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
affirme to consist in the sensitiue appetit And out of this vertue proceed Hardinesse and Temperance two cardinall principal vertues moreouer Magnanimitie Liberalitie Magnificence Soothfastnes Mildnes Meeknes Affabilitie Philo the Iew doth likewise diuide Vertue into three parts according to the three parts of our soule namely Reasonable Irefull and Lustfull The first Vertue is that which sheweth it selfe in the chiefe part of the soule that is to say in the reasonable part which Vertue we call wisdome The second is the force or strength that lodgeth in the second part of the soule namely in the Irefull The third is Temperance or Staiednesse which is imployed about the Lustfull power And when these three are of one accord then doth Iustice or Rightfulnesse shew it selfe For when the Irefull and the Lustfull obay the commaundement of the Reasonable then doth Rightfulnesse vtter the fruit of that accord harmonie Aristotle saith that Vertue is a meane as a white in the middest of a butte wherat all men ought to leuel and whoso euer swarueth neuer so little from it one way or other misseth his mark And as it is far more hard to hit the white than to goe round about it so is it more hard to be vertuous than to be vitious Vice is infinit and therfore hath not any meane Contrariwise Vertue hath hir bounds which cannot be passed but into vice Let vs for example take Hardines which is a meane betweene Fearfulnesse Ouer-boldnesse of which two this latter is the excesse of boldnesse in offering a mans selfe to danger and the other is the default or want of boldnesse in the same case when Boldnesse is requisit or expedient And therfore he that through ouer-great Boldnesse thrusteth himselfe into dangers vnaduisedly and rusheth into them like a wild Boare cannot be deemed hardie or valiant but rather rash and he that through Fearfulnesse dareth not shew his head before his enemie is accounted a Coward The measurable meane in giuing taking is called Liberalitie the excesse wherof in taking is Couetousnesse and the excesse in giuing is Prodigalitie the meane between them cannot be in the vice For too much or too little cannot make vice to be Vertue As for example a theefe or a murtherer faile not to sin for stealing or murthering too much or too little Whosoeuer is a theefe a murderer or an adulterer in what sort soeuer it be he doth alwaies sin and because a man may sin many waies it is easier to sin than to doe well Let vs ad that which Philo sayth in his Allegories that the thing which is good is rare and the things which are euill be riâ—e in so much that for one wise man you shall find an infinit multitude of fooles Furthermore to attain vnto Vertue there needeth but reason but to the compassing of vice men applie mind sence and body and we see that the way of vice is the larger and easier And in that respect doth Hesiodus say that the first enterance into the way whereby men ascend vnto vertue is rough combersom and steepe but very smooth and easie when a man hath ouerpast the little crabbednesse that was at the first entrie of the way But the hardnesse thereof must not discourage a man for it is a generall rule that as the Greeke Prouerbe sayth The attainment of all goodly things is painfull because as Epicharmus sayth God felleth his benefits vnto vs for pains and trauell according to the first curse that God gaue vnto man namely that he should eat his bread in the sweat of his browes And as Synesius saith It is peculiar to the Godhead to compasse any great matter without pains-taking But among men not only the vertues but also euery other excellent thing is gotten with the sweat of the body Truth it is that in all great things nature hath purposed a certaine difficultie so as the partie that will liue happily must needs take pains For as Sophocles sayth a man cannot haue the thing that is great and excellent without paine for without that the noble captains had neuer obtained the fame which is dispersed of them through the whole world To attaine vnto that Hannibal forwent an eye lay oft vpon the hard ground watched infinit times when others slept and endured hunger and thirst with great cheerefulnesse Pyrrhus Alexander Iulius Caesar Epaminondas Themistocles Alcibiades and all the noble captains that euer were haue done the like A Poet maketh not a good verse nor an Orator a good oration without paine And seeing it is so that God hath made all goodly things rare we should not spare our pains to acquire the thing which of all others is most beautifull Surely a prince ought most specially to doe it assuring himselfe that it is the thing wherein he most resembleth God For as touching a princes strength and power it is nothing in comparison of the power of fire or of the sea or of a streame against the which nothing is able to stand And although he haue all our liues in his hand yet doe we not esteeme him so much for that as for his righteousnes and goodnes after the maner of the men of old time which called God first most Gratious and secondly most High and most mightie For Gods gratious goodnesse is the cause that men loue him honor him and worship him and his power is the cause that men feare him and so they made vertue to goe alwaies before might and power And this word Good was in so great estimatioÌ„ with our Lord Iesus Christ that he would not haue so glorious a title vsurped of men affirming that there was none good but the one only God Plutarch saith in the life of Aristides that God surmounteth all other things chiefly in three points that is to wit immortalitie mightinesse and goodnesse of which three goodnesse or vertue is the most honorable and most peculiar to the Godhead For incorruption and immortalitie at least wise according to the opinion of the auntient Philosophers is as well in the elements and in the wast Chaos as in God and as for might or power there is very much and great in the winds in thunder and lightnings in streams and in water-flouds But as for iustice vprightnesse and equitie nothing can be partaker of them but that which is diuine by means of reason and vnderstanding And therefore that men deeme the Gods to be happie it is in respect of their goodnesse that they feare them it is because of their almightinesse and that they loue worship and reuerence them it is for their iustice sake And if we will beleeue Aristotle in the first booke of his Morals we shall say that what king soeuer will become worthie of immortalitie must inure himselfe as much as is possible vnto vertue because it is his charge to make his subiects honest and obedient vnto lawes For like as to him that will
the one be not exercised without the other And yet it is not inough for a prince to exercise himselfe except he doe also make his subiects to be exercised which thing he shall easily doe if hee make often wagers with rewards for shooting in guns for running for iusting for fighting at the barriers and so forth of other like exercises howbeit with least sumptuousnesse and most profit For nothing doth better acquaint men with feats of arms than the often exercise of them Traian was not to learne in that art for he entertained maisters of chiualrie at pensions to teach young men the art of war as to breake their horses to handle their weapons to shoote in crosse-bows to skale walles to make fireworks to vndermine castels to passe riuers in diuing and to cast themselues cunningly in a square To be short hee gaue his people so much to doe that they had no leisure to be idle neither in time of peace nor in time of warre When his men of warre were most in peace then did hee most exercise them in feats of warre saying that for his so doing strangers would stand in feare of him when they saw him continually accompanied with men of experience in chiualrie Hee made daily new tournies and iousts to exercise his men of arms hee made forts combats of ten to ten runnings wrestlings and such other exercises saying cōmonly That it was no faire or commendable sight to see a man either without a booke in his hand to learne wisdome or without a weapon in his fist to defend himselfe against fooles and ignorant persons CHAP. III. Of Iustice or Righteousnesse NOw remaineth to speake of the cheefe of the vertues which containeth all vertues namely of Righteousnesse the which as saith Cassiodorus causeth mans life to be contained within order of Law and to be lead after another maner than the brute beasts which liue at auenture without the which the excellencie of wit serueth to no purpose whereas contrariwise Righteousnesse may be without Wittinesse And in comparing them wee make more account of the duties of righteousnesse which consist in action and in the preseruation of mens welfare than in the duties of wittinesse which consist but in knowledge For it is a greater matter to doe a thing discreetly than but only to forecast it wisely Plutarch in the life of Aristides saith it is the vertue whereof the vse and exercise is most continual and of whose doing most men doe ordinarily feele the force making the life of them diuine and heauenly which are placed in degree of prosperitie power and authoritie the which by vnrighteousnesse