protector and aboue all others fearing the Persians determined with himselfe vpon aduice to cōmit the charge thereof by his last Will in writing vnto Indisgertes king of Persia and to set his Faith as a shield against his force and to tie his hands with the holy band of Protectorship praieng him to keepe and preserue the empire for his sonne Indisgertes taking the protectorship vpon him executed it so faithfully that he preserued both the life and empire of Theodosius Don Philip of Austrich king of Castile and lord of the Low countries considering how he left his sonne Charles not aboue eleuen yeres old that afore he should be of ful age the king of France might inuest himselfe in the Low-countries to preuent this inconuenience did by his testament ordaine king Lewis the twelfth to be his protector Wherupon the king by consent of the country appointed the lord of Chieures to be gouernor there and neuer made any warre vpon him notwithstanding that Maximilian gaue him sufficient causes to haue done it Licurgus being counselled therto by his countrymen and also by his sister in law the queene to take vpon him the kingdome of Lacedemon after the death of his brother would not hearken vnto it but kept it faithfullie for his nephew Charilaus who was borne after his fathers decease chusing rather to be a faithfull protector than an vnfaithfull king cleane contrarie to Lewis Sfortia who of a Gardian made himselfe duke of Millan dispossessing his nephew Iohn Galeas and his posteritie thereof But he kept it not any long time In all the doings of these good princes there was neither oth nor promise but only a good and sincere will to keep touch with such as had relied vpon the trust of their faithfulnesse For whersoeuer there hath passed either oath or single promise good men haue neuer doubt but it was to be kept as the forealleaged examples may witnesse vnto vs. And Cicero in one of his orations saith That the Gods immortall do punish a periured person and a liar both with one punishment because they be offended at the trecherie and malice wherby men be beguiled rather than at the prescript forme of words and couenants wherin the oth is comprised But whensoeuer an oth was added vnto it they held it and kept it whatsoeuer it cost them as we see in the Poets concerning the vow of Agamemnon the which is like inough to haue beene counterfaited out of the historie of Ieptha In the xxiij and xxx of Deut. it is written thus If a man be bound by oth he shall performe whatsoeuer he hath promised And Cicero in his bookes of Duties saith That we ought in any wise to keepe the promise wherein we call God to witnesse And as Sophocles saith He that that sweareth ought to be sore afraid that he sinne not against God The Aegyptians did punish periured persons with death because they sinned double as well in violating religion towards God as in taking away faithfulnesse from among men the greatest and straightest bond of humane societie After the battell of Cannas Scipio being aduertised that certaine senators held a counsell in secret how to forsake the citie of Rome went suddenly in among them with his naked sword in his hand and made them to sweare that they should not for any cause forsake the citie which thing they durst not but performe for feare of their oath As likewise did a certaine Tribune who for feare of death had promised Torquatus to withdraw his accusation which he had exhibited against his father for hee withdrew it indeed for his oath sake notwithstanding that Torquatus had compelled him thereto by force in holding his swords point to his throat So great reuerence did the men of old time yeeld vnto an aoth The Samnits hauing warred long time with the Romans and being almost vtterly destroied would needs for their last refuge put thēselues once more to the trial of fortune whome they had found so contrarie vnto them and hazard all in one battell And for the better executing of their determination they sware by great oathes euerichone of them that they would neuer retire out of the battel but follow their captaine whether soeuer he led them and if any of them all recoiled they sware all to kill him This oath had such force that neuer any people were seene to fight so desperatly and valeantly as they fought at that time Neuerthelesse the valiancie good gouernment of the Romanes was of more force than their stoutnesse The thing that made the people of Rome beleeue that Romulus was not slaine but conueied vp into heauen vvas the great oth that Proculus sware vnto them that he saw him deified and had spoken vvith him For the people were of opinion that Proculus whom they esteemed to be a good man and a friend to Romulus would not haue taken such an oth except he had bene sure that the thing was as he affirmed Lycurgus to the intent his countrimen should not disanull the lawes which he had newly stablished among them although he had gotten them ratified by the oracle of Apollo yet would needs take an oth of the people and caused them to sweare that they should not infringe them vntill his return to the end that the reuerence of the oth which they had taken might restraine them from altering any thing After the example of whome christian princes ought to bee well ware that they violat not their faith nor see light by the oth which they take for performance of their promises Wherof we haue a notable example in the fourteenth chapter of the first booke of Samuel where God is very sore angrie for that Ionathas the sonne of king Saul in chasing his enemies had tasted a little honie which was in respect of the oath which Saul had made that neither he nor any of his people should eat any thing before night and afore hee had bene fully reuenged of his enemies In so much that although Ionathas was not present at the making of the vow yet had Saul put him to death if the people had not saued him And in the one and twentith of the second booke of Samuel because Saul being moued with a good zeale had slaine certaine of the Amorrhits contrarie to the promise made vnto them by the Israelits of old time that they would not hurt them God sent a famine among the Israelits which ceassed not vntill they had deliuered seuen of Saules children to the Amorrhits to take vengeance of them These examples shew how greatly our God abhorreth periurie to the intent no man should excuse himselfe vnder pretence that no touch is to be kept with him that breaketh his promise or that one cōpanion is to keepe touch with another but not the master with his seruant nor the christian with the infidel For an oath ought to be so holy and so had in reuerence that it should not
the sixt which is the greatest dignitie is that the wise commaund the ignorant and the seuenth is that which commeth by lot and by the grace of God so as he that is chosen by lot commandeth and raigneth and he that faileth of it is bound to obay Cicero speaking of Pompey saith that a good emperor that is to say a good Generall of a field must haue the skill of chiualrie and feats of arms vertue authoritie and felicitie He must be painfull in affaires hardy in daungers skilfull in deuising things quicke in performing and of good prouidence to foresee Titus Liuius saith that the great Captaine Hanniball was wonderful hardy in putting himselfe to the perils of warre and very resolute in the middest of danger that neither his body nor his minde were fore-wearied with trauel that he patiently abode both heat and cold alike that he measured his eating and drinking rather by naturall appetite than by pleasure that for sleeping or waking he made no difference betweene day and night but looke what time remained vnto him from doing of his businesse he bestowed it in taking his rest not vpon a soft featherbed in some place far from noise but ordinarily lying vpon the ground couered with a souldiers cassocke among the warders the whole troops of the men of armes When he went among the horsemen or the footemen he marched alwaies formost and was the first that gaue the onset and when the fight was ended he was the hindermost in the retreit Plutarch treating of Sertorius saith that in matters ciuile he was gentle and courteous and in matters of warre he was of great fiercenesse and forecast He was neuer seene surprised with feare or ioy but like as in most perill he was void of feare so in his prosperity he was very moderate He gaue not place in hardinesse to any of his time nor for valiantnesse in fighting nor for setled resolution in all suddaine aduentures When any enterprise was to be done that required good aduise or skill to choose the aduantage of some place of strong scituation to lodge in or to giue battell or to passe a riuer or to shift off some mishap that for the doing thereof there behoued great sleight or the working of some policie and the giuing of some gleeke to the enemie in due time place he was a most excellent crafts-maister Besides all this he was liberall magnificent in rewarding honorable deeds of arms and meeld and mercifull in punishing misdeeds He was not subiect to his bellie neither did he drinke out of measure no not euen when he had no businesse to do In time of most vacation he was wont from his very youth to put himselfe to great trauell to make long iourneis to passe many nights together without sleepe to eate little to be contented with such meats as came first to hand And whē he was at leisure he was alwaies either riding or hunting or running or walking abroad in the fields I haue inserted this the more at length to the intent it may serue for a patterne to Princes that intend to prosper and to performe their charge happily Now let vs come to a king The Latine word Rego whereof commeth Rex which betokeneth a king signifieth to rule or gouerne And so a king is nothing else but a ruler or gouerner of people Likewise Homer termeth him sometime the Garnisher and sometime the heardman or sheepheard of the people because he ought to be carefull for his people as the sheepheard is for his sheepe and to watch ouer them as the sheepheard doth ouer his flocke that no man doe them wrong And as Plutarch saith a good prince is like a sheepheards dogge which is alwaies in feare not for himselfe but least the wolfe should fall vpon the sheepe and so is a good Prince in feare not for himselfe but least any euill should befall his subiects Aristotle in his third booke of matters of State saith There are foure sorts of kingdomes the first is where the king hath no soueraigne authoritie further than in matters of warre and in sacrifising of which sort were the kings of Sparta or Lacedemon and this maner of kingdome is as a perpetuall captaineship matched with souereigne authoritie of life and death such as Agamemnon had who did put vp iniuries when he sate at counsell but had power to put whom he listed to death when he was in armes And of such kingdomes some goe by inheritance and other some by election The second sort of kingdomes are those that goe both by inheritance and election the which notwithstanding approcheth vnto tyrannie sauing that the keeping thereof is king-like that is to say the kinges are garded by their owne subiects whereas the tyrants are garded by strangers And the kings commaund by law and are obayed with good will wheras the tyrants raigne altogether by constraint Insomuch that the one sort are garded by their owne citizens or countrimen and the other by strangers against the countrimen The third is Barbarous not for that it is against law but for that it is not in custome of which sort was the gouernment of the Mitylenians which chose Pittacus against their banished persōs And the fourth sort is that which was vsed in the time of the noble princes whom the Greeks called Heroes who vsurped not dominion by force but had it bestowed vpon them by the people of good will deliuered ouer afterward lawfully to their successors They intended to the warres and to church-matters and therewithall iudged matters of controuersie Of these foure sorts of kingdomes he maketh a fift which is when one commaundeth absolutely This kind agreeth most to our time specially in this country where the king commaundeth absolutely howbeit without infringing the law for then were it not king-like but tyran-like And according to Aristotle when a Prince reigneth without law it is all one as if a wild beast reigned A King then is a soueraigne Prince that reigneth ouer a people not seeking his own peculiar profit but the profit of his subiects This maner of reigning is like to houshold gouernment for although the maister of the house do ouer-rule his traine and his seruaunts at his pleasure yet notwithstanding he regardeth aboue all things the welfare of his familie euen so a good king is to haue an eye most principally to the welfare and benefit of his houshold namely of his subiects For vpon them dependeth his owne welfare as the welfare of the maister of a household dependeth vpon his meiny and seruants One being asked vpon a time what a prince was to doe that he might raigne wel said He must commaund his subiects as a father commaundeth his children for the father commaundeth not his children any thing but that which is for their welfare In this respect Homer called Iupiter Father of Gods and men according to the saying of our Lord who hath taught vs to call the soueraigne
