Arch-Priest He hath likewise a most Able Souldiery because that He takes all the likeliest boyes and youths through all his Dominions and breeds them up in Seminaries erected for that purpose and these He employes both in his wars abroad and in peace at home making some of them Souldiers and others Judges and Noblemen also Neither hath He any Barons to stand in fear of neither hath He any Brothers to share with Him in the Empire For the Eldest Son comming to the Empire after his Fathers death presently makes away with all his Younger Brothers Neither can He want any Men seeing that He permits every one of his subjects to take as many Wives to him as He is able to keep so that neither Inheritance nor Virginity are any hinderance to the Procreation of Children in his Territories His custome is also in making his Wars 〈◊〉 go as it were round about in a circle and so to deal with his â—eighbouring enemies neither leaving any enemy behind him nor ever going farther from home one way then another as hath been said before And he hath besides an Admirable Art in his making his Cessations from Arms and Truces with his Enemies being sure alwayes to make them for his own Advantage Now the Turk is descended from Iaphet by Magog and he hath the Lawes of Sem derived to Him by Ishmael whence hath sprung Mahumetanisme And of Him God himself foretold Agar that His hand should be against every man and every mans hand against him and that He should dwell in the presence of all his brethren And therefore we see that He hath pitched his Tents at Constantinople in the uttermost Angle of Europe over against Us who are his Brethren descending from Isaac who was both the Legitimate and Natural Brother of Ishmael For as the Spaniards are descended from Tubal so the Turks are descended from Magog who were both the Sons of Japhet And truly the Turk doth put forth his hand every way not only against all Christians but also against Mahumetans now here now there one while on the right hand and then on the left and still goes away the Conquerour He makes use also of another point of subtlety which is that so soon as ever He finds that we are at union amongst our selves He then presently flies to making a Truce with Us which notwithstanding he presently breakes off again so soon as ever he sees us at dissention among our selves And whensoever he is returned Victorious from one Country He presently falls to the making of some other Expedition either against the Persians or the Ethiopians c. as hath been shewed before And yet though all these things be thus yet doth the King of Spain lay claime also to the Dominion of that Empire or at least of part of it and that by reason of his Fraternity both Natural from Japhet and also Legal proceeding from Abraham but yet in respect of this Later he hath the Pre heminence above the Turk For he is descended from Isaac from whom Christ who is also God is descended the Cheif Law-giver of All and He hath also thereby a general Promise made him of the Universal Empire of the World And because He was Blessed also in Abraham the last Kingdome of the Saints which is to succeed after the end of the Four Monarchies and of which Daniel Prophesied belongs unto him But Ishmael from whom Mahomet the Turks Law-giver is descended had no other promise made unto him but that he should be an Absolute Lord and a great and famous Warriour Besides both these Princes are a part of the Roman Empire for after that the Roman Monarchy shall be at an end there shall no other succeed it But according to Esdras the German which is now the same that the Spaniard as hath been said before is the Right Head but the Turk is the Left Head of the Imperial Eagle after that Mahomet fell off from the Emperour Heraclius during whose Reign the Eagle was divided to whom notwithstanding there was no other promise made but that He should Devour the Middle Head namely the Constantinopolitan whereas the Spaniard hath this Promise made him that he should devour the Left Head that is to say the Turk as we have hinted formerly And although that the Spaniard hath above him one that is a Clergy Man and that is also Armed with the Temporal Sword yet doth this make for his advantage both in respect of Fate and of His State as hath been written before for as much as the Spaniard according to the example of Cyrus hath under him the United Monarchy of the Saints and the Pope is also a most sure defence and Safe-guard to Him by whose Assistance he is able to deal well enough with his enemies both with spiritual and Temporall weapons and yet so as that He may easily withal avoid the suspicion either of Covetousnesse or Profanenesse Now as concerning the Absolutenesse of Dominion the Great Turk is herein much above the King of Spain But yet I have formerly shewed that this very thing of his not caring to have any Barons or Nobles under him renders Him and His Condition and State so weak that if he should receive but one sound Blow onely in an open field Battel it would so crush Him as that he would never be able to hold up his Head again Which cannot happen to the King of Spain because that His Nobles and Bishops and also the Pope himself would speedily in such a case send in Relief to Him The Great Turk keeps under all the Great ones among his Subjects least they should attempt any Innovation in the State or act any thing to the Prejudice of His Monarchy as the Nobility of France did heretofore But then in the mean time He doth so weaken them that they are not able to yeild him any Relief or Aide at all in case he should come to have need of it As concerning Military Discipline and the Manner of making War the Turk far excells the Spaniard as I have before shewed yet notwithstanding if the King of Spain would but use all convenient diligence and withal carefully observe those Rules which I have here laid down before him He might even in this Particular surpasse the Turk and the rather if so be He would but go himself in Person to the Wars And as for the number of Men and of Souldiers the Turk goes beyond the Spaniard and indeed in all his greatest expeditions He hath ever done his businesse rather by his Numbers then by valour And yet his Subjects are divided amongst themselves in Religion and then besides all the Lands of every Country are given in Fee only to the Principal Commanders of his Militia whereas the King of Spain hath fewer Subjects indeed in number but yet they are more at unity among themselves But I have already shewn how the Number of the King of Spains Subjects may be encreased by their Marriages with Forraign Nations
