than to agree to suche a peace as might to each parte be both profitable and agreeable which would cause it to be of continuāce In this respect the great warrior Hāniball demanded peace of the valiant happy Scipio after this maner It is I Hānibal that do demaund the peace which I would not demaunde if it might not be profitable and hauing obteyned such a one I wil willingly keepe it for the very same profit for the which I required it for to bee shorte a good peace ought not to be made in hast but rather to be digested with meere deliberation loking to none other end than the profite of the common weale And for this cause was it by Tullus Hostilius king of the Romanes saide that the mutual entercourse of commodities was the true band of peace But cōming now to intreat of those three points whiche before I proponed as subiect to this declaration Touching the first whiche is that a prince ought not to take in hand the making of wars against his subiects I set down for a true cōsequēce that a people do neuer die The perticulars or seueral parts of the same do die in deede but they leaue alwayes behind such as do succeede them not only in their inheritāces but also in their quarels passions so as seldome or neuer dieth ther any so very a caytife vnfortunate wretche that leaueth not another yea two or three eyther children brethren parēts or friēds which wil be sorie for his death seeke reuēgemēt of it if it wer violētly procured Wherfore who soeuer hath to do with a people by killing of the perticulars profiteth little bicause they leaue alwais to succede thē such as are as it were maried to their quarels The same is at thys day to be sene by the Gospellers so do I tearm them in stead of Hugonots and catholikes in stead of Papists as did the Lord of Valence in his declaratiō made to the Poloniās for within these .xv yeres what by the warres what by iustice and what by murthers there hath bene done to death more than 200000. and yet for all that there are still so great a number of them as it may seeme there hath not any one dyed There is very apparant reason why it should be so namely for that a people dyeth not bicause the perticulars haue alwayes other perticulars to succede them not onely in their inheritances but also in theyr maners instructions and other conditions But contrarywise the great Princes dye as the late king your brother is deade and many of his best seruitors are deade your selfe also are mortall and your best seruitors be mortall wherthrough it is commonly seene that great mens great deuices vanish away in the smoake bycause that for the moste parte their successours are not of the same humor and will but vse their gouernment farre otherwise the one vndoing what by the other was done In so much as it is sene that ordinarily they pull downe whome their predecessours had set vp Whereof among others master Enguerran of Marigny may be a witnesse which hauing bin in great credite and authoritie in the time of king Philip the faire was by his brother and successor king Lewes Hutin so abased as he therethrough became a poore man without any cause apparant other than for the enuie hate borne to the greatnesse that he had gotten Also the wise Courtiers which will not their liues honors and goods to depend vpon the life of one onely man are accustomed not onely to please him that presently raigneth but also him that is like to succede him For as Pompei said vnto Scilla there be moe that doe worship the sunne rising thā the sunne setting Alexander the great did in his time many wonderful incredible things For with an armie of .30000 Macedons he ouercam Darius the great monarch of al the east leuant in three battels In the first wherof Darius had 300000. mē which was twentie against one In the .2 he had .600000 which was .20 against one And in the third he had a Missiō which was thirtie against one He subdued al the Empire of Darius as the Persians the Medes the Parthians the Armenians the Babylonians with Egypt Palestine and Syria and generally all the lande habitable of Europe and Asi from Macedonie eastwarde vnto India But all those faire conquestes vanished like smoke and in the ende came to nothing for he him selfe died yong and left not successors of like noblenesse and valiācie as he was Whervpon Titus Liuius putteth forth this question If Alexander the great had taken in hande the warres of his time against the Romanes whether he should as easily haue ouercome them as he did Darius he answereth no. For though saith he Alexander was a valiant king and a stout braue warriour yet was he but one in hauing to do with Darius he had to do but with one head Where had he had to do with the Romanes he must haue fought with a number of braue Captaines one after another As Valerius Coruinus Martius Rutilius Caius Sulpicius