the Enemies are powerful and numerous They answer They are a great many Men but few Souldiers That they are not true EEnemies but a mutinous Rascality If it be remonstrated that a passage cannot be made for the Army by that place which they purposed they labor and torment themselves so much about it that it seems as if they pretended to make it pass there by the onely force of their words I do not here fancy things which are not I do not create Artificial Men I know some My Lord and I could name them to you who act in Council after this manner who will yield neither to evident Reason nor to an established Custom nor to a received Practice They oppose the singularity of their Opinion to the consent of People and to a crowd of Examples The Briefs and the Bulls of Popes the Edicts and Declarations of Kings are for other men they are not concerned They break all publick Acts when they agree not with their particular sence Have we not first seen in Flanders and since in Italy a Spanish Minister who was of this humor he could never resolve to acknowledge for King of France the late K. Henry the Great he could never call him otherwise then the Bearnois or the Prince of Bearne when he meant him a favor The League was dead and without hopes of ever reviving The Peace of Vervins was published and all its Articles executed The Kings Reconciliation had been solemnly made with the Holy See The K. of Spain had sent him Ambassadors and had receiv'd his Yet all this could not make the spirit of the Minister stoop He would be more averse to France then Spain and more Catholick then the Church His opiniastrecy excommunicated him whom the Pope had absolved And he still remained on these terms till the year 1610. the very evening before when this Bearnois was ready to make himself Master of a considerable part of Europe and who knows whether he would not have begun with the Dutchy of Millan which this Minister was then Governor of purposely to have made him change his note THose Wisemen we yesterday made the examen of assure nothing at all durst not swear it were day at high noon are not certain whether those things which they see are objects or illusions when a man inquires their Sentiment they always say I THINK never I KNOW and in businesses which are most clear a man can draw nothing from them but PERHAPS IT MAY BE SO and WE MUST CONSIDER which proceeds according to Aristotle from an opinion they have conceived of the world which is generally ill and from appearances So that they may be sometimes deceived but they are indeed seldom deceived If they lose it 's because they play but too well It 's themselves and their misfortune which they ought to complain of and not of the advantages and wiles of their Enemies They also first seek Safety and afterwards Profit They govern themselves by a reasonable Discourse which concludes with profit and certainty Nor do they live according to moral Institution which proposeth what 's honest and hazzardous You may fancy quite the contrary of the others we now speak of who express themselves in affirmative terms who decide the most doubtful and the most imbroyled affairs with a THIS IS SO it CANNOT BE OTHER WISE THERE IS AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY THAT IT MUST HAPPEN SO these commonly quit the greatest of their interests for the least of their Passions they prefer praise to Presents and thanks before Rewards they promise themselves wonders from the future and from fortune they make their doubts their suspitions their hopes valid even to infinity Yet let us confess the truth to the advantage of the men of this day they are far more worth then those of yesterday in Aristotles Judgment Timerous persons are defective for as much as they aspire not to those things the Magnanimous are worthy of and for as much as they aspire not even to those of which themselves are worthy But the Audacious are excessive onely in that they aspire to those things which the Magnanimous are and not they worthy of I speak of Magnanimity as you may perceive with the rigor of Philosophers and not with a Poetical licence who might well call this days Men Magnanimous since they so call their Gyants their Phaeton and their Capaneus It 's certain that this Boldness and this Fierceness do not always displease the world In some encounters they have gained approbation and praise They have been esteemed and have succeeded in the person of that Roman who seems so honest a Man to my Lord the Duke d'Espernon and to Monsieur the Marshal Desdiguieres your Highness is pleased that I should remember you of the stile wherewith he wrote to the Emperor The fidelity of that Roman was without reproach and yet he was accused in his absence and found an Informer against him at Court He commanded an Army in Germany and had great credit and authority in his Province and among the Souldiery Being advertised of what had past at Rome and of the ill offices which were rendred him in the Pallace he wrote a bold and proud Letter to the Emperor the last words whereof were much like to these My Fidelity hath been pure and intire hitherto nor will I change it unless I am forced thereunto but whosoever comes to succeed me in my command I am resolved to receive him as if he had enterprized against my life LET US IF YOU PLEASE CAESAR AGREE LET THE WHOLE EMPIRE BE YOURS AND MINE MY GOVERNMENT Such men hardly hold intelligence with the Enemy but they easily bandy against their Master they are never Rebels out of a formed design and out of a malitious inclination but they may be made so by disdain and resentment they want not Fidelity so long as they are trusted These do no disservice but will serve after their own mode They will be Arbiters both of their duty and of their obedience One of these persons whom you know my Lord would prove unto me it 's not long since that he served his Master in disobeying him it was at an entertainment which lasted four hours betwixt us when I gave him a visit at his Government from your Highness By a nice distinction which he made of the King and of the State he told me that very lately and upon an occasion which was not yet past He had gone out-right to the good of the State without having hearkened to several different voyces which would have stopped him by the way alleadging to him the Kings rame Whereto he added grounding himself or a principle which he took somewhat high That the King his first Master Father to the King that now is had commanded him before his death that if such a time happened and such an accident occur'd he should not fail to do such a thing what contrary order soever were brought him from Court to hinder him That
