vncorrupted as also by her most prouident motherly gouerning of hir people with all iustice clemencie to their greatest trāquilitie benefit and welfare Wherupon hath also ensued Gods most mightie and miraculous protection of her mastiesties most roiall person her realms dominions and subiects from exceeding great perils both forreine ciuil and domesticall such and so fitly contriued by the sleights of Satan satanicall practisers as but by the wonderfull and extraordinarie working of the diuine prouidence could not haue beene found out and much lesse preuented auoided or escaped an assured token of Gods speciall loue and fauor towards both soueraigne and subiects To be short so many and so great are the benefites which we haue receiued and still receiue by and from our most gracious soueraigue lady Queen Elizabeth that I know not how to conclude her Maiesties most iust deserued commendation more fitly than with the verses of a certaine auncient Poet written long since in commendation of that renowmed prince of Britaine the noble king Arthur the which verses I haue put into English with small alteration of some words but no alteration at all in matter and sense after this maner Hir deeds with mazeful wōderment shine euerywher so bright That both to heare and speak of thē men take as great delight As for to tast of honycombe or honie Looke vpon The doings of the noblest wights that heretofore be gone The Pellan Monarch fame cōmends the Romās highly praise The triumphs of their emperors Great glory diuerse waies Is yeelded vnto Hercules for killing with his hand The monsters that anoid the world or did against him stand But neither may the Hazel match the Pine nor stars the sun The ancient stories both of Greeks and Latins ouerrun And of our Queene Elizabeth ye shall not find the peere Ne age to come will any yeeld that shall to her come neere Alone all princes she surmounts in former ages past And better none the world shall yeeld so long as time doth last What remaineth then but that all we her natiue subiects knitting our selues togither in one dutifull mind do willingly and chearfully yeeld our obedience to her gratious maiestie with all submission faithfulnes and loialtie not grudging or repining when any things mislike vs but alwaies interpreting all things to the best not curiously inquisitiue of the causes of hir will but forward and diligent in executing her commandements euen as in the sight of God not for feare of punishment but of verie loue and conscience Which things if we doe vnfeinedlie then no doubt but God continuing his gracious goodnesse still towards vs will giue vs daily more cause of praise and thanksgiuing multiplying her maiesties yeares in health and peace and increasing the honour and prosperitie of her reigne so as our posteritie also may with ioy see and serue her manie yeares hence still reigning most blessedly which are the things that all faithfull subiects doe and ought to reioice in and desire more than their owne life and welfare and for the which we ought with all earnestnes to make continuall praier and supplication vnto God But while I am caried with the streame of my desire to encourage my selfe and my countreymen to the performance of our dutie towards her maiestie wherein neuerthelesse I haue ben much breefer than the matter requireth I feare least I become more long and tedious than may beseeme the tenour of an epistle dedicatorie And therefore most humbly submitting my selfe and this my present translation to your honourable censure and acceptation I here make an end beseeching God greatly to increase and long to continue the honor and prosperitie of your good Lordship and of your noble house Written the xxvii of Ianuary 1595. Your Honors most humble to commaund Arthur Golding To the King SIr forasmuch as it hath pleased your maiestie to command the states of your realme and to inioine all men without exception to shew vnto you whatsoeuer they thinke to be for the benefit and preseruation of your state and the comfort of your subiects And I see that euery man straineth himselfe to giue you the best aduice he can surely I alone ought not to be idle and negligent nor to forslow the duetie wherby I am naturally bound vnto you The which thing hath caused me to gather these matters of remembrance which should haue ben better polished ere they had ben presented to your maiestie if the state of your affairs and the time would haue permitted it You haue voutchsafed me the honour to be neer about your person and to do you seruice in such cases as it hath pleased your maiestie to imploy me and specially in following the warres where I haue the good hap to be a witnesse of the victories that you haue fortunatly obtained to the great reioycing of all christendome And surely sir this maketh me to hope that you will accept this mine attempt in good part as a testimonie of the good will and great desire which I haue alway had and will haue to spend my goods and life in the seruice of your most christen maiestie beseeching God to keepe mee euer in this commendable deuotion and dutifull good will and to giue vnto your highnesse a most happie long life From Paris the 28. of October 1588. Your most humble seruant and subiect Iames Hurault lord of Vieul and Marais The Contents of such Chapters as are contained in this Booke The first Part. OF Office or dutie and of Policie or Estate Pag. 1. 2 Of a Prince a King an Emperour and a soueraigne Lord. 4 3 Of the three sorts of gouernment and which of the three is the best 13 4 Whether the state of a kingdom or the state of a Publike weale be the antienter 24 5 Whether it be better to haue a king by succession or by election 26 6 Of the education or bringing vp of a Prince 30 7 Of the end whereat a good Prince ought to aime in this life 36 8 What is requisite in a Prince to make him happie 45 9 Of Vertue 56 10 Of the Passions of the mind 65 11 Whether Vertue and Honestie be to be separated from profit in matters of gouernment or state 76 12 That a prince ought not to falsifie his faith for the maintenance of his state 89 13 Of Truth 104 14 Of Religion and Superstition 107 15 That the prince which will be well obeyed must giue good example in himselfe to his subiects 138 The Contents of the second Part. 1 Of Wisdome and Discreetnesse 149 2 That the good gouernor must match learning and experience together 162 3 Of Iustice or Righteousnesse 170 4 That a Prince ought to be liberall and to shun nigardship and prodigalitie 212 5 That Gentlenesse and Courtesie be needfull in the orderering of affairs the contraries whereunto be slernenesse and roughnesse 236 6 That modestie or meeldnesse well beseemeth a Prince and that ouer statelinesse is hurtfull vnto him 259
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
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
too soft nor too rigorous inpunishing but as the cause deserueth For he must not affect the glorie of meeldnesse or of seueritie but when he hath wel considered the case he must doe iustice as the case requireth vsing mercie and gentlenesse in small matters and shewing seueritie of law in great crimes howbeit alwaies with some temperance of gentlenesse For as Theodorike was woont to say It is the propertie of a good and gracious prince not to be desirous to punish offences but to take them away least by punishing them too eagerly or by ouerpassing them too meeldly he be deemed vnaduised and carelesse of the execution of iustice S. Iohn Chrysostome saith That iustice without mercie is not iustice but crueltie and that mercie without iustice is not mercie but folly And to my seeming Suetonius hath no great likelihood of reason to commend Augustus for mercifull in that to saue a manifest parricide from casting into the water in a sacke as was wont to be done to such as had confessed themselues guiltie of that fault he asked him after this maner I beleeue thou hast not murthered thy father For he that iustifieth the wicked and hee that condemneth the guiltlesse are both of them abhominable to the Lord saith Salomon in his Prouerbs And aboue all things as saith Cicero in his booke of Duties he must beware that the punishment be not too great for the offence and that where many bee partakers of one crime one be not sore punished and another sleightly passed ouer CHAP. IIII. That a prince ought to be liberall and to shun niggardship and prodigalitie THus much in few words concerning iustice the which Cicero diuideth into two namely into that which is tearmed by the generall name of Righteousnesse into that which is tearmed Liberalitie accordingly as the holy scripture doth ordinarily take righteousnesse for the liberalitie that is vsed towards the needie the which we call Alms or Charitie He hath dispersed giuen vnto the poore saith the Psalmist and his righteousnesse endureth for euer that is to say He will continue still to shew himselfe righteous and he shall haue wherin to execute his liberalitie all the daies of his life And S. Paule in his second Epistle to the Corinthians prayeth God to encrease the reuenues of their righteousnesse that is to say of their liberalitie or bounteousnesse And in the one and twentith of the Prouerbs He that followeth righteousnesse and mercie saith Salomon He that is kind-hearted and pitifull to the poore shall find life righteousnesse and glorie And in the same place The righteous giueth saith he and spareth not Now therfore I must speake more particularly of the distributiue righteousnesse which is called Liberalitie and is as it were the meane betwixt niggardlinesse and prodigalitie a vertue well-beseeming a rich man For as saith Plato He that hath store of goods if he make others partakers with him is to be honoured as a great man but specially it most beseemeth a prince as who is better able to put it in vse than any priuat persons For Liberalitie vndoeth liberalitie because that the more a man vseth it the more he abateth his abilitie of vsing it towards many A king who hath great reuenues may honourably vse it in his life without abating the meane to doe good to such as deserue it Therefore Plutarch in his booke of the Fortunatnesse and vertue of Alexander saith That as the fruits of the earth grow faire by the temperatnesse of the aire euen so good wits are furthered by the liberalitie honourable countenaunce and courtesie of a king and that on the contrarie part they droope and decay through his niggardship displeasure and hard-dealing For the very dutie of a king said Agesilaus is to doe good vnto many Ptolomaeus Lagus said It was a more goodly and princely thing to enrich other men than to enrich himselfe according to S. Paules saying That it is better to giue than to take And Fabricius had leuer to haue at commaundement men that were well monied than the monie it selfe Dennis the tyrant of Siracuse offered presents to the ambassadours of Corinth the which they refused saying That the law of their countrie forbad them to take ought of any prince whatsoeuer Wherevnto hee answered Surelie yee doe amisse O yee Corinthians in that yee bereaue princes of the best thing that they haue For there is not any other meane to take away the misliking of so great a power than by courtesie and liberalitie Alexander was woont to say That there was not a better hoording vp of treasure than in the purses of his friends because they will yeeld it him againe whensoeuer hee needeth it Now then this vertue doth maruellously well beseeme a prince because he hath wherwith to put it in vre and yet neuerthelesse it ceasseth not to be in the mind of a poore man also For a man is not to be deemed liberall for his great gifts but for the will that he hath to do good For a poore man may be more liberall than a rich although he giue far lesse without comparison than the rich because liberalitie like as all other vertues proceedeth chiefly from the disposition or inclination that a man hath to giue As for example the poore widow that did put the two mites into the offering box was esteemed to haue giuen more than al the rich men though the thing she gaue was nothing in cōparison of the gifts of other men For liberalitie consisteth not in the greatnes of the gifts but in the maner of the giuing And he is liberall which giueth according to his abilitie vnto good men and vpon good causes This vertue represseth nigardship and moderateth prodigalitie causing a man to vse his goods and his money aright The meane to vse these well consisteth in three points The first is in taking a mans owne money where he ought to take it and hereunto maketh the good husbanding of him that spareth his reuenue to spend it to good purpose For he that hath not wherewith to maintain his expenses doth amisse in making large expenses at other mens cost and he that hath it doth amisse if he spend it not because there is not any thing that winneth a prince so much the fauor of his people as liberalitie doth Dennis the tyrant intēding to try his son furnished him with much costly stuffe iewels and vessell both of gold and siluer of great price And when long time after he had espied that the plate remained with him still he taunted him saieng that he had not a princely hart sith he had not made him friends with his plate hauing such abundāce for he was of opinion that such gifts would haue gotten his son good will at all mens hands For as Salomon saith in the xix of the prouerbs euery man is a friend to the man that giueth And in the chapter going afore he saith That a mans
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
whereof the first consisteth in the worshipping of God and in the louing of him with all our heart for it is reason that we should yeeld him faith and alleageance for our creatiō and for the great number of so many good things which we receiue dailie at his hand seing that we peculiarly of all other liuing wights are beholders of the heauenly things that are aboue The other is for the instruction and stablishment of the common conuersation wherein consisteth the dutie of a christian which is to loue his neighbour as himself For as saith S. Paule to the Romanes it is a fulfilling of the law of God and a confirming of the law of nature which will not haue a man to doe that to an other which he would not haue done to himselfe And he that keepeth this precept cannot do amisse For it is very certaine that no man hateth his own flesh ne procureth any euill to himselfe and therfore he vvill not do any such thing to his neighbour Now then we need not to be taught what is Vprightnesse Valeantnesse and Staiednesse for he that keepeth the said precept will not do any vnright But forasmuch as our own nature by reason of the corruption thereof maketh vs to step out of the right vvay if vve will come into the true path againe it be houeth vs of necessitie to peruse the law and the commaundements and to treat of the vertues which are termed Cardinall namely Wisedome Vprightnesse Valeantnesse and Temperance or Staiednesse and of the branches depending vpon them the which S. Austine doth allegoricallie terme the foure streames that watered the earthly Paradise in old time and daily still watereth the little world of them that liue well and to see how good princes haue practised them and how euill princes for want of making account of them haue found themselues ill apaid to the end vve may make our profit of histories and not make them as a matter of course but as a good and wholsome instruction Howbeit ere we enter into that matter it behoueth vs to know vvhat a Prince a King an Emperour and a soueraigne Lord is CHAP. II. Of a Prince a King an Emperour and a soueraigne Lord. WE cannot enioy the goods which God hath giuen vs on this earth except there be a iustice a law and a prince as Plutarch teacheth vs in his booke concerning the education of princes Iustice is the end of the law law is the workmanship of the prince and the prince is the workmanship of God that ruleth all who hath no need of a Phidias For he himselfe behaueth himselfe as God And like as God hath set the Sunne and the Moone in the skye as a goodly resemblance of his Godhead so a Prince in a common-weale is the light of the common-weale and the image of God who vvorshipping God maintaineth iustice that is to say vttereth foorth the reason of God that is to weet Gods minde A Prince then is a magistrate that hath soueraigne power to commaund those ouer vvhom he hath charge And vnder this generall terme of Prince I comprehend kings emperours dukes earles marquises and gouernors of cities and common-weales The men of old time called him a Prince which excelled other men in discretion and wisedome For like as to make a fortunate voyage by sea there behoueth a good Pilot that is a man of courage and good skill so to the well gouerning of subiects there behoueth a good Prince And therefore we may say that that prince is the chiefe and most excellent of all which for the preheminence of his wisdome and worthinesse commaundeth all others It is the first and chiefest law of nature that he which is vnable to gard and defend himselfe should submit himselfe to him that is able and hath wherewith to do it and such a one doe we tearme a chiefe man or a prince who ought to be esteemed as a God among men as Aristotle saith in his third booke of matters of state or at least wise as next vnto God as Tertullian saith vnto Scapula and such a one ought all others to obay as a person that hath