dispose of and order things there he will by this meanes both free the Pope from this suspition and shall withall effect his own desires seeing that it is evident that the Pope by his Indulgencies and Croysados brings him in more mony then those Dignities which he bestowes upon Cardinals Archbishops Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persons do yearly stand him in so that he will be a gainer in that wherein he is affraid most of being a loser And this he would quickly confesse if he would but cause it to be publickly preached and proclaimed abroad that the end of the World is at hand and that the time is now come when there is to be one Sheepfold under One Shepheard that is the Pope and that Himself is another Cyrus whose Office it is to see these things brought about and to gather all the Flock into that One Sheepfold and that what Nation or Kingdom soever shall refuse to yield Him obedience shall be brought to destruction and many other things which I had rather deliver by speech then writing There are many Causes to be laid open whereby the King of Spain as well in reference to Prudence Power and lastly Prophesy may be rendered Admired by all the World For whether all these things do joyntly incline there necessarily must the Empire follow And seeing that this height of Dignity is to be atained unto under the Fortune and Interest of the Empire of Italy which is now called the German Empire there is a necessity that the King of Spain should labour by all possible meanes to reduce that Empire under his power And the better to effect this he must deal with the Pope that he would denounce the most direful Curses that may be against the Three Protestant Electors of the Empire threatning them withall that unlesse they return to the Church of Rome He will deprive them of their Electoral Dignity which they received from the Pope onely and that feeing they now affirm that the Pope is Antichrist they shall be convinced out of their own words and made to see that themselves are Antichristians and that therefore they ought of themselves to lay down that Dignity of theirs unlesse they will recant and again admit of the Catholick Beliefe And to this end the French Italians and Spaniards being first all reconciled and made friends by the Pope are to joyn their whole Forces together and to go against them which certainly would much promote this businesse and having overcome them they must utterly extirpate all the Sects that have raigned among them and send in new Colonies into their places And this expedition is so easy a one that Charles the Fifth himself might have been able to have effected it alone But whereas the Free Cities of Germany do in no wise desire to hear of any such Empire or Vniversal Monarchy lest so They should be reduced into their ancient servitude again and also because they are very slow in their Deliberations and as slow also in the Execution of them it would therefore very much advance this design if the rest of the Princes of Christendom joyning their Forces together would suddenly fall upon them Which businesse when it should be over the most Potent or most Forward of those Princes should be chosen Electors of the Empire by the Apostolical Authority of the Pope whether they were Germans Italians or Spaniards or else they might be chosen by Lot when the most potent of the Christian Princes should meet together in a Solemne Convention And although the Universal Empire of Christendom might easily by these meanes be translated to Spain yet it would be sufficient to do the businesse if but any one King of Spain would so order the matter that Himself might be but chosen Emperour who should then immediately march into Germany with a good Army and should instantly subdue it while it is at so great discord and variance within it self both in point of Religion and of State And this Expedition he ought speedily to go upon and that under a Pretext of marching for Hungary These things I say that all People might take notice how much it concerns the Interest of the King of Spain that he endeavour the attaining to the Empire of the World by the means of the Pope And indeed his being Dignified with the Title of the Catholick or Vniversal King shewes plainly that this is the will of the Holy spirit speaking by the Clergy CHAP. VI How the Clergy are to be dealt withal BUt it is not sufficient that we have the Clergy on our side but we are further to labour that at length we may get a Spaniard to be elected Pope or rather one of the house of Austria seeing it is evident that whensoever the Pope pronounceth his Oracle for this House He doth thereby raise it withall and on the contrary He casts a cloud upon it and keeps it under whensoever He declares against it Which the Kings of France observing they have endeavoured with all their might that the Pope should remove his Seat and go and live in France And so we know that when the Oracle at Delphos began once to speak on Philips side King of Macedon He presently what by his Politick Stratagems and what by Pretense of Religion arrived to the Monarchy of all Greece In the Determinations also concerning Differences in Religion it behoves the King of Spain to be the most Active of any in the managing of the same and indeed to take a greater care and to be more Vigilant herein then the Pope himself Whence we see that Philip King of France did alwaies in a manner as it were command Pope John the XXII as being himself more Zealous then the Pope was in defending and propagating that decree of the Church namely That the Saints in Heaven do see the Essence of God even before the last day of Judgment There must also alwaies some Novelty or other tending to Christian Religion be set on Foot such as are the Canonizations of Saints the changing of the Names of Holy Dayes of Moneths other the like things by transferring them to Christian Worship by which means He shall keep busy the heads of the Prelats as much as he can and so shall thereby the more confirm his own Authority among them He ought besides to oblige the Chief of the Clergy to himself by the most commodious Arts that he can as namely by sending into the Low-Countries and the like suspected places Cardinals and Bishops to be Governours there for the People would much more readily and chearfully obey the commands of such then they will the severity of the Spaniard and such Prelates would also adhere more to Them Neverthelesse in the mean time they ought to have as subordinate to them some Military Commanders with Forces too And besides He ought by the Popes consent too to send abroad such Cardinals as are either Spaniards born or at least of the Spanish Faction