called to the Government in such troublesome times ought to uphold himself on these principles he ought to pass from the Philosophy of words to that of actions an unforeseen accident will never overthrow his Rules nor his Maxims because there can be no accident which he foresees not and smels not a far off He will neither apprehend the danger of his person nor the ruine of his fortune he will apprehend nothing but blame and an ill reputation And although Prudence be a Vertue principally employed for the preservation of him who possesseth it yet neither will Prudence hinder him from prizing several other goods more then his own life But when things grow better and times become less evil he for that will not sleep out a calm nor unbend himself from his former vigor Our wiseman will go before all disorders not onely with quick and penetrating eyes but also with a firm and an undaunted heart If he sees some signe of change appear and the least presage of a civil War he will endeavor to stiffle the Monster before its birth It would be vain to represent unto him those inconveniencies which threaten him in particular if he will oppose himself to a springing faction he will pass by all those considerations which stop the greatest part of our other wisemen and he will onely mind the performance of his duty without caring for the greatness of the danger he is engaged in Were there a Son or the Brother of a King who were perswaded to embrâ—il themselves he would never sharpen that Son or that Brother far less would he flatter them He will give counsel to the Father and the elder Brother which should neither be timerous nor cruel And if any man seek to estrange from him the affection of these young Princes he will rather serve them without their good will then please them by disserving them He will not so much respect what they would then seem to will as what hereafter they would indeed nor so much the interest of others wherein others engage them as he will their true and natural interests which can never be separate from those of the King and Crown After this manner he will undertake the publick Cause with a couragious Proâ—iâ—y and will not make the least appearance 〈…〉 indiscreet zeal appear his force will be without rudeness or sharpness his fidelity to his Master without hatred to his Masters Brother or Son he will manifest a respectful bolâ—ness and full of modesty in those occasion wherein others would ruine all by violence or negligence Howsoever as it was said at first he must be resolved come what will to the worst can happen to save the State he must be prodigal of himself he is the Kings own man He must not onely engage himself in a dangerous action the event whereof is doubtful but devote himself to an assured death if his Masters service exact it from him It 's this quality which is so necessary for a Minister To love the Princes person as much as the State the one and the other passion ought equally to possess his Soul one without the other being deficient we went yet further and after having answered what was alledged in de Aubignys History concerning the Dukes of Joyeuse and Espernon I thus return to our subject IT hath been formerly spoken of two Macedonians That the one loved Alexander and that the other loved the King it 's not well done to part what ought to remain entire why should we separate the King from Alexander and divide that poor Prince in pieces it were a violent division and a violence even to Nature it 's to cut one body into two the Kings interests are inseparably united with those of the State and I must confess that I cannot approve the meaness of Cardinal Birage who usually said I am not Chancelor of France I am the Kings Chancelor he might as well â—ave added And the Queen his Mother whose Creature he was not to take things at worse methinks he is not to be commended for so ill an expression Good Princes themselves protest They belong to others and owe themselves and all to the Commonwealth Magistrates and other Officers with far more reason ow themselves unto it They will never therefore at the same time give and take away the same thing their souls are too noble to be capable of so base an avarice will they repent themselves of their liberality will they secretly take back a present which they solemnly made before all the world for so I call the administration of Justice of good Judges and of good Laws Unless than Melanois reckoned France as nothing he could no way better then thereby have made it appear that he was a stranger to it and that to him it was altogether indifferent But let it not be displeasing to the Cardinal of Birague the Minister ought to love the King and State both at once together And if besides that he love some other thing his second affections must always ranck themselves under the subjection and orders of the first If he marry he ought not to contract himself with any who is suspected by the State or gives any cause of jealousie to his Prince but for this its too too much he ought to