this celler or warehouse whatsoeuer he listeth to choose For it is farre easier to take in one place the wares that come from diuerse parts of the world than to go seeke them a farre off and in places dispersed And yet is it to no purpose to seeke them all in one place vnlesse they be sorted out aforehand so as a man may put his hand to whatsoeuer he requireth For that cause it behoued me to vse a method in referring euery hystorie to his proper place There are many other points of warre to be found in hystories the which my hast to make an end of this my discourse causeth me to let alone and to content my selfe for this present to haue declared vnto you the things that I haue drawn out of Plutarch Thucidides and some other authours that came to my remembrance Also I haue left many which you may see in the Mounsieur de Langies Discipline of warre Of others I will say as an euil painter That they lie hid behind the Cipres cloth As touching the feats of warre of our dayes I will not presume to speake of them because they which are yet aliue haue seene the practising of a great part of them and can better and more particularly report them than they be written And to say the truth when I considered the feats of warre of these times I find them so honorable that they be nothing inferior to those of old time But it is better to leaue the reporting of them to those that were at the doing of them than to speake of them like a clearke of armes for feare least it be said vnto me That the things were not so done as they be written The which I doubt not but men will thinke euen of those also which I haue here alledged But they be drawne out of such authors as for their antiquitie and authoritie haue purchased prescription against all reproches FINIS †Alexander the great Arist. lib. 9. of matters of gouernment Isocrates in his Panathe What Policie is Cicero in his booke of the ends of good and euill Our life cannot be without Dutie Cicero in the ends of good and euil men The definition of Dutie Two sortes of Duetie Men are beholders of heauenlie thinges Cicero in his second booke of the nature of the Gods The louing of our neighbor is the fulfilling of the law â—n his 13 book of the citie of God Histories â—erue for good instruction The definition of a Prince Plutarch in the life of Pelopidas The prince is as a God among men A prince should not be bare of treasure What an emperour is The qualities of a good emperour Kings are heardmen and sheepheards of their people What a king is A king must commaund his subiects as a father doth his children * The iust coÌ„maundement of the prince and the iust obedience of the subiects are answerable either to other cannot be separated The marke of a tyrant A Kingdome Tyrannie The way to winne loue Vniustice is the cause of the alteration of states The kingdome that is maintained by friendly dealing is stronger than that which is vpheld by force No castle so strong as good will The best Bulwarke is the peoples loue The praise of Aristâ—cracie Kings do not so easily resâ—st their lusts as priuat persons doe The coÌ„mendation of the state of a kingdome Sole gouernment maketh men insolent Kingdomes haue passed al other states of gouernment both in largenesse of dominion in length of time A commendation of the popular state People are more tractable hauing a head than being without a head The reward of such as serue in popular state In the citie of Athens wise men propouÌ„d and fooles iudge Whether dissention be requisite in a common weale or no. The friendship of Caesar and Pompey was the ouerthrow of the common-weale Great dissention between ouer-great personages is dangerous to a state The absolute gouernment is best and most certain The Athenians had many Captains Kingdomes haue been of longer continuance and made greater conquests than any other state of gouernment Of a Tyrant A Tyrant sildome leaueth his kingdom to his posteritie Why Tyrants are murthered rather than priuat householdâ—rs being both of them wicked Nembroth the first King Elections are causes of great warres In the kingdome that goes by inheritance there is no cause of warre A King that is vnder age ruleth by his counsell Wicked kings are sent of God for the sins of the people The state of the time and of affaires causeth ciuill warres Priuat quarrels caused the wars vnder Charles the sixt The hearts of kings are in the hand of God Princes cannot be vertuous vnlesse they be learned Good bringing vp moderateth mens affections Good Education altereth a mans euill disposition Wild horses become good by well handling Good Education in youth is the root of all goodensse A young prince of neuer so good a nature shall hardly doe any great thing being not trained vp in vertue By what means a yong prince is to be drawne to learning and vertue The rod and correction giue wisdome Why many princes begin well and end ill Children are to be kept from the company of flatterers The hating of lies The best way to learne rule is first to obay Euery man is desirous to be the chiefe of his profession The pains that Demosthenes tooke to become an Orator The way to learning is to descend into a mans selfe A prince ought to consider his owne abilitie A prince must be affable retaining the maiestie of his person and state A prince ought to be a Warriour The enemies of peace are ouercome by warre Warre must not be made but for to establish peace Kings haue lost their states for want of applying themselues to the warres Captains despise them that loue not chiluarie It is no reason that the man that is well armed should yeeld to him that is vnarmed The things that are to be done in war are to be learned afore haÌ„d at leisure Princes must inure themselues their subiects to the exercise of arms Whether the common people be to bee trained to the wars or no. A profitable discourse concerning Philopoemen What the souereigne good is Wherin the happinesse of princes may consist To become happy we must seeke perfection Felicitie lieth in all vertuous actions Riches without vertue be like a feast without any man to eat it Which are the true riches Of profit Of Pleasure Pleasure is to be considered by hir going away The pleasure that commeth of the beholding of the things that are done in a Common-weale A good name is a sweet sent or sauor The wise saying of king Ferdinand All princes are iealous of their honor Men must be such as they would seeme to be A doer of good to others is esteemed as a God The pleasure of princes consisteth in honor A definition of Vertue A diuision of Vertue Vertue is the Art of al our whole life
common-weale And in very deede at the first he was of a wauering mind troublesome and fleeting But afterward there was such a change in him that when men asked him the cause of it he answered That fierce rough horses become good if they be well taught wel and orderly handled in the breaking Therefore the man that should be a princes tutor ought to be a man of skill and in any wise very honest to keepe from him all flatterers and to restraine him in his youth from haunting the company of any other children than of such as are honest and feare God in which case men commonly faile For they teach them to haue a good grace to entertaine strangers courteously to daunce well and to ride well but after this geere there must be no speech of learning I say not that tutors of sufficient skill to instruct are not giuen vnto them but that they stand them in no steed And yet most commonly tutors are giuen them at the pleasure of such as sue for it to the Prince who grauuteth it vnto his minions without respecting the sufficiencie of the person wherein as saith Plutarch they deale in like sort as if a sicke man to gratifie his friend should leaue the good and skilfull Phisition that could heale him and take one whose ignorance would rid him out of his life Now then it behooueth a prince to make his choise of the greatest personage and of best estimation in his realme For it is no small matter to draw youth to a custome when it is tender For as saith Plutarch Good Education and instruction in youth is the fountaine and roote of all goodnesse And like as Gardeners do sticke vp proppes by their young graffes to hold them vpright euen so doe wise teachers plant good instructions and wholsome precepts about yoong princes to direct their maners vnto vertue Therefore Salomon in his Prouerbs commandeth vs to traine vp a child at the first entrance of his way that he may not goe backe from it when hee is growne old And in the seuenth chapter of Ecclesiasticus If thou haue children saith he bring them vp in learning and bow them while they be young Againe in the thirteeth chapter Bow downe his necke saith he in his youth and smite him on the side while he is a child least he wax stubborne and herken not vnto thee for he that nurtureth his child shall haue ioy of him yea and be commended for him among his houshold folke For how good nature so euer a young prince be of yet shall he hardly do any thing of valour if he haue not beene trained and inured to vertue as a horse that is not well broken how good soeuer he be otherwise becommeth stubborne and cumbersome and contrariwise a iadish and restie colt becommeth a good horse by well handling My meaning is not to giue him such a tutor of skill and vertue as dareth not giue him a crosse word nor make him to stand in aw of him and to obay him in all friendly maner For it were as good to haue none at all as to haue a tutor that is vnprofitable that shall sing to one that is deafe and point vnto one that is blind which yeeldeth not his heart to his teachers intent and his eares to the words of wisdome as Salomon saith in his Prouerbs One demaunded of a Philosopher What was the cause that yoong men were vndone Because saith he their teachers forbore to compell them to doe well Plutarch in his booke of the Education of princes saith That kings learne to doe nothing well but only to ride and that is because their schoolemasters which teach them doe flatter them and not correct them whereas the horse discerning not who it is that sitteth on his backe and therefore making no difference betweene a prince and a priuat person spareth him not but inforceth him to performe his charge if he will not be in danger to be cast vpon the ground But as for the schoolemaster that teacheth a prince he neither can nor will compell him to any thing but letteth him doe what he listeth by reason whereof a prince cannot be so well taught as a man of meaner degree that submitteth himselfe to correction Neuerthelesse my meaning is not that the schoolemaister should vse the rod towards him otherwise than as a searing-iron is vsed in surgerie namely in cases of extreame necessitie when all other remedies faile but that he should deale with the yoong prince by all kind of gentlenesse assay to draw him by fauor rather than by force as by praising him when he doth well by dispraising him when he doth euil which are more auailable means towards childrē that are borne in fredome as wel the one to draw them to wel doing as the other to withdraw them from doing ill than all the whipping and scourging that can be Neuerthelesse when being yet young he is wilfull and stubborne the schoolmaster is to be dispensed withall to vse that remedie For as Salomon saith in his prouerbs Folly is commonly tied to the heart of a child but the chastisement of the rod riddeth him thereof for the rod and correction giue wisdome Correct thy child saith Salomon and he will giue thee rest yea and pleasure to thy heart And in an other place Withhold not chastisement from thy child saith he for if thou smite him with the rod he shall not die if thou smite him with the rod thou deliuerest his soule from hell Therefore it behoueth to giue him good instruction in his youth that his nature may bee reformed if it bee euill or maintained if it be good A certaine Philosopher being asked vpon a time What was the cause that many princes begin wel and end ill Princes quoth he begin well because they bee of good disposition by nature and they end ill because no man gainsaieth them Whereof we cannot haue a better record than Nero who behaued himselfe like a good prince so long as Seneca was about him but as soone as Seneca was sequestred from him by and by he gaue himsefe ouer to all vice for no man gainsaied him and his flatterers soothed him in all things that he said which kind of people princes ought to shun as the plague And as Plutarch saith Children must be kept farre from the company of euill persons and especially of flatterers for there is not a more pestilent kind of men or that more corrupteth youth marring and vndoing both the fathers and the children making the old age of the one and the young age of the other most miserable by offering to them in their wicked counsels a bait that cannot be auoided namely Voluptuousnesse wherwith they allure them When the flatterers are driuen away from the young prince the tutor must haue a carefull eye that those which are giuen him to be his playfellowes be well borne For with the good thou
prince is a mirror to all his subiects Such as the prince is such will bee his houshold his court and his kingdome There is not a better way to reforme others than to doe the same things which a man would say in that behalfe Emperours that were warriors beloued of their souldiers for behauing themselues fellow-like towards them Notable examples of Alexander Cato Dauid and Alfons Souldiers set not so much by them that reward them as by them that take pain with them as they doe The emperors that haue not set their hands to good works haue bene disdained of their souldiers Of the presence of a Prince Whether wars are to bee made by Lieutenants The presence of the prince seruerh greatly to the getting of the victorie The presence of Eumenes causeth Antigonus to retire Ferdinand king of Naples doth by his presence cause his subiects to return vnder his obedience What it is to know ones selfe To know God it behooueth a man to know himselfe The first point of wisedome is to know ones selfe The better sort ought to rule the worser Cicero in his Academiks Cicero in his books of Duties The excellencie of Wisdome Wisdome the mother of all good things Wisdome goeth before all other vertues Of Wisdome Plutarch in his treatise of Morall vertue Wisdome is not subiect to doubting All vertue consisteth in action A man must not vphold things vnknown for knowne Plutarch in the life of Timoleon Of Discreetnesse Discreetnesse is not gotten but by aduised deliberation The definition of Discreetnesse The difference betweene a discreet man and a wel-aduised man Cicero in his Duties Cicero in his Cato The Lacedemonians made more account of an exploit done by policie than of an exploit done by force of arms VVilfull ignorance Cicero in his booke of Lawes Therence in his Adelphis The effects of Discreation The praises of Wisdome The wise stand not vpon lawes but line by the rule of vertue S. Paul to Timothie The commaundement of the prince and the obedience of the subiect are answerable either to other Plutarch in the life of Licurgus He that well guideth is wel followed Wisdome is a shield against all misfortune Prosperitie commeth of wisdome The first actioÌ„ of a man of good temperature is Discretion The want of skil is cause of great mischiefe The wisedome of a king consisteth in learning and experience The praise of Learning The mind receiueth light from learning For the life of man learning is better than riches Of Eloquence Cyneas the orator woon mo cities by his eloquence thâ— is Pirrus did by the sword A man cannot vtter the excellent coÌ„ceitâ— of his mind if he want Eloquence Of ExperieÌ„ce Cicero in his Duties Experience better than Learning in matters of State Knowledge without Practise is a body without a soule The skill of gouerning consisteth more in practise than in speculation It is dangerous in matters of state to take white for blacke Nothing doth beter acquaint men with seâ—ts of war than the often practise of them It is more to doe a thing discreetly thâ— to forecast it wisely Nothâ—ng doth better beseem a prince than to do iustice Righteousnes containeth all vertues Valeantnesse serueth to no purpose where Righteousnes wanteth Definitions of Righteousnes Gâ—d is the first author and beginner of righteousnesse Righteousnes sinneth not Vnrighteounes is the soul 〈◊〉 sinne Righteousnes and holinesse are both one The duties of Righteousnes The righteous stranger is to be preferred before the vnrighteous kinsman Kingdoms shal continue so long as Righteousnes reigneth in them A Prince is a liuing law Iustice