Samuel whose vniust behauior caused the Iews to demaund a King Here is a faire field offred me for the discoursing of this matter on either side but it shall suffice me to haue had this speech following at a glaunce CHAP. V. Whether it be better to haue a king by Succession or by Election SOme there are that demaund whether it be more behoofull and expedient for the welfare of a people to haue a king by Election or by Succession For if ye proceed by Election it is to be presumed that ye will choose the best namely such a one as hath made good proofe of himselfe and is knowne to be wise fortunat and valeant Or if ye let it goe by Succession it may be that the king shall be yoong of small experience and of little vnderstanding And therefore Alexander knowing the dutie of a king said He would leaue his kingdome to the worthiest Pirrhus being asked of his children to whom he would leaue his kingdome answered To him that of you all hath the sharpest sword as if he should say to him that is the most valeant Whosoeuer would maintaine this opinion should haue reasons enow to vphold and defend it Yet notwithstanding we ought to rest vpon the custome of the country and not to swarue from it Such as are wont to choose their king do well and worthily therein And yet the granting of a kingdome to goe by Succesion which also is a very generall custome in most countries is not to be misliked For oftentimes it falleth out that Elections are a cause of many warres as we haue seene in the Romane emperors On the other side when the kingdome goeth by succession there is no quarrell or ciull warre because it is knowne who ought to be king For that cause did Geâ—srike appoint by his will that his children should exceed one another in the kingdome so that after the death of his eldest sonne dying without issue the eldest next him should succeede And as long as that order was obserued among them the kingdome continued in the race of Gensrike as witnesseth Iordane in his historie of the Gothes Moreouer a father is desirous to leaue all things in best order to his children the which thing tendeth alwaies to the publike commoditie Contrariwise they that are chosen endeuor rather to diminish than to enlarge their kingdomes because they shall not leaue them to their heires and therefore they labor to draw all things to their owne peculiar profit that they may leaue to their familie some frute of the kingdome wherto they were come and therwithall they be bound to fauor and recompence their Electors which cannot be done without expenses and charges to the common-weale And it will not serue the purpose to say that oftentimes it falleth out that kings are yoong and vnder age and consequentlie without authoritie and without abilitie to gouerne themselues and much lesse their people or else that they be witlesse or out of their wits which is worse For it is well knowne that nothing is so well ordered in this world nor any law so well stablished which may not admit some inconuenience But in this case the incounenience is such as may easily be remedied For if a king be yoong he hath a Counsell by whom oftentimes he ruleth better than some old man that will needs do all things on his owne head as we read of Iosias who was crowned at seuen yeares of age and raigned forty yeares in which time he did not any thing which was not to be done so as the minoritie of his age made him not to be the lesse honored regarded Herof we haue record in little Europus king of Macedonia the presence of whom notwithstanding that he lay in his cradle caused his subiects to win the battell and the Macedonians said all with one voice That when they fled afore they wanted not corage but their king in whose presence they fought as manfully as if he had beene of discretion to haue marked them that did well And although we haue somtimes had warres by reason of the minoritie and debilitie of our kings as it happened in the times of S. Lewis of Charles the sixt and lastly of the late king Charles whom God pardon yet may we well avow that we neuer had so much harme therby as the Romans had by their wicked emperors that came in by Election yea euen by the best taught of them as Heliogabalus was who being trained vp in all duties of honor and godlinesse by Varia Mesa did neuerthelesse become one of the wickedst creatures vnder the sunne And therefore we may well say that it commeth of Gods will who according to his threatning of the Israelites in old time sendeth vs babes or fooles to be our gouernors when he listeth to punish vs and oftentimes princes well brought vp but yet abiding in their wicked and il-disposed nature such as were Tiberius Nero Caligula and infinit other mo Neuerthelesse there is this difference that the king which is of tender yeares or simple-witted hath his counsell which notwithstanding that they be oftentimes at ods among themselues omit not for all that to giue him good counsel in most things But as for the Prince that is