renounce his own Country he ought to break all the bonds of Nature he ought to sacrifice all for the good of the State if the good of the State require it He ought to make it appear that in a Monarchy there may be a young Brutus who prefers his duty before his Children and can even lose them when its necessary â—or the Kings service He shall witness himself another Marquis of Pisani who one day said of his only Daugher of she who since and to this day is the wonder of her Age If I knew that after my death she should be the wife of a man who were not the Kings Servant I would strangle her now persently with mine own hands But if the Minister be unmarried and if he keeps himself chaste it will be so much the greater advantage to his Masters affairs and they will be less subject to inconveniencies it wil be no smal matter That to him who ought perpetually to labor either with courage or with his mind defended pleasures are unknown which have turned so many wise men into beasts and led so many Victors in triumph but the ground of it indeed were that even he would be without legitimate passions which at least amuse and divert if they do not debauch and corrupt Domestick cares which usurp so much time from business will not rob an hour from such a Minister he will never think of the establishment of his Family he will not have one thought but for the Eternity of the State his affection which would have been divided betwixt his Wise his Sons and Sons in Law which would have run into other successions and other dependancies of Mariage so that the
Lord and are astonished at the great literature of this man of the Long-robe He made many other Equivoques and some are told of him which are nothing ungrateful It was he who thought Seneca was a Doctor of the Canon-Law and that in his Book de Beneficiis he had fully handled all matters concerning Benefices One of that time made him believe that Morea was the Moors Country And there is nothing more true then that he sought a whole day in his Map for Demecracy and Aristicracy thinking to find them as well as Dalmatia and Croatia It were a pleasure to be Learned under such a Reign and the Muses may have great hopes of protection from such like Ministers But let us proceed and not consider the interest of the Muses whose fate it is to be poor and ill used under all kind of Governments and by all manner of Ministers These understand Men and Business as you see After having dissipated the Revenues of the State in evil and ridiculous expences that they may appear parcimonious they suffer an important Occasion to be lost for want of Fifty crowns which they will not allow for the dispatch of an Extraordinary Courier They expect the day of the Ordinary Post and imagine that Occasion will stay for him as well as they do A Politick Doctor who hath whistled them to his lure and put into them five or six words out of our Taciâ—us for having alleaged it a hundred times a day on every accident hath recommended unto them Secrecie and Dissimulation This lesson being taught them they make a Mystery of every thing they express themselves but by casts of their eys and by motions of their heads At least they speak only in the ear even when they praise their Master and say That he is the greatest Prince in the world This religion of Silence hath gain'd upon their minds with so much â—uperstition that they scruple to give necessary Orders to those who are to execute them so much are they afraid to discover what was resolv'd in Council They attentively hearken to an Alchymist who promiseth them mountains of gold With open arms they receive a Banish'd person who with ease discovers to them the Conquest of his own Country And trusting on the faith of one or other they imbarque themselves in some great Design and begin a huge War which the second day after they are tir'd withall They do a thousand such like things And if these Examples are not to be found in this Age they were certainly in the past If these Ignorant presumptuous if these ridiculous Almighty-men have not been in France and Germany there have been of them in Spain and in Italy The misery of the Times It 's better to accuse the Time then the Prince this publick misery which hath caus'd Money to be made of Iron and of Leather which hath set a value on the vilest things hath also brought in request such men and introduc'd them into the Cabinet of Kings whither they have drawn along with them all the ordure of their births and all the vitious habits which servile minds were capable of For this is one Chapter of their their History which ought not to be forgotten And it 's certain that their Innocence never lasted much longer at Court then that of the first Man's did in the terrestrial Paradise At first although perhaps they were not born wicked they did believe they ought to become so and so discharg'd themselves of their Consciences that with less encumbrance they might manage the affairs of State Moreover they thought that Pride was well becoming their dignity That should they appear the same they formerly were their condition would be nothing chang'd and their Civility would replace them into that Equality whence they had newly forc'd themselves with so much trouble Thus they apprehended not to fall into hatred that they might shun contempt They have made themselves feared being not able to make themselves respected They esteemed that there was no way left to blot out the memory of their antient baseness but by the present object of their Tyranny nor could they hinder the People from laughing at their infirmities but by employing them to weep for their own miseries and complain of their cruelties With these fair Maxims and these Antipoliges which I have rough-cast they have govern'd the world but they govern'd it after a strange manner They have overthrown what they would