spilling of the bloode or the tearing and vnlacing of his members they gessed and diuined of that which should happen concerning those things about which they consulted In a certaine part of the kingdome of Persia they vse this When they that dwell in that Countrey goe to aske counsell of the Priestes vpon that which they determine to doo the Priests hold in their hands the booke which is commonly called the booke of Lots or Fortune and according to that which they find written in that booke they answer them that come to consult with them It séemeth that the Booke of Lots or Fortune wherewith they deceiue the ignorant Comminaltie was brought out of Persia wherefore the Inquisitors did with great reason forbid the same Booke of Fortunes to be read that they which are of little vnderstanding might not be deceiued by it 6 Séeing that counsels and the successe of those thinges which are consulted proceede as we haue saide from the holie Ghost it is conuenient that all Counsellers before they beginne to consult should humblie request and beséeche the holie Ghost with great deuotion and humilitie to direct them in their way and leade them in their consultations saying that seruice which is properlie belonging vnto the holie Ghost And if the shortnes of the time permit it not they ought to sing the Himne of the holy Ghost as it is rehearsed in the Church Come holie Ghost c. And unitating King Dauid saie Lord mine eyes looke vp and trust in thee thou shalt deliuer me out of the snares c. King Dauid saith not that he looked to his féete to deliuer them from the snares but that he lifted his eyes vp to the Lorde that he should deliuer him and found himselfe not deceiued as he afterwarde mentioneth O Lord my soule hath escaped as the byrd out of the snares of the Hunters and the snares were broken in péeces Plato dooth counsel vs that we should continuallie beséech God that it wold please him to direct that which we shall doo vnto his holie seruice For it is he that by the means of the Angels sheweth vnto vs what we ought to doo For this is an euerlasting truth confirmed with perpetuall experience that in the most harde and difficult things of all mans life where the wit of man is most blind and doth most want counsell and forces there dooth the diuine wisedome of the Lord shew it selfe most cléerely wonderfullie That great Iudith with a noble and excellent mind said vnto those that were besieged in the Cittie of Bethulia And now who are you that haue tempted GOD this day and will bind the counsels of the Lord our God And so she rebuked the faintnes of the Gouerners of Bethulia For it is a token signe of great weakenes and ignorance in a man to doo all matters according to his own wisdome and humane counsels It were better and safer to desire the Lord that he wold be our guide in all our actions and counsels for he will direct vs in the readie path shew vs which waie is best séeing that he neuer fayleth to aide those y t powre forth their praiers vnto him Those Angels that by the commaundement of God aide and helpe men in their waies and rule the actions of vertuous Princes are comprehended vnder those companies which are called Dominions and Principalities as Dionysius Arcopagita saith 7 And the better to bring this to passe which we saie we ought to doo according to the commaundements of our Sauiour and Lord Jesus Christ who neither deceiueth himselfe nor can not deceiue them vnto whom he giueth counsell For from him floweth the spring of vnderstanding and knowledge and he is the author and cause of all goodnes From him doth it proceede that Counsellers be good he is the cause why Kings gouerne their kingdoms well and minister iustice And this did King Salomon aske of the Lord saying Lord send me thy wisdome downe out of thy holie heauens and sende her from the throne of thy Maiestie that she may be with me and labour that I may know what is acceptable in thy sight If those that in olde times past worshipped Idols asked counsell of them and the deuil to deceiue them used many kinds of Oracles and prophecies as I wrote more at large in my Bookes of pollicies and Common-wealths it is more theÌ„ reason that we which serue and worship Christ the redéemer of the worlde should humblie offer our prayers to his holines and request him that it wold please him of his goodnes to fauour helpe vs in all our counsels And no doubt seeing the holie Ghost is he that beadeth vs in all our actions he will choose that for vs which shall best please his holines And that counsell which we choose through his inspiration is the best and which most appertaineth vnto vs. 8 The night time is very fit to consult And for this cause did the Grecians call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to be wise For when the Counsellers assemble together to confer about matters in the night time those things in which men be commonly occupied by day doo not hinder or trouble them and with the stilnes of the night as Virgil saith all things are quiet Homere to she we that the silent night time was most commodious to consult said that it did not become Princes to sléepe all the night who ought to consult vpon matters concerning the Common-wealth And for because y t when a man is not withdrawne from his booke neither by his busines nor by any other meanes it greatly confirmeth his memorie and profiteth him much for the inuention and contemplation of that which he searcheth and learneth no