of a froward nature he beleueth nothing but that which is of his own head neither giueth he himselfe to any thing else than to do mischeefe I know wel that the minoritie of a prince is oftentimes the cause of many dissentions partakings for the gouernmeÌ„t and that men stand not in so great awe of him as of an elder person that is well aduised But yet the state of the time and of affaires doth more in that behalfe than all other things For if they happen vnder a prince that is yong or simple-witted they procure great tragedies and yet for all that they faile not to step in also euen vnder a king that is man-growne and well aduised If Robert of Artois who was the cause of all the misfortune that we had in France by the Englishmen had beene in the time of a young prince men would haue said that the small regard which he had of the princes age had made him to despise him And yet neuerthelesse hauing to do with a king of full age and well experienced aforehand he forbare not for all that to make open warre vpon him and to cause the English men to come into France vpon a choler and despite for that Philip of Valois had adiudged the earledome of Artoys to his aunt The king of Nauar had to do with a king of sufficient years with such a one as had not then tasted of such misfortune as he felt afterward by experience and yet notwithstanding hee forbare not to giue many proud attempts against him to slea his constable and to refuse to be at his commaundement vntill the king had giuen him his sonne the earle of Aniou in hostage At such
time as Charles the fift was regent of France the same king of Nauar being vnderpropped by certain seditious persons of Paris forbare not to make warre vpon the said Charles for all his wisdome puissance and good gouernment In the time of Charles the sixt no such distresses aduersities had befaln in France but for the iarres that were betweene the houses of Burgundie and Orleans And therefore we must not impute the misfortune so much to the vnskilfulnesse of the king as to priuat quarrels and to the troublesomnesse of the time wherein he raigned which was such that if they had had neuer so sage a prince he should haue found himselfe very sore cumbred After that Charles the seuenth had recouered all France he was not so greatly redouted nor so setled in peace but there remained vnto him some small ciuill warres Lewis the eleuenth was a prince of sufficient wisdome forecast and age to guide himselfe and yet he could not turne away the warres from the common weale which had not hapned vnder princes of vnripe years For the gouernors of a yoong prince durst not to haue despised the greatmen openly nor to haue defeated the antient officers as he did whereof insued euill vnto him What would haue been said of the war in Germanie if it had happened vnder a simple witted Emperour seing it befell vnder a prince of gouernment fortunat puissant and well aduised Men haue imputed our warres to the minoritie of the late king But had he been much elder than he was he could not haue preuented them seing that to the discontentment of most men the case stood vpon the state of religion a matter sufficient being so intermedled both with matters of state and with priuat quarrels to maintaine the tragedies that we haue seene Therefore it behoueth vs to yeeld vnto custome and to say with S. Paul That the power of a king commeth of God and likewise with Salomon in his Prouerbs That the heart of a king is in the hand of God as is the course of waters and that he inclineth them which way he listeth Some men like well of the kingdome that goes by Election and othersome mislike not of the kingdome that goes by Inheritance Both in the one and in the other there be diuers inconueniences and reasons enow both to commend them and to discommend them CHAP. VI. Of the Education or bringing vp of a Prince LYcurgus the Law-maker of Lacedemon being desirous to make his countriemen to loue vertue and intending to shew them to the eye as it were with his finger that nature and custome be the means to atteine therto vpon a time when they were assembled altogether in a place to consult of the affaires of the citie brought foorth before all the companie a couple of dogges of one litter of one dam and of one syre the which he had kept vp so diuersly that the one of thē being altogether giuen to hunting was extreamly sharp set vpon the prey and the other being accustomed to the kitchin and to licke the dishes had no desire at all to hunt For proofe wherof when he had set before thē a platter of porrage and a quicke Hare by and by the one of them ran after the Hare and the other stept to the porrage Whereupon he said Ye see here O ye Lacedemonians how these two dogges being both of one dam yet diuersly brought vp do resemble their bringing vp euen so trainment and custome are means of great importance to engender vertue in mens hearts Which thing we cannot but rightly say of the education of princes which