to succeed I passe by that which they might have done who thought that the glory of Command was the ultimate End of Man and Ambition somewhat a nobler and a better thing then justice But even amongst the very Christians and in th' houses which Piety hath made famous that Passion hath been seen t' overflow to the prejudice of blood and violate th' holiest lawes of Nature and which the very barbarous people Reverence I will recite here a Memorable Example 'T is a thing sufficiently known in the world what th' house of Austria was to th' Alliance of blood and if devotion as t is said hath been the foundation of Greatness 't is well known that Alliance hath built it up and carried it from a Moderate beginning to that high Power wherein 't is seen and to that vast domination for which th' Heaven hath no Horizon nor th' earth Limits Maximilian the first hath gained by that means the Low Countries and those faire Provinces which by their fertility and by the wealth wherewith they abound have deserved to be called th' Indies of Europe Philip the first and his posterity have obtained by it all Spaine and those Countryes of the new world where the sun in retiring from us goes to beget Gold and those other unprofitable things whereof men are Idolaters Philip the second came to the Crown of Portugall by that meanes and to all those States which that Nation possessed in Asia in Afrique and th' East Indies That very Prince thought t' incorporate England to Spaine by the marriage of Mary his first wife that was Queen thereof But the judgments of God in that supplanted the prudence of men and permitted that Princesse to dye without Children either to suppress the growth of a Power which would have been fatal to the Liberty of Christian Nations or for the punishment of the Iniquities of th' English and that base Compliance wherewith they had received the Schism which Henry th' Eighth introduced amongst them and applauded the passions of that Prince who chose rather to quit the Church then to separate from a Concubine The same Philip also aspired to the Crown of France for his Children by reason of the Marriage of his third wife daughter of Henry the second and the most important Article wherewith th' Instructions of the Duke of Feria were Charged when he came to Paris during the league was to cause the Salique laws to be Abolisht and to root out from the spirit of the French their Aversion of having no Soveraignes that spin and of not submitting to th' yoak of Women Insomuch that it hath been allwayes the designe of the Spaniards and a premeditated prudence of the Princes of th' house of Austria to look about them and to cast their nets upon the parties that could joyne some new estate to theirs and under a Title so innocent and just t' extend their domination With what heat did they labour to cause the eldest Daughter of Lewis the twelfth to be given to Charles the fifth who brought for her Dowry the Dutchesse of Britanny and of Orleans and our pretentions for Italy How many propositions were made upon that foundation and how many treaties concluded which the Time hath made abortive and which Fortune laughed at Neverthelesse as they have been ever Industrious to draw to them as much as they could th'estates of their Neighbours They have been also carefull not to permit any of theirs to be alienated nor to suffer any division without knowing the Meanes of Consolidating it and to destroy the divided Members and the loose pieces Th' Emperour Charles never promised the Low Countryes or the Duthy of Milan upon the Marriage of his daughter or of his Neece with the son of France but with Intention to break his promise or at least with hopes that Fortune which had done such strange things in his favour that had so often given the Lye to Apparences and disturbed th' order of things for the Love of him and which had sometimes sent him prosperities which he desired not would exempt him from that Obligation under some plausible pretence as it did And when Philip the second transmitted the Low Countryes to th' Arch Dutchesse for her Dowry There 's apparence that he was assured that time would make up that Breach and that he made not so great a wound in the rest of his Estates without preparing the Remedies to heale it But to returne to my designe and make it appeare That th' Alliances of blood work softly upon the spirits of Princes and are but weake bonds t' hold their Amities I will represent th' originall and th' effects of that which hath been the most profitable to th' house of Austria and it may be the most dammageable to the Christian Common-wealth Philip the son of th' Emperour Maximilian married Joane youngest Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella Kings of all the dominions of Spaine Th' Eldest was married into Portugall according to their Custstome The Catholique King had also a son called John who dyed young and whom Spaine saw almost as soon put out as shine and had almost at one time the Contentment to