himselfe liberall solicitous peaceable patient louing kinde and courteous towards all All of them qualities that conserue a Kings fauour and gaine the peoples good will A Fauourite must be modest affable and affoord a courteous hearing vnto all men Besides it is a part of Iustice so to doe and a very necessarie meanes to come to the knowledge of all things and to be the better prouided against whatsoeuer shall occurre Whereas on the contrary to looke to be intreated and sued vnto and not easie to bee spoken withall argues a kinde of pride and statelinesse which all abhorre This is the doctrine of Tacitus citing the example of Seianus the Emperour Tiberius his great Fauourite who being growne into grace with him the better to conserue himselfe therein forthwith endeauoured to fauour and pleasure all your principall and noble persons in their pretensions For in all occurrences he conceiued hee might expect more kindnesse from them then from the baser and meaner sort of people whereby he came to bee loued of the one and feared of the other and by all of them to be serued and obeyed Insomuch that there was not any one who did not seeke vnto him to mediate and make intercession for them with Tiberius And howbeit he was not ignorant that hee was superiour to them all and inferiour to none yet did he neuer grow neglectfull of his humble carriage and reuerent respect to his Prince and a due regard vnto all Hitherto hee proceeded fairely and went on well and may serue for a patterne and example for Fauourites but in the rest for a prouiso and admonition for Kings For after that ambition and couetousnesse entred into his heart that consuming moath and deuouring worme of all goodnesse he presently procured the charge or place of Praefectus Praetorius or Captainship of the Guard and within a short time grew to be so absolute therein that he became as it were Lord and Master of his Prince and crusht all that stood in his way or might be of any impediment to his priuacie He sought alwayes to bee with him lest others might creepe in betwixt him and home and possesse his place still humbly beseeching him that he would imploy him in businesses of greatest danger and trouble and such as might redound most to the benefit of the Emperours life and state A maine point wherewith to oblige his Prince vnto him and to make him the more acceptable in his sight For those that are nearest about Kings and are in greatest fauour with him ought in the greatest dangers to set their foot formost and to be the forwardest aduenturers He did seeke to ouercome Art by Art inducing Tiberius to retire himselfe to places of pleasure that were remote and farre from Court to the end that whilest he was recreating himselfe abroad he might dispose of him as it pleased him He told him that solitude was the best and onely course for the resoluing of the graue and weighty affaires of the Empire which otherwise by diuersion might receiue the same hurt and hinderance as they were wont to haue heretofore And what with this and with giuing him to vnderstand that he would quit him of all the ordinarie cares and troubles of Court most men vsually desiring to shunne trouble and to take their ease and pleasure hee perswaded him to go to Capri that hee in the meane while might rule and gouerne all And in the end grew to be so great and powerfull and to take such state vpon him that hee would not giue audience to any reducing them to those tearmes that they should speake and negociate by writing to the end that nothing might bee treated or resolued of without his priuie saying That by reducing businesses to papers and memorialls answer might bee giuen vnto them with more deliberation and better consideration then by word of mouth A meere Artifice cunning trick of his own inuention to make himselfe absolute Master of all and which is more of the heart of his Prince God deliuer vs from such ambitious interessed and couetous Ministers whose maine care is their owne particular and to heape vp riches for himselfe and his and make it their whole study and onely end to keepe and continue themselues in their kings grace and fauour and to deale with their Prince as the Ante doth with the corne which that it may not grow againe and that hee may the better and more conueniently make profit thereof presently eates out the heart of it God likewise free Kings from this base subiection and insensibilitie and from men of that qualitie and condition which desire to rule and command all For the one cannot escape a storme and the other must runne great hazard of being drowned therein Let the last aduertisement bee the example of a great Fauourite whose name is Aurelius Cassidorus borne in the Prouince of Calabria and highly aduanced in Magistracies and Gouernments of both Empires Rome and Constantinople who being renowned for his cheualrie and noble feates of armes defended the Islands of Sicily and Calabria from many and those very powerfull enemies In his younger yeares he attained to all the liberall arts in that perfection that hee made the present and succeeding times to admire him And for his great parts and abilities was entertained by Theodoricus King of the Ostro-Gothes hee was receiued into his seruice and grew so farre into his fauour by reason of his vnderstanding wisedome and dextrousnesse in treating businesses that he first of all made him his Secretarie in which Office he behaued himselfe so well that by degrees he went climbing vp to the high Offices and dignities in the State which in those dayes were not conferred out of fauour but meere desert From being Secretary he came to bee Lord Chancellour and Senatour in the Citie of Rauenna being honoured besides with diuerse offices in the Kings Court Afterwards he was made Viceroy of the Prouinces of Sicilia and Calabria and for addition of honour had the title of Patâ—â—â—â—e giuen him which in those dayes was in great esteeme Hee was Lord Treasurer and Master of the Palace which was as it were a superintendent ouer the Palatines being an order of Knights and Gentlemen that had Offices and other preâ—etainences in Court He held the dignitie of Prafectâ—us Praetorius being as it were the second person of the King to whom the weightiest businesses of peace and warre were remitted and what therein he determined and resolued vpon was receiued as an oracle that could not erre Though now adayes little credit is giuen to the words of great persons and powerfull Ministers and not without cause for that many of them say and do not promise much and performe little And your Fauourites which haue great both place and power about their Kings are in such good opinion and credit likewise with the world that they presently beleeue whatsoeuer they say and see what they professe is approued by them as if it were
to couet it the more for it's treasure is infinite and no man can exhaust it And therefore the more a man hath of it the more he desireth it It is the retreit and receptacle of faith and of all the Arts and Sciences both practicke and speculatiue hauing an vniuersall aptitude to receiue them all into it selfe and vpon the apprehension of them to put them in execution And although it be a potentia or faculty of a limited power yet so great is it's capacity and of that amplenesse and ablenesse to receiue and containe that it seemeth infinite for let a man know neuer so much yet can he not fill vp his knowledge For such and such notions dispose the vnderstanding for others Knowledge begetteth knowledge and the more things a man knoweth so much the more easily doth he apprehend those he knoweth not till he come to the perfect inquiry and knowledge of the truth and by conuersing with the wise and exercise of good Letters hee goes still rising higher and higher And by how much the more a man is aduanced in his vnderstanding so much the more aduantage shall he haue of those which haue not the same measure Suting with that saying of the Comicke Poet who wondering to see the great difference betweene man man cryes out Homo homini quid praestat So much doth one man differ from another in wisdome and prudence that they seeme to be different species And hence is it that the aduantage which a wise man hath ouer those that are not so is to make him King ouer all the people Which lesson God taught vs in the first King he made choice of for his people who standing in the midst of his Subiects was taller then any of them from the sholders vpwards so that his head shew'd it selfe aboue them all 1 Sam. 10.28 And the word Melech which in the originall signifieth a king in that large eminent Letter which stands in the midst of it doth mistically giue vs to vnderstand the excellency that aboue others Kings ought to haue And therefore Plato stiled a prudent and wise Gouernour Virum divinum a diuine man presupposing that he should be somewhat more then a man and exceed in diuine wisedome all other Gouernours whatsoeuer Vbi sapiens ibi est Deus in humano corpore And therefore as God by way of eminency containeth the perfections of all the Creatures so as farre forth as a Creature can a wise King should and that with much aduantage possesse the perfections of all his people And the holy Scripture teacheth vs that God created man after his own image and likenesse giuing him Vnderstanding Memory and Will And hauing created him Gen. 1.26 made him King ouer all he had created Vt praesit piscibus Maris volatilibus Coeli bestijs vniversae Terrae c. To haue dominion ouer the Fish of the Sea and ouer the Fowle of the Aire ouer the Cattle c. And this was granted him and did accompany the common nature of men But to rule and command to be Lord and Gouernour ouer men themselues as are Kings is a farre greater matter and such as requireth a greater measure of Vnderstanding and Wisedome and he that hath most store thereof shall reape the most profit by it as he that wants it shall contrarywise finde the lacke of it Salomon the wisest of Kings as he was both wise and a King could better then any other informe vs of what importance are Vnderstanding and Wisdome in Kings In whose name he speaketh when he saith Per me Reges regnant Prou. 8.15 per me Principes imperant By me Kings reigne and Princes decree iustice To the wiseman the Scepter and Crowne of right belongeth For wisdome her selfe as being the most essentiall forme of Kings makes him King and Monarch ouer others And in all Nations almost they gaue the same name and the same Ensignes to Empire and Wisdome And S. Paul makes them Synonomies and will haue them to signifie one and the same thing She alone by keeping Gods commandements will be sufficient in a King to make him pleasing and acceptable vnto God and to be cut out according to the measure of his own heart And though some are of a larger heart and vnderstanding then other some yet with God to be wise is that which conueneth most both to King and Subiect By Esay the Prophet God promiseth to all his people a golden age happy dayes and fortunate times wherein all shall haue a share of happinesse peace equity iustice health content and abundance of fruits But comming vnto Kings he saith no more but that there shall not be any one that shall be a foole Non vocabitur vltrà is qui insipiens est Princeps This is a great happinesse But O Lord let mee aske thee Is a King of worse condition then his Subiects that thou shouldst promise so many good things vnto them and but one alone vnto him The answere hereunto is that our good God giueth vnto euery one according to his state and calling that which is fittest for him The Subiect who hath one to rule and gouerne him hath need of one to minister iustice vnto him to conserue him in peace and to make such prouision that he may haue wherewith to eate and the like But a King who is to rule and gouerne hath need of wisedome which is the life and soule of Kings which sustaineth the weight of a Kingdome and without which be they neuer so rich neuer so powerfull they shall be as fit for gouernment as a body without a head or an head without a soule And as from the soule the Sences are origined and from that essence result your passions so in like sort from wisedome resulteth vnto King and Kingdome all that good and happinesse that can be desired Wisd 6. 24. Rex sapiens stabilimentum est Ciuitatis A wise King is the vpholding of the people And a foolish King the ruine of his Subiects You shall not name that Nation either barbarous or ciuill which where Kings were made by election did not make choice of a wise and prudent King Iudg. 9.8 In that generall Dyet where all the Nations of Trees and Plants met seeing that without Law and without a King they could not conserue themselues in peace and iustice the first resolution they tooke was to choose a wise King And in the first place they nominated the Oliue a tree of many good parts and qualities and amongst other this the chiefest that it was the Symbole or Hierogliffe of wisedome which is all whatsoeuer can be desired in a King Psal 119.144 This alone did King Dauid desire for himselfe Intellectum da mihi vivam Giue me vnderstanding and I shall liue He did not desire life nor health nor riches but onely vnderstanding and wisedome And with this alone did he promise to himselfe eternall life and a durable Kingdome And
let him settle in the present and prouide in the future that which is most fitting euermore hauing respect to the iustnesse of his cause relying altogether vpon God and humbly beseeching him that hee will direct him in all his wayes For as it is in the Prouerbs Cor hominis disponit viam suam Prou. 16.9 sed Domini est dirigere gressus eius A mans heart deuiseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps Suting with that common saying Homo proponit Deus disponit Man purposeth but God disposeth The second thing required of him is That hee looke well about him that he diligently obserue the maner of gouernment throughout his whole kingdome and that he haue a watchfull eye on his publike Ministers and Counsailours of State and more particularly vpon those that are in highest place and authoritie and haue his eare most And that hee likewise labour to know the qualities conditions and naturall dispositions of those that now are and to conferre and compare them with those of former times that hee hath seene and knowen or hath heard and read of in Histories to the ende that by the knowledge of the affections and naturall inclinations of those hee may prognosticate the end whereunto these tend and by those passages and proiects of precedent times make a diuination of the designes of the present For this prudentia in principe quodammodo diuinatio est Plutar. in Pompon Attic. This prudence and discretion in a Prince is a kinde of diuination And let them not tell mee that mens manners are changed with their names nor their naturall inclinations with the declination of times and that there is no correspondency betwixt those that are now and those of olde for as Cornelius Tacitus saith who was a singular Master in this science speaking of his owne times in respect of the former the men are other but not their manners They are now as they were then and then as now Well may it be that for some considerations men may represse and couer their affections more at one time then another but not that they are not one and the same those of this time and that and that early or late they doe not the same worke they antiently did For from one and the same causes it must necessarily follow that we must see one and the same effects Let Kings therefore see once more I speake it and consider well the estate wherein stand the affaires of their Kingdome how it is in the gouernment in their Ministers and their Counsellours what their affections naturall inclinations passions ambitions desires and the like and make a iudgement of the one and the other of the present and the past and they shall finde that these and those great small and all one with another tread in one and the same steps and ayme all at that faire white of their owne black and fowle Interest And weighing likewise with themselues that some if not most of those Kings and Monarkes that haue gone along in that track and held the like course of gouernment and made vse of the like Ministers either haue beene ruined thereby or brought neere vnto it let them stand aloofe from it or them or ought else whatsoeuer whereby they may either see or know other their predecessours haue beene vtterly ouerthrowne For most certaine it is that by the effects of Cases past we may know what were the causes of them and how in the like the like may likewise succeede The science and knowledge of Kings is like vnto that of Astrologie wherein are better skill'd those of latter then former times in regard of those many proofes and experiences which they haue seene heard and read Historie therefore and experience being the fountaines of humane wisedome Princes ought to peruse Histories and procure to know how it hath succeeded with others that thereby they may take aduice and warning in cases to come and from this experience and knowledge of mens naturall inclinations and affections to draw thence a doctrine for to moderate their owne and to know other mens dispositions and withall to take notice that the naturall dispositions of the men of these times are not more strong and able to resist their appetites but are more weake in the naturall and lesse perfect in the spirituall then those of our Ancestors Whence that followeth which wee said before that by the Knowledge of the past wee may prognosticate of the present if wee haue once seene and made triall that it fell out so with other men of the like state and condition So that it may be collected by what hath hitherto beene deliuered how necessarie it is that a King or supreme Lord should exercise himselfe for some few yeeres in the studie of the various Lections of Histories and may if he will come by them to know the customes and inclinations of forraigne nations as well of those that are free States as those that are vnder subiection with whom he must indure so many demaunds and Answeres To the end that the varietie of Accidents may no whit afflict nor trouble him For it were a kinde of disparagement to a great Prince to admire any noueltie whatsoeuer or to seeme a stranger to the strangest Accidents that shall occurre vnto him And hee must necessarily suffer this and other great inconueniences and deceits in matters of State if hee be not well aduanced in the knowledge of them and with the people with whom hee is to treat For many are they that pretend to deceiue him and will not suffer the truth to come to his eares in it's naked nature but shadowed with some colour as shall make best for their pretension For to cut off which mischiefe histories serue the turne which supply the want of experience and set before his eyes in a short peece of paper the successes of an age so large and of such a length that many liues cannot reach thereunto A thing very necessary in Kings whereby to finde themselues prepared for the present and prouided for the future For hee that hath still before his eyes what is past is seldome deceiued in that which is to come And hee that shall turne ouer the Histories of former times shall meete with the nouelties of the present as also with those truths which Sycophants conceale and such as are not flatterers dare not to tell him Onely Histories without feare or dread speake plaine language to Kings and yet remaine as whole sound and intire as they were before Another point of Discretion is That for as much as the aduice and wisdome and more particularly in Kings and persons of great name and ranke is great they should not intermeddle in small matters nor shew themselues in your lesser occasions where the glory is none and the losse of reputation great not onely if they be ouercome but also if they doe not ouercome to their great aduantage They ought not likewise lightly and without very
Cities and Kingdomes haue beene lost and ouerthrowen for want of secrecie But let vs now begin to speake of Ministers and Secretaries of State in whom vsually lyes the greater fault And to whom by their Office secrecie more properly belongs The name it selfe expresing as much For out of that obligation which they haue to be secret they are called Secretaries and are the Archiues and Cabinets of the secrets of the King and the kingdom Though this name through the soothing and flattery of your suitors He means the Escrinanos and Notaries of Spaine hath falsely extended it selfe to those which neither keepe secret nor treate of such businesses as require secrecie And it is fit that these names should not be thus confounded or that that Honor and Title should be giuen to him to whom by Office it not appertaineth Secretaryes I say shut vp with that secrecie Apoc. 5.1 as was that booke of those secret Mysteries which Saint Iohn found sealed with seuen seales which none Tobit 12.7 but the King himselfe could open Sacramentum Regis bonum est sayd the Angel Raphael to Toby opera autem Dei reuelare honorificum est It is good to keepe close the secret of a King but it is honourable to reueale the worke of God Which is as much to say as that the determinations of a King should be kept secret but that the effects and execution of them should be published and made manifest when it is fitting for the seruice of God and the Kingdome For a Kings secret is his heart and till that God shall moue him to expresse it by some outward worke there is no reason that any one else should discouer it To reueale a secret is by the Lawes of God and Nature and by all men generally condemned and all Lawes and Nations doe seuerely punish the same for the great hurt and many inconueniences that may follow thereupon The Lawes they are defrauded the resolutions of Kings they are hindred their enemies they are aduertised their friends they are offended mens mindes they are perturbed kingdomes they are altered peace that is lost the delinquents they are not punished And lastly all publicke and priuate businesses are ouerthrowen And there is not any thing that goes crosse or amisse in a State or that miscarryes or is lost but by the reuealing of the secrets of Kings and of their Counsells As that great Chancellour Gerson told the King of France touching the ill successe of some things in his time for that some of his Ministers did publish that which was treated and determined at the Counsell-Table And the like befell Enrique King of Portugall Who because hee was deafe they were faigne to speake so loud vnto him Valer. lib. 2. Mirabi Caepola Simancus de rep lib 7 cap. 14. cap. 15. that all men might heare what they said Valerius Maximus much commendeth the secrecie of the Romane Senate and says that for this cause that Consistorie was held in high esteeme and that it was a great occasion of inlarging their Empire And they and the Persians did keepe with that faith the secrets of their Kings that there was no feare of plumping them or being able to draw any thing from them no not so much as the least word whereby to discouer the businesse Vse together with the feare of punishment and hazard of their liues had so settled and confirmed this silence in them For they did punish no offence with greater rigour then that of vnfaithfullnesse in matters of secrecie and with a great deale of reason because it is in so neere a degree vnto Treason and I thinke I should not say amisse if I stiled it in the highest Oser lib. 8. de Regis institutione Regis proditor Patriae euersor astimandus est saith Osorius such a one is to be hled a Traytour to the King and a subuerter of the state A Law of the Partida sayth Ley. 5. Tit. 9. p. 2. in fine Ibi. Faria traycion Excepto encaso detraycion y heregia culo qual por dottrina de santo Thomas se puedes dist 21. dist 10. q. 2. artic 3. q. 1. ad 2 L. 5. Tit. lib. 2. That those Counsellours which reueale their Kings secretes commit treason yea though secrecie be not inionyed them nor they charged there with But hee that takes an oath to be secret and reuealeth any thing contrary thereunto besides that he is a periur'd and infamous person hee sinnes mortally and is bound to satisfaction of all the harme that shall happen thereby and incurres the punishment of depriuation of his Office For if hee be sworne to secrecie or bee made a Secretary and hath silence for the seale of his Office he is iustly depriued thereof if he vse it amisse And the Law of the Recopilation saith that hee is lyable to that punishment which the King will inflict vpon him according to the qualitie of the offence or the hurt thereby receiued And the Imperiall Law chapter the first Quibus modis feudum amittit that hee shall loose the see which hee holdes of his Lord. Plutarke reporteth of Philipides that he being in great grace and fauour with Lysimachus King of Lacademonia begged no other boone of him but this That he would not recommend any secret vnto him As one that knew very well that saying of one of the wise men of Greece That there was not any thing of more difficultie then to be silent in matters of secrecie As also for that it being communicated to others though it come to be discouered by anothers fault and none of his yet the imputation is laid as well vpon him that was silent as on him that reuealed and so must suffer for another mans errour And in case any man shall incurre any iust suspition thereof let the King withdraw his fauour from him dismisse him the Court and put another in his place that shall be more secret for that which they most pretend is their fidelitie in this point And howbeit they haue neuer so many other vertues and good abilities yet wanting this they want all and are of no vse no more then were those vessells in Gods House which had no Couers to their mouthes For such open vessells are they that cannot keepe close a secret and altogether vnworthy the seruice of kings The substance and vertue of your flowres goes out in vapours and exhalations of the Lymbecke And heate passeth out through the mouth of the fornace and a secret from betweene the lipps of a Foole it being a kinde of disease amongst those that know least to talke most and to vent through their mouth whatsoeuer they haue in their heart In ore fatuorum Eccl. 21.26 Cor illorum sayth the Wise man in corde sapientium os illorum The heart of fooles is in their mouth but the mouth of the wise is in their hearts Cogitauerunt Psal 72. et locuti sunt Looke what a Foole hath
CHRISTIAN POLICIE OR THE CHRISTIAN COMMON-WEALTH Published for the good of Kings and Princes and such as are in authoritie vnder them and trusted with State Affaires Written in Spanish and translated into English LONDON Printed by THOMAS HARPER for Edward Blount M.DC.XXXII TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE JAMES HAY EARLE OF Carlile Viscount Doncaster Lord HAY of Sauley Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber to our Soueraigne Lord King CHARLES Knight of the most Noble order of the Garter and one of the Lords of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuy Councell Right Honourable KNowing man better verst in publique affayres then your selfe I could not more fitly addresse this Discourse then to you without the rifling of any particular mans merit 〈◊〉 may ascribe as much to the praise of your exercise as any can assume to his priuate Notions or Publique Obseruations To speake the story of your true and ingenious acts in forraigne and in those forraigne the most subtile and actiue parts would rather seeme a Tract then a Dedication of a Booke but here you are onely Patron though I know you might by your naturall gifts and obseruations be Author of a farre better piece You haue been long the intrusted seruant of your Prince which should employ you the darling of his people and truly you ought to bee so whilst Truth relates the story of deseruing men or Honesty reads their merit What and whose worke of politique gouernment this is your eyes may at leysure looke ouer while your quicker eyes I meane your discerning minde may Perhaps correct yet I hope not chide his labour who was willing though not able to serue you in a piece worthy your obseruation If in the translation there be any thing that hath forsaken the Originall it was intention and not negligence of which there needs no accompt My good Lord there is nothing left but to implore your pardon for the preferring this worke which if it shall appeare vnworthy your graue perusall yet at the least forgiue his intention who conceiued it a direct way of expressing himselfe to be Your Honours truely deuoted EDWARD BLOVNT THE AVTHORS EPISTLE DEDICATOrie to the King of SPAINE Sir THe cause why the Ancients by fire signifie Loue is for that this Element is the hardest to be hid For the more a man seekes to couer it the more it discouers it selfe and blabbs the place where it is Of this quality is Loue and truly participateth of the nature of fire I came saith our Sauiour Christ to put fire into the world And the holy Ghost which is the true God of Loue came and shewed it selfe in the shape and figure of fire So that Loue is a kinde of extraordinary actiue fire Nor can it wheresoeuer it be be hid or idle Operatur magna si est saith Saint Gregory si autem non operatur amor non est Loue will be alwayes in action alwayes in working it worketh by benefits it worketh by good workes and by friendly offices and charitable seruices And when it cannot worke what it would or when the subiect whereon it would worke hath no need thereof it supplyeth that defect with good desires and words God who needeth not the seruice of any contents himselfe with this in those that are his seruants accepting when they can no more the will for the deed And the Kings which here vpon earth represent his person doe not require tribute and seruice saue onely in that which euery one is able to giue That which J am able to affoord and doe here offer vnto your Maiestie forced thereunto by the loue of my seruice howbeit my desire hath euermore had a larger extent is onely a parcell of words which if they proceed from the soule and come truly and sincerely from the heart are of some worth and estimation and perhaps vpon occasion may proue likewise profitable and aduantagious Howsoeuer it may serue at least to expresse that my seruice and deuotion which euer hath beene is and shall be ready prest to serue your Maiestie And I am willing to shew it in this little that I may not wholly seeme vnprofitable And therefore with this affection of Loue sutable to my subiect ouercomming those feares which are wont and not without reason to withhold those that treate with great Kings Princes and Monarckes and write of such and the like subiects I presume to aduertise them and in this paper to propone vnto them that which I finde written of those that are past and gone and seemeth very fit and conuenient for the conseruation and augmentation of the authority and greatnesse of those that are now liuing and present amongst vs and will with all possible breuity procure a full resolution and distinction herein And as Seneca saith Totum comprehendere sub exiguo Sen. epist 84. in princip To comprise much vnder a little For as that is the better sort of money which in the matter is the lesser but the greater in value so likewise that Learning is the best which is briefe in words and large in sentences It is Maximus his counsell that Multa magna Valer. Max. breuiter sunt dicenda Matters that are many and great are briefly to be deliuered For this breuities sake therefore as also for the greatnesse of your Maiesties employments and the great burthen of so many weighty businesses that lye vpon you I will not here interpose any large discourses and long disputations wherewith to entertaine and spend the time but briefe certaine and generall Doctrines such as are of most profit comprehend most subiects and may be applyed to particular both persons and things all taken out of the Politicks the law of nature and men that are Statists and no way contrary to the Law of God and Christian Religion As likewise out of ancient Philosophers and wise men both Lawyers and Law-makers Accompanied wholly for to giue credit to the cause and that the subiect may not be disesteemed as an egge of mine owne hatching with the examples of Kings and Emperours if the examples of Kings may moue Kings and with those which cannot but moue bee esteemed and beleeued being drawne out of the holy Scripture Which being well obserued and put in execution by Kings they shall obtaine that end for which they were intended To wit to maintaine and preserue their Kingdomes in peace and iustice Reade it therefore I beseech your Maiestie and take it to heart for it is a piece of worke that is directed to the seruice of Kings of their Fauourites and Ministers And let them not say that they are Metaphysicall and impracticable things or in a manner meere impossibilities but rather that they are very conformable to our possibilitie and practised by our Predecessors Princes of famous memory for their wisedome and prudence and in Kingdomes and Common-wealths of great Concernment Artifice and Policie in matter of Gouernement and reason of State And viewing those with these times and that which then was with