ought to be better learned than other men and to beleeue that they cannot be vertuous if they be not learned but are like to a peece of ground which being neuer so good becommeth barren if it be not husbandred and contrariwise doth bring forth good fruit being well tilled and composted though of it selfe it be very bad The bodie that is strong forgoeth his strength for want of exercise and contrariwise the man that is feeble and of weake complexion becommeth strong by continuance of exercise and trauell Plutarke in his booke of the bringing vp of children saith That to make a man perfect in vertue there behoueth three things to concurre namely Nature Reason that is to say instruction or teaching and Custome or Excercise It is no wonder therfore though such as haue treated of the qualities that are requisit in Princes hauing begun at their very cradle trained them vp from their first infancie For the time most fit and conuenient for the doing thereof is while they be yet tender easie to bend of that first Education of theirs wil they haue a tast euer after For as Horace saith The bottle that hath licour of good sent put into it at the first wil keepe the tang therof a long time Among the authors of our time Francis Petrarch hath written very largely therof teaching of the nursing of a prince of his keeping of company of his tutors and teachers of the maner how to make him a god horseman and consequently of good horses of running of wrestling and of other exercises of the body of shooting of hunting of hawking and consequently of the nature of hawkes of playing at tennis and other pastimes of husbandry of Geographie and of Cosmographie But my intent is not to traine vp a prince from his cradle to his tombe but to gather such doings of theirs as may serue them for good example to the well gouerning of their people Therefore as touching their bringing vp I referre me to the things which are written by the said Petrarke and afore him by Zenophon Isocrates Plutarch and many others Only thus much I say That the prince which hath children ought to be carefull to bring them vp well in lerning and vertue For as Plutarch affirmeth in the comparison of Agis and Gracchus good Education moderateth and stayeth a mans mind not only in things of pleasure by keeping him from passing the bounds of honesty and honor in word or deede but also in matters of anger and in the greatest heats of ambition and of desire of honor Philip king of Macedon vowed his sonne vnto Aristotle as soon as he was borne and afterward did put him happily into his hands and he trained him vp in Philosophie For good Education not only fashioneth a man but also altereth his nature as we read of Socrates whom a professor of Phisnomie deemed to be full of all vices and when the man was blamed for his misdeeming Socrates answered that he had not failed in his Art for by nature he said he was such a one as he reported him to be but diligent heed and good Education had made him altogether another man The schoolemaister of Themistocles beholding his ready and quicke wit told him aforehand that he should one day doe either some great good or some great harme to his
And as Xenophon saith in is Education of king Cyrus It is no time for a prince to make his prouision when necessitie is come vpon him but he must lay for his matters afore-hand afore necessitie come Now that he may be the readier in all things and especially in men of warre it behoueth him to haue a good number of men well trained aforehand after the manner that the Macedonians had their Siluer-shields the Romans their Legionaries the Souldans of Aegypt their Mamelukes the Turks their Ianissaries Francis and Henrie kings of France the old bands of Piemount and the emperour Charles the fift the Spaniards Besides this a prince ought to inure himselfe and his subiects together to all exercises of armes as to run well with a lawnce to mount on horseback handsomly and to manage him cunningly to traile the pike to shoote in long-bow crosse-bow and gun to vault to leape to wrestle and to handle all manner of weapons so as they may serue their turne in time and place For such things do not only procure skilfulnesse but also make mens bodies the more strong and nimble and the better able to endure trauell And therefore the Romanes could well skill to practise them in a certaine place which was called Mars his field where all such exercises were put in vre I know well that among them that haue the managing of the state in France it is held for an heresie to say that the common people are to be trained to the warres but I find the reasons of Seissell and William Bellay to bee of more force than the reasons that are commonly alleaged to the contrarie specially in France where the king behauing himselfe as a king is honoured feared and beloued And we may see plainly that this people as vntrained as they be are so well fleshed one against another that they forbeare not to enter into armes