Samuel whose vniust behauior caused the Iews to demaund a King Here is a faire field offred me for the discoursing of this matter on either side but it shall suffice me to haue had this speech following at a glaunce CHAP. V. Whether it be better to haue a king by Succession or by Election SOme there are that demaund whether it be more behoofull and expedient for the welfare of a people to haue a king by Election or by Succession For if ye proceed by Election it is to be presumed that ye will choose the best namely such a one as hath made good proofe of himselfe and is knowne to be wise fortunat and valeant Or if ye let it goe by Succession it may be that the king shall be yoong of small experience and of little vnderstanding And therefore Alexander knowing the dutie of a king said He would leaue his kingdome to the worthiest Pirrhus being asked of his children to whom he would leaue his kingdome answered To him that of you all hath the sharpest sword as if he should say to him that is the most valeant Whosoeuer would maintaine this opinion should haue reasons enow to vphold and defend it Yet notwithstanding we ought to rest vpon the custome of the country and not to swarue from it Such as are wont to choose their king do well and worthily therein And yet the granting of a kingdome to goe by Succesion which also is a very generall custome in most countries is not to be misliked For oftentimes it falleth out that Elections are a cause of many warres as we haue seene in the Romane emperors On the other side when the kingdome goeth by succession there is no quarrell or ciull warre because it is knowne who ought to be king For that cause did Geâ—srike appoint by his will that his children should exceed one another in the kingdome so that after the death of his eldest sonne dying without issue the eldest next him should succeede And as long as that order was obserued among them the kingdome continued in the race of Gensrike as witnesseth Iordane in his historie of the Gothes Moreouer a father is desirous to leaue all things in best order to his children the which thing tendeth alwaies to the publike commoditie Contrariwise they that are chosen endeuor rather to diminish than to enlarge their kingdomes because they shall not leaue them to their heires and therefore they labor to draw all things to their owne peculiar profit that they may leaue to their familie some frute of the kingdome wherto they were come and therwithall they be bound to fauor and recompence their Electors which cannot be done without expenses and charges to the common-weale And it will not serue the purpose to say that oftentimes it falleth out that kings are yoong and vnder age and consequentlie without authoritie and without abilitie to gouerne themselues and much lesse their people or else that they be witlesse or out of their wits which is worse For it is well knowne that nothing is so well ordered in this world nor any law so well stablished which may not admit some inconuenience But in this case the incounenience is such as may easily be remedied For if a king be yoong he hath a Counsell by whom oftentimes he ruleth better than some old man that will needs do all things on his owne head as we read of Iosias who was crowned at seuen yeares of age and raigned forty yeares in which time he did not any thing which was not to be done so as the minoritie of his age made him not to be the lesse honored regarded Herof we haue record in little Europus king of Macedonia the presence of whom notwithstanding that he lay in his cradle caused his subiects to win the battell and the Macedonians said all with one voice That when they fled afore they wanted not corage but their king in whose presence they fought as manfully as if he had beene of discretion to haue marked them that did well And although we haue somtimes had warres by reason of the minoritie and debilitie of our kings as it happened in the times of S. Lewis of Charles the sixt and lastly of the late king Charles whom God pardon yet may we well avow that we neuer had so much harme therby as the Romans had by their wicked emperors that came in by Election yea euen by the best taught of them as Heliogabalus was who being trained vp in all duties of honor and godlinesse by Varia Mesa did neuerthelesse become one of the wickedst creatures vnder the sunne And therefore we may well say that it commeth of Gods will who according to his threatning of the Israelites in old time sendeth vs babes or fooles to be our gouernors when he listeth to punish vs and oftentimes princes well brought vp but yet abiding in their wicked and il-disposed nature such as were Tiberius Nero Caligula and infinit other mo Neuerthelesse there is this difference that the king which is of tender yeares or simple-witted hath his counsell which notwithstanding that they be oftentimes at ods among themselues omit not for all that to giue him good counsel in most things But as for the Prince that is of a froward nature he beleueth nothing but that which is of his own head neither giueth he himselfe to any thing else than to do mischeefe I know wel that the minoritie of a prince is oftentimes the cause of many dissentions partakings for the gouernmeÌ„t and that men stand not in so great awe of him as of an elder person that is well aduised But yet the state of the time and of affaires doth more in that behalfe than all other things For if they happen vnder a prince that is yong or simple-witted they procure great tragedies and yet for all that they faile not to step in also euen vnder a king that is man-growne and well aduised If Robert of Artois who was the cause of all the misfortune that we had in France by the Englishmen had beene in the time of a young prince men would haue said that the small regard which he had of the princes age had made him to despise him And yet neuerthelesse hauing to do with a king of full age and well experienced aforehand he forbare not for all that to make open warre vpon him and to cause the English men to come into France vpon a choler and despite for that Philip of Valois had adiudged the earledome of Artoys to his aunt The king of Nauar had to do with a king of sufficient years with such a one as had not then tasted of such misfortune as he felt afterward by experience and yet notwithstanding hee forbare not to giue many proud attempts against him to slea his constable and to refuse to be at his commaundement vntill the king had giuen him his sonne the earle of Aniou in hostage At such
Sâ—lomon in his Prouerbs Blessed is the man that alwaies standeth in feare but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischiefe S. Paul willeth vs to go through with our saluation with feare and terror and he would not haue vs to be too skilful And in the xj of Esai it is written that the spirit of the feare of God shall rest vpon the blossome of the roote of Iesse And in the lxvj chapter Whom shall I regard saith the Lord but him that is meeld and gentle and standeth in feare of my words And in the xxvj At the feare of thee we haue conceiued and brought forth the spirit of saluation And in the xxxiij Psalme Ye righteous feare ye the Lord. And in the xviij Psalme The feare of the Lord endureth for euer And as S. Ierome saith Feare is the keeper of al vertues and the true way is to feare the power of God Homer in his Iliads bringeth in Helen vsing these termes to king Priam Surely deare Lord and father in law I doe both feare you and honor you because we ordinarily reuerence those whom we feare And therefore neere to the common hall of the Ephores in Sparta there was a chappell dedicated to Feare for feare doth alwaies accompany shame Also it is a very commendable thing to be affraid of vnhonesty and yet not to be afraid to be counted vnhonest As for example when one vpon a time vpbraided Xenophanes the son of Lagus that he was fearefull and durst not play at dice I confesse quoth he that I am not only fearefull but also exceeding fearefull but that is but in things vnhonest For honourable is that feare that restraineth a man from doing euill As touching meekenesse or meeldnesse it beseemeth a prince very well For it maketh him gentle courteous and affable And it is one of the three vertues which Dauid would haue in a king For in the xliiij Psalme Ride on saith he and raigne because of thy meekenesse iustice and truth And this vertue is contrarie to choleriknesse hastinesse or fumishnesse which ought to be far off from a prince as the which doth too much blind him and bereaue him of reason and iudgement But to be angrie with leaudnesse and leaud persons is very well done prouided that it be not in such sort as it extend to sinne according to this saying of the Psalmist Be angrie but sinne not in your hearts And for as much as I will treat hereof more largely when I come to speake of anger or wrath and of meeldnesse or meekâ—nesse I will content my selfe for the present to haue shewed the passions of the mind as it were at a glance which though they seeme at the first blush to encounter against vertue be such neuerthelesse as a well-disposed mind may greatly helpe it selfe by them and make them to serue to very good end and so alter the shape of them as that the thing which seemed euill shall fall out to be good and commendable CHAP. XI Whether Vertue and Honestie be to be seperated from profit in matters of gouernment or state BVt I feare least by standing too long vpon matter of Manners I forslow the matters of State and that in going about to make a prince vertuous I make him a prince misaduised For oftentimes the managing of publike affairs is such that he must rather haue regard of the present case how to wind himselfe out of the briers and to get out of some shrewd pinch than to stand musing vpoÌ„ vertue because that they which do so busie their heads doe often times suffer their state to be lost If Brutus that conspired against Caesar had not bene too spice-conscienst saying it was not lawfull to kill any other than a tyrant but had beleeued the counsell of Cassius he had not left Antonie the tyrants friend behind by whose death the common-weale had bene discharged of al danger In so much that one little sparke of conscience procured vnto Brutus the losse both of his owne life and of the libertie of his countrie The first Brutus did not so for it liked him better to vse crueltie in putting his own childreÌ„ to death than to leaue any little match of conspiracie against the state and this barbarous crueltie and vnkindnesse of his saued the common-weale When Cabades king of Persia was cast in prison by his subiects that had rebelled against him and chosen one Blases in his steede this Blases entered into counsell what was to be done with Cabades The most part were of opinion that he should not be put to death but that he should be kept in prison Othersome gaue counsell that he should be dispatched among whom Gusanascades one of the greatest lords deliuering his opinion shewed them a little pen-knife wherewith he was wont to pare his nailes and said vnto them Ye see this little cuttle this same may now without any paine and without any danger doe that which twentie thousand men cannot doe hereafter And euen so it came to passe in deed For Cabades getting out of prison recouered his kingdome and putting out Blases eies with scalding oyle laid him in prison and put Gusanascades to death Theodatus king of the Gothes was loath to kill Amalasont being an honourable and vertuous princesse and wife of Theoderik and mother of Athalarik but in the end he dispatched hir at the persuasion of such as told him that his life could not else bee in safetie Theophrast reporteth of Aristides that in priuate cases betweene man and man he was a perfect vpright and iust-dealing man but in matters of gouernment concerning the common-weale he did many things according to the necessitie of the time The Athenians in the conference which they had with the Melians said that the Lacedemonians vsed much vertue among themselues and in the things that concerned their lawes and customes at home but in their behauior towards strangers they were a people that esteemed that to be most honest and reasonable which was most for their profit Euphemeus an Athenian said to the Camerins that the man which raigneth by tyrannie and a citie that hath an empire deeme nothing vnhonest that may be for their profit nor account a-any thing theirs which is not safe guarded and in all cases they esteeme others to be their friends or foes according to the occasion of time and dealings Plutarch speaking of Marius saith he made reckoning of iustice when it was for his owne behoofe and tooke profit both for iustice and honor not considering that truth is more strong and mightie than falshood but measuring the valew of them both by the profit that might rise thereof and saying that when a lions skin will not sted a mans turne he must take vnto it the skin of a fox This hath bin the cause that the best aduised which haue written of gouernment and they also which haue practised it haue not stood so much vpon vertue as vpon the occurrence of