Manlius Torquatus Publius Philo Papirius Cursor Fabius Maximus Lucius Volumnius the two Decians Marcus Curius and many other which would from hand to hande haue receyued him so as he shoulde haue knowne that they vnderstoode the mysteries of the warres And as concerning Councell Alexander whiche was a yong Prince could haue no better than they that were guided by the heades of a whole Senate The conclusion saith Titus Liuius is That the Macedons had but one Alexander but the Romanes had many captaines which woulde haue matched him of whome euerie one should haue liued and dyed without perill or danger to the state publike Whereas by the death of Alexander the state of his Monarch was rent and torne in peeces The experience of this discourse of Titus Liuius was well seene in the warres that Hanniball had against the Romanes For he was a wise and valiaunt Captaine and knewe as well howe to guide his armie as when to fight Neyther was he ignorant of the stratagemes or policies of warre And in deede he ouerthrew many of the Romane Captaines as Flamminius Paulus Emilius Terencius Varro Marcellus and many other But in the ende he was repulsed by Claudius Nero Fabius Maximus and other and last of all so vtterly ouerthrowne by the great Scipio the Affricane as he founde well that it was no small thing to haue to doe with a people which do dayly breede newe Captaines and men of warre And that wel the perticulars of a people may be vanquished and ouerthrowne but the whole people neuer According to this saying of the philosophers A generall kinde is immortall by reason of the succession of perticulars which succeede one another though euerie perticular in it selfe be mortall And this reason aduiseth a Prince not onely to forbeare to striue with his people but also to shunne the euill will of
assemblies secretely in the Townes and exhorting the people no longer to suffer neyther the continuaunce of the tributes wherewith the Emperour oppressed them nor the pride and crueltie wherewith the Magistrates sente thyther from Rome ouerburdened them Also they reuolted vnder the Emperour Nero as well for his greate crueltie as for his ouercharging them wyth greate paymentes of money by mee before spoken of Lykewise vnder the Emperour Gallien for hys greate riot and whoredome as before I haue touched For the Frenchmen sayeth Pollio were in those dayes of suche disposition as they coulde not abide a vicious Prince And agayne after they reuolted from the Emperoures Probus Dioclesian and others tyll they hadde quite cut off them selues agayne from the Empyre and politiquely broughte their countrie into a self settled Monarchie the which the Lord long mayntayne Who soeuer woulde take vppon him the discouering of the infinite number of examples whiche touche the alterations that haue happened in publique estates from Monarchies into common weales and from common weales into Monarchies when corruption hadde once caughte them shoulde neuer make an ende but to mee it suffiseth to haue touched these fewe to the ende that youre Maiestie by youre wisedome myghte prouide that the corruptions whiche are nowe crept into France and are dayly like to creepe further bring not with them a change to the state which God forbid For truely there is nothing that more foresheweth the alteration of an estate than when corruption is seene to spread ouer farre into it I knowe well that men can not be without faultes neyther can Monarchies nor common wealthes bee so gouerned as there may not in the gouernement be found matter of reproofe but when al things in the fame are to be seene turned the vpside downe when vice is made vertue and vertue made vice when good men are hated and euill men aduanced in summe whē corruption hath recouered the highest degree that it may reache to then may it well bee sayd according as men do see continually that an exchange of state approcheth Wherwithall is to be noted that by the ordinarie course of worldly things no one state can endure for euer And syr seeing that your kingdome hath endured this twelue hundreth yeeres and more you ought so muche the rather to feare least in the state thereof some alteration shoulde happen And if in Iulius Caesars time the strangers drawen into Fraunce coulde fynde the way to winne the same it is not to bee doubted but if it may lye in their power they will nowe doe the lyke The Frenchmen when they sawe the euill dealing of Caesar repented their calling him into Fraunce but then it was too late Let vs therefore in tyme bee warned by the harmes of our auncestours so to prouide for our safeties as we be not ouertaken as were the Troyans whiche became wise but not til after such time as they were vtterly ouerthrowen The seconde point HItherto I haue I thinke sufficientlye spoken of the firste poynte of my treatie