doubt but the quiet still night which cutteth of all occasions that may hinder a man is the fittest and best time to studie in especially because the minde at that tune is more frée and readier to muse and consider of euerie thing 9 First of all before the Counsellers beginne to consult they ought to sée that no man be in place that may heare that which is spoken off in their consultations After that the Ambassadors of King Tarquinius had conspired with the Sonnes of Brutus and other young Gentlemen to restore Tarquinius to his kingdome they solemnized their conspiration with the death of a man whose bloode they dranke and touched his enentrailes that they might by that ceremonie binde theÌ„selues to keepe counsell and helpe one another And to doo this they assembled together in a desert house where no body did dwell But as it fell out by chaunce a certaine Seruant called Vindicius was in the same house who séeing them enter in on the suddaine in great haste could not gette â—ut but spying a large Larget in one of the corners of the Chamber presentlie fell to the ground and couered himselfe with its and so he lay verie secretlie and saw
rule their Subiects in peace ought not to suffer their people so to giue themselues to ease that they neuer be exercised or trained vppe in Armes for an vnarmed peace is very weake Gelon King of Sicilie being perswaded that those Common-weales in which the people were not exercised in Militarie practises could not long continue for peace vacation from labours and idlenes spoyle and consume them hee commaunded that it shoulde be published through all his Countrey that great necessitie vrged him to make warre and there withall commaunded that the people should presently be mustered and taught how to vse their weapons and after they had béene trained and some thing exercised in handling them he commaunded that they shoulde all of them be placed in order that they might goe with him to seeke the enemie but when they were all gone and asked where the enimies were with whem they should fight the King shewed the fieldes hils and valleys vnto thē saying that if they wold atchiue victory ouer their enemies they should labour in those groundes felling downe the Trées and digging out the stones that were in them for so dooing they shoulde vanquishe those deadly enimies Sloth and Idlenes which woulde ouerthrowe and destroy the whole Common-wealth if they were not in time expelled and no Nation durst make war vpon them seeing that they were practised in exercises of warre and accustomed to labour For as Titus Liuius saith the enemies themselues doo not the Common-wealth so much harme as delight and wantonnes Anncient olde men in their time painted the Goddesse Pallas in Compleate harnesse because they would haue men to vnderstand that the Artes and Sciences which florish in peace little profit vnlesse they be defended by Armes The Emperour Iustinian saith that Princes ought to be adorned with Armes and armed with Lawes that they may well gouerne the people that is committed vnto them The sixteenth discourse Howe and wherewith Common-Weales be augmented and wherewith they doe decay COunsellers of Princes especially they of the Counsell of the estate ought to vnderstande and know wherwith Common-weales be augmented and by what means they decaie again The famous S. Augustine saith that as the Phisitions cure sicke bodies by purging letting of blood and searing so God cureth the sinnes and vices of men with famine as dyets with plagues as purgations and with wars as letting of blood and searing The Prophet Esay saith God will chastice the people of Ierusalem with taking away the staie of bread and the staie of water The strong man and the man of warre the Judge and the Prophet the prudent and the aged the Captaines of fiftie and the honourable and the Counseller and the cunning Artificer and the eloquent man and hee will appoint children to be their Princes and babes shall rule ouer them and the people shal be oppressed one by an other and euery one by his neighbour the children shall presume against the auncient and those that are contemptible against those that are honourable God dooth also chastice Cōmon-weales and bringeth them to decay by suffering Pharaoes Nabuchadnezers Caligulaes Neroes Dyoclesians to gouerne because of the sins of the people and they stand him in stéede of Tormentors Attila was called the rod of God and Tamberlaine the wrath of God Those Princes which God will haue to serue him in stéed of Tormentors to punish the people who with their haynous sins offend him are as Cardinall Reginald Poole saith in the Oration which he made vnto Charles the fift concerning peace those that persecute the Church of God For GOD placeth not Christian Princes in authoritie to the ende they shoulde serue him in steede of Tormentors but that they should minister iustice equallie vnto al men and be as S. Paule saith Ministers of God imitating him and following him in vsing clemencie and béeing mercifull to the consolation and comfort of all the people but because the people repent not themselues of theyr sinnes and leaue not their wickednes and because as the holie Scriptures saie the measure of the Amorites is filled GOD sendeth them Princes that stand thē in steede of Tormentors but if they amēded their liues and enclined their harts to repentaunce as Niniuie did he wold pardon them For it is the propertie of his diuine Maiestie