Kings Paragraph 1 Of the Magnanimitie of minde which Kings ought to haue Paragraphe 2. Of the blandure gentlenesse and loue which Kings ought to haue Parag. 3. That it much importeth Kings to haue the good Loue and affection of their Subiects Parag. 4. Of sagacitie sharpnesse of wit and quicknesse of apprehension which Kings ought to haue Parag. 5. Of the Discretion which Kings ought to haue Chap. 27. Of the sense of Tasting and of the vertue of Temperance and how well it befitteth Kings Chap. 28. When and at what time sports and pastimes are worthiest reprehension in Kings Parag. 1. Of the Language and Truth which Kings and wherewith Kings are to treate and to be treated Parag. 2. That Kings ought to keepe their Faith and Word Parag. 3. Of that secrecie which Kings and their Ministers ought to keepe Parag. 4. Of Flatterers and their flatteries Chap. 29. Of the sense of Touching Parag. 1 Of Temperance Parag. 2 Of another remedie against Excesses and superfluities depending on the example of Kings Chap. 30. Whether it be fit for Kings to haue Fauourites Chap. 31. Of another sort of Fauourites Chap. 32 Whether it bee fit for Kings to haue any more then one Fauourite Chap. 33 Of the Conditions and Qualities of Fauourites Chap. 34 How Kings ought to carry themselues towards their Fauourites Chap. 35 Whether the Kinsfolke and Friends of Fauourites are to be excluded from Offices Chap. 36 The Conclusion of the former Discourse with some Aduertisements for Kings and Fauourites Chap. 37 Aduertisements for Fauourites and Councellours of State SAP 6. v. 10. Ad vos O Reges sunt hi Sermones mei vt discatis sapientiam non excidatis Qui enim custodierint iusta iustè iustificabuntur qui didicerint iusta invenient quid respondeant VVISDOM 6. v. 10. Vnto you therefore o Kings doe I speake that yee may learne VVisedome and not goe amisse For they that keepe holinesse holily shall be holy and they that are learned there shall finde defence CHAP. 1. Wherein it is breifly treated what is comprehended in this Word Republicke together with it's Definition MAny and those of the grauest sorte that haue beene well versed in all kinde of Learning haue written of a Republicke or Common-wealth And haue diuided and sub-diuided it into many and sundry species and defined it after diuerse and different maners A prolixe and tedious businesse and full of difficulties and farre wide of my intension which is in few both words and reasons to describe a mysticall body with it's Head and principall members and the peculiar Offices belonging to euery one of them leauing to such as shall take pleasure therein the multitude of vnprofitable Questions the ornament of humane Eloquence and the Magazine of prophane histories being of little truth lesse efficacie And taking thence my beginning whence all begin Arist lib. 3. Polit. cap 1. lib. 4. cap. 1. To wit from the definition or Description I say with Aristotle and Plato That a Common-wealth is no other thing saue an Order of Citizens and Cities in which and amongst whom nothing is wanting that is necessary and needefull for the life of Man It is a iust gouernment and disposition of many families and of a Communitie amongst them with a superiour authoritie ouer them And it is a Congregation of many people vnited together fraternized with certaine Lawes and rules of gouernment And because I will not loose time in things not necessarie I omit that gouernment which the Greekes call Aristocratia which is the gouernment of the Nobility as it is with the Signorie of Venice And your Democratia which is popular and consistes of the Many as that of Genoa and the Cantons of the Switz Which though approued by many haue their inconueniences and those no small ones For the Nobilitie and powerfull persons if they not perseuere in the obseruance of the Lawes of good gouernment they presently grow to be couetous and are much subiect to Ambition And because they are but a few they feare the multitude and for to conserue themselues exercise cruelty whereby in the ende it turnes to a Tyrannie For as Mecoenas saith The state of a few Lords is the state of a few Tyrants And he that is the most powerfull the most ambitious and best be friended and respected of the people vpon the least dissension ioynes with the multitude which being it is naturally enuious mutable and a friend to innouation will with a great deale of facilitie ouerthrow the Common-wealth And say the Nobles do not side but agree amongst themselues yet cannot they but liue in feare of the infidelitie of the Vulgar for ordinarily those that haue a hand in the gouernment are more enuied then those that haue none at al. Besides it is a weake kind of gouernment nor is it possible that these few Lords can in large conquer conserue a great Empire as can a King or a Monarke because the forces are lesse vnited in them then in him And the people which is little interessed hath no share or part in those honourable places carry a Capital hatred to your great persons and are hardly drawn to such liberall Contributions as may sustaine a War and subdue kingdomes Your popular Estate in falling from that equality which it pretendeth is easily conuerted into a licentious libertie or rather loosenesse pulling down some setting vp others and is much subiect to Alterations through it's inconstancie weake head-pieces of the Popular For as Tully saith the sea hath not so many stormes perills tempestes as hath this kind of Cōmonwealth And of force euery one attending his owne proper good and priuate interest it must runne vpon one of these two rockes Either on the Tyrannie of him that is the strongest and vpheld by the fauour of the Maior part liftes vp himselfe aboue them all Or on the Plebeian gouernment then which none can be worse for all then falls into the hands of ignorant people who put ordinary people into the highest places of honour and command without any distinction or reckoning of rich noble wise or vertuous What good Counsaile or sound Aduise can all the Communaltie giue put all their braines together in a doubtfull case or businesse of importance Eccl. 7.27 when as Salomon saith there is scarce one to be found of a thousand of abilitie and sufficiencie in this kinde But put case that such a one may happily be found amongst them how shall he be heard with silence What patience will their eares lend him What secrecie will be had in that which is treated be it of Peace or War that it be not divulged before it 's due execution your Tumultes and seditions shall be more ordinary and greater then in other states because your meaner sorte of people are gouerned more by their owne vnruly appetites and womanish longings then by reason and discretion And your base and cruell Vulgar which vpon the least
occasion suffers it selfe to be led away by hatred and reuenge presently falls to taking of stones in their hands tearing vp the pibbles in the streetes as Cicero sets downe vnto vs that in the popular assemblies of Rome it so fell out that oftentimes they drew their naked swordes that the stones were seene to flye about their eares on all sides And when this head-strong multitude hath once broken the reines there is no keeping of them in nor can the wit of man deuise how to bridle them In a Monarchy the Monarke In an Aristocratia your Noble-men are supreme Iudges and Arbitrators and by this their supreme and absolute power they many times compose the differences of the subiects But in a Democratia and Popular Estate they are the supreme power and they themselues bandy one against another the fire of faction setting them in a consuming flame without acknowledging any superiour to decide the quarrell and compose their differences And therefore Aristotle sayd That there was not any Tyrannie either greater or more pernicious then that of an intire Communaltie which of it selfe is inclined to crueltie The Monarchy or Kingdome is freer from these burning feuers and by all is ranked in the best place and is stiffely maintained by the grauest Authors Of this onely shall I treate at this present It is called a Monarchy of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in Greeke signifieth One and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same with Prince which is as if we should say a Principalitie or a Kingdome where one alone is hee that commands and gouernes and the rest all obey All these three kindes of Popular Aristocraticall and Monarchicall gouernments were vsed in Greece and more particularly in Rome But Rome neuer came to be Mistresse of the World till shee was reduced to a Monarchie in the time of Caesar Augustus There are found therein 8. differences of States Husbandmen Trades-men Merchants Souldiers Iudges Cleargie-men the Nobility and the King which to speake more properly and as in diuers places it is deliuered by the blessed Apostle S. Paul is a Misticall Body which we call a Kingdome with it's Head For a king is the supreme Lord subiect onely vnto God That in S. Augustines and Diuus Thomas his opinion Aug. lib. 2. de Ciuit. Dei D. Tho. de regim li. 1. cap. 2. Arist Pol. 3. cap. 5. 10. Plat. Dial. de repub Prou. 8.15 as also sundry other Authors of diuers faculties amongst which are Aristotle and Plato the most excellent gouernment is that which acknowledgeth a Superior one King and one Head For all naturall and good gouernment proceedeth from One and that which comes neerest vnto Vnitie hath most similitude with that which is diuine and is by much the most perfect By God Kings reigne according to that of the wise man Per me reges regnant Per me Principes imperant By me Kings reigne and Princes decree iustice And God being one and most simple in his Being and Nature the Head of all the whole Vniuerse by Whom and Which all is gouerned with admirable and ineffable prouidence and is the Idea of all good and perfect gouernment it is not a thing to be doubted but that that shall be amongst vs the best which is most agreeable with his And if the Members of the body being many and bearing different Offices therein admit to be gouerned by a Head and that God and Nature hath so ordained it Why should not a Monarchicall gouernment be the best Most certaine therefore is it that it is mainely to be preferred before the other two Some will haue this Monarchicall gouerment to be the most ancient and that it had it's beginning from Cain Adams eldest sonne who was the first that did gather people together built Cities and did shut them vp and fortifie them with walls After the flood Nimrod the sonne of Chus and nephew vnto Cham Beros lib. 4. de Flor. Cald. secundum Philon. de Antiq. a man of valour and amongst those of those times the most able and strongest man was the first that reduced men to liue in a Communitie and to be obedient to one only King possessing himselfe of the Kingdome and Signorie of the World And before these euen in the very beginning of the Creation God began to establish this gouernment forme of a Commonwealth Act 17.26 For as S. Paul saith God would that all Mankinde should descend from one Man And Gods chosen people did euermore maintaine a Monarchie and did ordaine that the Supreme power should reside and remaine in One. The first gouernours of the world were Monarkes did gouerne with this Title all the Common-wealthes of the World haue generally desired to be gouerned by one king As appeareth by those of the Gentiles euery particular state hauing his peculiar King And were it not a great monstrousnesse in nature that one body should haue two Heads Much more were it that one kingdome should be gouerned by two persons Vnitie is the Author of much good and Pluralitie the causer of much ill The Roman Commonwealth did suffer much miserie and calamitie not because all would not obey One but because many would command All. And therforein their greater necessities they did create a Dictator so called because all did obay whatsoeuer he dictated and sayd vnto them For they knew well enough and did clearely and plainely perceiue That in the Empire of One the authoritie was the greater greater the obedience freer their determinations firmer their Councells speedier their resolutions and more prompt the execution of their designes In a word Command Signorie and Supreme power does better in one head then in many And therefore all doe vnanimously and vndoubtedly conclude That the Monarchie is the ancientst and the durablest of all other and it 's gouernment the best yet would I haue it to helpe it selfe with the Aristocratia in that which may be vsefull for it's aduantage That in regard of it's strength and execution doth by it's greater Vnion and force excell the rest This other which is composed of a few noble wise and vertuous persons because it consistes of more hath the more intirenesse prudence and wisedome and by conioyning and intermixing the one with the other resulteth a perfect absolute gouernment So that a Monarchy that it may not degenerate must not goe loose and absolute for Command is a madd-man and power Lunaticke but must be tyed to the Lawes as far forth as it is comprehended vnder the Law And in things particular and temporall must haue reference to the body of the Councell seruing as the brace or ioyning peece of timber betweene a Monarchie an Aristocracie which is the assistance and aduise of the chiefer and wiser sort For from a Monarchy not thus well and orderly tempred arise great errours in gouernment little satisfaction to the State and many distastes amongst those that are gouerned All men that
because in it's administration it is an Office so full of difficulties the Apostle S. Paul admonisheth all the faithfull that they alwayes make earnest Prayers for them which is still vsed to this day in all your Catholike Churches Moreouer that the name of a King is the name of an Office Refran El beneficio se da por el oficio it is confirmed by that common saying Beneficium datur propter Officium And therefore Kings being so greatly benefitted not onely by those great Tributes which are giuen them by the Common-wealth but likewise by those which they receiue from the Benefices and Rents of the Church it is an vndoubted truth that they haue an Office and of Offices the greatest and for this cause the whole Kingdome doth so freely and liberally contribute vnto them Which is specified by S. Paul in a Letter of his which hee wrote vnto the Romans Rom. 13.6 Ideò tributa praestatis c. For this cause pay you Tribute also For they are Gods Ministers attending continually vpon this very thing c. Kingdomes doe not pay their taxes idly and in vaine So many sessements so many Subsedies so many impositions so many great rentes so much authoritie so high a Title and so great a Dignitie is not giuen without charge and trouble In vaine should they haue the name of Kings if they had not whom to rule and gouerne And therefore this obligation lyes vpon them In multitudine populi dignitas regis The honour of a King is in the multitude of his People So great a dignitie so great reuenewes such a deale of Greatnesse Maiestie and Honour with a perpetuall Cense and rate vpon his Subiects Lands and Goods binde him to rule and gouerne his States conseruing them by Peace and Iustice Let Kings therefore know that they are to serue their kingdomes being they are so well payd for their paines and that they beare an Office which tyes them necessarily to this trouble Rom. 12.8 Qui praeest in solicitudine saith S. Paul He that ruleth with diligence This is the Title and name of King and of him that gouernes Not of him that goes before others onely in his Honour and his pleasure but of him that excells others in his solicitude and his care Let them not thinke that they are Kings onely in name and representation and that they are not bound to any more but to bee adored and reuerenced and to represent the person royall with a good grace and to carry themselues with a soueraigne kind of State and Maiestie like some of those Kings of the Medes and Persians which were no more then meere shadowes of Kings so wholy neglectfull were they of their office as if they had beene no such manner of Men. There is not any thing more dead and of lesse substance then the image of a shadow which neither waggs arme nor head but at the Motion of that which causeth it Exod. 20. God Commanded his people that they should not make any grauen Image nor any feigned Pictures or counterfeit paintings which shew a hand where there is none discouer a face where there is none and represent a body where there is none expressing therein actions to the life as if the Image or Picture did see and speake For God is no friend of feigned figures of painted men nor of Kings that are onely so in shape and proportion being in fashion like vnto those Psal 135. 16. of whom Dauid sayd Os habent non loquuntur oculos habent non videbunt c. They haue mouths but speake not eyes haue they but they see not They haue eares but heare not and hands haue they but handle not And to what vse I pray serues all this They are no more then meere Idolls of Stone which haue no more in them of Kings but onely an externall representation To be all name and authoritie and to be Men in nothing else doe not sute well together Woe to the Idoll Shepheard saith Zacharie that leaueth the flocke Zach. 11.17 The sword shall be vpon his arme and vpon his right eye His arme shall be cleane dryed vp and his right eye shall be vtterly darkeneds it is written in the Reuelation Nomen habes quod viuas Apoc. 3.1 mortuus es Thou hast a name that thou liuest and art dead The names which God setteth vpon Kings are like vnto the Title of a Booke which in few words containeth all that is therein This name of King is giuen by God vnto Kings and therein includeth all that which this their Office tyes them to doe And if their workes and actions doe not answer with their name and Title it is as if one should say yea with his Mouth and by making Signes say no with his head What a iest and mockerie is this How shall such a one bee truely vnderstood It were Cosenage and deceit in that Golde beater who writes vpon his Signe Heere is fine gold to be sold when indeed it is but Orpine and base gold for Painters The name of King is not an Attribute of Idlenesse A person regall must haue reall performance As his name soundeth so let him serue in his place it is the people that proclaime the King but it is the King that must proclaime his loue to the people Hee that hath the name of ruling and gouerning a Gods name let him rule and gouerne They are not to be Reyes de anillo as it is in the Prouerb that is to say nominall Kings only praeter nomen nihil hauing nothing else in them In France there was a time when their kings had nothing but the bare name of Kings their Liuetenants Generall gouerning and Commanding all whilest they like so many beastes did busie themselues in nothing else but following the delights and pleasures of Gluttonie and Wantonnesse And because it might be known and appeare to the people that they were aliue for they neuer came abroad once a yeare they made shew of themselues on the first day of May in the Market-place of Paris sitting in a chaire of State on a throne royall like your kings amongst your Stage-players and there in reuerence they bowed their bodies vnto them and presented them with giftes and they againe conferred some fauours on such as they though fit And because you may see the miserie whereunto they were brought Eynardus in the beginning of that Historie which he writes of the life of Charles the Great says That those Kings in those dayes had no valour in them in the world made no shew of Noblenesse nor gaue so much as a tast of any inclination thereunto but had onely the empty and naked name of King For in very deede they were not Kings nor had actually and effectually any hand in the gouernment of the State or the wealth and riches of the Kingdome for they were wholly possessed by the Praesecti Palatij whom they called
Seneshalls or Lord high Stewards of the Kings House Who were such absolute Lords and of that vnlimited power that they ruled the roste and did what they list leauing the poore seely King nothing saue onely the bare Title who sitting in a Chaire with his Perriwigge and his long beard represented the person of a King making the world beleeue that hee gaue Audience to all Ambassadours that came from forraigne parts and gaue them their answers and dispatches when they were to returne But in very truth he sayd no more vnto them saue what hee had beene taught or had by writing beene powred into him making shew as if all this had beene done out of his owne Head So that these kinde of Kings had nothing of the Power-Royall but the vnprofitable name of King and inutile throne of State and a personated Maiestie that lay open to nothing but scorne and derision For the true kings and those that commanded all were those their Minions and Fauorites who oppressed the other by their potencie and kept them in awe Of a King of Samaria God sayd That hee was no more but paululum spumae a froathy bubble Which being beheld a far off seemeth to be something but when you draw neere and touch it it is nothing Simia in tecto Rex fatuus in solio suo He is like vnto an Ape on the house-toppe who vsing the apparances and gestures of a man is taken for such a one by them that know him not Iust so is a foolish King vpon his Throne your Ape likewise serueth to entertaine children and to make them sport And a King causeth laughter in those who behold him stript of the actions of a King without authoritie and without gouernment A King appareled in Purple and sitting with great Maiestie in his Throne answereable to his greatnesse seemeth in shew graue seuere and terrible but in effect nothing Like vnto the Picture of that Grecians limming which being placed on high and beheld from a farre seemed to be a very good Peece But when you came neerer vnto it and viewed it well it was full of Blots and Blurs and very course stuffe A King vnder his Canopie or Princely Pall expresseth a great deale of outward State and Maiestie but himselfe being narrowly lookt into is no better then the blurred Character of a King Simulachra gentium Dauid calleth those Kings that are Kings onely in name Or as the Hebrew renders it Imago fictilis contrita An image of crack't earth which leaketh in a thousand places A vaine Idoll which representeth much yet is no other then a false and lying shadow And that name doth very well sute with them which Eliphas falsly put vpon Iob Iob. 4.19 who being so good and so iust a man did mocke at him vpbrayding him that his foundation was in the dust that he was not a man of any solid and sound iudgement but onely had some certaine exteriour apparences calling him Mimicoleon which is a kinde of creature which in Latin they call Formicaleo Because it hath a monstrous kinde of Composture in the one halfe part of the body representing a fierce Lyon which was alwayes the Hierogliffe of a King and in the other halfe an Ante or Pismire which signifieth a weake thing and without any substance Authoritie Name Throne and Maiestie doth well become Lyons and powerfull Princes And hitherto it is well But when we looke on the other halfe and see the being and substance of a Pismire that goes hard There haue beene Kings who with their very name onely haue strooke the world into a feare and terrour But they themselues had no substance in them and were in their Kingdome no better then Ants and Pismires Great in name and Office but poore in action Let euery King then acknowledge himselfe to be an Officer and not onely to bee a priuate but a publicke Officer and a superintendent in all Offices whatsoeuer For in all hee is bound both to speake and doe S Austen and D. Thomas expounding that place of Saint Paul Aug. D. Tho. in Epis. 1. ad Tim. 3. which treates of Episcopall Dignitie say That the Latin word Episcopus is compounded in the Greeke of two words being in signification the same with Superintendens The name of Bishop of King and of whatsoeuer other superior is a name that comprehendeth Superintendencie and assistance in all Offices This the royall Scepter signifieth exercised by Kings in their publicke acts a Ceremonie vsed by the Aegyptians but borrowed from the Hebrews who for to expresse the obligation of a good King did paint an open eye placed alofte vpon the top of a rod in forme of a Scepter signifying in the one the great power that a King hath and the prouidence and vigilancie which hee is to haue In the other that he doe not onely content himselfe in possessing this supreme power and in holding this high and eminent place and so lye downe and sleepe and take his ease as if there were no more to bee done but hee must bee the first in gouernment the first in Councell and all in all Offices hauing a watchfull eye in viewing and reuiewing how euery publicke Minister performes his duty In signification whereof Ieremie saw the like rod Ier. 1. v. 12. when God asking him what hee saw hee sayd Virgam Vigilantem ego video Well hast thou seene and verily I say vnto thee That I who am the head will watch ouer my body I that am the shepheard will watch ouer my sheepe And I that am a King and Monarke will watch without wearinesse ouer all my Inferiours The Chalde translates it Regem festinantem a King that goes in hast For though hee haue eyes and see yet if he betake him to his ease be lull'd asleepe with his delightes and pleasures and doth not bestirre himselfe visiting this and that other place and seeke to see and know all the good and euill which passeth in his Kingdome hee is as if hee were not Let him bethinke himselfe that he is a Head and the Head of a Lyon which sleepes with his eyes open That he is that rodde which hath eyes and watcheth Let him therefore open his eyes and not sleepe trusting to those that perhaps are blinde or like Moles haue no eyes at all or if they haue any vse them no farther then for their own priuate profit And therein they are quicke sighted These haue the eyes of the Kyte and other your birdes of rapine but it were better that they had no eyes at all then haue them all for themselues CHAP. IIII. Of the Office of Kings HAuing proued that the name of King is not of Dignitie onely but likewise of Occupation and Office it is fit that we should now treate of the qualities and partes thereof For the better vnderstanding whereof wee must follow the Metaphor or resemblance of Mans body whereof the Apostle S. Paul made vse thereby to giue vs
holy Ghost Pro. 20.18 Ibi salus vbi multa consilia Much Counsell bringeth much safetie Nor can there bee any thing more preiudiciall nor any meanes more effectuall to destroy Kings and Kingdomes than to alter and peruert Counsailes And this the Prophet Micaiah teacheth vs in a vision which he had in this forme 1 King 22.19 God represented himself sitting on his Throne and all the Hoast of Heauen standing by him on his right hand and on his left consulting with them what course hee should take to destroy Ahab And euery one hauing deliuered his opinion there came forth a malignant and lying spirit like another Cayphas and gaue his verdit saying I will goe forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets I will instruct the Counsailours of King Ahab and with a lye cloathed with the appearance and likenesse of truth I will deceiue and destroy him This course was approued and held to be the fittest most effectuall for the kings vtter ruine and destruction And albeit in this diuine Vision and reuelation manifested for the dis-deceiuing of Kings and to put them out of their errour there were many things worthy obseruation and consideration yet the principall note in my iudgement is That neither Ahabs want of vnderstanding nor his being head-strong nor wilfull in his opinion nor his being ouer-rash and vnaduised in what he vndertooke but his own sins and the sins of his people had put him in that estate and condition that dismeriting Gods fauour and the light of heauen the diuel did deceiue him guiding the tongues of his false Prophets telling them falsehoods for truthes doubtfull things for things certaine and by perswading him that that which was to be his destruction should turne vnto his profit honour S. Paul tells vs 2. Cor. 11.15 that Satan often times transformes himselfe into an Angell of Light and represents lyes and falshoods vnto vs in the shape figure of truth And the mischiefe of it is That the same which the diuell wrought vpon Ahabs Counsailours feigned friends and professed enemies haue and doe the like on some occasions procuring by secret meanes to introduce persons who making profession to side and take part with the king perswade him to do that which is least fitting for them and most vsefull for their own ends This is one of the greatest darings and insolencies that may in matter of State be attempted God free all good kings from such Counsailes and Counsailours When king Dauid saw how his sonne Absolon persecuted him and thought to go away with the kingdome he feared not any thing so much as the plots and Counsaile of Achitophel who was both a subtile Statist and a valiant Souldier and by whose aduise Absolon was wholly ruled and gouerned For the repairing of which mischiefe he got Hushai the Archite who was no whit inferiour vnto him in valour and prudence in a dissembling and disguised manner to offer his seruice vnto Absalon and to worke himselfe in to be of his Councell of war and State that he might be the better able to oppose the able and sound aduice of Achitophel as he did euen then when his Master had most need of his seruice By which discreete carriage Dauid was freed of his feare 2. Sam. 15.31 and Absalons businesses went backward till himselfe and his whole Armie were vtterly ouerthrown Which story ye may read more at large in the second of Samuel Two things therefore are to be considered for to know which is the best and safest Counsaile The one on the Kings part who craues it the other on his part that giues it And on either part that which most importeth is purenesse of intention a desire to incounter with Truth Not like vnto those who hearken vnto good and disappassionated Counsailes with passion and onely desire to be aduised that the Councell may conclude what is meerely their Wil not otherwise And in their sittings at the Counsaile-Table which are ordained to this end they doe not so much treate whether that they pretend be iust or no but with what colour of Iustice they may effect what they desire The vnderstanding saith Salust which we will and with better reason or more properly tearme the Will ought to be free and dis-incumbranced of affection or particular passions as well in asking as giuing Counsaile And because if there be any of this reigning in the brest it cannot alwaies nay scarce any long time be dissembled but will like fire breake forth from vnder the ashes that couer it fitting it is That Kings should seldome assist personally in Counsaile for their Voting in his presence is done with awfulnesse and great respect but in his absence they vtter their mindes with alittle more freenes and libertie of language And euermore your first opinions of your Ministers and Counsailours of State before they be toucht with the Ayre of the Kings will are the best and the sincerest as produced from that vnforst motion and naturall inclination which is in their owne particular hearts and bosomes If the King desireth to haue this or that thing passe and for to authorize and qualifie this his desire he craueth their Counsell howbeit hee meete with many which conforme themselues thereunto follow his gust and liking yet such Counsaile or aduice in such a Case ought to be esteemed as little secure as there is great reason for it to hold it suspected Especially if the foresaid Counsailours by some meanes or other come to haue an inckling that this way the King is inclined and this is that which will giue him content And though we might as well out of Diuine as Humane Letters cite heere many examples for that this is a thing so vsuall and so well receiued both by Princes and by Priuy-Counsailours Or to speake more truly and plainely by those that sooth and flatter them I will onely alleadge that which passed with that vnfortunate King Ahab 1. Kings 21.6 who out of his proud and haughty spirit and the desire that he had to make warre and to take a place of importance from the King of Syria propounded his intent or to say better his Content to those of his counsell The businesse was no sooner in treatie and the proposition for the vndertaking of this action proposed vnto them but forthwith 400. Counsailours with a ioynt consent conformed themselues to his opinion And to sooth vp this his humour the more one amongst the rest bobb'd him in the mouth with an intollerable Lye affirming that God had reuealed vnto him that he should haue the glorie of the day that the successe of the battaile should be prosperous vnto him This was apprehended with a great deale of content by the King but was finished with his vnfortunate end himselfe being slaine in that battaile and his Army routed and ouerthrowne By which we may see how much it concerneth Kings if they will
receiue good Counsaile that they dissemble as much as they can their particular good will and liking in the businesse proposed But that which is heere of greater consideration is the vertue fidelitie and truth of a Counsailour a minde without passion disinteressed and pure For it oftentimes hapneth that he that craueth Counsaile hath not his intention so sound as is requisite nor his iudgement so strong as to reduce him into the right way and being set in it to follow the best But to grow to a Conclusion that cannot faile which Truth it selfe our Sauiour Christ said in his Gospell A good tree cannot bring forth had fruit nor a bad tree good And the badge or cognisance of good or bad Counsaile shall doubtlesse be the goodnesse or badnesse the wisedome or ignorance of the Counsailour And therefore I importunately presse that it mainly importeth a Prince to beware of whom he taketh Counsaile For by how much the more profitable is a wise vpright Counsailour by so much the more preiudiciall is he that is vniust and vnstreight And therefore the Holy Ghost saith Tob. 4.19 Consilum semper à sapiente perquire Aske Counsaile alwaies of the wise And in another place Eccl. 6.6 Pacifici sint tibi multi Consiliarius sit tibi vnus de mille Amongst a 1000. Men scarce will there be found one that is fit to giue Counsaile For some want wisedome prudence other some purenesse and cleannesse of heart and a third sort are so ouerswaied with passion that they do not simply sincerely perswade the truth A cleare Example wherof we haue in King Rehoboam the sonne and successour of King Salomon who though he succeeded his father in so rich a Kingdome and so inured to peace and obedience to their King yet notwithstanding was in an instant vndone vtterly lost by bad both Counsaile and Counsailours For good Counsellours are the life and soule of a Kingdome And when it is not vnderpropped with such like a body without a soule it presently sinkes falls from it's state wherin it stood And therefore the holy King sayd Psal 101.6 Oculi mei ad fideles terrae vt sedeant mâ—cum Ambulans in via immaculata hic mihi ministrabit Non habitabit in medio domus meae qui facit superbiam qui loquitur iniqua non direxit in conspectu oculorum meorum Mine eyes shall be vpon the faithfull of the Land that they may dwell with me Hee that walketh in a perfect way hee shall serue me Hee that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house hee that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight And in this particular Kings ought to be very wary and circumspect In the next Chapter we will treate of the Care which they are to take in choosing their Counsellours of State for the errour in this one is the fountaine of all errours and the totall Perdition of Kings and kingdomes CHAP. VIII Of the Diligences which Kings are to vse in the Election of their Ministers and Counsellours IT is a question that hath beene much sifted and winowed amongst your Morall Philosophers as also your Diuines whether Election be formally a worke of the Vnderstanding or the Will Gregory Nyssenus saith That it is composed of both partes To wit of the Act of the Will and of the Vnderstanding And hee said well For therein is required both a fullnesse of Knowledge and a freenesse of Will And it is the Doctrine of Diuus Thomas who saith That it is not of the will alone but also of the Vnderstanding because the electiue Act of the Will conference consultation Iudgement is to precede which is the proper Act of the Vnderstanding But the mischiefe of it is That in Elections wee many times see the contrary and what a strange diuorcement and seperation there is heerein from this true Philosophie For that which now a dayes most of all discouers it selfe in these Elections is our proper gust will and affection And therefore to remedy so great a malady it shall be requisite that the Prince who desireth to tread sure to hit the marke he aymes at and to please God in those whom he electeth and calleth to his Counsell that hee follow the Example of our Sauiour Christ written for our instruction by the Euangelists S. Mathew and S. Luke who recounting the Election of S. Peter and of S. Andrew Mat. 4. Luk. 4. 5. and other the Apostles as his principall Ministers there preceded a long and prolixe Oration or prayer full of feruour of zeale and of the Spirit and retyred himselfe into the desart and there fasted 40. dayes Luk. 6.12 Et erat pernoctans in Oratione Dei And continued all night in prayer vnto God Which as S. Ambrose and other fathers haue well obserued Christ did not doe that hee had any neede of these Dispositions and Preambles for to iumpe right in that Election but to teach kings and all other Princes that if they will hit right in their Elections they are to vse the like Diligences They are by good and pious workes to procure this fauour at Gods hands and to direct all their actions to this end Nor would hee that this Election should be left wholly to the declaration of those Saints for our Sauiour did declare himselfe more particularly in the 10. of S. Luke Luk. 10.2 Where speaking with the 70 Disciples which had nominated them he sayd vnto them Messis quidem multa operarij autem pauci rogate ergo Dominum Messis vt mittat operarios in messem suam The Haruest truly is great but the Labourers are few Pray yee therefore the Lord of the Haruest that hee would send forth Labourers into his Haruest And though in those former times these words were very seasonable yet now in this present age it 's necessitie is better knowne as likewise the truth thereof For the Haruests being so many and so great I meane so great and so many the varietie and multitude of important businesses for the welfare of the Common-wealth the Labourers are very few But to expresse my self a little more fully I say That very few are they that enter or seeke to enter into Offices for to labour and paines but for to liue at their pleasure to heape vp riches that they may increase the more in ambition and more freely take their ease The remedie of this consisteth in that which our Sauiour Christ commandeth vs To wit That we indefatigably pray vnto him that he will be pleased to send forth faithfull Ministers and good Labourers into his Common-wealth Ministers of knowen trust zeale vertue to whom may sute the name of Counsellours and not of Babblers of worthy men not of wordly men And kings to whom properly this Office of Election doth belong must put the more force insist the more in this prayer begging that which the wisest of Kings Salomon petitioned of God Da mihi