see him come and the Griefe to lose him Presently after the death of that Prince th' Arch Duke Philip and Arch Dutchesse his wife who lived onely by the love she bare to her husband and was Idolatresse of all his motions and passions caused themselves to be Called Princes of all the Dominions of Spain to the prejudice of the Queen of Portugall to whom the Crownes did belong in priority of birth to her sister That attempt ill digested out season and that precipitated Ambition displeased Infinitely Ferdinand and Isabella who judged of the Tree by the fruits and gave their son in Law and daughter t'understood that they were to leave that borrowed Title and to put off that imaginary Quality and which did not belong to them Behold a very pleasant Beginning of Philips Ambition since it made Invasions upon its owne Relations and the first shew of that furious Appetite to reigne which hath vexed his Posterity After that he guided his Interests apart from them of his Father in Law He held him alwayes at distance he looked upon him only as a Prince which stood in his light and there was no other Communication amongst them but a continual Commerce of Complaints and disorders In a Treaty which Maximilian and he made at Blois with Lewis the twelfth being permitted t' either parties to Comprehend therein whom they would He made no more mention of Ferdinand then as if he had not related to him or that He had been indifferent to him He did also the same thing in another Treaty which his Father made at Hugano with the Cardinal of Ambois so Ferdinand had his Revenge in disavowing the Treaty his son in Law made at Blois with Lewis the twelfth for the kingdome of Naples and in Contracting a second Marriage and marying of Germania sister
side of the Medall We shall see a Prince ill handled by fortune and a Diadem bruised by her strokes We shall see a Father bury his own Son and make Funeralls for his eldest Daughter A Husband that loseth his Wife who was his Glory and had been more the Companion of his troubles than of his bed A Master aban doned by his Servants and Creatures an old Man forced from his House and a Father in law stripped his own Son in Law In this Sea of Disgraces and of Afflictions we shall also see an admirable serenity of spirit A Calm that overthrows not it selfe or if there was some kind of emotion it did not pass into a storm and was not violent not dangerous 'T is true that his Courage had a weakness in it which I cannot conceal and a fault too visible to be dissembled which is not to have been able to suffer the reputation of he great Captain not the Virtue of his own Subject that was faithful unto him As to his Nephew Charles 't is certain that he was never so tractable as in prosperity not so inflexible in Adversity He never yeeled to force no Prince of his time gave so much and lost so little and the Spaniards say that the never broke his word but t'exercise Clemency and to pardon his Enemies whose Ruine he had sworn During the tempest that arose in the Haven of Algiers against his Fleet and when the Heavens destroyed it in his sight no other word every went out of his Mouth than that wherewith our Saviour Christ hath taught us to pray That thy will be done He was humbled but not overcome by that disgrace and in that terrible Chaos where th' Elements were confounded and Nature in disorder His Courage stood firm His Judgement lost not its Light and he gave order for the embarking of his Troops which were not perished with the same liberty of soul as before he had done when he returned Triumphant from the taking of Thâ—nis and from the spoils of Africa The life of Philip is a Table much mixed and a representation of divers former and contrary Adventures On the one side are seen Countries gained or recovered the Springs of Gold and Silver discovered Victory obtained against Christians and Infidels and that incomparable Advantage to govern peaceably from th'Escuriall a part of two worlds and to be feared in the middle of this Cabinet from one end of th' Earth to th' other But le ts turn our sight a little and we shall find that this prosperity had frequent and long Eclipses and that the shadows of the Pictures exceeded the lively Colours We shall encounter the Death of four wives which he tenderly loved The fancies of his eldest Son which gave him so much trouble and forced him to put off the resentmen of a Father to execute th' office of a King and function of a Judge The jealousies which the good successe and great virtue of Don John of Austria gave him The defeat of his Ships by Tempests and by Enemies The Rebellion of the Low Countries which have deserted Spain and made poor the Indies And amongst all that and in the midst of that Revolution and that confusion of Accidents not to wander and to preserve his Constancy It must be acknowledged that it belongs to such persons by all sorts of Rights to govern the People to the Superiours on Earth and soveraign Arbiters of the destiny of men Amidst so many