that is to saye that a Prince shall not fynde profitable his making of warres agaynste his subiects It foloweth now that I come to say somewhat of the seconde whiche entreateth of those miseries that ciuill warres do engender and the profit that a good peace might bryng to youre Crowne and poore Subiects Of the calamities that from ciuil warres do proceede we neede not to make any long discourse eache seeing and feeling the same in a thousand sortes of afflictions touchyng their persons losse of goodes and deathe of parents and friends and each knoweth that hath any iudgemente the mischiefes thereof to be such as wil if they continue bring the realme to vtter destruction For ther is none that seeth what we see and knoweth what wee knowe but may thinke that the ciuill warres enduring it will happē vnto France as it happened to the two fighting Frogges whiche when they had fought till they were weery were by the Kyte that came to parte them in eache foote one carried away And it is not to bee doubted but the straungers whiche to that warre encouraged vs are as gladde to see vs togither by the eares as was the Kyte soaring ouer the Frogges to see them fyght whose fyghting he meant to make a furderaunce to his pray as they hope ours shall one daye bee to theirs when wee shall bee vnable any longer to mayntayne warres And therefore it is that some on the one syde and some on the other to the proceeding on both sydes gyue so great encouragemente Ah Syr sayth one will you lose the glorious title of most Christian King heeretofore gotten by youre auncestours through their maineteyning of the Romane Churche Will you sir cryeth another suffer your Subiectes to prescribe lawes vnto you and to bring into youre Realme a newe Religion maugre youre will will not you perfourme the agreemēt of the holy league whiche is to abolishe whatsoeuer in fayth is contrary to the holy Church of Rome The Frenchmen haue aforetime had this honor to haue often passed the mountaynes and to haue made beyonde the seas many iourneyes for the defence of the catholique religion holy sea of Rome and must they now lose that glory Philip August king of France ouerthrew the Albegeois his subiects made of thē a great slauter for that they would haue intruded into their countrey a new kinde of Religion which by the executiō was put away abolished Why folow you not then the exāple of the good king your predecessour These such other proper deuises put forth by the Spanyards Popes Pencionaries to encourage you to the setting on fire the foure corners yea and middle parte of your Realme But in the meane season none dothe saye vnto you Sir you spyll and vtterly spoyle youre Realme in making warre against your subiects whych kind of warre no Prince did euer finde profytable There is none that sayth vnto you Sir you bring your selfe in hatred of youre neighbours the Almaines Englishmen Scots and Flemings from whom in time of neede more amitie might be drawen than may eyther from the Italians or Spaniardes None dare to you say Sir this cause of religion is not yet so broughte out of doubte that the gospellers be vanquished in the error of their fayth for they presented themselues at Poissi in the time of your late brother to mainteine the poyntes of their Religion but my maisters the Prelates were as then at no leysure to confute them so that whether in fayth they erre or not is as yet vndetermined And therefore you shoulde not be so greatly moued as to execute them before they were condemned And touchyng the councell of Trent they say it is as it were a determined sentence giuen of a selfwil and that they ought neuerthelesse to be hearde at the least in purging themselues of stubborne dealing as in deede they may well doe Besides this there are that beate downe the sayd
number about him and therin surely he did well Neuerthelesse the writers of histories find fault with him in this that he gaue too muche authoritie to his mother Mámea which otherwise had bin a good woman but that shee was not only greedy in gathering of goods from the poore people but also a couetous niggarde towards such as serued the Emperour hir sonne beside the which she was very ambitious aspiring altogether to the gouernement of the affayres euer sorie to see hir sonne so curteous gentle in his gouernemente for where hee was surnamed Seuerus hee tooke that aswell of his predecessor Septimius Seuerus as of his seuere obseruing of warlike discipline but otherwise he was the most affablest and geÌ„tlest prince in the world Neuerthelesse by his yeelding so much authoritie to his mother Mámea he so gate the euill will of hys gentlemen and men of warre as by way of a conspiracie they slew them both togyther Truely it was a spectacle very piteous to see this gentle yong Prince when the conspiratours entred the