abroad out of the Country he is powerful in to some other as Ferdinand King of Arragon dealt with the Great Duke Consalvus removing him from Naples where he might possibly have raised Commotions in the State to Spain where he was not able to do any such thing Neither yet are such Men too much to be slighted for by this meanes the Prince might ncurre the hatred of his Subjects and it would be a discouragement to them from the endeavouring at any High and Noble Actions Therefore such persons as He is Jealous of are to be employed in such places where there is the least danger to be feared from them as we read Belisarius was called home by Justinian out of Italy where he was beloved by all men and sent him against Persia The Kings Anger must neither be Violent nor Headlong as was Alexander's of Macedon against his Nobles for so he may chance to be made away by poyson as Alexander was and his Subjects may fall off from him and so his Power will be diminished as it happened to Theoderick the First King of Ravenna and which was also the cause of the Emperour Valentinian's death In times of Peace He must be merciful to such as offend either out of Ignorance or Weaknesse of Body or Mind and that in favour of the Multitude and to sweeten Them but this he must take heed of in time of War and he must not pardon any Egregious Offenders or that are the Heads and Ringleaders of any Faction especially where the Worth of the Persons is not so great as that being pardoned they may be of greater use to him then that wherein they offended was prejudicial Thus Scanderbeg pardoned Moses rebelling against him as being the Greatest Commander he had under him who thereby became afterwards of very great Use and Advantage to him In like manner as David also pardoned Joab But yet we must remember that this Easinesse and Mercifulnesse is then only seasonable where the Crime concerns not the State it self but onely Particular persons And therefore the Prince ought not at any time to deny the Legal Proceeding of Justice to any one For for this very cause Philip King of Macedonia was slain by Pausanias And therefore as we have formerly said he ought to be careful and circumspect in the curbing and bridling of his own Passions and Affections But now Piety and Religion is of it self sufficient to make any Prince exercise his power of Dominion Justly and happily as we see by the Examples of the Emperour Constantine the Great Theodosius and the like And here we are alwaies to remember that it is most certain that The People do naturally follow the Inclinations of their Prince And therefore Plato was wont to say If the King but mend all the Kingdome mends without the accession of any other Law And therefore the Virtue of the Prince ought to surpasse in a manner all Humane sense As concerning Making of War it is certain and evident to all that Warlike Princes have still had the better of those that are not so inclined and although Wise Kings have alwaies made a shift to preserve their own yet they have not alwaies enlarged their Dominions but the idle and sloathful have ever been of the losing hand I say therefore that a King if he would be accounted a warlike Prince ought to go in person to the Wars especially where he is certain of Victory Thus Joab having for some time besieged that City of the Ammonites and being now ready to take it he gave notice to the King that He should come and be at the delivery of it up that so the Glory of the Action might be His. For by this means the People will be ready to admire their King as if he were something more then a King But He must be sure to decline all Evident Dangers and especially Duels Lest as the Israelites said to David He quench the Light of Israel For this was accounted a great fault in Alexander the Great that he would needs leap down first himself from off the Walls into a certain Town where He by that meanes received many Wounds For by that rash Act of his he in His Single person brought into Hazard the Monarchy of the whole World He must also reward his Old Souldiers with his Own hand and must prefer them to the Government of Castles and Forts and the rawer sort of Souldiers he must cause to exercise themselves in light skirmishes among themselves and in exercises of the Field Every King that swaieth a Scepter is either a Wolfe or a Hireling or lastly a Shepheard as Homer and the Holy Gospel it self also calls him A Tyrant is the Wolfe that keepes the Flock for his own Advantage and alwayes maketh away with all the Wealthiest Wisest Valiantest of his Subjects that so he may fill his own bags and may without any danger or controule Lord it as he list and range about through the whole flock spoyling whom he please And if the King of Spain should go about to shew himself such a one to his Subjects he will lose all as did those Dionysij of Syracuse Acciolinus of Padoua Caligula Nero Vitellius and the like The Hireling is he that kills not indeed his Subjects but rather drawes to himself all Profits Honours and advantages acquired by the service of his Souldiers and Vassals but he doth not at all defend them from the Ravenous Wolves I mean False Teachers nor other fierce Invaders and Oppressors As we may call the Venetians the Hireling Rulers of Cyprus seeing that they did not defend it against the Turkes And the Romans also were such in Relation of the Saguntines from whose necks they did not keep off Hannibals yoak And in like manner we may tearm Don Philip Maria the Hireling Vicount of the Genowayes for he mad onely a benefit of them but shewed not himself as a Governour over them Which cannot now be said of the King of Spain And these Hirelings or Mercenary Princes are suddenly losers by it as the former were As wee see the King of France lost by suffering Calvin to mount up into the Chaire as the Elector of Saxony likewise did by suffering that Wolf Luther For he that makes a prey of Mens Mind hath command over their Bodies also and will at length have the disposing of their Fortunes and estates too And therefore it is a meer Folly and Ignorance in those Princes whosoever they be that shall admit New Religions into their Dominions whereby the Minds of their Subjects are lead away And hence it was that Saul foresaw his own Ruin so soon as ever he perceaved the affections of the People inclined towards David And the Mischiefs of Germany Poland and France have been infinite since Luthers making a Prey and carring away the Minds and Affections of the Inhabitants of these Countries But that King is a Shepheard that feeds Himself with the Honour and Love of his