is made sauage and beastly The men of old time sayd that Iupiter himselfe could not well gouerne his kingdome without righteousnesse according wherunto Dauid sayth That the Lord loueth righteousnesse and that his countenance beholdeth the thing that is iust And in another place he saieth that he hath prepared his seate for righteousnesse and iudgement And S. Paul in the first epistle to the Corinthians saith That God hath made our Lord Iesus Christ our righteousnesse wisdome holines and redemption Salomon saith in his Prouerbs That a kings throne is vpheld by righteousnes And Plutarke in the life of Demetrius saith That nothing is more fit and wel-beseeming for a prince than to doe right and to execute iustice because Mar◠which betokeneth force is a tyrant but right and law as saieth Pindarus are queens of the whole world And Homer saith that kings and princes haue receiued in trust of Iupiter the custodie and keeping not of engins to ouerthrow cities and to destroy them nor yet of shippes fortresses and armies but of rightfull customes and holy lawes For as Dauid sayth in the xxxiij psalme God loueth aboue all things that right should reigne and iustice take place Not without cause haue I said that righteousnesse containeth all vertues For he that is righteous hath no need of any other thing whether it bee wisedome or valiantnesse which is nothing without righteousnesse as Agesilaus said So that if we were throughly righteous there needed no force for to what purpose should force serue if righteousnesse were with vs yeelding vnto euery man that which is his And as Belisarius said in a certaine oration to his men of war Valeancie standeth that man in no steed which wanteth righteousnes As for Liberalitie we shall find that it cannot be exercised without righteousnes For whosoeuer giueth without aduisement and beyond his abilitie to them that are vnworthie is not to be called liberall but prodigall Contrariwise he that recompenseth men of good seruice valeant capteines good iudges and other men of good behauiour and honestie worthily and according to such abilitie as he hath is accounted liberall Whereby it appeareth that he cannot exercise Liberalitie without that kind of righteousnes which consisteth in distribution If we intend to speake of Temperance we shall find that it is vnited vnto righteousnesse and that the Intemperate person which is subiect to his passions cannot doe any thing aright so long as he is intangled in that vice as we read of Dauid and Achab who leauing right and righteousnes caused Vrias and Naboth to be put to death and so did infinit others whome I omit for breifnesse sake Insomuch that no man can be called a temperat or staied person vnlesse he bee righteous Aristides being asked what it was that men called Righteousnesse To abstain quoth he from coueting that which is another mans as who would say he was of opinion that if couetousnesse bee put away it is a verie easie matter to doe well S. Ierome saith that righteousnesse is an equall distributing of all things whereunto whosoeuer cleaueth keepeth vprightnes in euery thing It knows what is due to God to the saints to his fellows and companions to his neighbour to himselfe and to the stranger For it is good right that a man should loue and worship God honor his companions pay tribute to Princes abstaine from pride be meeke and gentle not hate strangers no nor his enemies but rather loue them and submit himselfe to his superiours or elders From thence springeth mercie and the seruice which we yeeld vnto God Now then Righteousnesse according to Aristotle is a vertue of the mind which yeeldeth vnto euery man according to his deserts Or else it is a certaine hauiour of the mind which obserueth vprightnesse and giueth to euery man that which to him belongeth Or else it is an affection of the mind which maketh vs apt to doe rightfull deeds wherethrough we doe and be desirous to doe that which is good and honest For they that doe righteously by compulsion of law cannot bee esteemed righteous therefore The lawiers define Righteousnes to be a constant and continual purpose of yeelding vnto euery man that which belongeth vnto him Cicero saith it is an endowment of mind which disposeth a man vnto euery one according to his degree
so keeping and maintaining euery mans profit in peculiar as may best stand with the conseruation of the whole Men in old time said that Righteousnesse was a goddesse sitting at Iupiters seat Hesiodus saith she was borne of Iupiter and Homer saith she was borne of all the gods To be short all the Heathen said it was a Heauenly vertue wherein they agree with this vvhich S. Peter saith in his second epistle We looke for the new Earth and new Heauens wherein righteousnesse dwelleth And as Plato saith in his Common-weale Righteousnesse is the greatest good thing that euer God bestowed vpon vs as whereof hee himselfe is the very author and first ground wherein he speaketh diuinely and agreeable to the commaundment of our Lord Iesus who willeth vs to seeke the kingdome of God his righteousnes because if we so do we shall not want any thing And Dauid counselleth vs to offer vnto him the sacrifice of Righteousnesse S. Paul in the epistle to the Romans opposeth vnrighteousnesse against righteousnesse so as the contrarie to righteousnesse is euill For as sayth saint Ierome vvriting to the daughter of Morris Righteousnesse is nothing else but the eschewing of sinne and the eschewing of sinne is the keeping of the commaundements of Gods law And therefore Ecclesiasticus saith thus Turne away from thine vnrighteous deeds and turne againe vnto the Lord. And in the Prouerbs Righteousnesse saith Salomon exalteth a whole nation but sinne is a reproch vnto people And in the fourteenth Psalme it is sayd Thou hatest Vnrighteousnesse Now then Righteousnesse is the vertue of the soule and Vnrighteousnesse is the vice therof the procurer of death And as Philo saith Vnrighteousnesse is the linage and off-spring of vice And this vice bringeth with it paine and trauell according to this saying of Dauid in the seuenth Psalme Behold he trauelleth with vnrighteousnesse and wickednesse Plato in his Common-wealth saith that to order or dispose to commaund to counsell or aduise such other things are properties peculiar to the soule so as an euill soule miscommaundeth misordereth and miscouncelleth and contrariwise a good soule doth all things well which it doth And like as a man is esteemed to be in health when his body is altogether disposed according to the order of nature and contrariwise to be out of health when the parts of his body be infected and all goes contrarie to the order of nature euen so to doe righteously is nothing else but to keepe the parts of the soule in such order as they may both commaund and obey according to the true rule of Nature The same author saith in his Protagoras That righteousnesse and holinesse are both one or at least wise they be vertues very like one another In so much that such as righteousnesse is such also is holinesse and such as holinesse is such also is righteousnesse And in his Theetetus he sayth That he which is the holiest amongst vs is likest vnto God accordingly as our Lord teacheth vs in his Euangelist Matthew saieng Follow ye the example of your heauenly father The dutie of Righteousnesse is to liue honestly without hurting any man and as sayth Iustinian to yeeld to euery man that which belongeth vnto him Cicero in his Duties setteth down two sorts therof the fiâ—st is that a maÌ„ should hurt no man vnprouoked by iniurie and wrong first done vnto him the which thing notwithstanding is forbidden by God as in respect of reuenge hath also ben put in practise by diuers heathen men The second is that we vse coÌ„mon things as coÌ„mon and priuat things as priuat But according to christianitie Righteousnes consisteth in two precepts wherof the first is to loue God and the second is to loue our neighbor and on that dependeth al that is written in the law the Prophets In the first consisteth the diuine and coÌ„templatiue righteousnes and in the latter consisteth the distributiue righteousnesse For it is not inough for a man to honour God to feare him and to abstaine from euill except he also doe good and be helpefull to his neighbour and by the word Neighbor I meane all men specialy those that are good For as saith Pithagoras we ought to esteeme more of a righteous stranger than of a kinsman or countriman that is vnhonest Which thing our Lord hath told vs more expresly in saieng He that doth the will of God is my kinsman my brother and my mother And also in another place by the parable of the Samaritan that had shewed himselfe to be the wounded Iewes neighbor in very deed by setting him vpon his horse and by hauing a speciall care of him wherein he and not the priests and Pharisies that made none account of the wounded man had done the dutie of Righteousnesse Wherby it appeareth the righteous man takes pains rather for other men than for himselfe and had leuer to forgo some part of his owne goods than to diminish another mans Now therefore when men instruct the ignorant releeue the poore yeeld to their neighbors that which belongs vnto theÌ„ by helping them