have maintain'd they have broken what they had a design to fix They have caus'd as many ruines as they intended to make establishments they have spoil'd as many things as they have undertaken The falls of Princes and the loss of States have been the successes of their Administration Having seised on the Soveraign power I consider them again in their innocent infirmity they have exercised it as children do knives who most commonly hurt themselves and offend therewith their Mothers and theâ—â— Nurses IF the Temerity of such persons hath not always been unhappy If they have arrived at the Port steering a Course which in appearance estranged them the farther off For it 's most certain that these miracles have been seen and I know some who have saved themselves by actions which should indeed have lost them yet must we not confide in this blind Felicity which guided them we must look upon them as persons transported with a violent imagination who pass over Rivers in their sleep without knowing how to swim and run over Precipices without taking a false step We must admire them as DIVINE BEASTS and not imitate them as REASONABLE MEN This word I had from that good man Alexander â—icolomini when I visited him as I pass'd the Seine and found him on that green bed which Thuanus speaks of If you ever are Favorites with his Highness's permission I shall address my words to these two young Gentlemen who hear me never propose to your selves such like examples They are very dangerous how splendent soever they are They are Flambeaux lighted on shelves they shipwrack young Pylots They are Addresses which lead their followers to death which serve only to deceive Posterity to teach men Error to give credit and reputation to Imprudence THE THIRD DISCOURSE AS those whom we left yesterday want a requisite Capacity and have a very short and limited Understanding There are others to be found who have it too spacious and too far extended and who reason with excess I speak of those Speculative persons who commonly aim beyond the End who quit the Road to find By-ways who wander that they may the sooner arrive whither they intend Let us if you please call them Extractors of Essences They bring their Advice to the Alimbeck and reduce it to nothing by the force of subtilising it They evaporate in smoke the most solid Affairs Let us call them State-Hereticks which in Policie would do what Origen did in Religion They follow the shadows and images of things in stead
he thought he was obliged in Conscience to follow the intentions of the greatest and wisest Prince in the world nor did he apprehend he could err by conforming himself to the sentiments of him who never committed faults But I pray go on to verifie that secret command which is yet come to the knowledge of no man nor even to the Queen Dowager of the late King To know of a truth of this the charms of Magick must be imployed the soul of the greatest and wisest Prince of the the Earth must be raised of him who committed no faults and it must be enquired whether that Minister who alleadgeth this alleadge it not falsely It 's a raillery to think still to belong to Philip under the reign of Alexander to endeavor to perswade ones Master that a man hath reason to disobey That opiniastrecy hath merit That it 's sufficient to serve well howsoever though against the will of him we serve Let such persons who thus will serve their own way be always if it be possible two hundred leagues from Court Let them be employed if it may be so in obscure places where ill examples being not so much looked upon are not so dangerous But it would not be well to call them near the persons of a Prince where respect is no less necessary then service and where they would be his Tutors rather then his Counsellors These are excellent men I do not deny it but this excellency under the power of another is not in its right place They love the State and their Country but they hate Dependence and Subjection their end is right but the means are oblique and seem contrary to their end For making the good of the Monarchy their object they use all the licence which may be used in a popular Government Further yet In serving they will serve like Soveraigns themselves have told me in their entertainments of near four hours That they were too old to submit themselves to the first elements of their duty When smiling at what they told me I went farther and told them They were too great to learn that lesson which a Doctor of the Court gave his Son in the Grecian history MY CHILDE MAKE THY SELF LITTLE Good Governors of Provinces and good Guardians of the Frontier good Porters of the Realm so long as you please But I grant not that you are good Ministers of State and good Courtiers after the same manner There are Affairs in which a man may take several parties and some diversly byassed which offer themselves of which we are to chuse that which is most proper to manage it well In such businesses they bring the same passion and are born away with the same miscarriages which we have already observed on the subject of News A man can never see them out of one extremity or other They would rather fall then descend they desire all or nothing they seek Death or Victory Yet methinks it 's much to carry away three quarters when one cannot obtain the whole That betwixt Death and Victory there should be Peace which is a good of an inestimable value which ought to be sought for by the Vanquished and desired by the Victorious But what is seemly with us nothing perswades them nor have they an ear for our remonstrances there is no way to divert their imagination from its object and to make them change their aim they are enemies to all accommodation and so bound to those rules which they prescribe themselves and to that rigor of exact Justice which exasperates them that it 's impossible