the authoritie of God as saith S. Paule Homer termeth princes Diogenes and Diotrophes that is to say Bred and brought vp of Iupiter And Cicero in his common weale saith That the gouerners and keepers of townes and citties doe come from heauen and shal returne thither againe when they haue done their dueties And in another place describing a good Prince he saith that he ought to despise all pleasures and not yeeld to his owne lust nor be needy of gold and siluer For the needinesse of the Prince is but a deuiser of subsidies as the Empresse Sophia said to Tiberius Constantine Also he ought to be more mindfull of his peoples profit than of his own pleasure And to conclude in a word a prince ought to imprint in his heart the saying of Adrian the emperor to the Senate namely That he ought to behaue himselfe after such a sort in his gouernmēt as euerie man might perceiue that he sought the benefit of his people not of himselfe Also men cal them Princes which are of the blood royal stand in possibilitie to succeed to the crowne and generally all soueraigne magistrats as dukes marquises earles and other chiefe lords of which sort there are in Italy and Germanie which haue soueraigne authoritie and owe no more to the emperour but only their mouth and their hands But the greatest and excellentest magistrats are the kings and emperours An Emperour is a terme of warre borrowed of the Romanes for in their language the word Imper◠signifieth to commaund And albeit that in their armies the Romanes had captaines whom they called Emperors which commaunded absolutely and were obayed as kings yet did not any man vsurpe or take to himselfe that title of Emperor vnlesse he had done some notable exploit of warre Insomuch that Crassus was counted a man but of base minde and small courage and of slender hope to atchieue any great or haughty matters that could finde in his heart to be named emperor for taking a silly towne called Zenodotia Afterward when the state of the common weale was chaunged by reason of the ciuill warres and reduced into a Monarchie the successors of Iulius Caesar knowing how odious the name of king was to the Romanes would not take that title vnto them but contenting themselues with the effect therof they named themselues Emperors which among vs is as much to say as chiefe leaders or Generals of an armie or host of men Plato in his booke of Lawes teacheth vs seuen sorts of ruling or commanding the first is that the father commaundeth his children the second that the valeant noble-minded commaund the weake and baseminded the third that the elder sort command the yoonger the fourth that the maisters commaund the seruants the fift that the mightier commaunds the feebler
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
of such vnderstanding thereof in steed of being wise and wel aduised and in steed of chusing the good way wee follow the woorser and as Dauid saith Become like the horse and mule for not considering what God hath bestowed vpon man Therefore it standeth vs on hand to consider from whence we be and to what end we be created that by beholding the excellencie which we haue receiued of God we may submit our selues wholy vnto him and to his wisedome which inuiteth vs thereunto as is to bee seene in fiue hundred places of the booke of Wisdome Those then which refer al their actions to the said first cause we call Wise men according to the writings both of the Bible and also of the Heathen authors specially of the great Mercurie Plato and Cicero who affirme That the first point of wisedome is to know a mans selfe And by this knowledge a man shall perceiue wherat he ought to leuell himselfe and so he shall foresee the impediments that may hinder annoy him He then which hath not wisdome cannot discerne what is his or what is well or ill done neither can we know what is ours vnlesse we know our selues And he that knoweth not what is his is also ignorant what is another mans and consequently he is ignorant what belongeth to the commonweale and so shal he neuer be good housholder or good common-weales man because he knoweth not what he doth By reason wherof he shall walke on in error wandering and mistaking his marke so as he shall not atchieue any thing of value or if he doe yet shall he be but a wretch For no man can be happie or gouerne happily vnlesse he be good and wise because it is only he that discerneth good from euill Now if this saying may be verefied of al mē much more without comparison doth it agree to princes than to other men because they haue authoritie aboue all and to execute authoritie well it behoueth to haue Discretion and Wisedome For reason would that the wise should commaund the ignorant according to the saying of Ecclesiasticus That the free-borne shall serue the bondmen that are wise And as Dennis of Halicarnassus saith It is a law common to all that the better sort should commaund the worser It is they therefore to whom the said goodly precept is chiefly appointed to the end they should know the being and state of their soule the force and power wherof consisteth in wisdome whose ground is truth For it is the propertie of wisdome to discerne the truth of all things whereby the darknesse of ignorance is driuen out of our mind and light is giuen vnto vs. In this respect Iacob hauing gotten wisdome by trauel is said in Genesis to haue had the sight of God because that to the actiue life he had also ioyned the contemplatiue In so much that we may say that the wise man is the cleeresighted and hath iudgement reason to discerne good from euil that he may keepe himselfe from being deceiued For nothing is more contrarie to the grauitie of a wise man than error lightnes and rashnesse And although Wisdome and Discreetnesse doe well beseeme all men because it is the propertie of man to search the truth as who being partaker of reason gathereth the cōsequencies of things by considering their principall causes and proceedings yet notwithstanding Wisdome is an essentiall thing in princes and gouernors For nothing doth so firmly stablish a principalitie as a wise man who as saith Ecclesiasticus instructeth his people and the faithfull are the fruits of his vnderstanding The wise man shal be replenished with blessednesse and as many as see him shall commend him And in the third chapter of Salomons Prouerbs it is said That the purchace of Wisdome is more worth than all that euer a man can gaine by the trafficke of gold and siluer and all that euer man can wish is not comparable vnto hir For that very cause there was a writing in the foresaid temple of Delphos which commaunded men to honor Wisdome and iustice whom Hesiodus and Pindarus faigned to sit at Iupiters side Wherefore we may well say That Wisdomes is the mother of all good things and the tree of life that was in the earthlie Paradise as saith S. Austine in his thirteenth booke of the citie of God And to shew the excellencie therof yet more Ecclesiasticus saith That Wisdome is a greater aid and strength to a wise man than ten gouernors are to a country And therefore in the 16 of the Prouerbs it is said That Prophesie is in the lips of a king which thing is meant of a wise king After which maner he saith in another place that the delight of a king is in a wise seruant which is to be vnderstood of a good and wise king For commonly els such men are not welcome to princes But as Aesop saith either a man must please a king or els he must not come at him Bion was wont to say That Wisdome goeth before the other vertues as the sight goeth before the other sences and that without wisdome there is no vertue at all For how were it possible for the iust man to yeeld vnto euery man that which belongs to him if Wisdome had not taught him what is due to euery man Therfore afore wee enter into the morall vertues it is requisite by the way to speake a word of the contemplatiues namely of Wisdome and Discreation because that without contemplation ioyned with skill a man can doe nothing that is beautifull and good The Stoiks make no difference betweene these two vertues sauing that Wisdome consisteth in the knowledge of things belonging both to God and man and Discreetnesse consisteth only in things belonging to man For both of them be contemplatiue vertues proceeding from the mind and vnderstanding But yet one of them is meerely contemplatiue that is to wit Wisdome which after the opinion of antient Philosophers is occupied but in contemplation of the heauen the earth and the stars respecting nothing but such things as are euerlasting and vnchanged and because they be not subiect to any alteration man needeth not to scan of them And as Aristotle saith in his sixt booke of Morals It behooueth a wise man not only to vnderstand whatsoeuer may be gathered of principles but also to vnderstand the principles themselues truly and to speake truly of them And as a Geometrician scanneth not whether a triangle haue three angles made by the meeting and closing together of three right lines but holdeth it for an vndoubted certaintie so the contemplatiue vnderstanding doth not so much as dreame of any thing that admitteth any alteration neither is it subiect to consulting and deliberating But Discreetnesse which is cumbered with things vntrue erronious and troublesome and is to deale with casuall aduentures is driuen to consult of things doubtfull and after consultation to put it selfe in
must excuse your selfe to him and deale in such sort as you may recompence your ouer-sight with doing some good For as Cicero saith in his booke of Duties Liberalitie is to be vsed as may profit a mans friends without preiudice to any person because liberalitie is accompanied with iust dealing And as toâ—ching the giuing of monie and the bestowing of benefits they ought to be done vnto the distressed and needie rather than to others the contrarie wherof is done most commonly For lightly men giue where they may hope for some good againe though there be no need at all But this is rather couetousnesse than liberalitie because it is but a putting of a small fish vpon a hooke therwith to catch a greater Likewise liberalitie consisteth in redeeming prisoners and in giuing to the poore in which behalfe Cicero speaketh like a Christian. And this maner of liberalitie is called Alms Pitie and Charitie Salomon in the xxij of the Prouerbs saith He which is pitifull shall be blessed because he hath giuen bread to the hungrie And in the xxviij Who so giueth to the poore shall not want but he that turneth his eies from them shall haue much miserie In the third of Ecclesiasticus it is said that as water quencheth the burning fire so alms withstandeth sin and God will haue consideration of him that sheweth pitie for he will be mindfull of him in the time to come and he shall find assurance in the day of his death Againe in the seuenth chapter Reach out thy hand to the poore saith he that thou maist be throughly blessed and reconciled Againe in the xvij chapter A mans alms-deed saith he is as a purse with him and preserueth a mans fauor as the apple of an eie And againe in the xxix Lay vp thine alms-deed in the bosome of the poore and it shall make thee to be heard against all euill There is another sort of liberalitie approching to pitie which is called Hospitalitie for which Abraham Lot were highly commannded and had the honor to receiue angels when the houses of rich men are open to entertaine honest strangers Among the men of old time the almightie God whom they named Iupiter was called the Harberor so is he termed of Homer Virgil. Cimo of Athens made a house with his owne hands to lodge strangers in Plato saith That the offences which are done against strangers are greater than those that are coÌ„mitted against a mans ownâ—â—â—untrimen for in as much as a stranger hath no kindred nor friends men ought to be the more pitifull towards him The Almans made so great account of those with whom they had eaten and drunke that they imparted their houses vnto them And the Lucans had a law that coÌ„demned that man to be fined which suffered the stranger to passe vnlodged after the sun was downe There is also another branch of liberalitie called Treatablenes which is when a man is not rough in requiring that which is borrowed of him but is easie to be delt with in all bargaining whether it be of buying or of selling and will not sticke sometime to forbeare yea and release some part of his right as is to be seene in the end of Ciceroes second booke of Duties where he treateth of it largely inough and that in such sort as he may seeme to haue drawn it out of our books of diuinitie which coÌ„maund vs to be charitable to our neighbors rather in doing good to the poore than to the rich and especially in doing the spirituall works wherof I will speake briefly herafter when I come to treat of kindnesse referring the residue to Diuines who haue made so goodly treatises so pleasant wholsom discourses that it is not possible to do more There is another kind of liberalitie which coÌ„sisteth not in giuing but in despising mony gifts the same is directly contrarie to couetousnes wherof we haue Pericles for an example who was not in any wise to be corrupted with gifts neither could couetousnes in any wise weigh with him insomuch that although he was the prince of Athens yet notwithstanding he inriched not himselfe one halfe peny And also Phocion who refused 600000 crowns at Alexanders hand though he was both poore needy neither wold he take ought of Antipater though he was his friend insomuch that Antipater said that he had two friends in the citie of Athens namely Phocion Demades of whoÌ„ he could neuer cause the one to take any thing nor giue the other inough to satisfie him The Philosopher Xenocrates sent back 500 talents vnto Alexander when he had giuen him theÌ„ saieng That so long as he liued in such sort as he did he should neuer need so great a sum of mony Fabricius the consull did as much to Pirrhus refusing the gold and siluer that he offered him These men could not giue because they themselues were needie but yet had they a liberall nature in that they made none accout of worldly goods and yet were contented to part from that which they had Artaxerxes king of Persia was wont to say That liberalitie consisteth not only in giuing but also in taking as when a man through a kind of couetousnesse doth courteously accept the gifts that are offered him though they bee but of small estimation and value For therby the prince doth men to vnderstand what account he maketh of small things in that he receiueth them and it is an occasion for him to requite it with very great vsurie And although king Lâ—wis the eleuenth doe say that a man ought neither to bind a prince nor to be affraid to aske of him and to make himselfe indebted vnto him and that his so doing maketh the prince the forewarder to do for him because the noblenesse of the princes courage is such that he loueth them most which are most bound vnto him and naturally we loue the things that are of our owne making as saith Aristotle where he demaundeth why benefactors are more inclined towards such as are bound vnto them than towards such as are not yet notwithstanding a subiect ought not to be affraid to offer a present to his prince in witnesse of his seruice and good will Neither did king Lâ—wis the eleuenth meane it concerning presents or gifts but of seruices done by subiects wherof they had no recompence For therof the prince is ashamed and therfore is loth to see them Contrariwise he loueth liketh and aduanceth those that are made by him euen through a certaine naturall reason which makes vs loue the things that come of our selues and which we haue brought foorth whether it be by nature or by wit or by good doings But the wel-aduised subiect bestoweth not any gift vpon his prince as vpon one that hath need or therby to bind his prince but as in way of duty or submission to do him seruice And therfore of such a present a prince must accept very gladly