English Genuese or others provided alwayes that into such Councels as concern the State there be taken in some that are of Religious Orders and also some of the Wisest among the Nobility and any others that are well skilled in the Customes Religion Rites Situation and the Policy both Domestick and Military of the several Nations what Country soever they themselves be of I shall here lay down one most Admirable and Profitable Rule more for the King to observe and that is that every Seventh and Ninth year which are the Fatal Numbers He should call together all the Nobility of each of his several Kingdomes every one of which shall come to the Court attended but with three Servants a piece at the most and at the same time let there be sommoned to appear also all persons whatsoever that are the ablest and best seen in the affaires and Secrets of State and of Government and there let him command them to propose every one of them severally what they conceive most advantageous for the promoting of the Greatnesse of the Spanish Monarchy or else for the particular Benefit of their several Provinces and withal to give notice what Errours have been there committed to that very time which it concernes the Publick should be rectified And I would have all the Counsellours also of all the several Councells to be present at this assembly that every one of them in particular may be instructed in what concerns the whole World and may take notice by this meanes wherein he committed any Error for the last Seven yeares and so may either be reproved for the same or may otherwise receive the praise due to him For if this Course were taken the Counsellours of the Several Councels growing Wiser and more Circumspect would take heed how they gave any either Unworthy or Unprofitable Counsels and the King himself would have a greater insight into the Condition of his Monarchy and by discovering New Secrets and Mysteries of State should thereby find out waies of advancing his own Greatnesse more and more every day and the Nobles also would set their braines to work all that Seven years space to find by what means their Princes State might be the most advanced and would not any longer continue in their former Ignorance and both they and the rest of the learned of the Kingdom would utter the Virulency of their Ambition not by their Sword but by their Tongue Now there is none so weak but is able to deliver in words the State of his own Republick seeing that there is no Philosopher but will undertake out of his own brain to give a description or Model of the same Whence indeed are scattered abroad the seeds of Heresy and Sedition But by the taking of this course when any of these kind of Persons hath hopes of being rewarded by the Prince he will conceive it his best way to expect rather to be called to give his Judgment at the Septennial Assembly or else to send it thither in writing and so will suppresse his Opinions till that time And so by this meanes the King shall be rendred the more secure of the Obedience of his Nobility and shall understand who they are that deserve either well or ill of Him Neither shall He be deceived and abused by his Courtiers or Flatterers and shall have the better Opportunity of calling his Ministers of State to an account for their evill Administration of the Provinces they were set over and shall withal very much mend the condition of the said Provinces and shall find many other Advantages to follow hereupon which I am not at present able to reckon up and shall besides bring it so to passe that his Councel shall be both the Wiser and withal the Truer to Him But the Nobles of the New World in case they cannot make their personal appearance at this Meeting may send others in their places Which is the Custome that the Clergy being instructed by a certain Divine Wisdome have alwaies observed in their General Chapters though no Monarch or State hath ever taken the said course except it be the Venetians whose Embassadours when they return home from any Forreign parts are to give an account in the Senate of what they found Observable in the several Countries whither they were imployed Now although our Discourse here hath been concerning the Particular Councels and Kingdoms that belong to the King of Spain onely yet we may not therefore omit to say something of Councels in general seeing that it is certain That More Weighty Affaires are Effected by Good Conduct and Counsels then by Weapons and Hands But because a Dissertation of this nature being besides the intention of our present design would be too prolixe I shall only here touch at some few particulars Such Counsels as are too Subtile and Nice are not much to be regarded because they seldom are brought to any good Issue for by how much the greater Subtlety there is in them so much the more Exactnesse and Punctuality is there required in the Execution of them which is a businesse of the greatest difficulty that can be And hence it is that the Venetians although they are not so Ingenious a People as the Florentines yet are they more happy for the most part in their Consultations then They are as of old the Lacedaemonians were in this particular more Fortunate then the Athenians Those Counsels are not to be much regarded that have no matter of Weight or Eminency in them Yet much lesse are such to be esteemed that aime at too Vast and Immense Undertakings such as for the most part were those that were designed by the Emperour Maximilian and Pope Leo X. the Effecting whereof required both a better Purse a longer Life and greater Abilities then either of them had which kind of undertakings are very pernicious to a State or Kingdom All deseperate Counsells are likewise Dangerous and are commonly attended by Despaire and Misery It remaineth therefore that those Counsells are chiefly to be Embraced that have the greatest both Facility and Security in them and such as are well grounded and upon Mature deliberation resolved upon and as little subject as may be to Casualties and the power of Fortune Slow Counsels become Great Princes for it concerns them to be more careful in the Preserving and making good then in the Enlarging of the Bounds of their Kingdomes But those Counsels that are designed rather for the Acquiring of More then the Preserving only of what they have must be more Quick and Sudden But of this subject I have elsewhere discoursed more largely CHAP. XIII Of Justice and Its Contrary IF the King be just all his Ministers will likewise be just and if the Superiour Ministers of State shall be Unjust the Inferiour will be Unjust also but there is nothing can hurt a Prince more then to distribute the Rewards of Virtue at the pleasure of any Favourite And therefore where Offices are disposed of