sustinere This thing is too heauy for thee Thou art not able to performe it thy selfe alone Cadendo cades saith another Letter By falling thou shalt fall and all this people that is with thee Daras de ojos as they say à cada passo Thou must looke well about thee And ioyntly with this hee propounded the qualities which hee ought to consider in those whom hee was to choose for that Ministrie Proinde ex omni plebe viros sapientes timentes deum in quibus sit veritas Or as another letter hath it Exod. 18.21 Viros veridicos qui oderint avaritiam Thou shalt prouide out of all the people able men such as feare God men of truth hating Couetousnesse c. Now let vs goe pondering euery word in particuler and in them the qualities of Ministers The first is Prouide Which signifieth not onely to prouide but to fore-see and consider For the election of a Minister is a businesse of great prouidence and consideration and the most important and necessarie for a King in matter of gouernment On the good or bad Election of Counsellours dependeth the whole honour and profit both of King and Kingdome And he that erres in this must necessarily erre in all For the spring of a fountaine being spoyled all the water is spoiled And a King failing in this Principle all goes to destruction For without doubt all good dispatch growes from the force and vertue of good Counsaile Then therefore is a King held to be wise and prudent when he hath wise and prudent Counsailours Hee succeedeth well with all his Intentions and inioyeth fame credit and reputation both with his subiects and with strangers Of the one he is beloued and obayed and of the other dreaded and feared and of all esteemed and commended The whole kingdome resteth contented and satisfied And though in something hee sometime erre none will beleeue it But when Priuie-Counsailours are no such manner of men all murmur and proclaime to the world That there is not an able man in all the Counsell and if in some one thing or other hee hap to haue good successe few or none will giue credit thereunto but rather conceiue it was done by Chance The sacred Text says farther De omni plebe Out of all the People As if he should haue said out of all the 12. Tribes or families of this people thereby to giue vs to vnderstand That for to make a good Election it is requisit that there should not remaine a nooke or corner in all his kingdomes where diligence should not be vsed as before hath beene sayd to search out the fittest Ministers And likewise it may in this word be giuen vs to vnderstand that in matter of Election wee are not to haue respect to Linage Kindred or Parentage but to vertue sufficiencie and courage accompained with other good qualities which adapt a man to be a Counsellour And therefore it is said anon after Viros sapientes Wisemen men of vnderstanding heads and stout hearts which dare boldly and plainely to speake the truth and to maintaine and put it in execution when they see fit time for your pusillanimous and white-liuerd persons are not fit Ministers for a State Noli quaerere fieri iudex nisi valeas virtute irrumpere iniquitates He that hath not a face to out-face a Lye and to defend the truth let him neuer take vpon him the Office of a Minister of Iustice In the booke of Daniel it is storyed that King Nabucodonozor was resolued to haue done some cruell chastisement vpon his Princes and Counsellours for that hauing asked them the Interpretation of a troublesome dreame hee had none of them could declare the meaning of it And howbeit they told him that they could not tell what to make of it plainly confessed the truth yet notwithstanding the King conceiued that hee had good reason to except against them For thought hee if you know it and for feare will not tell it me yee are Cowards And if you know it not yee are ignorant and either of these is a great fault in Counsailours afford sufficient cause why ye should be punished in that yee would offer to take that Office vpon yee which first of all hath neede of stoutnesse of courage and secondly to be learned and expert in so many and various things as a King hath occasion to vse yee in And therefore that wise Iethro after the word Viros Men puts sapientes Wise Or as the 70. and others translate it potentes fortes Because in Ministers and Counsellours of State strength courage constancie and wisedome should walke hand in hand The Courts and Pallaces of Kings and Princes that which they are least stored with all is Truth They scarce know her face nay not so much as of what colour or complexion shee is the onley Minions there made of being flatteries and lyes A wise and stout man is daunted with nothing is neuer troubled nor altered he stands vpon his own worth and sinceritie is Lord and Master of his reason he speakes with libertie and freedome hee represents the truth to his King and maintaines it Pie quedo as they say stiffely and stoutly without respect to any thing no not so much as his owne proper life hee ouerthrowes plots discouers the impostures deceits and Lyes of flatterers for the which he had neede of courage and wisedome Now let vs see what that wisedome is which a King is to require in his Ministers Not worldly wisedome wherof S. Bernard saith That those which inioy it boasting themselues thereof very wisely goe to Hell The question that I aske is Whether they should be Philosophers Diuines or Lawyers or in what kinde of faculties they should be wise Heereunto first I answer that questionlesse it would be a great helpe to the making of a good Counsellour to bee seene in these Sciences and to haue spent some time of study in them But in case they haue no skill in these it shall suffice that they are wise in that which belongeth vnto that Ministry for which they are nominated and called to wit To be a Counsailour which is a person that is fit sufficient and able for that charge which he is to administer That hee haue a nimble wit and quicke apprehension for without that the rest serues to little purpose Whereas he that is furnished therewith with a little helpe attaineth to much He knowes things past vnderstands the present and giues his iudgement of things to come That hee be well read in ancient and moderne Histories wherein are contained the sentences and opinions of wise men of elder times by which they ordred their Common-wealths and maintained them in Peace For this kinde of reading doth indoctrinate more in a day then Experience hath taught others in many yeares which must by no meanes be wanting in a Counsellour for that ordinarily in them are found Prudence Authoritie and Experience That he haue happy
memorie which is the Archiue of the Sciences and Treasure of Truths for without it to reade and studie is as they say Coger aequa en vn harnero to gather water in a siue and it importeth much in regard of the diuersitie of businesses and persons with whom hee is to treate That hee haue trauailed and scene forraine Countries That hee be skill'd in the Languages and haue in all of them the Arte and garbe of speaking and discoursing well That he more esteeme the seruice of his King and the publicke good then his own priuate gaine That hee be courteous humble affable and yet of a good spirit That hee lend an attentiue care and that hee keepe that gate open for great and small rich and poore But aboue all these he must be of approued vertue for without it all the rest are of no esteeme Hee that shall haue more or lesse of these qualities which are for all in Common shall bee the more or lesse sufficient Counsellour As for Vice-royes Gouernours Ambassadors and other great Gouernments of the Kingdome such are to be chosen who together with the foresaid qualities haue studied and spent some yeares in the Schoole of experience and hauing beene conuersant at the Kings elbow and in his Courte and Counsailes not only for the greatnesse of those mindes and stomacks which are bred there a necessary qualitie for to occupie great places and not to bee bred vp with a poore portion of Treating and Vnderstanding which begets mindes according to the same measure but likewise because there by their Treating with Kings Princes and other great persons assisting them in their Counsells and graue consultations communicating with great Ministers and Counsellours of State diuerse cases and businesses the Practick of all affaires is thereby the more and better apprehended As your practitioners in Physicke by conferring with great Physitians He therefore that shall haue both Learning and Experience shall amongst all men be the most remarkable But Quis est hic laudabimus eum Shew mee this Man and we will commend him For Mans life is short the Arte long and experience hard to be atchieued But to summe vp this discourse and giue an ende thereunto I say That he that is to bee made a Counsellour of Warre should therein haue beene exercised many yeares And that he that is of the Councell of State should haue a full knowledge of all and should be very dextrous in matters of gouernment both publike and particular and well verst in military discipline because hee is to consult both of warre and peace Which because they are things so opposite and contrary a man cannot iudge well in the one vnlesse he know and vnderstand aright the other As wee shall shew heereafter when we shall more in particular treate of this Counsell Other qualities are competible more in especiall to Iudges Iustices and Presidents to whom that particularly appertaineth which is deliuered in that word Sapientes That they well vnderstand the facultie of the Lawes and that corresponding with their name they be Iuris-prudentes well seene in all matters carrying an euen hand towards all and administring Iustice without partialitie Deut. 16.18.19 Vt iudicent populum justo iudicio nec in alteram partem declinent nec accipiant personam nec munera That they may iudge the people with iust iudgement that they wrest not iudgement nor respect neither take a gift For this briberie and Corruption is that dust which blindes the Iudges and that plague which consumes a Common-wealth Moreouer they must bee wise men cleane and sound at heart and of much truth All of them qualities which all Nations required in their Ministers expressing them in their Herogliffes Diodor. Sic. lib. 2. rerum antiq cap. 1. Of the Aegyptians Diodorus Siculus reporteth That they had their Councell and Audience in a great Hall where there sate thirty Counsellors or Iudges Et in mediâ— iudicandi Princeps cuius a collo suspensa veritas penderet oculis esset sub clausis librorum numero circumstante And in the midst of them sate the President with his eyes shut a number of bookes standing round about him and Truth hanging about his necke Aelian de Var. Hist lib. 14. curiously cut as Aelian expresseth it in a Pectorall Saphire like vnto that which God fashioned for the adorning of his Minister and President Aaron wherein were ingrauen these words Hurim Thummim Exod. 28.30 Which some interprete to be Iudicium Veritas Iudgement and Truth But S. Ierome would haue it to signifie Doctrinam Veritatem Learning and Truth For these three things Iudgement Learning and Truth are much about one and in them consisteth the whole perfection of a Minister In quibus sit Veritas For in the brest of a good Iudge there must neither raigne passion nor affection but the pure Truth which hee cannot possibly avoyd vnlesse hee will wrong nature it selfe For our soule is naturally inclined to Truth And it is so proper to a wise and prudent Man that hee that doth not say it vnsaies himselfe And certaine it is that the gouernment of a Kingdome is so much the more good or ill by how much the truth therein hath more or lesse place For if businesses be not seasoned therewith as meates are with salt neither the poore shall be defended from the oppression of the rich nor the rich possesse their goods in safety men and womens honors shall runne danger and no one person can promise to himselfe securitie And therefore it is so much the more needfull that a iudge should treate Truth and desire that all should doe the like by how much the more are they that abhorre it and seeke to conceale it an olde disease which was almost borne with vs into the world And if Iudges shall not fauour Truth and plaine dealing treachery and Lying will reigne and beare rule Let Kings take heede how they choose men that are fearefull and timerous to be their Ministers who out of cowardize and pusillanimitie hide the Truth and dare not bring her forth to Light For as shee is the foundation of Iustice and Christian iudgement if a Iudge shall not loue it with his heart tracke the steps of it and draw it out of that darke dungeon wherein shee lyes Iustice will be in danger of being crush't and falshood will preuaile As in that peruerse Iudgement in Christes cause where the Iudge was so farre from being desirous to know the truth that hee did not know what kinde of thing it was And therefore demanded in the face of the open Court Quid est Veritas What is Truth To whom that diuine wisedome made no answer perceiuing him to be such a foole as to be ignorant of the first vndoubted Principle of Iustice and suffring himselfe to be carryed away with false accusations and feigned relations which had no bulke nor body in them no substance in the world nor any shew
that they should make their Plea by writing Ne si coram iudicibus loquerentur facilius eos fletibus aut actionibus efficacique modo dicendi demulcerent Least if themselues should be permitted to speake before the Iudges they might the more easily soften and mollifie their hearts by their teares action and words And it seemeth that God doth approue for the better this manner of iudging when he saith Non secundum visionem oculorum iudicabit Isay 11.3 nec secundum auditum aurium arguet He shall not iudge after the sight of his eyes neither reproue after the hearing of his eare Sed judicabit in justitia pauperes arguet in aequitate pro mansuetis terrae But with righteousnesse shall hee iudge the poore and reproue with equitie for the meeke of the earth With iustice and truth hee must reproue and confound those who with fictions with colours and studied artifices pretend to make that iust or probable which hath no shew of iustice or truth For there are some Lawyers so full of Quirkes and subtilties that they wrest the true sence and meaning of the Lawes striuing to bring them to their bent haling them as they say by the haire to that part whereunto themselues are willing to incline either to that which a fauourite or powerfull person pretendeth or to him that will bribe most whereby suites in Law are made euerlasting much mony is consumed mens States miserably wasted or at least the true knowledge of the cause obscured as well de facto as de jure both in matter of fact and of Law A Iudge therefore ought to be very attentiue to all businesses that are brought before him and to haue Lynx his eyes to watch whether the Torrent will tend of a Pleader transported with affection and of a cauillous Relator armed with a 100. Witty quillets subtill and acute Allegations wherewith they shadow the light and scatter cloudes of darkenesse ouer the cause that is pleaded Hee that is set ouer others must haue wisedome and courage to make resistance against them and to disarme them rebutting the blow by his Arguments and with the true and solide sence of the Lawes themselues Eccl. 7. And therefore Ecclesiasticus would not haue that man to take vpon him to be a Iudge that hath not spirit and mettall in him to contest with the stoutest of them and to doe Iustice Secundum allegata probata according to all right and law For many times there is more cunning and wisedome required for to vndoe those knots and to facilitate those difficulties which these wrangling Lawyers put in their Plea then to resolue the doubt in the Case it selfe And if hee be to deale with persons of power and great Courtiers he must either breake through this net which they pitch for him with force or with some slight or other seeke to auoyd it rather then that fauour and power on the one side or subtill shiftes and Law quirkes on the other should stifle Iustice Isay 58.6 For in these cases it is written Dissolue colligationes impietatis Loose the bands of wickednesse to vndoe the heauie burthens and to let the oppressed goe free For the sonne of God himselfe to be an example vnto Iudges did proceede in this manner with the Diuell For this purpose saith S. Iohn was the Sonne of God manifested Iohn 3.8 that he might destroy the workes of the Diuell Whereby he shewed no lesse courage then gained reputation And it is one of the most preiudiciall things that can befall Common-wealths to seeke to honour such persons in whom doe not concure those qualities nor the knowledge of such Ministers and giuing them the Title of Counsellours which haue neither that sufficiency of knowledge nor wisedome which is necessary for to giue a good and sound opinion in graue and weighty matters And as it were a foolish and vnaduised thing in him that hath neede of a payre of shoes to go to looke them at a Barbers and not at a shomakers shop so is the case alike when wee leaue wise and experienced men in a Common-wealth lurking in a corner and put those into eminent places which neither know how to begin nor end businesses nor what course in the world they are to take That which is fittest for them but much more for a King and kingdome is to let them alone in their ignorance Quia tu scientiam repulisti Hose 4.6 repellam ego te saith God Because thou hast reiected knowledge I will also reiect thee For one foolish Minister alone is an intolerable burthen for a Kingdome Arenam salem Eccl. 22.15 massam ferri facilius est ferre quam hominem imprudentem fatuum Sand and salt and a masse of yron is easier to be borne then a man without vnderstanding Three things saith hee which are the heauiest to beare are more easie to bee borne and with more patience to be indured then the imprudencies of an vnwise and foolish Minister CHAP. X. Hee continues the Discourse of the qualities of Ministers and Counsellours THe last words of Iethros Aduice were Et qui oderint Auaritiam hating Couetousnesse A qualitie no lesse necessary then those before specified The 70. Interpreters translate it Et qui odio habent superbiam Hating pride There are some men which rake vp a great deale of wealth and are couetous only to keepe and make the heape the bigger liuing for this cause miserably vnto themselues and deepely indebted to their backe and belly Others there are that scrape and scratch by hooke or by crooke all the money they can finger that they may afterwards prodigally spend it and maintaine their vaine pride and ostentation But in what sort so euer men be couetous sure I am That Couetousnesse is one of the worst notes and basest markes wherewith Kings Ministers and Counsailours of State can be branded Auaro Eccl. 10.9 nihil est Scelestius saith Ecclesiasticus There is not a more wicked thing then a couetous man And from those that are toucht with this infection Kings are to flye as from a plague or Pestilence and be very circumspect and wary that they be not admitted to the Councell Table and to remoue those from thence that haue receiued any bribe For it is an incurable disease a contagious corruption which like a Leprosie goes from one to another and clingeth close to the soule Besides to receiue is a sweete thing and leaues the hand so sauory and so well seasoned that it hath no sooner receiued one gift but it is presently ready for another a third a fourth and so in infinitum And the end of that which is past is but a disposition for that which is to come Like a hungry Curre who hath no sooner chopt vp one morsel but he is ready for another And he perhaps who at first was contented with a little could say Esto basta y sobra This is inough and too
opinion is of more profit for them then Truth But the griefe of it is that this passeth forward euen vnto those that are professours of that Science which as it is in it selfe superiour so ought it to make those which professe the same superiour in minde and vnderstanding and make them much more to esteeme the truth and existency of wisedome and knowledge then false opinion falsly gained amongst the lesse wiser sort of men Now for the auoyding of these inconueniences it importeth much that a King do not rely too much vpon the opinions of the Vulgar which in particular are various and ill grounded but when they shall heare it generally spoken that such a one is an eminent man in this or that other thing and that he hath not his fellow in the kingdome for these and these abilities let the Counsell be called the Partie thus recommended examined and let the King take information from them that are euery way as able as he euen in that wherein he professes himselfe his crafts-master whether they giue vp the same verdit of him or no So that the fame and opinion of a good Souldiers of a good Captaine and of a good Gouernour must be confirmed by the Testimonie of those that are the best both Souldiers Captaines and Gouernours By this line may you leuell by this course secure the approbation of all other Offices And in those whose sufficiencie may be seene and measured out by the suruay of Officialls there cannot be so much deceit therein but in those who are to serue a King and State with great studies and with the knowledge of diuers faculties as are your greater dignities and Ecclesiasticall functions where as we are taught by the Apostle S. Paul there is necessarily required great learning great integritie of life and great prudence and therefore had more neede of examination and triall And I hold it for a great inconuenience that the iudgement of things of so high a nature should be remitted to the relation of those who are not onely farre from being able to iudge but scarce know how to speake truly of them By meanes whereof it is very vsuall with them to suffer themselues to be ouercome by deceit and ouerswaied with passion holding those for the best and worthiest and recommending them to the King for those high Ministeries and Offices to whom either they or their friends and kinse-folke beare most affection or are most beholding But opinion ought not to carry these things vnlesse it be confirmed with very good and sure Testimonies Much of this mischiefe will be remedied if for these and such like great Dignities and Offices we should not rely only vpon Fame or that voice and report which comes a far off and somtimes painted ouer with apparencies and in the maske and disguise of truth being nothing else saue meere passion but that we should looke a little neerer into the inside of these persons and grow by communication into a fuller knowledge of them Not that knowledge which some Ministers speake of who are sayd to know only those whom they preferre or are willing to preferre and only for that they haue heard them talke in ordinary matters of complement and base flatteries which they vse more which haue all their wisedome in their lips then those that are truly graue and learned men Mens witts are not like the water of a fountaine which at the first draught our palate findes to be thicke or thin salt or sweete It is like a Sea without a bottome or like vnto a deepe riuer to know whose depth we must wade through it from side to side Sicut aqua profunda Sic consilium in corde viri Prou. 20.5 saith the holy Ghost Counsaile in the heart of a man is like a deepe water Sed homo sapiens exhauriet illud But a man of vnderstanding will draw it out And it is the learned and wise that must make iudgement of wise and learned men In the sacred history of Genesis we reade that when the holy Patriarke Isaac determined to giue the benediction of the primogenitureship to his elder sonne Esau Iacob came athwart him and feigned himselfe to be Esau whom his aged father meant to blesse and in a distinct and cleare voyce sayd vnto him I am thy first begotten sonne Esau Gen. 27.21 To whom the Patriarke made answer Thy voyce seemeth not to be the voyce of Esau but of Iacob And therefore Accede huc vt tangam te fili mi Come neere I pray thee that I may feele thee my sonne whether thou be my very sonne Esau or not Many there are who boast themselues to be elder brothers in vertue and learning and with tricks and deuices clad themselues to shew in sheepes cloathing but inwardly are rauening Wolues and with gifts and presents as Iacob heere did incline or peruert the mindes of Ministers that they giue them credit and beleife stealing by this meanes the blessing away and getting prioritie of place being indeed younger brothers in their deserts And we are to consider that in this History there did concurre two things which were sufficient to deceiue the Patriarke The first that he was blinde or at least very dimme-sighted For as wee said before when this propounding or nominating of such persons is left to the will of those that are blinde or ignorant in these matters there is not any thing done therein which is not full of deceit The second That the voyce was far different from the person whom he felt The like vsually happeneth in that matter which we haue now in hand For there shall goe a voyce and fame and a true opinion of such a man that he hath very worthy parts but comming vpon the first sight to those Ministers which are to preferre him he seemeth to be another manner of man from that which hee truly is And the reason of it is for that like the blinde they only feele touch and examine these wise men when as indeede they should conforme themselues to the settled voyce and receiued opinion of the learned who are better seene in these matters and haue a deeper knowledge of them Anciently the people did meete all together and with a generall and common voyce did nominate him to be their Bishop whom they thought to be the fittest man and most worthy the Episcopall Sea And this was then held the fairest and surest Course For to speake morally it is not likely as we said before that one single man should deceiue so many nor draw the votes and suffrages of all the whole multitude vnto him vnlesse he had parts and abilities deseruing this their approbation Many most holy men and great Prelates as Ambroses Gregories Chrysostomes and other learned and graue Diuines haue receiued their preferments by such Nominations as these But this kinde of Election now some yeares since was reduced esteeming it the fittest and the surest way to the voyces and suffrages of your
of another Councell Chrys hom 10. in Genesim Doubtlesse saith S. Chrysostome this is a businesse of great consequence and we are to insist much thereupon considering that God himselfe doth recommend and repeate it so often vnto vs to the end that it may be imprinted in the hearts of Kings And in Reason of State and matter of gouernment it is the greatest benefit they can do to their Kingdomes And therefore amongst other those great and many fauours which God promised to conferre vpon his people speaking vnto them in the similitude of the Vine he indeareth this as the greatest That he will set a guard about them and Gardiners or vineyard-keepers that shall be within the precincts thereof Hose 2.15 Dabo ei vinitores ex eodem loco I will giue her her Vineyards from thence and the valley of Achor for a doore of hope But my good Lord within the precincts of a Vineyard what can be had there but hedges and Vine-plants Had it not beene better to giue vnto this Vineyard a lusty strong Laborour to dresse and prune it and to keepe and defend it from passengers The Chalde expounds this place very well For in stead of Vinitores he puts Gubernatores Which are Rulers and Presidents And for to be as they ought to be we haue said already that they should be vniforme with the members For if they be the Vine he must likewise be a Vine that must be their Head Christ himselfe that he might be the President and Head of that Apostolicall Councel where the Apostles were as tender plants and had the same proprieties made himselfe a Vine to conforme himselfe vnto them Ego sum vitis vera vos palmites I am the true Vine and yee the branches Ioh. 15.5 To the end that Kings may vnderstand and all the World may know of how great importance it is that the Members and Head Counsailours and Presidents should in their qualities and conditions be very conformable sithence that heerein he would not dispence with himselfe much lesse therefore with others and for this cause Presidents ought still to be chosen out of the same Councells Ex eodem loco eiusdem gentis de numero fratrum suorum Out of the same place the same people and from amongst their brethren And if Counsailours might haue the hope of such increase of honour in their persons it would make them much better then they are and they would study to win themselues credit and to cumply in all things with their obligation seruing with carefullnesse and satisfaction as well to giue their Kings good content as that they againe might take notice thereof and in their greatest occasions imploy them in their seruice This rule did that great gouerner of Gods people Moses obserue who hauing as wee sayd vsed diligence for to seeke out persons which might helpe him furnished with those qualites afore-mentioned made a distribution and diuision amongst them allotting them places and Offices answearable to their Talent And which is worthy the noting that as he himselfe affirmeth in another place the noblest and wisest amongst them he made rulers ouer the rest For when in noblemen concurre the qualities of wisedome and prudence and other the Vertues there is a great deale of reason nay a strong obligation lyes vpon it that Presidentships and the greatest dignities places of honour should be bestowed vpon them especially when not degenerating from the Vertue of their Ancestors but surpassing them therein they haue the aduantage of noblenesse of blood vpon which vertue like a Diamond set in gold shewes it selfe the better and appeares the more beautifull The words of that most wise Law-giuer wheron this discourse will be the better grounded are these Tuli de Tribubus vestris Deus 1.15 viros sapientes nobiles constitui eos Principes Tribunes Centuriones Quinquegenarios ac Decanos qui docerent vos singula I tooke the cheife of your Tribes wise men and knowen and made them Heads ouer ye Captaines ouer thousands and Captaines ouer hundreds and Captaines ouer fifties and Officers amongst your Tribes Out of euery Tribe he chose the worthiest and most sufficient men and made them Heads and Presidents in that gouernment And he that was so zealous of the Lawes and good gouernment valiant Mattathias 1 Mac. 2. in that prouision of Offices which he distributed at his death he said of Simon Scio quod vir consilij est ipsum audite semper And because he was so wise a Counsailour he made him President of the Councell Iudas Machabaeus fortis viribus à juuentute sua Iudas Machabaeus was a valiant man from his youth he had beene alwayes bred vp in the warres Sit vobis princeps militiae and therefore he made him Generall of the Armie For as Plato saith Quilibet ad ea idoneus est inquibus sapit Euery man is fittest for those things Plato wherin he hath best skill Now when kings shall haue found out such fit persons as haue bin by vs propounded they are to distribute order their Councells and Counsailours to appoint their President charging them to keepe euery one his proper place and Station that they enuy not one another nor sue to be preferred to a supremer Councell and to haue a care that each man in his owne Councell be rewarded according to his good seruices For it is impossible but that he that treateth in all businesses must needs erre in some nor can he that is ouer charged with businesses giue good satisfaction vnto all But there are some that loue to double their files would if they could haue a 100. Offices at once pretending that there is want of fit men for those Offices seeking that they may be doubled re-doubled and quadrupled on themselues They are like vnto another Gerion of whom it is sayd that he is in Hell because hee would be Three instead of One What will become then of those that would be twenty yea a hundred nay inioy all the Offices in a Kingdome These had neede of another farre greater Hell if that be not hell enough they haue already With the foresayd distinction and diuision of Councell and Counsailours farre better and more speedily will businesses be dispatched and the King shall be at more ease in his person and more at quiet in Conscience And the Counsailours themselues shall leade an easier life haue lesse time of trouble and more to study on State-businesses whereby with moderate paines they shall giue a quicker Dispatch to those things which come vnder their debating Let this therfore serue as a Conclusion to this discourse that in no kinde of hand Offices be doubled vpon one particular person nor put out of their hinges by the passion or pretension of those that haue a hand therein nor let Counsellours bee chopt and changed from one place to another nor your Councells confounded For this argues but small