with thing at their need when the great personages oppres not their inferiors nor the king his subiects then may it be said that righteousnes raigneth in that couÌ„trie And if euery man would liue after manner there should need neither law nor magistrat For as saith Menander Their owne manners should be as lawes But for as much as few men doe giue themselues to righteousnesse there must of necessitie be laws and magistrats to enforce such vnto righteousnesse as will not be righteous for loue and to that end are kings and rulers ordained of God For as saint Paule sayth the king is Gods lieutenant on earth the maintainer of righteousnes and as it were his chancelor so as they which require iustice at his hand resort not vnto him as to a man but as to the very righteousnes it self wherof he is the dealer forth through the wil of God according to this saieng of SalomoÌ„ in the booke of Wisdome By me kings reigne and counsellors determine right By me princes rule and all lords iudge their lands Not without cause therefore did Homer call kings the disciples of Iupiter as who would say they learned of God to do iustice Dauid vseth termes yet of more force and calleth them Gods which doe iustice honoring them with the name of their charge which is of God And Philo calleth them Gods lieutenants and vicegerents in cases concerning iustice And in the 6 chapter of the booke of Wisdome Vnto you kings do I speake saith Salomon harken vnto me ye gouernors of people and you that glorie in the multitude of natioÌ„s For your authoritie is giuen you of the Lord and your power coÌ„meth from the highest who wil examin your works and diligently search your thoughts because you being ministers of his kingdome haue not iudged vprightly nor kept the law of righteousnes Therefore will he
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
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
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
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
of Iustice. Moreouer he had good and discreet men about him of whom he would enquire in secret what men reported of him and if he found that their speaking euill of him was for iust cause he endeuored to amend his fault And therfore it is better that a prince should be too gentle than too slerne howbeit that it is to be considered that the excesse in any of both waies cannot be without vice and that as well in this as in all other things the best is to be followed which is the meane in matching grauitie and gentlenesse togither as the Athenians said of Pericles that no mans nature could be more moderated in grauitie nor more graue with meeldnesse and gentlenesse than his was And as Gueuara saith in his first booke Princes ought to endeuor to get the good wils of men by courteous conuersation and also to be feared and redouted for their maintaining of good iustice as we read of Liberius Constantine the emperor who was both feared of many and loued of all Plutarch in the life of Phocion saith That too rough seueritie as well as too meeld gentlenesse is a verie slipperie and dangerous downfall and that the middle way of yeelding sometimes to the peoples desire therby to make them the more obedient otherwise and to grant them the thing that doth delight them therby to require of them the things that are for their profit is a wholsome meane to rule and gouerne men well who suffer themselues to be led to the executing of good things when too lordly authoritie is not vsed ouer them Therefore when maiestie is mingled with courtesie there is no harmonie so perfect musick-like as that For it is the thing wherin the prince may resemble God who enforceth not vs to any thing but doth sweeten the constraint of obedience with demonstration and persuasioÌ„ of reason Chilo said That princes must match gentlenesse with puissance to the intent they may be the more reuerenced and feared of their subiects For this reuerence is accompanied with loue but feare is accompanied with hatred Now it is both more sure more honourable to be loued than to be feared Therfore a prince must moderat his behauiour in such sort as he may be neither too much feared of the meaner sort nor too much despised of the greater For to be too much feared of his subiects belongeth vnto a tyrant But yet must he also beware that he be not despised of the great he must keepe his estate be graue howbeit such grauitie as is accoÌ„panied with gentlenes so as when he is abroad he shew a princely maiestie when he is to heare requests he shew himselfe affable easie to be delt with After that maner did Iulius Casar behaue himselfe in his dictatorship but that was to his own ouerthrow because he had taken vpon him that preheminence by force of arms and had altered the state of the citie in which case it is more safety for a prince to be feared than to be loued For it caÌ„not be but that the prince which hath changed a state hath many enemies Augustus his successor was better aduised than he for at the beginning he was cruel put those to death whoÌ„ he thought able to impeach his doings at any time after But wheÌ„ he once saw himselfe throughlie setled in his tyranny that the most part of the citizeÌ„s that had bin brought vp in libertie were dead then began he to be a gentle affable gratious prince Antigonus did the like in the beginning of his raign dealing roughlie at the first afterward becoÌ„ming meeld and gentle And wheÌ„ it was asked of him Why he had altered his maner of dealing he answered That at the beginning he needed a kingdome now he wanted but fauor and good wil because a new dominioÌ„ is gotten by force of arms by austeritie but it is maintained by loue and good will But in lawfull kings loue is more auailable than feare The kings of France demeane themselues better in that behalfe than all other kings For their attendance representeth a great maiestie yet notwithstanding no man is barred froÌ„ preferring his sute vnto him after he is out of his chaÌ„ber specially in the morning when he goeth to masse where certain masters of requests atteÌ„d vpon him deliuer him the petitions that are brought vnto them There is a kind of gentlenes that is hurtfull to a prince and his granting of euerie mans request may breed manie great inconueniences For by graunting some point of fauour in case of iustice wrong is done and by graunting monie the prince his purse is emptied whereby hee is driuen to take where he ought not or else where he can The lawes of France haue well remedied that matter For the king hath set downe by his ordinance that he will not haue his letters regarded which concerne not iustice for the view of theÌ„ he referreth himselfe to his iudges for his checker matters moreouer there is his court of parliament and a chamber of accounts which controlleth the kings gifts so as no man can go away discontented from him because he granteth all things that are demaunded of him and yet those gifts are without effect wherof the ministers only doe beare the disgrace as Machiauell hath very well marked in his booke of Princes And so long as this law stood in force the affaires of France did alway prosper Now let vs speake of Enuie which extendeth it selfe further than roughnesse or austeritie which properly is contrary to Gentlenes and Courtesie For the rough sterne person is contrarie to the gentle and kind-hearted as Terence teacheth vs in his comodie of the BrethereÌ„ vnder the persons of Mitio and Demea But Enuie containeth in it churlishnesse hatred ambition man-slaughter according to the saying of S. Iohn Chrisostom vpon the xxvij of Genesis where he saith That Enuie is the root of man-slaughter and man-slaughter is the fruit of enuie S. Ambrose in his Duties maketh no great difference betweene the wicked and the enuious saying That the wicked man delighteth in his owne welfare and the enuious man is tormented at the welfare of another the one loueth the euil the other hateth the good so as he that desireth the good is more tollerable than he that would the mischiefe of all men Enuie then is nothing else but a sorinesse conceiued at the prosperitie of another man Bion the Boristhenit speaking to a certaine enuious man whom hee saw sad said vnto him I cannot tell whether some harme hath happened to thy selfe or some good to some other bodie For Enuie is not sorie for another mans harme but contrariwise is glad of it The Greeks call it Epicairecaâ—ian as ye would say A ioying and reioicing at other mens harmes Themistocles said Hee had not yet done any thing woorthie of praise seeing that no man enuied him Hereby we
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
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