purpose to haue men without money which is the sinewes of warre so is it nothing worth to haue money without men of warre Also we may say that a king knowes himselfe when he behaueth himselfe according to his degree yeelding himselfe gentle and affable to all men howbeit retaining that which belongeth to the maiesty of a king least his ouer-great familiaritie ingender contempt That was the cause why Alexander refused to runne at the gaming 's of Olimpus though he was esteemed one of the best runners in that assembly answering his father who had moued him to put forth himselfe into the lists to obtaine the honor of winning the reward of so honorable a wager I would willingly doe your commandement if I had kings or kings sons to run and wrestle with me esteeming it an vnseemly thing for him being the sonne of a great king to meddle with such as were not his matches For the king that abaseth himselfe too much is counted to dishonour himselfe as much as he that is proud like Nero who plaied the Wagoner the Minstrel and the Iester for doing wherof he was so far off from being loued or esteemed that he was rather hated and despised for it of all men Now then after that a prince hath throughly viewed himselfe both within and without he cannot but vnderstand what his charge is the which consisteth in two things namely in matters of peace and in matters of warre both which parts are so necessarie for him that he cannot seperate the one froÌ„ the other For as saith Thucidides Peace is established by warre neither is a man sure to be out of danger when he is at rest and without warre It is not inough then to haue good order for the gouerning of his country vnlesse he also haue forces in a readinesse to succour his friends to resist his enemies and to subdue rebels As touching ciuil gouernment I will speake inough of it throughout all this discourse and as touching the case of warre I say that a prince ought to giue himselfe to châ—lualrie as much as possibly he can and that if he doe not so he shall be subiect to contempt of his neighbours and consequently be constrained to haue warre whether he will or no. Therefore it standeth him on hand to be a warrior himselfe and to haue his people trained to the warres and sometimes also to make warre that he may haue peace and contrariwise in warre to mind peace For as the Emperor Traiane said God suffereth none to be vanquished in battell but such as are enemies of peace And we see by experience that those which are eagre in seeking warre doe commonly worke their own ouerthrow as Pirrhus did in old time and as Charles duke of Burgoine did a little while ago But if a prince be compelled to enter into warre it behooueth him to let the world vnderstand what skill and cunning he hath in feats of armes and what delight he hath in repulsing wrongfull warre whereinto hee must enter with a braue courage vnastonied as Plutarch writeth of Sertorius whom he reporteth to haue beene meeld and gentle in matters of peace and dreadfull in preparatiue of warre against his enemies Wherefore a prince ought to demeane himselfe in such sort that knowing the means how to carrie himselfe vpright in both the times he may be disposed to warre if need require and yet vse it but to the attainment of peace which ought alwaies to be preferred as rest is to be preferred before trauell For some loue warre too much and some againe doe shun it too much In the one point Marius made default and in the other Perseus For Marius being vnfit to liue in peace as one that could no skill of ciuill affaires sowed dissention the seed of warre without purpose Insomuch that when he was at Rome in peace he had not the grace to entertaine men amiably and to gather them to him by courtesie for want of gifts and qualities requisit for ciuill affaires By reason whereof men made no further account of him than of an old harnesse or of a toole that was good for nothing else but only for warre On the contrarie part Perseus suffered his state to goe to wracke for want of intending to warre-matters and for that he loued better to keepe his mony for the Romans than to lay it out in waging men of war for his own defence For he loued not war nor defended himselfe but very sleightly and therefore was he bereft of his kingdome and vtterly spoiled of all his treasures Many other Prinâ—â—s haue falne from their estate for want of giuing themselues to the warres among which number Sardanapalus and Childerike may serue vs for example The thing that made Vindex and Galba to conspire against Nero was the contempt which they had of him for his giuing of himselfe wholy ouer vnto voluptuousnesse and for his despising of the exercise of warre Pepin durst not to haue set his princes diademe vpon his owne head if Childerike had loued armes as well as he But for as much as Pepin had weapon in hand and men of warre at his deuotion and whatsoeuer else was requisit for a good captain it was an easie matter for him to bring his enterprise to passe Francis Sfortia by his valiancie in armes rose from a simple souldier to be duke of Millan and the children of princes and dukes haue become meane gentlemen Men of warre do ordinarily follow those whome they loue and esteeme admiring good and valeant captains and coÌ„trariwise despising those that loue not chiualrie And therevpon it commeth to passe that the prince which knoweth his neighbour to be vnfit for warre and vnprouided of sufficient force to withstand him doth easily setforth into the field to ouercome him and commonly he carrieth away the victorie For it is no reason that the man which is well armed should obey him that is vnarmed My intent is not to inferre hereupon that a prince should make warre without cause or imagine that he ought not to enter but by force of arms For as Cicero sayth in his booke of Duties a prince ought neuer to resort to weapon but when no reason can otherwise be had or when he is to defend himself which is the law of nature For as for him that maketh warre vnder pretence of some smal profit he is like to him who as Augustus said doth angle wirh a hooke of gold the losse whereof is greater than the gaine of the fish that is to be caught can be woorth Therefore a prince ought not to make war without aduisement but yet must he put himselfe alwaies in a readinesse if hee should chaunce to be enforced thereto For if war be not foreseene and well prouided for with men and armour it worketh small effect in time of need A man of warre saith Cassiodorus must learne aforehand the things which he hath to do when war commeth
being himselfe at the gaming 's of Olimpus when all the standers by did cast their looks vpon him without regarding to behold the companions and pointed him out with their fingers vnto strangers he was so glad of it that he confessed to his friends that at that time he receiued the fruit of all the great trauels which hee had endured for Greece Iulius Caesar wept at the image of Alexander finding fault with himselfe that he had not done any thing worthie of memorie being come to the age wherin Aelxander had conquered the whole world And Alexander deemed Achilles right happie in that he had such a Poet as Homer to register his praises Thus you see how the pleasure of princes consisteth wholly in honor and reputation the which cannot be acquired whether it be in ciuil matters or in matters of warre but only by vertue Which thing Marcellus intending to make knowne to posterities builded in Rome a temple to Honour hard by the temple of Vertue and he made it in such sort as men could not come into it but through the temple of Vertue doing men to vnderstand that honour and reputation cannot be acquired but by vertue Therefore we must conclude that a prince can haue no sound and substantiall pleasure if he be not vertuous And as saith Philo the Iew in his Allegories Paradise is by a figure called Vertue and the place proper to Paradise is called Eden which signifieth pleasure For ioy and peace being the things wherein the true pleasure consisteth agree very well vnto vertue CHAP. IX Of Vertue LEt vs speake now of Vertue as of the thing that is most fit and beseeming for a prince and wherin he becommeth most like vnto God For as for those foolish emperors which to resemble Iupiter made themselues to be painted with thunder lightning in their hands they were not esteemed for all that but rather mocked of the world and made abhominable vnto God For as saith Plutarch in his booke of the Education of princes God is angrie with those that imitate and counterfait him in following his lightenings and thunders but he loueth well such as conforme themselues to his likenesse in humanitie and honest dealing by imitating his Vertue And such are his elect to whom he imparteth of his vprightnesse of his iustice of his truth and of his meeknesse than the which there is not any thing more diuine For God is not so much happie for his immortalitie as for that he is the prince of all Vertue Aristotle in his Morals saith That Vertue is an habit of the mind wherby a man becommeth good and doth his dutie the contrarie whereunto is vice So that to eschew vice is to be vertuous or els we may say that Vertue is an habit or hauing of the thing that is beseeming and of dutie to be done Cicero saith in his Tusculane questions That Vertue is a certaine constant affection or disposition of mind which maketh the possessors thereof to be praised from whence proceed all honest deeds and determinations And in his booke of lawes hee saith That Vertue is the very perfection of nature With him also accordeth S. Ambrose in his third chapter concerning faith following a principle of the Pithagorians who hold opinion that al things are perfect by the vertue of their owne nature as for example the vertue of a horse is that which setteth him in his perfection the vertue of eyes is the good sight of them the vertue or perfection of the nature of feet is to go well and lightly There are three things whereby vertue is perfected Skill Power and Will Skill serueth for contēplation and iudgement out of the which springeth discretion Power is a strength whereby we stand fast in our purpose of well-doing And Will is as it were the hand of the soule whereby we take in hand the thing that we intend to doe Some diuide vertue into two parts that is to wit Contemplatiue and Morall we cal that vertue Contemplatiue which consisteth in well vnderstanding and well considering that is to say in the inward minding and reasoning whereout springeth discretion and wisedome And we call those vertues morall which belong to manners and not alonely to vnderstanding As for example when we speake of the manners of some man we say not that he is wise but that he is meeld liberall and kind-hearted For Wisedome is a certaine hauior of vertue which consisteth in the wit and vnderstanding but Temperance belongeth to a mans actions and manners and in respect thereof wee terme it Morall Philo the Iew saith in his Allegories that vertue is Contemplatiue and Actiue because it vseth contemplation by the discourse of reason and therewithall hath actions also For Vertue is the Art of our whole life containing all actions That is the cause why Moses sayth that the Tree of life which betokeneth the generall Vertue which we cal Goodnesse is faire to see too whereby is signified the Contemplation and that the fruit thereof is good to eat whereby is betokened the vse and action Others make foure principal vertues the which they terme Cardinall vnder which all other vertues are comprehended namely Wisedome which teacheth what is to be done Hardinesse or Valeantnesse which teacheth what is to be indured Temperance which teacheth what is to be chosen and Iustice which teacheth what is to bee yeelded vnto euery man Othersome do lodge wisdome in the vnderstanding and the wit Iustice in the will Hardines in that part of the mind which conceiueth anger and Temperance in the lust of the sensitiue appetite And for the better vnderstanding hereof ye must cōsider that we haue two sorts of appetits the one of the mind the other of the sence The mindly appetite followeth the conceit of the vnderstanding the sensitiue followeth the conceit of the sence This sensitiue is diuided againe into two that is to say Lustfull and Irefull We call that the Lustfull whereby we shun the things that mislike vs and follow the things that are delectable And by the Irefull we assayle the things that may disappoint vs of the foresayd good and of the foresaid pleasure As for example a lion by his lustfull appetit runneth after his prey as a thing pleasaunt vnto him and by his Irefull appetit he assaileth such as go about to disappoint him thereof So that the lustfull appetit tendeth to rest and pleasure and the yrefull tendeth to a harder point namely to resist euill and whatsoeuer else annoieth vs. There are others which diuide all vertues into three For Vertue doth either direct reason aright and is altogither grounded therupon and that we call Wisedome or else it is the effecter and bringer to passe of good reason and is grounded in willingnesse to doe that which is wisely set downe in conceit and that is it which we cal Iustice or else it maintaineth the good vpon good reason and that is the vertue which we
during his life yet did he take order for the punishing thereof afore his decease saying thus vnto Salomon his sonne Thou knowest what Ioab did vnto the captaines of the host of Israell namely vnto Abner and Amasa whom he slew and shed their blood in peace as it had beene in warre and put the blood of battell vpon his girdle that was vpon his reins looke therefore that thou deale with him according to thy wisedome and suffer not his hoare head to goe downe to his graue in peace Dauid beeing persecuted by Saul had him at an aduantage when he found him in the caue and might very well haue done him displeasure but would not But had that good politike fellow Ioab bin there he would no more haue suffered Saul to escape than he suffered Absolon Now to come againe to our matter like as God gaue the victorie at that time to the aforesaid duke Charles so at another time he made his heire the prince of Salerne to loose the field and to be taken and condemned to haue his head stricken off as the said Conradine had had afore And when this sentence was pronounced vpon him which was on a Friday he answered he was contented to take his death with patience for the loue of him which suffered death on the like day But when Constance the queene heard of this his answer she said that for the loue of him which had suffered death for vs she was determined to shew mercy to the prince and without doing him any further harme she sent him to Cataloine to the king hir husband full sore against the peoples will who would haue had him put to death In which action we haue to consider one notable thing namely that Charles who had slaine Manfred in battell and put to death both Conradine and his cosen the duke of Austrich vnder forme of iustice could not keepe his kingdome so long time to his posteritie as the heire femall of Manfred did by vsing fauor and mercie But when a stranger hauing no former quarrell comes with a great number of men to inuade a countrie I beleeue it shal be well done of him that getteth the victorie to let none of his enemies escape least their inlargement prouoke them to set a new voyage abroche as the Frenchmen did in Gallia and the Gothes in Italy Againe there is no loue or kindnesse to be hoped for at such folks hands But out of that case I see not that crueltie ought to be vsed for the maintaining of any state and as for to leaue vertue for profit it ought not to be so much as once thought Augustus for the better assuring of his state caused Cesarion the sonne of Iulius and Cleopatra to be slaine It may be perchance that in so doing he delt for his profit but surelie he delt not vertuously Contrariwise Sextus Pompeius who had the staffe in his owne hand to haue killed Augustus and Antonie his enemies delt honorably in letting them goe but to his owne destruction which thing he chose rather to doe than to falsifie his faith as I will declare anon more at large I could alleage many mo examples of euill princes which haue finished their daies in wretchednesse and lost their kingdomes or at the leastwise their children after them whom I will omit for briefnesse sake speaking but only of Caesar Borgia that we may see whether such a prince can be had in estimation I am well assured that to lay the foundation of his principalitie which came to him but by fortune as they say he had many things to do the which he brought al to passe by his wit But yet can I not allow that maner of dealing For he caused the Columnians to be destroyed by the Vrsines and afterward dispatched the Vrsines too for feare least they should take part against him He vsed the helpe of the Frenchmen to get possession of Romania and afterward draue them out when he was peaceably setled in it To purchase the peoples fauour he executed rigorous iustice vpon theeues robbers and extortionors and for the doing thereof he set vp a very good and seuere Iusticer named Remy Orke Afterward perceiuing that his ouer-rigorous iustice procured him some hatred to root that conceit out of their imaginations and to shew that that came not of him but of his officer he made maister Remy Orke to be cut in two pieces and to be laid in an open place with a bloodie knife by him I see not wherein this duke Valentine is to be allowed I beleeue he was well aduised what he did and assaied all the means he could to make his owne profit but that profit was vtterly seperated from vertue What policie was it to kill folke by trecherous sleights and treason which had neuer trespassed him either in word or deed What a reward was that for a iudge to receiue for doing his duetie and for seruing him faithfullie If such princes may bee allowed then shall murther and frawd be no vice so it bring profit And then let vs take Socrates his saying the contrary way and say that vertue ought to attend vpon profit And so should it follow of consequence that whosoeuer could deale most for his owne profit should be the best and honestest man But all the paine that this wretched prince tooke to stablish his state stood him in small steed For he vtterly forwent it and was deceiued himselfe as he had deceiued others Thucidides in his historie interlaceth a notable saying of the Corinthians which was spoken to the counsell of the Athenians If a man will say saith he that that which we say is very reasonable but that the opinion of the other side is the more profitable if there be warre we answere that the more vprightly men walke in all things the more is it commonly for their profit Therefore it is most expedient for a prince that wil not faile of his purpose to fix his eye continually vpōn vertue and to set it before him as his marke to shoot at and to assure himselfe that he cannot haue profit without vertue Vpon a time Themistocles told the Athenians that he had a way to make them great yea and lords of all Greece but that the same was not to be imparted to any mo than one least it should be knowne Hereupon the Athenians chose Aristides to take notice of his deuice Vnto whom Themistocles declared that the nauie of the Lacedemonians might easily be set on fire whereby it would be an easie matter to vanquish them When Aristides had heard the counsell of Themistocles he went vp into the pulpit with great expectation of the Athenians and told them that Themistocles had giuen a woonderous behooffull and profitable counsell but it was not honest whereupon the Athenians without hearing any further what it was disallowed the counsell of Themistocles as not good At such time as Pirrhus made warre with the Romans one of