to pardon and shewe mercie vnto those that from the bottome of their hart doo cal vnto him and repent themselues of their sinnes And vnto those people which are iust and vertuous God giueth good Kings and such as doo the Common-wealth much good and are as Angels sent from heauen to conserue and defend her Therfore those Princes that doo not this accomplish not their dutie and cannot be properlie called Princes but equiuocally as a painted man is called a man The holie Scriptures call those Princes that doo not minister iustice vnto euery man according to the commandement of God hypocrites for they haue no princely thing in them but onely the name of Princes and béeing most cruell Wolues they be masked and disguised with tokens onelie and shewes of most mercifull Princes 2 God doth oftentimes permit that Princes should suffer many troubles and aduersities to turne them from their wicked liues and to shewe them that God dooth punish chastice Princes Kings Monarches and Emperours when they gouerne not their people as they ought according to the will and pleasure of the highest Monarch of the world After this manner saith the Prophet Daniel that God did shew vnto Nabuchadnezzar King of Babilon how that God is Lord of all kingdomes giueth them vnto whom he will and euen as Schoolmaisters correct their Schollers to make them to applie theyr bookes and duelie come to schoole so GOD dooth chastice the Princes of the earth that they may performe their duetie and vnderstand that the true beginning to gouerne well as well in time of peace as war consisteth in knowing that God Almightic is the Lord of all kingdomes and that the beginning of all knowledge and wisedome as King Salomon saith is the feare of the Lord and this is y e first lesson which they ought to learn that will follow him and the first shewe and token which they make in the schoole of his doctrine The feare of the Lorde is glorie and gladnes and reioycing and a ioyfall crowne And the feare of the Lord maketh a merrie hart and giueth gladnes and ioy and long life and who so feareth the Lord it shall goe well with him at the last and hee shall finde fauour in the day of his death The Prophet Dauid beeing taught by the holie Ghost saith Be wise now therefore ye Kinges be learned ye Judges of the earth serue the Lord in feare reioyce in trembling Kisse the Sonne least he be angry and ye perrish in the way when his wrath shall suddainlie burne blessed are al they that put their trust in him And those
harmes of the Common-wealth are not taken away by chaunging the Officers and Magistrates vnlesse such persons succeede in the Offices that know how a Common-wealth ought to be gouerned 11 If any man obtaine the principallitie in a Cittie or estate and become cheefe of the place when his foundation is weake and he thinketh that hee shall not be able to kéepe the Common-wealth long in the same estate into which hee hath brought it theÌ„ that it may not returne into the former estate his best remedie were to change and alter all things to make newe gouernments new ordinaunces and newe Lawes and call them all by newe termes and new names and to take the authoritie from theÌ„ that were in dignitie and giue it to others to make new Officers newe Magistrates and new men and to make them that were poore rich and them that were rich poore and in a worde to alter and turno all things tâ—psie turuie by killing y e greatest heads those that haue most power as Periander couÌ„selled Thrasibulus and Tarquâ—â—â—us the prâ—udâ— counselled his sonne when he tooke the Cittie of the Gabians Besides this he ought to build vp new Citties and pul downe some old Citties and remoue the inhabitants of one Cittie into another and finally not to leaue any thing in that prouince which is not chaunged and altered and that in it there be no degree no order no estate or dignitie which he that hath it do not acknowledge that he doth enioy it by the graunt or gift of him that made himselfe Prince And thus did Phillip King of Macedon Father to Alexander the great make him selfe Lord ouer all Greece placing the men of one Prouince into another as Sheepheards driue a flocke of Sheepe out of one fâ—â—lde into another But this pollicie and manner of conseruation of arrestate is properly vsed by them that tyrannise ouer the Common-wealth For hauing not wherewithall to satisâ—fie them that follow them and to keepe them to their freendes that fauour them they robbe spoyle burne kill murther destroy ransacke and pull downe all thinges vsing most cruell remedies altogether contrarie to the puritie and sinceritie of Christian Religion which permitteth not that any man shold make himselfe by endomaging his neighbour and so commit mortall sinne wherefore euery one ought rather to be contented with a priuate life then desire a kingdome by destroying and vndooing so many men 12 If the gouernment of any Common-weale be altered out of one estate into another as for example out of a Democracie into an Oligarchie or out of an Oligarchie into a Monarchie it is expedient that the Lawes and ordinaunces of the estate be altered also As Brutus did when he cast the kings out of Rome and brought in the gouernment of the Consuls changing the kingdome into a Consulshippe and so the Common-wealth was gouerned by two Consuls and the choyse and election of the Magistrates was giuen to the people So like wise the Romaine Emperors after they became Lords ouer y e whole