good successes and rude experiences where in the virtue of Philip was not lost I have made choice of a very remarkable Example 'T is of them that enter in prosperity and be in the favours of fortune and th'evidences of Love which she giveth And therefore 't is the fairer that 't is so rare and that 't is more difficult not to be overcome by pleasure than to resist force and to prevent bending than breaking And as a gentle and temperate heat penetrates our bodies easier than the cold because they expatiate themselves to receive it and cloze to repell the cold So th' Allurements of prosperity are more active and enter sooner into the soul which by desire and the hope of enjoyment goes to meet them than by th' attempts of ill fortune against which the soul fortifies her selfe and defends all ' th Avenues by which she might assault it After then that the Christians had gained the battel of Lepantha and that God had them that memorable Victory the price whereof was lost by their ill Conduct He that carried the news to Philip was so transported above himselfe and seized upon by so strange an emotion that with great difficulty could he make the report of it On the contrary Philip stood as cold as if it had nnot concerned him and so little moved as if the news had been indifferent unto him He replyed onely with a serious Face and settled Countenance THAT DON JOHN HAD MUCH HAZARDED From what cause soever this coldnesse proceeded either from a spirit abated by a long Apprehension least the battel should be lost or from a soul prepared for all sorts of chances and for all the Accidents of life or else from a Consideration which suffered him not to rejoyce at the glory of an Action whose principles it may be he did not esteem reasonable enough From that cause soever I say it proceeded the view is alwayes fair and the substance very noble And I am no more astonished if the person who was not transported for a success which delivered Italy from an approaching Ruine and all Christendom from a great fear received since with any apparent Tranquillity or true Constancy the newes of the Routing of the Fleet which had cost him so much money and ought to have tyed England to the Chain and contented himselfe to say That he had not sent his Fleet to fight against the Winds The constancy of Ministers of State hath this advantage over that of Soveraigns That the Soveraigns are alwaies pittied in their ill successe though it happen by their fault and that Love or Respect which the people bears them doth discharge them from th' envy of the Losses which they make by their imprudency On the contrary they cast upon the Ministers of State all th'evill of the State though they are not guilty The require from them a continuall felicitie though it be not in their power They will have them security for all the chances though they ought onely to secure their Counsels They make them instruments of all their afflictions and of all their sufferings though ordinarily their sins are the cause In briefe they handle them in the same manner and with the same injustice as the first Christians were handled by the Pagans who took exceptions to them for th'anger of Heaven and for the wounds of th' Empire and made them th' Authors fo th'Inundations and of the sterilities and of the plagues wherewith the Nation was grieved Truly Sr. the Cardinal hath alwaies
more in it of opinion then of science and of conjecture then certitude For who hath been of God's counsel who ever entred in to the depths of his Wisedome Who hath pierced the darknesse where he hids himselfe Tenebrae latibulum eâ—us and to whom hath he discovered the secrets of his providence and th'hid causes of the government of the world The Death of Bourbon of the first instances given is not so concluding an Example nor so demonstrative as 't is believed against what I have now said I deny not but that God might have permitted it as the punishment of the sacriledge he committed in forcing Rome or as the vengeance of the breach of a Treaty whereupon Clement trusted and whereof the confirmation had been often repeated unto him to surprize him But I know also that the violent end of that Prince might proceed from a cause meerly accidentall and th' ordinary fruits of a profession which spares no person and where Musket shot makes no distinction betwixt private Souldiers and Generalls of Armies It might also happen that if the justice of God did particularly consider that death It was to correct a man whose Revolt did so much evill to his King and cost so dear to his Country or more likely as a Revenge for Lombardy which he deserted to be spoyled with Gruelties and Rapines and not to suffer his perjury to passe unpunished when he promised Milan t' ease it of the Garrison that devoured it and to draw from it willingly the last drops of its bloud and what remained in it of Substance The Sixteenth Discourse The defence of Gaston of Foix against them who say that God punished him for making warre to Julius