be sterne and somtimes to be meeld and after a sort to abay the people at least wise so it be with some maiesty to heare and see disorders to put vp wrongs without saying any thing to them and to say as Antigonus said to his sonne Art thou ignorant my son that our raigning is nothing else than a certaine glorious bondage Among the sumptuous he must be bountiful and with the moderat hee must vse moderation as Alcibiades could well skill to doe who by applying himselfe vnto the behauiors of all men and to the customes of all nations did purchase to himselfe their friendship Brutus plaied the disard to the intent that men should haue no mistrust of him nor be priuie to the greatnesse of his courage Clowis in not punishing a certaine souldier out of hand that had denied him the vessell of S. Remy did wisely for feare of a mutinie among the men of warre but yet he punished him afterward howbeit after a barbarous fashion in that he slew him with his owne hand Lewis the eleuenth did now and then heare himselfe il spoken of and wisely dissembled it Such dissimulation is needfull for a king and is expressed in the first booke of the Iliads of Homer vnder the person of Chalcas the soothsayer who durst not tell the truth before king Agamemnon nor from whence the plague proceeded that was as then in the campe of the Greeks vntill Achilles had vndertaken to warrant him For when a king quoth he is angrie although hee make no outward countenance thereof but dissemble it for the present time yet will he not faile to be auenged afterward When any great and princely personage Is stird to choler be it nere so small Though for the present he suppresse his rage Yet in his heart to the heat therof at all Abateth not no winke of sleepe can fall Within his eies vntill he doe espie Conuenient means to be reuenged by It is another maner of thing to pretend to be a man of honestie and to promise that which he intendeth not to performe for that is called guile or deceit and not dissimulation I know well that a prince for want of aduisement and consideration may make some oth which it were much better for him to breake than to keepe As for example Herod at the feast of his birth-day sware that he would giue his daughter whatsoeuer she would aske and she by hir mothers counsell asked the head of S. Iohn Babtist The king being sory that he had sworne but yet daring not falsifie his oth caused his head to be smitten off But had he bin a good man he would in that case haue broken his oth For in swearing to giue her any thing of how great value soeuer it were he meant not to giue hir the life of any good man And although he had so said yet was not the oth to haue bin of any value or effect being made against good behauior For the vow that is made against vpright and iust dealing is no vow at all neither ought it in any wise to be kept or performed In all cases where two incoÌ„ueniences offer theÌ„selues alway the least is to be chosen And therfore he should haue answered the faire lady as Agesilaus answered a friend of his that charged him with his promise in an vnreasonable thing that he demanded who refusing to graunt his request said If the thing that you require be rightful I promised it if it be vnrightful I promised it not And when it was replied that a prince ought to performe whatsoeuer he promiseth no more quoth he than the subiect ought to demaund any thing that is vnreasonable Herod therfore was no more bound by his generall promise to deliuer Iohn Baptists head than Agetus was to deliuer his wife to his friend Ariston vnder pretence of his oth For Ariston being in loue with the wife of Agetus a woman of excellent beautie found this fraud to get hir out of hir husbands hands He promised Agetus to giue him any one thing that he would chuse of all that euer he had praying him to doe the like for him againe Agetus not mistrusting that Ariston being a maried man would haue left his owne wife to take another mans agreed to his request and sware it Ariston discharged his owne promise out of hand and when it came to his turne to make his demaund he required the wife of Agetus who therupon affirmed that his meaning was to giue him any thing sauing hir Neuerthelesse although he was thus circumuented yet deliuered he hir for his oths sake making more account of his oth than did a certaine Romane in the like case who hauing sworne that he would neuer put away his wife did put hir away afterward being taken in adultrie howbeit not afore he had obtained a dispensation of his oth at the hands of the emperor Vespaâ—ian Which things serue well to shew in what estimation an oth was had in time past seeing that men would performe it notwithstanding that they were beguiled in the making therof Much lesse then is he to be excused which hauing aduisedly and vpon good deliberatioÌ„ granted a thing doth falsifie his promise vnder colour that it is against the benefit of his realme True it is that as Cicero saith in his books of duties if a man be drawne by deceit or driuen by feare to make any promise he is discharged therof but otherwise he ought to keepe it And he shall find that his affaires shal prosper better by keeping touch than by vsing deceit which illbeseemeth all men and chiefly those that are of greatest calling For as saith Thucidides deceit is alwaies more foule and shamefull than violence because violence is wrought by a kind of vertue and by authoritie but deceit proceedeth of very malice and mischieuousnesse CHAP. XIII of Truth FOr as much as I haue spoken of falshood and deceit against the which Mercurie the great opposeth truth to the intent we may be the more prouoked to keepe our faith and to performe our promises This place inuiteth me to speake a word or twaine by the way in commendation of Truth the which Plato termeth The wel-spring of all good things For as Plato saith in his Timaeus Like as without being there is no generation so without Truth there is no faithfulnesse And therefore Dauid doth ordinarilie take Truth for that same stedfastnesse which we haue in keeping our promise which wee call Faithfullnesse My meaning is not to speak here of the original truth for that resteth alonly in God accordingly as our Lord told the Iews That he was the light and the truth And this truth cannot be known of any but only of the father of Truth who is the euerlasting God as saith Origen For none but the father knoweth the son neither doth any but the sonne know the father And Mercurie in his chapter of Generation saith That the truth is a
thing vncumbered vnwithered vnpainted vndisguised vnmovable vnueiled apparant comprehensible of it selfe vnchangeably good and spiritual Wherin the antient Philosophers agree with vs saying that we haue but a shadow of the Truth that the pure Truth is in heauen Truth saith Menander is an inhabitant of heauen and dwelleth with the gods And the Persians worshipped a great God which in body resembled the light and in soule the Truth as who would say that God was light and Truth Therefore of all the things that are on earth none as saith Mercurie in the xv of his Pimander can be called truth but only an imitation of the truth And whē the wit receiueth influence from aboue then doth it imitate the truth for without inworking from aboue it abideth in vntruth like as the shape of a man in a painted table representeth a very bodie but is not a body indeed as the eye imagineth it to be in so much that although it seeme verily to haue eyes and eares yet it neither seeth nor heareth at all euen so the things that men behold with their eies are but leasings Men beare themselues on hand that they see the truth but in very deed they be but lies For truth cannot be vpon earth but yet it may be that some men to whom God hath giuen power to see diuine things do vnderstand the truth howbeit that is not the truth of speaking and vnderstanding things as they be indeed For the very truth is the souereigne Good and true things are the effects thereof which are the off-springs or imps of truth In so much that the truth which remaineth with vs in this world is but a countershape and shadow of the very truth the which we follow when wee forbeare frawd lying and deceit and proceed in good faithfull dealing truth and loialtie according to this saying of the Psalmist The works of Gods hands are truth and vprightnes that is to say Faithfulnesse his commandements are made in truth that is to say in substantiall Faithfulnesse which kepeth truth euermore that is to say which alwaies keepeth promise The beginning of his word is Truth that is to say his word is a grounded stablenesse And in another place All thy commaundements sayth he be Truth For as sayth Pindar to be true of heart is the ground and foundation of all vertue And therefore Dauid praieth God not to take the word of Truth out of his mouth And in the fourteenth Psalme he sayth thus Lord who shall dwell on thy holy hill he that dealeth iustly with his neighbour and speaketh the truth from his heart and beareth true witnesse Wherein we haue to consider that hee matcheth Righteousnesse and Truth together as who would say he esteemeth a soothfast man to be a righteous man and a righteous man to bee a soothfast man and hardly indeed can they be seuered according to this saying of Dauid in the 119 Psalme Thou hast commaunded vprightnesse and truth aboue all things Thou shalt haue folke at thy commaundement because of thy meekenesse vprightnesse and truth The kings throne that iudgeth folke with truth shall be stablished for euer And Salomon in his Prouerbs sayth That he which speaketh the truth vttereth righteousnesse And in another place he saith That meeldnesse and truth vphold and maintaine a king When Iethro councelled Moses to disburden himselfe of the paine of iudging perticular cases he aduised him to chuse such men as were wise true of their word and fearing God as who would say that the maintenance of iustice depended vpon truth After which maner Marcus Aurelius said That in an honest woman truth chastitie ought to be matched togither and it was neuer seene but the woman that was true of word was also chast and that the liar was sildome chast And as Varia Mesa was wont to say It is no lesse shame for women that are come of good houses to be liars than to be vnchast Socrates would that a prince should aboue all things be true of his word to the end that his bare word might be more esteemed than another mans oths And Cicero in one of his orations saith That he which shrinketh from the truth will passe as little to forsweare himselfe as to make a lie And in another place he saith that truth is of so great might that it cannot be vanquished by any subtiltie or wilinesse whatsoeuer and that it is a sufficient defence to it selfe though it haue no man of law to plead for it Euripides saith That the word of truth is plaine and needeth no interpreter And Salomon saith that the lip of truth is euer steadie but the toung of falshood is euer variable In all thy works let the word of truth goe before thee saith the son of Sirach in his third chapter Pithagoras said That when we exercise truth we follow the foot-steps of God Plato in his fift booke of Laws saith That truth is the guid to all goodnesse be it towards God or towards man that whosoeuer wil be happie must be partaker therof and that by that means he shall be worthie to be beleeued and contrariwise that he shal be vnworthie of credit which loueth to lie He that bare the office of lord chiefe iustice in Aegypt did weare an image of truth hanging at his brest which image of truth was had in singular estimation of the Druides also The men of old time painted their God Pan with two faces meaning thereby that he had skill both of good and euill of truth and falshood taking the face on the forpart to represent truth the which they painted faire beautiful and amiable and the face on the back-part to betokenfalshood the which they portraied soule ilfauored and ouglie like vnto a Goat or some other brute beast of purpose to shew the difference that is betweene truth and vntruth CHAP. XIIII Of Religion and Superstition IN handling the fore-said question so well discussed by Cicero in his books of Duties and well debated among such as haue to deale with matters of state I haue told you heretofore that Machiauell held this erronious opinion That a prince was of necessitie to deale contrarie to faithfulnesse and Religion for the mainteinance of his estate Of Faithfulnesse I haue spoken sufficiēt alreadie now remaineth to enquire of Religion because in some respects it is an appendant of our discourse or to say truly all that euer we haue treated of hitherto and all that euer we shall treat of hereafter depēdeth vpon that For it is the ring-leader of al vertues as the but wherat al they do shoot without the which neither prince nor any other person whatsoeuer can be wise vertuous or happy or do any thing that shal be ought-worth but religion is of it selfe behofful profitable to al thing as saith S. Paul in his epistle to Timothie For it is vnpossible that any of the things which are in nature should continue
in their being and state without calling vpon God considering that it is through his fauour and goodnesse that all things abide in their perfection as Philo saith in his third booke of the life of Moses In so much that a gouernour of people cannot haue a greater good thing in this world nor a thing more beseeming his maiestie than Religion and that it is the greatest honour that can be for him to stand in aw of God the which dutie vttereth it selfe in godlinesse and religion For thereby he honoreth God and is honored of God and hath an entrance into all vertues The same author expounding Genesis saith that by the tree of life is betokened the greatest of all vertues namely Godlinesse the which maketh the soule immortall Wherevnto accordeth S. Ambrose in the sixt of his Epistles where he sayth that the tree of life is the root of godlinesse and that to doe due honour and seruice to our Lord and God is the verie substance of our life And Mercurie saith that by Religion man is replenished with all good things and made to abound in heauenly vnderstanding The emperour Theodosius was woont to say that by Religion peace is maintained and enemies in war time put to flight Whosoeuer then will attaine to vertue and to the souereigne good cannot come to it but by Religion and by seeking it at Gods hand who hath promised to graunt vs whatsoeuer wee aske with a good heart so it be rightfull For God liketh well of such as call vpon him with a true heart saith Dauid in the hundred and foure and forteeth Psalme bringeth to passe the desires of them that feare and loue him heareth their cries saueth them and keepeth them Hee that loueth God sayth Ecclesiasticus shall be heard when he praieth for his sinnes so as he shall abstaine from them and he shal be heard in his daily praier And as Plato sayth in his fourth booke of Lawes A good man ought that man to bee which shall offer sacrifice vnto God and be present at the diuine ceremonies and there is not any thing more beautifull more expedient more behoofful to a happie life nor more beseeming a man than to giue himselfe to the seruing of God and to the maâ—ing of oblations praiers and supplications vnto God And the same Plato saith in his Theetetus That mans felicitie consisteth in Religion to Godward which is the greatest vertue that can be among men And as saith Xenophon in his first booke of the trainment of Cirus It is easier to obtaine any thing at the hand either of God or of man by honouring them in our prosperitie than by praying and suing vnto them in our aduersitie Now then in treating of vertues it behoueth vs as saith Iamblichus in speaking of mysteries to begin at the best and most pretious which is Religion and the seruice of God a naturall propertie as saith Proclus that is incident to al men and is essentiall in man Religion and godlinesse are wel neere both one For godlines as saith Mercurie the great is nothing els but the knowledge of God and Religion is the knowledge of the ceremonies belonging to the worship of God Plutarch saith in the life of Paulus Aemilius That Religion is the skill how to serue God And Cicero in his Rhetorike saith That it is the bringer of the ceremonies concerning the things that belong to the God-head so as there is no great difference betwixt the one and the other According to Festus Pompeius We call those Religious which can skill what is to be done and what is to be left vndone Godlinesse then or Religion is the seruice