imployed in particular Iuntas then publicke Councells touching the persons of these Councells If the number be not sufficient for the dispatch of businesses let it rather be increased then that by this other course he that is Master and Lord of all should likewise make himselfe Master of all wrongs and grieuances and of that which the aggrieued will conceiue of him which batching imagination of theirs will bring forth that Cocatrice of Kings most venemous hatred By that which wee haue both read seene and heard it is easie to be collected that this was meerely an Introduction of the Ambitious who indeauoured by this meanes to haue all things passe through their hands and depend vpon their will And this as if it had beene a thing of inheritance hath gon along in descent from one age to another euen to these present our times That particular Councell which Kings formerly had and in effect all of them still haue that more reserued secret Councell with whom they communicate their inwardest thoughts let it a Gods name be superiour to all the rest which supplying as in those three potentiae or faculties the very place and soule as it were of the Prince it is very fit and conuenient that it should iudge of the actions and Resolutions of all your Ordinary Councells and that they should all wayte vpon this and attend their pleasure and that they should likewise treate of all those great businesses which the Ancient and more especially Augustus Caesar called Arcana imperij Misteries of State and secrets of the kingdome But for the rest let them be left to their Ordinary Councells for so shall they receiue quicker dispatch and all sutes be more easily ended and things carryed with lesse labour of the one and fewer complaints of the other And let it likewise suffice euen the greatest intermedlers of these Ministers that they haue a hand in publicke businesses without offering for their priuate interest to draw things out of their ordinary course and Common tracke whereinto they were put making themselues thereby hated and abhorred of all those that haue any thing to doe with them For at last they will come to sent and winde out their driftes to know all their doublings and shiftings and to watch them at euery turne and when they haue them at aduantage neuer poore Hare was so hardly followed by Hounds as these will be pursu'd to death by them whom the others powerfullnesse with his Prince did seeke to crush and keepe vnder It were well that these great Ministers would weigh and consider with themselues that as they haue their hands already too full of worke so haue they more complaints against them then they would willingly heare of and more enuie at the heeles of them then they can well shake of and therefore if they were wise they would auoyd as much as in them lyes to draw these mischiefes more and more vpon themselues In great resolutions indeed Kings are not to giue way that they should be taken out of the Councells of State and warre nor yet that they should be concluded without them For the glory of all good successefull Actions shall be his as hauing their reuolution and motion from hâ—m as from their Primum Mobile Nor is it any wisedome in a King to lay the misfortunes and vnhappy Accidents that may befall a State vpon his owne shoulders Which will be qualified for such by his Priuy Counsellours as finding themselues iustly offended in that hee hath not imparted his minde vnto them nor communicated with them in the Common-wealths affaires especially if they be of consequence The principall cause why there was ordained a Councell of State was That it might serue to helpe the king whom principally this Body representeth to beare the Popular charge which euermore iudgeth of things by the euents and though now and then they fall out ill and the people thereupon ready to murmure and mutinie yet are they the better bridled and appeased by the power and authoritie of these Counsellours The Office of a King hath trouble inough with it burthen inough and therefore they should not aduise him to lay more vpon himselfe without lawfull and necessary cause And because when I treated of the qualities of Counsellours I reserued those for this place which more properly appertaine vnto them that are of this Counsell I will breifely deliuer what they are and how necessarie for those that are elected thereunto And I will content my selfe with no lesse then those of that great Common-wealths man and Counsellour Pericles And besides to those which I shall now speake of may be reduced those which are to be required in their other Councells your Councell of State is a Councell of Peace and War And as Plato saith is the soule of the Republike and the very Anchor wheron wholy dependeth all the stabilitie firmenesse assurance of the State King and Kingdome it 's perdition or preseruation Whose chiefe aime and principall intent is the good Gouernment of the Common-wealth and that it and euery member thereof should liue happily and be conserued in peace and iustice And for this cause onely are we to make war Ob eam causam suscipienda sunt bella Cicer. Offi. lib. 1. Plat. Dial. 1. de Legibus 1. vt sine iniuria in pace vivatur It is Cicero's saying And the Emperour Charles the fifth was wont to Say That the Councell of State is the whole wisedome power and vnderstanding of the King That it is his Eyes his hands and his feete And that himselfe should often sit in Counsell and without it not to do or conclude any thing that is of any weight or moment The qualities required to make a perfect Counseâ—ler in this Councell are many As that he be a man of much courage truth and integritie and well seene in matters of State and Gouernment publick and priuate of peace and of warre for he is to aduise in all A man of good yeares great vertue much authoritie and of no meane credit and reputation That he be very skilful in those businesses which he treateth That he vnderstand them well and be his Crafts-Master in that facultie That he be of a prompt and sharpe wit That his tongue be well hangd and be able to expresse himselfe so happily that he may be truly vnderstood That he haue a minde free from all by respects that neither Loue nor Feare may detaine him from vttering what he thinketh That he beare an especiall loue and affection to his King That he keepe his hands cleane and not suffer himselfe to be ouercome by couetousnesse For he that in whatsoeuer is propounded presently apprehends what is best and vnderstands what is proffitable and conuenient yet neither knoweth nor hath fitting words to declare himselfe it is all one as if he vnderstood it not And he that can play both these parts passing well yet loueth not his Master his conseruation and augmentation of honour this
man will hardly be true and trusty vnto him and scarcely adiuse him to that which is fitting for him But suppose he hath all these good qualities yet if he giue way to be won by the loue of money and greedinesse of gaine all that shall be treated with him shall be saleable no whit weighing the benefit and authoritie of his King if the insatiable hunger of riches be put in the scale And I say moreouer that he that shall want these two qualities and shall not loue his King and yet loue Couetousnesse though he be indewed with all the rest he shall thereby be so much the worse and more dangerous for hauing his will depraued and his vnderstanding ill affected hauing these two Vices attending on him how much the more shall his sharpnesse of wit be and the greater his force of Eloquence the worse effects will it worke and the more remedilesse Let Counsellours therefore haue these two qualities Loue of the heart and cleannesse of the hand together with good naturall partes as a quicke wit and nimble apprehension for the speedier determining of present businesses and not onely to giue sodaine but sound aduise in them And that in future cases they may be able by naturall discourse to giue a guesse how things are like to succeede as also that they may by good discourse and debating of businesses attaine vnto those things whereof as yet they haue not had particular experience That they be prudent discerners of the better and the worse in Cases doubtfull that they may not be to seeke but to goe through stitch therewith and be prouided for all commers In a word let them be excellent sodaine speakers vpon all occasions assisted as well by a naturall kinde of gift they haue that way as by the exercise of their wit All which will not serue the turne nor make the Mill go so roundly as it would vnlesse there be much amitie amongst them and a conformitie of good agreement and a willing helping and assisting one of another in businesses For from Competitions and Contestations amongst themselues haue insued the losse of Kingdomes and States and other great losses and Calamities Ley. 29. Tit. 9. Part. 2. They must bee of one accord and one will with their King and still aduise him to the best hauing an eye both to him and themselues that they doe not erre or doe any thing contrary to that which is right and iust And then is it to be vnderstood that they beare true loue to their King and Countrie and that they apply themselues to all that which concernes the common good and their owne particular seruice when they take ioy and comfort that they concurre and runne all one way without diuision or distraction And if this vnitie be not amongst them it is to be imagined that they loue not so much the King and State as their owne priuate interest Being thus qualified they shall be fit Ministers and Counsellors for so great a Counsell for they shall therby be able to rid as many businesses as shall be brought before them and giue them good and quicke dispatch well vnderstanding what is needefull to be done and knowing as well how to declare themselues in that which they vnderstand And in this or any other Councell there ought according to Fadrique Furio a care to be had to examine the merits and dismerits of euery one informing themselues of his life behauiour and abilities as also the Actions of those who without suing deserue for their vertue to haue fauour showen them and likewise to take notice of those who desire this preferment And that for this purpose there be a Register or Booke kept of the merceds and fauours to be conferred and of the persons that are well deseruing to the end that those honours and fauours may be thrown vpon them according to the vertue sufficiencie and merits of the men For he that depriues Vertue of that honour that is due thereunto doth in Cato's opinion depriue men of vertue it selfe And when fauours are afforded those which not deserue them or are forborne to be bestowed on those that merit them vertue receiues a great affront and the Common-wealth a notable losse And it will proue the greater if honour be added to the bad and taken from the good and that vice shall be better rewarded then vertue For where she is not esteemed and rewarded the vertuous liue like men affronted and that are banished the Court. King Nabucodonosor Assuerus and others haue kept such a booke as this wherein were commanded to be recorded the seruices that were done them and the persons deseruing to the end they might gratifie them and cast their gracious fauours vpon them And this is very necessary in all well ordred Common-wealths to the end that all might indeauour to take paines and study to deserue well For reward inciteth men to labour And as Salust saith were it not for hope of reward few or none would be good It makes much likewise for the honor and credit of Kings For in no one thing can they gaine themselues greater reputation then by honouring those that are good and vertuous The Romans had likewise another Councell which was called by the name of Censura or Reforming of manners which did not in the Common-wealth permit publicke delinquents which might cause either trouble or scandall to the State and to the end that such ill disposed persons might not escape punishment For where there is neither hope of reward nor feare of punishment there can we haue no good thing no Common-wealth nor no Congregation of men to last and continue when as the good and vertuous are not rewarded nor the lewd and seditious punished For if one part of the body be infirme and be not holpen in time the maladie extends it selfe and goes creeping and spreading it selfe ouer all the whole body And therefore it is fitting that Ministers should haue an eye to see what vices what disorders what ill corrupted manners disturbe and molest a Kingdome and to haue a care to cleanse and cure the Common-wealth of them dealing with them for the publicke good as wise Physitians do for the Bodyes-safety Who in the curing of infirmities for the securing of the whole cauterize this or that member and if neede be cut it off Now your infirmities and diseases which are quickly knowne are as easily cured a great meanes of the remedy resting in the discouerie but those which with time waxe olde grow in a manner incurable the Aliment and fomenting of them consisting most in their concealement For as in suffering and dissembling a sore it but rankles the more and of ill becomes worse So to beare with insolent offenders and to winke at their foule faultes is as if a man should fauour a wound too much wherby as it so do they daily grow worse and worse For it is too too well knowne that to malignant dispositions the more lenitie is but
punished with whom the fault is truly found For when the subiects iust Complaints are not heard besides that his conscience is charged and clogg'd therewith the Ministers themselues become thereby much more absolute and more insolently Imperious Insomuch that the subiect seeing that they are neither heard nor eased of their grieuances they grow desperate And what fruites despaire bring forth I neede not tell kings that know either men or bookes There is not in holy Scripture any one thing more often repeated then the particular care which God hath of the oppressed In the seuenty second Psalme where the Greatnesses of King Salomon are set forth but more particularly those magnificencies of that true King Salomon Iesus Christ whose figure he was amongst other his Excellencies for the which he ought to be much estemed beloued and adored of all the Kings of the earth and serued by all the nations of the world this which followeth is not the least Psal 72.11 Adorabunt eum omnes reges terrae omnes gentes seruient ei quia liberauit pauperem à potente pauperem cui non erat adiutor All Kings shall worship him all nations shall serue him For he shall deliuer the poore when he cryeth the needy also and him that hath no helper And in another place he makes the like repetition Ex vsuris iniquitate redimet animas eorum Propter miseriam inopum et gemitum pauperum Psal 12.5 nunc exurgam dicit dominus Now for the oppression of the needy and for the sighes of the poore I will vp sayth the Lord and will set at libertie him whom the wicked hath snared And in the first Chap. of Esay it seemeth that God doth proclaime a plenary Indulgence and full Iubile vnto those Kings and Gouernours who apply themselues to the easing of the oppressed Isay 1.18 Subuenite oppresso iudicate populo defendite viduam et venite arguite me dicit dominus si fuerint peccata vestra vt coccineum quasi nix dealb ab untur at si fuerint rubra quasi vermiculus velut lana alba erunt Relieue the oppressed iudge the fatherlesse and defend the widowe though your sinnes were as crymson they shall be made white as snow though they were red like skarlet they shall be as wool you see then that all sinnes are forgiuen that King that is a Louer of Iustice and a friend vnto the poore and needy that takes paines in relieuing the oppressed and in defending the widowe and protecting the distressed They may stand with God in iudgement alleage for themselues his Iustice his righteousnesse who haue dealt iustly vprightly with their subiects and mantained the weake and needy against those powerfull Tyrants which seeke to swallow them vp as your greater fishes doe the lesser Qui deuorant plebem meam Psal 14.4 sicut escam panis Who eate vp my people as they eate bread And howbeit Iustice ought to be one and the same both to poore and rich yet God doth more particularly recommend vnto their care and charge that of the poore For as it is in the Prouerb Quiebra sa soga por lo mas delgado Where the corde is slendrest there it breaketh soonest For a powerfull man will defend himselfe by his power and great men by their greatnesse And would to God that they had no more to backe them then a iust defence for then the poore should not neede to stand in feare of them But that is now to passeable in these times which the Apostle Saint Iames found fault with in his Iam. 2.6 Quod diuites per potentiam opprimunt vos et ipsi trahunt vos ad iudicium That the rich oppresse the poore by tyrannie and draw them before the iudgement-seates When Kings doe cumply with this their obligation when they free the oppressed and defend the wronged Orphane and Widowe God sends downe vpon them his light his grace and other extraordinary gifts whereby they and their states are conserued and maintayned Whose ruine and perdition doth euermore succeede through the default of him that gouerneth for if Kings would gouerne according vnto equitie and iustice they and their kingdomes should be as it were in a manner perpetuall and immortall For as it is in the Prouerbs of Salomon Rex Prou. 29.14 qui iudicat in veritate pauperes Thronus eius in aeternum firmabitur A King that iudgeth the poore in truth his throne shall be established for euer Whereas on the contrary most certaine it is that the King and kingdome haue but a short continuance where the Iudges and Ministers are swayed by passion and thereby the subiects abused It is the saying of the holy Ghost Eccl. 10.8 Regnum à gente in gentem transfertur propter iniustitias et iniurias et contumelias et dolos Because of vnrighteous dealing and wrongs and riches gotten by deceit the Kingdome is transferred from one people to another No one thing drawes such assured and apparent perils of warre vpon kingdomes as the wrongs that are dâ—ne to the poorer sort of subiects Clamor eorum in aures domini Exercituum introiuit Iam. 5.4 The cryes of them haue entred into the eares of the Lord of Hosts And there before his Counsell of Warre they present their Memorialls and their Petitions with such a loud language and discomposed deliuery that they pierce through his eares when they call vpon him saying since thou art the Lord God of Hoasts raise thou Armies both in Heauen and Earth and reuenge thou those the open wrongs that are offred vnto vs. And these Petitions commonly finde there such quicke dispatch that presently hee nominateth Captaines leuieth forces and formeth a mightie Armie of enemies to disturbe and destroy that kingdome And though some may conceiue that the cause of those and the like troubles are the crosse Incounters of Kings and Princes amongst themselues or the greedy desire of warre for spoyle and pillage which pardoneth no manner of persons yet in realtie of truth it is not so but the wrongs of Ministers exercised vpon the poore the fatherlesse and the widowe are the occasion that huge and powerfull Hostes of enemies in their reuenge enter the gates of a Kingdome and make wast and hauocke thereof For this cause were the Amalechites captiuated and put to the sword and for the same likewise the soldiers entred into Iudaea and sackt it Whence we draw this cleare and conclusiue truth that the best and the safest course to conserue a kingdome to gaine others and to abound in riches is to vndoe wrongs done not to dissemble iniuries to punish thefts and robberies and to execute iustice towards all Initium viae bonae Prou 16.51 facere iustitiam The first step to goodnesse is to doe Iustice For without it the foot that sets forward falls backward and a King hath not where withall to relye on his power his forces his wisedome and experience in gouernment
if he be defectiue in this For kingdomes last no longer then Iustice lasteth in them And true it is that there is no winde shut vp in the bowells of the earth which causeth therein such violent effects of Earth-quakes as in those kingdomes which thinke themselues surest and firmest doe the complaints and greiuous sighes of the wronged poore And therefore let none whatsoeuer be they Kings great Ministers or Counsellours of State slightly reckon of the cries of the poore For they referring their reuenge to God they draw him downe from Heauen to right their quarrell And the basest and most barbarous man in the world when he sees himselfe wronged and can finde none vpon earth to pleade his cause or to doe him right he presently lifts vp his eyes vnto Heauen and makes his addresse vnto God assuring himselfe that his helpe will come from thence And it was well said of a Wise man That the wronged are like vnto those that are ready to be drowned who if they fasten vpon any thing neuer let it goe so these men when they are in danger to be sunke by being forcibly kept vnder water by the oppressours hand lay fast hold on complaints cryes sighes and teares as the last remedy allotted them by God who saith That he will heare the petitions and receiue the Memorialls of the afflicted which are written with teares A maxilla enim ascendunt vsque ad caelum Ecel For from the cheeke they ascend vp to heauen They trill downe the cheekes till they fall to the ground and from thence they mount vp as high as Heauen for being water they rise as much as they fall And when God sees they haue reason on their side and that they onely call vnto him for iustice it being so proper an Attribute vnto him in the end he grants and signes their request Nor is it much that he should shew them this fauour his bowells being moued to compassion in seeing his creatures in such extremities of affliction Let Kings therefore beware and take heede and their Ministers bethinke themselues that in such a case an Inundation of teares is of more force and more danger then that of the swiftest Torrent vpon a mighty flood CHAP. XVIII Of the sense of hearing And of the Audiences which Kings ought to giue PVrsuing stil the Metaphore of the head whereon hitherto we haue insisted occasion is now offered vnto vs to treat of the sense of Hearing which hath some certaine excellencies aboue the rest For thereby we come to vnderstand the hidden secrets of the heart and the most inward thoughts of the Soule which being clad and apparrelled with that out-side and exterior part the Voyce and put vpon the Hearing of that person with whom we talke and discourse it knoweth that which the vnderstanding of neither Men nor Angels once is able to comprehend And that which we haue spoken of the sence of the sight ought likewise to be said of this For as far forth as is the perceiuing of a Voyce or some other noyse or sound by the hearing so farre is it common as well to brutes beastes as to Men. But it is proper only vnto Man by hearing a significatiue voyce to discourse thereof and to vnderstand the inward conceipt of him that speaketh And from hence will we draw what ought to be heard by the Head of a Common-wealth who is not onely to content himselfe with hearing the bare externall Voyce but to heare it in such maner as the holy Scripture telleth vs God heareth the voyces of those which call vpon him in the time of their trouble which is a vsuall and plaine kinde of Language in the Diuine Writt And when it is sayd that God heareth vs it is ioyntly sayd that he graunteth our petition Whereof many Testimonies are found in the Psalmes of Dauid and in diuerse other places CÃ um inuocarem Psal 4.1 ibi ver 4. exaudiuit me Deus iustitiae meae Dominus exaudiet me cum clamauero ad cum c. The God of my righteousnesse heard me when I called vpon him And anone after The Lord will heare when I call vnto him In the twentie one of Genesis it is there twice repeated that God heard the voyce of Agars childe who was Abrahams bond-woman Gen. 21.17 which the mother had left all alone in the wildernesse of Bersheba vnder a certaine tree and sitting downe ouer against him a farre off about a bow-shoote that shee might not see him perish for want of water Dixit enim non videbo morientem puerum For shee said I will not see the death of the childe In the very next Verse following a double mention is made That God heard the voyce of the childe Which was in effect to say that he did releiue him and refresh his thirsty Soule and granted that which the infant and his mother desired And the Apostle Saint Paul in that Epistle which hee wrote to the Hebrewes saith of our Sauiour Christ That Offerens preces ad deum cum clamore velido Heb. 5.7 et lachrymis exauditus est pro sua reuerentia Offring vp prayers and supplications to God the father with strong crying and teares he was also heard in that which he feared Which was all one as if he should haue said That his father dispatcht him and granted what he petitioned in that his prayer So that in rigour of holy Writ Gods Hearing and Gods Granting is all one But in that common Commerce with men and in that style which Kings and their Ministers vse it is not so For they heare and hearing answer that they haue heard that which they neuer meane to grant And there is no worse Answer for a suitor then to make this answer to his petition That it hath beene heard And it is very fit that they should reply in this kinde of phrase for thereby is giuen to be vnderstood the great obligation they haue to heare as well those that haue iustice as those that pretend to haue it although they haue it not In signification whereof the two eares are placed on the two contrarie sides of the head one opposite to the other because affording one eare to the Plaintiffe we must reserue the other for the defendant And because God would haue it so that Hearing should be the ordinary meanes for the receiuing of the diuine Light and attaining to the knowledge of those supreme truthes by so superexcellent and high a gift as that of faith Rom. 10.14 Quomodo credent ei quem non crediderunt How shall they beleeue in him of whom they haue not heard As also that Kings may haue an intire light of humane Truthes it is requisite that they should lend a willing care to those that craue Audience of them For in this sense of all other saith Saint Bernard Truth hath it's seate and Mansion Bern. in Cont. Ser. 28. In auditu veritaes Truth is in Hearing And in example of
this hee alleageth that which passed betwixt good old Isaac and his two sonnes Esau and Iacob who by reason of his olde age fayling very much in all the rest of his senses that of his hearing continued still in it's full perfection The other deceiu'd him Gen. 27.22 and this onely told him the Truth Vex quidem vex Iacob manus autem maâ—â—s sunt Esau The voyce is Iaecobs voyce but the hands are the hands of Esau Wherein he was out In Gods Schoole where faith is professed great reckoning is made of Hearing Quia fides ex auditu Because faith comes by hearing Rom. 10 17. For a man may heare and beleeue though he cannot see But in the Schoole of the world we must haue all these and all is little inough We must see heare and beleeue And when Kings haue both seene and heard and throughly informed themselues of the whole State of the busines that they may not be deceiued in their iudgement then let them presently proceede to touch it as we say with the hand to fall roundly to worke and in that maner and forme as shall seeme most fitting to finish and make an end of it Psal â—02 19.20 Dominâ— de coeli in terram aspexit vt audiret gemitus compeditorum c. The Lord looked downe from the height of his Sanctuary Out of the Heauen did the Lord behold the earth that he might heare the mourning of the prisoner and deliuer the children of death This looking downe of the Lord from the highest Heauens and from the throne of his glory vpon the earth to heare the grieuous groanings and pitifull complaints of poore wretched creatures which call and cry vnto him for iustice should my thinkes be an admirable good lesson for Kings that they should loose somewhat of their sportes and recreations and of that which delighteth the eye and the eare to bestow them both on those who humbly petition him that he will be pleased to both see and heare their cause Of Philip King of Macedon though some put it vpon Demetrius it is reported by Plutarke in his life that going one day abroad to take his pleasure and pastime an olde woman came vnto him besought him to heare her and to do her Iustice But he excusing himselfe and telling her he was not now at leysure to heare her shee made answer Proinde neâ— Rex quidem esse velis Sir if you be not at leysure to heare your subiects will not giue them leaue to speake vnto you leaue to be king for there is no reason he should be a king that cannot finde a time to cumply with his dutie Conuinced with this reason without any more adoe he presently gaue a gracious Audience not onely to her but many moe besides For Kings which doe not heare by consequence do not vnderstand And not vnderstanding they cannot gouerne And not gouerning they neither are nor can be Kings The Cretans painted their God Iupiter without cares because he was that supreme king that gaue lawes and iudged all And therefore ought to cary an equall eare indifferently to heare all parties after one and the same selfe manner Other some did allow him eares but so placed them withall that they might heare those least that were behinde him Which was held a fault in their God as likewise it is in Kings not to heare any but thosse that stand before them or side by side are stil weighting at their elbow Kings should heare as many as they possibly can and which is the onely comfort of suitors in that gratious and pleasing kinde of maner that no man should depart discontented from their feete being a maine fundamentall cause to make all men to loue reuerence and esteeme them and likewise to oblige Princes to lend the more willing and patient eare to their subiects And of this subiect Pliny in commendation of his Emperour Traiane tells vs that amidst so many cares of so great an Empire as his was he spent a great part of the day in giuing Audience and with such stilnes and quietnes as if he had beene idle or had nothing to doe And that he knowing the content that his subiects tooke in their often seeing of him and speaking with him so much the more liberally and longer he afforded them occasion and place for to inioy this their content For nothing doth so much please and satisfie the heart of a Prince as to conceiue that he is beloued and generally well affected of all his subiects Let a King then this course being taken perswade himselfe that his people loueth him and desireth to see him and to speake dayly if it were possible with him And that they take a great deale of comfort that they haue seene him and he heard them And that of two things which all desire To wit To be heard and relieued The first intertaines and comfortes the suitor and makes him with a cheerefull minde to hope well of the second Let him heare though it be but as he passes by from place to place and let him not let any day passe without giuing ordinary Audience at a set hower and for a set time And in case any shall require a more particular and priuate Audience a gods name let him grant it them For euery one of these to conceiue the worst cannot deceiue him aboue once And it is to be supposed that they will not be so vnciuill or so foolishly indiscreete as to craue the Kings priuate eare but in a case of necessitie or where there is some especiall cause or extraordinary reason for it And I farther affirme that Audience being giuen in this maner things will be carryed more smoothly and with more ease on either part For that which breakes down your Damn's in your riuers is the detention of the water And the detayning of a Subiect from the presence speech of his King is that which doth dishearten and deiect the mindes of your negociants and supplicants And when they see they so seldome haue Audience and are put off from day to day and that it costes them so deare before they can be heard they will while they may make vse of that present occasion and then they talke world without end and neuer giue ouer because they are afraid they shall neuer haue the like opportunitie againe But when those suitors shall know that they shall haue ordinary hearing on such dayes and such a set houre and for so long a time they will content themselues with giuing much lesse trouble to their owne tongues and his Maiesties eares In a word no man will denie but say with me that it is iust and meete That he that is to rule and remedy all ought likewise to heare all and that all men should know as much for for the good and hope thereof they principally obay and loue their King And besides a great part of that concurse and tedious trouble of Negociants will by this
meane be cut off For vnlesse it be in â—ase of necessitie or some extraordinary occasion no man I assure my selfe will be so vnmanerly as to offer to weary and tire out his King For it is naturally inbred in all to feare and respect Greatnesse And therefore will not cause molestation to so great a Maiestie but when they cannot finde any other meanes to negociate In conclusion facile Audience in Kings is such a vertue as doth supply and that with a great deale of aduantage the defect of many other vertues And where there is no neede of that supply it serues to giue a greater luster and perfection to the rest the subiect not hauing any other thing that he more craueth from or desireth in his King And questionlesse vse and custome will make it more easie though at first it may seeme somewhat troublesome vnto him King Antigonus who was father to the great Demetrius was a proud ambitious couetous cruell and effeminate Prince and yet notwithstanding all these vices and other his weakenesses and infirmities his subiects did beare with them and did truly serue and obay him because he did neuer refuse to giue them Audience gaue them kinde and faire answeres suffred himselfe to bee seene often of them and did neuer shew to any man a frowning looke or discontented Countenance This facile giuing of Audience doth bring likewise with it another benefit not so well vnderstood perhaps as it ought to be by Kings and their fauourites Which is That thereby they receiue the priuate aduertisements of particular persons in such a conuenient time and season as is fitting for them For in negociating by retarding this Audience either the occasion is ouerslipt or he wearyed out that should aduertise And because the aduertiser as there is great reason for it would be oath that another man should goe away with the thankes and gratification which is due vnto himselfe for his care and diligences vsed therein he will negociate it by his owne rather them anothers meanes that he may not loose both his thankes and his labour And because many times this Aduertiser either dareth not or holdeth it not fit to trust a paper therewith or other mens eares all this may easily be excused with a facile Audience King Assuerus Ester 2.11 by knowing in time the treason which was plotted against him by Bigthan and Taresh two of his Eunuches which kept the doore had his life thereby preserued And Publicola Plut. in vitae Publicolae the Roman Consull saued his Country by preuenting in time the conspiracie of Tarquinius by giuing easie accesse and Audience to Vindicius an ordinary seruing man who bewrayed vnto him the treason of the Aquilij and Vitellij together with Brutus his sonnes And the like successe had Pelopidas amongst the Grecians as you may reade in Plutarke where he much recommendeth in either of them both Publicola and Pelopidas their kinde and courteous vsing of men when they came to speak with them and the easie and patient eare they had from them Whereas on the contrary diuerse Princes haue vtterly ouerthrowen themselues and their kingdomes by their hardnesse and harshnesse in this kinde and haue lost many a great and faire occasion because they would not heare and examine in time those aduertisements which were giuen them recommended to their better consideration Last of all admit that this should not be altogether so iust and conuenient a course as I haue here deliuered vnto you yet notwithstanding because all men wish desire it my thinks this one consideration in all good reason of State should suffice to haue it be held to be both iust and conuenient For it is not possible that all both good and bad should erre in this desire And I dare be bold to say that all doe hunger and thirst cry and dye for this except it be some few who may feather their nest by the contrary whose thriuing and increase of wealth doth ordinarily consist in clapping a lock on the kings eare barring the doore to his hearing so that men can hardly with a great deale of difficulty come to speak vnto him And besides the foresayd benefits by debarring men of easie accesse to the king all requitall of their good seruice either by gracious words or deedes is quite taken from them which certainly is a iewell so worthy the wearing that euery one would willingly haue it for himself And if kings do not know thus much or that they are not told therof it is by reason of that old mischeife which they suffer by not hearkening vnto truth either in their Counsellours or those Auisos that are represented vnto them or because those that are neere about his Maiestie interessed in his fauour will not let him be acquainted with any thing saue what they know wil please his humour giue him most coÌ„tent till the busines itself breake out the errour like an imposthume beginns to grow ripe and the wound as we say shewes it selfe then and neuer till then is the smart of it felt Which is ill for the kingdom worse for the King For in these delicts and excesses the King in the peoples conceit shal be the only man in fault he that must pay for all Dangerous is the State of Kings dangerous the times but more dangerous the remedy the non-conueniencie for the now putting it in practise In ordinary and publick Audiences let not Kings permit either Ministers Counsellours or Embassadors to enter for it wil but make the Commons complaine that that is taken away from them which is theirs And they on the other side being principall persons will mutter and grumble thinking themselues wronged and their worth vnderualewed to haue all one Audience with the ordinary sorte of people So that with one the same Act he discontents all of them Let there be dayes houres appointed for the one the other naturalls strangers let euery man know his set day and houre For this being without distinction what doth it serue for but multitude and confusion And to haue all of all sortes to assist there continually to heare and nourish the Complaints of particular persons and to make report thereof by Letters to their seuerall nations and Countries and to put a Glosse vpon them to shew their owne wit And though this at the first sight may seeme to be a thing of small importance yet such a time may be taken that it may proue a matter of great consequence CHAP. XIX He goes on with the same matter Treating of the Audiences of Ministers and Counsellours KIngs saith Xenophon haue many eares For they heare by their owne and by those of their Fauourites Ministers Counsellours And it is no more then they stand in neede of For they must heare all Great and Small Naturall and Stranger without acceptation of persons these as well as those and deny no man their eares lest they