th' eleventh with the comparison of that Prince and of the great Captain I Am sorry that Gaston of Foix is placed amongst th' Examples whom they say God hath punished for having made Warre The respect I bear the vertue of that Prince The great things he did in his very youth and the value some Lords of France have with me being of his bloud and who have with him the same Originall are the causes that I will defend him here of Calumny and averre that he had the Noblest Death and most glorious Life for the time it lasted that History makes mention of or fame doth publish 'T is certain that Gaston made warre in a time when the Nations of Christian Princes were confused and their passions very different for th'Interests of th' Holy Chaire Julius the second who was then in the Chaire seemed to have forgot what he was and to have renounced the Quality of common Father to make himselfe Head of a party or at least Member of a League formed against France The jealousie he had to see us in the heart of Italy The implacable hatred he bore to the King and the effects whereof he had made him to feel in the person of the King of Navarre whose kingdome he had interdicted Obliged Lewis the twelfth to prepare against the Tempest that threatned him t'exercise the Right of Nature and t' oppose force to force and to repaire to counsel to stop the violencies of th' Armies of th' Holy Chair which Julius had on foot nor t'heal but to kill not to edifie but to destroy In this occurrence when the Right seemed to be of Lewis's side Gaston had the command of th' Army in Italy And though the subject ought not to discourse upon the designe of his Master ' when he ought to follow without enquiry whither he goes and that the Law which ought to be observed doth not alwaies declare the vertues of what it ordains Gaston executed the orders of the King in a cause evidently lawfull To whom he owed obedience even in Matters whose right had been ambiguous and justice doubtfull That if he were slaine at the battell of Ravenna and perished in an Occasion whereunto no person goes not to dye but t' overcome as he did The chance of Armes hath so ordained it and his Death was the more noble that it encounterd with his Duty and that he was slain in the Exercise of his Charge I sspeak not at this time of other Circumstances which make his death glorious To dye at th' age of two and twenty yeares being almost assoon Captaine as Souldier having almost at the same time put forth flowers and brought forth fruits after a Number of Victories whereof none were small and the least might have laid a foundation of Reputation for an eminent person and in the midst of a prosperity so constant that it was never in the power of fortune t' interrupt it and so suddaine and Impetuous that ordinarily the last successes troad upon the former without Interruption and the newes followed one another without Intervall Add to this th' Esteem his virtue had gained when he dyed the feares and hopes it diversly occasioned in the world and the contrary passions it produced in equall degree in the soules of his Friends and Enemies It was such that the French could not rejoyce in the Battell they had gained because that Prince dyed there That Lewis the twelvth wished the like Victories to his Enemies to ruine them and what is most eminent and remarkable That it forced Ferdinand of Castille to reconcile himselfe to the great Captaine and to withdraw him from that Retiredness to which a jealousie of State had confined him to send him back to Naples and t' oppose Gaston if he had longger lived That it constrained an old Man and a Soveraign-Prince to suppresse so imperious a passion and to restore t' Imployment one of his subjects whose greatness was in jealously with him To dye in that high Reputation and go out of the world before tryall was made of the Revolutions of it If it be a stroak of vengeance from Heaven and the price of some great Crime Let generous soules that have th' appetite for Glory and some Resentment of honour be Judges of it Since we have said that Gonsalve was to passe into Italy t' oppose Gaston and that Ferdinand had designed him that Great adversary if he had out-lived the journey of Ravenna Le ts observe a little on whom in that warr th' advantage might have rested and on what side the victory have leaned in a Difference where the Parties were so equall It may not peradventure be amisse to divert the Reader with pleasure and t' entertaine him with a piece not unpleasant though of no relation to the work Titus Livius hath sometimes done the like amongst th' Ancients and Paruta amongst the Modernes and I cannot be much blamed in th' Imitation of them nor t' have failed after two so great Examples T is true that the subject which I shall treate upon is extreamely ambiguous and much troubled If it be neverthelesse lawfull to ground some judgment upon the future and to cast our eye upon the thing collected T is probable that the virtue of Gonsalve had given place