is needfull for all sorts of men Iustice maketh a happie Common-weale A subdiuision of Righteousnesse Another diuision of Righteousnes The maiestie of a kingdom dependeth vpon lawes The law ought to rule the magistrats Lawes must not be broken The inconuenience that insueth of doing wrong Augustus made great Augustus made account of the Priuiledge of Freedeniship In what cases lawes may be corrected Lawes once stablished ought not to be altâ—red Law must coÌ„maund and not obay How to raign in safety Princes oueâ—throwne for suffering their subiects to be wronged Folke giue greater credit and authoritie to good Iusticers than to any others Two precepts for gouernors The prince ought to minister iustice vnto all men indifferently The notable answer of king Agis The answer of Themistocles The answer of Alexander The saieng of Phocion The iudgemeÌ„t of Marius The iust dealing of king Totilas The conuersation of life carrieth the fortune of sight The princely dealing of kâ—ng Artaxeâ—xes The coueâ—â—â—snâ—sse of Vespasâ—an OffeÌ„ces must not be left vnpunished Priuat harms are daÌ„gerous to the publik state Impunitie of vice is dangerfull to a whole state To let sin goe vnpunished is a consenting vnto it It is no mercy to pardon the faults that are committed against other men In what sort a prince should be gracious Mercy to the wicked is cruelâ—ie to the good Princes may not at their pleasure make laâ—ish of that which belonged tâ— God Philo in his treatise concerning Iudges Of iustice in cases of treason and rebellion The want of discretion in extinguishing one faction may breed many mâ— The policie of Agesilaus The maner of Marcellus dealing in a certaine sedition Biting words are dangerous Princes ought to make chois of good iudges Officers are to be recompenced according to their deseruings The rewarding of iudges and officers Of the punishing of wicked iudges The Iustice of warâ—e The Law of Arms. The vertue of obedience dependeth vpon the gentlenes of nature It is a lesse matter to ouercome the enemie than to vphold one country by good discipline Of the lawes of arms The seuerity of the Romanes Seueritie in war is whâ—lsome The crueltie of Auidius Cassius How a souldier is to be delt with that hee may be good The keeping of equalitie among men of war Soldiers haue most neede of discipline in time of peace The natious least delicat haue bin best warriors Of the rewarding of men of war Of houshold iustice or houshold righteousnesse The rewarding of good 〈◊〉 sheweth the iustice oâ— hâ—m that 〈◊〉 Of the recompenâ—es that are 〈◊〉 in honour The mounting to dignity by degrees What a prince is to doe that he forget not those that doe him seruice Two offices or mo be not to be giuen to one man Power breedeth Pride Whether a prince ought to shift officers or no. Treasurers and officers of account Precepts of Iustice. Punishment must not â—asse the offence Liberalitie beseemeth a prince It is the dutie of a king to doe good vnto many The misliking of great power is taken away by Liberalitie Liberalitie 〈◊〉 not to bee measuâ—â—d by the gift but by the will Three waies of vâ—ing a mans goods well Gifts get fâ—iendship at al mens haÌ„dâ— What it is to vse monie wel A poore prince is neither well 〈◊〉 ued of his subiects 〈◊〉 feared of sâ—rangers A prince must moderate his ordinarie
7 Of fortitude valiancie prowesse or hardinesse and of fearefulnesse and cowardlinesse 275 8 Of Magnanimitie 286 9 That Diligence is requisit in matters of state 291 10 Of Temperance 298 11 That he that will dispatch his affairs well must be sober 310 12 Of continencie and incontinencie 319 13 Of refraining a mans tongue of such as be too talkatiue of liars of curious persons of flatterers of mockers of railers and slaunderers and of tale-bearers 333 14 That princes must aboue all things eschue choler 353. The Contents of the third Part. 1 Of Leagues 371 2 Of Gouernours sent into the frontires of countries and whether they should be changed or suffred to continue still 376 3 Of a lieutenant-generall and that it behoueth no mo but one to commaund an armie 379 4 Whether the chiefe of an armie should be gentle or rigorous 381 5 Whether it be better to haue a good armie and an euill chieftaine or a good chieftaine and an euill armie 386 6 Of the order which the men of old time did vse in setting their people in battell ray 389 7 What he ought to do which setteth himself to defence 391 8 Whether it be better to driue off the time in his own countrie or to giue battell out of hand 396 9 Whether it be possible for two armies lodged one neere an other to keepe themselues from being inforced to fight whether they will or no. 404 10 Whether the daunger be greater to fight a battell in a mans owne countrie or in a straunge countrie 408 11 Of the pitching of a campe 416 12 How to giue courage to men of warre afore a battell or in a battell 423 13 Of Skirmishes 430 14 Whether it be better to beare the brunt of the enemes or to drowne it at the first dash 432 15 Of a battell and of diuerse policies to be practised therein 434 16 Of the pursuing of victorie 451 17 Of the retiring of an armie and how to saue it when it is in a place of disaduauntage 455 18 Of Ambushes 462 19 Of the taking of towns 470 20 Of the defending of towns 480 21 Of diuerse policies and sleights 488 FINIS CHAP. I. ¶ Of Office or Duetie and of Policie or Estate IT is manifest that the dutie of ciuill life consisteth in dealing one with another and that therevpon both honours and empires do depend so as princes kings emperours and soueraigne lords doe practise the ciuil life their Dutie lieth in the exercise thereof their welfare commeth thence and therevpon dependeth their preseruation For policie is the verie soule of the publicke-weale and hath like power there as wisdome hath in the bodie of man and as Plutarch saith in the life of Marcus Cato It is a maxime or principle confessed of the whole world that a man cannot atchieue a greater vertue or knowledge than Policie is that is to say than is the skil to gouerne and rule a whole multitude of men the which is the thing that we call Estate to the knowledge whereof mans nature is so well disposed that it seemeth to be borne with him And the men of old time called the goddesse Pallas by the names of Polemike and Politike as who would say That the gouernours of nations ought to haue both chiualrie and lawes iointly together And therfore in treating of the maners that are most beseeming in princes and purposing by that mean to set their wise sayings and politike doings in order I haue vsed the word Dutie as a terme most fittest to the matter I haue in hand For vertuous deeds and good works are called Duties by the Philosophers whereof Cicero hath made three goodly books wherin he declareth at large in what things euery mans dutie consisteth For as he saith there is not any part of our life be it in matters publicke or priuat that can be without Dutie as wherein consisteth the whole honour of our life and likewise the dishonour through the forslowing therof insomuch that an honest man will rather put himselfe in danger and endure all maner of aduersitie and paines than leaue his Dutie vndone And therefore afore we speake of princes it wil be good for vs to decide what a Duty is to the end that men may vnderstand wherof we treat We call that a Dutie to the doing whereof we be bound as to a thing that our vocation or calling requireth as for example The dutie of a Til-man is to till the ground well the dutie of a Iudge is to iudge mens causes vprightlie without accepting of persons the duetie of a housholder is to gouerne well his house likewise the duetie of a prince or king is to gouerne well his people to minister good iustice vnto them and to keepe them from taking wrong and generally the duetie of man according to Aristotle in his first booke of Morals is the inworking of the mind conformed vnto reason or at least wise not alienated from reason as when the crafts-man hauing purposed some peece of worke employeth his skill and labour to bring his worke to a perfect end so as the end and vtmost point of his honest and vertuous action is his Dutie Cicero in his booke of Duties maketh two sorts thereof the one he termeth right and perfect which is matched with true vertue and is peculiar to the discretion of the wise as when it is demaunded what is wisdome iustice valeantnesse or temperance or what is profit or what is honestie The other he tearmeth meane which consisteth in precepts whereby a man may stablish an honest trade of life as when it is demaunded why one thing should be done rather than another and what difference there is betwixt one thing and another because the thing that well beseemeth a yong man doth ill beseeme an old man and that which well beseemeth a magistrate or a prince doth ill become a priuat person and that which becommeth well a priuat person doth ill become a prince But these two sorts may be reduced into one euen by the saying of the same Cicero who confesseth that these two sorts of duties tend both of them to the soueraigne good and aime not at anie other end than that sauing that the one belongeth to the wise who aime not at any other law than onely vertue and the other serueth for the directing of the common conuersation in respect wherof it needeth the helpe of lawes precepts And as touching vs that are Christians we may well say that all our dueties tend to the soueraigne good and are perfect vnlesse ye will exact that exquisit perfection which our Sauiour taught the yoong man whē he said vnto him That if he would be perfect it behoued him to sell all that he had and to deale it vnto the poore and to follow him Therefore to know what is the duetie of euery man both prince and priuat noble and vnnoble our law-maker teacheth it vs in two precepts
not be all of one mind and moreouer there would alwaies be some one or other that would attempt to controle the rest which thing would breed dissention among them and finally the ruine of the State And therfore he was of opinion that of all the kinds of gouernment ther was not a better than the Monarchie The which aduise of his all the rest of the princes followed Of a verie truth we see that neither the State of Aristocracie nor the State of Democracie haue atteined to like greatnesse as kingdoms haue sauing onely Rome for the largenesse of empire and Venice for continuance of time For as for Lacedemon and Athens their dominions extended but a little way notwithstanding that the one of them made their power to be seene in the lesser Asia and the other became terrible to the Persians But aboue all other the popular gouernment is most vnweeldie because it is full of ignorance and confusednesse of people whose nature as said Bellifarius is to moue by rage rather than by reason and who as saith Guicciardine grounding themselues vpon deceitfull and vaine hopes being furious in their dealings when danger is far off and quite out of courage when peril doth approch are not in any wise to be ruled or restrained And as Philip of Nauar was wont to say there is not any certain stay in a coÌ„munaltie for that cause he would not trust the Parisians nor come within their citie what shew of good will soeuer they were able to make persuading himselfe that he could not be in sufficient suretie among so great a number of people of so diuers humors Which thing the Senat of Rome considering chose rather to giue their people Tribunes than to giue vnto them the reines of authoritie without a magistrat For although the power of the tribunes was ouer-great yet thought they it better than the ouer-vehement and boistrous power of the people who become more tractable when they haue a head than when they be without one For a head considereth the danger but the people cast no perill at all The popular gouernment is hard to be dealt with for it is a beast with many heads which doth good vnto them that would it euill and requite euill to them that doe it good As the Athenians did to Miltiades whom in recompence of the good which he had done them in deliuering them from a dangerous siege and in vanquishing ten hundred thousand Persians himselfe hauing but ten thousand men they amerced at a great fine keeping him in prison till he had fully paid it and finally banished him out of the country They did as much to Themistocles Aristides Alcibiades and other good captaines of their citie whereof anon after ensued their owne decay We know how Iames of Arteuill gouerned the people of Gaunt in his time and what power and authoritie he had ouer them and how he was beloued of all and yet neuerthelesse they put him to death vpon a small suspition and would not so much as heare his reasons They did as much to Iohn Boulle one of their captains because that without cause and without likelihood they had wrongfully surmised of him that he had brought them into an ambush vpon secret compact with the earle of Flaunders and he was not permitted to shew his reasons and excuses For without hearing him they drew him out of his lodging into the street and there hewed him into small peeces euerie man carying away a peece that could come by it Therefore Demosthenes who was banished Athens as others had been considering how Athens was dedicated to Minerua said O Pallas what meanest thou to enterteine so wicked and foule beasts as a night-owle a dragon and a popular gouernment for vnto Pallas were these things dedicated And Aristides the best man of life that euer was in Athens vpbraided the Athenians with their rashnesse who had condemned him for excecuting his charge faithfully in not suffering the common treasure to be robbed spoiled and had had him in great loue and estimation when he winked at the pilfries which he saw committed as though he had then worthily faithfully discharged his duty For a multitude is hard to be ruled and other counsel is there none with them than such as they bring of theÌ„selues misconceiued misvnderstood misiudged by passions neither is there any thing so vnequall in a common-weale as that is which they call equalitie of persons All is there equall and euen sauing their minds which are as farre at oddes as may be And yet notwithstanding because things goe by the number of voices without weighing them otherwise they passe alwaies with the most number that is to say with the foolishest opinion By reason whereof Anacharsus said that in the citie of Athens wise men propounded matters and fooles iudged of them And Phocion whâ—neuer agreed in opinion with the common people hauing in open assembly deliuered an opinion that was liked of the whole multitude insomuch that all the standers-by yeelded to his aduise turned himselfe to his friends and asked them whether some fond thing had not escaped him in his speech vnawares As touching the common-weale of Rome albeit that the Romanes had conquered the whole world by battell yetnotwithstanding they were oftentimes ill gouerned for all their good policie For after that the kings were once expulsed the citie was neuer without quarels some while against the ten coÌ„missioners another while the people against the Senat and the Senat against the people one while against the tribunes and another while against the consuls and nothing did euer vphold and maintaine the citie so much and so long as the forreigne wars which caused them to compound their quarrels at home without the doing wherof they could neuer haue continued for as soone as they had any vacation from forreigne warres by and by they lost their libertie and found from that time forth that the opinion of Scipio Nasica was grounded vpon great reason when he would not that Carthage should haue been destroyed that it might haue kept Rome stil in hir rigoâ—t wirs for in very deed their couetousnesse and ambition bred cruell dissentions among them which in the end did bring the ouerthrow of their State And therefore I will not say but that disagreements are often times necessarie in a house a kingdome or a coimmon-weale and that as Onomademus said after the rebellon of the Island Chios it is not behooffull to make cleane riddance of ell enemies for feare least there should be dissention among friends I am fully persuaded it is not amisse to suffer some enemies to spight one another as well for the reason aforementioned as also for that the enemies by their crossing one another doe discouer their owne lewdnesse couetousnesse and ambition to the benefit of the prince and of the common-weale and yet notwithstanding are afraid to doe euil least men should espie their doings and