Empire by little and little altered and changed all the Lawes and ordinances by which the Common-wealth was gouerned during the Consulshippe accomodating and fitting the Lawes conformable to the estate which they woulde bring in and vse the Lawes as Phisitions vse medicines for it properly concerneth Lawes to cure the vices naughtie customs and dissolute manners which disquiet and molest the Common-wealth And as the Phisitions vse not to cure al diseases with one medicine and apply not the same medicine at all times but according to the strength or féeblenes of the sicke and other circumstaunces considered varie and alter their remedies and phisicke which they minister and in many sicknesses they deferre the cure till some other time rather then they woulde remedie them with manifest danger of life so it is a great deale better and more conuenient in gouernment to dissemble some thinges then to goe about to mende them with the losse damage of the whole Common-wealth This counsaile did Pompey the great thinke to vse in the warre which Iulius Caesar waged against the Common-welth and to maintaine that warre as Fabius Maximus maintained the warre which Hanniball made against Italie For in such enterprises and many other affaires the time doth dissolue and ouerthrow them and to goe about to dispatch and destroy them in haste were to spoile the Common-wealth 13 They erre greatly that thinke that the mixed bodies of Common-weales be cured by reducing them into their first originall for séeing that the mixed bodies are like to mens bodies which because they increase and decrease Children and babes ought to be cured one way young folkes another waie and olde men after another manner conformable to their age and complâ—rion for as the Phisitions say euerie daie some humour is ingendered in mans bodie which must be cured no lesse with preseruatiue medicines then curatiue that which ought to be considered in the rule and gouernment of a CoÌ„monweale is that great care be had of the publique commoditie and welfare of the whole bodie of the Common-wealth as the Phisitions haue of the soundnes wholesomnes of mans whole bodie when they cure and heale the sicke It is therefore expedient that they which gouerne Common-weales change and alter the Lawes and ordinances by which the CoÌ„mon-weales were ruled when they began and square them to the times in which the Common-weales increase and become greater and larger For a great Common-wealth cannot be conuenientlie maintained with the selfe same Lawes and ordinaunces with which it was maintained and gouerned when it was but little though notwithstanding that it be saide that Princes goe about to spoile and marre the estate when they begin to break the old lawes and rites and auncient customes vnder which men liued many yeeres for this holds not when necessitie requireth that the gouernment should be changed and squared to the present estate of the Common-wealth And as the Phisitions cutte or burne off one member of the bodie to saue the sicke mans life and as the skilfull Pilot casteth the wares Merchandise ouer-boorde to helpe the shippe out of the imminent danger and as the Sheepeheard hath the charge ouer y e whole flocke to cure it euen so it is conuenient that they which gouerne the Common-wealth should consider what vices and disorders disquiet and trouble it And euen as the dilligent and careful Labourer taketh great pains in weeding his Gardens and rooting out those hearbes which are rather hurtfull then wholesome vnto his groundes so they that rule and gouerne Common-weales ought to labour clensing them from all pernitious weedes of wickednes and naughtines which hurt theÌ„ for there is nothing more hurtfull and lesse profitable to the Common-wealth then to suffer dissolutnes of manners and pernitious customs to encrease and augment dailie which afterwards molest and vexe the Common-wealth And to bind euery man to liue politicklie and according to
that those Common-weales which were most like to his Idaea were the best and that those which did lesse resemble it were not so good though Aristotle reprehending him saith that the corrupted Common-weales are not better some then other but that they are lesse naught some then others But Plato saith well for he maketh no comparison of corrupted Common-weales for hee accounteth not that a Common-weale which is corrupted but of good Common-weales of which hee speaketh and because the kingdome or Monarchie is most like vnto his Idaea of good gouernmēt he saith that it is the best politie of all and that the Democracie because it is most seperated from his Idaea of good gouernment then all the other it is the worst politie of all and that of all Common-weales that are well gouerned the Democracie is the worst and of all Common-weales that are naughtilie gouerned it is the best Plato saith this because séeing that all Common-weales are ill gouerned they which liue in that Cōmon-wealth which is gouerned by the people are more free and lesse oppressed by those that rule and gouerne them And vnderstanding that which Plato saith after this manner all Aristotles arguments and obiections which hee bringeth against him concerning the gouernments trans-formations of Common-weales are vaine and in effect Plato said the same which Aristotle to wit that the most principall and chéefest kinds or diuersities of gouernment are three the Monarchie Oligarchie and Democracie and that the