to their owne destruction and call in strangers to finish this worke and that with so great losse that it were much more for the behoofe of the realme that they themselues were better trained to warre and more inured to it long afore-hand that they might forbeare the strangers For if it should happen the king to loose one battell in his realme he should find what a hinderance it would bee vnto him that he were not able to make vp his army againe otherwise than of strangers It is well knowne in what danger the Carthaginenses fell oftentimes by reason of strangers who meant to haue ouerthrowne their state by rebelling against them and that if the Carthaginenses themselues had bene trained to the warres Scipio had not defeated them so easily as hee did no more than it lay in the power of Pyrrhus to defeat the Romanes For when hee had ouercome them in two battels hee sayd he had bene vndone if he had had one other battell more to win of the like price considering that his men were so greatly diminished by those battails that hee grew vveake euen to the view of the eye because he had no meane to make vp his armie againe with othermen whereas on the contrarie part the Romanes did easily supplie their armie with new souldiers whome they caused to come from their citie when need was as from a quicke spring whereof they had the head in their own house The Switzers Almains being called into Italy one while by the Pope and Italians and otherwhile by the Frenchmen ouermastred those that waged thē through their wilfulnes made them to lose the whole countrie in short space by their returning home or by their fighting against the will of the Generall of the host There is yet one other kind of exercise which serueth gretly to the state of souldierfare for it inureth the body to paine and therewithall acquainteth men with the natures and scituations of places which is profitable two waies first men learn thereby to know their own countrie and by that mean to discerne the platforme of any other place that differeth not from it for the knowledge of one countrie is a great furtherance to the practise of another Plutarch writeth that when Sertorius found any leisure he rode continually a hunting and coursed vp and downe the fields whereby he got great experience and furtherance in skill to shift himselfe handsomly and readily from shrewd passages when he was pressed by his enemies and on the other side to enclose them when hee had the aduantage of them and to discerne where a man might passe away and where not Philopemen prince of Athens during the times that he had peace did set his mind wholy vpon such means as it behoued him to vse in time of war propounding to his friends as hee trauelled on the way by what means he might assaile his enemies if they were incamped neere hand thereabouts and in what order he were to pursue or to retyre And in deuising after this manner he heard their opinion and told them his setting downe all the accidents that could happen in a campe by means whereof he attained to a certaine resolutnesse and readinesse in feats of warre Likewise Bookes doe woonderfull seruice to a prince in that behalfe as shall be sayd in another place And in any wise he must propose to himselfe some excellent personage as a paterne to follow after which maner Alexander proposed Achilles for his patterne Iulius Caesar proposed Alexander and Scipio proposed Cyrus To conclude a prince must vnderstand ciuil affairs that he may doe euery man right and keepe the weaker sort from being troden vnder foot by the mightier And he must haue skill in martiall deeds that he may defend his people from strangers and maintaine his own estate CHAP. VIII What is requisit in a Prince to make him happie FOr as much as I haue begun to shew the end whereat a Prince should aime it behoueth me to prosecute this end to perfection and to make the Prince happie whom we treat of For commonly all our actions tend vnto blessednesse and felicitie which is the ground and foundation of all good things and is set afore vs for a crowne and reward of our hope as saith S. Iohn Chrisostome vpon the first Psalme of Dauid Neuerthelesse in seeking this happinesse we be often beguiled taking those to be happie which indeed are vnhappie for want of knowing wherein that blessed felicitie consisteth Wherein I mind not to follow the Diuines which place the souereigne good and likewise the cheefe euill without the compasse of this life because this life is turmoiled with so many mischiefs that it is not possible to find the souereigne good in this world and to attaine vnto the true felicitie by our own industrie and diligence For as the Psalmist sayth The thoughts of men are vaine and so doth also S. Austine teach vs in his 19 booke of the citie of God where he disputeth against all the Philosophers of old time which placed the souereigne good