appeare vnto you with terror and that right soone For a very sore iudgement shall be executed vpon them that haue ben in authoritie And in Ieremie he sweareth that if princes execute not iustice their houses shal be left desolate Wherewith agreeth that which S. Remy said vnto king Clowis namely that the kingdome of France should continue so long as iustice raigned there Also Totilas king of the Goths said that all kingdomes and empires were easily destroied if they were not maintained by iustice and that as long as the Goths delt iustly their power was had in good reputation but when they fell once to couetousnes and to taking more than they ought to haue done by and by they came to decay through their owne discord among themselues A prince is called a liuing law on earth because that lawes speake not ne moue not but a prince is as a liuely law which speaketh and moueth from place to place putting the law in execution and appointing euery man what he should doe and thereof it commeth that we be said to doe men right Seeing then that a prince is the law it followeth that he must be iust and do iustice to his subiects in doing wherof the world receiueth very great good And as Aristotle saith in his mattets of state the iustice of the prince that raigneth is more profitable to his subiects than riches are S. Ciprian in his treatise of twelue abuses saith that the iustice of a king is the peace of his people the safegard of innocents the defence of his country the foyzon of his hand the reliefe of the poore and the hope of blessednesse to come to himselfe Salomon in the 20 of his prouerbs saith That a king sitting on his iudgement seat disperseth all iniquitie with his looke Hereby is nothing els meant but that he driueth away all naughtinesse by his only shewing of himselfe to his people by bearing a good countenance Howbeit the meaneth it of a good prince such a one as is an executer of iustice for such a one maketh the wicked to quake euen with his only look although this vertue ought to be chiefly and principally appropried to princes because kingdomes without iustice are but maintenaÌ„ces of mischiefe according to S. Austines saying in his ninth booke of the citie of God yetnotwithstanding it faileth not to be behooffull for all sorts of men yea euen for solitarie men as saith Cicero and for such as neuer goe abroad as well as for them that buy and sell bargaine and couenant which things cannot be done without vprightnesse the force wherof is such that euen they that liue of robbery and leaudnesse cannot continue without it in that it assureth the goods of the robbers vnto them In cities iustice procureth peace and equitie For as saith Dauid Righteousnes and peace imbrace one another In priuat houses it maintaineth mutuall loue concord betweene the man and wife good will of the seruants toward their master mistresse good vsage of the master towards his seruants Agathias said that the FreÌ„chmen became great by being iust vpright and charitable For iustice and charitie make a coÌ„monweale happie stable long lasting and hard to be surprised by enemies whereas a man may reckon vp a great sort that haue bin ouerthrowne by vniustice Of iustice or righteousnes are two sorts the one of the law and the other of equalitie That of the law is the more vniuersal as which comprehendeth al sorts of vertue and is that which in our English toung we properly call Righteousnesse For he that performeth the commaundements of the law is Righteous because he doth al the vertuous things commaunded in Gods law so as he is liberall lowly modest kind-hearted meeke peaceable and so forth When I say that a man is righteous I meane not that he is righteous before God otherwise than by grace and not by the law as S Paule teacheth vs in his epistles to the Romans and the Galathians saieng By the law shall no man be found righteous For the blessed â—ife consisteth in the forgiuenes of sinnes as Dauid declareth in the one and thirtith Psalme And therfore what good so euer we doe our Lord will haue vs to account our selues vnprofitable seruants The other sort of righteousnes is of equalitie and consisteth in dealing vprightly and in yeelding euery man that which belongeth vnto him the which in English we terme properly Vprightnes and Iust dealing And this kind of righteousnes is diuided againe into other two sorts whereof the one concerneth distributing and the other concerneth exchange This which coÌ„sisteth in matters of exchange serueth to make equalitie where vnequalitie seemeth to be and is occupied about buieng selling bartering and bargaining betweene man and man For we see that one man hath monie that another man wanteth who hath corne and wine here doth this kind of righteousnes procure an equalitie For the monied man giuing his monie receiueth corn for it that he wanted and the other giuing corne wine hauing more than he needed receiueth monie where of he had want Therfore when lending buieng intercoÌ„moning hiring morgaging such other things proceed duly without fraud then is a realme seene to prosper because right reigneth there The like wherof we see in our bodies the eye by the sight of it directeth our steps but cannot go it selfe the foot is able to go but it cannot see so as it carrieth the eye and the eye guideth it The hand wipeth the eye clean and the eye directeth it the feet beare vp the head and the head ruleth them and without that the body could not continue Euen so the body of a common-weale could not endure if euery man should not succour one another by such interchange The distributiue iustice which the king vseth toward his subiects coÌ„sisteth chiefly in distributing honor and promotion vnto theÌ„ according to euery mans desert Semblably in our bodies there reigneth a kind of iustice as for example we see how the heart giues life and mouing to al the members at leastwise according to most philosophers who hold opinion that the beginning of life and mouing is in the heart and likewise that sence is in the braine Wherefore it is requisit that as the heart for his excellencie reigneth as king ouer all the other members so he that is most excellent of al other men should haue the prerogatiue to coÌ„maund others that if he bee borne to haue gouernment he should make himselfe worthie of that charge For as Cicero saith in his Duties Those that at the first were chosen to bear rule were such as the people had great good opinioÌ„ of Others of whom Francis Petrarch is one diuide Righteousnes into 4 sorts namely Diuine which is sister to Wisdom wherthrough we beleeue in God and acknowledge him to be the creator of al things without whom we cannot do any thing It is he that directeth
kind of life and by that means desire new lawes and set their minds vpon all maner of innouations Sauly king of Scythia did put Anacharsis to death for offering sacrifice to Berecinthia the mother of the gods after the maner of the Greeks Also Scylus king of Scythia because he wore apparell after the Greeke fashion sacrificed secretly after the maner of Greece as soone as he was discouered was deposed for so doing and in the end being taken in battell had his head struck off and his brother Octumusades was set vp in his place so greatly hated they strange fashions and feared in any case to alter their old customs Now if Plato was afraid of alteration in so small things what shall we say to such princes as daily do abrogat laws for their friends and seruants sakes for their owne peculiar profit or pleasure make no reckoning of the vpholding and maintaining of thē Agesilaus being otherwise a good prince and a seuere obseruer of the laws of his countrie was worthily blamed for fauouring his friends in cases of iustice For he said that the obseruing of the rigor of iustice in matters where friends were to bee touched was but a cloke wherwith to couer such as lifted not to do their friends good And in very deed he acquitted Phebidas who had taken the suburbs of Thebes and Sphodrias who wēt about to haue taken the hauen of Pyrey by stealth at such time as they were at peace with the Athenians By which vniust dealing of his the state of the Lacedemonians was ouerthrown So was the citie of Rome also sacked by the Gauls for that the Romans did thē not iustice nor made thē reasonable amends for the wrong that had bin done to them by Quintus Fabius Ambustus Pompey was misliked of many good men and ill spoken of on their behalfe because hee himselfe hauing by decree forbidden the open commending of such as were accused by order of law so long as their case depended in triall entered one day into the court commended Plancus that had bin accused Insomuch that Cato being one of the iudges stopt his ears with both his hands saieng it was not lawful for him to heare an accused person commended seeing it was forbidden by the laws How much more wisely dealt the king of Locres who hauing made a law that adulterers should haue their eies put out and finding his own son to haue transgressed the law would not suffer him to be dispensed with but in the end whē he was vrged by his people to pardō the offence which thing of himselfe he would not graunt yet somwhat to satisfie their request and withall to keepe the law also he caused one of his owne eies and another of his sonnes eies to be put out Plutarch sayth in the life of Aristides that whensoeuer the case concerned iustice friendship could beare no sway with Aristides no not euen for his friends nor enmitie prouoke him against his enemies For law ought to bee ministred vprightly and neuer to be broken vnlesse necessitie which is without law enforce thereto And yet euen then also it ought to bee done so discreetly as it may not seeme to be touched accordingly as the Lacedemonians