vncorrupted as also by her most prouident motherly gouerning of hir people with all iustice clemencie to their greatest trāquilitie benefit and welfare Wherupon hath also ensued Gods most mightie and miraculous protection of her mastiesties most roiall person her realms dominions and subiects from exceeding great perils both forreine ciuil and domesticall such and so fitly contriued by the sleights of Satan satanicall practisers as but by the wonderfull and extraordinarie working of the diuine prouidence could not haue beene found out and much lesse preuented auoided or escaped an assured token of Gods speciall loue and fauor towards both soueraigne and subiects To be short so many and so great are the benefites which we haue receiued and still receiue by and from our most gracious soueraigue lady Queen Elizabeth that I know not how to conclude her Maiesties most iust deserued commendation more fitly than with the verses of a certaine auncient Poet written long since in commendation of that renowmed prince of Britaine the noble king Arthur the which verses I haue put into English with small alteration of some words but no alteration at all in matter and sense after this maner Hir deeds with mazeful wōderment shine euerywher so bright That both to heare and speak of thē men take as great delight As for to tast of honycombe or honie Looke vpon The doings of the noblest wights that heretofore be gone The Pellan Monarch fame cōmends the Romās highly praise The triumphs of their emperors Great glory diuerse waies Is yeelded vnto Hercules for killing with his hand The monsters that anoid the world or did against him stand But neither may the Hazel match the Pine nor stars the sun The ancient stories both of Greeks and Latins ouerrun And of our Queene Elizabeth ye shall not find the peere Ne age to come will any yeeld that shall to her come neere Alone all princes she surmounts in former ages past And better none the world shall yeeld so long as time doth last What remaineth then but that all we her natiue subiects knitting our selues togither in one dutifull mind do willingly and chearfully yeeld our obedience to her gratious maiestie with all submission faithfulnes and loialtie not grudging or repining when any things mislike vs but alwaies interpreting all things to the best not curiously inquisitiue of the causes of hir will but forward and diligent in executing her commandements euen as in the sight of God not for feare of punishment but of verie loue and conscience Which things if we doe vnfeinedlie then no doubt but God continuing his gracious goodnesse still towards vs will giue vs daily more cause of praise and thanksgiuing multiplying her maiesties yeares in health and peace and increasing the honour and prosperitie of her reigne so as our posteritie also may with ioy see and serue her manie yeares hence still reigning most blessedly which are the things that all faithfull subiects doe and ought to reioice in and desire more than their owne life and welfare and for the which we ought with all earnestnes to make continuall praier and supplication vnto God But while I am caried with the streame of my desire to encourage my selfe and my countreymen to the performance of our dutie towards her maiestie wherein neuerthelesse I haue ben much breefer than the matter requireth I feare least I become more long and tedious than may beseeme the tenour of an epistle dedicatorie And therefore most humbly submitting my selfe and this my present translation to your honourable censure and acceptation I here make an end beseeching God greatly to increase and long to continue the honor and prosperitie of your good Lordship and of your noble house Written the xxvii of Ianuary 1595. Your Honors most humble to commaund Arthur Golding To the King SIr forasmuch as it hath pleased your maiestie to command the states of your realme and to inioine all men without exception to shew vnto you whatsoeuer they thinke to be for the benefit and preseruation of your state and the comfort of your subiects And I see that euery man straineth himselfe to giue you the best aduice he can surely I alone ought not to be idle and negligent nor to forslow the duetie wherby I am naturally bound vnto you The which thing hath caused me to gather these matters of remembrance which should haue ben better polished ere they had ben presented to your maiestie if the state of your affairs and the time would haue permitted it You haue voutchsafed me the honour to be neer about your person and to do you seruice in such cases as it hath pleased your maiestie to imploy me and specially in following the warres where I haue the good hap to be a witnesse of the victories that you haue fortunatly obtained to the great reioycing of all christendome And surely sir this maketh me to hope that you will accept this mine attempt in good part as a testimonie of the good will and great desire which I haue alway had and will haue to spend my goods and life in the seruice of your most christen maiestie beseeching God to keepe mee euer in this commendable deuotion and dutifull good will and to giue vnto your highnesse a most happie long life From Paris the 28. of October 1588. Your most humble seruant and subiect Iames Hurault lord of Vieul and Marais The Contents of such Chapters as are contained in this Booke The first Part. OF Office or dutie and of Policie or Estate Pag. 1. 2 Of a Prince a King an Emperour and a soueraigne Lord. 4 3 Of the three sorts of gouernment and which of the three is the best 13 4 Whether the state of a kingdom or the state of a Publike weale be the antienter 24 5 Whether it be better to haue a king by succession or by election 26 6 Of the education or bringing vp of a Prince 30 7 Of the end whereat a good Prince ought to aime in this life 36 8 What is requisite in a Prince to make him happie 45 9 Of Vertue 56 10 Of the Passions of the mind 65 11 Whether Vertue and Honestie be to be separated from profit in matters of gouernment or state 76 12 That a prince ought not to falsifie his faith for the maintenance of his state 89 13 Of Truth 104 14 Of Religion and Superstition 107 15 That the prince which will be well obeyed must giue good example in himselfe to his subiects 138 The Contents of the second Part. 1 Of Wisdome and Discreetnesse 149 2 That the good gouernor must match learning and experience together 162 3 Of Iustice or Righteousnesse 170 4 That a Prince ought to be liberall and to shun nigardship and prodigalitie 212 5 That Gentlenesse and Courtesie be needfull in the orderering of affairs the contraries whereunto be slernenesse and roughnesse 236 6 That modestie or meeldnesse well beseemeth a Prince and that ouer statelinesse is hurtfull vnto him 259
Monarch I meane the aeternall God Our father and not our king and our Lord whereby he teacheth vs that the true soueraigntie is that which resembleth the soueraigntie of fathers and that the true subiects are those that resemble children All such as haue written of gouernment say that a kingdome well ordered consisteth but in two points namely in the iust commaundement of the Prince and in the due obedience of the subiects And if either of them both faile it is like the separation of the soule and the body in the life of man as king Francis the first right excellently declared to the men of Rochell in the yeare of our Lord fiue hundred forty three Isocrates in the instruction which he giueth to Nicocles saith thus It is to no purpose for you to haue faire horses and faire hounds if ye take no pleasure of them ne loue them so is it also to no purpose for a prince to haue such subiects as he desireth if he take no pleasure in dealing well with them And as the same author saith Those kingdomes and states of gouernment continue long which are charie ouer the welfare of their people The treasure of a good prince that loueth his subiects is in the houses of his subiects and it is a common saying That the pouertie of a prince appeareth by the pouertie of his subiects but when they be well at ease and wealthie then is the prince to be deemed rich Therefore the marke of a tyrant whom Homer termeth A deuourer of his people is to be seene in the pouertie of the subiects for that he fleeceth them to enrich those that are about him namely the ministers of his pleasures and of his euil lusts which thing causeth all men to hate him and to shun him as a witlesse beast so that for his reward he hath the indignation of God and hatred of man a short life and a perpetuall shame wheras the reward of a good Prince that keepeth the laws honoreth vprightnesse and iudgeth according to iustice is to liue and raigne long time as Moses affirmeth Which thing Philo laying foorth at large saith That although a prince die in body yet liueth he still for euer by his vertues which cannot be abolished or defaced by death A kingdome therefore is a publike state wherin one only commandeth hauing respect to the common-weale The contrary whereof is Tyrannie which is a monarchie that respecteth alonly the profit of the monarch The state of a king because it respecteth the common profit by that means draweth the hearts of the people vnto it is durable and is vpheld by the only friendship of the subiects Contrarywise because a Tyrant is like a roaring lion and a hunger-staruen beare as Salomon saith in his Prouerbs and in that respect is not ordinarily beloued of his people nor of any good men therefore he is faine to keepe a gard of strangers about him to make men feare him and obay him by force which force of his maketh him the more behated For the maintaining of which guard he is faine to be at great charges which is a cause that he becommeth the more odious by his charging and greeuing of the people And therefore a certaine Gymnosophist of India being asked of Alexander by what means he might make himselfe most beloued answered wisely By being very good and by dealing so as men should not stand in feare of him For feare is an ill preseruer of the thing that is to continue And it is apparent that such men endure but a little while for as soone as the patience of the people beginneth to faile by and by those princes loose their children and their state as it befell to Denis the tyrant of Siracuse and diuers other like For as saith Ecclesiasticus a kingdome is transferred from one nation to another for the vniustice the iniuries the extortions and the fraudes that are diuersly cōmitted Paulus Iouius speaking of Ismael Sophie saith That after he had recouered his grādfathers kingdome by the fauor of the prouinces that were greatly affectioned towards him he released the tribute incōtinently being alwais of opinion that the good will of men which is easily wone by liberality iustice was the surest strength of a kingdome and to his seeming it was not the part of a good king but of a proud Potentate and new vpstart to raigne lord-like ouer the only goods of his people when the hearts of them all were estranged from him by the grieuousnesse of tributes Therfore I will conclude that the kingdome which is maintained by fauorable means is much more strong and durable than that which is vpheld by force Which thing Philip king of Macedonia perceiuing sought by al means he could to continue in friendship with the Greeks notwithstnading that he was oftentimes constrained to vse force in bereauing them of their liberty And vpon a time when he was councelled by his faithfullest seruants to set Garrisons in all the cities of Greece that he had conquered he would not take knowledge of it saying he had leuer to be esteemed a good man for a long time than to be king or a lord for a short time because he thought that the soueraigntie which is held by loue is durable whereas the soueraignty that is held by violence terror cannot continue any long time At another time hauing gotten the possession of a certain place in Peloponnesus he deliberated a long time whether he should keepe it or leaue it to the Messenians wherein he asked the aduice of Aratus and Demetrius The opinion of Demetrius was That he shuld hold fast the Oxe by both the hornes meaning that he should easily keepe the country of Peloponnesus if he had the said towne which was called Ithomata together with Acrocorinth which he had already But Aratus after long thinking vpon the matter said thus Sir the Phocenses haue many cities and so haue also the Acarnanians all wel fortified as wel in the firme land as vpon the Sea-cost of all these you shall not enioy any and yet notwithstanding they faile not to doe whatsoeuer you commaund them without compulsion The outlawes are in the rocks and mountaines and there they hold themselues strong but vnto a king there is no castle more strong and sure than good will Also counsell was giuen to Antigonus to place a good garison in Athens to keepe it from reuolting any more and to make it as a bulwarke against all Greece but he answered That there was not a better bulwarke than the loue of the people And as Plutarch saith in the life of Aratus The surest guard that a great lord can haue is the true and constant good will of his subiects For when the nobilitie communalty of a country are wont to be afraid not of him but for him that gouerneth them then doth he see with many eies and heare with many eares and perceiueth
a far off whatsoeuer is done And therfore there is more profit and more honor also in being a king than in being a tyrant And as it is Gods commaundement and will that the prince should haue a singular care and regard of the welfare and benefite of his people because he is chosen to be vnto them a defender and protector so on the contrarie part he is forbidden by the mouth of Salomon to pill and oppresse the poore because they be succourlesse For the Lord saith he will take their cause in hand will deale roughly with such as haue dealt roughly with them CHAP. III. Of the three sorts of Gouernment and which of the three is the best FOrasmuch as we treat of the state of gouernment we must not suffer a very cōmon thing to passe in silence which yet to my seeming ought not to be omitted namely that there be three sorts of ciuill gouernments approued in the world whereof the one is called by the generall name of a Publike-weale wherin all men as wel poore as rich noble as vnnoble are admitted to gouerne by turne Another is called Aristocracie which is compacted of some smal number of noblemen and men of reputation who beare all the sway And the third is the Monarchie or Kingdome wherin al things are at the commandment of one alone These three sorts of gouernment because they tend all to the welfare of the whole state are all allowable and many like well to be vnder them some vnder one and some vnder another according as the humors of people be diuersly disposed As for example The Aegyptians could not abide to be without a king and the Athenians could not endure to haue a king The contraries to these three sorts of gouernment are faulty and reproued namely Democracie the contrarie to a Publike-weale wherin the people beare all the sway alone and carrie all the credite without calling the nobilitie and gentlemen to counsel Oligarkie the contrararie to Aristocracie which is the gouernment of some few men that conuert all things to their owne profit and tyranny the contrarie to a kingdome which is the gouernment of one alone that doth all things at his pleasure without refourming himselfe to law and reason To say which of the said three good states is the best it is a hard matter yet notwithstanding many men prefer Aristocracie before the Kingdome because it is not ruled by the discretion of any one transitorie man vpon the valour whereof the welfare of the whole state might depend but it is gouerned by the immortall counsell of an euerlasting senate For it is a rare matter to find any one man so fully perfect worthie to raign And as Nicholas Foscarin of Venice said Kings doe not