to render them capable of Equity It 's not possible to make them take a reward for a thing when it 's lost They would have the same and not the like They combate the sence of the Law with terms of Law and injure themselves by doing themselves right They make me remember those Brothers so much celebrated in History who being equally to divide a Succession broke a glass to divide it cut a Suit in two that each of them might have his half If these go not so far and if this be to speak too much Let 's at least say that in business they know not of how great use these temperaments are and how profitably be employed for the perfection of Affairs by joyning things at a distance and by facilitating those which are difficult They understand not these Relaxations these Adjustments as they speak now in Italy This necessary mean which seems often to come from Heaven and which is needful to conclude bargains with particular persons and with far more reason Treaties of Peace betwixt Princes Leagues Offensive and Defensive Negotiations wherein the safety of People are concerned and the fortune of Kingdoms Our sullen vertuous persons will not admit of these Tempers nor of this Mean In a State which dies of old age they would do the same as if they governed in a newly established Commonwealth in the purity of its institution and in the vigor of its first Orders They speak of nothing but of an absolute Power but of the Autority of the Senate but of the force of the Laws although they are things which grow old as well as other things and which growing old grow weak Hearken unto Cato's opinion in Caesars cause He says we must load him with chains he doth not say we must first seise upon him we must send him in that condition to our Alleys whom he hath offended that they may do themselves right and that he may be punished for his unjust Victories These MUSTS are very difficult to be put in execution if Favor over-power Reason we must continues he have him come and plead his own cause in person and give us an account of his nine years Command All must be done according to Law that 's to say according to my intrpretation we must hazard all the Laws to observe Formalities I perswade my self Your Highness thinks this austere Commonwealths man to blame although never man was more praised then he Cicero was not only his particular friend he was his publick Admirer after his death he did somewhat more then make his Funeral Oration and what he did made way for Caesars two Anti Cato's Yet Cicero speaking confidently to Pomponius Atticus confesseth that the vertue of that man whom he so much admired was unprofitable for his Country He confesseth that that Divine man for so he called him was out of use and knew not how to accommodate himself to the condition of those times That when he gave his opinion in Council He thought he had been in Plato's Republick and not among the Lees of Romulus his People This word of Cicero explains a Verse of Virgil which your Scholasticks take no notice of yet it deserves the reflections of a Courtier In the description of his Hero's Buckler wherein divers figures were engraven when he would have represented that part of Hell which is inhabited by sacred Souls he makes Cato to
and sometimes also slept on the Flower-de-luces One day the President of his Court gathering the Voices of the company and having demanded his he answered him suddenly and being not yet quite awake That he was of opinion that that maâ—s neck should be cut off But says the President the debate is about a field Let it be mowed then replied the Counsellor Once again it 's neither Malice nor Cruelty it's Fancy it's Peevishness it's Choler which prevails in the Temperature of these Counsellors which with its smoak blacks their first motions and their first words This adust humor imprints on their forehead a perpetual negative with which they stiâ—le the prayers even in the very hearts of their suppliants They refuse things which were never demanded which even were never intended to be demanded These Counsellors are not those which ought to be called to the Council of Kings were they contrary to what they appear yet were they not to be commended to have taken so little care for Vertues out-side and for the appearance of good Should they have a well-meaning Mind their Mine would always spoil their good Deeds their ill Humor would ruine all the merit of their good Actions Observe how they habituate themselves with a frightful and inaccessible severity how this fantasm of severity casts down and astonisheth the world Observe how they study to disfigure their outsides how they wear this vile vizard even at Weddings and at Feasts where they affect it as well as elsewhere to shew themselves terrible and redoubtable If it were formerly spoken of a Grecian a very honest and vertuous man THAT HE HAD NOT SACRIFICED TO THE GRACES it may be said likewise of such Spaniards or of such French men very honest and very vertuous persons who not onely are less devout then this Grecian but that going from indevotion to impiety far enough from sacrificing to the Graces they have cast down their Altars they have set the Temples of these good Goddesses on fire they labor with their utmost utterly to abolish the worship of them Let 's finish their elogy and in the species represent the individuals which Your Highness hath observed in the several Courts where you have been It 's impossible to come near them without being offended they dart forth points and needles from all the parts of their body their praises bite their caresses scratch and as there are some untoward persons who knock against those faces they would kiss they after the same manner cannot oblige without disobliging they cannot promise but with eyes and brows which threaten they grant favors and courtesies in the same tone with which