did who when they had lost a great battell brake the law of Lycurgus in not punishing them with a kind of infamie worse than death that had fled from the field because that if they should so haue punished them they should haue had but few left to defend their countrie And yet notwithstanding to the end they might not seeme to despise their lawes what need soeuer constrained them Agesilaus not intending to doe it directly made proclamation that the law of Lycurgus should take no place vntill the next morrow and in the meane while that present day he inrolled the fugitiues againe to the defence of their countrie But in Rome where there was no scarcitie of men they made so small account of them that euen after the battell of Cannas they would not ransome 8000 men whome Hannibal had put to their ransome The foresayd Lacedemonians being requested by Cirus king of Persia and other their confederats to send them Lisander to be admirall of their fleet if they intended the well proceeding of their affairs because they should doe all things with the better courage vnder his gouernance refused to giue Lisander the title of Admirall giuing it vnto another made him cheefe ouerseer of the sea-matters taking from him but only the name and giuing him in effect the whole authoritie in all things Artaxerxes surnamed the Long-hand king of Persia being a meeld and gracious prince although he thought the law of his predecessors to be ouer-rigorous that punished such with whipping and with death as had lost a battel whether it were through their owne default or no yet neuerthelesse would not breake it directly but ordained that the offender should be stripped and that his clothes should bee scourged with rods in steed of his backe and that his hat should be striken off in steed of the striking off his head The Thebans were yet more rigorous howbeit that in the end they dispensed with the law For when Epaminondas had fortunately begun warres against the Lacedemonians and saw that he could not otherwise bring them to end because that by the law he was to giue ouer his charge by reason that the time of his commission was expired he so dealt with his fellow-commissioners that contrarie to the law he made them presume to continue in office yet foure months longer within which time the Lacedemonians were vtterly vanquished and ouerthrowne And when Epaminondas was areigned for transgressing the law for making his fellow-cōmissioners to transgresse it likewise he confessed himself to haue deserued death for disobaieng the law praying the Thebans that in recompence of all the seruices that he had done to them they would after his death let write vpon his tombe That Epaminondas had ben put to death for compelling the Thebanes to vanquish the Lacedemonians whom afore that day they neuer durst looke vpon in the face By which meanes he not only procured the sauing of his life but also the accepting in good woorth of all the things that he had done Marius vsed the like presuming beyond the law in in his iornie against the Cimbrians where he made a thousand strangers freedenisons of Rome for their valiant behauiour in that battell And when he was accused thereof to the senat he made answer that by reason of the great noise of the battel he could not heare what the lawes cōmaunded or prohibited Wherein Marius could not be deemed to haue done well For although it was a point of iustice to reward good and valeant men yet ought it not to haue bene done with the ouerthrow of law as it was then done by him not of any necessitie but rather to haue the men of war at his deuotion than for any good to the
whom Philip made this answer or the like It is better that thy kinsman should be diffamed than that I should be dishonered for his sake Rutilius made an answere to a freind of his as worthy to be remembred as this of king Philips For when his freind being denied a certaine thing that was vniust asked him whereto his freindship serued him if he would not graunt his demaund nay quoth Rutilius what auaileth me your friendship if I must do for you the thing that is vnhonest Antiochus gaue charge to the cities that were subiect vnto him that if he commaunded them any vniust or vnlawfull thing they should not obey it but should take it as though the letters were written without his priuitie Agis king of Sparta being desired of his father mother to doe a thing that was vniust for their sakes answered them on this maner While I was vnder your gouernment I obaied you as I ought to doe and did whatsoeuer ye commaunded me as not knowing what was right or wrong But now that you haue deliuered me to the seruice of my country and taught me the laws therof I will doe my indeuorto obay the same and for as much as your will hath alwaies bin to set me to the doing of things good and reasonabe I will doe according to your will and not according to your request Themistocles being desired by the Poet Simonides to help him in a wrongfull matter answered him that neither he should play the good Poet if he made not his verses in due measure nor himselfe the good prince if he should deale against law Athenâ—dor being condemned in a certaine fine by the Athenians praied Alexander to write vnto them for the release of his fine the which thing Alexander refusing to doe sent them the monie that he was set at and so paid the fine of his own purse Caricles the son in law of PhocioÌ„ being indicted for taking a bribe of Harpalus praied Phocion to assist him at his iudgement but Phocion refused him saying I haue taken thee Caricles to be my son in law howbeit but in al iust and honest cases only Trebonius being accused before Marius then consul and generall of the Roman host for killing one Caius Lusius a nephew of the said Marius and finding no man that durst defend his cause did plead his case himselfe and proued before Marius that his killing of his nephew Lusius was of necessitie because his nephew would else haue forced him Wherupon Marius commending him for his labour commaunded such a garlond to be brought vnto him out of hand as was wont to be giuen to those that had shewed proofe of some notable valeancie in battell and crowned him therewith as one that had done a very valeant and vertuous deed And Plutarch saith that the report of this iudgement in Rome stoode Marius in great stead towards the obtainment of his third consulship Totilas king of the Goths being importunatly sued vnto by all the captaines of his host to pardon a very valeant man that had rauished a maide said vnto them that wheras at other times they being out of all comparison far stronger than the Romanes had neuerthelesse gone alway by the worse because they had not done good iustice seeing that God now putting their offences out of his remembrance did giue them prosperitie and make them to atchieue things that surpassed their force it were better for them to hold still the cause of their victories by executing iustice than to procure their owne decay by doing wrong For it was not possible that the man which hath committed rape or done any other wrong should behaue himselfe well in battell forasmuch as euery mans good or bad fortune in fight dependeth vpon the good or bad conuersation of his life Wherupon the man was punished with death and his goods were giuen to the maid Satibarzanes chiefe gentleman of king Ataxerxes priuie chamber sued vnto him for one in a thing that was scarse iust for the obtainment wherof he was promised thirty thousand dariks Wherof the king being aduertised gaue him the full sum of mony that had bin promised him and said vnto him Take this Satibarzanes for I shall neuer be poore for it but had I done as thou wouldest haue had me to doe I should haue beene vniust And so he neither disappointed his friend nor yet did any vniustice whereby he passed the emperour Vespasian in bounty and liberalitie This Velpasian was a good emperour in many things but his vertues were blemished and darkned with the vice of couetousnes For he was so far in loue with mony that he made great hoords of it by taking great tributs of the Dacians by sales of things by other exactions Vpon a time a certaine courtier sued earnestly vnto him for the gift of an office of great value pretending that he sought it for a brother of his But Vespasian doubting that he sought it for himselfe delt in such wise that he discouered the truth wherupoÌ„ causing the party to come to him that had promised his courtier the mony he sold the office vnto him took the mony to himselfe Within a while after the courtier becomes a suter again to the emperor for his brother and the emperor sends him againe to seeke another brother for the partie for whome thou suest qd the emperor is my brother an answer as merry conceited as full of couetousnes To come againe to our matter a prince must not do against right nor suffer faults to escape vnpunished neither for fauor nor friendship For hee that scapes vnpunished for his offence is alwaies the readier to do euill because his nonpunishment prouoketh him therunto And for that cause Caâ—o said He had leuer to be vnrewarded for his doing good than to be vnpunished for doing euil Also he was wont to say That a wrong done to another man priuatly is dangerous to all men generally because no man can be in safety among the wicked if they may doe euill without reproofe And as Antisthenes was woont to say That common-weale is in great perrill where is no difference betwixt good men and bad meaning therby that the state of a kingdome or common-weale cannot stand where vertue is not honoured and recompenced and vice punished For this cause God commanded Moses to take away euill from among the people that is to say to punish euill in particular persons for feare least folke should pay the deerer for the folly and that he should make the multitude to beare the punishment due to some particular person because it is a kind of consenting to the sin when it is willingly permitted to goe vnpunished I know well it will be said that a prince ought to be mercifull and I deny it not But this mercie consisteth in pardoning the offences that concern but the prince himselfe and the partie that is hurt by