whole time of their being employed in their Offices and whatsoever Fines shall be set upon their heads let it be put into the Treasury or the King may remit half to them if he please or lesse as he shall see cause and by taking this course with them both Himself and his Subjects shall be much advantaged and have cause to rejoyce Ninthly let Him call all those before Him that have been condemned by any Sentence of Judgment or have any waies been branded with any Note of Infamy and let Him command all such Judgments passed against them within the space of five years past to be burnt by which Act of His the Offenders will reckon themselves highly honoured but yet for this favour of the Kings they shall be bound to pay down such a certain Summe of Mony Tenthly let every one that enters first into any great City such as Naples is or into any Garrison such as is that of Cotron pay something at his entrance under pretense of taking notice of all that enter in Then let there be an Imposition laid upon all things whatsoever that are used both for Necessity and Superfluity but upon things of Necessary use as Meat Drink Oyl and the like the Imposition should not be great but upon things of superfluity it should be higher As upon Cards let there be put an Imposition of two Carolines and upon Dice one Caroline upon every Quire of Writing Paper one Grain upon every pair of Gloves half a Caroline but upon Silks and Garments richly wrought with Needlework and Embroideries of Silver and Gold there must be higher Impositions laid for the benefit of the King But I would have the greatest Impositions to be laid upon Whores as at Naples and in all other places the Taxe should be encreased half a Ducat upon every Bawdy-house Neither should Baths or Play-houses and Players be exempted from these Impositions nor yet Innes Taverns or any Houses of Publick entertainment whatsoever And in all things let the Rule before laid down be observed namely that Necessary things should have but a small Imposition put upon them but a Greater upon those that are not necessary Likewise the King when He is pressed by any great Necessity of the State may have an Estimate made of all his Subjects Lands and accordingly impose Taxes and Tributes upon the same And that this should be done is both Right and Just for every Private Good ought to serve the Publique Good without which mens Private Estates could not be upheld and subsist But I would have these to be not Personal but Real Taxes that is they should not be levied upon the Persons by the Pole but upon their Estates lest otherwise the whole burthen of these Taxes shouldly upon the shoulders of the Poor only as it uses to do for the most part For the Gentry use to shake off the burthen that is imposed upon them and cast it upon the Commons as in like manner the Principal Cities cast off theirs upon the Country-man which is against all Justice and Equity in the World Neither ought any Goods to be Taxed but only such as are Certain and Immoveable for the Duke of Alva going about to lay a Taxe upon all Goods indifferently as well Moveable and Uncertain as others caused the whole Country of the Netherlands to rise up against him And if at any time when the Urgent Necessities of the Kingdome shall so require you will lay a Taxe upon Moveable and Uncertain Goods also I should like it well enough if there were the same course taken in proceeding herein as they use to take in some certain Cities of Germany as namely Norimberg Auspurg Collen and some others where they use to put every man to his Oath Yet that way of Imposing Taxes is the more Just and Legal that put them upon all manner of Merchandise and Commodities that are either exported abroad or imported into any of the Kings Dominions for it is but Just and Reasonable that whosoever makes any gain to himself in Our Country or by our Commodities he should pay something in Consideration thereof And whereas all Such Merchants are either the Kings Subjects or else are Forraigners it is fit that we should exact greater Customs from Forraigners then from our Own Merchants which Rule the Great Turk observes at this day exacting Ten in the Hundred upon all Commodities that are imported from Alexandria by Forraigners but taking but Five in the Hundred of his own Merchants In England all Forrain Merchants pay four times as much in Customs as the Natives do but in Denmark they pay but three times and so their payments are diverse according to the diversity of Places To summe up all in a Word Wheresoever all those things that are Necessary for the Substentation of Mans Life are found in greatest Abundance and Plenty to that place will there ever be a Conflux of Riches so that it will concern every Prince to use his Utmost endeavours in bringing his Subjects to apply themselves to Husbandry and the following all sorts of Arts and Manufactures of which we have spoken elsewhere more at large Then I would have all those Waies of raising of Mony that are hateful to the People either to be quite taken away or else to have some other name put upon them in like manner as the Taxes also and Impositions paid into the Exchequer ought to be somewhat abated and to be exacted of the Subject under some other Name And hence it was that Augustus Caesar did not stile Himself King but onely Tribune because that the Name of a King was hateful to the Romans And therefore I would have the name of Tribute to be changed to Erogations or Contribution and these Names also I would have to be altered perpetually And because the Name of Donative is now become hateful and loathsome to the People the King may do well to lay aside that Name and put some Other upon it But I shall not discourse so very Particularly and Punctually of these things here as I could The Kings Trafficking with the Genoeses is as good as a Treasure to Him let Him therefore use all the means He can to procure liberty of exercising the like Traffick and Commerce with other Nations and Countries There are also many other Extraordinary Profits which Princes may raise to themselves partly from their Own Subjects and partly also from Forraigners such as are Casualties Confiscations Escheats Donatives Portions Honoraries as they call them and many other the like of all which I should speak particularly But I have resolved to keep this discourse till I shall have an opportunity of speaking thereof in the presence of his Majestie CHAP. XVII Of the Peoples Love and Hate and also of Conspiracies IT may perhaps be thought fit by some that in Common-Wealths Mutual Love should be maintained amongst all Fellow-Citizens for the benefit of the Publick as we see it is among the Venetians But that in