easily resist their owne lusts as priuat persons do because that in asmuch as they be customably honoured in their kingdomes and are heard and obayed in the twinckling of an eie they be not only high-minded and insolent but also impatient if they obtaine not whatsoeuer seemeth iust vnto them and to their seeming all things is iust that they desire bearing themselues in hand that with one word they can put away all impediments and ouercome the nature of all things nay they thinke it a shame for them to shrinke from their inclinations for any difficulties taking counsell not of discretion reason but of their own will statelinesse And as Soderin Gonfalonier of Florence said when he moued the Florentines to take a parte and not to be newtors any more Princes thinke themselues wrōged when they be denied their requests flie vpon euery man that followeth not their will and hazardeth not his state together with theirs But if they be such as they ought to be vndoubtedly it is the greatest good turne that can befall to a realme and most resembling God who by his euerlasting prouidence raigneth alone ouer the whole world And it is also conformable and drawing neere to our nature wherin we see one that ouer-ruleth all the rest for if we consider our body we see it is ouer-ruled by a soule which giueth mouing to all the members without the which the body is but as a blocke Among our members we haue a heart which is as you would say the Prince and king of all the rest And in the mind reason beareth chiefe rule The Bees haue their king In an armie there is a generall that commaundeth and in a ship there is a Pilot that guideth it Rome could not abide two brothers raigning together Esau and Iacob stroue euen in their mothers wombe In the church-gouernment one only bishop or Metropolitane commaundeth In a house there is but one maister the residue are but seruants obaying the commaundements of the maister of the house And therefore he that would haue altered the kingdome of Sparta into a popular state came short insomuch that Agesilaus said vnto him It was meet that he should first stablish a popular state in his owne house doing vs to vnderstand that that forme of gouernment which a man would be loath to haue in his house is not meet to be in a citie or country For as saith Aristotle A citie is nothing else but a great houshold To the same purpose did Homer say That the gouernmēt of many was nothing woorth and that mo than one gouernor needed not After the death of Cambises when the Princes of Persia had expulsed the Magies who had inuaded the empire they assembled together to consult how they might thensforth gouerne the State In this meeting there were three sundry opinions One was of Othanes who said there needed no king to be chosen but that the affaires of the realme were to be managed by all men in common and euerie man ought to be left at his owne libertie without subiection to any one because it is ordinarily seene that a sole soueraign becommeth insolent and that if he be displeased he may satisfie his insolencie to the full Megabysus was of the contrarie opinion saying that such libertie is more dangerous than Tyranny because that if the noblemen and cities should be without a soueraigne lord they might abuse that libertie at their pleasure And therefore he thought it good that neither the cities themselues nor the whole multitude of the nobilitie should haue the managing of the publike affairs but that the doing therof should be committed to some certaine number of good and vertuous Princes which should haue the gouerning of the State and be obeyed as a king of all the rest But Darius liked none of both those aduises because that if all men should be at libertie without obedience to anie it could not continue long forsomuch as it was not possible that a multitude of free lords could any long time agree among themselues and to take any small number of them to rule the State it was also vnconuenient because there would rise innumerable matters wherein the princes would
pleasure as Samuel told the Israelits when they chose their first king And as sayd Othanes he peruerteth the lawes and the customs of the countrie he rauisheth women and he putteth folke to death without sentence of condemnation If ye commend him modestly he is discontented that ye doe it not excessiuely and if you commend him out of measure he is offended as though ye did it of flatterie Policrates the tyrant of the Isle of Samos made warre vpon all his neighbours without any respect saying that he pleasured his friend the more in restoring to him that which he had taken from him than if he had not taken ought from him first Neuerthelesse it behoueth a Prince to thinke that if he forget himselfe and doe not his dutie ne performeth his charge as he ought to do besides that he shal yeeld an account for it before him that gaue him that charge he shall not leaue his kingdome to his posteritie Which thing Denis the tyrant of Siracuse did his son to vnderstand rebuking him for the adulteries and other crimes that he had committed and declaring vnto him that he himselfe had not vsed such maner of dealing when he was of that age Whereunto his sonne answered him that he had not had a king to his father neither shall you quoth his father haue a king to your son except you doe better And as he had said so it came to passe Peter king of Castile for his tyrannie and wicked demeanor towards his subiects was first driuen out of his realme by his bastard-brother aided with the helpe of such as hated Peter and afterward when he had recouered it againe by the means of the blacke Prince as soone as his brother the bastard came againe with any force all the countrie reuolted from him to the bastard and the Spaniards that were with him would neither put on armor nor mount on horse-backe at his commaundement by reason whereof he was faine to craue succour of strangers and yet notwithstanding he lost the battell with the battell both his kingdome and his life Alfons the yonger king of Naples hauing done many tyrannicall deeds fled dishonorably out of his kingdome at the comming of Charles the 8. king of France and as Guicciardine reporteth being tormented with the sting of his owne conscience found no rest of mind day nor night for a night-times those whom he had wronged appeared vnto him in his sleepe a day-times he saw his people making insurrectiō against him to be reuenged His son also to whom he left the kingdome felt himselfe pinched with the sins of his predecessors for the Neapolitanes forsooke him as wel as his father turned to the French kings side We see what befell to Roboam the son of king Salomon for exacting too much vpon his subiects to the duke of Guyen commonly called the blacke Prince for raising a fowage in the country of Aquitane Marcus Aurelius said that the cause why God suffered wicked Princes to be murthered rather than other wicked men is for that the priuat mans naughtinesse hurteth but himselfe and his owne familie for want of abilitie to extend his naughtinesse any further but the Prince that is tyrannous and wicked ouerthroweth the whole Common-weale To conclude the tyrannicall dominion is very dangerfull and noisome to all the people but the kingdome that is gouerned according to law passeth all other states of gouernment be it in comfort of the people or in the durablenesse of itselfe or in making of great conquests CHAP. IIII. Whether the State of a Kingdome or the State of a Publike-weale be the antienter MAnie be of opinion that the Kinglie authoritie had his beginning from the people and that the state of a Publike-weale was afore the state of a King Of that opinion is Cicero in his bookes of Duties saying that Kings were chosen at the first for the good opinion that men had of them And in another place he saith That when folke found themselues harried and troden vnderfoot by the richersort they were constrained to haue recourse to some man of excellent prowesse to defend them from the oppression of the mightier sort and to maintaine both great and small in a kind of equalitie Of the same opinion likewise is Aristotle Because the men of old time saith he were benefactors to the communaltie either by the inuention and practise of arts or by making warres in their behalf or by assembling them together into corporations and by allotting them their territories the multitude did willinglie create them Kings so they conueyed their kingdomes ouer by succession to their posterities Plinie saith that the Athenians were the first that brought vp the popular gouernment which neuerthelesse had been vsed long afore by the Iewes as Iosephus witnesseth in his books of their antiquities Indeede Thucidides in his first booke of the warres of Peloponnesus saith that when the countrie of Greece was become rich by reason of the nauigations there stept vp euerie day new tyrants in the cities by reason of the greatnesse of their reuenues For afore that time the kings came in by Succession and had their authorities prerogatiues and preheminences limited Whereby he doth vs to vnderstand that kingdomes were afore common-weales as indeed there is great likelihood that the state of a king was the foremost And it is not to be doubted but the first men that were after the the floud when the earth was repeopled againe did rule the lands which they possessed first in their owne housholds and afterward when they were increased in gouerning the whole off-spring that came of their race as we see was done by Sem Cham Iaphet Ianus Gomer Samothes and such others of whom some reigned in the West and some in the East And Nembroth of Chams linage was the first that troubled his neighbours by making warre vpon them and the first that made himselfe a king as S. Iohn Chrisostome affirmeth vpon the ninth of Genesis For afore that time time there could be no king because there were no store of people to be subiects Also Abraham hauing a great houshold tooke three hundred and eighteene of his owne men and pursuing those that had spoiled Lot discomfited them The fathers of old time therefore hauing many slaues and seruants which were multiplied afterward with the increase of their issue had them at commaundement as a King hath his subiects And of this opinion seemeth Iustine to be in his abridgement of Trogus Pompeius who saith in his first booke That at the beginning euery nation and euerie citie was gouerned by kings and that such as had none of their owne did chuse one either for the good opinion which they had of the person whom they chose or for some good turne which they had receiued at his hand or else for that they felt themselues misused by their head whom they themselues had set ouer them as it befell by the sonnes of
together with those ceremonies of theirs such as they were they had Religion also in singular reuerence and estimation insomuch that they would rather doe against their lawes than falsifie their oth because they deemed it a hainouser matter to offend God than to offend man So deeply had they Religion that is to say The loue and feare of God imprinted in their hearts without which a prince or a common-weale can neuer prosper For as Machiauel saith in the first booke of his discourse a little better than he speaks in his booke of a Prince whēsoeuer the fear of God once faileth needs must the kingdom decay Paul cōmandeth vs to honor the king because he hath his power of God Now if we ought to honor the king in respect of the power which he hath from God what ought the king himselfe to doe to whom God is so gratious as to place him in that dignitie and to make so many men obedient vnto him Certes seeing he is the image of God the least that he can doe is to lift vp the eies of his mind to behold him whom he representeth to worship that heauenly mirror wherin by looking on himselfe he must needs behold the goodnesse and maiestie of God S. Iohn Chrisostome writing vpon these words of Genesis God made man after his owne image and likenesse saith it is meant of the image of soueraigntie For like as God commaundeth all men so man commaundeth all the liuing things that God hath put into this world A prince commaundeth all inferior persons and God commaundeth the prince Which thing Dauid acknowledging in the 118 Psalm saith that he praised the Lord seuen times a day He had good store of businesse to doe but yet could they not turne him from the seruing of God As proud and high minded a prince as great Alexander was yet the first thing that he did euerie day after he was vp was to doe sacrifice to the gods There haue bin few princes which haue not at least wise pretended to be religious or bin religious indeed But there is as much difference betweene the one and the other as there is betweeene truth and vntruth or betweene the soule and the body Yet notwithstanding seeing that they which haue not any zeale of religion cannot forbeare the pretence therof it declareth vnto vs that religion is a thing most requisit for the maintenance of a state because men are of opinion that the prince which is religious is so guided by Gods hand that he cānot do amisse which causeth them to reuerence him obay him the more easily And to say truth we see not only that kings haue bin maintained vpheld by religion but also that princes haue obtained kingdomes and empires by religion As for example Numa the second king of Romanes being a Sabine borne was sought and sent for by the citie of Rome to be made king of Romans because they saw him wholly giuen to religion persuading thēselues that they could not speed amis if they were gouerned by a deuout and religious prince And in very deed it fell out according to their hope For he did so much that that people being then barbarous altogither giuen to the wars without law without religion attained to that greatnesse of state which we haue seen since wheras it had bin vnpossible for a warlik nation as that was to haue escaped frō vndoing thēselues had they not bin bridled by religiō the only means to hold the cruellest people of the world in peace and in obedience to the Magistrate That was the cause which moued