them and not any other mens that are done against the common-weale as king Lewis the twelfth answered both Christianly and vertuously vnto one that whetted him to be reuenged of a certain wrong that had bin done vnto him when he was duke of Orleans It besemeth not a king of France quoth he to be auenged of iniuries done to a duke of Orleance Infinitly was Iulius Caesar commended for his clemency and that of good right For he did easily forgiue the offences that were committed against himselfe And Antonine was woont to say That there was not any thing which procured greater estimation to an emperour among strangers than clemencie did And as saith Statius it is an honourable thing to giue life to him that craueth it Neuerthelesse there is great difference between the pardoning of offences done to a mans own selfe and the pardoning of offences done to other men For it is not in you to forgiue the offences which are done against other men neither ought they to be forgiuen by any other than by such as are hurt by them neither can they also doe it to the preiudice of the common weale And therfore a prince cannot with a safe conscience giue pardon to murderers nor forgiue the offences of wicked persons to purchase himselfe the renowne of gracious and merciful For fauor and mercy graunted to naughty-packs is nought else but crueltie towards good men as Arcâ—idamidas was wont to say And therefore Cato said that those also which restrained not the wicked from euill doing if they might were to be punished because he accounted it as a prouocatioÌ„ to do euill Wherfore whatsoeuer is done against the law ought to be punished by the law the which hath no respect of seruant friend or kinsman Of which law the prince is the executor and is nothing else but a liuing law or rather the deputie or lieutenant of God the iust iudge Now it is not lawful for the deputie or vnder-agent of God to be lauish at his pleasure of that which belongeth to God because he hath not receiued it of him otherwise than in custody and vpon account and therfore he is not to bestow it vpon any man for friendships sake or for pitie Therupon it came that the Thebans to shew what iustice is did paint in their courts the images of iudges without haÌ„ds and the images of princes without eyes to shew that in Iudgment kings ought not to be surprised with any affection nor iudges carried with any couetousnes And although it be not lawfull for a Prince to be iudge in his owne cause for the auoiding of all passions yet is he not forfended to punnish the wrong that is offred him in cases of treason and rebellion but rather on the contrarie part it is a point of iustice to punish rebels as procurers of trouble to the state The emperor Maximilian espieng in a certaine vprore that was in his campe how a souldier strake vp a drum without commaundement of his captaine slew him with his own hand because the danger of his host being on a rore required the remedie of speedie and present crueltie Neuerthelesse such manner of dealing is to be done with great discretion for sometimes things may happen to bee in such case that dissimulation shall auaile more than punishmeÌ„t as it did with Pompey after the death of Sertorius For when Perpenna had sent him a cofer full of letters of Romanes that had written to Sertorius and had held on his side hee would not looke vpon any of them but cast them all into a fire for doubt least for one Sertorius then dead there should step vp twentie others at Rome when they perceiued themselues to be discouered because it falleth often out that when a man thinketh to ouerthrow one faction he multiplieth the number of his enemies And as Fabius Maximus was woont to say It is better to hold such folke in suspence by gentle and kind dealing than seuerely by rigor to seeke our all suspicions or to deale too sharpely towards such as are to be suspected In the citie of Athens there happened a conspiracie of certaine noble men against the state who had determined that if they could not compasse their purpose of themselues they would cal in the Persians to their helpe As these things were a brewing in the campe and many mo besides were guiltie of the conspiracie Aristides feeling the sent thereof stood in great feare by reason of the time For the matter was of too great importance to be passed ouer without care and there was no lesse danger in ripping vp the matter to the quicke for as much as he knew not how many might be found guiltie of the crime Therefore of a very great number he caused but only eight to be apprehended and of those eight two that were to be most deepely charged fled out of the campe and the other six he set againe at libertie Whereby he gaue occasion to such as thought not themselues to bee discouered to assure themselues of safetie and to repent them of their wicked purpose saieng that for iudgement they should haue battell whereby they might iustifie themselues At such time as Epaminondas came to besiege Lacedemon there were about two hundred of a conspiracie within the citie which had taken one of the quarters of the towne very strongly scituated wherein was the temple of Diana The Lacedemonians would haue run vpoÌ„ them out of hand in a rage But Agesilaus fearing least it might be a cause of some further great alteration commaunded all his company to keepe their places and hee himselfe vnarmed went vnto the rebels and cried vnto them Sirs ye haue mistaken my commaundment for this is not the place where I appointed you to meet in but my meaning was that some of you should haue gone to yonder place and othersome to other places pointing to diuers places with his hand The seditious persons hearing him say so were well apaid because they thought their euill purpose to haue bene vndiscouered whereupon leauing that place they departed by and by to the places hee had pointed them Then Agesilaus seizing that Fort into his hands the name whereof was Isorium caused fifteene of the Rebels to be apprehended whom he caused to bee all executed the next night One Badius hauing valeantly encountered the Carthaginenses at the battel of Cannas and being taken prisoner to requite the courtesie of Hannibal that had saued his life and giuen him his ransome as soone as he came home to his owne house to Nola made almost all his countrimen to rebell against the Romans Yet for all this Marcellus considering that the time required then to mollifie things rather than to corzie them sought not by any means to punish him but onely sayd vnto him Sith there bee in you so euident and honourable marks of your good will towards the Romans meaning the wounds that he had receiued in the
not that one should su◠for it but made the suters themselues to come to his presence as well to gratifie them himselfe as also to know whom he gratified For he that receiueth not the benefit at the princes owne hand thinketh himselfe beholden to none but vnto him by whome he had it as wee haue found by experience in this our realme of Fraunce within this fiftie or threescore yeares LEt vs come now to the iustice of war which ought to be like the same that we haue spoken of and consisteth in penalties and rewards namely in punishing the wicked and in recompensing the good and valeant men with honour and regard For honour nourisheth the liberall arts and vertue In which behalfe the emperor Adrian did so greatly excell that he was both feared and loued of all his men of war feared because he chastised them and beloued because he paid them well Vpon a time one demaunded of Lisander What maner of common-weale hee liked best That qd he wherein both the valeant and the cowards are rewarded according to their deserts as who would say that vertue is furthered by reward and that men of no value are spurred vp to doe well by the shame and reproch which they receiue by doing amisse and in being despised Ennius Priscus demaunded of Traian What was the cause that hee was better beloued of the people than his predecessors Because qd he that commonly I pardon such as offend me and neuer forget them that doe me seruice But afore I speake of rewarding or recompensing we must know what is the law and discipline of arms wherof the first and principall point that is to wit to doe no man wrong dependeth