by oath betweene him and his people will beare cannot be done with honor Besides that the impouerishing of his subiects is the impouerishing of himselfe because his treasure is in their goods yea and in the end for all his exacting he findeth himselfe no more eased than those that content themselues with the meane Nero Domitian Caligula and other wicked Emperors found not themselues any whit the richer for all the charges that they laid vpon their people neither gained they any thing by it but infamie with losse both of life and Empire On the contrarie part Traian Antonine and other good emperors liued in honor and loue of their subiects left behind them immortall praise and got more reputation than those monsters of mankind Those good princes loued their people and kept themselues well from incroching vpon their neighbours and yet they could well skill how to chastise them when they durst enterprise any warre against them Albeit that Augustus was the happiest prince of all the world yet would he not make any warre or put his fortune in triall all his life long For after he had once obtained to sit in peace he busied not his head about the getting of one foot of land more mocking at great Alexander whom it greeued to consider what he should doe when he had conquered the whole world as who would say there were not as much paine or more in the well keeping of things as is in the getting of them King Pirrhus got inough but he lost as fast as got and his couetousnesse was not so strong and gaping after the things that he hoped for as he was forgetfull to set sure guard vpon that which he had gotten In respect whereof Antigonus likened him to a plaier at dice whom the dice fauored verie much but he could no skill to make his hand of his good chaunce The good husbandrie that Augustus and other good emperors vsed was to entertaine men of warre to pay them well their wages to make them obserue the law of arms to doe iustice to the people to ease them of their subsidies impositions and to beautifie the citie of Rome with temples goodly buildings The wise king of France did the like amōg whom by the common voice of the people Lewis the eleuenth did beare away the bel as who by the common consent of al men was called The father of the people The great warres which he had in Italy for his duchie of Millan could not make him to ouercharge his people he demaunded not any subsidies of them to inrich perticular persons he encreaced not his tallages for all the warres he had to be short he esteemed notary riches or any conquest to be greater than to win the good will of his subiects and to see them rich whereby he left a woonderfull treasure to his successor wherwith he could wel helpe himselfe in his affairs Thus ye see wherein consisteth a princes profit namely in keeping and defending well his lands and subiects and sometime in enlarging his bounds when hee is driuen to enter into armes for his owne defence Wherein if there be profit surely there is also no lesse pleasure For the commendation that is gotten by well gouerning doth woonderfully content a noble-minded prince whereof I am now to speake as of the thing that most rauisheth our minds and draweth vs most vnto it I wil not speake here after the maner of the Stoiks who hauing no regard to our maner of speech vphold by many good reasons that the thing which is good is faire and that the thing which is euill is foule and that there is not only other good or any other pleasure than vertue which of it selfe alone sufficeth to the making of a happie life as Cicero hath proued in his Paradoxes But I will speake after the maner of the Academiks who vnto the goods of the mind haue added the goods of the body and of fortune as helpes to lead a happie life But all the difficultie is to find this pleasure For the couetous man deemeth it a great pleasure to be shut vp alone in a chamber with a great heape of monie The ambitious esteemeth it a great pleasure to haue a great traine of men following him Another thinks it a pleasure to sit at banquet laughing incessantly and making good cheare To be short euery man measureth this pleasure after his owne fancie howbeit that that vvhich is pleasure to some is displeasure to other some And that is because this pleasure proceedeth not from the fountaine of vertue but from the well of voluptuousnesse which ingendreth deceitfull lusts in vs after the manner of such as haue the hungry disease and the consumption who are alwaies hungry by reason of a certaine sharpe and biting humour which causeth hunger and an vnordinate appetite And like as some women when they be with child delight to eat naughtie meats euen so the diseased mind by reason of the voluptuous humour that is therin seeketh the things that are noisome to it and whereof they be soone wearie Insomuch that whosoeuer looketh neerly into the matter shall find that the things which are commonly esteemed for pleasure doe oftentimes turne to displeasure This caused Plato to say that we must behold pleasure not at hir comming towards vs but at hir