behauior And as saith Plutarch in the life of Pompey the disagreement of two mightie citizens that are at variance among themselues vpholds the common weale in equall ballance like a staffe that is equallie charged at both the ends so as it cannot sway one way or other But come they once to ioine in one body to knit themselues together in one then it maketh so great an inclination or sway as no man can withsâ—and insomuch that in the end they turne all things vpside downe therfore vnto such as went about complaining that the quarrell enmitie of Caesar and Pompey had ouerthrowne the common-weale Cato said that they ouershot themselues very greatly in saying so because it was not their discord and enmitie but rather their friendship and good agreement that was the first and principall cause therof When Pope Iuly had made a league with the Venetians and the king of Arragon against the Frenchmen many men commended his dealing as wherby he meant to driue away the Frenchmen at the costs of the Spaniards in hope to driue away the Spaniards afterward when they had bin tired already by the Frenchmen But the best aduised sort found this counsell to be pernicious vnto Italy saying that sith it was the hard hap of Italy to haue both the ends thereof possessed by straungers it was better for the countrie to haue them both continue there still because that as long as the one king was able to weigh euen with the other those that were not yet entered into bondage should be able to maintaine their owne libertie than that the Italians should be at warres among themselues by means whereof so long as such warres continued the parties that were yet whole and sound should be torne in pieces by sacking burning and other miserable inconueniences and finally he that gained the goale would punish the whole country with the harder and irkesomer bondage That was the cause why Pope Clement turned to the French kings side bearing himselfe in hand that as long as the emperour and the king continued both in Italy the Apostolike sea should be vpheld by the power of either of theÌ„ and therfore he would not suffer the kingdome of Naples and the duchie of Millan to fall both into one hand Small dissentions forasmuch as they be intermingled both with perill and profit cannot ouerthrow a state but when the dissention is great and betweene great persons it maketh strange tragedies as did the dissentions betweene Marius and Silla Pompey and Caesar. For hauing once gained and drawne vnto them the whole citie of Rome and hauing weapon in hand and men of warre at commaundement they could hardly eschew that their discord should not procure the ruine of the state The enmitie that was betweene Aristides and Themistocles had like to haue ouerthrowne the state of Athens and when vpon a time they had nothing preuailed in an assembly by their quarelings Themistocles returning thence in a great rage said that the common-weale of Athens could not continue in good state vnlesse that he himselfe and Aristides were both cast downe The enuie that some citizens bare vnto Alcibiades was a cause of the destruction of Athens Likewise the state of Florence was in short time ouerthrowne by such partakings The Romanes in time of danger chose a dictator that had soueraign authoritie but he was not to continue any long time for feare least his ouer-great authoririe should turne into tyranny When Cicero was Consull there was giuen vnto him a greater authoritie than ordinarie in these words namelie That he should haue a speciall care of the common-weale that it incurred not any danger and this was at such time as they perceiued the conspiracie of Catilin to hang ouer their heads Cicero in this his time of authoritie did put many noble men of Rome to death being first atteinted and conuicted of high treason which thing he could not otherwise haue done The Senat perceiuing that the magistrats of Rome did not their duties and that all went to hauoke determined to chuse Pompey to be Consul alone to reforme the common-weale and of that mind also were Bibulus and the yonger Cato howbeit that they liked not of Pompeys behauior and trade of life saying it was much better to haue a Magistrat be what he be may than to haue none at all And this their vsing of the absolute maner of gouernment by one alone in the times of danger doth shew that they liked better of it and esteemed it to be better and more certaine than the maner of gouernment that was in Athens and that they abhorred not so much the thing it selfe as the name thereof Also Mithridates king of Pontus said That the Romanes hated their kings because they were such as they were ashamed of as namely Shepheards Bird-gazers Sooth-sayers Outlawes Bondmen and which was the fairest title of all Vain-glorious and Proud The Carthaginenses likewise had but one Generall captaine of warre whom they changed oftentimes Contrariwise the Athenians chose many captains at once to lead their forces of warre In respect whereof Alexander maruelled how the Athenians could find euery yeare ten captains seing that he himselfe in al his lands could find but one good captain which was Parmenio Also we see that common-weales haue not made so great conquests as Monarchies haue done except the common-weale of Rome which brought all kingdomes vnder the dominion thereof But for that one common-weale ye haue many kingdomes which haue had greater possessions and haue kept them a longer time As for example the kingdome of Assyria had mo Kingdomes and countries vnder the dominion thereof than euer had the citie of Rome The Romane empire lasted partly at Rome and partly at Constantinople about fifteene hundred yeares The Empire of Almaine which began vnder Otho the second about two hundred yeares after the coronation of Charlemaine hath continued vnto this day but yet in some things it sauoreth of the Aristocracie The kingdome of France hath endured about a twelue hundred yeares As for the dominion of Venice the gouernment wherof is an Aristocracie is the Paragon of all Common-weales in the world as which alonely may vant that it hath maintained his state the longest time of all others howbeit with such good lawes as were able to preserue it as they well shewed vnto one of their citizens whom they dispatched out of his life without speaking any word vnto him only because he was of authoritie and credit to appease a certaine sedition or mutinie among the men of warre in their citie And to say the truth the thing that ouerthrew the state of Rome was the ouer-great authoritie which they suffered their citizens to beare Now then as a good king is a right excellent thing so when he becommeth a tyrant he is as excessiue a mischiefe For the man that is set in that authoritie hath power ouer mens persons to dispose of them at his
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
in examining his life notwithstanding that there is no comparison betweene mouable goods and a friend For a friend may helpe a prince both with counsell and comfort and also greatly aduance his profit as Zopirus did vnto king Darius vnto whom he recouered Babilon And therefore Darius said That he had leuer haue one Zopirus than to take tenne Babilons and that he wished hee had as many Megabisusses as there be kernels in a Pomgarnet For this cause were Pilades and Orestes exalted to the skies by the Poets and Damon and Pithias Pithagorians by the Historiographers And among others we must not let passe the friendship of Seruius Terentius towards Brutus For when Brutus should haue beene put to death this Terentius affirmed himselfe to be he and would haue bin killed for him in the darkenesse of the place neuerthelesse being discerned who he was he was suffered to liue whether he would or no. Neither is the wiâ—ely loue of one Hostes the wife of a Moore to be passed ouer in silence who seing hir husband dead absteined from food nine daies together that she might be buried with him Timagenides seing the citie of Thebes besieged for his sake chose rather to yeeld himselfe to the rest of the Greeks who were desirous of him than to abide the burning spoiling and sacking of his country Also there were a couple of Lacedemonians which offered to goe to the king of Persia to be put to torture for the rest of their countriemen who had killed the kings Embassadors But yet the loue of certaine Frenchmen towards their country shall put to silence the fables of Orestes and Pilades and whatsoeuer is reported of the Curtiusses and Deciusses of Rome When the king of England refused to take Callis to mercie except they would deliuer him six Burgesses of the towne with halters about their necks to doe his pleasure with them the people being assembled into one place and hearing this sentence fell to weeping Then stept vp among them one Eustace of S. Peters one of the richest men of all the town and told them that he would not suffer such a number of people to perish but would rather giue himselfe to the death for their safety than see them die for hunger or be slaine with the sword After him followed another named Iohn Daire and foure mo of the richest in Calis who vowed themselues euerychone to the death for the safegard of their people S. Ambrose in his second booke of Virgins reporteth a notable storie of a maid and a young souldier who offered themselues to die either for the other The maid was condemned either to doe sacrifice to the idols or else to be made a brothel in the stewes She vtterly refusing to doe sacrifice to the idols was led forthwith to the stewes where after she had made hir praiers vnto God there was brought vnto hir a young souldiour who altering his former purpose which he had to haue defiled her praied her to take his apparell and he would put on hirs that by that means shee might go hir waies vnknowne and so be saued When she was departed out of the brothel-house there came in other yoong men in hope to haue had their pleasure of that faire damsel But in hir stead they found the man and thought shee had bene turned into that shape by miracle In the end when the conueiance was discouered the yoong man was carried to be punished wherof the mayd hearing presented hirselfe to baile him body for body that he might escape but the yoong man would in no wise heare of that affirming that iudgement was giuen against him and not against hir The maid replied that he was there but as a pledge and that the sentence which was giuen against him ought to be executed vpon hirselfe To conclude they disputed so wel the one against the other that with their consents they were both put to death Let this be spoken as by the way because occasion thereof was offered He that is desirous to see more let him read Aristotles Morals Lucians Toxaris and Ciceros Laelius Now let vs proceed to Hope which is an affection wel beseeming a Prince When Alexander hauing of a bountifull mind giuen all to his friends was asked what should remaine to himselfe Hope quoth he because he hoped to get much more And this Hope is grounded vpon a certaine noblenesse of courage I know well inough that some Hope is but the dreaming of a man when he is awake for commonly we misse of the thing that we behight our selues Neuerthelesse I say that the valiant and well aduised prince sildome fayleth of his hope when it is grounded vpon reason and good fortune Philo sayth that Hope is the fountaine of all sorts and trades of life The merchant traffiqueth in hope of gaine the marener in hope to benefit himselfe by his sayling the ambitious in hope of glorie and honour and to attaine to these ends euery of them doth take maruellous pains The hope of the happie state draweth men to vertue But indeed the true and only hope is to hope in God as in him that is our Creator and is sufficient of himselfe alone to keepe vs safe and sound Afterward commeth Despaire or Distrust the contrary to Hope which may bee taken doublewise either as when a prince hauing lost a battell and broken his force letteth all go without consulting or taking aduice what to do through Despaire seeketh no remedie which oft befalleth for want of courage to maintaine the which nothing is comparable to stoutnesse of mind The other sort is not properly Despaire but a behauior proceeding of humilitie which maketh vs that we be not ouer-hastie in hoping for great and high things the which is conuenient enough for a prince for it restreineth him from hazarding himselfe and from vndertaking too great and hard things after the maner of Dauid who reioiceth that hee had not enterprised things ouer-great and exceeding his power In this case both Hope and Distrust are well befitting a king For the one maketh him to enterprise great things the other to moderat them in such sort as he vndertake not any thing aboue his abilitie or aboue that which he ought for to do so proceedeth either of vndiscreetnes or of rage or of some other inordinat passion Fearfulnesse and Foole-hardinesse are the two faultie extremities which inclose Prowes or valeantnesse of courage wherof I will speake more largely hereafter For whosoeuer through the greatnes of his courage doth put himselfe in perill yea euen of certaine death for a good cause he is to be esteemed hardie valeant and manly-minded And surely the Fearefull is worse than the Foole-hardie For as Thucidides saith Feare doth not only bereaue a man of his memorie but also of his strength and impeacheth the execution of the thing that he had determined Neuerthelesse the feare to do euil is euermore wel-beseeming according to this saying of
prince to be of two natures the one of beast the other of man and that when the nature of man will not preuaile he should haue recourse to that of the beast And that of the beasts he should chuse the fox his nature to discerne snares and the lions to put the woolues in feare And therfore saith he a wise prince cannot keepe his faith if this obseruation be turned the contrarie way And because there be wicked men which keepe not their promise neither ought he also to keepe touch with them Among the examples of the princes of his time he alleageth pope Alexander the sixt who made no bones or conscience at al to deceiue men Neuer was there any man quoth he that assured things with greater force of words or affirmed them with greater othes and that meant lesse good faith or lesse perfourmed them yet notwithstanding his packings came alwaies to passe as he would wish because he gaue his mind to it I coÌ„fesse that the cosener the hipocrit the dissembler do coÌ„monly sooner dispatch his businesse than he that is open plaine honest and faithfull But it were better for a man not to haue so great successe than to be deceitfull and wicked And it were better for him to follow the counsell of Cicero in his books of Dueties who sayth That no good man will euer lie for his owne aduantage For if he that dealeth altogither by frawd be had in estimation I see not in comparing the lesser with the greater why either a shamelesse person or a theefe should be blamed of whom neuerthelesse the one is hanged and the other is pointed at with folks fingers and baited out of all good mens companies For their doing so is but to auoid pouertie and to find the means to liue vpon other mens purses as the prince that is a deceiuer is desirous to doe his affairs at the cost of his neighbour True it is that because he is a great lord men say of him as a certain pyrat said of great Alexander namely that because he himselfe roued but with one gallie he was counted a robber and because Alexander went with a great number of ships therefore he was counted a king but in effect they were both of one trade sauing that the one of them was rich puissaunt and well attended and the other was poore and meanly accompanied And as Plutarch saith in the life of Pyrrhus kings and princes must not blame priuat persons though now and then they step aside as opportunitie fitteth them for their profit for in so doing they doe but imitate their souereigns examples and follow the footsteps of them that are their ringleaders in all vntrustinesse trecherie and vnfaithfulnesse as who would say that he dispatcheth his businesse best which least lifteth to obserue law and vprightnesse But although some vnfaithfull prince doe happen to prosper it dooth not therefore follow that a faithfull prince cannot prosper Titus Traian Antonine the meeke Mâ—rcus Aurelius and other good emperors of Rome haue obtained as many victories yea and haue also far better maintained their estate than Tiberius Nero Caligula Domitian and such others Philip grew great by subtiltie and Alexander his son conquered the whole world by loialtie and magnanimitie I beleeue well that a prince ought to be sage and wel aduised and to be