others refuse them THE SEVENTH DISCOURSE HItherto we have assaulted no body who could not defend himself And if your Highness think it fit let 's even excuse those whom we have accused let 's not reproach men with the errors of their birth let 's be indulgent to humane infirmity let 's allow somewhat to the temperature of the body which may mark the soul with its blemishes let 's be compatible with the weakness of minds since we receive them as they are given us and that we are not the chusers of 〈◊〉 our selves The subtilty of the Understanding the solidity of Judgment a couragious Prudence a considerate Boldness are not voluntary things They depend no more from our election then our healths or a fair proportion We are responsible for our faults but not for those of Nature there is no man obliged to be able but there is no body but is concerned to be good and if we cannot furnish our selves for the glory of the Publick with Courage and with Wisedom we at least ought to contribute our innocency for the repose of Common Society What shall we say then of those insolent Happy men who combate with displaid colours the authority of the Laws and of Justice who in the Government of States produce a design formed for its ruine which grow fat and become comely from the juyce and substance of exhausted Provinces who build up their own house with the wrack and dissipation of a whole Kingdom What shall we say of those insufferable Varlets who revenge their least quarrels with the hands and arms of their Master who declare all those Guilty of High Treason who do not fall prostrate before them who by a bloody and cruel Peace all black with mourning and funerals bring the people into dâ—spair reduce the honester sort of men to be unable to save themselves but in a Revolt Finally What shall we say of such base Courtiers who triumph and yet were never victorious who enjoy in idleness the swears and pains of great Captains who at a Comedy or a Ball expect the news of the getting of some Battel of the taking of Towns of which the Generals must give them an account Observe them in antient and modern History observe how all to them is plunder how all is prey how they feed on all dead bodies thus did they formerly speak at Rome and left nothing but loss and affliction to desolate Families to Orphans and to Widows For although they came only out of the dirt to speak truly of kind to no body yet they believe themselves the Heirs of all the world There is no Officer of the Crown no Governor of a place whose Succession they do not pretend unto as belonging to them They think they are not in safety so long as there is a hole or a precipice in another Mans power Your Highness perswades me that this Description pleaseth you it 's because you love the truth how neglected or how much in disorder soever it be You had found it fairer and the pieces of this description had been better ajusted had I but minded somewhat more the Rules of Art but the crowd of things often breaks compass and measure I represent onely without any design of trimming or of imbellishing the world furnisheth me with all what I display which is not ungrateful to your Highness Let 's once again my Lord consult the long experience of this world an experience which imbraceth so many Ages and so many Countries Let 's enquire more particular news concerning those who govern it in despight of it of those People who have reigned without a Crown without Right and without Merit Such People commonly introduce themselves in Court by low means and sometimes by such as are but little honest They sometimes owe the commencement of their fortune to a well danced Saraband to agility of body to the beauty of their face they make themselves valued by shameful services whose payment is not publickly 〈◊〉 â—e demanded they put themselves in credit by the recommendation only of vice Their design being onely to make plâ—asing Propositions they enquire not whether they profit or harm so as they please it sufficeth And to establish this strict commerce which they meditate with the Prince they insinuate themselves into his Mind by the intelligence which they endeavor
with these our lines which you shall give him For the Picture it self which you promised him it s another story It 's not at all in my Cabinet as you fancy it 's still in the Painters Idea and consequently it will be difficult for you to make good your promise Such Pieces require leisure and meditation An old Artist as I am having some honor to lose and being obliged to have a care to preserve the good opinion which men have of him he ought to respect the judgment of the publick and not to abuse those favors which he hath received Althongh I will paint no more I have far less mind to daub FINIS A TABLE of the most remarkable things in ARISTIPPVS A. ACtion It 's easie to deceive ones self in the judgement which men make of actions since those who perform them are first deceived Page 42 Agrippa Augustus his Minister of State 143. Alcibiades the vivacity of his mind 69 70 Ambition being not well regulated causeth the loss of great persons 156 A famous Artisan whom Alexanders history mentions 55 56 B. BArbarossa kept intelligence with Andreas Doria 77 Birague a Cardinal his remarkable baseness 152 C. CAto an austere Commonwealths-man but out of fashion who could not fit himself to the manner of his times 98 99. A verse of Virgil well applied 100 Cicero was valiant and couragious at least in the Senate 67 Citizens are seldom so now 67 68 A brave Citizen ought to be like Cicero ibid. Cleon Governor of the Commonwealth of Athens mocked for his extravagant probity 108 Comines his astonishment and surprise 145 Conference VVhat natural knowledge soever we have and what light soever comes from above we are not to scorn a scrutiny of reason and the greater light of truth which