Rom. 1.14 I am debtor both to the wise men and to the vnwise In the History of the Kings is set downe the dissimulation wherewith the women of Tecoa spake vnto King Dauid and how importunate and tedious she was in telling her tale and withall the Kings great patience in hearing her out and his not being offened with the craft and cunning wherewith shee came vnto him albeit the businesse was of that weight and moment that his great Captaine Ioab durst not propound it vnto him Audi tacens Eccl. 22.7 simul quaerens Giue eare and be still and when thou doubtest aske This Counsaile concerneth all but more particularly Kings and their Ministers who are to heare and be silent to aske and aske againe till they haue fully informed themselues of the truth of the case For this is rather an honour then dishonour vnto Kings and great Ministers Prou. 25.1 For as the holy Ghost saith Gloria regum est in vestigare sermonem The Kings honour is to search out a thing Of him that speaketh not nor asketh a question of him that speaketh it may be conceiued that he doth not heare him For these two sences are so neere of kinne that as the Philosopher obserueth he that is borne dumbe is also deafe And not onely this but likewise that the speech being taken away the hearing is lost with it The cause whereof according to Lactantius is for that the Organ by which the Ayre is receiued and wherewith the Voyce is formed holds such Correspondencie with that which goes vnto the hearing that if the first be shut or stopt the exercise of the second is likewise hindred Vpon information and hearing followeth in the next place doing of Iustice whereof we will treate in the Chapters following CHAP. XX. Of the Vertue of Iustice the naturall sister and Companion of Kings WEe told you in the former Chapter that Hearing was the precisest and directest meanes for the doing of Iustice And therefore falleth fitly out here to treate thereof Your Ancient Hieroglyfinists as also your Saints in their writings treating of this Vertue compare it to a payre of weights or scales with it's two ballances And it seemeth that Nature herselfe made this Ectypum or Exemplar this portrayture or delineation shadowing it out in euery one of vs by giuing vs two eares like vnto those two balances whose truth dependeth on the Examen or Aequilibrium that tongue or needle which stands vppermost in the beame of the ballance making my application in this maner that the two eares standing like two ballances on either side of the head they haue their rule of truth from the supremest and highest part thereof where stands the tongue or needle of reason and the iudgement of those things to their true weight and measure which are put into these Intellectaull ballances To discourse therefore of Iustice is very essentiall to that which hath already beene treated touching a Common-wealth For as we told you in our very first Chapter A Republick or Common-wealth is a Congregation of many men subiect to the same Lawes and Gouernment which is not possible to bee conserued if Iustice therein shall be wanting Which giues to euery one that which is his owne keepes men within the bounds of good Order and Discipline and bridles those by reason which transported by their vnruly appetites like headstrong iades would liue without it admitting no curbe no manner of controll but following that Law of Viuat qui vincit Let him weare a Crowne that winn's it If Men would but obserue that first rule of the Law natural consecrated by the mouth of our diuine Master Christ Quod tibi non vis Math. 7.12 alteri ne feceris Et quaecunque vultis vt faciant vobis homines eadem facite illis Offer not that to another which thou wouldst not haue donne to thy selfe And therefore whatsoeuer ye would that men should doe to you euen so doe yee to them There needed no other bullwarkes or fortifications to liue quietly and peaceably in the world But after this same Lolium crept in this Tare of Meum and Tuum the Cooler as Chrysostome calls it of Charitie the Seminarie of discordes and dissention and the fountaine of all mischiefe men found themselues obliged nay inforced to seeke out some such meanes or maner of liuing whereby euery one might quietly and peaceably inioy that which he held to be his owne And for this cause they resolued to leade a ioynt life together submitting themselues to one and the same Lawes and subiecting themselues to one and the same King who should likewise keepe and obserue them and by iustice conserue nourish and maintaine all other necessary vertues for the augmentation and conseruation of Common wealths And for this end was giuen vnto Kings that great power which they haue holding in one hand the ballance of Iustice and in the other the sword of power Which that naked weapon doth represent which is borne before them when they enter with authoritie and State into their Cities And alluding either vnto this or those ancient Insignia of your Iudges the Apostle Saint Paul saith Rom. 13.3 Vis non timere potestatem Bonum fac non enim sine causa gladium portat Wilt thou be without feare of the power Doe well For the Magistrate beareth not the sword for nought Herodotus tells vs that which Cicero deliuereth vnto vs. Cicero Eadem fuit legum constituendarum causa quae regum That one and the selfe same was the cause and Motiue of ordaining Lawes and Creating Kings Whence it followeth that there neither can be any Common-wealth without Iustice nor any one that can deserue to be a King vnlesse he maintaine and conserue it And though he may seeme to be a King yet in realitie of truth he is not Because he wants that principall attribute that should make him be so As a painted man which is no man cannot properly be said to be a Man The holy Scripture styles those Hypocrites which doe not administer Iustice for they haue no more in them of Kings then the apparent or outward shew as the Scepter and the Crowne and other their regall roabes and ornaments And it is worthy your consideration and it is no more then what their holy Doctors and learned Interpreters of diuine Letters haue obserued That a good King and Iustice are brothers and sisters and so neerely twinn'd that you can scarce make mention of the one without the other The Prophet Esay representing the feruent desire of all the world and the voyces and cryes of the Patriarkes who with such instance and earnestnesse did call for the comming of the Sonne of God saith Rorate coeli desuper Esay 45.2 nubes pluant iustum iustitia eriatur simul Ye heauens send the deaw from aboue and let the cloudes drop downe righteousnesse let the earth open and let saluation and Iustice growe forth let it
Their Vare or rod of Iustice must not be too short for some too long for other some Let Right strike the stroake let no man be deny'd Iustice For this is to be Kings and Iudges this to be common fathers to all poore and rich great small meane and mighty Deut. 1.16 Audite illos saith God et quod iustum est iudicate siue Ciuis ille sit siue perigrinus nulla erit distantia per sonarum ita paruum audietis vt magnum nec accipietis cuiusquam personam quia dei iudicium est Heare the controuersies betweene your brethren and iudge righteously betweene euery man and his brother and the stranger that is with him Yee shall haue no respect of 〈◊〉 in iudgement but shall heare the small as well as the great ye shall not feare the face of man for the Iudgement is Gods CHAP. XXII Of Iustice Distributiue IT appertayneth to distributiue Iustice as we told you in the former Chapter to repart and deuide in a conuenient and fitting manner the goods the honours dignities and Offices of the Common-wealth For as Dionysius saith Bonum est diffusinum Good is a diffusiue kinde of thing it is a scatterer and of it selfe a spreader of it selfe And by how much the greater the good is by so much with the greater force doth it communicate it selfe And hence doth it come to passe that God is so liberall and so exceeding bountifull as he is that I may not say prodigall with men by communicating himselfe vnto them by all possible meanes euen to the communicating of himselfe by that most excellent and highest kinde of manner that he could possible deuise which was by giuing himselfe to himselfe and by submitting himselfe so low as to become true man that man might be exalted so high as to be made equall with God by that ineffable and diuine vnion which the Diuines call Hypostaticall So that you see that Good in its owne condition nature hath this propertie with it to be communicable by so much the more by how much the more great it is And herein kings ought to be like vnto God whose place they supply here on earth for certainly by so much the more properly shall they participate of good Kings by how much the more they shall haue of this 〈…〉 qualitie And so much the neerer shall they resemble God with by how much the more liberalitie they shall repart and diffuse these outward goods whose distribution appertaineth vnto them And â—o him cannot the name of King truely sute who hath not alwayes a willing minde and as it were a longing desire to communicate himselfe Now for to temper and moderate this generall longing and inflamed desire this so naturall and proper and appetite of bestowing and diuiding the riches and common goods of the Common-wealth this part of Iustice which they call Distributiue was held the most necessary Which Aristotle says either is or ought to be in a King as in such a Lordly subiect and person to whom this repartition and communication properly belongeth Wherein aboue all other things Kings ought to vse most circumspection prudence and care for that therein they vsually suffer most cosenage and deceit For in regard that to giue is in it selfe so pleasing and delightfull a thing and so properly appertaining to their greatnesse and State they doe easily let loose the reines to this noble desire and send giftes this way and that way in such poste haste that within a few dayes they run themselues out of all and draw dry not onely the Kings particular wealth and treasure but the riches of the whole kingdome were they neuer so great So that what is done in this kinde with so much content and pleasure ought to be done but now and then for such great courtesies and extraordinary kindnesses must not be made too common for feare of drawing on a dis-esteeme of them nor done but in their due time and season not vnaduisedly beforehand and vpon no merit or desert but when others want and necessitie and his owne honour and noblenesse shall oblige him to expresse his bounty And in good sooth there is not any Moathe which doth so consume nor any Caterpiller or Grasse-hopper that doth so crop and destroy the power of well doing and the vertue of Liberalitie as the loose hand that can hold nothing and in a lauish and disproportionable manner scatters it's Donatiues with so vnequall a distribution that the dignitie of the gift is drowned in the indiscretion of the giuer And therefore as it is in the Spanish Prouerb which speakes very well to this purpose Parâ— dar y tener seso es menester A very good braine it will craue to know when to spend when to saue Yet mistake me not I beseech you for it is no paâ—â— of my meâ—ning noâ— did it euer come within my thought or desire to perswade Kings to be close fisted and couetous a Vice to be hated and abhorred in all men but in them much more That which I say it That to the end that may not be wanting vnto Kings which doth so much importe them and is so proper vnto them as to giue rewards and bestow fâ— it is fit that they should doe these things so that they may be able to doe them often And according to the olde saying To giue so at one time as we may giue aâ— another Your Trees in holy Scripture are sometimes taken for the Hieroglyffe or Embleme of Kings for that they are in some things like vnto them Wherof we shall speak hereafter But that which makes now for our present purpose is That the tree shewing such a laâ—genes spreadingnes and bountifullnesse in discouering it a fruit through it's boughes and branches and it 's inuiting vs and presenting it's prouision vnto vs first in the flower and blossome to the end wee may come to gather that fruit which yeerely it bringeth forth in its due time and season and yet notwithstanding hideth and concealeth it's rootes all that it can because there lyes that fountaine from whence all this good doth spring As also for that if in that part it should suffer any hurt or detriment all the rest would cease nor would it flourish and fructifie any more And I am of opinion that 〈◊〉 Kings cannot content themselues with conferring of fauors and bestowing of gifts out of those fruites and 〈◊〉 â—s Which shall arise out of their yearely reuenewes but that the very rents rayzes Rayz is properly the roote of a tree or any other plant Metophorictlly Rayzes are inheritances or possessions in lands houses or immouable goods because these cannot be rooted out nor remoued from place to place as your moueable goods may be Bienâ— rayzes del Reyno is Crowne Land which neither can nor ought to be alienated Conarr verb. Rayzes b. Iuro reales is a certaine royall rent raised throughout a whole Kingdome so called à Iure for the
22. Aug. lib. 5. de Ciuit. cap. 24. Isid lib. 3. Sent. cap. 52. S. Th. 2. 2. q. 137 art 2. ad 2. what remedy in this case is to be vsed Saint Ierom and Saint Austen are of opinion that a King by his owne person is to punish and premiate to execute chasticement with iustice and to mitigate it with mercy Nor is it vnworthy our consideration nor lyable to inconueniencie that a King should represent two persons so contrary in shew as iudging with Iustice and Mercie For two vertues cannot bee contrary And as the Saints and holy Doctors say and they are in the right Mercie doth not hinder the execution of Iustice but it moderateth the crueltie of the punishment And it is very necessary in a good Iudge that hee should haue a true and faithfull paire of balance in his hands and in either scale to put rigor and equitie that hee may know how to correct the one by the other The Kings of Portugall especially Don Iuan the third did vse to iudge Capitall crimes accompanied with his Councell and were alway accounted fathers of the people because with them Iustice and Mercie walked hand in hand shewing themselues iust in punishing the fault and mercifull in mitigating the punishment By which meanes they were of all both feared and beloued And let not Kings perswade themselues that this doth lessen their authoritie and take of from their greatnesse but giues an addition and the oftner they sit in iudgement they shall doe God the more seruice and the Kingdome more good And in conscience the surest and safest course for that reciprocall obligation which is between the King and his subiects For they owe obedience seruice and acknowledgement to him as their Lord and Master And he vnto them Iustice Defence and Protection For to this end and purpose doe they pay him so many great Tributes and Taxes Nor is it enough for him to doe it by others but he must also doe it by himselfe For neither that great Gouernor of Gods people Moses nor any other after him is in all the whole body of the Bible to be found that euer yet condemned the occupation of iudging the people to bee vnworthy royall Maiestie nor contrarie to the reputation of a King I know no other preiudice in it saue that it is impossible for one sole man to vndergoe so great a taske And this impossibilitie ariseth from the multitude of subiects and in that case they aduise That a King should not wholly take away his hand from the doing of Iustice but that the lesser and more ordinary businesses hee should remit and referr them to different Ministers and the weightier causes take to his owne charge and be present in person when they come to be sit vpon and determined as formerly haue done the wisest and greatest Monarkes that euer were in the world Who did euer equall King Salomon in wisedome greatnesse and Maiestie yet did hee hold it no disgrace vnto him to humble himselfe to heare suitors iudge their causes and to doe them Iustice The Kings of the Hebrew people were called Iudges because they did glorie in nothing so much as to heare and iudge the people And in all Nations this hath alwayes beene the principall Office appertaining vnto Kings And the Holy Ghost saith That the King Prou. 29.14 that faithfully iudgeth the poore his throne shall be established for euer §. III. That it much importeth Kings to haue the good Loue and affection of their Subiects KIngs as already hath beene sayd are the Heads of their Kingdomes Their Estates serue them as Members Without which it is impossible they should be that which their name speakes them And therefore it is not onely conuenient but necessarie that they should seeke to gaine the good wills of all suting themselues though they force their owne to the nature of their subiects and beholding them as if they were his children Which is the best course to keepe them well affected and contented and to be beloued and obayed by them Which they may easily doe if they will but thinke themselues that they are sheepheards and fathers of those people which God hath recommended vnto them easing them of those wrongs and grieuances which they vniustly suffer laying no more vpon them then they are able to beare suffring them when reason shall require to take their ease and their quiet and helping to sustaine them when they grow poore and are decayd Plato tells vs That for a Prince to be good and to be beloued of all hee must bestow all his loue and his whole heart vpon the Common-wealth his will on the Gods his secret on his friends and his Time on businesses For by thus reparting himselfe with all he shall haue a part in all by all of them comming to vnite themselues with him Onely in this good Correspondency of Loue betweene Kings and their subiects wise Periander placeth all the safetie and good fortune of Kings and Kingdomes Agesilaus King of Lacedaemon was once askt the question How a King might liue secure For that it is oftentimes seene that neither multitude of seruants nor a guard of Halbardiers can defend them from violence To which demand hee returned this answer Si suis populis ita imperet vt parentes filijs If he so rule ouer his people as a father doth ouer his children The King that loueth his subiects and is againe beloued by them neede no guarde they are his guard For Loue where it is true and faithfull plainesheth the knottiest peece of timber smootheth the roughest and most vnhewen disposition and makes all faire safe and peaceable It is a most strong wall and more durable yea then Kings themselues With this no difficulty can offer it selfe vnto them which they may not ouercome no danger whose impetuousnesse they may not oppose no command which they will not obay For as Kings desire no more of their subiects but to be well serued by them so subiects pretend nothing from their Kings but to be beloued by them And indeede the one dependeth on the other For if a King loue not his subiects he shall neither be well serued beloued nor obayed by them And as little if he loue himselfe too much For the more care he takes of himselfe and attends his owne particular so much the more his subiects loue departs from him For the harmonie of a Common-wealth consisteth in that all should liue by the Kings fauour and they by their subiects loue For they ought to be vigilant in all that belongs to their seruice and Kings most watchfull in that which concernes their generall good So that none is to haue lesse part in the King then the King himselfe And because it is impossible to content all by reason not onely of their different but contrary natures it is necessary at least to content the most There are two differences of States or two sorts of people to be considered in a
Kingdome The Citizens or which comprehendeth all the common people Or your Peeres and such as either are persons of Title or aspire to be It shall be good discretion prudence to procure to content the people especially in a Kings first entrance into his raigne in that which is reasonable and honest And if their demaunds shall be otherwise to dissemble with them and to take time to consider of it and so by little and litle let their blood goe cooling This was the Counsayle of your olde Counsailours Which had it beene followed by that young King Rehoboam his people had not rebelled against him 3 King 11. nor hee in the beginning of his Empire before he was scarce warme in his throne haue lost ten Tribes of the Twelue The Common people are alwayes grumbling and complayning and ready to runne into rebellion as being fearelesse in regard of their multitude and carelesse for that they haue little or nothing to loose The Minor Plinie after that hee had made a large Catalogue of the naturall vertues of the Emperour Traiane after that he had shewen what great account he made of the Common people he sayth Let not a Prince deceiue himselfe in thinking that hee is not to make any reckoning of the common people for without them he cannot sustaine nor defend his Empyre And in vaine shall hee procure other helpe for that were to seeke to liue with a head without a body which besides that it were monstrous it must needes toter and tumble downe with it's owne weight because it hath nothing to beare it vp And if Kings will needes know what kinde of thing the Common people is and what able to doe vpon all changes and alterations let them take into their consideration that which passed at the arraignment and death of our Sauiour Christ where there was not that Rule of reason of State in the vilest manner which was not then practized And the first stone that the Princes of the Scribes and Pharisees moued against him was the people for they knew well enough that without them they could not awe and feare Pilate nor moue him by their accusations and false witnesses to condemne him In the next place they had recourse to the particular conueniency of the Iudge that he should not be a friend vnto Caesar but should loose his loue if vpon this occasion the people should rise and rebell by which tricke they inclined him to their partie and wrought him to preferre his priuate Interest before publicke Iustice and his owne preseruation before that which was both honest and reasonable Againe it is more secure to procure the fauour and loue of the people and more easie to effect his purpose by them More secure because without their loue and assistance no alteration in the state can take effect This their loue doth vphold Kings and gets them the opinion of good and vertuous Princes This qualifieth all wrongs or makes the offenders pay soundly for them against whom none dare seeme to be singular Lastly for that the common people hauing onely respect to their particular profit their own priuate Interest cannot desire nor pretend that which your greater Peeres and principall men of the State do who alwayes out of their ambition aspire to more and stand beating their braines how they may compasse that which their imagination tells them they want And by so much the more doth this their Ambition increase in how much the greater place they are and in a neere possibilitie of that which they desire I sayd before more easie because the people content themselues with aequalitie and this likewise makes well for Kings with the administration of Iustice with common ease and rest with plenty and with the mildenesse gentlenesse and peaceablenesse of him that ruleth ouer them Now that Kings may procure this popular loue it is fit they should make choyse of such Ministers as are well beloued of the people that will heare them with patience comfort and hearten them vp that they may the more willingly beare the burthens that are laid vpon them the Tributes Taxes and troubles of the Kingdome which in the end must light all vpon them For it is not to be doubted and experience teacheth the truth of it That the Ministers and seruants of a Prince make him either beloued or hated And all their defects or Vertues turne to his hurt or profit And let not Kings make slight reckoning thereof nor let them colour it ouer with Reasons of State For he that once begins to be haâ—ed out of an ill conceiued opinion they charge him withall that is either well or ill done For there is nothing be it neuer so good which being ill interpreted may not change it's first qualitie in the eyes of men who iudge things by apparences Which is another principall cause why Princes ought to procure the loue of the people For in conclusion most certaine it is that the Common people is not onely the Iudge of Kings but is their Attourny also whose censure none of them can escape And is that Minister which God makes choyse of for to punish them in their name and fame which is the greatest of all Temporall punishments Suting with that which we sayd heeretofore of the voyce of the people that it is the voyce of God For his diuine Maiestie vseth this as a meanes to torment those who haue no other superiour vpon earth And therefore it behoueth them to preuent this mischiefe and to winne vnto them the peoples affection by as many wayes as possibly they can deuise as by their owne proper person with some with other some by their fauourites and familiar friends and with all by their Ministers For there is not such a Tully nor Demosthenes withall their eloquence for to prayse or disprayse the Actions of a King either to salue or condemne them as is the peoples loue or hatred A great cause likewise of procuring this loue and to winne the hearts of the people to giue them all good content will be if Kings would be but pleased who are Lords of many Kingdomes and Prouinces to haue neere about them naturall Ministers and Counsaylours of all the sayd seuerall Kingdomes and Prouinces For Common-wealths kingdomes risent it exceedingly to see themselues cast out of administration and gouernment when they doe not see at the Kings elbow or in his Counsell any one of their own nation and countrie conceiuing that they doe either basely esteeme of them or that they dare not trust them Whence the one ingendreth hatred and the other desireth libertie Let a King therefore consider with himselfe that hee is a publicke person and that he ought not to make himselfe particular that he is a naturall Citizen of all his Kingdomes and Prouinces and therefore ought not willingly to make himselfe a stranger to any one of them That he is a father to them all therfore must not shew himself a Step-father to
any And therefore let him still haue some one naturall childe of euery Prouince in his Councel For it is a great vnhapines to a kingdome not to haue any one childe of theirs amongst so many by the Kings side with whom the Naturalls thereof may holde the better correspondencie For these more speedily with more diligence and loue treate and dispatch their businesses then strangers either can or will who must be sued vnto and will do nothing but vpon earnest intreaty or by force and compulsion or like good wary Merchants by trading for ready mony Let Kings weigh with themselues that it is as naturall a worke in them to afforde fauour vnto all as in a tree to afford fruit And it is a great glorie to a king to oblige all nations to loue him For that King much deceiueth himselfe who will make himselfe King of this or that Prouince and no more Sithence that God himselfe whom he representeth on earth professes himselfe to be Lord of t 'one and t'other and of all And therefore hee that is Lord of many should not throw all his loue and affection on a few Let him in such sort conferre his fauours on the one that he may not giue occasion of affront and disgrace to the other For these generall fauours make much for the honor and estimation of Kings It faring with them as it doth with those trees when all sorts of passengers goe gathering inioying their fruits I say farther that for the augmentation and conseruation of the loue of Common-wealths and Kingdomes towards their Kings a maine and principall point which ought to be esteemed in more then other great treasures it will be very conuenient and is the Counsayle of persons of great prudencie throughly acquainted with Kings and Kingdomes that they should haue some person or persons of these good parts and qualities To wit Men of good naturall abilities of great wisedom to whom in particular they should ommit the care to heare those that are wronged and male-content For the graces and fauours of Kings as proceeding from humane power which cannot doe all it would haue euermore beene lesse in number then the pretenders And therefore must of force follow that there must needs bee a great number of discontented persons in all Kingdomes euen in the best and most sweetely gouerned Some holding themselues wronged induced thereunto by their own opinion others by disfauours Some by bad dispatch others by delayes And some and those perhapps the most by finding themselues deceiued in their pretensions A thing that ought much to be thought on though there be few that take pleasure to heare on that eare These men I say troubled with cares and transported with passion thrust themselues into all Companies great and small high and low entring into discourse with Male-Contents and laying open their wounds vnto them which kinde of men I would haue to be kindly dealt withall that the Kings Ministers should giue them the hearing that they should temper and allay this their passion that they should hearten and encourage them and indeede make shew in some things to goe hand in hand with them though it be in some sort against their king and Master seeking reasons to maintaine their part and that hee cannot blame them if they complaine hauing so much cause laying the fault either on the iniquitie of the times or the carelessenesse of those through whose fingers these things were to passe and that as it was no fault of the Kings for not hauing beene truly informed so can hee not but rest well assured of their good bowells and sound intention to his Maiestie and the State This is a cunning artifice and admirable art against that deadly poyson of those mens hatred and discontent which repute themselues wronged and disgraced And the better will this take with them if this care be committed to such either person or persons that are well liked and beloued of the people and haue together with their naturall grace the grace of heauen a gift which Kings can neither giue nor take away howbeit they giue that grace and fauour whence resulteth the peoples respect For it will not alwayes serue the turne to bee beloued of all nor will this generall loue sometimes excuse him from being hated of many And therefore in this the grace of heauen must bee sought after and such a man made choyse of as hath this naturall gift for by the helpe thereof hee shall be the better beloued and ouer them all haue the more commaund This Counsayle was well esteemed and approued by that wise and prudent King Don Philip the second as a very necessary conuenient meanes for to temper mens mindes to get generall notice of all that passeth either in word or deed and thereupon be able to giue all possible remedie thereunto And this aduice pleased him so well that hee committed the execution thereof to him that gaue it him and purposely remitted some businesses vnto him that he might haue the better occasion to sound mens mindes and to effect what he pretended by that kinde of course And in short time gaue good satisfaction by the proofe and made knowen to his Maiestie how much good was inclosed in this Artifice for the conseruation of Kings and Kingdomes §. IIII. Of the sagacitie sharpenesse of wit and quicknesse of apprehension which Kings ought to haue GEnebrard and other graue Authors say That this statly Tower and nose of the Spouse whereof wee discourse signifieth those which gouerne the Church or the Kingdome and such as excell the rest in vnderstanding iudgement sagacitie and prudence The Egyptians likewise in their Hieroglyphicks by a high rising nose vnderstand a wise and sage minde that hath an eye vnto dangers fore-sees mischiefes and takes order for them in time that it may not be ouertaken by them And such a one as this a King ought to haue And certaine it is that if that olde Serpent had not had that hap in that first deceit exercised on our first Mother Eue it had beene needelesse for one man to watch another and to be so wary and circumspect as now they are But because he with such great craft and subtletie did powre forth this his poyson into the originall fountaine of our nature it was necessary that against this his venome we should take this Antidote and Treacle for a preseruatiue and preuent one poyson by another And as Treacle being made of poyson serues as a remedie against poyson it selfe so for to resist that poyson which that Serpent by his subtletie scattred and spred abroad amongst vs it is needefull that men following the Counsayle which our Sauiour Christ gaue vnto his Disciples Be yee wise as Serpents and harmelesse as Doues should ioyne these two together For of these two is made that fine Treacle whereof we intend to speake Not of simplicitie alone nor prudence alone but of both together This is that true and perfect