skilfull both in playing the lion to encounter such as will assaile him and in playing the fox to saue himselfe from the trains and snares that are layd for him but not to intangle and intrap others After the battell of Cannas which the Romanes lost vnto Hannibal there were ten prisoners who vpon safe conduct giuen them by Hanniball tarried still at Rome contrarie to their promise giuen vnto him but they were all denounced infamous and one of them was sent backe againe vnto Hannibal to doe what he would with him The consul Regalus did not so for he perfourming his promise returned at the time which he had set notwithstanding that he was sure to go to exquisit torments that were prepared for him The Carthaginenses hauing lost a battell vpon the sea against the Romans sent Amilcar Hanno to treat with them for peace Amilcar would not put himselfe into the Romanes hands because he had a little afore taken Cornelius Asina the consull prisoner whome the Romanes had sent embassador thither But Hanno sticked not to proceed foorth and when he had begun to declare his message a certaine Romane captaine sayd threatningly vnto him that as much might befall him as had bene done to Cornelius But the consuls putting the captaine to silence told Hanno that the Faith of the empire of Rome should deliuer them from that feare At such time as Tissaphernes brake the truce which hee had made with the Lacedemonians Agesilaus sayd he thanked the gods that Tissaphernes had angred them and offended them and thereby made them gracious and fauourable to the Lacedemonians esteeming it a thing very displeasant vnto God for a man to falsifie his faith And therefore Mimus Publianus saith That he which hath lost his credit hath no more to lose because the whole welfare and honour of a man dependeth thereupon Bias said there was no excuse for a man that brake his promise because he that looseth the credit of his word looseth more than hee that looseth the thing that was promised him Cinna hauing sent for Marius made it a matter of consultation whether he should receiue him or no. Sertorius was of opinion that he should not send for him but Cinna told him he could not with his honour refuse him hauing sent for him When Sertorius heard him say so he told him he did amisse to make it a matter debateable whether he should receiue him or no seeing he was come at his commaundement For the binding of your faith quoth he suffereth not the matter to be debated or consulted of any more Sextus Pompeius was aduertised by his admirall Menodorus that now it was in his hand to be reuenged of the death of his father and of his brethren hauing both Augustus and Antonie at supper with him in his gallie and that if Pompei would giue him leaue he would vndertake to cause them to be drowned and it should neuer be perceiued how But Pompei sauouring of the antient honour of the Romans answered the messenger thus Tell Menodorus that he might well haue done it without me seeing he maketh none account of periurie but it cannot beseeme me to giue my consent vnto it seeing I haue not bene woont to falfifie my faith This faithfulnesse of the Romanes was the cause that Ptolomei king of Aegypt committed his yoong sonne in wardship to the people of Rome who performed the charge with all integritie and surrendred the kingdome againe into his hands when he came to age Archadius leauing his sonne Theodosius in his minoritie and being at his wits end whome he might leaue to be his
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
commaundement of the gods Withdraw your selfe then quoth he a while out of the temple and I wil tell it them if they aske it Zosimus reporteth in his historie that while Constantine the great was yet no Christian he would haue bin purged by the high-priests of the Painims for his murthering of his wife and his sonne and that when they refused to doe it he became a Christian vpon report of a Spaniard who gaue him to vnderstand that the Christian Religion wiped away all sorts of sin But this Zosimus speaketh like a clerke of arms and like an enemie to our Religion not knowing with how great discretion penitents are receiued into the bosome of the church as we may see in many treatises of S. Ciprian Nicephorus in his seuenth booke disproueth those that so report vnto whom I referre my selfe concerning the cause that moued Constantine to take vpon him the Christian religion because it is a thing notably knowne to all men For inasmuch as Religion bringeth with it humilitie and lowlinesse of heart pride and ouer-weening doe vtterlie defeat it as we read of king Osias who was punished with a leaprosie for presuming to offer sacrifice to God and likewise of Dathan Choree and Abiron whom the earth swallowed vp aliue Concerning the touching of the things dedicated to the temple we see what befell to Manasses and Amon kings of Ierusalem and to Nabugodonozer king of Babilon and diuers others And as touching the forsaking of the true Religion wee know the euill end that befell to Achab Ochosias and Oseas kings of Samaria Now seeing that true Religion is a goodly thing needs ' must Hipocrisie and false Religion be very dangerous as which displeaseth God and man when a countenance of the feare of God is pretended to deceiue folke vnder shew of holinesse For as Cicero saith in his Duties There is not so great a wickednesse as the cloking of a mans selfe vnder the mantle of Religion to do euill Such guiles or cosenages are misliked both of God and man specially when they be faced with the countenance of holinesse I meane wicked guiles as the Lawyers tearme them and not such guiles as serue for baits to draw folke to that which is good and behooffull of which sort Plato speaking in his Laws saith It is not against the grauitie of a law-giuer to vse such kind of vntruths because it is inough for him to persuade folk to that which is for their welfare profit For it is not vnlawfull to beguile men to a good end as saith S. Paul to apply a mans selfe to all sorts of men to the intent to win them as he himselfe did in Ierusalem by the counsell of S. Iames when he made his foure companions to be shauen and purified himselfe with them in the temple according to the custome of law notwithstanding that he allowed not that ceremonie Therefore men are not forbidden to beguile vntractable folke and such as are otherwise vnweeldie and hard to be ruled or els which are grosse superstitious fearfull and shiwitted or to induce them to some kind of Superstition for the compassing of some commendable matter or to bridle those with the snaffle of Religion which can not be compassed by loue nor by force which is the strongest mean that we haue to restraine euen them that are most fierce and vntamable For as Sabellicus saith there is not any thing that doth more easily retaine the common people than Superstition or is of more force to moue and persuade people to the intent and opinion that a man will rule them and lead them too This maner of dealing haue the greatest and best aduised law-makers and the best experienced captaines of the world vsed And among others Numa Pompilius of whom I haue spoken afore vsed it wisely towards the Romanes holding the people whom he gouerned in awe by a Religion such as it was and specially by the ceremonies which were in vse at that time He saw well he had to doe with theeues robbers and murtherers and that his estate could not bee sure among people that had their hands alreadie stained with the blood of their king whom they had killed late afore and that it was no need to whet them being a people too much giuen to war but rather to procure them rest to the intent that during the time of peace they might receiue some good lawes for the gouerning of their citie and haue their crueltie assuaged by means of religion And to the intent that the thing which he did might be of the more authoritie he feined that all proceeded frō the counsel of the Muses and of the nymph or goddesse Aegeria that haunted the forrest Arecine vnto whose company he often withdrew himselfe alone not suffering any body to go in thither with him Minos the law-giuer of Candie had vsed the like feat afore to giue force and authoritie to his lawes For he went ordinarily into a certaine caue of the earth the which he termed Iupiters caue and after he had bin there a long time he brought his lawes with him all written saying he had receiued them of Iupiter to the end to compell his countrimen to keepe them both by the power and authoritie which he had ouer them and also by religion the which he esteemed to bee of more force than all his commandements No lesse did Pithagoras for the ratifieng of his doctrine for he had so reclaimed an eagle that at a certaine call she would come and lie houering ouer his head in the aire After that Lycurgus had made his lawes he caused them to be ratified by the oracle of Apollo who answered that they were good and fit to make men liue well and blessedly And as the superstition of people hath well serued the turn of lawmakers so hath it no lesse serued to make captains obeied and to giue thē the reputation which they deserued when they could skill to vse it cunningly as Agesilaus did who seeing his men dismaied because they were far fewer in number than their enimies fell to making sacrifice afore hee prepared himselfe to the battell and writing this word Victorie in his left hand tooke the liuer of the beast at the priests hand without making any countenance and holding it a long time in his owne hand as in a muse that the liuer might take the print of the letters went anon after to his men of warre there present and shewed them the liuer telling them that those letters behighted a sure signe of victorie thereby to make them the more couragious and resolute Sertorius one of the best experienced captains of Rome being brought into a little country of Spaine where it behooued him to haue the helpe of the Spaniards who were but smally accustomed to obey and to submit themselues to warlike discipline to the intent he might beare some sway among them and be beleeued and followed of them in
so keeping and maintaining euery mans profit in peculiar as may best stand with the conseruation of the whole Men in old time said that Righteousnesse was a goddesse sitting at Iupiters seat Hesiodus saith she was borne of Iupiter and Homer saith she was borne of all the gods To be short all the Heathen said it was a Heauenly vertue wherein they agree with this vvhich S. Peter saith in his second epistle We looke for the new Earth and new Heauens wherein righteousnesse dwelleth And as Plato saith in his Common-weale Righteousnesse is the greatest good thing that euer God bestowed vpon vs as whereof hee himselfe is the very author and first ground wherein he speaketh diuinely and agreeable to the commaundment of our Lord Iesus who willeth vs to seeke the kingdome of God his righteousnes because if we so do we shall not want any thing And Dauid counselleth vs to offer vnto him the sacrifice of Righteousnesse S. Paul in the epistle to the Romans opposeth vnrighteousnesse against righteousnesse so as the contrarie to righteousnesse is euill For as sayth saint Ierome vvriting to the daughter of Morris Righteousnesse is nothing else but the eschewing of sinne and the eschewing of sinne is the keeping of the commaundements of Gods law And therefore Ecclesiasticus saith thus Turne away from thine vnrighteous deeds and turne againe vnto the Lord. And in the Prouerbs Righteousnesse saith Salomon exalteth a whole nation but sinne is a reproch vnto people And in the fourteenth Psalme it is sayd Thou hatest Vnrighteousnesse Now then Righteousnesse is the vertue of the soule and Vnrighteousnesse is the vice therof the procurer of death And as Philo saith Vnrighteousnesse is the linage and off-spring of vice And this vice bringeth with it paine and trauell according to this saying of Dauid in the seuenth Psalme Behold he trauelleth with vnrighteousnesse and wickednesse Plato in his Common-wealth saith that to order or dispose to commaund to counsell or aduise such other things are properties peculiar to the soule so as an euill soule miscommaundeth misordereth and miscouncelleth and contrariwise a good soule doth all things well which it doth And like as a man is esteemed to be in health when his body is altogether disposed according to the order of nature and contrariwise to be out of health when the parts of his body be infected and all goes contrarie to the order of nature euen so to doe righteously is nothing else but to keepe the parts of the soule in such order as they may both commaund and obey according to the true rule of Nature The same author saith in his Protagoras That righteousnesse and holinesse are both one or at least wise they be vertues very like one another In so much that such as righteousnesse is such also is holinesse and such as holinesse is such also is righteousnesse And in his Theetetus he sayth That he which is the holiest amongst vs is likest vnto God accordingly as our Lord teacheth vs in his Euangelist Matthew saieng Follow ye the example of your heauenly father The dutie of Righteousnesse is to liue honestly without hurting any man and as sayth Iustinian to yeeld to euery man that which belongeth vnto him Cicero in his Duties setteth down two sorts therof the fiâ—st is that a maÌ„ should hurt no man vnprouoked by iniurie and wrong first done vnto him the which thing notwithstanding is forbidden by God as in respect of reuenge hath also ben put in practise by diuers heathen men The second is that we vse coÌ„mon things as coÌ„mon and priuat things as priuat But according to christianitie Righteousnes consisteth in two precepts wherof the first is to loue God and the second is to loue our neighbor and on that dependeth al that is written in the law the Prophets In the first consisteth the diuine and coÌ„templatiue righteousnes and in the latter consisteth the distributiue righteousnesse For it is not inough for a man to honour God to feare him and to abstaine from euill except he also doe good and be helpefull to his neighbour and by the word Neighbor I meane all men specialy those that are good For as saith Pithagoras we ought to esteeme more of a righteous stranger than of a kinsman or countriman that is vnhonest Which thing our Lord hath told vs more expresly in saieng He that doth the will of God is my kinsman my brother and my mother And also in another place by the parable of the Samaritan that had shewed himselfe to be the wounded Iewes neighbor in very deed by setting him vpon his horse and by hauing a speciall care of him wherein he and not the priests and Pharisies that made none account of the wounded man had done the dutie of Righteousnesse Wherby it appeareth the righteous man takes pains rather for other men than for himselfe and had leuer to forgo some part of his owne goods than to diminish another mans Now therefore when men instruct the ignorant releeue the poore yeeld to their neighbors that which belongs vnto theÌ„ by helping them with thing at their need when the great personages oppres not their inferiors nor the king his subiects then may it be said that righteousnes raigneth in that couÌ„trie And if euery man would liue after manner there should need neither law nor magistrat For as saith Menander Their owne manners should be as lawes But for as much as few men doe giue themselues to righteousnesse there must of necessitie be laws and magistrats to enforce such vnto righteousnesse as will not be righteous for loue and to that end are kings and rulers ordained of God For as saint Paule sayth the king is Gods lieutenant on earth the maintainer of righteousnes and as it were his chancelor so as they which require iustice at his hand resort not vnto him as to a man but as to the very righteousnes it self wherof he is the dealer forth through the wil of God according to this saieng of SalomoÌ„ in the booke of Wisdome By me kings reigne and counsellors determine right By me princes rule and all lords iudge their lands Not without cause therefore did Homer call kings the disciples of Iupiter as who would say they learned of God to do iustice Dauid vseth termes yet of more force and calleth them Gods which doe iustice honoring them with the name of their charge which is of God And Philo calleth them Gods lieutenants and vicegerents in cases concerning iustice And in the 6 chapter of the booke of Wisdome Vnto you kings do I speake saith Salomon harken vnto me ye gouernors of people and you that glorie in the multitude of natioÌ„s For your authoritie is giuen you of the Lord and your power coÌ„meth from the highest who wil examin your works and diligently search your thoughts because you being ministers of his kingdome haue not iudged vprightly nor kept the law of righteousnes Therefore will he