is gained by Conference 2 3 4 The Conquest of Greece proposed by a petit Prince of Italy 56 Of Counsel it 's the great element of a civil life nor less necessary then fire or water 2 3 Counsellors There are some who out of a peevish and fantastick humor commonly think on death and commonly sleep on the Flower-de-Luces 110. Such Counsellors are not to be called before Princes 110 111 Court Tricks and deceits used therein 78 c. He who takes and gives counsel is not esteemed less wise 9 10 D. DEliberation How that is to be understood which the Romans said that we ought to deliberate with occasion and in the presence of affairs 54 Demosthenes appeared too punctilious in the Council of Athens about that small Island which was in contest betwixt the Athenians and King Philip 104 105 Andrew Doria kept intelligence with Barbarossa although a good servant to the Emperor Charles 5. 77 E. EQuivoques which were pleasant of a Gâ—â—â—mans to what learning was unknown P 29 30. Events Yhe greatest are not always produced from great Causes 39 An Ecclesiastick Italian his good and very exprest sally preaching before a Prince of that Country 133 134 F. FAvor is a Daughter which often kills her own Mother 130 Favourites described 113 114. How they introduce and raise themselves in Court and how by little and little they possess themselves of the Princes mind 116. What tricks and slights they use altogether to subject 〈◊〉 Prince that they may reign themselves apparently 125. Of he unhappy captivity Princes are reduced unto by their Favourites 126 127. There can be no 〈◊〉 more unhappy then the life of such a Prince who suffers himself after that manner to be governed by his Favourites 129. A Prince in such a condition is civilly dead and 〈◊〉 as it were deposed himself it 's his 〈◊〉 only which is made use of in publick 130. An example of a King of Castile who duâ—st 〈◊〉 even go to walk nor so much as put on a new Suit without his Favorites leave 131. Of the unhappy condition a Prince or State is reduced unto when a Favourite himself obeys a Mistris when Love governs the Politicks ib. A good lesson for Kings and Princes touching the choyce and raising up of their Favorites and Ministers 134 135. Favorites Kings can hardly live without Favorites 17. It were a tyranny to hinder Kings from having them 18. It 's no crime to have a Confident ibid. In Heaven there are benevolent Aspects and favorable inclinations rather towards one then towards another ibid. The Son of God even in this world hath had his Favorites 19. Of the prudence and discretion a Prince ought to have in the choice of his Favorites and Ministers of State 20. Princes often deceive themselves in the choyce they make raising persons of no worth without vertue without knowledge and without experience to the Government and Administration of Affairs of State 20 21. Some fair thoughts touching those Grandies who are onely remarkable from their Grandure 21 22. Concerning the cause of this new favor and of the birth of this evil Authority 22 23. This favor is none of vertues Creature nor so much as the Vertues of the blood 24 25. These new men grown great deceive themselves if they perswade themselves that God is obliged to send them his spirit of governing well and to invalidate the Princes election by the sudden illumination of his Ministers 27. To govern well instruction and experience are necessary 20 21. The good opinion which an ignorant Favorite haeth of himself casts him into continual danger of losing himself and of losing the Country 28 29. Friendship without it felicity is imperfect and defective Vertue is weak and impotent 1 Friends are the most profitable and most desirable of all outward goods 1 2. Fortune and its productions are extravagant and ridiculous 22 Fortune is esteemed Mistris of Events and Arbitrator of Battels 65. This blind power hath no admittance nor power in Politick Assemblies Ibid. Fortune will have those she favors trust in her 61 G. GIlberti Bishop of Verona and Datary to Pope Clement 7. appeared too punctilious speaking about reconciling the Kingdom of Bohemia with the Church 104 Great men remarkable onely for their greatness 21. Like those high barren mountains which produce neither herb nor plant 21 22. Of God That there is none but he who is plenarily content in himself 2 I. Jealousie of love betwixt particular persons hath been cause of a great war 39 Ignorance is very dangerous in a person who hath the government and administration of Affairs of State 21. Bold Ignorance hath often precided in the conduct of humane things 26 Of Interest It always overbears both honor and reason 63. A man too much tied to his own interest is not capable of the government and administration of the State 62 Joseph the Patriarck a great Minister of State wonderfully honored by his Mr. Pharoah 15 16 Italy breeds excellent Cheats 84 85 Judgments which are quickest want clearness in their own interests 3 4 Justice when it 's too severe is not always best sometimes it 's even pernicious and hurtful 101