Kingdome of Spain by the First Cause which God hath laid open in the Prophets and by which we may proceed on further to discover the Prudence herein requisite and the Occasion which the Spaniard ought to lay hold on CHAP. IV. Of the Spanish Empire considered according to the First Cause IT is evident that the Prophesy concerning the end of the World both according to Nature and the Art of Policy is shortly to be fulfilled being that the Fixed Stars of Scorpio and Taurus have changed their places and the Sun is now ten thousand miles nearer to the Earth and so many Eclipses also appear by reason of the Transposition of the Equinoctial Points which according to the Opinion of Plato though Aristotle who was Ignorant in Deeper matters and was skilled only in Logick and such like Quiddities denies the same do foretel Grand Mutations These Exorbitances of the Heavenly Bodies together with the Deluges and devastations by Fire that have happened in all parts as also the Changes that have happened in the greatest Monarchies of the World according to the Gospel wherewith Seneca also agrees in Opinion are the evident signs that the world is drawing to an end For the Empire or State of Christianity and it is a thing very well worth our observing hath lasted already 1600. yeares and upward Which number being Composed of Sevens and Nines is fatal to all Monarchies as both Pythagoras and Plato have written and as may be gathered also out of Moses where he speaks of Jubiles and Weeks as likewise out of Jeremy speaking of the Sabbatisme of the Holy Land and also out of the Art of Physick touching the Cure of Fevers and the difference of Complexions and Ages and lastly from a passage of Augustus Caesar who in an Epistle of his to his Nephew rejoyceth very much that he had escaped the Sixty Third year of his age which year seeing it is composed of nine Septenaries of years is most dangerous and Fatal to people And even God himself created all things in Number Therefore this very time doth presage Enlargement or Impair and Mutations in all things We see also that the Prophesy touching the Monarchies drawes now near an end seeing that Balaam as it is recorded by Moses Num. Cap. 24 reckoning up the Monarchies stops at that which concerns Italy saying They shall come in ships from Italy ' and shall overcome the Assyrians and in the end themselves also shall be destroyed In which place he speakes of the Monarchy of Spain so that it is necessary that it must be ingrafted into that of Italy And consequently also the Fate of Tyre may be understood of that of Spain for as much as Carthage was a Colony of Tyre and by reason of the frequent voyages they made thither by Sea to and fro it followed the manners and fashions of the Tyrians And hence are the Spaniards descended who at first embracing and applying themselves to the Manners subtleties Gods of the Carthaginians and afterwards becomming Christians were overwhelmed with all those evils with which God in his Prophets Ezechiel Jeremy and Esay threatens Tyre And besides they were very skilful also in Navigation as those of Tyre were And if Spain shall imitate the pride of Tyre by extolling it self above the Church as Tyre did it shall suffer a sorer destruction then that did neither shall it ever enlarge the bounds of its Empire Neverthelesse before the end of the World the Spaniard being joyned in amity with the Pope shall live in a more happy condition and shall raign securely and peaceably holding Correspondence with the Church and courting the Pope and the Cardinals like the Daughter of Tyre as it is in the Psalmes and Esay with Gifts neither yet shall he arrive to that Height of Vniversal Monarchy which he had aspired unto But this is a businesse to be handled secretly and not to be published openly to the World And as concerning the Spaniards Ambition I affirm that while he complies with the House of Austria he shall be humbled for as much as Isaiah saith Onus Jumentorum Austri the burden of the beasts of the South intimating that He shall effect none of those things which I shall hereafter touch upon that is raigning in the condition he now doth but shall be destroyed as one overwhelmed by a Wall falling on him like as Tyre was And hence considering with himself the evill likely to befal him he shall at length lift up his head when he shall have called to remembrance that after that the House of Austria was once inserted into that of Spain the New World was presently discovered by his Agents and he had thence returns of ships laden with gold which are Jumenta Austriae those Beasts of Austria besides that the Title of Monarchy and this so great Principalitie of his began under Charles V. had he but known as well how to keep what he had got as he knew how to get it But because that neither in his time Fate answered the expectation of Spain we must therefore search the Scriptures more diligently that we may discover when that time is to be as a certain Politician said and as we also God willing shall shew that we may attain to that which they drive at But I say that the end of Monarchies is now come and that we are now come to that Age wherein all things are to be in subjection to the Saints and to the Church which is to be after the end of the four Monarchies and the death of Antichrist who shall continue for the space of three Weeks and a half according to the opinion of Lactantius Irenaeus Tertullian Origen Victorianus S. Bernard Joachimus Abbas Dante Petrarch and some others both Divines Philosophers Prophets and Poets as I have elsewhere shewed Daniels Image also is fallen to the ground so likewise the Four Beasts the Three Weekes and the Twelve Feathered wings of the Eagle spoken of in the second Book of Esdras are now all at an end together with the Roman Empire which seeing according to him it is the same with that of Babylon it is by succession divided into Three Heads First into the Right Head which is the Western or German Empire then into the Left Head that is the Eastern Empire of the Turks and Saracens and the Middle one which is that of Constantinople For in the Scriptures the Right and Left hand of the World is otherwise assigned by Moses then it is by Aristotle in his works Now amongst these three Heads the Left as the same Prophet testifies hath devoured the middlemost that is to say the Turkish Empire hath destroyed the Constantinopolitan to wit in the time of Mahumet the Second It now remaines according to the same Prophet that the Right Head or Western Empire devour the Left that is that of the Turks And hereto agrees the Astrology of Torquatus which saith that Hungary threatens destruction to the Turk and