common-weale as he shewed anon after in the warres that he had against Silla But Agustus would rather haue priuiledged men from paying of subsidies discharged thē of tallages than to haue made thē free of the citty of Rome for he could not abide that the right of citizenship should be brought in smal estimation by becōming too common Neither ought the changing of lawes to be excused by this saying of Plato That at the first making of lawes there may be some things which the magistrats that succeede afterward may well amend vntill that by good aduisement and experience they see what is best to be allowed And in another place he saith againe it is not men but fortune and the enterchange of things that make lawes For either nessessitie or force and violence of war subuert states and alter lawes so likewise plagues tempests sicknesses and incōmodities of many years continuance do cause very great changes and alterations For no doubt but the thing which is set downe for a law is to be debated long time to be altered if ther by any incōuenience therin as the citisens of Locres did who admitted men to deuise new laws howbeit with halters about their necks to be hanged for their labour if their lawes were found to be euill But when a law is once alowed by long experience and custome it is not in any wife to be chaunged but vpon extreame necessitie which is aboue all law Also it is certaine that many new lawes are to be made vpon the alteration of a state But when the lawes are once stablished with the state they cannot be altered without iniurie to the state exept it be vpon very vrgent and needfull cause For the politik laws that are made for the mainteinance of a state tend not to any other end saith Plato than to rule and commaund and not to be subiect As for the lawes of nature they ought to be kept most streightly For as Iustinian saith forasmuch as the law of nature is giuen vs by the prouidence of God it ought to abide firme and vnmutable But the politicall law is to be chaunged oftentimes as we shall shew hereafter And because that among men there be some monsters that is to say men that sin against nature and make warre against it it is meet that the soueraigne magistrat which is set in that dignitie of purpose to encounter against monsters as Hercules did and to defend the poore from the violence of the greater sort should cause an equalitie of iustice to be obserued among his subiects For when the poore is oppressed by the rich it is wrong of the which wrong proceedeth discontentmēt which oftentimes breeds a hatred towards the prince and finally a rebelling against him Wisely therefore did Theopompus answer to one that demaunded of him by what meanes a prince might liue in suertie by suffering his friends quoth he to doe al things that are reasonable taking heed therewithall that his subiects be not misused nor wronged For many princes haue bin ouerthrowne for suffering their seruants to do all maner of wrongs and iniuries whereof we haue a notable example in Philip king of Macedonie who was slaine by Pausanias for refusing to heare his complaint and to doe him iustice against one that had committed a rape vpon him For the very dutie of a prince consisteth in doing iustice For as Cicero saith in his books of Duties the first chusing of kings was for the estimation which men had of them that they were good and iust men such as by defending the poore from the rich and the weake from the mightie would hold them both in concord and quietnes Plutarke in the life of Cato saith that folke giue greater credit and authoritie to good iusticers than to any others For they not only honour them as they doe the valeant ne haue them in admiration as they haue the sage and wise but they doe also loue them and put their trust and confidence in them whereas of them that be not such they distrust the one sort and feare the other Moreouer they be of opinion that valeantnesse and wisdome come rather of nature than of good will persuading themselues that the one is but a quicknes and finesse of wit and the other but a certaine stoutnesse of heart that commeth of nature wheras eueryman may be iust at leastwise if he will Wherefore they that will gouern well saith Cicero must obserue two precepts of Platos wherof the one is to haue good regard of the welfare of their subiects imploying all their deuises and doings to that end and leauing their owne peculiar profit in respect of that and the other is to haue such a care of the whole body of the common-weale that in defending any one part therof the residue be not neglected For like as a tutorship so the charge of a kingdome is to be administred to the benefit of those that are vnder the charge and not of them that haue the charge And they that are carefull of one part and carelesse of another doe bring sedition quarelling and discord into the kingdome or common-weale which is the ruine of realmes and common-weales Wherfore the dutie of a good king is not only to doe no wrong to his subiects himselfe but also to restrain others from doing them wrong and to straine himselfe to the vttermost of his power to do right either in his own person or by his substituts to such as seeke iustice at his hand For the greatest good that can be done to any people is to doe them right and to punish such as doe them wrong And in that case the king must be like vnto the law which accepteth no person ne punisheth for displeasure but iudgeth according to right euen so princes must not suffer themselues to be caried away with fauor hatred or anger but must minister iustice indifferently to al men But oftentimes they ouershoot themselues and step aside from the path of iustice to pleasure their courtiers not considering that their so doing breedeth to themselues great dishonor and in their people great discontentment Aristides would neuer make aliance with any man in administring the common-weale because he would not doe wrong vnto any man at the pleasure of those to whom he were alied nor yet greeue them by refusing any thing that they might require at his hand Cato of Vtica was so seuere a iusticer that he swarued not any way for any fauor or pitie insomuch that sometimes he would speake against Pompey as well as with him And when Pompey thanked him for that which he had done for him he told him that in any good cause he wold be his freind and not otherwise Philip was desired by one Harpalus one in greatest fauour with him to call before him a certaine case to the intent that his kinsman for whom he made the sute might not be diffamed To
in all other things it is most pestilent and deadlie in the ambition of those that put themselues in the managing of publike affaires We see how Alexanders ambitioÌ„ wrought the ruine of all Asia for one Alexander that made profit of his ambition howbeit with the losse of his reputation among all good men infinit numbers were brought to ruine as Pompey Caesar Crassus Mariw and others innumerable Pâ—â—rhus might haue bin a great prince if he had not bin too ambitious and it had bin better for him to haue credited the counsell of inâ—as who being desirous to haue diuerted him from his voiage into Italic asked him to what purpose that so far voiage shuld serue him for the getting of one citie Whervnto he answered That froÌ„ Tarent he would go to Rome And when you haue taken Rome quoth Ciâ—â—as what will you doe then We will goe to Sicilie answered Pirrhus And when we haue done with Sicilie whether shall wee then Wee will to Carthage said Pirrhus And when Carthage is become yours what will you doe then I will make my selfe quoth he lord of all Greece And when we haue done al this what shal we do afterward TheÌ„ wil we rest our selues qd Pirrhus make good cheer And what letteth quoth Cineas that we should not fal presently to this making of good cheere sith we haue inough wherwith to do it Princes therfore must not only beware of ambition but also withdraw themselues from all ambitious persons For they be neuer satisfied And as Plutarch saith in the life of Silla Pride and ambition are two vices that neuer wex old and are very daungerous to a state like as it is daungerous to saile in a ship where the pilots be at strife who shall gouerne it Ambitions is neuer without quarrelling for euerie man fals to heauing at other and seeks to take his fellowes place As for example Pompey to take Lucullussis Marius to take Metellussis and Silla to heaue out Marius vntill in the end they brought the state to ruine As for Enuie no doubt but it proceedeth of pride as Alexander shewed very well who would needs be the perfectest of all men and was sorâ—e that his father did so many goodly exploits esteeming it as a bereauing him of occasion to purchase himselfe reputation Hee would not that Aristoâ—le should publish the books that he had taught him to the end that he himselfe might passe all others in skill and in feats of war Now as pride is the first and greatest sinne so also commonly it seeketh not any other than the most excellent things be it in vertue in prosperitie in riches or in dignitie And therfore Salust said That pride is the ordinary vice of nobilitie and Claudian That it cometh ordinarily in prosperitie For aduersitie pouertie and sickenesse do light he cut off the occasions of arrogancie and there is nothing worse than a poore maÌ„ that is proud as Salomon saith in his Prouerbs Darius the father of Xerxes said That aduersities and troubles make a man the wiser Antigonus seeing himselfe sicklie commended his sickenesse saying that it had done him great good by teaching him not to aduance himselfe aboue measure considering his infirmitie It is no small benefit when a small disease driueth away a great And therfore Dauid boasteth in the 119 Psalme That God had done him a great good â—â—ne in bringing him low And a little after Afore I was afflicted saith he I went astray but now I keepe thy word now lord I acknowledge that thy iudgements are iust that thou hast humbled me of very loue that is to say thou hast afflicted me to a good end And in the 131 Psalm Lord I 〈◊〉 not high-minded I haue no lostie looks I haue not delt in thingâ— that are greater and more wonderfull than becoÌ„meth me Secondly the vertuous and wise are more assailed with pride than are the vicious and the painfull more than the idle And therfore S. Pâ—ule said That God had giuen him an angel of Satans to bullet him least he shuld be puffed vp with his reuelations For the mischiefe of pride comes of ouerfulnesse And as S. Iohn Chrisostome saith in his homilie of Humilitie Like as too much eating ingendreth an inflammation of humors in our bodies which inflammation breedeth the ague and of the ague often commeth death euen so is it with pride which commeth not but of too much ease too much welfare The same author in the same place saith That other vices steale vpon vs when we be idle and negligent but this vice presseth assaulteth vs wheÌ„ we be doing good And like as they that intend to goe vpon a cord doe by and by fall and breake their neckes it their sight goe astray neuer so little so they that walke in this life doe cast themselues downe headlong out of hand if they take not great heed to themselues For the way of this cord is without all comparison far more narrow streight out than the other for so much as it mounteth vp vnto heauen and therfore it is the more danger to slip or to misse footing because the feare is woonderfull to them that are mounted so high whereof there is but onely one remedie which is neuer to looke downeward for feare of dazeling Hee maketh yet one other goodlie similitude saying That like as Sea-rouers passe not to assaile merchants when they set out of the hauen to fetch merchandise but when they come loaden home so when the mischieuous enemie seeth our ship full of precious sâ—ones of all sorts of godlinesse then doth he bend all his force to light vs of our treasure to sinke vs in the hauens mouth and to leaue vs starke naked vpon the strond And as saith S. Ambrose in his epistle which he writeth to the virgin Demetrias Satan watcheth to cast in a collup of pride in place of our deuotion And hee findeth not a better occasion to tempt vs than by our vertues which are the cause why we be of good right commended After that maner befell it to Osias king of Iuda a good man for in the end his heart was puffed vp and he would needs offer sacrifice to God whervpon ensued that he was by and by punished with a leprosie Through pride ouerweening Dathan Coree and Abiron moued sedition against Moses and would needs be equall with him but the earth swallowed them vp quicke Herod taking pleasure in the flatterie of the people which said That his words were the voice of God and not of man was eaten vp of lice so odious is that vice vnto God Thereof it commeth that it is said not that God forsaketh the proud but that he resisteth them to shew that he will fight against them with his power so greatly doth he abhorre that vice according to this saying of the Psalmist Thou didst cast them downe when they aduanced themselues Virgill seemeth to approch hereunto when he saith
magnanimitie in the world and surely no man is ignorant but that a man of magnanimitie may die at the sea without feare not after the maner of marinets The fourth is called Furious when a man fighteth vpon hatred choler or passion In so doing he seemeth couragious because as Aristotle saith Choller is a great spurre to pricke one foorth to danger yet notwithstanding he is not so for as soone as his rage is ouer he beginneth to wexlasie and is willing to be gone at the least intreatance that can be Now then it is no valiancie to put a mans selfe into danger when he is spurred with sorrow or anger Likewise the foole-hardie seemeth of great courage though he be not so because hee putteth himselfe foorth to danger without cause But men ought in all things to deale by reason for that which done with reason is wel-beseeming and commended of all men and that which is done otherwise is blamed Such as discerne not good from euill thinke a man to be of great courage because he seemeth so whereas indeed it is either rashnes follie or rage that maketh him to seeme so as we read of Coriolan who when he was cōdemned of the people shewed not any greefe and that as saith Plutarch was not through any drift or persuasion of reason or through any calmenesse of disposition that made him to beare his mis-fortune patiently and meeldly but through a vehement despight and desire or reuenge which carried him so forciblie away that he seemed not tofeele his owne miserie the which the common people suppose not to be sorrow though it be so in deed For when such griefe is set on fire then turneth it into despight and then forgoeth it the basenesse lasinesse and faintnesse which is naturall vnto it And therfore as he that hath a feuer seemeth full of heat so hee that is chollericke seemeth as though a mans mind were puft out and made greater and larger by his being in such disposition The fifth kind is called Customarie which is when a man hath alwaies bin woont to ouer-come and neuer bin foiled such customablenesse maketh him to goe the more boldly to the encounter But if he found resistance then would he flie as well as other men for want of resolute purpose in valiantnesse The sixt sort is called Beastlie which is when a man goeth like a beast to find his enemie not thinking him to be couragious and that he will make resistance against him whereby it may befall him as I haue said of the other The seuenth sort is called Vertuous which is the true and only kind of Prowesse as when a man warreth or putteth himselfe in danger not by constraint nor vpon choller experience or ignorance but because it is expedient and behoofful in reason to be done As for example a prince must not make warre vnlesse it bee iust and for the benefit of his realme or for the tuition and defence thereof and of his subiects and not vpon ignorance or for Ambition or desire of reuenge CHAP. VIII of Magnanimitie MAgnanimitie approcheth vnto Prowesse and Valiantnesse but yet it hath some thing greater And like as magnificence being nothing else than liberalitie is notwithstanding counted a greater thing euen so is it with Magnanimitie which ought to bee proper peculiar to princes who set their minds or at least wise ought to set their minds on none but great matters For as Demosthenes saith it is a hard matter for them that set