chamber to kill him runne and cast him selfe betweene the armes of his mother lamentably crying Ah mother mother you are heereof the cause So were they wretchedly flayne the one in the others armes to the greate damage of the Empire for the losse of so good and gentle a prince who in al other things gouerned him selfe aswell as might be possible through the good and wise aduises of such excellent personages as were of his priuie counsell Amongst whome the chiefe was doctor Vlpian a maÌ„ singularly learned in the ciuil law and very well practised in matters of the state and issued of the house and stocke of Alexander whome hee serued as his chanceler This maÌ„ was not an old doterd of a straÌ„ge nation ignorant of the lawes manners and customes of the countrie draweÌ„ out of Vulcans shop to deale with sealing he was one made of another manner of metall But in summe as I sayd the fault of this good Emperour Alexander in giuing his mother too much authoritie cost both him and hir theyr liues And truely that fault of his was not small For Alexander ought to haue considered what hee had learned of Heliogabalus his cosin and predecessor which Heliogabalus gouerning by his mother Semiamira without whose aduise nothing passed touching the common wealth was incontineÌ„tlye despised of all the worlde and after he had raigned not passing three yeeres was by certaine rebels slayne very yong and had his body togither with his sayde mothers drawen through the fylth of the riuer Tiber. And therevpon it was decreed by the Senate that neuer woman should enter into the counsel The gentle King Edward of England the thirde of that name gouerned himselfe farre otherwise He was sonne to Edward the seconde a cruell king that was depriued of his kingdome by his subiects and to the Lady Isabell daughter of Philip the fayre king of France This Lady Isabell Queene of England was the cause that hir sonne was crowned King by the estatâ—… of the Realme and therefore thought he should doe nothing but by hir councell as in very deede he dyd not for a tyme but gaue to hir the chiefe authoritie touching the gouernement of his realme But it happened that this good Queene mother to reuenge hir selfe of certayne of the nobilitie at hir pleasure caused hir sonne to committe certaine cruelties for the whyche hee was misliked and muche blamed of his subiectes Whiche when thys gentle King Edwarde perceiued iudging it best rather to loose the fauour of his mother than of his people he neyther woulde fall into like perill as did Nero and Alexander Seuerus nor yet put his mother to death as Nero did but made hir to be bestowed in a strong howebeit a very faire and pleasant castell of large circuite wherein there were many goodly courtes gardens and walkes inclosed with walles and appoynted hir a good companie of Ladies and gentlewomen with men of worship and honour to serue hir after hir state And bycause she was of the house of France and Queene mother of Englande he assigned hir a sufficient reuenue for the maintenance of hir estate And to honour hir as his mother hee went to visite hir twice or thrice a yeere But neyther woulde he euer suffer hir to passe out of the precinct of the castell nor to meddle any more with the gouernment of the realme And he was muche esteemed as well of strangers as of his subiects for his valiant and manly heart in that he would not submit himselfe vnder the rule of a woman But let vs returne againe to our former matter touching such Princes as haue vndone them selues by making warre against their subiectes The Emperour Vitellius ouerthrewe and made a great slaughter of the Romanes in his battell had against Otho his souldiers seeing so many deade bodyes in the fielde were therefore verie sorowfull but especially for that there was of them few or none that founde not amongst those deade bodies some of their parents friends for they were all Romanes whose death ministred to them muche cause of griefe vpon the which occasion they generally detested those ciuill warres had betweene Vitellius and Otho Vitellius one day walking through the field wher the dead bodies of that ouerthrow lay and seeing some stop their noses did as it were in mockage thereof and as one glad of the slaughter vtter this detestable saying the body of a slaine enimie hath a good sent but the body of a slain citizeÌ„ hath yet a better But not long after that tyrant which found so muche sweetnesse in the sauour of his slaine citizens was him selfe slaine as shamefully as he possibly might be For being taken and bound by suche as conspired against him he was brought into the market place with a halter about his necke all naked from the waste vpward his apparell all to torne and his handes fastned behinde him his chin also being vnderset with a bodkin to make him hold