vpon naturall iustice And yet-notwithstanding this seemeth so strange among vs that the cheefe and principall point of warlike behauiour seemeth to consist in pilling swearing rauishing robbing and that a souldier cannot be esteemed a gallant fellow vnlesse he be furnished with those goodly vertues Contrariwise if the Romans had any souldiers that were neuer so little giuen to loosenesse they would not vse their seruice no not euen in most extreme necessitie as is to be seen by the doings of Metellus in Affrike and of Scipio in Spain making more account of one legion that liued after the law and order of war than of ten that were out of order Now the lawes of armes were diuers according to the diuersities of the captains that haue had the leading of Armies The first consisteth in the obedience of the men of warre For as saith Plato it auaileth not to haue a good captaine vnlesse the souldiers bee discreet and obedient because the vertue of well-obeieng hath as great need of a gentle nature and of the helpe of good trainment as the princely vertue of commaunding All other precepts tend generally to naturall iustice the which will not haue wrong done to any man Alexander being aduertised that two souldiers which serued vnder Parmenio had rauished the wiues of certaine souldiers strangers wrate vnto Parmenio to informe him therof charging him that if he found it to be so he should put both the souldiers to death as wild beasts bred to the destruction of men When the Romanes marched vnder the leading of Marcus Scaurus there was found in their trenches at their departure thence a tree hanging ful of fruit so great conscience made they to take any thing that was not their owne And if any man went aside in any field farme or grange at such time as the campe marched he was punished immediatly and it was demaunded of him if he could find in his heart that a man should doe as much in his lands Whersoeuer Bellisarius went with his armie he restrained his men from doing wrong to laborers and husbandmen insomuch that they durst not eat the apples and peares that hung vpon the trees After the death of Campson the Soldan of Aegypt Selim king of Turks being possessed of Damasco and the rest of the cities of Syria would not suffer his men of war to come within them but lodged his camp by the wals of the towne and of all the time that he was there there was not any guard set to keepe the goodly and fruitfull Gardens that were without the citie because the rigorous iustice that Selim executed restrained the Turks from misdoing wherthrough the whole armie found themselues well apaid For they neuer wanted victuals but had plentie and aboundance of all things Traian caused a captaine to be banished for killing a husbandmans Oxen without need and awarded the husbandman for amends to haue the captaines horse and armor and also his quarters wages Tamerlane king of Tartarians made a souldier of his to be put to death for taking but a cheese from a poore woman Totilas was so seuere in the discipline of war that he would not leaue any one misdeed vnpunished He that rauished any woman was punished with death or at least wise forfaited his goods the which were giuen to the partie that was outraged Insomuch that he passed by the cities and townes that were in friendship and league with him without doing them any harme saying that kingdomes and empires were easily lost if they were not maintained by iustice Which thing Iustinian found to be very true who through the vniustice and disorder of his captaines lost the empyre of Italy Paulus Emilius was a sterne obseruer of the law of arms not seeking to purchase the loue of his souldiers by pleasing them but shewing them himselfe from point to point how auailable the ordinances of war were And this his austeritie and terriblenesse towards them that were disobedient and transgressed the law of arms vpheld the commonweale vnappaired For he was of opinion that to vanquish a mans enemies by force of arms is as ye would say but an accessorie or income in comparison of the well ordering and winning of a mans countrymen by good discipline The Lawes of arms haue bin diuerse according to the diuersitie of captaines the which we may learne in one word of the best and most valeant emperours that euer haue bin Iulius Caesar would make countenance as though he saw not the faults of his souldiers and let them goe vnpunished so long as they tended not to mutinie or that they forsooke not their ensigne and in those cases he neuer pardoned thē Insomuch that in the time of the ciuil wars he cashed a whole legion at once notwithstanding that he stood as then in great need of them and ere euer he would admit them againe he ceassed not till he had punished the misdoers Among the Aegyptians they that had disobayed their captains were noted with a reproch worse than death Augustus was so seuere towards such as recoiled in battel or disobayed his commaundements that he would put euery tenth man of them to death and vnto them that had done lesse faults he would giue barly bread in steed of wheaten
things by keeping it self occupied with diuers wars We see ordinarily that such as haue giuen ouer themselues in idlenes haue had ill successe in their affairs of which sort was Galba who said that no man was to yeeld account of his idlenes contrarie to the christian doctrine which teacheth vs that we must yeeld account of all our idle words and that we must put forth our talent to profit vnder paine of punishmeÌ„t also coÌ„trarie to the law of Draco which punished idle folke with death For as the men of old time said in doing nothing men learne to doe euill And as Ecclesiasticus saith Idlenes teacheth manie euill things And therefore Amasis king of Aegipt commanded all men to giue a reckoning dailie of their daies labors And Solon ordained that the high court of Areopagus should haue authoritie and charge to enquire whereof euery man liued and to punish those whom they found idle and vn-occupied And Cambyses forbad Cyrus aboue all things to suffer his armie to be idle Vpon a time one asked Dâ—onisius whether he were at leisure and had nothing to do God forbid quoth he that euer that should befall me thinking it to be a foule and shameful thing to be vnoccupied And Scipio said he was neuer lesse alone than when he was alone because that when he was alone he busied himselfe as well as when he was in the senat Among the great affairs wherewith Alexander was occupied he would now and then take some recreation but during those weightie affairs there was neither feast nor banket nor play nor marriage nor any other pastime that he would stay vpon Iulius Caesar obtained many victories by his diligence in such wise that he amased the Carnuts that had reuolted from him For he passed the mountaines with such speed that hee was in their countrie with his armie in shorter time than a messenger could haue bin and began to waste the countrie out of hand afore they had any tidings of his comming Wherewith and with some losse that they had receiued in a battell his enemies were so dismaid that in the end they submitted themselues to his will And as he was diligent in war so was he not idle in the citie but was occupied in pleasuring his freinds in doing iustice to euery man and in ordering the affairs of the stare with great speed and skill in so much that hee did bring the yeare into that order which we haue at this day and was about to haue set the ciuill law in order of art Albeit that the lord of Chaulmont had but few men yet if he had gone speedily to the besieging of Bolonia according to his former deliberation hee had brought the Pope to such a pinch that he had driuen him to make peace because there were but few people within the town But by his ouerslow setting forth to the siege he lost the oportunitie for in the mean time there came in sufficient force to encounter him CoÌ„trariwise Monsieur de Foix by his hardines and diligence did within fifteene dayes compell the armie of the Churchmen and of the Spaniards to dislodge from before Bolona discomfited Iohn Paule Baillon with part of the Venetian companies in Campaine and recouered Bresse by force of armes where eight thousand men were put to the sword and the rest were made prisoners Hanniball was not onelie diligent but also a despiser of all pleasures Traian and Adrian were so diligent and skilfull in warre matters that they knew the account of their legions and called the most part of their men of warre by their names the which they did so precisely least vagabund strangers should intermeddle themselues with them that were Romans born And they permitted not any man which could not good skill to handle his weapon and to fight Epaminondas neuer gaue himselfe any respit from dealing in matters of the state saying that he watched for his countrimens sakes to the intent that they might make good cheare at their ease while he trauelled for them Homer sayth That it becommeth not a man of gouernment and such a one as is to commaund manie to sleepe the whole night For too much sleeping is a spice of idlenesse according to this saying of Salomon in his Prouerbes Slouthfulnesse causeth sleepe to come Whereof Plato speaketh after this