which we do vnto God in worshipping him as altogither good almightie and the author and creator of all things In this acknowledgement did Abel make his offerings and Enos begin to call vpon God Afterward Moses brought the law of God to the children of Israel written in two tables wherof the first concerneth Religion the honor that ought to be yeelded vnto God and the other concerneth our dutie towards our neighbour commaunding vs to beleeue in God only to loue him with all our heart to worship him only and none other to giue no honour to any thing wrought by mens hands nor to any other creature but only to the liuing God to forbeare to take his name in vaine by swearing by it and much more by forswearing and to take one day of rest in the weeke to dedicate the same vnto God and to cease from all worke and to intend to the seruing of him And secondly he commaundeth vs to honor our father and mother to abstaine from murther theft sals-witnessing whoredome and the coueting of any thing whatsoeuer Now we find that not only the Israelits who had the law written but also the heathen which had it not did wholly obserue it as we shall see by this discourse chiefly in the case of Religion We see what is written therof by such as had not the knowledge of God reuealed vnto them as namely how diuinely the great Mercurie hath written thereof and how his Pimander reuealeth wonderfull secrets vnto him which are so conformable to our misteries that they seeme to be drawne out of the same fountaine And the thing that is most wonderfull is that he speaketh of the three persons as if he had bin instructed thereof by the writings of the gospell and specially of the wisdome whom he calleth the sonne of God to whom he attributeth the creating of all things according to that which S. Iohn saith therof in the beginning of his Gospell Next vnto Mercurie followeth Plato who for that cause is called the diuine And after them haue followed many other Philosophers as is to be seen by their writings by the things which S. Austin of Eugubie hath painfully gathered into his books which he hath made of continuall Philosophie The Sabines worshipped God in three persons naming the one Holie the other Fidius and the third Semipater And in their oths they did commonly put Fidius in the middest as who would say that vnder that name they coÌ„prehended al the three persons wherof came their great oth of Medius fidius Numa Pompilius king of Romanes was not of opinion that there were so many gods as he himselfe forged after the example of others For he wrote against such vngodlinesse which books being found after his death were burned by commaundement of the Senate as contrarie to the worshipping of many gods which follie there was no way as then to put out of their heads wherein Numa did verie ill in that he had leuer to sticke to the Superstition of the multitude than to tell them his mind without dissimulation how he made idols neuerthelesse the people were forbidden to beleeue that God had the shape of beast or man insomuch that in those first times there was not in Rome any image of God either painted carued or cast in mould
action For as Cicero saith All vertue consisteth in action Concerning the which we will hold still the precept which he giueth vs in his books of Duties where he saith That whosoeuer will be wise must eschew two vices one is he must not vphold things vnknown as known and to eschew the falling into that vice he must spend time and labour in considering things aforehand For if a mans wit be not confirmed and fortified by reason he doth easily wauer and is easily driuen from the discourse wheron he was grounded at the first Therefore it behooueth that the resolution whereto he sticketh be firme and not subiect to alteration least he doe things afore he haue well considered and tried theÌ„ and so it befal him as doth to liquerous persons which oftentimes desire some meat with â—ouer-earnest appetit wherof wheÌ„ they haue once had their fil by by they be weary of it which thing happeneth to such as enterprise any thing lightly and without good aduisement aforehand But the choice that is grounded vpon sure knowledge and firme discourse of reason dooth neuer alter though the thing that was vndertaken come not to good end The other vice wherof Cicero maketh mention is that some men set all their studie vpon things difficult and needlesse after the maner of the ouer-profound wisdome of men in old time to the which wisdome Socrates would in no wise giue himselfe Therfore let vs omit that kind of wisdome as wherof we haue not to treat here and wherunto we cannot attaine For the former Philosophers gaue themselues the title of Wise men yet notwithstanding those that haue bin wiser than they would not take that title vnto them As Pithagoras who said He was but only a louer of wisdome And Socrates who confessed himselfe to know nothing By reason wherof he was accounted the wisest man of his time And neuer since was there any man so proud and presumptuous as to take that title vpon him As for vs that are Christians we ought to reiect it vtterly because the name of wisdome is attributed to the sonne of God and that God only is wise so that we agree with the philosophers That wisdome consisteth rather in heauenly things and in a certaine contemplation than in action And therfore letting it alone we will returne to the other contemplatiue vertue which is called Discreetnesse and commonly Wisdome also But that is an vnpropper kind of speaking whether we apply the tearme to matter of vnderstanding or to matter of art As for example when we say that Phidias was a wise ingrauer in so saying we intend to shew the vertue of the art because wisdome is the perfectest of all skils Which word Wisdome I shall be faine to vse sometimes because it is so vsed in our common speech not for the wisdome that searcheth things diuine wonderfull and hard to attaine vnto but for the vertue of deliberating which we call Discreetnesse wherewith we haue to deale in humane affaires For as Aristotle saith in his sixt booke of his Morals No man consulteth of things that are vnpossible and whose end is not the good that consisteth in action But Discreetnesse which the common sort call wisdome and consisteth chiefly in the choise of good from euil is not goten but by aduised deliberation wherthrough we refuse the euill and chuse the good Which thing cannot be done by a foole or by a harebraind person For as Salomon saith in his Prouerbs The foole hath no delight in Discreetnesse but in the imaginations of his owne heart Philâ— the Iew expounding the first chapter of Moses saith That by the knowledge of good and euill Discreation is to be vnderstood which discerneth and deemeth as a iudge betweene one thing and another Therefore let vs come to the definition of Discreetnesse the which Cicero in his Academiks calleth the Art of liuing and which we may say to be the way and path that leadeth to the morall vertues Aristotle saith that Discreetnesse is an habit matched with the very reason that is peculiar to action and discourseth what is good or euil And in another place he saith That it is the vertue of the reasonable part which prepareth the things that pertain to happinesse meaning the happinesse that coÌ„sisteth in the good estate of the soule and not in the outward euent of things For the well doing of things is the end of our actioÌ„s of our taking of theÌ„ in hand And therfore a good housholder whom we call a good husband a good coÌ„mon-weale man whom we call also a man that hath good skill in matters of state of whom the one hath an eye to the things that are good for himselfe and the other to the things that are good for the common-weale are esteemed wise and discreet when they performe their charge well There is yet another difference betweene a discreet man and a wel-aduised man For the man which aimeth at some certaine point and imployeth all his naturall wits to reach therunto if it be for an euill end is neuerthelesse accounted wel-aduised wheras to say more truly he is subtle and wilie and if it be for a good end and in a vertuous matter he is counted wise and discreet For as Aristotle saith in his Morals It is vnpossible for an euill man to be wise But he that in all thing seeth cleerely what is true and can by good iudgement and sharpenesse of wit conceiue the reason therof that man is reputed wise and therfore men seeke vnto him in all their affaires And as in sailing saith Socrates men beleeue the Pilot of the ship so ought we to beleeue the wisest in al the actions of our life For the Pilot guideth the ship by his discretion and as Homer saith in his Iliads One Wagoner outgoeth another by his aduisement It is not by the strength and lightsomnesse of body but by discreation and well-aduisednesse that men doe great things And as Horace saith in his Odes Force without discretion ouerthroweth it selfe For wisdome is better than strength saith Ecclesiasticus And Salomon saith in his Prouerbs that the wise man hath great strength for by discretion is warre made and by good counsell is victorie obtained Phocilides saith that a wise man is more worth than a strong man And Euripides saith That wise counsell is able to vanquish great hosts And therefore at Lacedemon the captaine that had compassed his matters by policie did sacrifice to their gods with an Oxe and he that had compassed them by force sacrificed a cocke For although they were a warlike people yet they deemed that exploit to be greater and more beseeming a man that was atchieued by good aduisement skill and reason than that which was executed by valeantnesse and force of arms And as Alamander the Sarzin said Those that are of most skill in warre how strong soeuer they be besides had leuer to intrap their
thing which is not rightfull and I commaund not any thing which redoundeth not more to the benefit of the commonweale than to mine own profit To conclude Wisdome is a shield against all misfortune Men in old time were wont to say that a wise man might shape his fortune as he listed supposing that misfortune be it neuer so ouerthwart is wonderfully well ouer ruled by the discreation of a wise and sage person And as Plutarch saith in the life of Fabius The Gods doe send men good lucke and prosperitie by means of vertue and discreation notwithstanding that the euents of fortune be not all in our power as said Siramnes who being demaunded why his so goodly so wise discourses had not euents answerable to their deserts because quoth he to say and to doe what I list is in mine owne power but the sequele and successe thereof is altogether in fortune and in the king Therefore when Phocion the Athenian had resisted Leosthenes in a certaine case wherof notwithstanding the euent was prosperous and saw that the Athenians gloried of the victorie which Leosthenes had gotten I am well contented quoth he that this is done but yet would I not but that the other had bin councelled Iulius Caesar gloried in his good fortune but yet his bringing of his great enterprises to passe was by his good gouernment and experience in feats of warre To be short the wise and discreet man findeth nothing strange neither feareth he any thing no not though the whole frame of the world as Horace saith should fall vpon him The reason wherof is that he had minded it long time aforehand and had fore-considered what might happen vnto him and had prouided remedie for all by his foresight and discreation For as Salomon saith The mind of the wise shall not be attainted no not euen with feare Such folke are not subiect neither too great greefe nor too excessiue ioy they neuer waÌ„t hope neither do they quaile for any misfortâ—ne so that they be hard to be ouercome because they be fully resolued of all things that may betide them and do take order for all things aforehand by their wisedome For wisedome saith Salomon is to his ownour as a liuely fountaine as a deepe water and as a flowing streame And as a ioint of timber closed together in the foundation of a building cannot be disioined so also cannot the heart that is stablished in the thoughts of discretion And as S. Austin sayth Wisdome teacheth vs to continue at one stay both in prosperitie and aduersitie like vnto the hand which changeth not his name but is alwaies one whether it be held out or gathered vp together And albeit that wisdome be a gift of God and come of a well disposed mind and of a good vnderstanding yea and of a body that is well tempered as witnesseth Galen in his first booke of Temperatures where he sayth That the first action of a man of good temperature is Discretion yet is it gotten by learning and discipline For the true desire of discipline is the beginning of wisdome Also it is gotten by long experience and knowledge of things past and by continuall exercise in dealing with sundrie affairs For as Afranius sayd by report of Aulus Gellius Wisedome is begotten by vse and conceiued by memorie meaning thereby that it consisteth in bookes which put vs in remembrance of things past and in experience which is the vse and practise of wisedome In so much that neither he that hath but only learning nor he that hath but only experience is able to attain vnto wisdome but he that will deale perticularly and vniuersally in all affairs must haue them both as well the one as the other And as Aristotle saith there are three things needfull to the obtainment of Wisdome namely Nature Learning and Exercise For it is in vaine to striue against Nature Learning must be had at learned mens hands and Exercise is the perfection of learning And therefore it will not be amisse to treat of Learning and Experience CHAP. II. That the good gouernour must match Learning and Experience together AS the body is made the more strong and better disposed by moderat exercise so mans vnderstanding groweth and encreaseth by learning and becommeth the stronger and better disposed to the managing of affairs In which respect Demetrius Phalareus counselled Ptolomie king of Aegypt to make diligent search for such bookes as treated of kingdoms and declared the qualities that are requisit for the well and due executing of the office of a king And Alexander Seuerus neuer sat in counsell vpon any case of importance or vpon any matter of state and war but he called such to counsell as bare the name to be well seene in histories Bias would not haue any man chosen a gouernour in his common-wealth but such as were of skill saieng that the want of skill is the cause of great inconueniences Philip commaunded Alexander to obey Aristotle and to be a good student to the intent quoth he that ye do not many things whereof ye shal repent you afterward Adrian as well in peace as in warre had of the skilfullest Philosophers alwaies about his person and among others he had two great lawyers Saluius and Neratius Plutarke in the life of Coriolan sayth that the greatest fruit that men reape of the knowledge of good learning is that therby they tame and meeken their nature that afore was wild and fâ—erce so that by vse of reason they find the Meane and leaue the Extream When one asked Alfons king of Arragon wherfore he did so greatly loue learning Because qd he by reading I haue learned war and the law of arms acknowledging therein that no wit be it neuer so good can fashion it selfe wel and become worthie of the charge which it shall vndertake without learning and doctrine Like as the fattest ground in the world can beare no corne except it be well tilled so nature of it selfe draweth and prouoketh vs by giuing vs a desire of knowledge and skill as Cicero saith in his books of Duties but Ignorance which wee find fault with as with the thing that darkeneth and defaceth mans vnderstanding cannot be done away but by learning My meaning is not to make a prince perfectly skilful in all sciences but only in that kind of learning which concerneth histories and precepts of good life according to the counsell of Demetrius and Isocrates who said that the wisdome which is proper to kings consisteth in Learning and Experience of which two Learning teacheth the way to doe well and Experience teacheth the meane how to vse Learning well And albeit that Traian who was one of the best princes of the world gaue not himselfe to learning for any commendation therof that Plutarke made vnto him saieng that the gods immortall had not made him to turne ouer the leaues of bookes but to deale with martiall affairs yet was he not