vp his head With which furniture hee was in derision harryed through the streetes not without dirt and filth flung in his face till he came to the coÌ„moÌ„ gibet where he was slaine and cut in peeces lastly cast into Tyber That was the rewarde that he reaped of his pleasure taken in the smel of the dead bodies of his citizens The Emperour Gallien made war against the inhabitants of Bizance his subiectes Bizance was then a goodly florishing citie which was after named Constantinople by Constantine the great This Gallien hauing gotten the possession of this goodly citie the townsmeÌ„ wherof had yelded themselues to his deuotion caused to be slain murthred contrary to his word al the inhabitantes of the same yong and olde without mercie none other escaping than such as he coulde not come by And he vsed like crueltie against many other good towns wherin his maner was to leaue no male vnkilled so bestly a
cruelly with passing rage him whipt Now Bandil stout and fierce of minde conceyuing more disdayne Of so outrageous villanie than passing for the payne And feeding in his pensiue hart on purpose to requite Will wisely for a time let slip the wreaking of that spite But afterward the shamefulnesse so sore his hart doth sting He burning in disdaine and rage against the cruell king And hauing no regard at all of scepter crowne or state Will pay him home his hastie mode with stroke of blouddy fate His hart will neuer be at rest vntill his hand haue shed His lord and maisters bloud and wrought reuengement on his head And is it not to be presumed that there be at this day a thousād Bandils which feel thē as much offēded as he did your maiestie perseuering in the taking away of their goods and liues And shall ye not as readily finde Ronsards to prayse and set them forwarde in such enterprises Be there not nowe also Magiciens that can torment and by little little consume a body by his image or coūterfait as well as were in the time of Valens and Valentinian the Emperours Yes this worlde is at this day more poysoned with Magitiens Enchauntours and Sorcerers than it was these fiue hundred yeeres past But these Hugonots will some say be of too good conscience to vse those kynde of people I answere therevnto that there be of diuers sortes some haue a right good conscience and some none at all There be wise there be foolish there be sufferers there be reuengers but moe without comparison out of order than reformed And be there not numbers also of Catholikes not contented and of Atheists not satisfied which will make small scruple to employ those Magiciens in reuenging of them selues But to encounter with those enterprises you shall do well sir to take councell of that gentle prince Arnus sonne to Porsena King of the Hetrurians Porsena in the quarell of another that is to say to maynteine the tyrannie of Tarquin the proude vndertooke the warres against the Romanes who seeing this King to make them warre for a thing that nothing touched him tooke the matter verie haynously in so much as there was founde amongst them three hundred Gentlemen whiche conspired to goe in counterfet apparell to King Porsenas campe to the ende there to kyll him Q. Mutius was one of the conspirators who being come inot the saide campe seing one of the kings seruantes set in a chayre brauely furnished taking him for the king him self killed him with the stroke of a dagger hauing giuen this blow he was taken and caried to the king who demaunded of him for what cause he had so slayne his seruant to whome Mutius wyth a greate courage putting his hande into the fire that then presently there burned answered after this manner This is the hande that committed the faulte in killing thy seruant where I ment to kyll thee and therefore it is reason it suffer the payne due to such desert Hereat was none more abashed than Poisena him selfe who seeing the magnanimitie of this iolly yong gentleman commaunded him to be set at libertie Mutius who looked for none other than death seeing the Kyngs noble disposition sayde vnto him Sir for as much as thou hast towardes me vsed a farre greater clemencie thā I could in any respect haue looked for I wil in recōpence of that thy goodnesse do thee truly to vnderstand that there are of vs .300 Romane Gentlemen which haue conspired thy death for the preuenting wherof it shal be good that thy guard haue a good eye vnto thee Porsena vpon those words more astonyed than before caused an assembly of his councell to consult what guarde he might best entertayne for the keeping of him from those conspiratours Amongst whome the gentle Prince Arnus his sonne was of opinion that he was not so muche to consider of what guard he shuld vse as he was to prouide for his hauing no neede of a guard Then his father asked hym how that myght be done in making sayth he