their minds vpon base things to haue a high and bold spirit or for them that haue the managing of great affaires to mind the small things For such as the state of a man is such is his mind Alexander by reason of his valiant and hardie courage thought nothing to be impregnable nor any thing too strong for a firme and resolute mind Wherfore being about to assaile a place that was impregnable hee demaunded what courage the captaine was of that was within it And when he vnderstood that he was the veriest coward of the world that is well for vs quoth he for that place is alwais to be woon which is held by a faint-hearted coward And in verie deed he woon the place by putting the keeper therof in feare Now then Magnanimitie is a certaine excellencie of courage which aiming at honour directeth all his doings thervnto and specially vnto vertue as the thing that is esteemed the efficient cause of honour in respect wherof it doth all things that are vertuous and honourable with a braue and excellent courage and differeth from valiantnesse of prowesse in that prowesse respecteth chiefly the perils of warre and magnanimitie respecteth honour Insomuch that Magnanimitie is an ornament vnto all vertues because the deeds of vertue be worthie of honour the which are put in exceution by Magnanimitie As for example when it is said That it belongeth not to a man of Magnanimitie to doe wrong this is a vertuous and iust deed which bringeth honour to the man of Magnanimitie and therfore we say That Magnanimitie is an ornament to all vertues because it maketh them the greater in that the honor wheron the nobleminded man setteth his eye surmounteth all things But yet in this do Magnanimitie and prowesse agree that both of thē are void of feare despise death greefe peril and danger not suffering themselues to be ouer-weighed by prosperitie or aduersitie Cicero in the fift of his Tusculane questions saith That if a man bend himselfe to despise the things that are commonly had in estimation as strength beautie health riches and honor regardeth not their contraries he may go with his head vpright make his boast that neither the frowardnes of fortune nor the opinion of the cōmon people nor sorrow nor pouertie shall be able to put him in feare but all things are in his hand and nothing is out of his power And in his first booke of Duties We deeme it saith he the part of a noble courage and a constant mind to be so firme and stable through the working of reason as to make no reckoning of the things which other men esteeme to be goodlie and excellent and to beare the things in such sort which seeme hard and bitter as he swarue not from the state of nature and from the dignitie which a wise man ought to haue and that it is the point of a nobleminded constant man not to be dismaied with aduersitie nor to shrinke a whit from the place where he standeth nor to step aside from reason For it is a token of lightnesse not to be able to beare aduersitie as well as prosperitie On the cōtrarie part it is a goodly thing to keepe one selfe-same maner of dealing in all a mans life yea and euen one selfe-same countenance The magnanimitie and constancie of Aristides was so great that for all the honor that was done vnto him he was neuer high-minded nor for any
are tickled with some pleasure therof which being entered in at the eies or the eares taketh such root in the heart that it is hard to put it away againe For that cause when Sophocles beheld a faire yoong boy and commended his beautie one told him That it became him to haue not onely chast hands but also chast eies Candaules king of Lidia hauing a ladie of most excellēt beautie to his wife shewed her naked to a friend of his named Gyges but the sight of hir so inflamed the heart of Gyges that he murthered the king to marrie hir The people of Bisance being besieged of Philip sent Ambassadors vnto him to know what iniurie he pretended to be done by them And he sent them back againe without any good answer saying that they were great fools like to one that hauing a faire wife demanded of them that resorted often to hir wherfore they came thither meaning that the beautie of their town made him desirous to win it And for that cause doth our Lord and lawgiuer say that he which lusteth after a woman sinneth as much as if he had to do with hir by reason of the consent which he hath giuen to the sinne the performance wherof ingendereth death For when lust is once entred in it is hard to keepe the rest from following after or at leastwise to forbeare to giue attempt to obtaine the rest as the iudges did to Susan Dauid to Bersabee and Tarquin to Lucreece Well may we hear see and smel a far off but we cannot touch or tast but the things that are neere at hand And that is the cause that we haue most delectation by those feelings Moreouer nature hath conueied into them all the pleasantnes that she could to the intent that that pleasure should maintaine al liuing wights which cannot liue but by eating and drinking nor be increased and continued without the act of copulation specially the brute beasts which would neither feede nor ingender if they were not prouoked therto by nature And as touching hounds which follow freshly vpon the sent of things it is not for any pleasure that they haue in the hunting but for the pleasure which they haue to eat it The lion taketh no delight in the lowing of a bugle or an oxe nor in the sight of a goodlie stagge otherwise than by accident that is to say for that he hopeth that it is meat prepared for him to dine vpon Therfore I say that temperance consisteth chiefly and most peculiarly in eating and drinking and in vse of women And as Plato saith Al things seeme to depend cheifly vpon three necessities and inward desires of the which being well ordered springeth the vertue of temperance or contrariwise the vice of intemperance if they be vnrulie Two of them be in al liuing wights as soone as they be borne namely the desire to eat and to drink and because euery liuing creature hath a naturall appetite euen from his very birth therefore is hee carried vnto it euen with a violent and forcible desire and cannot abide to heare him that shall tell him he must doe otherwise But the third necessitie lust or pregnant desire which serueth for propagation and generation commeth a certaine time after and yet it burneth men with a hote furie and carrieth them with a wonderfull loosenesse These three diseases enforcing vs after that maner to the things that we most like of must be turned to the better by feare by law and by true reason S. Ierome writing to Furia sayth That this lust is harder to subdue that the others because it is within vs whereas other sinnes are without vs. As for example Niggardlinesse may be laid downe by casting vp a mans purse a farre of the railer is corrected if he be commanded to hold his peace a man may in lesse than an houre change rich aparell into meane only the desire which God hath endued vs withall for procreation doth by a certaine constraint of nature run to carnall copulation Wherefore great diligence is to be vsed for the vanquishing of nature that in the flesh a man may not liue fleshly Some haue taken Temperance more largely as Anaoharsis the Scythian who said that a man ought to haue stay of his toung of his bellie and of the priuie parts Which thing Plato hath declared more largely in his Phoedon saying of the inordinat appetits of Intemperance that there be diuerse sorts of names of them according as they themselues are diuers For the lust of things aboue the nauell concerning foode is called gluttony and he that is possessed of that vice is called a glutton he that is ouermaistered with drinking is called a drunkard that which forceth a man to the pleasute and ouerliking of a beautifull visage and surmounteth reason in the desire thereof is called loue and the like may we say of all lust that ouermaistreth the opinion which tendeth to well doing Pythagoras said that we must chiefly moderat these things namely the belly sleepe the desire of the flesh and choler wherof I will speake particularly hereafter after that I haue exhorted princes to Temperance generally as to the vertue which is most necessarie For the desire of honour may lead a prince to prowesse and withdraw him from cowardlines but it is hard to reclaime him from couetousnes For the desire of hauing more is the ordinarie vice of princes and great lords so that if they desire women banquets or feasts no man pulleth them back but rather flatterers allure them thereunto Wherfore it standeth them on hand to withdraw themselues from them and to beare in mind that a man may be temperat without danger but he cannot attaine to prowesse without putting himselfe in perill of warre And the cause why valeantnes is preferred before Temperance is that valeantnes is the harder to attaine vnto But to haue the traine of vertues which consist in the sensitiue appetit Temperance will obtaine more than valeantnes which is peculiar to those that are hardie and is hard by reason of the perill wherwith it is matched But this vertue of Temperance is easie and void of all perill and consisteth but in the contempt of voluptuousnes the which as S. Iohn Chrisostome saith in his xxij Homilie Is like a dog if you driue him away he is gone if yee make much of him he will abide with you Democritus saith that Temperance increaseth the pleasure of things Which thing Epicurus considering who placed all mans pleasure in voluptuousnes dranke nothing but water ne ate other than crible bread saying that he did it according to his profession because it liked him better to eat little and to vse meats that were least delicat And yet neuerthelesse he gaue himselfe to Temperance granting the thing in effect which he denied in his words namly that vertue was the chief cause of pleasure Also it is most commonly said that ther is not a better
ordering of them by reason of his distemperature For it is hard to occupie our wit well when we haue eaten and drunken too much And S. Ierom saith in his rule of Monks We cannot applie our selues to wisdome if we set our minds vpon the abundance of the table and that nothing but belly-cheare lechery do make vs to court riches For this cause Salomon esteemeth them vnhappy that are vnder a king that is early at his feeding that is to say which is subiect to his mouth Cato said That we must take so much meat and drinke as is requisit to maintaine the strength of the bodie and not as shall accloy it And as Cicero saith in his Duties We must referre our feeding to the health and strength of our bodies and not vnto pleasure And Socrates saith That we must so vse our feeding as neither bodie nor mind be ouercharged therwith And therefore Ecclesiasticus in the seuen and thirtith chapter saith thus Be not greedie of thy meat neither thrust thy hand into euery dish for the multitude of meats procureth diseases and of ful feeding breedeth choler Many haue died of Gluttonie but he that abstaineth shall prolong his life Our Lord in the 21 of Saint Luke commaundeth vs to beware that our hearts be not accloied with wine and meat And S. Paule to the Ephesians forbiddeth vs to take too much wine as wherein lieth surfetting Horace in the second of his sermons describeth naturally the pleasure and discōmoditie of too much feeding Plinie saith That simple meats are most wholsom for the body that al sawses and sawcepikets are daungerous and deadly Such as haue written of antiquities say That in the time of Saturne the world neither ate flesh nor dranke wine wherein they agree with our diuines who put vs out of doubt that the vse of flesh and wine was vnknowne afore the vniuersall flood The Esseans liued longest of all the Iewes because they did most abstaine and vsed least daintie meats There were three sorts of feeding in Persia wherof the excellentest contented them selues with hearbs and meale Saint Iohn Chrysostome in his fiue and fiftith Homilie saith That a poore table is the mother of health and a rich table is the mother of diseases as of headach of quaking of the limbs of agues of gouts and of other diseases more dangerous than hunger For hunger killeth within few daies but excesse rotteth a mans bodie by peecemeale and pineth away the flesh with sicknesse and in the end killeth him with a cruell death Againe in the mind it breedeth testinesse melancholie slouth and vnweeldinesse and there is not any thing that driueth away so many diseases as moderat diet That which I say tendeth not to the vtter taking away of all feasts for as Plutarch saith in his banket of the seuen Sages They that take away the vse of eating and drinking one with another take away that which is strongest in friendship And our bodies cannot receiue a greater pleasure nor a more rightfull familiar and agreeable to nature because that by that means men communicat and participat of the selfe same vittels Socrates did oftentimes banquet and gather good companies togither whom he entertained well howbeit soberlie and without superfluitie delighting them more with his mirthfull and sweet talke than with his meats and drinks Insomuch that afterward sober and merrie meals were called Socratissis meals And this maner did Plato well hold still of his maister For he entertained his guests well but without anie superfluitie Which thing Timothie of Athens marked well in him who hauing had verie good and conuenient intertainment at his hand howbeit without any great furniture of meats at his meeting with him the next morning thanked him for that his supper had done him pleasure not onely for the present time but also the day after The Lacedemonians were wonderfull sober in eating and drinking and had certaine publike places called Phidities where they ate verie soberly whereof it came that when men would speake of a small pittance they would liken it to a meale of the Phiditie And when a certaine stranger asked them Why they drunke so liltle To the intent answered they that we may counsell other men and not other men counsell vs. Meaning to shew by that answer that the greatest drinkers are not the best in counsell but that Sobrietie breedeth good aduice For temperate diet is the schoolmistresse of good and sage counsell as said Sophocles Epicurus said That he should esteeme himselfe alway alike happie so he might haue bread and water For the appetite of eating and drinking consisteth more in hunger and thirst than in the delicatnesse of wines and meats The Lacedemonians in stead of all other dainties had for their first dish a broth that was blacke and of small taste whereof notwithstanding they made great account Dennis the tyrant would haue tasted thereof because they liked it so well and he had a Lacedemonian cooke that prepared thereof for him but when he had tasted of it he liked not of it Then said his cooke vnto him that it was not to be wondered if he misliked it seeing it was not seasoned as it should be that is to say with trauell in hunting and running nor with hunger thirst which are the sawces that the Lacedemonians vse to season their meats withall On a time the queene of Caria gaue Alexander great store of delicate meats for the which he thanked her howbeit in taking them he told her that he had much better than those that is to wit for dinner the iourney that he marched afore daylight and for supper a small dinner For a great dinner hindereth a good supper as Diogenes said to a yong man that ate nothing to his supper but Oliues If thou hadst dined quoth he after this maner thou wouldest not feed as thou dost Mo men die of eating too much than of hunger as saith Theognis And as the cōmon prouerbe saith The mouth killeth mo men than the sword Cato said it was hard for that common-weale to endure long wherin a little fish was sold deerer than a great oxe Socrates said That most men liued to eat but he himselfe ate to liue It was said of the emperor Bonosus that he was borne to eat and drinke the which hath a better grace in latin Non vt viuat natus est sed vt bibat He that listeth to see more thereof let him read Iuuenal in his eleuenth Satire Let vs ad hereunto that which Porphirie saith That the pampering and glutting of the bodie starueth the soule and by increasing that which is mortall it hindereth and casteth vs back from the life eternal And as Galen saith The mind that is choked vp with greace and blood cannot vnderstand any heauenly thing And S. Ierom saith That a fat paunch cannot breed a good and sharpe wit For Plinie saith That such as haue great bellies