102. VVhen Justice is done we must imagine it 's a favor without standing on Punctilio's 105. It 's better not to be so quick and clear-sighted in discussion of matters of right for fear of finding therein too much Justice 106 K. KIngs their condition is unhappy if reduced by Favorites vid. Favorites Kings are not to be contented with a personal and particular innocency and it 's to no purpose for them to be just if they lose themselves by the injustice of their Ministers 133. A good instruction for Kings for their choice and election of Ministers or Favorites 134 135. The learned and wise Lipsius his answer on this subject 136. L. ALvares de Luna the King of Castiles Favorite to what height of insolency his favor and power arrived towards the Prince his Master 131 The extravagant and ridiculous Love of some hypochondriacal Queen 22. Of the Love governing the Politicks when the woman is possessed of a Favorites heart 131 M. MAriage A woman and her children are most powerfull hinderances to stop a man who seeks after glory 155. The Mind takes a wonderful pleasure in Ratiâ—cination 51 52. What appears its fâ—ieâ—d and favorable in its thought revolts and â—ecomes contrary in the operation 52. Maxims to govern happily and with success 〈◊〉 labor for the good of the State 101. There are Maxims which are not just in their 〈◊〉 nature but whose use justifies them 102 Mecenas Minister of State and favorite to Augustus and of the facility of his manners 143 144. Meleager by the provocation of his Wife 〈◊〉 himself into a revolt and engageth in the party of a Tyrant against the King his Master without knowing of a truth what 〈◊〉 moved him thereunto 41 42 43. Ministers of State Kings and Princes cannot reign without them 5. Princes to make cannot be without them and Princes made need them 6. An explication of what Plato says That God gave Kings two spirits to govern 7. Several degrees of Servants who all finde place in the administration of a State 7 8. Fair Elogies of a true and perfect Minister of State 8 9. Besides those Gods and Demons wherewith the Antients accompanied their Hero's they gave them men also to assist them in their undertakings 9. A Prince who in time of need makes use of a Ministers counsel is not to be esteemed less wise or less Sovereign 10 11. A wise and faithful Minister may call himself the Temperament betwixt the power of one person and the publick good of the Commonwealth 12. In Greece Ministers of State reigned with their Kings 12 13. In Persia they are called the Kings eyes ibid. The Roman Emperors honored them with the Title of Friends and Companions ibid. They caused Statues to be erected for them placing them near their own and rendring them very great honors 13 14 A man without vertue without knowledge and without experience is not capable of the Government and administration of affairs of State 20 21. Knowledge and experience are necessary for well governing 28. The good opinion which an ignorant Minister of State may have of himself is very dangerous and may be of a pernicicus consequence 26 27. It 's not necessary for a Minister of State to be very subtil vide Subtilty A Minister ought not to be tyed too much to his own interest 62. The consideration of his own interest causeth Timidity and captivates his liberty of speech and action 62 63. Those who have a passionate Probity indocile and impetuous are not fit to be placed near the person of a Prince their employment thrives better at a distance 94 95. vide Probity passionate Maxims which such are to learn who are called to the Government of State 101. Some to seem vertuous and not to be corrupted in their Offices render themselves ridiculous out of an extravagant Probity 108 Of Ministers and of the Ministery of State 138 139. A Princes care in the choice of a Minister 142 143. Two true and perfect Ministers of State 144 145. It 's a rare thing to see a brave Minister or Favorite ibid. The Picture of a true and perfect Minister ibid. A Minister of State ought to have as well Boldness as VVisdom ibid. He ought to have an equality of mind which ought to appear in the several changes of humane things in the ebbings and flowings at Court 146 He ought to be constant and resolute without being astonished at any ill news or of any ill success 147. Study and wisdom is no useless help to Magnanimity and to the judgment of a Minister 148 149. He ought to love the Princes person as well as his Estate and both equally 151. Meaness of Cardinal Birague ibid. If a Minister marry he ought not contract an alliance suspected to the State no which causeth jealousie 152 153. He ought to renounce blood and Kindred ibid. If he do not marry it will be much for the advantage of his Masters affairs ib. A Spanish Minister could never resolve to acknowledge the late Henry the Fourth for King of Franc always calling him the Bernois or the Prince of Bern when he intended him a favor 90 91 Mucianus Minister of State to the Emperor Vespasian 5 6. N. NEstor a good Minister of State Agamemnons wish 9 Night why the Grecian Poets gave it the name of Wise and Counsellor ibid. O. OCcasion is subject to change 54 Prince Maurice of Orange would never marry for several reasons 157 P. PIcture may represent a thing but yet cannot be that thing there must still be a difference 53 Of Phocion and the solidity of his mind 69 Politick Assemblies the mind ought in them to act freely without constraint and prudence is quietly to exercise its operations 65 66 Of the baseness of those who tremble at the reâ—ital of the least danger which restrains and hinders men from speaking their minds 66 A Physitian to the Queen of Persia was cause of that War which Xerxes made in Greece 41. A Physitian boasted to have killed a Patient with the fairest method in the world 47 48 The Marquis of Pisani greatly affectionated to the Kings service 153 Poets were the antient Preceptors of humane kind 9 Policy forbears not to be unhappy without heavens intermission 55 Presumption In it there is something which is more noble then in weakness and such excesses are less blameable then such like defaults 138 An extravagant Probity 108 A passionate ridiculous and impetuous Probity which may be otherwise called a Brutal Vertue 87. Those who have that natural obstinacy and which do not nor will not know any other reason besides their own are not very fit to govern a State ib. They often fall into pits in the midst of a way and incessantly fall on shelves only to have the honor not to go to the left 88 89. They express themselves in affirmative terms and decide the most doubtful and the most embroiled business with a So it is 91. They are to be