Alexander to name himselfe the sonne of Iupiter For as Plutarch saith he was not so presumptuous to imagine that he was begotten of a god but he serued his owne turne with it to hold men vnder the yoke of obedience by the opinion of such diuine nature which hee by that means imprinted in them like as in his ceremonies also he had the feat to reuiue the foretellings of his soothsaiers which thing he shewed specialle at the siege of Tyre For wheras his soothsaier had assured him that he should take the citie before the end of that present month and euery man laughed at it because it was the last day of the month and the citie was impregnable he putting all his forces in a readines for the assault made proclamation that that day should be reckoned but for the 28 day of the moneth yet notwithstanding gaue present assault to the citie and wan it out of hand contrarie to his hope The emperor Charles the fift vsed the like feat whē he arriued at S. Lawrencis in Prouince For he considered that it was the 25 of Iuly which is S. Iames day and because he had landed in Affrike the same day twelue-month the yeare before he made great vaunt of his fortunat and happy lucke and handsell in arriuing the same day in France saying that his voiage was miraculously guided and directed by the will of God the disposer and orderer of humane affairs and that as on the like day he had put the Turke to flight at Argier so hee hoped to doe as much to the French king through the direction and fauor of God seeing they were arriued in France on the same day and vnder the same head Constantine made himselfe great by imbracing the Christian religion as the Ecclesiasticall historie witnesseth vnto vs. The thing that serued Pepins turne most was that he was reported to be religious and beloued of religious men because he had caused the churches to be reedified which had bin beaten down by the Sarzins and had restalled the bishops of Reines Orleans in their sees frō which they had bin put by his father and had restored the tenths to the clergie that Charls Martel had takē away giuen to his men of warre And to compasse his enterprise with the more ease he helped himselfe at his need with Religion that is to say by the Pope without whom he had come short of his purpose For the Pope dispensed with the Frenchmen for their oth which they had made to Childerik comming himselfe personably into France did put the realme into Pepins hand Which thing the Frenchmen had neuer agreed vnto as our histories beare witnesse if it had not bin vnder the cloke of Religion and by authoritie of the partie whom they deemed to haue power to dispence with mens consciences The same Religion made Charlemaine emperour and diuers persons kings of Naples and Sicilie by deposing the true heirs Religion gaue the kingdome of Ierusalem to Godfrey of Bulleine and made the Christians to trauell ouer seas and lands to conquer the holy land vnderzeale of Religion Vnder pretence of Religion and of an excommunication the kingdome of Nauarre was wrongfullie seazed by the Spaniards The kings of Persia lost their kingdome through disagreement in Religion and the Sophy because he was found deuout
of neuer so meane degree doth commonly take example at that which he seeth done by his superiours and especially by the prince who is a looking-glasse to all his subiects And in deed we see how the Aegyptians gaue themselues to the Mathematicall sciences because the most part of their kings loued those sciences Because the kings of Asia gaue themselues to all delicacies the people of that countrie were verie delicat and effeminate Because Nero loued plaiers of enterludes singing-men and plaiers vpon instruments there was not that Senator whose child studied not those arts In the time of Marcus Aurelius his house was ful of wise and modest seruants In the time of his sonne Commodus the palace was full of naughty-packs folk of lewd conuersation And the said good emperor Marcus Aurelius was wont to say That such as the prince is such will his houshold be such as his houshold is such will his court be and such as his court is such will his kingdome be We see in France how the people haue euermore followed their prince King Francis loued learning and his people gaue themselues wholy therevnto He was sumptuous in apparell and much more they that came after him At this day there is not any thing omitted for the well and rich attiring of folk and for the delicate entertaining of them with all sorts of the choisest meats Lewis the eleuenth and the emperour Charles the fift went modestly apparelled and mocked such as decked themselues in rich attire and their subiects did the like That example of theirs did more in their time than all the statutes of apparell could do that haue bin made since And that good time coÌ„tinued vnto the reigne of king Francis who begun to tread out the way to the inordinate and excessiue chargablenesse which ouerwhelmeth vs at this day The booke entituled the Courtier maketh mention of a Spaniard that held his necke awry as Alfons king of Aragon did who setting that aside was a prince of very good grace of purpose to follow the kings fashion and to counterfait him in all that he could For this cause Plato in his Lawes will haue old men who ought to giue example to yoong men to behaue themselues discreetly when they be in the companie of yoong folke and to take good heed that no young man see them doe or heare them speake any vnhonest thing For the best counsell that can be giuen to yoong or old is not to taunt or checke them but to shew and expresse the same thing in a mans whole life which he would haue said in checking and blaming them Which order Cicero following in his Duties doth vtterly forbid an old man to giue himselfe to excesse beause it bringeth double harme first in that it procureth him shame and secondly in that it maketh the loosenesse of yong folk more impudent For yoong folks should be gouerned by the discretion of the old And euen so is it between subiects and their princes For if princes giue them not good example it wil be hard to amend them afterward Which thing euen the wickeddest princes perceiuing haue pretended to make account of vertue as I haue shewed in Tiberius in Nero and in Denis who entertained the Sophists 〈◊〉 win the peoples fauour But in the end the truth bewraied it seâ—fe as indeed nothing is so secret which shall not be reuealed â—nd they fell into the disfauour contempt and hatred of their people Wherefore there is nothing to be compared to open walking without any maner of counterfaiting and to the giuing of good example throughout that a prince may be the better followed and the more beloued and esteemed of his people As for example Piscennius Niger Caracalla Maximine Alexander Seuerus and many other emperors that were warriors did eate of the same bread that their souldiers did which thing made them beloued of all and gaue example to euery man to doe as they did For there is not a better exortation nor a more effectual way to persuade than when a prince doth the same things himselfe which he would haue other men to doe Agesilaus commaunded not his souldiers to doe any worke to the which he himselfe did not first set his hand And to giue example to yoong men to endure cold hee was seene to goe all the winter without a cloake therby to allure the yoong men to do the like when they saw that their prince being old and readie to passe out of the world was not afraid of the cold Xenophon in his first booke of the Education of Cirus bringeth in Cambises telling Cirus that to be first at worke himselfe serued greatly to win his souldiers therunto Is it your meaning then quoth Cirus that a prince ought in all things to endue more than his subiects Yea surely quoth Cambises but plucke vp a good heart and consider with your selfe that the prince and the subiect take not pains both with one mind For the honor that a great lord receiueth assuageth his paine for so much as all that euer he doth is knowne Plutarch saith in the life of Cato of Vtica That his souldiers honoured him exceedingly and loued him singularly because he was wont to be the first that did set hand to any worke that he commaunded and in his fare apparell and going abroad made himselfe equall rather to the meanest souldiers than to the captaines and yet in greatnesse of courage surmounted the best captains of all Alexander in pursuing his victorie against Darius became verie thiâ—stie and when one of his souldiers offered him watâ—â— in a Morion he refused it saying That he would not by â—â—s drinking increase the thirst of others Whervpon his men seeing the noblenesse of his courage cried out aloud vnto him that he should hardily lead them on still saying that their owne wearinesse and thirst was quite and cleane gone and that they thought not themselues to be mortall any more so long as they had such a king The like befell to Cato of Vtica in Affrik who being almost at the point to die for thirst as likewise all his armie was being then in the middest of the sands of Lybia when as the small quantitie of water which was in his host was all offered vnto him not only refused it but also spilt it on the ground to the end that by his example all the souldiers in his armie might learne to indure the thirst Albeit that Dauid longed to drinke of the water of a certaine well that was in the possession of his enemies and three of his armie brought therof vnto him with great danger of their liues yet would he not drinke therof when it was brought vnto him but vowed it vnto God for the safety of the three that had gotten it for him On a time when Alfons king of Aragon and Sicilie was in a place where he could get no victuals and a souldier of his brought him a morsell of bread and
enemies by sleights and policies than to encounter them valiantly at the swords point And Blondus in his triumph at Rome saith That the chiefe of an armie should fight by discretion and policie rather than by boldnesse and valiancie because there is no comparison betweene wisdome and strength of bodie For he that thinks there is no good to be done but by hand-strokes is so farre off from being valiant that he is rather to be esteemed rash hare-braind and furious Cicero in his booke of inuention saith That there are of discreetnesse three parts Memorie Skill and Fore-cast Memorie whereby things past are called to mind againe Skill which knoweth and vieweth things present and Fore-cast which considereth what may happen afore it come Others doe set downe eight parts of discreetnesse to wit Remembrance Fore-cast Skil Reason Quickenesse of wit Teachablenesse Experience and Warinesse I count him a discreet man that is sufficient to gouerne others For the doing wherof foure things are to be considered first the good wherunto the discreet man leadeth others wherein it behoueth him to haue remembrance and fore-cast The maner of gouerning for the which it behooueth him to bee a man of skill and reason In his leading of other men he must haue cunning and liuelinesse of wit and he must be teachable and easie to beleeue good counsell And in respect of all those whome hee gouerneth he must be of good experience and wel-aduised that he may refuse the euill and chuse the good The contrarie to discreetnesse is vndiscreetnesse or wilfull ignorance when a man neither knoweth nor will learne to know any thing which is the thing that most troubleth the life of man and as Plato saith in his Lawes That man is ignorant which musliketh the good and loueth that which is noughtworth And when the will is bent against skil and reason which naturally beareth chiefe sway Discreetnesse then is a vertue of the mind proceeding from a good vnderstanding and iudgement which is encreased by knowledge and experience and consisteth in the looking into things to the end that men may find them easie and readie to be delt with afore they goe in hand with them foreseeing what may or should ensue by things already past And because the euents of things as saith Aristotle yeeld not themselues vnto our wils we must apply our wils to the euents howbeit so as our wils be ruled by discretion For mans life is like a game at tables where if a man meet with a cast of the dice that he would not haue he must amend it by his cunning in play as good table-players doe The effects of discreation are to take deliberation to discouer good and euill and whatsoeuer els is to be followed or shunned in this life to vse all maner of goods honestly to be of good conuersation with all men to foresee occasions and aduentures and to haue experience of good and profitable things As touching memorie and quicknesse of wit experience and knowledge either they be helps to discretion as experience and memorie or els they make a part of discretion as skill and quicknesse of wit Thus you see what wisdome is the which Aristotle speaking of the vertues doth rightly terme the queen of al other vertues as which sheweth vs the order that we ought to keepe in all things which driueth away all incumberance and feare out of our mind maketh vs to liue in tranquilitie and quencheth all the heat of lust and couetousnesse S. Iohn Chrysostome vpon the thirteenth Psalme calleth it the lanterne of the soule the queene of thoughts and the schoolemistresse of good and honest things It is a vertue royall in deed and the helme and helue of kings without the which they cannot gouerne well This is it that made kings at the beginning as I haue said heretofore and chose them out of the people as most discreet and worthie of all the multitude By wisdome men dispose of things present foresee things to come By it we bridle our affections purchase honour as Salomon saith in the fourth of the Prouerbs It maketh vs to gouerne orderly both in matters of peace and war and suffereth vs not to fall nor to be surprised vnawares It maketh vs to doe the good and to eschew the euill For Wisdome as Alexander of Aphrodyse saith is the skil what is to be done and what is to be left vndone Therefore only the wise man is worthy to gouerne And as Plato saith happie be those common-weales and