ruine by it But Agrippa pacified the whole matter by his eloquence and brought the people backe to obedience when they had alreadie banded themselues in companies Pisistratus handled the Athenians so cunningly with the finesse of his toung that he made himself king of Athens Such as were sent by Cinna to haue slaine Antonie the Orator were so surprised with his eloquence that when they heard him speake they had no mind at all to kill him The eloquence of Cicero caused the disanulling of the law for the diuiding of lands whereof the people of Rome had conceiued so great liking and which had bene so often propounded in so much that when they had heard him speake they vtterly abolished it for euer whereof Plinie maketh a wonder The like grace of speech enforced Iulius Caesar to pardon Ligarius whome he was resolutly determined to haue put to death To be short it is a thing of so great power that a prince who hath many vnder his charge can in no wise forbeare it And if he fortune not to be eloquent inough of himselfe it would behoue him to haue some good orator about him as Moses tooke Aaron to persuade the people and to preach vnto them because he found himselfe vnfit for that purpose For it is to no purpose for a man to haue goodly conceits vnlesse he put them forth For according to the saieng of Themistocles Eloquence is like a peece of tapistrie wrought with figures and imagerie which shew themselues when the cloth is vnfoldâ—d and are hidden when it is lapped vp together and euen so a man cannot shew the goodly conceits of his mind vnlesse hee haue eloquence to vtter them Cicero saiih in his Orator that by the eloquence and persuasion of such as could handle their toungs well the people that were scattered abroad in the wild fields and forrests were first brought into cities and townes It is of such force that it maketh the things to be beleeued that were incredible and smootheth things that were vnpolished And as the mind is the beautie of a man so is Eloquence the beautifier of the mind The same author in the second booke of the Nature of gods saith thus A beautiful and diuine thing soothly is Eloquence for it maketh vs to learne the things we know not and to teach the things we know by it we persuade and comfort the sorrowfull by it we encourage them that bee dismaied by it we strike them dead that are too lustie by it we pacifie the angrie and kill folks lusts that is it that hath drawne vs into fellowship into societie into cities to liue according to equitie and law Yet is it not inough to haue learning and eloquence vnlesse they bee also matched with experience Bias in his lawes would haue a Prince to be chosen of the age of fortie yeares to the end he should gouerne well by good discretion and experience For it is well known that neither Phisitions nor Generals of war be they neuer so well instructed with precepts can well discharge their duties without experience And as the emperor Adrian was wont to say in the generall ordering and managing of matters of State One yeares experience is better woorth than ten yeares learning And for that cause he preferred Antonie to the Empire before Marcus Aurelius as making more account of Antonies experience than of Marks lerning Agamemnon desired not so much to haue learned and eloquent men of his counsell as to haue such as Nestor was that is to say men of great experience Plutarke saieth that the wise and valeant captaine Philopemen presuming that his skill which he had in ordering a battel vpon the land would also serue him alike vpon the sea learned to his cost what sway experience beareth in matters of chiualrie and how great aduantage they haue in all things which are well experienced The skill how to gard and defend a mans selfe is not learned saieth Thucidides by talking but accustoming himselfe to pains-taking and to handling of his weapon One asked Zeuxidamus why the Lacedemonians had no lawes written because quoth he they should rather enure themselues to the doing of noble and honorable things than to read of them Panthoidas said the same to the Anthenians that asked him what he thought of the Philosophers which had disputed before him assuring them that they had spoken goodly things but to themselues vnprofitable whereby he meant to doe the Athenians to vnderstand that they had vertue in their mouths but not in their deeds The knowledge that is gotten serueth to the ordering of mens affairs but if it be without practise it is like a body without a soule Very vnwise therfore was he which by his sophistrie would haue made Iphicrates beleeue that the Philosopher is the onely good captaine And we may well say with Anaxippus that such discoursers doe shew themselues wise in words but in effect are starke fooles Now therefore we conclude with Aristotle that such as will deale in matters of state must aboue all things haue experience and this experience is gotten by practise and exercise which is the perfecter of Learning For we see that by exercise a weake man becommeth strong and doth better away with trauell than he that being strong doth not vse exercise as Socrates sayth in Xenophon Againe they that bee practised in all things deeme truly of duties and vnderstandeth what belongeth to euery man And as saith Musonius Vertue is a science that consisteth not only in vnderstanding but also in action For euen as in Phisicke or Musicke it is not sufficient to be skilfull of the art but there must also be a practise of the actions that depend vpon the art and science so in the science of Gouernment a prince must be practised in that which concerneth action rather than in that which concerneth contemplation Can he thinke himselfe to be of good skil which when he is to go in hand with his worke findeth it cleane contrarie to his imagination Surely as Terence sayth there was neuer yet any man so well aduised afore-hand in his determinations whome age experience haue not crossed with some strange encounter so as he hath found himselfe to seeke in the things wherein he thought himselfe most skilfull and when he came to the execution hath reiected that which he thought to bee best afore he began to go in hand with it And that is allegorically the very tree of the knowledge of good and euill after the opinion of S. Austen in his thirteenth booke of the citie of God For in matter of State it is very dangerous to take white for blacke and to thinke a mans selfe to know that which hee knoweth not Therefore it behooueth a prince to be a dealer in his owne affairs and to exercise his mind at times in reading of bookes without forgetting to exercise his body He must so counterpeise his mind and his body as
our footsteps in the right path is so gracious vnto vs by the intercession of his welbeloued son that for his sake our sins are not imputed to vs. Wherfore this vertue consisteth in praising God in worshipping him in giuing him thankes in obeieng him and in doing his coÌ„mandements For Gods commandements and testimonies are righteousnes truth saith Dauid in the 119 Psalme and they doe bring vs forth humilitie patience innocencie trustinesse and all manner of vertues Another sort of Righteousnes is called naturall because it is borâ—e with vs as for example to honour and serue our fatherâ—s mothers to cherish our children to do good to theÌ„ that doe good to vs are properties of nature and whosoeuer doth otherwise is esteemed an vnkind monster For as saith Cassiodorus Euen they that are ignorant of law do neuerthelesse acknowledge reason and truth because that so to doe is not peculiar to man only but also is coÌ„mon to the brute beasts to whom nature hath giuen such inclination For we see that all kinds of beasts do cherish their yong ones wherto they be led and taught by nature and therfore the lawyers call it the Law of nature The Storke cherisheth his syre and his dam when they be old and therfore the acknowledging recompencing of kindnesse with like kindnesse againe is called in greeke Autipelargia as ye would say A Counterstorking The brute beast knoweth him that feedeth him and is mindful of him that doth him good as appeareth by a certain lion which could well skill to requite the pleasure that a slaue had done him in taking a thorne out of his foot For he fed the slaue a long time in the caue where he had hidden himselfe afterward when both of them were by chance taken and carried to Rome and the slaue being condemned to death for robbing his master was cast vnto the lions to be deuoured by them this lion being there among the rest knowing him saued him and defended him from hurt yet the time was past long afore that the slaue had done him the said pleasure Now then it is a naturall thing to do good to them that do vs good The third kind of righteousnesse is that which we call ciuill which consisteth in yeelding vnto euery man that which beloÌ„geth vnto him in gouerning cities and countries in maintaining coÌ„mon society in such like things The fourth is called Iudiciall which belongeth to those that haue charge to iudge of controuersies betweene parties according to lawes For the maintaining of these lattertwaine it behoueth to haue magistrats and therfore they beloÌ„g properly to princes kings soueraign magistrats may be reduced both into one considering that iudges do but supply the roomes of their soueraigns Also the law which serueth for the executing of iustice in giuing vnto euery man that which is his right is called of the lawyers the Ciuil Law and not the Iudiciall Law By these diuisions a man may see what the dutie of a prince is in case of iustice for the worthy executing wherof he must aboue al things be religious and feare God as I haue said afore and therefore I will speake no more thereof Also I will omit the naturall Righteousnes because it is common to all liuing creatures but the ciuill and iudicial Righteousnes is peculiar to kings and gouernours of countries and consisteth first in well keeping the lawes of their countries and in causing them to be well kept secondly in taking good order in cases of controuersie and strife between partie and partie by themselues in their owne persons or by chusing fit persons to doe iustice Thirdly in doing right to the iudges themselues and to the other officers whom the prince hath set in authoritie namely in honoring and rewarding them according to their deserts and likewise in punnishing them for their misdoings and lastly in doing iustice among their men of warre As touching the first point which concerneth the maintaining of the written lawes it is so necessarie that it may well be said that the honor of a countrie dependeth therevpon according to the wise answere of Pittacus who being demaunded of Craesuâ— king of Lidia wherin consisted the honor and maiestie of a kingdome answered Vpon a little peece of wood meaning the laws written in tables of wood as who would say that where law hath his force and strength there the realme florisheth For the law is the stickler betweene right and vnright punishing the bad and defending the good saith Cicero in his xij booke of Laws And Plato saith in his common-weale that that common-weale goes vtterly to wrecke where the law ouer-ruleth not the magistrats but the magistrats ouer-rule the law On the coÌ„trarie part al goeth well where the law ouerruleth the magistrats and the magistrats are obedient to law It belongeth to magistrats to keepe the lawes and to beare in mind that the lawes be committed to their custodie saith Cicero in his books of duties Aristotle saith in his matters of state that they which would haue law to reigne in a citie or common-weale would haue God to reigne there Aliamenes being asked why he would not receiue the presents of the Messenians Because that if I should haue receiued them quoth he I could not haue had peace with the lawes For to say truth the lawes are as the pillers of a state vpholding it as pillers vphold a house so as the casting down of them is the ouerthrow of the house Wherefore men ought to take good heed how they breake lawes which hold one another together like the links of a chaine For by vndoing one all the rest follow after And euen so befalleth it in lawes when men fal to dispensing with them Not without good cause therefore did Adrian the emperour ordaine that no man should bring vp any straunge custome in Rome And as Plutarch reporteth in the life of Paulus Aemilius men forsake the keeping of the chiefe foundations of the state of a publick-weale when they refuse the care of the diligent keeping of the ordinances thereof be they neuer so little and small And Plato in his common-weale forbiddeth the chaunging of any thing yea euen of so much as the plaies that young children are wont to vse because the chaunging of them changeth the manners of youth without feeling and maketh folke to make no account of antient things and to couet and esteeme of new things a matter very dangerous to any state And anon after he saith againe in these expresse words I tell you that all manner of alteration except it be in euill things is very dangerous both in diet of the body and in manners of the mind And I see not but that the yoong folke which are permitted to haue other plaies games and pastimes than haue bene accustomed aforetimes will also differ in behauior from the youth of old times and being come to such difference they will also seeke a differing
sayd battel of Cannas how happeneth it that you come not to the Romans still Thinke you that wee be so leawd and so vnthankfull that we vvill not reward the vertue of our good friends according to their vvorthinesse vvhich is honoured euen of our enemies And after hee had imbraced him in his armes he presented him vvith a goodly horse of seruice for the wars and gaue him fiue hundred dragmaes Whereupon from that day foorth he neuer forsooke Marcellus but became very loiall and a most earnest discouerer of such as tooke part against the Romans Frederike the emperour and king of Naples minding to punish the rebels of Samimato made countenance as though he had not espied their conspiracie terming them euerywhere good and loiall subiects to the end that despaire should not cause them to enter into arms against him openly as the lords of Naples that followed the part of Conradine had done against Charles duke of Aniou For when they saw that Conradine was ouercome and that there was no hope for them to obtaine pardon at the hands of Charles of Aniou they fel to rebelling and fortified themselues in diuers places Likewise when people are to far inraged it is no time to punnish but rather to reconcile and appease When the Parisians rebelled for the aids to put them in feare men began to throw some of the rebels into the water But in steed of dismaieng them they burst out into greater furie than afore in so much that the executioners were faine to giue ouer their punishment for feare of increasing the commotion in steed of appeasing it Agesilaus hauing discouered a very dangerous conspiracie did put some of the traitors to death secretly without arraignment or indictment contrarie to the lawes of Lacedemon For vnto people that are set vpon mischiefe not onely ouer-rigorous iustice but also biting words are dangerfull considering that in time of trouble and in time of commotion one word or one letter may doe more harme than a notable iniutie shall doe another time And euen so besell it to Macrinus for a letter which hee wrate vnto Mesa wherein he told him that he had bought the emperorship of a sort of couetous souldiers that had no consideration of deserts but onely who would most giue With which words the men of warre being chafed did all sweare that it should cost Macrinus his head in recompence of the wrong that he had done them And so it came to passe indeed We haue spoken sufficiently of the discretion meeldnesse and vprightnesse which a prince ought to haue in cases of iustice for the well and worthie executing thereof But for as much as it is vnpossible for a prince to attend at al times to the doing of iustice he must needs do iustice by deputies and set men of good and honest reputation in his place to do right betweene partie and partie when coÌ„trouersies rise betwixt them as Moses did by the counsell of his father in law Iethro In the chusing of whome a prince may as far ouershoot himselfe as if he iudged all causes without any foreconsideration For he that maketh not choise of good iudges dooth great wrong to the common-weale No importunat sute no earnest intreatance no gifts that could be giuen no fauour no familiaritie could euer cause Alexander Scuerus to bestow any office of iustice vpon any man whome he deemed not fit â—or it and vertuous in the administration of it Such therefore should be chosen as are of skill and of good life and they ought to haue good wages and not to take any other thing than their ordinarie stipend allowed them by the prince Traian vsed that kind of dealing of whom it is written that he could not abide that iudges should take any thing for their hire but that they should be recoÌ„pensed at his hand according to their seruice and good dealing Adrian likewise enquired of the life conuersation of the senators and when he had in truth found any that was vertuous poore he increased his intertainment and gaue him rewards of his owne priuat goods Contrariwise when he found any to be giuen to vice he neuer left vntill he had driuen him out of the senat Now then the prince that will haue good iudges yea and good officers of all sorts must either honor them and reward them or else punish them according to their deserts As touching the honoring of them Augustus hath shewed vs an example therof who at his entering into the senat-house saluted all the senators and at his going out would not suffer any of them to rise vp to him Alexander Seuerus did greatly honour the presidents of the prouinces causing theÌ„ to sit with him in his chariot that men might see the honour that he yeelded to the ministers of iustice and that he might the more conueniently talke with them concerning the rule and gouernment wherof they had the charge He neither made nor punished any senator without the aduice of the whole senat And vpon a time when he saw a freeman of his walking betweene two senators he sent one to buffet him saieng it was vnseemly that he should presume to meddle among senators which might well haue bin their seruant Likewise the Emperour Claudius neuer dealt in any affaire of importance but in the senat Euen Tiberius himselfe had great regard of them and saluted them whensoeuer he passed by them And as touching the rewarding of them the foresaid Alexander may serue for an example to good princes For he did great good to iudges and rewarded them bountifully And being asked on a time why he did so As a prince quoth he neither ought nor in reason can be truly called a prince except he minister iustice so be ye sure that when I find an officer which doth his dutie in that behalfe I cannot pay or recompence him sufficiently That is the cause why I doe them so many courtesies besides that in making them rich I bereaue them of al cause to impouerish other men But like as a good iudge cannot be too much recoÌ„pensed so an euill iudge cannot be too much punished We haue a notable example knowne to all men concerning the punishment of the iudge whom Cambyses made to be flaine quick and with his skin curried caused the seat of iudgement to bee couered and made the same iudges son to sit as iudge on it that in ministring iustice he should bethinke him of his fathers punishment Albeit that Antonine was very pittifull yet was he very rigorous to iudges that did not their dutie insomuch that wheras in other cases he pardoned eueÌ„ the greeuousest offences in this case he punnished euen the lightest There was also another thing in him right worthie of commeÌ„dation in the execuâ—ion of iustice namely that to auoid confusion he caused al such to be dispatched out of hand as had any sute in the court And when any office was void he would