the Romanes of enimies to become your friendes which you may and were best to doe if you make more account of your life than ye do of the maintenance of Tarquins wicked cause The King beleeued his sonne made peace with the Romanes and departed in safetie A number of other miseries and calamities that hang on ciuill warres myght heere be discouered whereof when I thinke me semeth to see a Chimere or other hideous monster accompanyed with all the euils mischieses and miseries that are in earth sea or hell whereof as of a detestable thing it grieueth me to speake or once to thinke neyther woulde I serue as a Nosterdame to our poore Realme of Fraunce in the foreshewing of those calamities and desolations whiche dayly doe threaten vs if oure sayde ciuill warres continue but had rather to stande as a Ionas in praying vnto God for his dealing towardes vs as hee dealt towardes that great citie Niniuie from whome for one amendment he turned away the destruction before threatned vnto them we haue already endured miserie inough both to make vs wise and to prouoke vs to amendment if neither wisdome nor amendment haue folowed thereof let it nowe doe It is better late than neuer I wil herevnto adde as it were in the detestatiō of war a sentence of the great Emperours Augustus Caesar worthy by al princes to be noted That good Prince was wont to say that warres should neuer be taken in hande but where hope maketh more shewe of profit than feare can do of losse meaning where victorie may bring great profite and vanquishment small losse for those sayth he which will seeke small profite and hazarde therefore great losse may well be likened to him that fisheth with a hooke of golde which broken off and caryed away bringeth more losse to the fisher than much fishe can recompence Let vs a little consider I pray you sir what aduantage may growe to you by vanquishing all the Gospellers is it the chasing of the Religion quite out of youre realme Let it be so yet can you not for all that so chase it out of the worlde but that it may after your time returne agayne into Fraunce And before ye attayne to that smal profite ye are like inough to lose what of your nobles and of your commons an infinite number of Catholikes as the late king your brother in his warres late passed the more is the pitie hath done For let it be counted a small losse the losing of so many braue Gospellers as the curteous and right noble Lewes of Burbon Prince of Conde the valiaunt Dandalot the wise Admirall the good Count Rochfoucault the honest Teligni the braue captaines Bruoquemauds father and sonne Pilles Monius the Pardillans with a number of like other Yea let the Bartholmewe iourney be reckoned for a braue politike exployre although the Gospellers so confesseth not but doe rather in their
bare to their vsuries wherevppon they yet vse this prouerbe when any is noted for a great vsurer He is in vsury a very Iewe. Vpon the whiche occasion also the Italians heeretofore called Lombards whiche with their great vsuries did robbe as still they do the realme of the treasure haue bin chased out of Fraunce In the best townes whereof yea and that in the very harte of the same where diuers streetes and places yet beare the names of Iewries the Iewes shuld now dwell at their ease as well as euer they did were there none other matter to let them than their onely religion whiche though it bee muche contrary to that of the Catholiques was neuer the cause of their chasing out of Fraunce where before their expulsemente they hadde dwelte many hundred yeeres Neyther can it bee denied that the Paynims Religion is cleane contrary to that of the Catholiques and yet haue diueâ—s Paynim Emperours suffered as many as wold to become Christians vnder them as Nerua Anthonius Pius and Alexander Seuerus Traian also did secretly suffer them likewise to do withoute any search made after them And those Emperours dyd not so in respecte of any good thyng they founde in the Christian Religion the professors whereof they beleeued to be the wickeddest people in the worlde in somuche as among the Paynim people the only name of Christian was detested and abhorred witnesse heereof Suetonius whych called the Christians men of a newe and malitious superstition And Tacitus sayd that the people vsed the name of Christian as a matter of mockery and derision the professours whereof were hated bycause of their wickednesse Wherein Suetonius and Tacitus shewed them selues good courtiers taking pleasure with lying to please the princes and the people Pliny the seconde though hee was a Painim as they were and lyued in their time durst not lye so impudently but of the liues of the Christians to the Emperour Traian rendred a good testimonie as in his Epistles is to bee seene Seeyng then the Painim Emperoures had so euill opinion