kingdomes where Philosophers are kings or the kings be Philosophers For the wise man or Philosopher hath this prerogatiue aboue othermen that he liueth after the rule of vertue without musing vpon lawes because he vseth reason for his law as Antistâ—enes and Aristippus said insomuch that if all lawes were abolished yet would he not cease to liue vprightly as one that knoweth what is honest and what is vnhonest Aristotle being demaunded what profit he reaped of Philosophie answered That I doe those things vncommaunded which other men doe for feare of lawes For the law is not set downe for the righteous but for the vnrighteous saith S. Paul And therefore if he that raigneth be not wise his kingdome cannot be happie Cursed is that kingdome where a babe raigneth because the babe wanting the vse of reason cannot order his affaires with aduised Discretion Cirus was woont to say That no man ought to take vpon him the charge of commaunding vnlesse he were better than they whom hee is to commaund For he that is a good man and commaundeth well is commonly well obayed When one had said that Lacedemon had bin vpheld by the skilfulnesse of the kings to commaund well nay quoth Theopompus but rather by the skill of the inhabitants to obay wel For the coÌ„mandement of the prince the obedieÌ„ce of the subiects are answerable either to other For commonly men mislike to obay those which haue no skil to coÌ„maund wel Insomuch that the faithful obedieÌ„ce of the subiect dependeth vpon the sufficiencie of a good prince to commaund well For he that well guideth causeth himselfe to be well followed And like as the perfection of the art of riding and of the rider consisteth in making the horse obedient and in subduing him to reason euen so the principall effect of a kings skill is to teach his subiects to obay well Antonie the Meeke was a vertuous and wise emperor and so well aduised in all his doings that he neuer repented him of any thing that he did Wherat a Senator of Rome marueling asked him how it came to passe that his affaires had so good successe that he neuer repented him of any thing that he did that he was neuer denied any thing that he asked and that he neuer commaunded any thing which was not obayed It is quoth he because I make all my doings conformable to reason I demaund not any
thing which is not rightfull and I commaund not any thing which redoundeth not more to the benefit of the commonweale than to mine own profit To conclude Wisdome is a shield against all misfortune Men in old time were wont to say that a wise man might shape his fortune as he listed supposing that misfortune be it neuer so ouerthwart is wonderfully well ouer ruled by the discreation of a wise and sage person And as Plutarch saith in the life of Fabius The Gods doe send men good lucke and prosperitie by means of vertue and discreation notwithstanding that the euents of fortune be not all in our power as said Siramnes who being demaunded why his so goodly so wise discourses had not euents answerable to their deserts because quoth he to say and to doe what I list is in mine owne power but the sequele and successe thereof is altogether in fortune and in the king Therefore when Phocion the Athenian had resisted Leosthenes in a certaine case wherof notwithstanding the euent was prosperous and saw that the Athenians gloried of the victorie which Leosthenes had gotten I am well contented quoth he that this is done but yet would I not but that the other had bin councelled Iulius Caesar gloried in his good fortune but yet his bringing of his great enterprises to passe was by his good gouernment and experience in feats of warre To be short the wise and discreet man findeth nothing strange neither feareth he any thing no not though the whole frame of the world as Horace saith should fall vpon him The reason wherof is that he had minded it long time aforehand and had fore-considered what might happen vnto him and had prouided remedie for all by his foresight and discreation For as Salomon saith The mind of the wise shall not be attainted no not euen with feare Such folke are not subiect neither too great greefe nor too excessiue ioy they neuer waÌ„t hope neither do they quaile for any misfortâ—ne so that they be hard to be ouercome because they be fully resolued of all things that may betide them and do take order for all things aforehand by their wisedome For wisedome saith Salomon is to his ownour as a liuely fountaine as a deepe water and as a flowing streame And as a ioint of timber closed together in the foundation of a building cannot be disioined so also cannot the heart that is stablished in the thoughts of discretion And as S. Austin sayth Wisdome teacheth vs to continue at one stay both in prosperitie and aduersitie like vnto the hand which changeth not his name but is alwaies one whether it be held out or gathered vp together And albeit that wisdome be a gift of God and come of a well disposed mind and of a good vnderstanding yea and of a body that is well tempered as witnesseth Galen in his first booke of Temperatures where he sayth That the first action of a man of good temperature is Discretion yet is it gotten by learning and discipline For the true desire of discipline is the beginning of wisdome Also it is gotten by long experience and knowledge of things past and by continuall exercise in dealing with sundrie affairs For as Afranius sayd by report of Aulus Gellius Wisedome is begotten by vse and conceiued by memorie meaning thereby that it consisteth in bookes which put vs in remembrance of things past and in experience which is the vse and practise of wisedome In so much that neither he that hath but only learning nor he that hath but only experience is able to attain vnto wisdome but he that will deale perticularly and vniuersally in all affairs must haue them both as well the one as the other And as Aristotle saith there are three things needfull to the obtainment of Wisdome namely Nature Learning and Exercise For it is in vaine to striue against Nature Learning must be had at learned mens hands and Exercise is the perfection of learning And therefore it will not be amisse to treat of Learning and Experience CHAP. II. That the good gouernour must match Learning and Experience together AS the body is made the more strong and better disposed by moderat exercise so mans vnderstanding groweth and encreaseth by learning and becommeth the stronger and better disposed to the managing of affairs In which respect Demetrius Phalareus counselled Ptolomie king of Aegypt to make diligent search for such bookes as treated of kingdoms and declared the qualities that are requisit for the well and due executing of the office of a king And Alexander Seuerus neuer sat in counsell vpon any case of importance or vpon any matter of state and war but he called such to counsell as bare the name to be well seene in histories Bias would not haue any man chosen a gouernour in his common-wealth but such as were of skill saieng that the want of skill is the cause of great inconueniences Philip commaunded Alexander to obey Aristotle and to be a good student to the intent quoth he that ye do not many things whereof ye shal repent you afterward Adrian as well in peace as in warre had of the skilfullest Philosophers alwaies about his person and among others he had two great lawyers Saluius and Neratius Plutarke in the life of Coriolan sayth that the greatest fruit that men reape of the knowledge of good learning is that therby they tame and meeken their nature that afore was wild and fâ—erce so that by vse of reason they find the Meane and leaue the Extream When one asked Alfons king of Arragon wherfore he did so greatly loue learning Because qd he by reading I haue learned war and the law of arms acknowledging therein that no wit be it neuer so good can fashion it selfe wel and become worthie of the charge which it shall vndertake without learning and doctrine Like as the fattest ground in the world can beare no corne except it be well tilled so nature of it selfe draweth and prouoketh vs by giuing vs a desire of knowledge and skill as Cicero saith in his books of Duties but Ignorance which wee find fault with as with the thing that darkeneth and defaceth mans vnderstanding cannot be done away but by learning My meaning is not to make a prince perfectly skilful in all sciences but only in that kind of learning which concerneth histories and precepts of good life according to the counsell of Demetrius and Isocrates who said that the wisdome which is proper to kings consisteth in Learning and Experience of which two Learning teacheth the way to doe well and Experience teacheth the meane how to vse Learning well And albeit that Traian who was one of the best princes of the world gaue not himselfe to learning for any commendation therof that Plutarke made vnto him saieng that the gods immortall had not made him to turne ouer the leaues of bookes but to deale with martiall affairs yet was he not
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
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
dauncing laughing and singing as one that had made an end of a great war but what did he then he tooke off his owne cassoke and couered therwith the body of Darius philosophically hiding as saith Plutarch the royall off-spring Alcioneus the sonne of Antigonus vnderstanding that one had cut off the head of Pirrhus went to see it and required to haue it the which as soone as he had receiued he ran to his father and cast it downe before him But as soone as Antigonus had seene it and knew it he draue away his sonne with strokes of a cudgell calling him cruell a murtherer barbarous and vnnaturall and therupon hiding his face with his cloake he began to crie for compassion sake and afterward caused the head to be honourably buried Within a while after Alcioneus met Helen the sonne of the aforesaid Pirrhus in very poore estate apparelled in a very simple cloake and receiuing him courteously with gentle and amiable speeches brought him to his father Whom when Antigonus saw he said to Alcioneus My son this deed of thine is much better and pleaseth me far more than the other but yet thou hast not done altogether as thou oughtest in that thou hast not taken away this course cloke that hangeth vpon his shoulders which doth more dishonour to vs that haue gotten the victorie than to him that hath lost it Therwithall he embraced Helen and hauing set him in good apparell sent him home into his kingdome of Epire and being possessed of the army of Pirrhus he delt very courteously with all his seruants But in Gentlenesse as in all other vertues a man may offend in too much or too little as they doe which through shamefastnesse do condescend to all things of whom Plutarch speaketh in his booke of Misshamefastnesse and as soothers and slatterers doe which sooth men in all that they say as Gnato doth in Terence The other sort is of them that denie all requests that are made vnto them be they neuer so iust and which through a froward disposition of gainesaying that accompanieth them doe encounter all things that are spoken to them or else are so rough and sterne that they neuer laugh neither can a man tell how to be acquainted with them And so kindnes or gentlenes matched with meeldnes is a vertue that represseth the excesse and moderateth the default keeping men frō exceeding in ouermuch pliantnes like the soother the flatterer and frō the default of vnpliablenes like the cloune and the churle For oft-times ouer-great familaritie maketh a prince to be had in contempt and ouergreat sternnes grauity make him odious hard to be intreated and not to be come vnto Therefore it behoueth him to hold the meane and to cōsider what may best beseeme him For as the Preacher saith All things haue their times there is a time to laugh a time to weepe a time to graunt and a time to refuse The which some not considering aduisedly doe either counsell princes to make themselues too familiar and to deny nothing or else to refuse all things and in no wise to giue their subiects easie accesse vnto them saying that if a king make himself too gentle too easie to be spoken to he shal be despised and consequently ill obayed of his subiects because that ouermuch familiaritie breedeth contempt And therfore the Englishmen Spaniards Turks and Scithians do reuerence their kings well neere as gods and dare not prease into their presence For they that suffer themselues to be comne vnto do oftentimes promise more than they can perform as Titus did who often promised more than he was able to doe saying that no man ought to goe away sad and discontented from the presence of a prince Insomuch that many mē allowed the apophthegme of Brutus who said That that man had mis-spent his youth which graunted all things Caligula made no nicenesse to denie all mens requests saying That there was nothing in his owne nature that he esteemed so much as impudencie and stoutnes of denying all things The which point the emperor Maximilian practised vpon a poore man that craued an almes of him and told him that the emperor and he came both of one father to wit of Adam and so consequently were brethren and therfore he desired him to deale brotherly with him and to do him some good The emperor consented and gaue him a small peece of siluer Wherat when he saw the poore man discontented hee told him that hee ought to take his gift in good woorth saying that if euery of his brethren would giue him as much he should be richer than he himselfe was A certaine courtier whom Archelaus loued well praied him to giue him a certaine goodly vessell by and by Archelaus commanded one to giue it to Euripides Wherat the party marueling that had craued it receiued none other answere but this thou art worthy to aske it and to goe without it and he is worthy to haue it without asking Meaning that he had giuen the courtier accesse to aske what he would but that the goodnes of Euripides was such as deserued some gift without asking Philip counselled his son Alexander to behaue himselfe gently and graciously to his subiects afore he were king for were he once king he could not be so gracious Deeming very wisely that as there is not a better thing to stablish a kingdome than the loue of the subiects so it is very hard for him that reighneth to be gentle to all as well because the state of a king is subiect to enuy as also because it cannot maintaine it selfe against it vnlesse it punish the wicked For it behoueth a king so to temper his goodnes and gentlenes as therewithall he retaine his authoritie and grauitie For oftentimes ouer-great gentlenes causeth men to make no account of a prince And as Plutarch saith in the life of Pericles It is very hard for a prince to keepe a seuere grauitie for the vpholding of his reputation and therwithall to suffer all men to haue familiar accesse vnto him After the time that Pericles had the managing of the publicke affairs he was neuer seene abroade in the streets nor at any feasts They that would haue a prince to be familiar defend their cause by reasons and examples saying that gentlenes maketh a prince wel beloued well-willed and acceptable For as Terence saith he that is a man ought to be a partaker of that which belongeth to man that is to say hee ought to be gentle louing and mercifull And as saith Iuuenal nature hath made mans heart tender that hee should pittie such as are distressed who craue helpe of the prince whose throne is vpheld by goodnesse gentlenesse and kindnesse as sayth Salomon in the twentith of the Prouerbs Dennis the father sayd That hee had chaines of adamant to vphold this dominion namely a guard of eighteene thousand strangers besides his ordinary souldiers and a great number of gallies On the