Spain therefore do in like manner aspire to the same Height it is necessary that he frame some New Religion but this neither God nor Reason permits him to do For First this is never to be done but in the very Infancy and beginning of a Kingdom as you may see in the examples of Mahomet Romulus and Pythagoras for otherwise he must needs come to ruine by changing the Auspicia Regni the Fortune of the Kingdom as I may call it whose dependance is from Faith in Christ and then the People will immediately betake themselves to their Armes and revolt from him Neither indeed have any Monarchies been either more certainly or more miserably brought to destruction then when they have changed their Religion as is testified by Histories And then again the Pope and the rest of the Princes of Christendom would joyn their whole strengths together and would in a very litle time root him out of his Kingdom of Naples Millan and consequently also of the New World the rest of his Dominions And although these things were not done to Henry the VIII of England nor yet to the Duke of Saxony because their Territories were encompassed within small though well fortified Bounds yet for all that did they fail of succession and so their States went away from them And we have examples hereof also in Jeroboam Jehu Julian the Apostate and others who for having changed their Religion incurred the hatred of their People and brought destruction upon themselves Unlesse we shall say that the Pope hath no power at all in Temporal things nor is any whit above either any other of the Bishops or theirs Surrogates or Chaplains in Authority or degree which is evidently contradictory to Gods Ordination by which He hath been constituted a Regal Priest and hath been armed with both the Swords as well the Civill as the Spiritual For were it otherwise Christ should be a very mean Law-giver and should be lesse then Melchisedech who was both King and Priest together which addeth both the greater Majesty as well as security to any Kingdom as I have proved in my Treatise Touching Monarchy against Dante who looking only upon the Priesthood of Aaron allowes to the Pope nothing but Spiritualties and Tithes only And which is more this impugnes also all Reasons of Policy because the Pope can never want those that will take up Armes in His defence in case He should not be able to defend Himself and that either by being moved thereunto through Zeal to Religion as the Countesse Matilda did against the Emperour Henry or else out of Emulation or some interest of Faction as it was in the Case of the Venetians making war upon the Emperour Frederick whom they compelled to kisse the Popes Foot or for both these reasons as when King Pipin and Charles the Great took up Armes in assistance of the Pope against the Lombards and others who waged war against him Thus we see that the Constantinopolitan Empire came to be destroyed for the Apostasy of Julian and Constantius in like manner as all the Fredericks Henries and other Kings also of Naples suffered for the same Cause as often as they denied their Obedience to the Pope And certainly the Opinion and Beliefe which hath prevailed upon the Minds of all People touching the Christian Religion is of very great force and moves them to defend It to the utmost of their power so that whensoever the Pope hath excommunicated any Prince He doth at the same instant ruine him also Do but observe I pray you to what state Ferraria is reduced at this day But we have discoursed more copiously of this in the Treatise of Monarchy It is lastly against all Policy too for the Pope withholds the rest of the Princes of Christendom from invading Spain as he doth the King of Spain from invading them by continually composing their differences in like manner as he divided India betwixt the Portugals and the Spaniards and thus hath several times made peace betwixt the Spaniards and the French Venetians and Genowaies and so likewise betwixt Pisa and Florence which yet he would not so easily be able to do by the meer Reverence they bear to Religion For here in these Cases they have an eye as well to the force of Armes as to Religion for He that is in the wrong Cause may justly suspect the Popes joyning of his strength to that of his Antagonist and so for this reason he will the more readily obey the Popes Injunction as I have declared formerly in the forementioned Treatise And the King of Spain if he but declare himself for and stand up in the defence of the Pope shall be sure to have alwayes the assistance of His Forces at his devotion at any time which will be a good means of confirming his Kingdom to him And therefore I conceave it very necessary according to the Fate of Christendom that if the King of Spain would arrive to an Universal Monarchy He must declare himself publiquely to have his dependance from the Pope and command it to be published all abroad throughout the World that himself is the Cyrus that was before typified and the Catholick King that is the Universal Monarch of the World declaring this his Monarchy by his Religious Counsels and pious Actions and passing also by many litigious Controversies which he hath with the Pope and dwelling in the Tents of Sem making it appear to all the World that He is the Chief Defender of Christian Religion that depends wholly upon the Pope of Rome calling together also the Christian Princes to consult about the recovery of those Countreys they have lost and are at this day in the hands of Hereticks and Turks and He must proceed to the causing of such to be excommunicated as shall deny their assistance herein and lastly he must also take care that Pious and diligent Preachers be sent abroad into the World to promote this businesse For the Plain truth of it is that the Pope picks quarrels sometimes with the King of Spain for no other reason but only because he is afraid that in case he should subdue the King of France and the Princes of Italy hee would then make Him only as his Chaplain And this is the reason why He desires that they should alwayes be at variance one with another that so in case either of them should fall off from Him by reason either of Apostasy or some quarrel or other He might have the other to assist him And this is the reason why he stirred up the Western Empire against the Eastern onely because they had forsaken their former Religion had had many Clashings with the Pope about It. But now if King Philip will but do that which is his duty as is before declared and will but give way to the Pope in some things which he pretends His Right and will besides send some Bishops and Cardinals into the Belgick Provinces and to the New world to