his sweet sleepe through feare or hope For the affectionat minding of riches saith Ecclesâ—asticus pineth the flesh and the carke therof bereaueth a man of sleepe The same Horace writing to Crispus Salustius saith That that man is rich not which is a great king but which hath his lusts in subiection and that the thirst of him which is diseased with the dropsie is not to be stanched but by drawing the waterie humor out of the veins and by remouing the cause out of the disease Here by it is easie to decide the other question namely By what means a man may become rich For Socrates teacheth it in one word saying Ye shal easily become rich if you impouerish your lusts and desire Epicurus said That he that will make a man rich must not increase his goods but diminish his lusts For there is no riches so great as contentment And therfore the Philosopher Crates beholding how folke did buy and sell in the market said These folke are counted happie because they doe things contrarie one to another and I thinke my selfe happie that I haue rid my hands of buying and selling The true way then to become rich is to couet nought and to be vnmindfull of gaine specially of vnhonest gaine for that is no better than losse as saith Hesiodus For like as the liberall man is loued of all men according to this saying of Salomon in the nineteenth of his Prouerbs Euery man is a friend to him that giueth so the couetous person is hated of all men For the one helpeth the poore with his goods the other is loth to giue any thing In this respect Socrates said that a man must not require either talke to a dead man or a good turne of a nigard But there is nothing so royall and princely as to doe good vnto many as saith Cicero in his booke of Duties And it is found that there is more pleasure in giuing than in taking as saith S. Paul and also Hesiodus in his booke of Works and Daies And Ecclesiasticus saith Let not thy hand be open to receiue and shut to giue Dauid esteemeth him happie that lendeth and hath pitie of the poore saying That he shall euer haue wherwith to doe good without failing but he that stoppeth his eares at the cry of the needie shall crie himselfe and not be heard The same doth Salomon also say in the xxj of the Prouerbs And the Psalmist saith thus I haue bin young and now am old yet saw I neuer the righteous man forsaken nor his seed driuen to begge their bread but hee is still giuing lending and releeuing and his of-spring is seene to grow in good fortune and foyzon On the contrarie part The vnrighteous shall be driuen for verie hunger to borrow and not be able to pay but the righteous shall haue wherwith to shew their burning charitie Virgil in his sixth booke of Aenaeas putteth those persons in hell which haue done no good to their friends kins-folke and neighbours but haue bin wholly wedded to their riches without imparting them to other folks Acheius king of Elis was slaine by his owne subiects for couetousnes for his ouer-charging them with impositions Ochus king of Persia was blamed for that by reason of couetousnes he would neuer go into the country of Persland because that by the law of the realme he was bound to giue to euery woman that had born children one French crowne and to euerie woman with child two The only vice that Vespasian had was that he was extreamly couetous deuised many taxes moreouer bought things to sell theÌ„ again dealing more neerly for gain than a poore man would haue done which was great pitie for this emperors other vertues were defaced by that vice wherof princes ought to be wel ware For as Plutarch saith neuer shall any ciuil matter proceed wel without iustice without refraining from the lust desire of getting Hereby we see that as liberalitie is called iustice so couetousnes is nothing els but vniustice the which Bion the Sophist termed the principall towne of all vngratiousnes And Timon said That couetousnes ambitioÌ„ are the grounds of al mischiefe S. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothie calleth it The root of all euill saith That such as are wedded to it are falne from the faith Whosoeuer hath an ambitious or a couetous mind saith Euripides sauoreth not of any iust thing neither desireth he it and moreouer he is cumbersome to his friends and the whole citie where he dwelleth I am of opinion saith the same Euripides in his Heraclides that the righteous man is borne â—o the benefit of his neighbour but as for him that hath his heart turned away vnto gain he is vprofitable to his friends and hard to be delt with Salomon is the 15 of his Prouerbs saith That he which is giueÌ„ to couetousnes troubleth his own house but he that hateth gifts shall liue for gifts do blind the wise And in the 29 he saith That vnder a good king the land shall â—lourish but vnder a king that is couetous or loueth impositions it shall soon be destroied And in the xxiij againe he saith Labor not to be rich neither cast thine eies vpon the riches which thou caÌ„st not haue For they make theÌ„selues wings like eagles and flie vp into the aire that is to say they vanish away Againe in the xxviij he saith The faithfull man shall haue aboundance of blessings but he that hasteth to be rich shall not be guiltlesse neither knoweth he what want shall befall him The oracle of Apollo had foretold that Sparta should not perish but by couetousnesse and so it came to passe In like maner befell it to the citie of Athens For about the end of the wars of Peloponnesus Amintas began to corrupt the iudges with bribes and thence foorth they neuer prospered No other thing was the ruine of Rome Which thing Iugurth perceiuing who had bribed a great part of the senat with his monie said this O faire citie set to sale if a chapman were to be found for thee Plutarch in the life of Coriolane saith That after that bribes began once to preuaile in the election of officers it passed from hand to hand euen to the senators and iudges and from the iudges to the men of war insomuch that in the end it caused the common-weale to be reduced to a Monarchie and brought euen the men of arms themselues in subiection to monie so as the Pretorian souldiers sold the empire to them that paid faire gold for it and proceeded so far as to set it to open sale by the drum to him that offered most and was the last chapman CHAP. V. That Gentlenesse and Courtesie be needfull in the ordering of affairs the contraries whereunto be sternnesse and roughnesse OF Liberalitie proceedeth courtesie and Gentlenesse or rather Liberalitie proceedeth of kind-heartednesse and good will for as saith S. Paul in
meane betweene fearefulnesse and fooâ— hardinesse for it represâ—eth feare and moderateth boldnesse True it is that it is harder to restraine feare than to moderat boldnesse For to abide daunger time and custome be requisit for the enduring of the inconuenience but when a thing is to be aduentured vpon it is done vpon the sodaine and with a speedinesse the which is easier to be moderated than feare Therefore the state of Prowesse consisteth chiefly in the contempt of greefe and death And that man is counted a man of noble courage which when an honest or honourable death is offered vnto him is nothing afraid of it But for to put a mans selfe in daunger vpon a brunt of sorrow or anger cannot as saith Aristotle bee counted valiantnesse Fearefulnesse is the contrarie to valiantnesse and a corruption of the lawfull iudgement concerning the things that are to be feared or not feared or rather an ignorance of that which is to be feared or not feared Aristotle saith It is a vice of the couragious wherethrough a man trembleth for feare of danger specially of death beleeuing that it is more commendable to saue life by any maner of means than to die honestlie And as saith Ecclesiasticus Like as chaffe and dust in the aire cannot stand against the force of wind so a cowardly heart in the conceit of a foole cannot stand against the violence of feare Generally we feare all that is euill for feare is an expectation of euill as of pouertie sicknesse and such other things whereof we be afraid because of their hurtfulnesse The bold man is cleane contrarie to the fearfull for he is not afraid neither of death nor any other thing He doth not offer but rather cast himself headloÌ„g into danger afore danger come oft-times in danger he is lasie repenteth him that he hath cast himselfe into it But the man of prowesse is cold afore he vndertaketh but ready and sharpe in doing vndertaking Which thing Thucidides declareth sitly and elegantly in saying thus This we haue aboue all others that not only we be hardie but also we deliberate of the things whch we be to take in hand wheras others are bold through ignorance and lasie and slow to vndertake by reason of their vncertain conâ—ultations But those men are aboue all others most excellent who hauing foreconsidered both the good and the euil the pleasure and the displeasure doe not for all that shrinke away from danger On a time one prâ—ised in Catoes presence a rash-naâ—die man for a valiant man of war whervnto Cato answered There was great odswhether a man made great account of vertue or none account at all of his life esteeming those men to be of noble courage not which despised their life without purpose but rather which made so great account of vertue that in respect of that they passed not for life At what time Epaminondas besieged Sparta and was gotten by force into the towne a certaine Lacedemonian named Isadas being not only vnsurnished of armor to defend him but also of apparell came annointed all ouer his bodie with oile as one readie to wrestle and holding in the one hand his Partisane and in his other a sword went and thrust himselfe into the presse of them that sought laying about him and beating downe all his enemies that he found afore him and yet was neuer wouÌ„ded himselfe Afterward the Ephories gaue him a crown in honor of his prowesse but they amerced him by by at a fine of an hundred crowns for being so rash as to hazard himselfe in the peril of battel without armor to defend him Cicero in his Duties saith That we must not shew our selues cowardly for feare of danger and yet we must refraine from thrusting our selues into danger but if necessitie require we must not make account of death And therfore when the Lacedemonians were afraid least some hurt might befall them for refusing to take part with king Philip Dannudas said vnto theÌ„ Yee halfe men what harme can befall vs which passe not for death According to some men there are seuen sorts of valiantnesse which we may rather tearme Visors of valiantnesse For they haue a resemblance of prowesse but if ye plucke off their masks ye shall find them an other thing than they seemed The first fort is termed ciuil which is when a man hazardeth himself for the honor dishonor penalties set downe by the laws vnto such as mis-behaue themselues in war or otherwise This sorth hath more likelihood thaÌ„ the rest because the feare of transgressing the lawes is a certaine kind of prowesse And as Plutarch saith in the life of 〈◊〉 It seemeth that the men of old time tooke 〈…〉 not an vrter priuaâ—â—on of 〈…〉 reproch and a dread of dishonour because that commonly they that are most afraid to transgresse lawes are safest when they be to encounter with the enemie And they that stand not in feare to haue any reproch are not carefull to endure any aduersities Socrates said That Prowesse is a skill and that many are not noble-minded for want of knowing what it is For this cause lawes are verie needfull to set euerie man in his dutie but they cannot make a coward hardie no more than the punishing of lewd men by laws can make all men good But they hold all men to their duties so as good men hate sin for vertues sake and euil men are warie to offend for feare of punishment but no whit doth that change their disposition vnto euill Also the law may enforce a fearfull man to a aduenture but it dischargeth him not of his inclination And as there be some bodies stronger than othersome so also be some minds stronger by nature to endure casualties than othersome Another kind is called Slauish which is when neither for honour nor for dishonour but for necessities sake a man becommeth couragious for necessitie maketh euen cowards couragious as saith Salust or else for feare of punishment as when Iulian the emperour in a battell against the Persians slew tenne of the first that ran away to restraine the rest from doing the like For that punishment compelled them to sight whether they would or no. And William Conquerour duke of Normandie who caused his ships to bee set on fire as soone as he was landed in England to take from his people all other hope of safetie than only in the sword For the greatest meane of safety is to bee out of hope of safetie The third sort is called Warlike which is when we see men of war that are expert in arms doe deeds that seeme to be of hardinesse to such as haue not the experience and yet they faile not to retire when they see the danger And that also cannot be called Valiantnesse no more than mareners can be called Valiant for they being accustomed to tempest doe lesse feare them than doth the man of greatest
to this saying of Salomon in the 18. of his Prouerbs That he that is slouthful at his worke is brother to the scatter-good therfore men must beware of idlenes For as saith Theodorick writing to Festus Like as mans nature is furnished by pains taking so by sluggish idlenesse it decayeth and becommeth beastly Plutarch saith that mens minds do rust and forgrow through idlenes and that as the waters that stand vnoccupied in the shadow do gather filth and infection so the life of them that liue in idlenesse if it haue any thing that may auaile yet because it is not deriued vnto others that other men may tast thereof the natiue force and vertue thereof becommeth corrupt and stale And by and by after I am of opinion saith he that whereas we liue and are borne and grow to be men it is giuen vs of God to make vs to know him Now if this be spoken of all men who ought to employ themselues to all vertuous actions and make their talent profitable what shall we say of Princes who haue that charge of purpose not to hide themselues in a chamber but to be alwayes doing and to trauell for those that are vnder their charge CHAP. X. Of Temperance NOw remaineth the last cardinall vertue called Temperance which in the things that are to be sought or eschewed warneth vs to follow reason and is nothing else but a naturall and interchaungeable agreement of those parts of the Soule which haue the rule of delights the which vertue Socrates called The brideler of bodilie pleasures because all passions are moderated by that Vertue And long time afore him Mercurie in his Pimander in the chapter of Regeneration calleth it Staiednesse a vertue contrarie to all lustings the which he tearmeth The foundation of Righteousnesse Plato in his Phoedo saith That when Reason guideth a mans opinion to that which is best that power is called Temperance Like as on the contrarie part wee call it Intemperance when lust without reason draweth vs to our delights and ouermaistreth vs. Pythagoras said that Temperance is the strength of the mind For as the bodie that is well compacted together indureth heat and cold so they that haue their minds and vnderstandings well disposed do easilie beare the passions of the soule as anger ioy sorrow and such other affections Philo the Iew saith That the soundnesse of the soule consisteth in the good temperature of the irefull lustfull and reasonable powers whereof the reasonable as ladie and mistresse by means of Temperance brideleth the other two as restie horses Democritus was of opinion that Valiantnesse consisteth not onelie in ouercomming enemies but also insubduing desires And as Cicero sayth in his Duties It is no reason that he which cannot