maner Ouermuch sleepe is not good neither for the bodie nor for the minde nor for the doing of any businesse and that he that is a sleepe is as a dead man Wherefore whosoeuer will bee wise and well aduised must wake as much as he can and take no more sleepe than is requisit for his health For ouermuch sleeping feedeth vice as Cato sayth in his paires of verses Salomon in the twentith of his Prouerbs sayth Delight not in sleepe least thou become poore but open thine eyes that thou mayest haue foyzon of food And in the 23. chap. he saith That ouermuch sleeping maketh a man to goe in ragged clothes For these considerations the king of Persia caused a groome of his chamber to waken him euerie day and to bid him arise and intend to the affaires of his realme as I haue said heretofore Therefore the Prince that is wel aduised will not giue himselfe to ouermuch sleeping nor shut vp himselfe in a corner to do nothing like to Domitian who tooke pleasure in pricking flies to death nor cast off all affairs to thrust out the time by the shoulders For they that will disburden themselues of their affairs haue commonly more to do than they would haue And as the Greekes said in their common prouerbe Adoxia that is to say The life that is without honour or rather the life that is elendge and solitarie is all one with the painfull life because that they which thinke to liue without paine alone by themselues are more troubled to defend themselues from the wicked which be not afraid of them and therefore do vex them than those which folowing some trade do trauel for the common weale And as saith Thucidides The rest that a man taketh through negligence is more hurtful to a man than laborsome toile That was the cause why Darius would needs plunge the Babylonians into all maner of idlenesse that they might not haue the heart to rebell afterward The same policie vsed Cimon to diminish the force and power of his allies by granting them whatsoeuer they required After that the Persians were driuen out of Greece the allies of the Athenians ceased not to contribut both men and mony towards the making of new warres and the maintenance of an armie on the sea wherof in the end they waxed wearie coÌ„sidering with themselues that the Persians troubled them not would not furnish them any longer with men and ships well were they contented to pay monie for their fines but the Athenian captaines inforced them thereunto and condemned them at great fines if they failed The which dealing made the
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
according to the law Tamerlane hanged a souldier of his for stealing a cheese This rigour was was very needfull For else he should haue had no vittels in his campe which was alway followed with infinit vitellers And by being so rough towards his souldiers he got the good will of whole countries in executing iustice vpon his men of warre according to the law He was gentle to such as submitted themselues vnto him but sharpe and cruell to such as resisted him which was the way to winne much people And no man withstood him Wherfore I conclude that whether it be the prince himselfe or whether it be his lieutenant he must not be so gentle to his souldiers as to beare with all their faults nor so courteous to the plaine countrie-men but that he must shew them all some examples of his seuerity that they may stand in aw of him But he must reserue his austerity for the wicked and stubborn sort and he must vse gentlenes meeldnes and louingnes towards his good souldiers and such as hold out their hands to yeeld themselues vnto him whom he ought to intreat well not for a day or twaine a some do but for euer to the end that the people which are his neighbors may be allured to do the like when they find that this his good dealing proceedeth not of dissimulation but of the very loue meeldnes and good nature of the prince CHAP. V. Whether it be better to haue a good army and an euill chieftaine or a good chieftaine and an euill army THe prince that hath to deale with arms ought to be prouided of two things namely of valeant and well experienced captaines and of good and well trained souldiers For little booteth it to haue a good chieftaine that hath not good men of war or good men of war that haue not a good captaine to lead them But the question is in case that both meet not togither whether it were better to haue an euill army and a good captaine or a good armie and a bad captaine This question seemeth to be doubtles Notwithstanding forasmuch as Machiauell putteth it in ballance although he resolue it after the common maner yet am I to say a word or twaine of it by the way to confirme it the better In this discoursing vpon the historie of Titus Liuius he saith The valeantnes of the souldiers hath wrought wonders and that they haue done better after the death of their captaine than afore as it befell in the armie which the Romans had in Spain vnder the conduct of the Scipios the which hauing lost those two generals did neuerthelesse ouercome their enemies Moreouer he alleageth Lucullus who being vntrained to the wars himselfe was made a good captaine by the good peticaptains of the bands that were in his armie But his reasons are not sufficient to incounter the opinion of those that vphold That an army of stags hauing a lion to their leader is much better than an army of lions that haue a stag to their captaine And in very deed if euer battell were won the winning thereof is to be attributed to the captaine It is well knowen that so long as the Volses had Coriolane to their captain they had alwaies the vpper hand against the Romans But as soone as he was dead they went by the worse When the Romans had cowardly captains they were continually beaten by the Numantines but when Scipio was once chosen generall they did so well ouerset their enemies that in the end they rased Numance itselfe And as I haue said in this discourse when one vpbraided the Numantines that they suffered themselues to be beaten by those whom they had so often beaten afore they answered That in very deed they were the same sheep whom they had encountered afore but they had another shepherd This sheweth sufficiently how greatly some one man may auaile in an armie Antiochus not regarding the multitude of his enemies asked a captain How many meÌ„ he thought his presence to be worth making account that he himself alone should supply the number which the captain desired Eumenes had not an host so wel trained as his enemies and yet he guided it in such sort as he could neuer be ouercome When Antigonus supposing this Eumenes to haue bin extreamly sick was purposed not to haue lost the faire occasion of discomfiting his army as soone as he saw the good gouernance therof iudged incontinently that it was a good chieftaine that had the ordering thereof And when he perceiued the horslitter of Eumeneâ— a farre off by and by he caused the retreit to bee sounded fearing more that which was within the litter than he feared fiue and twentie or thirty thousand men The bondmen of the Romans had not beaten them so oft vnlesse it had ben by the good guidance of Spartacus Sertorius had the whole force of Rome against him and yet could neuer be ouercome Epaminondas and Pelopidas did by their good gouernment traine people that had no skill of warre and vanquished the greatest warriors of all Greece For it is a hard matter that any army be it neuer so well practised in wars should be able to maintaine it selfe against a politick and valeant enemie I say not but that they may fight valeantly but the skilfulnes of the captaine of their enemies may be such as to disorder them by vsing some cunning deuice the disappointing and preuenting whereof belongs to the captaine and not to the souldiers As for that which is alledged of the Scipios it will not serue For inasmuch as the battell was well ordered afore the Romans might well obtaine the victory though both the consuls were there slain Likewise notwithstanding the death of the duke of Burbon yet was Rome taken by his army because the souldiers that had aduentured vpon the assault knew not of the death of their captaine And the Thebans failed not to get the victory though Eâ—aminondas was wounded to death Againe the emperors armie which was sent against the marques of Brandenbrough gat the victorie notwithstanding that duke Moris the generall of the field lost his life there And as touching that which is said of Lucullus who had little experience of war that is very true Neuerthelesse he behaued himselfe so discretly in the warre wherein he was imploied that he was nothing beholden to Pompey which bereft him of the honour of conquering the whole East And to shew that he was not led by the aduice of his army but by his own skill being at the siege of Tigranocerta being counselled by some to raise his siege and to go meet his enemy who was coÌ„ming towards him with great forces and not to stay about the city he beleeued his own wit and vndertook a ieoperdous aduenture For with the one halfe of his armie he went to encounter his enemie whom he ouercame and left the other halfe afore the citie the which he tooke at his returne Also
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