and discouer a thousand weakenesses to the world the concealing whereof did import them very much and neerely concerne them King Salomon sayth in his Prouerbs Much more strong is that man which ouercomes himselfe and subdues his owne affections then hee that getteth great victories ouer his enemies Suting with that vulgar saying Fortior est qui se quà m qui fortissima vincit moenia And therefore it not so much importeth Kings to conquer others and to make themselues Lords of new Prouinces and Kingdomes as not to become perpetuall slaues to their proper gustes appetites For this doth not fit and sute so well with the greatnesse of their Office nor is eating in it selfe so generous an Act that they ought so much to prize and esteeme it In the booke of the Iudges Iudg. 9.8 we finde a Parable of the trees who hauing resolued with themselues to choose a King to whom all the rest should owe homage they came first to the Oliue afterwards to the Fig-tree and lastly to the Vine intreating them that they would be pleased to take the Crowne vpon them and to raigne ouer them The first answered That he could not leaue his fatnesse to goe to be promoted ouer the Trees The Fig-tree hee excused himselfe in the like manner saying Hee could not forsake his sweetnesse and his good fruite for the inioying of a Crowne And the Vine he plainly told them that he would not leaue his wine which cheereth God and Man to become a King The purpose and intent of Parables according to the doctrine of glorious S. Austin and other holy Doctors is to infold in them the truth And in this is it giuen Kings to vnderstand that excesse in their Tastes and delicious meates is not compatible with their Estate nor doth it become a Crowne Royall that wee may say all we can though we somewhat exceede from the obiect of the Tast to loose it's time in pleasures and pastimes but that in that very instant wherin Kings take them they should as sodainly leaue them in regard that they haue so many and so great businesses committed to their charge wherein if they should bestow all their time they haue scarce time enough Which requiring so much as it doth the assistance and obseruation of kings if they should mis-spend this time in sports and intertainements they must of necessitie want time for that which is more necessary be driuen considering that there is not any thing that doth cause a greater relaxation and distraction in the vnderstanding and that more abateth the edge and vigor of graue and weighty consideration then sports pastimes and pleasing of their owne gustes and palates to neglect State-businesses vnlesse they will be pleased to vse them seldome and with moderation Insomuch that they being to repart and diuide the time betweene themselues and the Common-wealth they should so employ it that it might not be wanting vnto them for their businesses nor super-abound vnto them for their Vices Yet for all this doe not I pretend it being the least part of my meaning to take from Kings their intertainments but rather much desire that they would take them with moderation and without neglecting businesses of State and after that they shall haue fully cumply'de with the Common-wealths affayres To the end that all the world may see that these their pleasures are not as principall but accessary and as an ayuda de costa an ayde and helpe the better to beare their trouble to wade through that wearisomenesse which the continuall assistance on graue and weighty occasions causeth Intertainments and sports must be like vnto salt wherewith if your meate be sprinckled but a little and in a moderate kinde of manner it makes them sauoury and seasons them in that good sort that they doe not onely relish but digest the better and breede better nutriment But if your band be too heauy and that you lay on loade as they say without measure or moderation it marrs your meate and makes it sower and vnsauory And for mine owne part I am of opinion that there was neuer any time wherein Kings had more cause or greater obligation to moderate their pleasure then at this present it being the onely thing that is now in request amongst your great persons and the onely talke that passeth amongst them how they shall passe the time My thinkes that time is here represented vnto me which the Apostle Saint Paul 2 Tim. 3.1 inspired by the Holy Ghost did prophecie foretell vnto vs That in the last dayes perillous times shall come which are now wholly and truly ours wherein men shall be louers of their owne selues and their pleasures more then louers of God and shall regard more their owne particular then either their neighbour Iustice or the cōmon good In a word they shall take more care to fulfill their lusts and their delights then to please God and therefore shall fall into innumerable sinnes The Apostle Saint Peter and Saint Iude doe much indeare the great euills which vsually arise from corporall pleasures the terrible chasticements which are reserued for those that giue themselues ouer vnto them The vniust sayth Saint Peter the Lord will reserue vnto the day of iudgement to be punished 2 Pet. 2.9 but cheifly them that walke after the flesh in the lust of vncleannesse that are presumptuous Iude 1.4 selfe willed c. And Iude hee pronounces condemnation against those vngodly men that turne the grace of God into lasciuiousnesse c. And this hath and doth still increase dayly in such sort that the madnesse and dotage of those wicked times seemeth to be againe renewed in the world Wisd 2.1 mentioned in the booke of Wisedome where a companie of gallants and boone Companions banketting and making merry amongst themselues vttred this Epicuraean Exiguum cum taedio est Tempus vitae nostrae Our life is short and tedious and in the death of man there is no remedy Ibi. 6. neither was there any knowen to haue returned from the graue c. Venite ergò fruamur bonis quaesunt Come on therefore let vs inioy the good things that are present Let vs eate and drinke quaffe and carowse and be merry and let vs speedily vse the creatures like as in youth Ibi. 7. Vino pretioso vnguentis nos impleamus Let vs fill our selues with costly wines and oyntments Let vs be puruayours and Caterers to our owne bodies let vs prouide the pleasingest obiects for our eyes the sauourest meates for our tastes the sweetest Musicke for our eares the softest silkes for our feeling and the daintiest perfumes for our smelling Ibi. 8. Corone mus nos rosis antequam marcescant nullum pratum fit quod non pertranseat luxuria nostra Let vs Crowne our selues with rose-budds before they bee withered And let no flower of the spring passe by vs. Let none of vs goe with out his part of
tongue serues vs for our taste it serues to turne and roll our meate vp and downe in our mouth it serues to cleanse the roofe thereof gumm's and teeth it serues vs to talke withall and to vtter those conceits which are hatched in the braine which is it's most proper Office And though it be written of some that they haue spoken without a tongue yet this is the vsuall meanes of vtterance and the ordinary instrument wherwith we pronounce our words which are the thoughts Interpreters I omit here to treate of good or better language or whether this or that ought to be in greatest request since the Master himselfe of Eloquence saith Cicero Tusc lib. 2. That in euery part and place wee are to speake with those words which are there vnderstood And that such a people or such a Nation is Lord of a Language and may by a kinde of prerogatiue power either coyne new or call in old words It being like vnto money of seuerall Kingdomes and Prouinces that being currant in one Countrie which will not passe in another And therefore that language ought to be spoken by vs which is generally approued and commonly vsed and receiued And therefore many times men alter the fashion of their Language as they do of their cloathes And wee our selues finde that in this our Spanish tongue wee haue made almost as many changes and alterations as we haue of our garments and are able to make two such different languages that the one should not vnderstand the other For wee make such hast to inuent new words and to take them vpon loane from other Languages that thinking thereby to inrich it we come to loose and forget our own naturall Language So different is it to some mens seeming in these from what it was informer times For the Spanish tongue in it selfe is an humble and lowly language if they had not painted it ouer and adulterated it with new words Not considering in the meane while with themselues that the best Language according vnto Tully is that which wee haue beene taught by our Mothers and which chaste Matrones and those that haue beene well bred speake samiliarly at home in their owne houses And the reason of it is for that they hauing not gone abroad out of their owne Countrie to forraine nations not treated and conuersed with strangers they conserue the naturall phrase and speech of their own Towne or Country without sophisticating their Language with new words or those that are not of ordinary vse And therefore it is fitting that wee should speake in that which is most passable and which is best vnderstood vsing sober proper and plaine words for words were ordayned to that end that they might be well vnderstood He speakes best and in the best Language that is best vnderstood not hee that shall speake in an vncouth stile and in words that are neither in vse nor easie to be vnderstood It is a common saying with vs Delos antiquos auemos de imitar las virtudes y delos modernos el Lenguaje Wee are to imitate the ancient in their vertues and the Moderne in their Language And Quintilian tells vs Loquendum vt vulgus sentiendum vt panci We must speake with the many but thinke with the fewest Many moe therebe which speak much in matter of tongues and languages vsed throughout the world But I will onely treate of those which imports Kings and Kingdomes Such as is that truth and sinceritie wherewith they are to treate that faith and word which they are to cumply withall and that secret which they are to keepe Two things sayth Pythagoras did the moderate men of the earth receiue from heauen well worthy our consideration in regard of the great fauour done them therein The one that they should haue the power to be able to doe good vnto others And the other to treat Truth And that in them they should hold competition with the Gods Properties both of them well befitting Kings Of the power that Kings haue to doe good vnto their friends and to defend themselues from their enemies wee haue already signified vnto you how proper it is to the greatnesse of a King and how like therein hee is vnto God But the sayd Philosopher being demanded wherein man was likest vnto God made answer Quando veritatem sciuerit When hee shall know the Truth For God is truth it selfe Refert Hilar. de varia histor Lib. 2. And that man that treates truth resembles him in nothing more and it is so proper to our vnderstanding that it intertaines it for it's obiect and still goes in search thereof the contrary whereof is repugnant to the nature as likewise to the essence and greatnesse of Kings from whom wee are euer to expect the iudgement of truth Prou. 17.7 Non decet Principem labium mentiens Lying lipps becometh not a Prince It is the saying of a King and of a King that was a Salomon who spake with the tongue of the Holy Ghost and it is an avouched and ratified Conclusion that the pen and the tongue of a King should alwayes tell the truth though it were against himselfe As likewise for to teach and instruct his subiects that they doe the like as also all others that shall treate with them For in vaine doth hee desire to heare truth that will not deale truly And perhapps for this cause the shortest of all other your words in allmost all Languages are your Yea and Nay There can be no shifting or doubling in them no going about the bush These words will admit no other construction but a bare affirmation or negation In the fewest words are the least falsehood and the least quarrell to be pick't against them Men cannot expatiate their excuses as they may where larger Language is vsed And therefore the other as it is the shortest so it is the surest way Wherefore Kings ought all wayes and in all and with all to treate truth being that it may be vttred with so much ease and facility and to suffer himselfe to be plainely vnderstood Contrary to the Tenent of a sort of vp-start Hereticks which these Times tearme Politicians who for to make good their Policie and Tyrannicall gouernment affirme That a King may for reason of State if hee see it may make for the conseruation thereof Dissemble deceiue breake his word and plight his faith without any purpose or meaning to keepe it fraud dissimulation and deceit of what condition soeuer it be being contrary vnto truth and contrary to the Law of nature which in all that it treates requireth truth and contrary to the Diuine Law which condemneth him that speakes not the truth but goes about to deceiue And our Sauiour Christ calls King Herod Foxe reprouing his wily shifts and deepe dissimulations and more particularly in putting on a face of sorrow before his Guestes that he feasted when he commanded Iohn Baptist's head to be smitten off it being the onely thing
in his head hee will presently out with it But a wise man will not speake all that hee knowes And therfore your Naturallists say that Nature placed two vaines in the Tongue the one going to the heart the other to the braine To the end that that which remaines secret in the heart the Tongue should not vtter saue what reason and the vnderstanding haue first registred conformable to that Order which is betweene the faculties of the Soule and of the Body it being fit that the Imagination should first conceiue and the Tongue afterwards bring forth that thinke the other speake Not like vnto that foole who vnaduisedly and without premeditation Psal 52.2 went all day long babbling vp and downe Tota die iniustitiam cogitauit lingua tua Thy tongue all day-long deuiseth mischiefe That is whatsoeuer it imagineth it easily vttreth nay sometimes the Tongue speaketh without booke and runnes riot afore euer it is a ware But let vs conclude this with that of Salomon That Death and Life Prou. 18.21 are in the power of the tongue A dangerous weapon in the hands of him that is not Master thereof and knowes not how to rule it For all Mans good or ill consisteth in the good or ill vse of this Instrument The well gouerning whereof is like a good Pilot that gouerneth a ship and the ill guiding of it like a dangerous rocke whereon men split their honour and often loose their liues And therefore the Diuell left patient Iob when all the rest of his body was wounded with sores his tongue whole and sound Not with intent to doe him any kindnesse therein but because hee knew very well that that alone was sufficient if hee were carelesse thereof for to make him loose his honour his life and his soule For all these lye in the power of the Tongue Prou. 13.3 Qui in consideratus est ad loquendum sentiet mala He that openeth wide his lipps shall haue destruction And the plagues which shall befall him will bee so remedilesse that he shall not meete with any medicine to cure them Nor is there any defence against the carelesse negligences of a babbling tongue which are so many that the Holy Ghost stiles such a kinde of tongue the Vniuersitie or Schoole of wickednesse Vniuersitas iniquitatis Iam. 3.6 Wherein is read a Lecture of all the Vices Whereas on the contrary Vir prudens secreta non prodit Tacenda enim tacet et loquenda loquitur Seneca lib 4. de Virtut A wise man will not betray a secret But silenceth those things that are to be silenced and vttereth those things that are to be vttered It is worthy our weighing how much importeth the warinesse in our words for Gods honour and the Kings credit and authoritie which is much abused and lessened by futile and flippant tongues to the great hurt of a kingdome and the good gouernment of the Common-wealth And let Kings correct this so great a disorder in the disclosing of secrets either out of their respect to such and such persons or for their particular Interests or out of the weakenesse of a slippery tongue Let Priuie-Counsellours I say and Secretaries of State bridle their tongues If not let Kings if they can restraine them And if they cannot do it of themselues let them petition God as Dauid did In camo et fraeno maxillas eorum constringe Psal 31.92 Iames 3.8 Hold in their mouth with bit and bridle For I am of Saint Iames his beliefe Nullus hominum domare potest The tongue can no man tame it is an vnruly euill I say moreouer that the harmes which the Tongue doth are so many and in such a diuerse manner that the euill consisteth not onely in speaking but many times likewise in being silent and saying nothing by forbearing to speake the truth in that which is fitting and when it ought to speake as already hath beene sayd and in not reprouing and amending his neighbour being obliged thereunto by the Law Naturall Diuine and Positiue And in not reprehending Murmurers and Backbiters for then for a man to hold his peace and not to checke them for it is to consent and concurre with them and to approue that which they say And S. Bernard tells vs that he cannot determine which of the two is worser Detrahere Bern. lib. 2. de Conside ad Eugen. aut detrahentem audire quid horum damnabilius sit non facile dixerim To detract or to heare him that detracteth which is the more damnable I cannot easily define But more especially in Kings persons of authoritie who with a blast only of their breath or with a sower looke may make them hold their peace I leaue the charge of this vnto them and charge their consciencs with it And for the discharge of mine owne I will now aduertise them of another sort of people whom for their tongue and talke none can exceede §. IIII. Of Flatterers and their Flatteries AMongst those infinite hurtes and mischiefes which an euill tongue causeth one amongst the rest and not the least is that of Adulation and flattery Which is so much the greater by how much the more dissembled and feigned it is The sacred Scripture tearmes it absolutely a sinne and says that a flatterer is absolutely a sinner So some doe paraphrase vpon that Verse Oleum autem peccatoris The oyle or balme of a sinner For in it is included all sortes of sinne whatsoeuer and aboue all a great neglect and contempt of God for although this be to be seene in all kinde of sinnes yet doth it more particularly expresse it selfe in those which draw not with them any delight which they doe as it were vnprofitably and sine pretio for it brings them no profit at all vnlesse when most a little Vanitie which they more esteeme then God These that they may gaine the kings elbowe or that they may not bee put from it speake alwayes vnto him in fauour of that which hee desireth and all their Artifice and cunning is to conceale the Truth and that the doore may be shut against him that may tell it him or those that know not like themselues how to please the Kings palate And being confident that they will giue eare to euery word which they speake they lay falsehoods and lyes athwart their way fathering such Actions of Prowesse and valour vpon Kings that they haue much adoe to for-beare laughing that heare their folly For there are some prayses that are dis-prayses and redound much to the disgrace and dishonour of Princes For by those vntruths wherewith they sooth and flatter them they breed suspition of that good which is in them And because they make pleasing the marke whereat they shoote they neuer looke whether it be a lye or a truth which they deliuer nor haue an eye more vnto good then ill iuste or vniust against God or his neighbour all is one Cannonizing their King for
by faring deliciously Pliny saith of grasse Plin. That Quanto peius tractatur tanto prouenit melius The worse it is vsed the better it proues As with it so is it with man Homo sicut faenum Man is but as grasse or as the flower of the field Which is no sooner vp but is cut downe no sooner flourisheth but it fadeth and all it's beautie no sooner appeareth but it perisheth and withereth away and is no more to be seene And the more wee make of much our selues the lesse while we liue We are alwayes crazy soone downe but not so soone vp Quickly fall into a disease but long ere we can get out of it Loosing our strength before we come to it and waxing olde before euer wee be aware of it But if a man will lay aside this Cockering and pampering vp of himselfe and habituate himselfe to labour and trauaile he shall passe his life the better For health neuer dwells with delights nor strength ioyne hands with choice fare Nor shall hee euer doe any famous Acts and worthy renowne that feares to take paines and is willing to take his ease The Emperour Hadrian was singular herein Frigora enim tempestates ita patienter tulit vt nunquam caput tegeret Hee did indure colds and all kinde of fowle weather with that patience that hee neuer put on his hatt but alwayes went bare-headed And Alexander the Great would tell his Soldiers that it was for lazy Companions and effeminate fellowes to apply themselues to the pleasures and contentments of this life but for Noble hearts and generous spirits to accustome themselues to labour and to take paines In a word Temperance is a vertue very necessarie for all estates it will sute well with all but more particularly with Kings and Princes and great persons because it is in it selfe a vertue so gentleman-like so worthy Noble persons and so proper for royall Maiestie As likewise for that they liue as they doe amidst so many regalos and delights so many curious meates and a thousand other occasions whereby if they doe not arme themselues with this vertue not onely their liues but their soules are like to incurre the great danger For like theeues in a mans owne house or close traitours lurking in secret corners some while one some while another are neuer from their elbow till they deliuer them ouer into the hands of death or at least hoxe their courage and cut off their health Which in good Kings so much importeth and which all men desire may be long and prosperous The want whereof in a particular person importeth little but in them it mattereth much in regard of the great losse which the Common-wealth thereby receiueth For on their welfare dependeth the generall comfort and gouernment of the whole kingdome which when it is wanting in them that want is common to all Let then the conclusion of this discourse be That Kings ought to keepe an orderly and temperate diet hauing more regard to the law of Nature and vnto Christian reason then to their greatnes of state and Maiestie of Empire And to carry themselues amidst so many occasions of pleasures and delights with that modestie and moderation as if they were without them if they haue a minde to preserue their bodies and their soules healths and to giue vnto all a good example which is another as already hath beene said so powerfull a remedy for to perswade other Princes and Potentates of his kingdome to the embracing of this vertue And besides that obseruation of Hipocrates Quod plures cecîdit gula quam gladius That surfeiting hath killed more then the sword Let those that place all their care in these their delights and pleasures consider that saying of Cato That our much carefulnesse in this causeth much forgetfulnesse of God And there are some that count it an honour and reputation vnto them to eate and to drinke though Sanitas est animae corporis sobrius potus and because they are great in estate they will also be great feeders Which indeed is not Greatnesse nor Lordlinesse but great basenesse and vnbeseeming their authoritie to suffer themselues to be giuen to gluttony and to the excesse of eating and drinking Saint Bernard did blesse himselfe and much wonder at so much time and wealth as herein was spent and at so many Cookes and other Officers herein employed And that he should be the most commended and best rewarded that could inuent any other new kinde of choice dish then had by gluttonies curious enquiry been as yet found out And all to giue gust to the Gust and to please the palate with the losse of their honour the wasting of their wealth and to their great hurt both of bodies and soules But these must I inroll in the list of vnfortunate persons Eccl. 10.17 and account that kingdome happy as the wise man saith where the King and his Peeres liue soberly and temperately Beata terra cuius Rex nobilis est cuius Principes vescuntur in tempore suo ad reficiendum non luxuriandum Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the sonne of Nobles and thy Princes eate in due season for strength and not for drunkennesse §. II. Of another remedie against excesses and superfluities depending on the example of Kings A King being as hath beene said the soule and heart of a kingdome and like another Sunne which with its light and motion affoords light and health to the world being the true picture and liuely Image of God vpon earth and he that is most being iust like vnto him hath a great and precise obligation lying vpon him both by his life and example to giue life vnto his kingdome and to set himselfe as a patterne before his subiects that and they being that mysticall bodie whereof he is the head And see what dependencie the members in mans bodie haue on the head the same or little lesse haue subiects on their Kings And if that be sound and good it is well with all the members but if ill affected all of them suffer with it The Prouerbe saith Cum caput dolet catera membra dolent When the head aketh the rest of the members ake with it And as it is so true as nothing more so is it more in Common-wealths then mens bodies For as the humours of these are in or out of order according to those which the head communicateth vnto them So likewise the composition of a whole kingdome dependeth on the good or ill composition of their King and Head Whence it followeth that the same necessitie which a body hath of a good head the very selfesame hath a kingdome of a good King being that he as hee is King as already hath beene deliuered doth therein supply the Office of the Head And therefore it was well said of Plato That the inclining of a King to good or ill is the inclining of the whole kingdome according to his scale
not to affoord a good looke on him that shall not imitate and follow his fashion For there is no man such a foole that will loose the fruite of his hope for not apparelling himselfe after this or that manner as he sees the Prince himselfe is contented to go Let Kings amend this fault in themselues and then his Peeres and other their inferiours will not be ashamed to imitate them I pray tell me if men of the baser and meaner condition should onely be those that were vicious in their meate and clothes who would imitate them therein Assuredly none All would be Noblemen or Gentlemen or at least seeme to be so in their fashion and apparrell howbeit they would bee lesse curious and dainty if they saw those that were noble or gentile go onely plaine and handsome That ancient Romane pure neate cleane and comely attire of those who conquered the world did then wholly loose it selfe when your great and Noble persons of that commonwealth left it off For in all things but more especially in those that are vicious men seeke to make a fairer shew then their estate will beare and thereby procure to content and please their Kings vnder whom they liue knowing that there is no intercession or fauour like vnto that as the fimiliancie of manners and the kindred which this doth cause Let Kings by their example cut off the vse of costly clothes and sumptuous banquets and whatsoeuer in that kinde is vicious and superfluous and they shall straightway see how a great part of the greedinesse of gaine and couetousnesse of money will cease and many other euils and mischiefes which proceed from thence which would not be sought after nor esteemed were it not for the execution of the appetite and fulfilling of our pleasures And for this end and purpose money is kept with such great anxietie and trouble but procured and sought after with much more because it is the master and commander of all pleasures and delights whatsoeuer For which we will buy and sell and giue all that we haue The second point concerning vices and sinnes common and publike the hurt that comes thereby is well knowne both to God and man and is harder to be reformed then the former That is moderated either with age or necessitie but this neither necessitie nor time can lessen but with it increaseth and shooteth forth new sprigges and suckers neuer before seene nor vsed in the world against which neither suffice Lawes nor Statutes And that doctrine of Tacitus is now come to bee verified That there is not any greater signe of corruption of manners then multiplicitie of Lawes And we now liue in those dangerous times whereof Saint Paul speaketh and I know not whether I may be so bold as to say That it is likewise an argument or signe that the Subiect is neare it's end or at least daily growes decaying wherein these signes and tokens are to bee seene One disorder begetting another which is the order which Nature keepes with things that are to perish till at last all comes to ruine and this vniuersall fabricke sinkes to the bottome neuer more to be repaired I wot well that whilest there be men there must be vices and sinnes and that few or none will cease to bee that which they are in regard of humane weakenesse and mans propension and inclination to sinne and that there are not any remedies which will serue and turne wholly to cure and cut them off it being a thing impossible for that their beginning and cause doth proceed from Nature it selfe being corrupted That which the worth and wisedome of Kings and their Ministers may be able to effect is That they may daily proue lesse and lesse preiudiciall to the publike and that the dissembling of abuses in the beginning before they take head be not a cause of seeing our selues brought to that estate which Salust writeth Rome was found in in Catilines time there being so good cause for to feare it As also that they will draw after them Gods comminations and chastisements When a kingdome saith hee comes to the corruption of manners that men doe pamper and apparell themselues in curious manner like women and make no reckoning of their honestie but deale therewith as with any other thing that is vendible or set out to sale and that exquisite things for to please the palate are diligently sought after both by sea and land that they betake themselues to their ease and sleepe before the due time of their rest and sleepe be come that after their bellies be as full as euer they can hold they neuer cease crauing and cramming till it be noone that they doe not forbeare from eating and drinking till they be either hungry or thirsty not that they ease themselues out of wearinesse or keepe themselues warme against the extremity of the weather but that they do all these things out of viciousnesse and before there is neede well may that Empire be giuen for lost and that it is drawing neare to its last gaspe For the people thereof when their owne meanes shall faile them for to fulfil their appetites out of a thirsting and greedy desire of these things what mischiefes will not they moue or what villanies will not they attempt For the minde that hath beene ill and long accustomed to delights can hardly be without them And that they may enioy them by hooke or by crooke by one meanes or another though neuer so vniust and vnlawfull they will make a shift to get themselues into money though they spend it afterward idly vainly in that profuse and lauish manner for which they did intend it Let euery good King begge of God and let vs all ioyne in the same prayer that in our times it may not come to these termes and that Kings will striue and studie to quench these sparkes before they breake forth into a flame and to put out the fire whilest it is but newly kindled lest it take hold on the whole building and helpe come too late And because there are so many sortes of vices that it is not possible to procure an vniuersall cure for them all that which is likeliest to doe most good will bee that selfe same medicine mentioned before in dyet and apparrell to wit the good example of Kings and in imitation of them that of the great Lords of the land and those that are nearest in Court about their persons ioyning herewith the feare of their disfauour letting them both see and know that the vicious fall backward and the vertuous come forward in honour and that onely vertue is the true meanes and surest way to bring men to great place and preferrement in the commonwealth Let Kings hate these idle droanes these honey-suckers of other mens labours that liue all vpon the waste and spoile Which kinde of people euen in reason of state are not good for the quiet of a kingdome in regard of the euill cogitations and
them not only the good wills and affections of their equals but euen of Kings themselues And when these abilities are so extraordinary and aduantagious no man can deeme it inconuenient that Kings should more particularly and in a more extraordinary manner apply their affection vnto them Nay it would rather lay a spot and blemish vpon them if notice should be taken that they equally entertaine all or not esteeme and prize them most that merit most to be esteemed For in all good reason there is no greater inequality then to equall all alike Plato said very well That there is not any virtue of that force and efficacie for to catch and steale away mens hearts Nor herein doe we need the testimonies of Philosophers for the holy Ghost saith Vt mors est dilectio loue is strong as death The coales thereof are coales of fire which hath a most vehement flame it beares all away before it And in this its force and strength friendship and loue are much alike And building on this ground I say That very well there may be said to bee friendship betweene a King and a Fauorite for that their soules haue in their birth and beginning or as I may say their first originall equall noblenesse And your noblest friendship proceeds from the soule Very famous and much celebrated was that friendship betwixt Prince Ionathan the onely heire of the kingdome and that worthy noble Dauid And so great was the loue that was betweene them that the sacred Scripture saith 1. Reg. 18.2 That anima Ionathae conglutinata erat animae Dauid dilexit eum Ionathas quasi animam suam The soule of Ionathan was knit with the soule of Dauid and that Ionathan loued him as his owne soule And I further affirme that it is very fit and conuenient that Kings should loue those with aduantage that haue the aduantage of others in vertue wisedome and learning And such should be those that serue and attend the persons of Princes for ordinarily out of that Nursery are these plants your Fauourites drawne When Nabuchadnezzar King of Babilon besieged and tooke by force of armes the Citie of Ierusalem he carried away from thence great spoiles of gold and siluer but that which hee much more prized then all this Treasure were the sonnes of the chiefest Noblemen and such as were lineally descended of the Kings of that kingdome and gaue especiall order that they should choose and cull out those that had the best and ablest parts both of nature and acquisition those that were of the best disposition the most learned and best taught to the end that being accompanied with these good qualities they might merit to attend in the Court and Chamber of the King Dan. 1.3 Et ait Rex Asphenez Praeposito Eunuchorum vt introduceret de filijs Israel de semine Regio Tyrannorum pueros in quibus nulla esset macula decoros forma eruditos omni sapientia cautos scientia doctos disciplina qui possent stare in palatio Regis And the King spake vnto Ashpenez the Master of his Eunuchs that hee should bring certaine of the children of Israel and of the Kings seed and of the Princes Children in whom was no blemish but well-fauoured and skilfull in all wisedome and cunning in knowledge and vnderstanding Science and such as had abilitie in them to stand in the Kings palace And this election fell out so luckily and proued to be of that profit and benefit that amongst those which indewed with these qualities were made choice of for to serue the King there were three of them did excell but one more then all the rest not onely in vertue but in the knowledge likewise of secret businesses and matters of State and gouernment which was Daniel who so well deserued to be a Fauourite to those Kings of Babylon and more especially to Darius that hee did not content himselfe with making him onely a priuie Councellour but the prime man amongst them For hauing set ouer the kingdome an 120. Princes which should bee ouer the whole kingdome and ouer these three Presidents of whom Daniel was first that the Princes might giue account vnto them that the King might haue no damage And as hee was the greatest Subiect and Fauourite in the world so was hee superiour in the vertues and qualities of his person Igitur Daniel superabat omnes Principes satrapas quia Spiritus Domini amplior erat in illo Dan. 6.3 Therefore was Daniel preferred before the Presidents and Princes because an excellent spirit was in him The holy Scripture likewise tells vs that Ioseph was such a Fauourite of King Pharaoh that hee gaue him absolute power ouer all his kingdome and commanded that in publike pompe he should ride in the Kings owne Chariot and in his owne seate and haue a Crier go before to proclaime the fauour that the King was pleased to doe him Dixit quoque Rex Aegypti ad Ioseph Gen. 41.44 Ego sum Pharaoh absque tuo imperio non mouebit quisquam manum aut pedem in omni terra And Pharaoh said vnto Ioseph I am Pharaoh and without thee shall no man lift vp his hand or foot in all the land of Aegypt And well did hee deserue this honour for by his great industrie and wisedome he freed that King and kingdome from that terrible famine besides those many other great and troublesome imployments wherein he was busied for the space of seuen yeares together In the fourth booke of kings we reade that Naaman who was Captaine of the host of the King of Syria was the onely Fauourite of the King Erat vir magnus apud Dominum suum honoratum 4. Reg. 5.1 Hee was a great man with his Master and honourable And rendering the reason of this his great priuacie with his King and the honour he had done him it is there specified Per illum enim dedit dominus salutem Syriae erat enim vir fortis Because by him the Lord had giuen deliuerance vnto Syria and was also a mighty man in valour For all the life and soule that kingdome had came from him God vsing him as his instrument for his puisance and prudence And when Fauourites are of these aduantagtous abilities those reasons and inconueniences doe cease before mentioned touching the disequalitie of Kings with their Inferiours For vertue hath this excellence and preheminence that from the very dust of the earth it doth lift vp men vnto honour and doth raise them to that height that it equalls them and sets them cheeke by iole with the greatest Princes in the world Eccl 11.1 Sapientia humiliati exaltabit caput illius in medio magnatum considere illum faciet Wisedome lifteth vp the head of him that is of low degree and maketh him to sit among great men Anna that was mother to that great Priest and Prophet Samuel amongst other things which shee sung in the praise