going away from vs. For when we looke vpon hir at hir first comming in sight nothing is so beautifull but at hir going away shee is as foule and loathsome to behold as is possible And as Varia Mesa said vnto the emperor Heliogabalus Naturally vice delighteth the body when it is in committing but by and by after ensueth repentance in the necke of it But as for vertue besides that it displeaseth not the bodie it leaueth alwaies a good tast and contentment behind it which endureth perpetually And how much soeuer a prince would plunge himselfe in all manner of worldly pleasure he could not haue the aduantage thereof so much as a subiect of his that were of some meane wealth For such a one may haue as great pleasure as a king in eating and drinking in apparell and lodging for his owne person in hunting at his pleasure in musicke and in all other delights Againe because a prince hath greater conceits than a common person hee taketh no great pleasure in such thinges but serueth is turne with them as we doe with sleepe to refresh and recreat his spirits that haue bene ouerstrained in matters of state and for that cause hee laugheth hee plaieth he daunceth But if he should bee demaunded vvherein he taketh most pleasure I beleeue he would answer with Alexander That he could not find a finer song or a pleasanter musicke than to heare the singing of his owne praises nor haue a more goodly exercise or a more delightfull pastime than to gouerne his kingdome well and as Plutarke sayth in his treatise intitled Whether an old foreworne man ought to deale in matters of a
protector and aboue all others fearing the Persians determined with himselfe vpon aduice to cōmit the charge thereof by his last Will in writing vnto Indisgertes king of Persia and to set his Faith as a shield against his force and to tie his hands with the holy band of Protectorship praieng him to keepe and preserue the empire for his sonne Indisgertes taking the protectorship vpon him executed it so faithfully that he preserued both the life and empire of Theodosius Don Philip of Austrich king of Castile and lord of the Low countries considering how he left his sonne Charles not aboue eleuen yeres old that afore he should be of ful age the king of France might inuest himselfe in the Low-countries to preuent this inconuenience did by his testament ordaine king Lewis the twelfth to be his protector Wherupon the king by consent of the country appointed the lord of Chieures to be gouernor there and neuer made any warre vpon him notwithstanding that Maximilian gaue him sufficient causes to haue done it Licurgus being counselled therto by his countrymen and also by his sister in law the queene to take vpon him the kingdome of Lacedemon after the death of his brother would not hearken vnto it but kept it faithfullie for his nephew Charilaus who was borne after his fathers decease chusing rather to be a faithfull protector than an vnfaithfull king cleane contrarie to Lewis Sfortia who of a Gardian made himselfe duke of Millan dispossessing his nephew Iohn Galeas and his posteritie thereof But he kept it not any long time In all the doings of these good princes there was neither oth nor promise but only a good and sincere will to keep touch with such as had relied vpon the trust of their faithfulnesse For whersoeuer there hath passed either oath or single promise good men haue neuer doubt but it was to be kept as the forealleaged examples may witnesse vnto vs. And Cicero in one of his orations saith That the Gods immortall do punish a periured person and a liar both with one punishment because they be offended at the trecherie and malice wherby men be beguiled rather than at the prescript forme of words and couenants wherin the oth is comprised But whensoeuer an oth was added vnto it they held it and kept it whatsoeuer it cost them as we see in the Poets concerning the vow of Agamemnon the which is like inough to haue beene counterfaited out of the historie of Ieptha In the xxiij and xxx of Deut. it is written thus If a man be bound by oth he shall performe whatsoeuer he hath promised And Cicero in his bookes of Duties saith That we ought in any wise to keepe the promise wherein we call God to witnesse And as Sophocles saith He that that sweareth ought to be sore afraid that he sinne not against God The Aegyptians did punish periured persons with death because they sinned double as well in violating religion towards God as in taking away faithfulnesse from among men the greatest and straightest bond of humane societie After the battell of Cannas Scipio being aduertised that certaine senators held a counsell in secret how to forsake the citie of Rome went suddenly in among them with his naked sword in his hand and made them to sweare that they should not for any cause forsake the citie which thing they durst not but performe for feare of their oath As likewise did a certaine Tribune who for feare of death had promised Torquatus to withdraw