Monarchie is the best gouernment and the Democracie the worst by reason of the vnconstancie and small skil of the people Tullie affirmeth that the Sea hath not so many tempests daungers troubles as the peoples election hath in which they choose ordaine and establish Officers and Magistrates to rule and gouerne them Demosthenes said that if he had known the malicious defractions forged crimes and craftie inuentions vnto which they that beare Office in the Common-weales which are ruled by the people are subiect and that two waies had béene shewed him the one to be an Officer and Partaker of the gouernment and y e other to incurre present death that hee wold rather haue chosen that way in which there was danger of death then to be in Office in a Democracie or Common-wealth gouerned by the people 16 The regiments are trans-formed and chaunged some into others according to the opinion of Plato the Monarchie and Kingdome into the Aristocracie which hee calleth the ambitious gouernment because they that gouerne desire and couet honours the Aristocracie is translated into the Oligarchie which is when a few gouerne whose principall intent is to be rich this estate is not so good as the ambitious gouernment for honor and glory is preferred before riches and the Oligarchie is changed into the Democracie Aristotle sayth that gouernments are altered either because they which preuaile most and are of greatest power oppresse the people or because they which are rich and of greatest authoritie will not suffer others though they be rich and honoured to gouerne the Common-wealth or because there are factions partialities among those that gouerne which of them shall be the chéefest or because they that gouerne will expell others that do gouern from the gouernment or because some of those that gouerne take aduantage by the fauour of the people for to tyrannize ouer the Common-wealth Polibius is of that opinion that mē after they assembled together liued polliticklie in ciuill gouernment and choose some that had most credit and authority among them to rule and defend them And these afterwards of Tutors and defenders became Traytors and Tyrants and the cheefest of thē not being able to suffer the tyrannie of those their naughtie Gouernours dispossessed thē of the gouernment and translated it vnto themselues making it an Aristocracie which kinde of gouernment was after the same order in time trans-formed into an Oligarchie This discourse of Polibius concerning the alteration transmutation of Common weales is like to that which some men say of riches and pouertie affirming that pouertie maketh men laborious industrius glad to trauaile and take paines by which diligence and industrie they attaine to riches by them they become vicious wicked and so by reason of their wickednes at length they fall into pouertie againe which constraineth them to take paines and be industrius as they were before The change of y e gouernment as Aristotle saith commeth by reason that they which gouerne are very absolute in commaunding nothing regarding reason or iustice but altogether tendering their own particular and priuate commoditie and herein differ Kings from Tyrants and a good regiment from a bad 17 And to conclude the gouernment in Common-weales are also changed and altered by sects and newe Religions for nothing doth more maintaine the estate of the Common-welth then Religion and for this cause they that will vsurpe any Kingdome or Monarchie take aduantage by Religion for with it they draw the people to obey them wherewith they disquiet the Common-weales and all customs are broken and factions seismes partialities and dissentions are brought in as may be seene in those that haue brought in newe sects and altered good customs into badde vnder pretence of Religion As Mahomet who with his wicked sect infected all the Arabians the Xequi Ismael with interpreting the Alcoran after a newe manner brought in the Empire which the Kings of Persia nowe holde In the time of the Emperour Alonso King of Castile a certaine man in Affrick called Aldemon son vnto a Gentleman did rebell because an other Moore that was one of his companions and a great Astrologian verie well skilled in his Arte had told him that he should once become a mightie man so that this same Astrologian began throughout all Affrick to preache and declare the Alcoran praysing his fellowe and companion Aldemon and making all the people to beleeue that he shold be a great Lord and thereby he gathered such a company together which followed Aldemon that it was a wonderfull matter to beholde them and at length the matter was brought to that passe that Aldemon with all them that followed him fought a battaile with Alboachi King of Arabia who at that time was Lord ouer Affricke and ouerthrewe him and slewe him in the conflict and so Aldemon was made King of Arabia and Lord of Affricke The Anabaptistes and such other pestilentiall Heretickes by misconstruing the holy Scripture and sophisticallie expounding Gods word haue infected many places with their pernicious sect and caused many alterations and hurlie-burlies in diuers Countries not without the great hurt and losse of many Christians King Ieroboam builded a Temple and in it sette vppe a golden Calfe making himselfe high Priest of Idolatrie which he did because by his own example he should drawe the people to commit Idolatry that committing Idolatrie the ten Tribes which had rebelled against