of God and his great power this was one worthy the obseruation and well befitting the subiect we haue in hand 1. King 2.8 Dominus suscitat de puluere egenum de stercore eleuat panperem vt sedeat cum Principibus solium gloriae teneat The Lord raiseth the poore out of the dust and lifteth vp the begger from the dunghill to set him among Princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory The like note sings that Kingly Prophet Dauid Suscitans à terra inopem Psal 113.7 vt collocet eum cum Principibus populi sui He raiseth vp the poore out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill And King Salomon his sonne seconds this of his father in this short Antheme Seruus sapiens dominabitur filijs stultu A wise seruant shall haue rule ouer a sonne that causeth shame Prou. 17.2 So great is the force of wisedome and discretion that it doth not onely exalt and raise to greatnesse men that are free borne though in a poore meane cottage but brings euen the basest slaues to bee Lords ouer their owne Masters A certaine Philosopher being taken captiue was brought forth into the open Market to bee sold and they that were to buy him demanded of him what hee could doe He told them That the best thing that he was skild in was to command his Masters In many places of Scripture is repeated and confirmed the Testimonie of King Salomons great power and wisedome And amongst other things which are mentioned of the Maiestie of his house and Court it is said That therein he had a great many Princes whose names are registred in the third booke of the Kings And amongst them there is but one onely that is made remarkable by the name and title of the Kings Fauourite and friend Zabud filius Nathan amicus Regis And Zabud the sonne of Nathan was principall Officer and the Kings friend Some Translations in the place of principall Officer put Priest And these two titles of Priest and the Kings friend are therefore thus ioyned together that they may giue vs to vnderstand that the friendship and affection towards a Fauourite should take it's growth from that learning and vertue which is annexed to the state and condition of the Priest And in the first booke of the Chronicles in that Catalogue which is there made of those which bare principall offices in King Dauids Court it is onely said of Hushai the Archite that hee was the Kings companion And in the second booke of the Kings are set downe at large the great and many reasons why Hushai on his part might well deserue this Title Our Sauiour Christ likewise seemed to make shew of his more particular affection to Peter Iohn and Iames making choice of them from among the twelue to retire himselfe in priuate with them and to make them witnesses of his glorious transfiguration and afterwards of diuers other particular things Whence it seemeth that they might haue the name of Fauourites but not without great grounds and those extraordinary vertues wherein they out-shined others Howbeit the choise and election of this supreme King is not to bee ruled and measured out by that of the Kings of this world for they can not by the alone power of their loue better men nor affoord them necessary parts whereby to merit to bee their friends But this true King and Lord of all in placing his good will and affection on those whom hee is pleased to make choice of for his friends doth likewise indow and adorne them with strong abilities whereby to bee accounted worthy of his friendship and fauour Whereas with the Fauourites of the Kings of this world it fareth cleane contrary For those which before they were Fauourites were good and honest by their priuacie and great power with their King haue come to be starke nought and the more footing they haue in the Kings friendship they are vsually the lesse worthy of it Whereof we shall more in the Chapter following CHAP. XXXII Of another sort of Fauourites THose most learned bookes which the glorious Saint Austen writ De Ciuitate Dei lay before vs two sorts of loue That loue which man beareth vnto God euen to the contemning and despising of himselfe And from this is the constitution and fabricke of that holy Citie of Ierusalem vnder which name is vnderstood the good concord and agreement of the Christian Church and commonwealth as also of all Christian soules The other loue is that which euery one beareth to himselfe in that high manner and excesse that it reacheth euen to the contemning and despising of God And from this is built that City of Babylon which is as much to say as Confusion signifieth that which euery sinner hath within himself as also that which is in ill ordered commonwealths And therefore as wee said in the former Chapter that from those two Loues of friendship and concupiscence did issue forth two sorts of Fauourites The one good and profitable the other bad and couetous So considering Loue not in respect of outward things but in respect of it selfe it differenceth the vse of Fauourites according to the different meanes and ends wherewith and for which they are made choice of And the vse likewise which they make thereof when they see they are thus aduanced and receiued into fauour The meanes haue the denomination of their goodnesse or badnesse from their end Whence it followeth that when Kings shall make choice of their Fauorites by good meanes not out of a selfe-humour or womanish kinde of longing nor for to please his owne proper affection but that they may comply the better with those obligations which they haue to the good dispatch of businesses and to haue one to helpe them to beare the burthen that lies vpon them As this end is good so of force must the meanes likewise bee For to obtaine good ends bad meanes are not taken And therefore Kings shall doe well in taking such Fauourites vnto them as shall bee sollicitous and carefull in the dispatching of businesses faithfull in their seruices and endowed with such parts afore specified as were those Fauourites recommended vnto you in the former Chapter For Ioseph as we told you grew in fauour with King Pharaoh for his great wisedome and for his supernaturall knowledge of things to come and reuealing such secret mysteries as other his Ministers could not tell what to make of them The like befell Daniel with the Caldean and Macedonian Kings for before euer he became a Fauourite they saw his great wisedome and constancie in the true seruice of his God his singular prudence and those other his good gifts which are recorded in the booke of his prophesies The extraordinary graces of Peter Iohn and Iames who is he that is ignorant of them Being that the Euangelists say of Saint Peter that his extraordinary loue was examined and proued in those so often repeated
questions Petre amas me Simon Iohannis diligis me plus his And againe Simon Iohannis amas me And the Apostle Saint Iames was the first of the Apostles that by his bloud and death gaue testimonie of this his loue And Saint Iohn shewed no lesse at his last Supper at his passion and at the foote of the Crosse hauing followed and accompanied his Master euen to his death when the rest fled and forsooke him But when Kings make not choice of their Fauourites for the foresaid ends and for the publike good but for their owne particular gusts and humours and to let loose the reines with more libertie and freedome to their owne delights and pleasures such kinde of Fauourites set vsually before them the same ends and commonly preferre their owne priuate gustes and interests before those of their Kings or the publike good of the commonwealth and come to be the firebrands and destruction of States This lesson the holy Scripture doth likewise teach vs whose mysteries are so high and so deepe that euen in that which it silenceth it speaketh vnto vs and in saying little instructeth much I haue much obserued that which is recounted in the History of Esther touching the priuacie of that proud and vnfortunate Haman Ioseph de Antiq lib 1. cap. 6. 1. Reg. 15. 33. whom King Assuerus raised from so low a degree and from so wicked a race as he came of For according to Iosephus he descended from that Amalakite whom the Prophet Samuel caused to be hewen in peeces And for that it is the condition of Kings when they once begin to fauour a man to make him like froath to rise and swell this fauourite grew to that heighth through his Kings grace and fauour that all the Subiects of that Monarch respected him as a God and kneeled downe in his presence his person being much more adored serued and feared then the Kings because the King had put the staffe as they say into his hands giuing him the absolute command ouer all his estates insomuch that neither in nor out of Court nor elsewhere was there ought done but by the order of Haman and the King himselfe held him in the place of a father And for that Vanitie is the daughter of Pride all this his great fauour and priuacie with his Prince did but make the more for his owne hurt as doth the Ants wings for hers or like those of Icarus which being of waxe the nearer they came to the Sunne the sooner they melted working then his death and downfall when he was at the highest For Haman came to hang and dye on that gallowes which he had prouided for Mardoche and for no other offence in the world but because he would not bowe the knee vnto him and adore him as the rest did So that if you marke the Storie Hamans owne greatnesse and power was the axe which did frame and hew out that gallowes whereon himselfe was hanged And hauing often thought with my selfe on this mans end and considering likewise the beginning of this his priuacie I doe not finde that it was for the excellencie of his merits or for any heroicall vertues that were in him such as were those which King Pharaoh Nabuchadnezzar and Darius did consider in those their Fauourites which they made choice of but for some particular guste and liking that his King tooke to him For the Scripture speakes not one word nor maketh not any the least mention of the merits of this Fauourite nor of any notable thing that hee had done either for the good of the kingdome or the seruice of his King but rather without any preambles to that purpose in the very entrance of the third Chapter we reade thus Rex Assuerus exaltauit Aman filium Amadathi Esther 3.1 qui erat de stirpe Agag posuit solium eius super omnes Principes quos habebat cunctique serui Regis qui in foribus Palatij versabantur flectebant genua et adorabant Aman King Assuerus did promote Haman the sonne of Amedatha the Agagite and aduanced him and set his seate aboue all the Princes that were with him And all the Kings seruants that were in the Kings gate bowed and reuerenced Haman And in this so true a relation and so fully setting forth the priuacie of this great Fauorite without any foundation or ground of desert the Scripture thereby hath instructed vs how inconsiderately this King did proceed in the choice which he made But he did correct this his errour by opening his eyes and inflicting that punishment vpon him which he deserued and is there set downe I could wish that Fauourites would likewise open their eyes and consider with themselues that the happines which they hold is but borrowed ware lent vnto them but for a short time and that they neither vse nor possesse it as their owne proper good or inheritance And being that by one meanes or other it must leaue them that they would not wholly giue themselues ouer thereunto for it forsaketh few without their finall ruine Let them bite vpon this bit and with the remembrance thereof bridle their pride and insolencie lest howsoeuer they flatter themselues that hand may pull them downe which raised them vp For there are some which will neuer be able to indure this their felicitie and happinesse but one way or other will worke their ouerthrow and make them pay the price of their ambition at too deare a rate Nay the King himselfe will sometimes put to his helping hand as we see King Assuerus did who after that hee had made Haman his onely Fauourite and raised him to that highth of honour as could not well bee more turned his face from him and did so much distaste him for his sower and insolent behauiour that for to make him stoope and hang the head he commanded him to be hanged vpon the same gallowes that he had set vp for another who had deserued well both of the King and State The Emperour Alexander did the like who waxing wearie of the arrogancie of one of his Fauourites and not being able longer to endure it caused him to be staked and the stake to be set on the top of an high hill giuing him a death answerable to his vanitie For although Kings loue them and in some sort acknowledge a kinde of beholdingnesse yet they vsually withdraw their fauour quite from them and are oftentimes ashamed of their choice whereunto being added the complaints of the people and other principall persons offended with the iniuries offered vnto them remoue that scandall by remouing their Fauorite and make them satisfaction by making him be punished neuer in this case aduising with any nor so much as hearing what the Fauourite in his owne discharge can say for himselfe for in such desperate cases when things are brought to that extremitie Kings vse to take that course as your Pretomedici and skilfuller sort of Physitians doe with their inferiours who in weightie
are precisely necessarie in a Fauourite And first I will set downe the first First of all then he must loue his King truly and must not suffer himselfe to be ouercome by couetousnesse and his owne priuate interest In the first particular all doe agree with Aristotle and Plato For no man can more faithfully giue counsell then hee that loues his King more then his gifts Which of all other is the most necessary to make one man trust another and to beleeue that which hee saith For who will not credit that man whom he knowes loues him and in all that he can seekes to procure his good without any respect to his owne particular interest He saith Saint Gregory that is fit to be a Fauourite must haue a loue that is full and dis-interessed Nullus fidelior tibi ad consulendum esse potest Gregor ex regist li. 1 Epist cap. 33. quam qui non tua sed te diligit No man can be more faithfull in aduising thee then he that loues not thine but thee This qualitie of Loue and friendship Nazianzene likewise handleth Part. 2. Tit. 9. L. 5. And a certaine Law of the Partida maketh mention thereof saying Que los que han de aconseiar los Reyes han de ser amigos bien entendidos y de buen seso That those that are to counsell Kings must bee friends that haue beene throughly knowne and tried and that are of good vnderstanding and iudgement Salomon saith That hee is a true Fauourite indeed that studies to walke in cleannesse of heart and purenesse of tongue that is to say when hee shall place all his care in seruing his King with Loue and informing him nothing but what is truth and desiring him to walke in that way which shall make most for Gods seruice and the good of the kingdome Qualities sufficient for Fauourites to insinuate themselues into the grace and fauour of good Princes Saint Iohn in the Apocalypse sets before vs though somewhat darkly shadowed a picture of good Fauourites and Councellers Which were certaine old men clothed in white wearing Crownes on their heads To bee somewhat ancient and well stricken in yeares was a qualitie wont to be required in those that were to aduise Kings and giue them good counsell in regard of their great experience and mature iudgement which commonly accompanies such kinde of men And they are said to be clothed in white because this colour signifies a pure heart and a cleare conscience wherewith they ought to bee as it were apparrelled and adorned How can he giue good counsell that is not clothed in white That hath not Cor candidum a white and vpright heart pure and cleane from those affections and passions that may smutt and sullye it And it is there likewise set downe that euery one of them had like a King a Crowne vpon his head To giue vs thereby to vnderstand that hee that is to giue counsell vnto Kings for the maintaining and vpholding of a kingdome and to remedy what is therein amisse may in some sort conceit himselfe to be a King my meaning is that he is to giue counsell as if hee himselfe were the King and to aduise for him as he would for himselfe were he in his place And that hee is to giue his vote and opinion as if the kingdome were his And to be so free from expecting or respecting his owne particular interest as if he were King himselfe Who neither expecteth nor pretendeth any merced or reward nor any addition of honour or otherwise in his kingdome for that hee hath already attained to the highest and supremest dignitie which is the Crowne In like manner Kings Fauourites and Counsellours should liue as free from pretensions as if hauing already got the Crowne they had nothing more to pretend Whose breast and bosome must be as white and as pure as whitenesse it selfe And will be the better able to iudge betwixt white and blacke right and wrong by reason of their many yeares and long experience This kinde of seruants and friends which must be the life and soule of their actions let Kings bee very carefull how they make choice of them and receiue them into fauour For there is not any one thing that doth so much manifest a Kings minde as the election which he makes of his Fauourites and Councellours of State For by them is his naturall inclination as well knowne as in a workeman by his manufactures is discouered the Art and Trade whereunto hee is most inclined And therefore I shall make bold to aduise Kings that they make such their Fauourites that are men of worth wise prudent dis-interessed and of a noble and generous disposition For by their choice men make iudgement of their King accordingly And likewise when the Kings grace and fauour shall fall vpon good Subiects his owne glory will be the greater Let Kings laying aside all affection choose such as are men of knowledge and experience and that are powerfull in perswading and disswading That know how to go in and out with good satisfaction amidst those so many so diuers and such important businesses as daily offer themselues and to giue good subtill and graue answers both by word of mouth and by writing to such Ambassadours and other great persons that shall come to treate and negociate with them That haue seene and read much and haue a generall knowledge in all things but more particularly in the countries and Prouinces that are vnder their Kings command That know what forces they are able to make and to vnderstand the strength as well of their friends as of their foes Let them be of a franke and liberall minde For this vertue the common people much loue and affect and are wonderfully well satisfied therewith And on the contrary couetousnesse is much hated and abhorred by them Let them I say bee bountifull and desirous to doe good to all in common and to euery one in particular In a word let them be men well knowne to be faithfull and trusty and such as loue their Kings so well as that they will preferre their authoritie and reputation before their owne and studie and endeuour in all and aboue all what may make most for their good and aduantage That they be wise discreet experienced patient without passion disinteressed and more zealous of the publike good then of their priuate profit For if they shall regard their owne interest and proper commoditie they are neither good for the seruice of their Kings nor for the gouernment of the commonwealth For in going about to measure out their priuacie by the yard of their particular profit they will make merchandise of all and their doing good to others shall bee for the benefiting of themselues Nothing comming vnder their hands whereof that they may not be accounted bad Cookes they will not licke their owne fingers The clingenst and strongest affection is that of couetousnesse it is like the headach which hindereth
the face to deny him any thing that hee was willing either to aske or take whilst like the vnthankfull yuie he went sucking away all the iuyce and sappe of the tree all that good Kings wealth and substance his being his authoritie and little lesse then his kingdome And lost by this meanes so much of his authoritie that some of the Grandes of the kingdome and the Infantes his brethren and the Kings of Aragon and Nauarre betooke them to their Armes and made warre against him he seeing himselfe vpon some occasions disobeyed by his sonne and Prince and forsaken of his wife and Queene Whereupon grew many ciuill broyles and all vnder the title and pretext of recouering their libertie and of pulling their neckes from vnder the yoke of that slauery and subiection wherein they were rendering that reason in their excuse which all the whole kingdome could but take notice of That all businesses past through his Fauourites hands and that the King did not negociate in his owne person The prosecution whereof I remit to those Histories that make mention thereof And it cannot bee denyed that this Fauourite notwithstanding had many good things in him that might very well deserue his Kings loue for he had serued him valiantly in great and vrgent occasions and had put his person and life in perill for his sake But as his priuacie and fauour went increasing so with it increased his ambition and couetousnesse and that in that high degree that he grew hatefull to the whole kingdome and in the end no lesse odious to the King himselfe who comming at length vnto himselfe fell into the account of those damages and losses which he had receiued in his kingdome both in his reputation and authoritie by putting the reines wholly into his hands taking thereby too much libertie to himselfe and ruling the State as he listed The Grandes represented to his Maiestie the abuses that insued thereupon as the ingrossing of the greater Offices and selling of the lesser and ouerswaying the Courts of Iustice And vsing many other effectuall perswasions grounded vpon other iust complaints proposing for remedie and redresse thereof the interest profit that might accrew vnto him by calling him to account and that he might thereby get into his hands an infinite deale of treasure the King liked very well of their propositions and admitting their reasons he fell off from his Fauourite waging warre against him with his owne money wherewith hee thought if neede should serue to sustaine and vphold himselfe This slippery footing haue all those things which haue not their hold-fast in God For they turne to the hurt of those that put their trust in them And it is his mercie to mankinde that they should pay for it in this life howsoeuer they speed in the life to come which we will leaue to Gods iustice and the strict account that will be taken of them In conclusion this great Fauourite dyed being fallen from his priuacie with his Prince depriued of all that wealth and treasure which he had so greedily scraped together ending his life with a great deale of sorrow and discontent and to the great reioycing of his opposites Though this did not serue for a warning to those that came after him but without feare of the like terrible and desperate falls they ranne themselues out of breath in the pursuite of the like priuacie Ioh. 3.29 Saint Iohn Baptist we know was Christs great Fauourite and the Gospell stiles him to be Amicus Sponsi the friend of the Bridegroome But his great goodnesse and holinesse of life did the more gloriously shew it selfe in this that by how much the more Christ did in-greaten and authorize him by so much the more did hee lessen and humiliate himselfe and laboured by all possible meanes by diminishing his owne to increase the authoritie and credit of his Lord and Master saying Illum oportet crescere Ioh. 3.30 me autem minui He must increase but I must decrease And this is that glasse wherein the Fauourites of Kings are to looke taking into their consideration that by how much the more they seeke to greaten themselues in making ostentation of their power and authoritie by so much the more they lessen and dis-authorise that of their Kings with whom is so dangerous any whatsoeuer shew or shadow of equalitie or competition that euen in the highest top of priuacie the more certaine and lesse reparable vsually is the fall How iocond and how well contented went Haman out of the palace when Queene Esther inuited him to dine with the King and her selfe When loe the very next day after they draggd him from that banquet and royall Table to the gallowes And therefore let no man trust or relye on the fauour of Kings be he neuer so rich or neuer so fortunate for in them it is ordinarily seene that all these faire shewes are commonly conuerted into manifest demonstrations of hatred Out of all this that hitherto hath beene said let Fauourites make vnto themselues this vse and instruction to know the danger and slipperinesse of the place wherein they stand euen then when they finde themselues most of all inthronized For most true is that saying of Fulmen petit culmen The highest Towers and the highest hills are most of all subiect to Iones thunder-bolts and lightning And let Kings likewise take this into their consideration by way of aduice That when they shall haue found their Fauourites to be furnished with those qualities before specified and that they are such that thereby they may merit their grace and fauour and so great both place and part in their heart it stands with very good reason that they shou d bee honoured by them with particular mercedes and fauours because they helpe them to beare the burthen of their cares and are exposed to great dangers and greater enuyings as it happened to that great Fauourite of the King of Persia whom the Princes of his kingdome did pretend to remoue from the Kings elbow and to put him in the denne amidst the Lions that by them hee might be there rent in peeces Whereof no other cause could be found against him but his Kings fauour bearing enuie to his priuacie that common Moath to high places from which none be he neuer so good neuer so honest can escape For it is very naturall in men to risent that hee should out-strip them who but yesterday was their fellow and companion They hold that honour for an iniurie that is done to their equall and thinke themselues go backward and loose of their authoritie and reputation if another bee preferred before them Which is such an offence that God presently takes notice of it and passeth it not ouer without punishment For this priuacie with Kings is a thing of his disposing and for such ends as hee pretends and there is not any Subiect that rises to such great place but that he must passe through the weights and
negociate with their Kings but by their hands it is no other but a binding of their Kings hands and to oppresse them with a palliated and cloaked kinde of tyranny with relation to their priuate Interest And because from our very first entrance into this our discourse our purpose was to confirme whatsoeuer we proposed by the testimonies of holy Scripture to the end that no man vpon any false presupposall should so much as surmise or thinke that we go about to tread too neare vpon the heeles of Fauourites I will likewise remit my selfe in this particular to that Letter registred in the Scripture which that great King Artaxerxes wrote to all the Dukes and Princes and to all his vassalls of 127. Prouinces of his kingdomes wherein with indeared reason hee propoundeth the insolencies and tyrannies exercised by Fauourites who vsing amisse the fauours and mercedes which their Kings doe them seeke to all things before them with a high hand And for that the holy Ghost would haue all this set down in the sacred History we may here very well intersert some part thereof which is well worthy the noting Multi Esther 16.2 bonitate principum honore c. Many the more often they are honoured with the great bounty of their gracious Princes the more proud they are waxen And indeauour to hurt not our Subiects onely but not being able to beare abundance doe take in hand to practise also against those that doe them good And take not onely thankfulnesse from among men but also lifted vp with the glorious words of lewd persons that were neuer good they thinke to escape the iustice of God that seeth all things and hateth euill Oftentimes also the faire speech of our friends put in trust to mannage the affaires haue caused many that are in authoritie to bee partakers of innocent bloud and hath inwrapped them in remedilesse calamities Beguiling with the falsehood and deceit of their lewd disposition the innocencie and goodnesse of Princes c. And it oftentimes commeth to passe that the good actions and intentions of Kings are hindered and the light of their Iustice eclipsed by the interposition of some terrestriall bodie which doth darken the glory thereof as the interuention of the earth obscureth the Sunne And the publike misfortunes which befall the common-wealth and the particular wrongs and iniustices which men by this meanes must indure euen vnder the raigne of a iust and religious King make his Empire hatefull for it is a naturall property incident to the vulgar when any misfortune shall befall a State to remoue the blame from themselues and to lay the fault vpon those that are of greater ranke and quality But to returne to our intended purpose I say That in the Offices of Iustice I meane wherein distributiue Iustice requireth consideration of merit way is not to bee giuen to the friends and kinsfolke of Fauourites but respect rather to bee had to the common good wherein is to bee vsed the fore-specified warinesse and circumspection And in such sort may the risentment and complaints of the kingdome increase that howbeit the said friends and kinsmen should in their abilities haue the aduantage of others yet ought they to be excluded For this reason in point of weale publike is of more weight and consequence then any sufficiencie whatsoeuer in those other pretenders Marry in those other offices which we call Offices of grace for that they neither haue the administration of Iustice nor gouernment the hand may be stretched out in a freer manner vnto those that haue any reference of amitie or alliance vnto Fauourites But these offices are but few and of no great importance and in case an exact consideration should bee had there being not that office bee it neuer so small wherein a man shall not meete with some opposites and pretenders wee must not be too hasty but hold the hand awhile that fitting prouision might be made according to the qualities and merits of the person One that was a principall Councellour of State certified a certaine graue and worthy person that he being Alcalde de Corte the common hangmans office fell voide and that hee was so earnestly sued vnto and such intercessions therein vsed that he was faigne to make two the better to cumply with his owne obligation and their importunitie And of the Catholicke Queene Donna Isabel it is said That when she gouerned the State together with King Don Fernando her husband there fell by chance a paper from forth her sleeue wherein shee had written with her owne hand Let the Cryars place of such a Citie be bestowed vpon such a one for that he hath the best voice And if in so meane an office these Catholicke and prudent Princes had such great care and respect to the qualities of the persons what care ought there to bee had in those of Iustice and gouernment What in Ecclesiasticall dignities which are the pillars of our sacred Religion When the day of that strict and rigorous account shall come which God shall require at their hands they will then see how much this did import them Let then the finall resolution of this question be That supposing that the naturall inclination of Fauourites is to benefit all and that those that are nearest vnto them for what respect soeuer it be are to bee preferred vnto Honours and Offices I will not straighten them so much nor my words and counsell and seeme to be too much republike and intire in condemning all their actions for that it hath been a thing alwayes permitted to those that are put in such high places But I would not haue it passe for a rule in the prouision of publike offices through which haue past such persons as well vnderstood what belonged to State affaires and the conseruation of Kings and their kingdomes and that were complete in all kinde of good learning and knowledge who witting that those who had power with their Kings would fauour those that were theirs out of that inclination which is common to all men haue not stickt to say that this may be done but with this consideration that it bee not to the hurt of the commonwealth For there is not that ground plant or man so barren but hath some vertue in it and is good for some Ministrie or other In confirmation whereof wee are likewise to consider that in naturall things there is not any so vile and so base which alwayes and at all times is vnprofitable And there are some cases wherein Experience hath taught the profit that may be taken therefro for the vse and conseruation of mans life And on the other side there is nothing so precious so estimable and so wholsome which is alwayes and at all times profitable For there are some as also some infirmities which would proue mortall should they bee applyed vnto them And therefore mans prudence doth come to consist in this to know it's qualitie and to vnderstand aright the