one for if one alone haue the execution of that charge no man shall controll him whereas mo doing their dutie well may do more faithfull and trustie seruice by striuing who shall do best And this maner did the Athenians vse who for a time held the dominion of the Easterne seas and so did the Romans who subdued the whole world The Athenians in their warres of Sicilie which were of great importance sent thither Niceas and Alcibiades And ordinarilie they had two at the least and sometimes ten together that commaunded The Romans most commonly sent the two consuls to the warres who ruled the armie with equall power But they that did so found not themselues euer best at ease We haue an example therof in three Tribnnes of Rome sent to Fidene with authoritie of consuls who through their disagreement mistaking one anorher were like to haue brought the Roman host to ruine Also they vsed but light wars For in times of danger they made a Dictator that one might absolutely command alone being of opinion that one alone might better gouerne an armie than many could because it is hard to find two or three excellent captains in a whole countrie as Philip of Macedonie said He maruelled how the Athenians could euery yeare appoint ten captains to commaund their armie whereas he could find but one in all his realme And in good sooth had the captaines whom the Athenians appointed bene no wiser than they that appointed them their common-weale had smarted for it In a certaine dangerous warre they had appointed many companions to Miltiades among whom was Aristides who as wise as he was yelded vnto Miltiades the authoritie of commanding the which thing the rest of his companions did likewise being constrained to do it by his exāple which was the cause that al things went well He did as much to Themistocles his enemie whereby the Athenians receiued maruellous profit For ye shall neuer find two men of one self-ssame humor And if it were so yet the one is so thrust forward with ambition enuie and iealousie against his fellow that they faile not to marre all If Niceas and Alcibiades had beene neuer so long togither they would neuer haue agreed For the one was too slow and the other too quicke after the same maner that Fabius and Minucius Paulus Aemilius and Varro were for if the one did well one day the other mard all the next day the harme whereof the Romans felt a long time after In our ciuill warres we had two princes in our armies of whom the one tooke vpon him to commaund and the other would giue no place to him And in hope to content them both vnto the one was committed the vauntgard with the tokens of battell and vnto the other was committed the battell rather in name that in effect whereat the other disdaining was a cause that a good part of the armie was broken Therefore the best is to haue but one generall And we must not here take example at common-weales for their vpholding of themselues is dearer vnto them than the ouerthrowing of their enemies And because the ouergreat mightines of a citizen is daungerous to their state they had rather faile in the other point than to giue too great authoritie to one alone for feare least he should fall to vsurping or that his greatnesse should cause some sedition in the citie But a king who cannot be deposed by any one alone how excellent and valiant a captain so euer he be is neuer in that doubt nor in the distrust wherein common-weals are And therefore he ought not but vpon some necessitie to commit the charge of his armie to any mo than one Aso he must beware that with his gouernor he send not other captains that esteeme themselues as great or greater than the generall For that were the way to set all out of order Olympius thought she did well in sending the Siluershields to the succor of Eumenes but she mard all by it for their captains made so great account of themselues that they would not obey him no nor scarcely accept him for their companion By reason wherof they betraid him and deliuered him to his enemie The ruine of the common-weale of Rome came of two citizens well neere of equall power of whom the one would abide none greater than himselfe and the other would haue no peere And because either of them was of great credit with the Senate they set the whole citie togither by the eares But the king who carieth his coūsel with him and hath neither tribunes not consuls disposeth of his state at his owne will and no man dareth intermeddle with the gouernment further-forth than is to his liking CHAP. IIII. Whether the chiefe of an armie should be gentle or rigorous HEre is offered a question which is no small one that is to wit Whether the chief of an armie be he prince king or lieutenant to a king ought to vse rigor rather than gentlenes as well towards his souldiers as also towards the countrie which he intendeth to conquer For there haue beene which by their rigor haue beene obeied reuerenced both of their souldiers and of the countrie where they warred and by that means haue compassed their affairs verie well And othersome haue gotten so great good will by their gentlenesse that they haue woon more by their courtesie than the others haue done by their crueltie They that preferre gentlenes alledge Pericles who was very mild and patient and was wont to say That there should neuer be any cause why any man should were a black gowne by his means Yet notwithstanding as gentle and patient as he was he gouerned that insolent people without any rebellion specially at the beginning of the wars of Peloponnesus where the people of Athens saw their goods spoiled from out of their windowes whom notwithstanding their eager desire to go out against the Lacedemonians he kept still at home by his gentle and honourable persuasions Xenophon maketh Cyrus gentle courteous familiar and void of all pride roughnes and crueltie Scipio was meeld and gentle to his men of warre and vsed his enemies with so great courtesie that he woon the hearts of the Spaniards by such means ouercame them rather with honorable dealing than with force Plutarch saith as much of Lucullus Infinit other examples may we alledge of such as haue ben obaied by their men of war and ben loued of all their countries On the contrarie part we haue some that haue kept their people in order by austeritie as Manlius Torquatus and many others Hanniball was cruell and stoure as well to his men of warre as to his enemies And yet had he an armie of sundrie sorts of strangers all obedient and well ordered and besides that he drue to his side many of the allies of the Romans And they that hold this opinion haue for their ground a sure and vndoubted reason namely that
them against their enemies But anon returned the foreriders vvho made report that there was no means to force Menander to fight Whereat Eumenes pretended to be sore displeased and so passed on Themistocles vsed the like policie towards Xerxes vvhen he caused him to be secretly aduertised to get him out of Greece vvith all the hast he could that he might auoid the hazard of battell as I haue said elsewhere Hermocrates being aduertised of the intent of Nicias in breaking vp his siege before Siracuse in going his way perceiuing that as that day because it was a festiuall day and they were occupied in doing sacrifice to their gods he could not cause his men to march to take the passages that he might vanquish the Athenians at his more ease sent a familiar friend of his to Nicias with instructio◠〈◊〉 tell him that he came from such as gaue him secret aduertisements vvithin the citie vvho sent him warning to beware that he vvent not on his vvay that night vnlesse he vvould fall inâ—o the ambushes that the Siracusanes had laid for him Nicias being bleared vvith those vvords taried all that night so as the next morning the Siracusans tooke all the passages by meanes vvherof the Athenians vvere vnfortunatly ouercome Eumenes perceiuing that the rest of the princes enuied him and sought means to kill him to the intent to preuent them bare them on hand that he wanted money and borrowed a good round sum of euery of them chiefly of those vvhom he knew to hate him to the intent that thenceforth they should trust vnto him and desist to lie in wait for him for feare of loosing the monie that they had lent him By meane whereof it came to passe that other mens monie was his safegard and the assurance of his life And whereas other men are vvoont to giue monie to saue and assure themselues this man did set his life in safetie by taking There was not a greater cause of the bringing in againe of king Edward the fourth into the realme of England when he was driuen out than the marchants and other men to vvhom he vvas indebted and the vvomen that were in loue vvith him because he vvas voluptuous vvho to the vttermost of their power persuaded their husbands to be a meane of his returne Sometimes it is needfull to set neighbours at oddes but that must be done couertly and cunningly least it be perceiued The Athenians fearing the power of the Lacedemonians had forsakeÌ„ the league which they had made with the Thebans and in stead of holding with them had shewed themselues to be against them which was a meane to ouerthrow the Thebans vpside downe But Pelopidas and Gorgidas captains generall of Beotia espying a way how to set the Athenians againe in a iealousie and heart-burning against the Lacedemonians found out such a practise as this There was a captaine named Sphodrias a verie valiant man of his person but therewithall light-headed and fond conceyted such a one as easily conceiued vaine hopes in his head vpon a foolish vaine glorie to haue done some goodly feate in his life Pelopidas linked to him a merchant of his familiar acquaintance who tolled him on to attempt great things and to go and surprise the hauen of Pyrey while the Athenians mistrusted no such thing and therefore kept it not with any sure guard assuring him that the lords of Lacedemon would lâ—ke of nothing so well as to hold the citie of Athens vnder their obeysance and that the Thebanes who wished them euill to the death for their forsaking and betraying them at their need would not in anie wise succour them Sphodrias being mooued with his persuasions tooke those men of warre with him that he had and departing by night went into the countrie of Attica euen to the citie Eleusine But when he came there his men were afraied and would go no further And so being discouered hee was faine to returne from whence he came Whereby he procured to the Lacedemonians a warre of no small importance nor easie to bee vndone againe For thence-foorth the Athenians sought the alliance of the Thebanes againe and succoured them verie earnestly Coriolanus vsed the like practise For when he saw he could not cause the peace to be broken that was betweene the Romans and the Volses he procured a man to go tell the Magistrates of Rome that the Volses had conspired to runne vpon the Romans as they were looking vpon their playes and gaming 's and to set fire vpon the citie Whereupon the Volses were commaunded to depart out of the citie of Rome afore the Sunne going downe Wherewith the Volses being displeased proclaimed warre against the Romans Alcibiades vsed the like tricke For the Lacedemonians were come to treat of peace with the Athenians and had for their patrone one Nicias a man of peace and well renowmed among the Athenians Alcibiades went vnto them aforehand and warned them in any wise to beware that they told not that they had commission to conclude a full agreement least the people compelled them of authoritie to graunt them whatsoeuer they would haue counselling them but onely to set downe certaine conditions as in way of conference The next morning Alcibiades asked them verie smoothly what they came to do They aunswered that they came to make some profers of peace but had no commission to determin anie thing Then fell Alcibiades to crying out vpon them calling them vntrustie and variable telling them that they were not come to do anie thing that was of value And so the ambassadours were sent home without doing any thing and Alcibiades was chosen captaine to make warre against them Coriolanus to encrease the dissention which he knew to be betwixt the nobilitie and commons of Rome caused the lands of the noble men to be with all care preserued harmles causing the peoples in the meane time to be wasted and spoiled which thing caused them to enter into further quarrell and disagreement one against another than euer they had done afore The noblemen vpbraided the common people with their iniurious banishing of so mightie a man and the people charged the nobilitie that they had procured him to make warre against them in their reuenge Hanniball to bring Fabius in suspition whom he feared aboue all the Romans caused his lands of purpose to be kept harmelesse when he wasted all other mens to the end it might be thought that he had some secret conference with him and that that was the cause why he would not fight with him howbeit that in verie deed his refusing to encounter was of great wisedome to make his enemie consume away without putting any thing in hazard Timoleon practised another notable policie to shift himselfe from the hands of the Carthaginenses Whereas he was sent by the Corinthians to deliuer the citie of Siracuse from the tyrannie of Dennis as soone as he was arriued at Rhegium Icetes whom the Siracusanes imploied to the same
effect and who dissembling his purpose intended to take the place of Dennis and to do as much as he sent messengers to Timoleon desiring him not to passe his men into Sicilie because the warre began to draw to an end and the Carthagenenses with whom he had secret intelligence would not that his men should passe into Sicilie but that he himselfe should come alone to aid them with his counsell in such affairs as should be offered to deale in And because he doubted least Temoleon would not consent to his request he had desired the Carthaginenses who lay neare vnto the hauen of Rhegium with twentie gallies to stop his passage ouer and to fight with him if he attempted to enter by force Timâ—leon seemed to like well of the saying of the messengers neuerthelesse he said it behoued him for his discharge to haue the same decreed in the assemblie of the Rhegians and in their presence as of them that were friends to them both The which thing he did of set purpose to hide his owne intent the better by making the Rhegians priuie to the matter The next day all the parties met in the Mootehall where the whole day was purposely spent in talke that Timoleons gallies might haue leysure to prepare themselues vnsuspected of the Carthaginenses forasmuch as they saw Timoleon present with them Who assoon as he vnderstood that his gallies were departed all sauing one that staid behind for him went his way secretly through the prease by the Rhegians who being secretly made priuie to the matter by him had staid him from speaking any more And so embarking himselfe without any disturbance he arriued within lesse than an houre at Tauromenion where Andromachus waited for him Sylla in the ciuill warres seeing his enemies to be many in number thought it stood him on hand to vse policie as well as force Wherupon he solicited Scipio one of the consuls to come to agreement with him the which thing Scipio refused not Hereupon many goings and commings were about the matter because Sylla protracted the conclusion verie long finding still some occasion of delay that in the meane while his souldiers who were made and accustomed to such policies as well as their captaine might practise with Scipios souldiers to forsake him For they going into Scipios campe inueigled some of his men with mony some with promises and other some with necessitie so that in the end when this practising had continued a certaine time Sylla approched to their campe with twentie Antsignes where his souldiers fell to saluting Scipios and they saluting them again turned and yeelded themselues vnto them so as Scipio abode alone in his tent where he was taken and not suffred to go away any more Thus like the fowler with his fine birds made to the stale Sylla with his twentie Antsignes drew fortie Antsignes of his enemies into his net whom he led all into his owne campe Which thing when Carbo saw he said That in Sylla he had to deale with a fox and lion both togither and that the fox did him more harme than the lion The emperour Iulian to keepe himselfe from being disappointed of the number of prisoners that he demaunded vsed such a policie as this to the Almans whom he had vanquished and to whom he had graunted peace vpon condition that they should deliuer him all such prisoners as they had of his For doubting least they would not deliuer him all but keepe some good number