Land who when they are assembled together in a Body are called in their Language the Parliament carry a great sway with them and have very great Power in so much that they seem to desire to set up an Oligarchy or an Aristocratical State according to the example shewed them by the Netherlanders For all Northern Nations are Naturally impatient of Monarchy or Absolute Power in Princes and the Kings of England were alwaies kept under by the Parliament till that now of later times under pretext of introducing a New Religion they have taken upon them to exercise a more absolute power over their Subjects But in Antient Times the whole Kingdom of England was divided into four lesser Kingdoms as Spain also hath been anciently distributed both into many several Kingdomes both of which Countries did afterwards grow into two entire Kingdomes although it cannot be denied but that the Power of the Kings of England was never so great as that of the Kings of Spain My opinion is therefore that the King of Spain should do well to employ under hand some certain Merchants of Florence that are wise and subtle persons and that traffick at Antwerp who because they are not so much hated by the English as the Spaniards are should treat with some such of the English as are some way or other descended from some of the former Kings of England and should promise each of them severally no one of them knowing any thing what is said to the other all the possible aides that can be from Spain for the restoring of them to their Inheritances Legally descending down to them from their Ancestours and undertake to effect this for them if not as to the whole Kingdome yet at least to some part of it requiring them to engage themselves to nothing else so to give a colour to the businesse save only that they shall not joyn their forces and assist the English in setting upon the Spanish Fleet at its return from the West Indies For by this meanes each of them being puft up with hope will presently fall to question the King of Scots his Title to the English Crown and will endeavour to oppose him in it Let him also send privately to King James of Scotland and promise him that He will assist him to the utmost of his Power in his getting possession of the Kingdom of England upon this condition viz that He shall either restore there again the Catholick Religion for the love whereof His Mother Mary Stuart Queen of Scots refused not to spend her dearest blood and even to lay down her Life too or at least that he shall not annoy or any way disturbe the said Spanish Fleet. But then again on the other side let him under hand labour with the English Peers and the chiefest of the Parliament and egge them on to endeavour to reduce England into the Form of a Republick withal assuring them that the King of Scots when he shall have once gotten into the English Throne must needs prove a cruel Prince to them as having alwaies about him a deep remembrance how injuriously the English have heretofore dealt with the Scots Moreover let Him endeavour to strike a terrour into Queen Elizabeths friends by often putting into their heads that they will find that King James will revenge his Mothers blood upon Queen Elizabeths friends seeing that She is like to leave behind her None of Her Own blood upon whom He might take revenge especially seeing that His Mother Queen Mary when she was now to dye seriously commended unto Him the care of the Catholick Religion and the Revenge of Her Blood The English Bishops are also to be exasperated and put into Fears and Jealousies by telling them that the King of Scots turned Calvinist out of hope and desire of the English Crown and being also forced to do so by his Heretical Barons but that when He shall once be quietly settled in the English Throne He will then quickly restore the Former Religion for as much as not onely His deceased Mother but even the King of France also have both of them very earnestly commended the same unto Him By which means it must necessarily follow that the seeds of a continual War betwixt England and Scotland will be sown in so much that neither Kingdome shall have any leisure to work any disturbance to the Spanish Affaires Or else by buzzing into their ears that in case King James should be possest of this Kingdom He will however be a Friend of Spain that the whole Island would be devided into many Dominions or else that it would come to be an Elective Kingdom by which means the King of it will be the lesse careful of making himself Master of other Countries and of adding them to the English Crown neither indeed though he should never so much desire it would he ever be able to do so as I have before shewed where I speak of France or else that this Country of England will be reduced into the Form of a Common Wealth which will perpetually be at feude with Scotland and that all Actions It shall undertake will be long in bringing to effect and so It will be able to do the lesse harm to Spain The Spirits of the English Catholicks also are to be rouzed up and as it were awakened from sleep and encouraged to Action for by this means so soon as ever the Throne shall be vacant the King of Spain shall come into England under Pretence of assisting them Let Him also deal with those English Nobles who are possessed of some certain circumjacent Islands lying about England that they should exercise an Absolute and full Jurisdiction each of them in their several places and have Peculiar Courts of Justice of their own distinct from those of England which very thing we read to have been Anciently done by them The Chief of the Irish Nobility also are to be dealt with that as soon as they hear of the Queens death they should new model Ireland either into the Form of a Republick or else should make it a Kingdom of it self throwing off all Obedience to the English withal promising aides to each of them in particular and that so much the rather because that in that Kingdome or Island the Catholicks and especially the Friers that are of the Order of S. Francis are very greatly esteemed and beloved There is also much greater agreement and correspondence betwixt the Spaniard and the Irish then betwixt them and the English whether it be by reason of the Similitude of their Manners or else by reason of the Clime and the nearnesse of these two Countries one to the other There are also in Ireland many Vagabond persons and such as have fled their Countries being men that are most impatient of Government and yet are good Catholicks and such as may be able to do good service in this kind as hath been shewed already But this sort of Men is not very rare to