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
altogether vnsetled in his countenance and in all his gestures and mouings The presumptuous opinion that Pompey had of himselfe surmoâ—â—ted the reach of his reason by means wherof forgetting the heed that hee was wont to take in standing vpon his 〈◊〉 whereby he had alwaies assuâ—ed his prosperitie afoâ—â— hee changed it into rash and bold brauerie Gaulter Brenne hauing conquered the greatest part of the kingdome of Naples and holding Diepold an Almane besieged within Sarne happened to be taken in a salie that Diepold made out vpon a desperate aduenture and being prisoner was vsed courteously by Diepold Who hauing caused him to thinke vpon the curing of his wounds would haue sent him home againe and haue put the kingdome into his hands But Gaulter hauing too lordly a heart answered that there was not so great a benefit nor so great an honour that he would receiue at the hands of so base a person as he was with which words Diepold being prouoked to wrath threatned him that he should repent it Whervpon Gaulter fell into such a furie that he opened his wounds drew his bowels out of his bellie and within foure daies after died for very moode Had hee beene lowlie-minded his imprisonment had profited him and he had gotten a faithfull seruitor of Diepold who would haue made the kingdome of Naples sure vnto him wheras now through his passing pride he lost both kingdome and life Alfons of Arragon dealt not so for when he was prisoner he did so much by his gentlenesse and humilitie that he made his enemies to loue him and practised with them in such sort that they helped him to win the realme of Naples Taxilles gained more at Alexanders hand by his humilitie than hee could haue conquered in all his life with all his forces and men of arms And yet notwithstanding his humbling of himselfe vnto Alexander was after a braue and princelie maner somoning him to the combat with such words as these If you be a lesser lord than I suffer me to doe you good If you be a greater lord that I doe by me as I do by you Well then qd Alexander we must come to the encounter and see who shal win his companion to do him good and therwithal imbracing him in his arms with all gentlenesse and courtesie in steed of taking his kingdome from him as he had done from others he increased his dominion Herod by humbling himselfe before Augustus saued and increased his kingdome Plutarch saith That Pirrhus could verie well skill to humble himselfe towards great men and that his so doing helped him verie much to the conquest of his kingdome Lois the eleuenth king of France led the countie of Charrolois with so sweete and lowly words that he got the thing by humilitie which he could neuer haue obtained otherwise and by that means wound himselfe from all his enemies and setled his state in rest and tranquilitie which had bin in great hazard if he had vsed brauery towards him The lowlines of Aristides did maruellous great seruice to the obtainment of the victorie which the Greeks had of the Persians at such time as he agreed to the opinion of Miltiades and willingly yeelded him the soueraigne authority of commanding the armie For there were many captaines which had euery man his day to command the whole armie as generals but when it came to Aristides turne he yeelded his preheminence into the hands of Miltiades thereby teaching his other companions that to submit a mans selfe to the wisest and to obay them is not only not reprochfull but also wholesome and honorable after whose example all the rest submitted themselues to Miltiades likewise I told you in the chapter going afore how he submitted himselfe to Themistocles his enemie for the profit of Greece And I wil say yet further of him that beeing sent with Cimon to make war against the Persians both of them bahaued themselues gently and graciously toward the Greeks that were their allies on the other side Pausanias and the rest of the captains of Lacedemon which had the soueraine charge of the whole armie were rough and rigorus to the confederate people In doing wherof he bereft the Lacedemonians by little and little of the principalitie of Greece not by force of arms but by good discretion and wise demeanor For as the goodnes of Aristides and the gentlenes and meekenes of Cimon made the gouernment of the Athenians well liked of the other nations of Greece so the couetousnes arrogancie and pride of Pausanias made it to be the more desired S. Iohn Chrisostom saith in his nine and thirtith homilie That honor is not to be had but by flying from it For iâ— we seeke after it it fleeth from vs and when we flee from it it followeth vs. And as Salomâ—n saith in the xviij of the Prouerbs The heart is puffed vp against a fall and lowlines goeth afore glory Not without great reason therfore is pride esteemed the greatest of all vices and humilitie set formost among all the vertues And as S. Austin saith in his thirteenth booke of the citie of God For as much as the gloriâ—ieng and exalting of a mans selfe refuseth to be subiect vnto God it falleth away from him aboue whom there is not any thing higher but humilitie maketh a man subiect to his superior Now there is nothing higher than God and therfore humilitie exalteth men because it maketh them subiect vnto God And as S. Chrisostom saith It is the mother the root and the good of all goods The CenturioÌ„ was esteemed worthy to receiue the Lord because he protested himselfe to be vnworthie And S. Paâ—l who counted not himselfe worthy the name of an Apostle was the cheefe of all the Apostles S. Iohn who thought not himselfe worthy to vntie the Lords shoes laid his hand vpon his head to baptise him And S. Peter who praied the Lord to depart far from him vretched sinner was a foundation of the church For there is not a more acceptable thing vnto God than to muster a mans selfe among the greatest sinners Hereby we see the profit that is gotten of the small esteeming of a mans selfe For the lesse a man esteemeth himselfe the more is he esteemed first of God and secondly of men Also we see that ordinarily the lowly prince is loued of euery man and the proud is hated of all And therfore let such as haue the gouernment of yoong princes teach them cheefly among other things to be lowly and courteous towards all men as knowing by experience that nothing winneth mens hearts so much as humilitie which killeth vainglorie Insolencie Impatiencie Enuie Ambition and all manner of vices CHAP. VII Of Fortitude Valiancie Prowesse or Hardinesse and of Fearfulnesse or Cowardlinesse LEt vs come to the third cardinall vertue which the learned call Fortitude Prowes or Valiantnesse the which the Poet Hâ—mer said to be the only morall vertue that hath as it were salies
dominion of Athens to become hatefull to their allies But when Cimon came to the gouerning of the state he tooke the cleane contrarie way For he did not compell or inforce anie man to the warres but was contented to take monie and emptie ships of such as listed not to serue in their owne persons and he liked well of it that they should wax lasie and grow out of kind by the allurements of rest at home in their houses and of good men of warre to let them become labourers merchantmen and husband-men And in their stead he caused a good number of the Athenians to go into their gallies in hardening them with trauell of continuall voiages Insomuch that within short time after they became lords of those that had waged and intertained them healing themselues at their cost And in the end they made those to be their subiects and tributaries which at the beginning had bin their fellowes and allies The like hath come to passe of diuerse captains that serued in the campe and had the leading of armies for in the end of Captains they haue made themselues dukes kings and emperors as Vespasian and other emperors without number Tamerlane king of Tartars Othoman king of Turks Sforsa duke of Millan and other great lords whom it would be too long to number Nero and many others haue by their wickednes and negligence lost their empires Sardanapalus by his lasinesse lost the kingdome of Assyria So long as the kings of France suffered their affairs to be managed by others than themselues they were lesse esteemed than an image surely no more than liked the master of their Palace to allow theÌ„ who at length draue out the kings without gainsaying as men of none account and vnprofitable For it was the opinion of all men that those were vnworthie to raigne and to commaund men which were theÌ„selues inferior to women and by their vnweeldines had made themselues verie sots and beasts For as Anacharsis saith Idlenesse and sluggishnesse are cruell enemies to wisdome But he that loueth vertue shunneth not anie paines saith Theodericke Plutarch in the life of Dion saith That the carelesnesse and negligence of Dennis the soone getting coÌ„tinually the vpper hand of him caried him to women and bellicheere and all vicious pastimes at length did break asunder his adamaÌ„t chains that is to say the great number of his warlike soldiers and his store of Gallies of whom his father bosted that he leâ—t his kingdome fast chained to his sonne And that is the reason why he that is the gouernor of a people should intend to the state whereunto he is called lest he receiue blame at a womaÌ„s hand as Philip and Demetrius did of whom the one being of his owne nature gentle and easie to be spoken to yet at that time hauing no leisure to do iustice and the other being hard to be come vnto did either of them learne their lessons at two poore womens hands who told it them in one worde saying Then list not to be kings This free speech of the one made Philip to do iustice vnto hir out of haÌ„d the same free speech of the other made Demetrius to begin thenceforth to become more affable to all men Although Augustus was as peaceable a prince as euer reigned yet failed he not to intend continually to other mens matters and sometimes to refresh his spirits he would go from Rome to a pleasant house that he had neer vnto Naples and yet euen there he could not be without doings But the hypocrite Tiberius made his soiourning there to serue to cloke his lasinesse or rather to discouer it For whensoeuer he was readie to depart thither hee gaue strait commandement that no man should be so bold as to come thither to speake to him of any matters And besides that he set warders vpon the way to stoppe such as trauelled thither And he receiued the reward of his lasinesse For as he was playing the drunkard in all excesse newes was brought vnto him of the inuading of three of his Prouinces by his enimies Vitellius was so deepe plunged in voluptuousnesse that he had much a doo to bethinke himselfe that he was Emperour and his end was like his life All slouthfull princes haue either had a miserable or violent death or else their names haue bene wiped out of the remembrance of meÌ„ For as Plutarch saith The maner of punishing those that haue liued lewdly is to cast them into darknesse out of all knowledge and through euerlasting forgetfulnesse to throw them downe into the deepe sea of slouth and idlenesse which with his wauing bringeth darknes and putteth folke out of knowledge And as Theodorick saith to the Gothes vnder idlenesse and slothfulnesse commendable prowes is hidden and the light of that mans deserts is darkened which hath no life to put the same in proofe Contrariwise by aduenturing by vndertaking and by setting hand to worke great things and of great value haue beene compassed which to the carelesse and negligent seemed vnpossible and not to be hoped for And if the diligent and painfull haue happened through their desire of honour or by some misfortune to end their daies with violent death yet hath the remembrance of their noble deeds flowne through all the worlde and beene commended and honoured of posteritie And as Salomon sayth in the 12. of the Prouerbs The hand of the diligent shall beare rule but the idle hand shall be vnder tribute And in another placed An idle hand maketh poore but a diligent hand maketh rich The slouthfull person shall not gaine nor haue whereof to feed but the store of the diligent is precious The slouthfull person wisheth and his heart alwayes wanteth The idle folke shall suffer famine but the life of the diligent shall be maintained And in the 21. of the Prouerbs The thoughts of the diligent tend altogither to abundance but whosoeuer is slouthfull shall surely come to penurie And in the 36. Like as a doore turneth vpon the hinges so doth the slouthfull man wallow in his bed The sluggard hideth his hand in his bosome and is loth to put it to his mouth And in the 21. of Ecclesiasticus The slouthfull man is like a filthie or mirie stone whereof all men will speake shame Hesiodus sayth That men grow rich by trauaile and diligence For not paines taking but idlenes is vnhonest And he sayth moreouer that slouthfulnesse is accompanied with scarcitie which feeding it selfe with vaine hope ingendreth manie euils in a mans mind and keepeth a man idle in fower way leete without getting wherwith to liue Aeschilus sayth That vnto such as watch god reacheth out his hand liketh wel to help them that take paines We see how goods do melt away betweene the hands of the slouthfull without his spending of them and that oftentimes hee hath as little as the prodigall person that is diligent according