be ouercome by feare should be ouercome by his lusts or that he which hath not shrunke for pains taking should yeeld to his delights An euill commaunder is he saith Cato that cannot commaund himselfe For the patient man is better than the strong and he that ouermaistreth his owne heart is better than he that winneth a citie by force saith Salomon in the sixteenth chapter of the Prouerbes Neuerthelesse this vertue differeth from Valiantnesse in this that Valiantnesse vndertaketh things great terrible and difficult and the other withdraweth men from the things that are pleasant and delectable And like as Valiantnesse holdeth more of boldnesse than of feare though it be the meane betweene them both so Temperance being the meane betweene sensuall delightfulnes and insensiblitie approcheth nearer to insensibilitie because it represseth the sensuall delight Socrates said That no man could be wise which was not temperat Saint Paule saith That a good life consisteth in three things namely Godlinesse Vprightnesse and Sobrietie which sobrietie is nothing else but Temperance when we abstaine from all lustes and suffer not our selues to be ouercome by our desires Mercurie saith that temperance is a vertue that bringeth ioy because wee become happie by abstaining from our lusts Among the beasts that are good or euill to eate Moyses doth chiefly commend the Lopiomache which representeth vnto vs Temperance which hath continuall and deadly warre against Intemperance and voluptuousnesse termed of Moyses a Serpent because the one imbraceth frugalitie by contenting it selfe with that which is necessarie for this life without superfluitie and the other is giuen to a kind of sumptuousnesse which maketh the body efteminat and the mind troubled and beastly And like as Temperance appeaseth all desires making them obedient vnto reason so Intemperance marreth the vnderstanding vtterly And as Cicero sayth in the fourth of his Tusculane questions The fountaine of incumberances is Intemperance which withdraweth and estraungeth vs from true reason and is so contrarie vnto it that it is vnpossible to gouerne and restraine the lusts and desires of the heart And therefore in the ten Commandements we be forbidden to couet or lust after any maner of thing For of this coueting springeth Intemperance the roote of all euils as Saint Paule after manie others calleth it in his Epistle to Timothie And saint Iohn saith That in this world is nothing else but coueting and lusting after the delights of the flesh vnder the which may be comprehended Lecherie Slouth and Gluttonie and coueting after the delight of the eies vnder the which are coÌ„prehended the desire of riches which containeth in it all maner of vsurie robberie niggardship and extorcion And desire of honour which he calleth the pride of life vnder the which wee may comprehend all vaineglorie wrath and enuie as I haue said afore in treating of enuy There was a certaine yong man that said it was a goodly thing to haue all that a man could wish But a certaine Philosopher named Monedemus answered that it was a goodlier thing not to desire that whereof a man had no neede Plato and Thales of Milet counted that man happie which was not couetous because hee was maister of his lusts And Socrates as Xenophon reporteth was of opinion that that man could not be vertuous that was a seruant to his delights and that none but they which haue stay of themselues doe say and doe that which is best who chusing the good and refusing the euill do make themselues happie For he liueth well at ease that is contented with a little And Epicurus said That that man had nothing at all which could not away with a little Menander called Temperance the store-house Socraâ—es the foundation of vertue because he which thrusteth downe voluptuousnesse doth consequently and of necessitie acquire all vertues As for example He that is not nice daintie nor gluttonous nor desirous of women nor couetous of riches nor reacheth out his hand to receyue rewardes and can skill to bridle his anger his harted his enuie his sorrow his feare and his ioy for ioy as sayth Plutarch in the life of Aratus beeing entered into a mans minde maketh him sometimes besides himselfe and
worketh him greater incumberance of minde than either sorrow or feare doe On the contrarie part we call him an vntemperant man which is vicious and letteth himselfe loose vnto voluptuousnesse and which as Plato saith in his Phoedon suffereth himselfe to be ouerruled by his delights the which a man ought to passe by with his eares stopped as if they were Meremaids For they bee enemies to reason impediments to all good aduice and blindnesse of the vnderstanding For wheresoeuer voluptuousnesse is there vertue hath no place Therefore Ecclesiasticus turneth vs away from it in these wordes Go not sayth he after thy lusts neither turne thee aside after thy pleasure Architas the Tarentine said That the greatest plague that euer Nature brought forth in this world is delectation or voluptuousnesse For out of that fountaine come all the mischiefs that we haue Philo the Iew saith That voluptuousnesse is likea harlot who to enioy the man whom shee loueth seeketh bawds to set her loue abroch the which are the senses whom voluptuousnesse winneth first of all by them to subdue the vnderstanding afterward For the senses reporting within what they haue seene without do represent vnto the vnderstanding whatsoeuer they haue seene and imprint in it the same affection Antisthenes affirmed that he had leuer to be senselesse than to be surprised with voluptuousnesse for voluptuousnesse bereaueth a man of his vnderstanding no lesse than follie doth and follie may be remedied by medicine but so cannot the other And when it was said vnto him that it was a great pleasure to liue deliciously I pray God quoth he that such pleasure may befall to the children of our enemies At such time as Fabricius was Ambassadour vnto Pyrrhus Cineas told him how he had heard a great Philosopher in Athens counsell men to referre all their doings to pleasure Which thing seemed so strange to Fabricius that he prayed God to giue such wisdome to Pyrrhus and the Samnites When one asked of Agesilaus what profit the lawes of Licurgus yeelded The despising of pleasures quoth he meaning to declare thereby that all commonweales are more confounded by deliciousnesse than by other things And for that cause when Darius had ouercome the Lydians he ordained that they should vse perfumes and that they should do nothing but daunce leape haunt tauerns and be finely apparelled to the intent that by that meanes becomming altogither effeminat they might not haue the courage to rebell afterward Pyrrhus seeing the Tarentines to be too full of dilicatenesse and to set their minds to make warre with words more than with deeds forbad all assemblies to feasts to mumries and to such other effects of ioifulnesse then out of season and brought them backe to the exercise of armes shewing himselfe seuere to them that were inrolled in his muster-booke and bound to go to the warres When one wondered that all the Lacedemonians liued so soberly Maruell not quoth Agesilaus for of this thriftinesse we reape a good crop meaning freedome as who would say that libertie could not continue long with voluptuousnesse and delights The Persians on a time would haue shifted their dwelling place from the hill grounds into the plains but Cyrus would not permit it saying that as plants and seeds so also mens maners altered according to the nature of the soile deeming wisely That the lesse delicate countrie yeeldeth the best men As for example Vlysses said of Ithaca That it was a poore countrie but it bred verie good men And so said the king of Scythia to Philip king of Macedonie Thou reignest quoth he ouer the Macedonians who be great warriours and I reigne ouer the Scythians who be woont to endure hunger and thirst Sandaris a well aduised lord of Lydia would haue staied Craesus from leading his host into Persia against Cyrus You go to make warre quoth he against a people whose clothing is but of leather whose food is not such as they list but such as they can get whose drinke is water who eat not figs or anie other such dainties If ye ouercome them ye can take nothing from them because they haue nothing and if you be ouercome consider well what goods ye shall lose As soone as they shall haue tasted of our goods they will hie them apace hither and we shall not be able to driue them away It is verie hard yea and vtterly vnpossible that persons tenderly brought vp should vanquish them that be temperat inured to trauell and pains-taking And no maruel though Epâ—ctetus had this saying alwayes in his mouth Beare and forbeare that is to say we must with patience beare and indure things hard and euill and by the vertue of Temperance forbeare our delights and pleasures for that is the thing wherin the vertue coÌ„sisteth And as Plato saith He that is a staid man is a friend to god for he resembleth him And whosoeuer is vntemperat is contrarie to God and vnrighteous I say not that pleasure is not to be sought at all but as Plato saith in his Gorgias it is to be sought so far foorth as it is matched with profit as health and strength of bodie are the which we seeke for the benefit of them and not the benefit for the pleasures sake And as Aristippus saith That man moderateth pleasure not which abstaineth vtterly from it but which vseth it in such sort as he is not caried away with it as we gouern a ship or a horse when we lead them whether we list For Reason as saith Demosthenes must be the mistresse of lusts Also a man may take pleasure of the fiue sences of nature without offence as when a man taketh delight in eating and drinking because hee is well a hungred and a thirst for the pleasure that a man taketh in his tast commeth of sobrietie and when a man scratcheth where it itcheth that touching is not faultie as for example Socrates tooke singuler delight in rubbing himselfe after hee had indured the stockes Yet notwithstanding ordinarily these two sences are most dangerous aboue all the other when a man taketh more pleasure of them than he should doe the which befalleth not to the other as for example if a man take pleasure in colours paintings albeit there be too much or too little yet is he not therefore accounted either temperat or vntemperat neither he likewise that is too much giuen to the hearing of accounts or of songs nor hee that taketh too much delight in sents and smels but rather they that delight in the sauours of meats and drinks because that those sents renew the remembrance of the things which they loue as for example the emperour Claudius at the onely sent of the rost-meat that was prepared at a feast that was made for the Salian priests did by and by leaue all his affairs and went to dine with them Also they that see or heare any speeches of the things which they loue
nothing holdeth men in awe so much as feare and that he which is dreaded is better obaied than he that maks himselfe beloued For nothing doth so soone wex stale as a benefit All men loue and commend him that doth them a pleasure and such a one is followed of all men but soone also is he forgotten whereas he that is feared and had in awe is neuer forgotten For euery man bethinketh him of the mischiefe that he shall run into if he faile to do the thing that he is commanded And this feare is of much greater force than loue In that respect Cornelius Tacitus said That to the gouerning of a multitude punishment auailed more than gentlenes When Tamerlan came to besiege a citie the first day he would haue a tent of white which betokened that he would take all the citie to mercy good cōposition The second day he would haue one of red which betokened that although they yelded themselues yet would he put some of thē to death at his discretion The third day he had a pauilion all blacke which was as much to say as that there was no more place for cōpassion but that he would put al to fire sword The fear of such cruelty caused al cities to yeeld thēselues at his first cōming And he could not deuise to haue don so much by frendly dealing as by that means Neuertheles it is the custom of war to deal hardly with that captaine which defendeth a place not able to be kept against an army roiall to the intent it may serue for example to such as would withstand an army in hope to come to cōposition For whē they see there is no mercy they yeeld thēselues afore it come to the canō-shot Which maner the Romans practised For had the battel-ram once begun to beat the wals ther was no great hope of any cōposition When Iulius Caesar had lost the battel at Dirrhachiū as he fled a litle town did shut their gates against him wherinto he entring by force sacked it to the intent to put others in feare that were minded to do the like Caesar was mild gentle but his gentlenes could nor procure the opening of the gates to him this cruelty of his was the cause that no mā durst deny him to come in And as for Scipio although he was a valiant and fortunat captain as gracious as could be yet was he not alway obeied but had rebellions of of his souldiers against him so as he was cōpelled to turne his gentlenes into rigor Machiauel handling this question is long time balancing of his discouse vpon Quintius Valerius Coruinus Publicola al which being mild gentle were good captains and did many noble feats of arms were wel obeied of their mē of war obtained many faire victories These he compareth with other valiant captains that were rough stowr cruel as Camillus Appius Claudius Manlius Torquatus others And in the end he maketh a good distinction saying That to men which liue vnder the laws of a publik-weale the maner of the proceeding of Mālius is cōmendable because it turneth to the fauour of the publick-weale For a man can win no partakers which sheweth himself so rough to euery man and he dischargeth himselfe of all suspicions of ambition But in the maner of the proceeding of Valerius and Publicola there may be some mistrust because of the friendship and good fauor which he purchased at his souldiers hands wherby they might worke some euill practises against the liberty of their countrie But when it commeth to the consideration of a prince as Xenophon painteth vs out a perfect prince vnder the person of Cyrus the maner of Publicola Scipio and such others is much more allowable and dangerlesse For the prince is to seeke for no more at his subiects and souldiers hands but obedience and loue For when a prince is well minded on his owne part and his armie likewise affection it only towards him it is conformable to all conditions of his state But for a priuat person to haue an army at his deuotion is not conformable to the rest of the parts whom it standeth on hand to make him liue vnder the lawes and to obey magistrats But there remaineth yet one doubt vndecided which is whether a lieutenant-generall of an host who is neither prince nor king but is sent by a king to cōmand ought to be gentle or rigorous For he cannot be suspected to make his army partiall And though he had it so which thing he can not do he should smally preuaile against his prince Wherfore in this behalfe I would hold as well the one as the other to the obseruation of the lawes I would be rigorous to the men of war For there is not so beautifull and profitable a thing to an armie as the execution of iustice and the keeping of the law vninfringed The which if ye once breake in any one man though he be a very braue and valeant fellow it must needs be broken in diuers others But the discipline of war being well kept and obserued the generall ought to be familiar towards al his souldiers Alexander was familiar gentle and courteous to the common souldiers Antonie was to them both gentle and louing Iulius Caesar was likewise and so were all the excellent emperours On the other side they also were welbeloued and yet in discipline they were rigorous I haue told you heretofore in the chapter of Iustice how the said Iulius Caesar Augustus Traian certain others winked at small faults but were rigorous in others as towards mutiners traitors and sleepers in the watch and such others aforealledged The reason was that they would not in any wise corrupt the discipline of war for feare of the mischiefe that might ensue and therfore they neuer pardoned the faults of them that infringed it It is a wonderous thing that Caesar being but a citizen and hauing his army but of such as serued him of good wil and being lately afore discomfited at the battell of Durazo and fleeing before the army of the senat was notwithstanding not afraid to punish such as had not done their dutie in the battell insomuch that whole legions were faine to sue to him for mercie Which doing sheweth the good discipline that was in the Roman armies and the faithfull seruice which they did to their generall to whom they had giuen their oth Anon after again when he gaue battell to Pompey with what cheerfulnes did all his souldiers accept it With what zeale and good will did they beare with their generall and with what feercenesse did they fight The which serueth to shew that seueritie taketh not away the loue of men of war when they perceiue that otherwise their chieftaine is valeant and worthie to rule For then they impute it not so much to his austeritie as to their owne faults Which ought to be punished
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