his accusation which he had exhibited against his father for hee withdrew it indeed for his oath sake notwithstanding that Torquatus had compelled him thereto by force in holding his swords point to his throat So great reuerence did the men of old time yeeld vnto an aoth The Samnits hauing warred long time with the Romans and being almost vtterly destroied would needs for their last refuge put thēselues once more to the trial of fortune whome they had found so contrarie vnto them and hazard all in one battell And for the better executing of their determination they sware by great oathes euerichone of them that they would neuer retire out of the battel but follow their captaine whether soeuer he led them and if any of them all recoiled they sware all to kill him This oath had such force that neuer any people were seene to fight so desperatly and valeantly as they fought at that time Neuerthelesse the valiancie good gouernment of the Romanes was of more force than their stoutnesse The thing that made the people of Rome beleeue that Romulus was not slaine but conueied vp into heauen vvas the great oth that Proculus sware vnto them that he saw him deified and had spoken vvith him For the people were of opinion that Proculus whom they esteemed to be a good man and a friend to Romulus would not haue taken such an oth except he had bene sure that the thing was as he affirmed Lycurgus to the intent his countrimen should not disanull the lawes which he had newly stablished among them although he had gotten them ratified by the oracle of Apollo yet would needs take an oth of the people and caused them to sweare that they should not infringe them vntill his return to the end that the reuerence of the oth which they had taken might restraine them from altering any thing After the example of whome christian princes ought to bee well ware that they violat not their faith nor see light by the oth which they take for performance of their promises Wherof we haue a notable example in the fourteenth chapter of the first booke of Samuel where God is very sore angrie for that Ionathas the sonne of king Saul in chasing his enemies had tasted a little honie which was in respect of the oath which Saul had made that neither he nor any of his people should eat any thing before night and afore hee had bene fully reuenged of his enemies In so much that although Ionathas was not present at the making of the vow yet had Saul put him to death if the people had not saued him And in the one and twentith of the second booke of Samuel because Saul being moued with a good zeale had slaine certaine of the Amorrhits contrarie to the promise made vnto them by the Israelits of old time that they would not hurt them God sent a famine among the Israelits which ceassed not vntill they had deliuered seuen of Saules children to the Amorrhits to take vengeance of them These examples shew how greatly our God abhorreth periurie to the intent no man should excuse himselfe vnder pretence that no touch is to be kept with him that breaketh his promise or that one cōpanion is to keepe touch with another but not the master with his seruant nor the christian with the infidel For an oath ought to be so holy and so had in reuerence that it should not
not that one should su◠for it but made the suters themselues to come to his presence as well to gratifie them himselfe as also to know whom he gratified For he that receiueth not the benefit at the princes owne hand thinketh himselfe beholden to none but vnto him by whome he had it as wee haue found by experience in this our realme of Fraunce within this fiftie or threescore yeares LEt vs come now to the iustice of war which ought to be like the same that we haue spoken of and consisteth in penalties and rewards namely in punishing the wicked and in recompensing the good and valeant men with honour and regard For honour nourisheth the liberall arts and vertue In which behalfe the emperor Adrian did so greatly excell that he was both feared and loued of all his men of war feared because he chastised them and beloued because he paid them well Vpon a time one demaunded of Lisander What maner of common-weale hee liked best That qd he wherein both the valeant and the cowards are rewarded according to their deserts as who would say that vertue is furthered by reward and that men of no value are spurred vp to doe well by the shame and reproch which they receiue by doing amisse and in being despised Ennius Priscus demaunded of Traian What was the cause that hee was better beloued of the people than his predecessors Because qd he that commonly I pardon such as offend me and neuer forget them that doe me seruice But afore I speake of rewarding or recompensing we must know what is the law and discipline of arms wherof the first and principall point that is to wit to doe no man wrong dependeth vpon naturall iustice And yet-notwithstanding this seemeth so strange among vs that the cheefe and principall