of them he demaunded of euerie of them that were escaped and saued out of prison what were the names of them that were prisoners because it could not lightly be but that they were either of kin or of alliance or neighbours or friends vnto them and he wrate their names in a paper In the meane season the ambassadours came with their prisoners of whom Iulian caused the names to be set downe in writing and the secretaries conferring the one paper with the other marked those whom the ambassadours mentioned not and named them secretly to the emperor behind him The emperor began to be angrie with the ambassadours for that they had not brought him all his prisoners telling them that they had kept backe such and such of such a citie or towne naming them all by their names whereat the Almans were sore abashed supposing that it came by reuelation from God Whereupon they failed not to deliuer all Triuulce perceiuing the garrison of Millan and specially the Millaners themselues to be astonished at the comming of Maximilian and the Swissers into Lumbardie bethought himselfe of this policie to put a suspition into the emperours head of some cause of distrust in the Swissers He wrate letters with his owne hand and sealed them with his seale to the chiefe leaders and captains of the Swissers that he might bring them in suspition with the emperour and sent them by a seruant of his owne that spake the Swissers tongue well By these letters he willed them to performe within two daies the thing that he and they were agreed vpon for he should then haue all things readie according to their platfourme The messenger offered himselfe of purpose be taken by the emperours scouts and being examined wherfore he came thither without the watchword he praied pardon promising to tel the truth and therupon confessed that he brought letters to the captains of the Swissers At that word his pardon was graunted him and he plucking off his neatherstocke tooke out the letters which were sowed in the sole of it the which were caried to the emperour immediatly When he had read them although he was in great perplexitie yet was he not of opinion that they should be shewed to the cardinall of Sion because he would not accuse a captaine of so great authoritie among the Swissers and much lesse cause them to be attached for feare of putting his affaires in daunger But in his heart he distrusting the disloyaltie of the Swissers he repassed the mountaines againe without making any further speech of it and returned home into Germanie Cyrus by the counsell of Croesus vsed this policie to saue Sardis from sacking He caused it to be cried by the sound of a trumpet That no man should conuey away the bootie because a tenth part thereof was to be giuen of necessitie to Iupiter And for that cause he set warders at euery gate to see that nothing should be conueyed away He did this to hold them at a bey for feare of som mutinie if he should haue taken it from them by force But when they saw the king did it of religion and deuotion they obeyed him without gainsaying by meanes whereof the greatest part of the goods of the citie was saued Thus haue you a part of the feats of warre of times past the which I thought good to adde vnto the antient quicke sayings and to the principall points of the goodliest hystories to the intent that a prince may find in one place and take out of
of the gallies with their prowes bent against Octauians gallies at the enterance of the gulfe that beginneth at the point of Actium And he held them so in order of battel as if they had ben furnished as well with men of war to haue abidden battell as with rowers Wherfore Caesar being deceiued by that sleight of war retired Hugh of Moncada viceroy of Naples and Gobby an expert and famous captaine of seamatters intending to giue battell on the sea to the Frenchmen that were at Naples vnder the conduct of Phillippin Doree caused many fisherboats to be added to their gallies to amase their enemies withall But yet this trick was no impediment but that Phillippin wan the battell Agesilaus to hide the flight of such as had robbed him in his camp to go with the Thebans and to keep his men from being discouraged therat concealed them as much as he could and for the doing thereoâ— ordained that euery morning when they went to visit the straw beds of the soldiers they should hide the stuffe of them that were gone thether CHAP. XVI Of the pursuing of victorie WHen the enemie is put to flight the chiefe thing that the generall hath to do is to pursue his enemy with all speed that he may astonish him the more and not to giue him respit to resolue himselfe what to do Iulius Caesar excelled in that point for he neuer woon battell but he toooke his enemies campe the same day Alexander neuer left to pursue Darius vntill he saw him quiet in his owne country On the contrary part this only fault is noted in Hannibal that he pursued not his victory after the battel of Cannas by going to besiege Rome then vtterly dismaied with the present losâ—e Insomuch that one said vnto him He could well skill to get the victory but not to vse it Aetius was reproued for doing the like fault when he would not proceed to make a cleane dispatch of Attila as he might easily haue done But he feared least if Attila were dispatched he should haue to do with the Goths when they once perceiued themselues to be rid of such a common enemie Lewis of Aniou won a battell in the realme of Naples wherin he discomfited his competitor Ladislaus And it is said that if he had pursued that victorie without suffering Ladislaus to take breath he had continued lord of the realme the which he forwent for want of doing so The which thing Ladislaus himselfe confessed saying that the first day of the battell his enemies had ben maisters both of his person and of his kingdome if they had done their dutie that the second day they had ben maisters of his kingdome but not of his person if they had pursued the victory and that the 3 day they had not any power either ouer his person or ouer his kingdom Also in chasing the enemy a man must be well ware that he cast not himselfe into danger as it befell to Monsieur de Foys at Rauenna The Achaians hauing ouerthrowne the Lacedemonians in battell would needs follow the victory And among others Lysiadas pursued the chase among the men of armes contrarie to the counsell of Aratus generall of the Achaians who would not permit his men to passe further because of a great and deepe bog which they were to passe and for that the way foorth on was vneuen and ill ioined togither which thing Lysiadas found true to his owne harme For when he was come thither he found himselfe in a place full of vines wals and ditches where he was constrained to disseuer his people whence he could not get out again The which gaue occasion to Cleomenes king of the Lacedemonians to charge vpon him to kill him to discoÌ„fit all his men And this victorie made the Lacedemonians to take such courage again vnto them that returning back they gaue a fresh charge vpon the Achaians whom it was easie to defeat because the one halfe of their power was gone from them Demetrius hauing discomfited a wing of his enemies chased them so far that he could not ioin again with his footmen by reason wherof they being destitut of their horsmen were all discomfited Philopemen perceiuing that Machauidas the tirant of the Lacedemonians had put his archers to slight at the beginning of the battell determined to let him passe on without resisting him And when he saw that the horsmen of Machauidas were far inough off from his footmen he made his men to march against the Lacedemonians whose flanks were then bare of horsmen and charging vpon the side of them did put them to flight with a very great slaughter The which being done he met suddainly with Machauidas comming back from the chase and thinking to win all and slue him as he would haue leaped a ditch The same Philopemen did much better when he had put the army of the tirant Nabis to slight For when he saw his enemies sled not all on a heape towards the citie but scattered themselues here and there abrod in the fields he sounded the retreit forbidding his men to chase them any further because the countrie thereabouts was full of couert waies and vneasie for horsemen by reason of brookes vallies and quagmires which it be houed them to passe But suspecting that towards the euentide when it began to wex dim they would retire into the citie one by one he sent a number of archers to lie in ambush alongst the coasts and hils that are about the citie who made a great slaughter of Nabisis men because they retired not in troope but one by one and went to put themselues into the hands of the archers like silie birds that flee into the foulers net Iulius Caesar regarded not to chase the horsmen whom he had put to slight in the battell of Pharsalie but went on to charge vpon the battell of footmen as more easie to compasse about and to inclose who being assayled on the flanke by thosâ— that had foiled the horsemen and on the frunt by the tenth legion could not long stand and make head but cleane contrary to all their hopes saw that by seeking to intangle their enemies they brought themselues into the briers Sometimes it is neither good nor expedient to pursue the enemie too much but rather to make them a bridge of siluer to passe away apace least despaire driue them to aduenture to get the victory For as Iornand saith Easily doth he resolue himselfe to fight which hath no means to flie away as befell to the Goths against Stillico and to the prince of Wales against king Iohn who would not admit any reasonable composition For there is not so dangerous a thing as the driuing of a man into despaire That was the cause that Themistocles after he had gotten the victorie against Xerxes in the battell vpon the sea at Salamis would not trie his power any further in fighting with him any more but rather sent one of the
groomes of the kings chamber whom he had taken prisoner to aduertise the king that the Greeks were resolued to breake the bridge of shippes which he had made ouer the streit of Hellespont Wherof he was very willing to aduertise him to the intent that in good time he might withdraw himselfe out of the seas of his territorie and passe ouer again into Asia with all speed possible in the meane time that he withheld the residue from pursuing him whereof Xerxes was so afraid that he departed with all the hast he could Paul a Romane captaine perceiuing that he could not hold out against the power of Totilas determined to make a salie out and to sell his life as deare as he could But Totilas dreading this despaire of his graunted him reasonable conditions that is to wit either to giue him entertainment to serue him or to go home into his owne countrie with all his souldiers for he would not lose his people against men that were desperat The Venetians at Foronouo would not stop the way of king Charles but let him go and returne home at his ease fearing least through necessitie turned into despaire he should make himselfe way with great blood shed of those which vndiscretly would haue stopped him Notwithstanding the Italians and Spaniards being caried away with the contrarie counsel found to their exceeding great losse how daungerous a matter it is to hold backe an armie that is desperat and driuen by necessitie to fight CHAP. XVII Of the retiring of an armie and how to saue it when it is in a place of disaduauntage IT happeneth sometimes that an armie either through the default of the guides or otherwise lighteth into such a place as it standeth them on hand to retire speedilie if they will not be foyled In this case the captaine is to vse policie and quicknesse as Hanniball did who being come into the bottome of a sacke by the ouersight of his guides to scape the daunger wherein he was because he had Fabius at his side who would haue starued him for hunger or made him to fight to his great disaduauntage chose out a thousand oxen and tied to euerie of their hornes a fagot of willow and of vine twigs commaunding them that had the charge that in the night time when he should lift them vp a token in the aire they should set the fagots on fire and driue the oxen vp the hill towards the passage which the Romans had seazed He for his part had set his men in order of battel and as soone as night was come he made them to march a leysurely pace Now so long as the fire that burned the fagots vpon the oxens hornes was but small the oxen went faire and easily vp the foot of the hill like as it had beene an armie marching in aray with torches lighted But when the fire once burned the roots of their hornes then they began to push one another and to run here and there ouer the hils for the paine that they felt This did so astonish the Romans that kept the passage for feare least they should be beset that they durst not tarie at the passage where they were appointed but leauing the straits fell to fleeing towards their campe By means whereof anon the vâ—untcuâ—rors of Hanniball tooke the passage whereat he passed all his host without feare or perill Brasidas being charged by the Illirians and intending to retire did cast his armie into a square and made them to march on so in good order and he himselfe taried bâ—hind with three hundred of the best and forwardest souldiers of his armie to abide the shocke of the foreriders When he was in the plaine he bethought himself that there was but one narrow passage whereby he might saue himselfe which was betweene two rocks whereof the Illirians had begun to take possession Which thing when Brasidas saw he commaunded his three hundred men that were with him to run with al the hast they could to seaze the strongest of those two rocks afore the Illirians were assembled in greater number The which thing they did so readily and cunningly that they draue the Illirians thence and by that means passed their armie in safetie Quintius vsed another slâ—ight to scape another daunger wherein he was when he saw himselfe hemmed in on all sides by his enemies And this it was He sent a cornet of Numidians to skirmish with them who plaid their part so well that one while approching them and another while recoiling they deceiued their wards and hauing so done fell to pilling and wasting the countâ—ie which was the cause that the enemies drawing backe their garrison to chase the Nâ—midian sorragers gaue leasure to the Romans to scape the daunger wherein they were Epaminondas to turne away Agesilaus and to keepe him from succouring the Manâ—ineans to the rescue of whom he was come with all his power dâ—pâ—ted from Tegoea one night without any inckling thereof to the Mantineans and went straight to Spartâ— by another way than Agesilaus came insomuch that he had surprised the citie Sparta afore they had any aduertisement of his comming This feate caused Agesilaus to leaue the Mantineans and to returne to Sparta in great hast Artaxerxes being entred verie vnaduisedly into the countrie of the Cadusians where he was like to sterue for hunger was beset by two kings that had their armies incaÌ„ped asunder the one froÌ„ the other Now Tiribasus hauing talked with king Artaxerxes hauing made him priuie what he ment to do went vnto the one of those kings himself and sent his sonne secretly to the other the same time doing either of them to vnderstand that his fellow had sent vnto Artaxerxes to desire peace in deceit of his companion And therefore quoth he is you be wise ye must get the forehand and make speed afore the treatie be concluded and for my part I will helpe you what I can Both the kings beleeued his words either of them thinking that his companion had maligned him insomuch that the one of them sent his ambassadors vnto Artaxerxes immediatly with Tiribasus and the other likewise with his sonne and so was peace concluded betwixt them Eumenes also auoided a great danger by a readie shiâ—t His souldiers had set theÌ„selues at large to passe the winter against his will and held almost threescore leagues of the countrie in length Antigonus being aduertised thereof determined to ouerrunne them when they nothing suspected it thinking it had beene hard to haue assembled them togither in small time And to go vnperceiued he tooke a rough and elendge way But he was encountered with so hideous winds and so great cold that his men were constrained to â—est themselues and to make prouision against the rigour of the season For the doing wherof they kindled great store of fires to warme them the which being perceiued by those that were neerest gaue warning thereof immediatly to the garrisons who were