of the christians wherefore suffered he them to be Christened Euen for the benefyte of peace The Emperours Dioclesian and Maximian did greatly persecute the Christians and that of purpose to roote them out in whyche persecution they did to deathe an infinite number but when they sawe theyr crueltie nothyng to paruayle but that for euery one they kilde ten other encreased Maximian at the last suffered who so woulde to become Christened and to exercise that Religion As much myghte bee sayde of the Christian Emperours which did as well detest the Painims Religion as dyd the Painims that of the Chrystians yet woulde they neuer take vppon them she constraint of their consciences but suffered to continue Painims as many as woulde The Historiographer Marcellinus witnesseth that the Emperoure Valentinian whyche was a Christian vsed not to molest any person for matters of Religion nor euer commaunded that any shoulde worship eyther this or that with one fashion or other Likewise also the Emperours Honorius and Theodosius whyche were Christians woulde not that the Painims should be forced to be Christened but caused an expresse lawe to bee made that none should offende them eyther in their persons or their goods vnder the pretence of Religion If then the Christians haue suffered the Painims Religion and the Painims haue likewise suffered the Religion of the Christians Wherefore to winne peace will not the Catholiques suffer that Religion of the Gospellers Those two religions haue bin seene sir to dwel peaceably togither within your realme of Poland as also in many towns of Almaine and wherefore should they not as well dwell peaceably togyther in Fraunce Are the French men more hard to be tamed more disobediente or more barbarous and fierce than other nations It appeareth cleane contrary For vpon the Edict of Ianuary the Catholiques were not greeued at all to see the Gospellers vse the exercise of their religion though it were somewhat newe vnto them but liued the one with the other togither in good peace wherein also they had till this time continued if the vnhappy execution of Vassi which was the welspring of all our warres and of all the miseries and mischiefes which we haue since that time suffered or yet doe suffer had not happened I will not denie but the warres and acts of hostilitie passed betweene the one the other haue bredde in the hartes of men hautie minds euil dispositioÌ„s which may be som cause that the Catholiques will now more hardly thaÌ„ in the beginning suffer to come so neere them the exercise of the Religion and the rather for that many esteeme the same Religion to bee the cause of all the sayde miseries and mischiefes whiche they feare would exceede if it shoulde againe be reestablished in Fraunce Wherevnto I answere that the people of any good iudgemeÌ„t are not of that opinion as those that well knowe and it is in deede most true that the ambition of some with the desire they haue to commaunde and their greedinesse by the robberie of other to enrich them selues haue bene and are the only causes of our troubles and that there the name of Religion hath bene vsed but as a cloake or a curtaine to couer those pretences For some say they wyll not suffer in Fraunce any other religion thaÌ„ the Catholike as the most auncient and that hath bene receiued from time out of mynde since the time of great king Clouis and other some say they will folowe the religion refourmed that was not only before Clouis but also before the realme of Fraunce and that they ought not in their consciences to be forced vpon the which controuersie these ciuill warres haue bene builded but the chiefe aduauncers of the cause haue had in their hartes another maner of zeale than of religion as men of iudgement haue well perceyued the common people which iudge all things rashly for that they esteeme religion to be the cause of our warres and calamities stande in feare that it taking place the olde woundes woulde breake out and bleede againe This vulgar opinion is not much to be passed on bycause it always readily rangeth to the strongest parte But for myne owne part I beleeue that the best part of nobilitie of the commonaltie yea of the cleargie for the obtayning of peace would easily consent that the Gospel should freely be stablished in Fraunce till such time as God to whome onely the clearing of mans heart by the light of his truth appertayneth myght knit vs all in one kynde of religion whiche we are to hope that he who is the father of knowledge and discouerer of all things will doe after men shall awhyle haue reposed them from the ciuill warres and cast quite off thâ—… stoutnesse and hatred whiche nowe blindeth their iudgementes There is at this present no order bycause each to the side be standeth on sticketh fast each 〈◊〉 saith to him selfe my