point of warlike behauiour seemeth to consist in pilling swearing rauishing robbing and that a souldier cannot be esteemed a gallant fellow vnlesse he be furnished with those goodly vertues Contrariwise if the Romans had any souldiers that were neuer so little giuen to loosenesse they would not vse their seruice no not euen in most extreme necessitie as is to be seen by the doings of Metellus in Affrike and of Scipio in Spain making more account of one legion that liued after the law and order of war than of ten that were out of order Now the lawes of armes were diuers according to the diuersities of the captains that haue had the leading of Armies The first consisteth in the obedience of the men of warre For as saith Plato it auaileth not to haue a good captaine vnlesse the souldiers bee discreet and obedient because the vertue of well-obeieng hath as great need of a gentle nature and of the helpe of good trainment as the princely vertue of commaunding All other precepts tend generally to naturall iustice the which will not haue wrong done to any man Alexander being aduertised that two souldiers which serued vnder Parmenio had rauished the wiues of certaine souldiers strangers wrate vnto Parmenio to informe him therof charging him that if he found it to be so he should put both the souldiers to death as wild beasts bred to the destruction of men When the Romanes marched vnder the leading of Marcus Scaurus there was found in their trenches at their departure thence a tree hanging ful of fruit so great conscience made they to take any thing that was not their owne And if any man went aside in any field farme or grange at such time as the campe marched he was punished immediatly and it was demaunded of him if he could find in his heart that a man should doe as much in his lands Whersoeuer Bellisarius went with his armie he restrained his men from doing wrong to laborers and husbandmen insomuch that they durst not eat the apples and peares that hung vpon the trees After the death of Campson the Soldan of Aegypt Selim king of Turks being possessed of Damasco and the rest of the cities of Syria would not suffer his men of war to come within them but lodged his camp by the wals of the towne and of all the time that he was there there was not any guard set to keepe the goodly and fruitfull Gardens that were without the citie because the rigorous iustice that Selim executed restrained the Turks from misdoing wherthrough the whole armie found themselues well apaid For they neuer wanted victuals but had plentie and aboundance of all things Traian caused a captaine to be banished for killing a husbandmans Oxen without need and awarded the husbandman for amends to haue the captaines horse and armor and also his quarters wages Tamerlane king of Tartarians made a souldier of his to be put to death for taking but a cheese from a poore woman Totilas was so seuere in the discipline of war that he would not leaue any one misdeed vnpunished He that rauished any woman was punished with death or at least wise forfaited his goods the which were giuen to the partie that was outraged Insomuch that he passed by the cities and townes that were in friendship and league with him without doing them any harme saying that kingdomes and empires were easily lost if they were not maintained by iustice Which thing Iustinian found to be very true who through the vniustice and disorder of his captaines lost the empyre of Italy Paulus Emilius was a sterne obseruer of the law of arms not seeking to purchase the loue of his souldiers by pleasing them but shewing them himselfe from point to point how auailable the ordinances of war were And this his austeritie and terriblenesse towards them that were disobedient and transgressed the law of arms vpheld the commonweale vnappaired For he was of opinion that to vanquish a mans enemies by force of arms is as ye would say but an accessorie or income in comparison of the well ordering and winning of a mans countrymen by good discipline The Lawes of arms haue bin diuerse according to the diuersitie of captaines the which we may learne in one word of the best and most valeant emperours that euer haue bin Iulius Caesar would make countenance as though he saw not the faults of his souldiers and let them goe vnpunished so long as they tended not to mutinie or that they forsooke not their ensigne and in those cases he neuer pardoned thē Insomuch that in the time of the ciuil wars he cashed a whole legion at once notwithstanding that he stood as then in great need of them and ere euer he would admit them againe he ceassed not till he had punished the misdoers Among the Aegyptians they that had disobayed their captains were noted with a reproch worse than death Augustus was so seuere towards such as recoiled in battel or disobayed his commaundements that he would put euery tenth man of them to death and vnto them that had done lesse faults he would giue barly bread in steed of wheaten