to Andromadorus with such violence instigated her husband that she forced him extremely against his will to take possession of the Kingdome which Livy shewing where he alledgeth the reason why Andromadorus was moved to seaze upon the Kingdome saith Qui fessus tandem uxoris vocibus monentis nunc esse tempus occupandi Regnum A second way used by some for freeing themselves of this danger hath been to make such women to enter into Monasteries or to spoake after the custome of the Ancients into Temples and so remove them from their husbands and sonnes of whom there might be feare to the end that they in such places observing chastity the Princes might live secure from the one and the other This course was followed by Amulius who having driven out Numitor and killed his sonne he made his daughter who only remained under colour of honour to become a vestall Virgin thinking by this meanes to secure himselfe both from her and from any whom she should marry and from any sonnes that should be born of her where of Livy 〈◊〉 Fratris filiae Rheae Silviae per speciem honoris cum vestalem vestalâ—… legisset perpetua virginitate spem partus adimit But neither did this course do Amulius any good for of her were borne Romulus and Remus who deprived him of his Kingdome I finde therefore another way perhaps better and it is to keepe these women at home with him of whose husbands or sonnes there may be any doubt bearing many Princes in hand he meanes to marry her to them but in the meane time not to bestow her upon any for by this meanes not onely they shall be safe from any danger of their owne but from any also that may arise by enemies either forraine or at home seeing out of this hope every one will be ready to defend them and where by marrying her they might have one defendour indeed but him with danger now holding them all at a bay they will have many defendours without danger This course was notably put in practice by the Duke of Burgundy who as Argenton relates having one onely daughter he Promised her to the Duke of Guyenne and to Nicholas Duke of Calabria and to Philibert Duke of Savoy and finally to Maximilian Duke of Austria and as Argentone verily thinks never meant to marry her to any at all as long as himselfe lived And in truth if this Duke had carried himselfe as wisely in other things as in this he had never so foolishly overthrowne himselfe as he did Quippe Augustus supremis sermonibus cum tractaret quinam adipisci Principem locum suffecturi abnuerent aut impares vellent vel iidem possent cuperentque M. Lepidum dixerat capacem sed aspernantem Gallum Asinium avidum at minorem L. Aruntium non indignum si casus daretur ausurum Whether it be better to refuse Dignities or to seeke after them The one and fortieth Discourse AMongst the last secrets of State with which Augustus before his death acquainted Tibâ—…rius he propounded three for the Empire in a â—…verse manner One that desired it but was unworthy Another that was worthy but despised it A third able to discharge it and if occasion served would attempt it Of which three when Augustus dyed there was none left living but Marcus Lepidus who was the man that was worthy of it but despised it Omnésque praeter Lepidum variis mox criminibus struente Tiberio circumventi sunt We shall not need to examine which of these would have done best in the case proposed by Tacitus but rather consider the like persons in a Dignitie or Office which the Prince should give We will therefore examine First which is best either to deserve an Honour and despise it or else not deserving it to seeke it Secondly whether hee that deserves ought to stay till the Prince offer it or else put himselfe forward by some honest wayes to obtaine it Concerning the first It