better that all should obey one that had wisedome and experience and that had beene bred vp in businesses and the mannaging of State-affaires whereby to gouerne them in peace and Iustice And sithence that in Pipine these qualities did concurre and that on him all the businesses of importance did depend it were good that hee should bee their King and that Childericke should take his ease and pleasure Hereupon they treated with Pipine who though hee gaue eare vnto what they said yet would not rashly aduenture himselfe to accept of the Crowne vnlesse Pope Zacharias might first be consulted therein Whereupon they sent their Embassadours who had instruction to render such reasons to the Pope that might moue him to approue thereof and iudging Childericke to bee vnfit for the gouernment might absolue the French of their oath which they had taken and that obedience which they ought to their King and that he should depriue him of the kingdome and further declare That since Pipine did rule and command all and had so many good indowments that hee might likewise be inuested with the title of King And the Archbishop of Maguncia was the man that was nominated to set the Crowne on his head and to declare him to bee King of all France Being thus back't they summoned a Parliament degraded the poore seely king and thrust him into a Monastery and Pipine was sworne and proclaimed King of those so many kingdomes and Signories as were then subiect to the Crowne of France There remaineth testimony hereof in the Decretals C. Alius 16. q. Hence had it's first beginning and that hand and power giuen vnto Popes in so great a businesse as the setting vp and pulling downe of Kings and which is more of creating new Emperours and depriuing the old ones of their Empire Whereof there are many examples And that which this Pope did with that King who had no more then that vmbratill and apparent power other Popes afterwards did the like with Henries and Fredericks and other Tyrants of great puisance and power The one offend in the more the other in the lesse The one out of the ambition that they haue to bee Kings that they may command and doe all loose all and so go to hell And the other go the same way for that they will not bee as they should be Kings but giue themselues wholly vnto idlenesse It was the Emperour Galba's vtter ouerthrow that he had put the whole gouernment into onely three mens hands which he brought along with him possessing them with so much power that hee was not Master of himselfe depending still vpon their wil and through that great authoritie which they had they ouerthrew all whatsoeuer their King did ordaine thrusting their armes as we say vp to the elbowes in all affaires and making vse of their present fortune And for that this vnfortunate Emperour could take notice of no more then what hee had from them for none without their permission could or see or speake with him they made him to do that which that other Potter did who going about to make a pot to boyle meate in made a Iarre to put drinke in And he thinking to substitute Iudges that should administer Iustice appointed theeues in their place which robbed the Commonwealth All which was imputed vnto him And for that Vanity is the mother of so many vices all this their great fauour serued to no other vse but to cause their Soueraigne to commit many actions of iniustice and indiscretion and of vnheard of and vnthought of wrongs violently breaking through the ordinary course of Iustice By which exorbitant proceedings this imprudent Emperour grew to be hated and abhorred of all and not being able longer to beare with him they depriued him at once of his life and Empire And these kinde of Caterpillars said the Emperour Sigismund make those Kings vnfortunate Aeneas Siluester de doct Sigismund that put their affiance in them At this carelesse ward liued at first Agesilaus King of the Lacedemonians though afterwards like a wise Prince hee did rectifie this errour And the case was this Hee let his friend and Fauourite Lisander carry a great hand ouer him and did honour him in all that he could expressing alwayes much loue vnto him Lysander puft vp herewith tooke great state vpon him being attended with a great traine and manifesting in his very gate a kinde of extraordinary grauitie and Maiestie and all did so farre forth serue and obey him that it seemed he had vsurped the dignitie royall and the Empire leauing good honest Agesilaus onely the bare Titulary name of King Which his Maiestie taking into his consideration to the end that the people might not say that hee raigned by Lysanders helpe he withdrew the dispatch of businesses from forth his hands and would not remit any thing vnto him and if he spake to him touching this or that businesse he made as if he did not heare him or not well vnderstand him dispatching all himselfe to the good contentment of his Subiects Hereupon Lysander began to cast vp his accounts with himselfe and forbore from that time forward to conferre fauours or to promise Offices and told such suiters as came vnto hâ—m that they should go themselues to petition the King and would by no meanes permit that they should accompany him to Court as before And yet notwithstanding all this he assisted very carefully in all such seruices as were by his Maiesty recommended vnto him without any the least shew of discontentment Within a while after occasion was offered vnto him to speake with the King and talking with him hee told him O King how well hast thou learned to make thy friends lesse yes quoth the King when they will make themselues too great The King played his part well so did the Fauourite and all ought to doe the like Kings must bore a hole in that ship with their owne hand to stop it's course when it hoyseth it's sayles too high and goes with too still a gale For the taking notice of their Fauourites ambition is that ballast which doth secure them against those their windes and puffes of vanitie Let then the first aduice and which is of greatest importance for Kings and Christian kingdomes bee that which amongst other the Catholicke King of Spaine and Emperour Charles the fifth left vnto his sonne King Philip the second wherein with many indeared and effectuall words he recommends vnto him the obseruing augmenting and defending of the Christian faith in all his kingdomes States and Signiories seuerely punishing with all rigour and iustice without exception of persons all such as should bee either suspected or found culpable in points of Heresies Errours and depraued Sects contrary to the Catholicke faith For therein consisteth all our good words all of them worthie consideration and worthy so Catholicke a Prince esteemed approued and perpetually obserued by his most happie sonne howbeit to his great cost As one that
knew very well that in the obseruance of Religion and Catholicke faith all the happinesse that we can hope for in this or that other life dependeth thereupon and hath it 's sure ground and foundation Heb. 11.1 And therefore Saint Paul calls it Substantiam rerum sperandarum c. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the euidence of things not seene c. For it is the foundation whereupon is built in our soules all our spirituall good insomuch that the selfe same Apostle said Sine fide c. Without faith it is impossible to please God And seeing it is a Iewell of such great worth and value Kings are to make that esteeme of it that they doe not onely retaine it but maintaine and defend it especially in their owne kingdomes and in all other places where they haue any power For besides the obligation which they haue as Christian Kings it concernes them likewise in their owne proper interest For in giuing way to their Subiects that they be not faithfull vnto God it will pull that punishment vpon them that they shall not be loyall vnto them And most certaine it is that they who shall not cumply with the greater obligation shall easily faile in the letter And this is made cleare vnto vs in the sacred History of the Kings where whosoeuer shall diligently obserue the same hee shall finde That after Ieroboam King of Israel 3. King 13. had set vp those Idolls in Dan and Bethel of purpose to withdraw the people from the true worship of God were commended and continued as there wee may reade the treasons and rebellions of the Subiects against their Kings For this vnfortunate Prince thought with himselfe that for to settle and secure himselfe in the kingdome by those ten Tribes which had rebelled and made choice of him for their King that it would be a good meanes to induce them to his deuotion to draw them to forgo the adoration of the true God which they were wont to performe in the holy Citie and Temple of Ierusalem and to humble and prostrate themselues before those Idolls But the iust vengeance of God ouertooke him for instantly thereupon he lost his eldest sonne who dyed a violent death For Baasha the sonne of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him and smote him at Gibbethon and anon after all the house of Ieroboam not leauing vnto him any that breathed And not onely hee and his did miscarry but the whole kingdome was laid waste and desolate for that sinne and led away captiue And as when one man hath receiued from another some extraordinary great wrong he can hardly forget it so vpon all occasions wherein mention is made of the sinnes of the Kings which afterwards succeeded and of the punishment which they deserued for them still is the remembrance reuiued of this most grieuous sinne of Ieroboams and are attributed vnto him as being the first that opened the gappe vnto them And all those troubles which are there particularly set downe in those sacred bookes befell that kingdome for a punishment to them and a warning to all Christian Kings that by how much the greater light they haue for to know the excellencie of Faith and the truth of Christian Religion so much the lesse are they to be obeyed and the more seuerely to bee punished if they should be wanting to so great and so apparent an obligation Let Christian Kings therefore know that if they shall continue firme in the faith and cause all their subiects to continue constant therein God will protect both King and people and will establish their kingdomes and all shall obey and feare them but if they shall faile therein all runs to wracke and vtter ruine So that as a naile if you will haue it to hold must be fastened in some other thing that is firme and strong lest it and all that hangs thereon come tumbling downe to the ground So in like manner if a King will vphold himselfe firme and sure in his power Maiestie and greatnesse hee must be firmely fixed to the faith strongly vnited with God and close wedged to his diuine will but if he begin once to sinke or shrinke in this all his kingdomes or whatsoeuer depend thereon come tumbling downe to the ground with a sudden and fearefull fall For nothing doth more vphold a sociable life a Monarchie and kingdome then Religion linked with Iustice Noah for his Religion and Iustice was after the Flood obeyed by all The Romans for the vpholding and inlarging of their Empire held not any meanes comparable to that of Religion and Iustice wherein they surpassed all of those times The Emperour Seuerus being at the point of death which is a time for men to speake truth ended his life with these words Firmum imperium filijs meis relinquo si boni erunt Imbecille si mali A strong Empire leaue I to my Sonnes if they proue good a weake if bad For the greatest force and strength of a kingdome both for the present and the future is the vertue of it's king So that with no lime and sand are the walls and foundations of States more firme and surely setled for lasting and continuance then with a Kings vertue and goodnesse Which is that recompence and reward which God promised to his most faithfull seruant Dauid for his vertue Firmaboregnum eiâ—s stâ—â—iliâ—â— ebronum regni eius in sempiternâ—â— I will establish his kingdome and I will stablish the throne of his kingdome for euer That is the title and dignitie of a King should bee continued and confirmed vnto him tanquam in vsum proprietatem for euer and euer This firmnesse in the faith and this obseruance of Religion and Iustice are those 〈◊〉 pillars and columnes which being truly cumplyed withall do not onely vphold for the present but doe likewise increase and perpetuate kingdomes 3. Reg. 22. If good King Iehosaphat had not entred into league and amitie with King Ahab the Idolater it had not fallen out with him so ill as it did nor his â—iâ—e beene put to that danger as it was 1. Mac. 8.9 Iudas Machabâ—â—s heard â—â—ll of the great and famous deeds that the Romanes had câ—â—e in feares of Armes being a stranger Nation to Gods people Whereupon he sent his Ambassadours vnto them to make a perpetuall league and confederation with them Wherewith God was much displeased and so hurtfull vnto them was this â—â—â—â—tie and alliance that many haue obserued that after this Peace was concluded betweene them Iudas neuer after obtained any victory ouer his enemies but was slaine in the first battell that he fought And some say the like succeeded to both his brothers Ionathan and Simeon Let vs draw then from this discourse and sound aduice of this Catholike Emperour how much it importeth Kings to maintaine their faith and Religion and to conserue and vphold the same in all their kingdomes and dominions Now for to
to the Law yet is hee lyable to the rules of reason This pious Emperour goes on and willeth his sonne that he should strictly recommend to his Vice-roys charge the protecting sheltring and relieuing of the poore the defending of the fatherlesse and widow and those that are destitute of friends and haue none to helpe them Whom some that are in place and authoritie are wont and I feare is too ordinary amongst them to disfauour and disesteeme them making little or no reckoning at all of them Being ignorant how vile and base a thing it is and how heroycall the contrary and how much in imitation of God to put forth a charitable and pitifull hand to him that is brought low and fallen into miserie assisting him in his afflictions and troubles freeing him from wrongs and iniuries whose shield and buckler he that gouernes ought to be And he closes vp this aduertisement with wishing him to be very carefull that his Viceroys and Gouernours exercise their offices as they ought and not to exceed the instructions that are giuen them nor to vsurpe beyond their authoritie giuing them this prouiso that in doing the contrary he shall thinke that he is ill serued by them and that hee giue order to haue it remedied and amended by his displeasure and their punishment And howbeit it be true that he ought not to giue credit to all the complaints which are made against such his Ministers which are seldome wanting yet in no hand that he should refuse to heare them and vnderstand them in forming himselfe fully of the truth For the not doing of it will but minister occasion vnto them to be more absolute and to the Subiects to grow desperate seeing themselues oppressed by iniustice and vnconscionable dealing Likewise when Kings send an Embassadour to another Prince they must looke well into the qualitie of the person whom they send For in such an Embassage he doth not onely treate of the businesses for which hee goes but likewise of the honour and authoritie of the King which sends him And therefore it is necessary that the persons that are nominated and declared to go on Embassage haue many of those qualities which we haue mentioned in Vice-roys and Councellours of State For if they shall not fill that place with the greatnesse of their good abilities it will be a great lessening to the credit and reputation of the King and the businesses will receiue much hinderance if not vtterly bee ouerthrowne The Romanes did make a mocke of the Teutones counting them no better then fooles for sending an Embassadour vnto them that was a block-head and of little or no experience Kings and great Princes all that from which glory and greatnesse resulteth vnto them they ought to doe it without any the least shew of vanitie accompanying it with such circumstances and consequencies that it may seeme onely to bee done for the common good the exaltation of the Commonwealth and the reputation of their Crowne In all times and places they must represent much authoritie grauitie and Maiestie in their persons and in their Treaties mixing it with affabilitie and courtesie To the end that by the one they may cause feare and respect and by the other quit and remoue that feare It is reported of Octauian the Emperour that all the Embassadours that appeared in his presence stood astonished betwixt feare and admiration but no sooner spake he vnto them but they were wonderfully taken with his words and did not then so much feare as affect him For albeit the Maiestie where with hee receiued them was exceeding great yet was his carriage towards them very affable and very courteous In these two vertues did excell that Catholicke King of Spaine Don Philip the second whom for the representing of Maiestie and regall authoritie none did excell and few equall And in the carriage and composition of his person there was no defect to bee found Vpon any accident that befell him were it good or bad fortunate or vnfortunate there was neuer any man that could perceiue in him so much as a discomposed countenance or any other the least alteration And hee may be truly said to be a man who is not proud in prosperitie nor impatient in aduersitie For it is a great signe of Noblenesse and the vndoubted marke of a royall minde and Princely courage not to loose himselfe in his aduerser fortunes but to shew himselfe constant against fortune and to raise vp his spirits as this King did being neuer deiected with any outward Crosse or misfortune tha befell him He did neuer being therein like vnto to Xenophous Cyrus shew an ill countenance or speake an ill word vnto any man Hee was not so affable and familiar with his Fauourites that any of them all durst presume to petition him in any thing that was vniust nor yet so austere and seuere towards others as to make them to forbeare to preferre a iust suite vnto him To his owne Subiects he was kinde to strangers noble but withall reseruing still his authoritie and greatnesse For Kings ought not to bee so harsh and intractable as to make themselues to bee abhorred nor so kinde and courteous as to cause themselues to be contemned Indeauouring all they can not to fall into the extreames by shewing too much loue to some and little or none at all to other some For too much seueritie ingendreth hatred and too much familiaritie breedeth contempt Let them generally beare themselues in that respectiue manner towards all that they honour the better loue the meaner sort and despise not the rest but as farre as they are able extend their grace and fauour vnto all For that being but little which they haue to giue in comparison of the many that are sutors and the great rewards which they pretend they rest better satisfied with those good words and mannerly answers that are giuen them then with those fauours that are done them For the generous hearts modest countenances and ingenious dispositions of those noble spirits which follow Princes Courts much more risent the disfauour that is done them in receiuing courtesies with disgrace then if they were denyed them And therefore it is good wholesome counsell and much importing Kings to returne a faire and equall answer vnto all according to each mans qualitie and merit and that they carry the same euen hand in the conferting of their fauours and in the manifestation of their loue And if they shall in a more particular manner expresse the same to some one particular person let him likewise more particularly deserue it For neuer shall that loue be stedfast where deserts are wanting in the partie beloued I shall likewise aduertise Kings that they doe not make such vse of this their great both office and power as to assume vnto themselues to be absolute and to cumply in all things with their affections and desires nor to exercise any other personall passion For the vse and custome of absolute power
broken pipes that is through the hands of euill Ministers which soake and sucke vnto themselues a great part thereof and no man the wiser where the leake is till it discouer it selfe But it is now high time to grow to an end and I will conclude this Aduertisement with that common Prouerbe which speaketh thus Quien mucho abarca poco aprieta The ouer-griping hand holds but little suting with that of ours All couet all loose Or answering to that which that great Courtier and Fauourite Maecenas said That great treasures and riches are both more and better heaped vp and receiue a fairer accumulation by spending little then by scraping much CHAP. XXXVIII Aduertisements for Fauourites and Councellers of State THe Aduertisements for Fauourites are these the first That they doe not priuar too much who pretend their Kings fauour and that they doe not beare themselues too high thereupon nor suffer themselues to bee attended with a great traine of followers thereby to make publike demonstration of their greatnesse Boast not thy selfe too much nor seeme thou ouer vaine saith the holy Ghost to the Fauourite Ne gloriosus appareas coram Rege Prou. 25. Put not forth thy selfe in the presence of the King For there is neither that State nor Prince of that dull patience that doth not in the end grow iealous and fearefull of the great power and authoritie of Fauourites and more especially if they once begin to waxe insolent and abuse this their greatnesse For Kings are Companions and fellow-seruants with vs in their affections and naturall passions nay by their leaue bee it spoken more subiect then we are vnto them saue that they suppresse them more in outward shew and make not that exteriour demonstration of them in regard of that diuinitie which they pretend and represent And all of them will be Masters of their entire will and absolute power And that Fauourite is fouly deceiued and in a strange kinde of errour who in Court by his secret plots and close conueyance pretendeth to possesse his Kings heart if hee conceiue by this course to be the more secure For very dangerous is that fauour and place which is built vpon such a foundation and very ticklish the state of a Fauourite when a King carries such respect vnto him And the reason of this danger is drawne from mans nature it selfe which cannot but in Kings be of farre greater force and strength for there is not that man liuing which doth not hate and abhorre subiection And this is so certaine a truth that I perswade my selfe that I may truly giue this censure and that I am no whit mistaken therein that the reason why Kings doe more willingly make and raise vp men vnto honour and greatnesse for their owne proper guste and appetite then for seruices and deserts is for that in the former they shew themselues to be powerfull and to be owners of their owne cloath which they may cut out to more or lesse as it pleaseth them But to the second they are debtors a thing that is hatefull euen to the best nature and disposition And Fauourites likewise on their part are not to haue men like swarmes of Bees to hiue themselues in their portalls and to hang about them in clusters lest when that day shall come as come it will wherein they shall fall the world take notice that it was his fauour and not his person that they followed There are few Ephestions but many Crateri in Court many that will follow Alexanders fortune but few his particular person Let Fauourites likewise receiue this aduice and counsell from the hand of the Euangelist Saint Iohn which was one of the greatest Courtiers and Fauourites which the King of heauen had The thing that I shall recommend to their consideration is this That when Iohn fell downe to worship before the feet of the Angell which had opened great mysteries vnto him and showne him the things which were shortly to be fulfilled the Angell said vnto him Apoc. 22.9 Vide ne feceris conseruus enim tuus sum fratrum tuorum See thou doe it not for I am thy fellow seruant and the fellow-seruant of thy brethren c. Let euery Fauourite apply this counsell to himselfe and make vse thereof so shall he be in grace with King and people and when men shall go about as it were to adore him and to make him a little God almighty in doing him worship and honour let him by no meanes giue way thereunto but meekly acknowledge that he is but a creature as they are and preuent them with that answer of the Angell Vide ne feceris conseruus tuus sum Doe not offer it for I am your fellow-seruant And great is that obligation which they haue which are raised to great place to know themselues and not to shew themselues strangers to those that haue beene their associates and companions in their meaner fortunes and with whom they haue held priuate familiarity and friendship And not to be like vnto Pharaohs Cup-bearer who when he saw himselfe in that fauour and priuacie which his fellow-prisoner Ioseph had foretold and prognosticated vnto him neuer thought no more of it but quite forgot both it and him as if there had beene no such matter or man It argues extreame lightnesse and a naughty nature that a man should hoyse saile and be gone when he hath a faire winde and not take him along with him that hath runne through all perills and dangers with him and indured all brunts and stormes whatsoeuer How shamefull a thing then is it for them who seeing themselues in prosperitie turne away their face from him who ranne along with them in their aduerser fortune Especially considering they are not certaine how long this calme will endure and what a comfort it is in a storme to haue a true friend to sticke close vnto him For it is a vsuall thing to see him lowermost to day that yesterday stood vppermost in Fortunes wheele And the Moone when it is at full fore-tells a wane and therefore that which importeth them most is That they carry themselues in a gentile fashion towards all men and that their dealing be plaine and dis-interessed whereby they shall not onely keepe their old friends but gaine new and may very well hope to be holpen by them when they shall haue occasion to vse them For they must thinke that the skie will not alwayes bee cleare clouds may arise the Sunne withdraw his light for Kings wills and affections like other mens are ambulatorie and then in what a poore case is a Fauourite if he be left like a single proposition alone to himselfe He cannot if he be wise but make this account with himselfe that the greatest power stirreth vp the greatest enuie and if many combine against him be he the greatest Fauourite that euer was or can bee supposed they will shrewdly put him to his trumpes and if they be of as noble
to the eternitie of such an estate as we yet know not what it shall be the extreames being as we see so farre distant All that hath beene hitherto said both in generall and particular concerning a Monarchie and kingdome shall not be fruitlesse nor the time lost that hath beene spent in the writing or shall be spent in the reading of this Treatise if it be well and truly considered For by the perusall thereof Kings and Princes may come to know a thousand seuerall semblances of Ministers and disguised countenances of hypocriticall Courtiers and the diuers dispositions and humours as well of the ambitious as the couetous their affections conditions and naturall inclinations whether they be by nature of great and vnâ—â—uly spirits or whether they bee by fortune put into great places For this without doubt changeth man from his first estate and apparrelleth him with other particular affections And in the true knowledge of these consisteth the augmentation conseruation and good gubernation of kingdomes and commonwealths as also the reputation credit opinion and authoritie of Kings In a word they may out of these doctrines and aduertisements collect and know how at one time the naturall dispositions customes and manners of the vulgar stand affected and how at another time those that are not so vulgar and of so low a ranke and how at all times to make vse of this knowledge for the better increasing and inlarging of their power and greatnesse and how and in what manner they are to carry themselues towards them as also those other that are to aide and assist in gouernment For there is not any thing of more price or more to be valued by Kings then this knowledge of the affections as well for the discerning those of others as the moderating of their owne And as it were to make a iudgement and to prognosticate by them the end of the actions of those that are about and where they intend to make their stop and set vp their rest be they foes or friends And by the actions of those that are present be they Confederates Ministers and dependents their ends designes and pretensions And particularly in those who cleaue closer to their Kings fortune then his person Points whereon doth hang the hinge and wherein are included and shut vp all both the particular and generall passages of gouernment and of that art and science which they call by the common name of Reason of State And although I know for certaine that there will not such be wanting that will laugh and scoffe at these my Politicall Aduertisements some because they would be accounted the onely men seene in this Science and would make themselues the onely admired men amongst the vulgar and that there is not any one that is a professour in that Art that vnderstandeth their plots and designes Others lesse malignant as being ignorant of the secrets of this Science iudging it to be an Art full of impossibilities will not trouble themselues therewithall nor looke into the Mysteries thereof as if by the effects they were not able to iudge of the causes of things and by the carriage and successe of former businesses to diuine of the ends and designes of those which are now on foot And others farre worse then these who although they come to know this truth deny the same and seeke many colours both for the disgracing of it and the Author and for no other reason in the world but because they are professed enemies to whatsoeuer counsell that is not of their owne hatching fearing that it might quit something of the glory of their ambition And for that they will haue nothing thought to be good but what issues from forth their owne braine they blaspheme saith Saint Iames and speake euill of that which they know not and not onely not admit and receiue that good which is propounded vnto them but as that kingly Prophet saith because they will neither vnderstand nor heare it like the Adder they stop their eares with the taile of their ignorance fearing lest they should be charmed by some superiour wit and better vnderstanding Yet notwithstanding fall backe fall edge come what will of it I haue cumplyed with my desire and which is more with my obligation And if it shall proue to be of any vse profit and seruice for Kings and for the great Councellours and Ministers of their kingdomes which haue most need thereof to whose seruice it goes especially directed and perhaps may be vsefull for those which are not in that nature And though haply it may not bee auaileable for amendment yet may it serue for a desenganno and dis-deceiuing of those that are in an errour And in case it shall not take this effect there will be no harme done by committing it to the Presse though it bee afterwards buried in the dust as it hath befallen other farre better things then these And Time which couers what is past and discouers what is to come will in it's time discouer this and such other things as are not yet come to light And for this cause they called Archimedes the Syracusan The Inuenter of new Things and the Register of old And certaine it is that amongst the Ancients there was a great agreement and Artifice in the gouernment of some commonwealths as was that of the Aegyptians of the Athenians of the Allmanes and aboue all of the Romane Commonwealth Which Saint Austen did so much admire And men looking no further then to that which is before them haue in a manner quite forgotten that and therefore it is fit that there should bee some Remembrancer that by putting them in minde of that which is past they may the better performe things for the present and prouide for that which is to come For as Plato said though in another sence all our knowledge is but a Recordation of things past and therein he said well For a great part of those nouelties which are daily introduced are but old things that haue layen long in obliuion and that which is done to day we finde is forgotten to morrow And in the reuolution of time comes in after ages to represent it selfe for new And this amongst many others was the maine cause which moued me to write this Treatise and which may incourage me to go on further though I must confesse that my penne hath out runne my intention finding that I haue thrust my foot deeper into the stirrop then I thought to haue done hauing made a volumne of that which when I first put pâ—â— to paper I purposed should haue ended in a short and little Tract But who can put a bridle vnto loue or restraine zeale and more especially when it is so naturall and proper as that which all and euery one doth or ought to beare vnto his owne King and Lord. Adding thereunto mine owne particular respect in regard of my nearer reference to his Maiesties seruice And no small spurre hereunto was my honest true meaning heart and the assurance of a good conscience whose whole studie and desire in this my labour hath beene to hit as right as I could vpon that which might be most conuenient for the augmentation conseruation reputation authoritie and greatnesse of Kings as likewise what I thought would bee most necessarie for the wellfare and good gouernment of kingdomes and particular Commonwealths For this doth depend on that Though I conceiue there be few that thinke thereon For most I feare me treate onely their owne businesse making that the principall and all the rest accidentall Howbeit they will not sticke to say and publish to the world that they onely attend the conseruation of their Kings and Commonwealths Would to God that it might not be said of them which he himselfe said by the mouth of that his Prophet and Prince of his people They honour mee with their lip Cor autem corum longè est à me But their heart is farre from mee God I beseech thee of thy infinite mercy that the hearts of Kings and their Ministers may not be farre off from thee nor thou from them but that thou wilt vouchsafe to bee euermore neare at hand vnto them and to fauour them and direct them in all their wayes to thy honour and glory Amen Laus Deo FJNJS Errata Page 7. line 26. A Certar reade Acertar p. 13. l 31. his family r. it 's family p. 17. l. 35. denotate r. denotateth p. 24. l. 26. though r. thought p. 33. l. 29. wootst r. wot'st p. 34. l. 34. men r. man p. 53. l. 19. sapientio rerit r. sapientior erit p. 71. l. 20. su spasses r. sus passos p. 87. l 9. wise r. the wise ibid. l. 13. of force r. of the force p 135. l. 1. Regular r. Regalar p. 136. l. 15. goodnesses r. goodnesse p. 151. l. 22. content to r. to content p. 156. l. 9. subiect r. subiects p. 157. l. 20. sa soga r. la soga p. 175. l. 24. this answer r. this I answer p. 142. l. 18. careesse r. carelesse p. 245. l. 3. seuerietie r. seueritie ibid. l. 32. are that r. that are p. 261. l. 17. impostoures r. impostures Ibid. l. 32. nistad r. mistad p. 273. l. 30. cabines r. cabinets p. 287. l. 14. therein r. there is p. 294. l. 30. requencie r. frequencie p. 320. l. 27. or iudgement r. or that iudgement p. 323. l. 11. inionyed r. inioyned p. 344. l. 12. deliaces r. delicasies p. 352. l. 19. of much r. much of