haue slender wits Therefore we call him a glutton which eateth either too much or too hastilie or oftener than he needeth besides his ordinarie meales or that seeketh delicate and daintie meats And we call him a drunkard which drinketh out of measure For to drinke wine moderatly is not forbidden And as Anacharsis said The first draught serueth for health the second for pleasure the third for shame and the fourth for madnesse For as Herodotus saith Drunkennes putteth a man out of his wits and makes him mad Moyses forbiddeth the priests to drinke wine or any other drinke that may make men drunken during the time that they were in their course of sacrifising Plato in his common-weale forbiddeth magistrats wine during the time of the executing of their office and also children vntill they be eighteene yeares old for feare of putting fire to fire For great heed ought to be taken that we driue not youth into a setled disposition of furie And after that time he will haue them to vse wine moderatly And when they be come to fortie years then they may drinke the more liberally as a remedie against the waywardnesse of old age And in the same booke He that is full of wine sayth he both draweth and is drawne hither and thither And therefore a drunkard as a man besides himselfe is vnmeete for generation because it is likely that his procreation shall be vnequall crooked and vnstable as well in members as in maners And therefore he saith That a drunkard being set in any state of gouernment whatsoeuer it be vndoeth and marreth all whether it be ship or armed chariot or any other thing whereof he hath the guiding and gouernment The Carthaginenses prohibited wine to their magistrats and men of warre and so doth also Mahomet to all those that hold of his law It was felonie for the magistrats of Locres to drinke wine without the licence of a Phisition And the yong Romans dranke no wine afore they were twentie yeeres old Atheneus saith That the Greeks neuer dranke wine without water and that sometimes they put fiue glasses of water to one of wine and sometime but two of water to foure of wine Hesiodus will haue men to put three parts of water to one of wine Sophocles mocked the poet Aeschylus for that he neuer wrote but when he was well drunken For although he write well saith he yet writeth he vnaduisedlie Aristophanes termed wine the milke of Venus because it prouoketh men to lecherie And Horace saith That a cup of wine is the companion of Venus And for that cause a certaine Iewish sect called Esseans who were holier and of better conuersation than the Pharisees or than the Saduces who were heretikes abstained from wine and women as witnesseth Iosephus in his Antiquities Osee saith That wine and fornication bereaue men of their harts that is to wit of right vnderstanding and discretion For wine hideth and darkeneth wisdome And Salomon in the the 23 of the Prouerbs saith That the drunkard and the glutton shall become poore And in another place Who saith he haue misfortune who haue sorrow who haue trouble who haue sighing who haue stripes without cause and who haue â—aintnes of eyes Euen they that sit at the wine and straine themselues to emptie the cuppes Wine is alluring but in the end it stingeth like a serpent and leaueth his sting behind him like an aspworme At that time thine eies shall see strangers and thy hart shall vtter fond things Plinie in the 14 booke of his naturall Historie saith among other things that it maketh the eies water the hands quiuering the nights vnquiet lewd dreames a stinking breath in the morning and vtter forgetfulnesse of all things Moderate wine helpeth concoction and the sinewes and abundance thereof hurteth them Esau by his gluttonie lost his birthright Noe by his drunkennesse became a laughing stocke to his owne children and Lot delt shamefully with his owne daughters Betweene a drunken man and a mad man is small difference And as Crysippus saith Drunkennesse is a peti-madnesse as we read of Alexander who in his drunkennesse was commonly furious And as Strabo saith Like as a small wind doth easily carie him away that is swaieng forward alredie so a little greef doth easily make him mad that hath taken in too much wine And Sophocles saith A drunken man is easily caried away with choler and hath no vnderstanding whereby it commeth to passe that when he hath rashly discharged his tongue he is constrained afterward whether he will or no to heare of it at their hands of whom he railed in his lustinesse For who so euill speaketh saith Hesiodus shall shortly after heare more of it than he had spoken Theognis saith That as gold is tried by fire so is a mans mind by wine For wine bereaueth him of all knowledge and consequently of all aduisement and meane to dissemble so as it is ill done to commit anie secrets to a drunkard If a drunkard offended in his drunkennesse Pittacus would haue him punished with double punishment that he should the rather abstaine from drunkennesse The Romans did put them out of the Senate that were drunkards In old time a man could not put away his wife except she had beene an adultresse a witch or a wine drinker To eschue this vice we will take the remedie of Anacharsis who counselled them that were subiect to that vice to behold how drunken men behaued themselues or rather as Pithagoras said to bethinke them of the things that a drunken man hath done That was the cause why the Lacedemonians made their bondslaues drunken that their yong folk might learne to hate drunkennesse when they saw those poore soules out of their wits and scorned at all hands Furthermore it is to be considered what mischiefs haue come of drunkennesse whereof all stories are full as how the armie of Thomiris was discomfited by Cyrus for that they hauing drunke too much were laid downe and falne a sleepe How the citie Abida in Mesopotamia was lost by drunkennesse because the men that were set to gard the tower of Hipponomethere hauing drunke too much were falne into so deep a sleepe that they were surprised by their enemies and slaine afore they could awake In general for frugality we must haue the vertue of Temperance before our eies which warneth vs to follow reason and to eschue superfluitie of eating and drinking vnder colour that we haue whereof to make good cheere and say as Alcamenes did who being vpbraided that he liued so sparingly and poorely for the riches that he had said That he which hath great reuenues ought to liue according to reason and not at his pleasure For frugalitie doth alway well beseeme a Prince so long as it proceed not of nigardship Our former kings lost their kingdome through following their delights King Charles the seuenth who was woont to sup with three yong pigeons
handle them ouerboldly But the yong men set hand to their weapons and slue them euery chone not one excepted Ioane queene of Naples was hanged vp for her aduoutrie in the very same place where she had hanged her husband Andreasse afore because he was not a lustie companion to her liking I will forbeare to speak of Fredegund and other vnchast women and for this matter will alledge but only the guile of the Madianits who perceiuing the children of Israell to be impregnable and vnuincible so long as they sinned not tooke of the beautifullest yoong women that they had and sent them afore to the camp of the Israelits to intice them to sin which thing caused the Israelits to be ouercome by them The Troians were vtterly destroied for the aduouterie of one man And Homer maketh Apollo to send the pestilence into the campe of the Greekes because the king had taken away the daughter of Chryses his priest Let vs now speake of punishments ordained by lawes The Persians were rigorous in punishing adulterers and likewise the Aegyptians who punished the adulterer with a thousand lashes of a whip and the adulteresse by cutting off hir nose And somtimes as saith Diodorus they did cut off the priuie members of him that had deflowred a gentlewoman because of the corrupting and confounding of issue Herodotus reporteth That Feron king of Aegypt did cause all the women in a citie to be burned whom he vnderstood to be adultresses The same king had beene blind ten yeares and the eleuenth yeare the Oracle told him that he should recouer his sight if he washed his eies in the water of a woman that had neuer had to do with any other than hir husband First he made triall of his owne wiues water but that would do him no good and afterward of infinit others which did him all as little saue onely one by the rubbing of his eies with whose water he reeouered his sight and then put all the rest to dearh By the law of Moses adulterous persons were stoned to death as appeareth in the one and twentith of Leuitticus and in the two and twentith of Deuteronomie and afore that also in eight and thirtith of Genesis The law Iulia punished both the offenders with death whereof there is an expresse title in the Digests Ecclesiasticus speaking of an adulterous woman saith That hir children shall not take roote and that her braunches shall not beare fruit They shall leaue their remembrance accursed and the shame thereof shall not be wiped out Such as by reason of their greatnesse haue escaped the rigour of law haue not failed to be defamed as Faustine and the exceeding infamous Messaline who in that trade went beyond all the courtesans that euer were returning from the brothel house rather tired than satisfied And Iulia the daughter of Augustus was so shamelesse and vnchast that the emperor was neuer able to reclaime her And whē one thinking to haue good credit with her desired her to leaue that life and to follow chastitie as her father did she said That her father forgat himselfe and considered not that he was Caesar but as for her she knew well she was the daughter of Caesar. Now must I treat of the means to auoid this inconuenience Saint Paule giueth one which is verie certaine that is to wit mariage Another remedie is to eschew occasions For there is more pleasure in not desiring than in enioying When one demaunded of Sophocles whether he gaue himselfe to women still in his old age or no No quoth he I haue withdrawne my selfe from it and haue left vp that trade as a wicked wild and harebraind maister Occasions are eschewed by the eies by the toung and by the eares By the eies when a man turneth them away from looking vpon faire women as I haue said of Alexander and diuers others Cyrus would neuer see the beautifull Pantea And when Araspes one of his courriers told him That her beautie was a thing worthie the beholding Euen therfore quoth he is it best to abstaine from seeing her The same cause as witnesseth Iosephus in the eleuenth booke of his Antiquities made the Persians not to shew their wiues vnto strangers And as Tertullian saith in his treatise of the veiling of Virgins The Corinthians veiled their maidens Contrariwise the Lacedemonians did let them go vnueiled that they might get them husbands And when they were maried then they veiled them Sulpitius Gallus did put away his wife by deuorce because she went abrode bare faced as Valerius saith in his sixt booke but that was but a slender cause of diuorce It is said in Genesis That Rebecca couered her selfe as soone as she saw Isaac This was not done without cause For as Plutarch saith Loue is nothing else but a well-liking of beautie which carieth vs with an ardent desire to the obtainment of that which we couet And Ouid writing to a certaine woman saith Would God thou wert not so faire for then should I not be so importunate but thy beautifull face enforceth me to be bold Theocritus termed a faire face a mischiefe of yuory because it is pleasant to see to and causeth manie mischiefs It is a speechlesse commendation for it commendeth it selfe sufficiently without speaking It is a kingdom without halberders for the beautifull commaund euen kings and without force obtaine what they will of them yea and they be of such power that some haue said as Tertullian and manie others that euen angels haue beene in loue with them alledging the sixt chapter of Genesis howbeit misvnderstood by them the which thing Saint Iohn Chrysostome writing vpon the same chapter Saint Ambrose in his booke concerning Noe and the Arke S. Austen in his fifteenth booke of the citie of God and all the right beleeuing doctors haue disprooued at large If Paris had not seene Helen the citie of Troy had not beene destroyed If Dauid had not seene Bersaba and Gyges the wife of Candaules none of them both had beene murtherers and adulterers both at once If Caracalla had not seene his mothers thigh he had not maried her Suetonius saith That Tiberius caused manie boyes and girles to come to Capree whither he had withdrawne himselfe that he might not be seene of the Romans in such lewd dealings And he caused them to do a thousand villanous things in his presence to delight his sight withall and to quicken vp his lust which was almost dead vnto such things So that the surest way for a man is to withhold his eies from the sight of all vanities Next a man must keepe himselfe from speaking foule and filthie speeches and from hearing them spoken as such men and women will do as list not to read vnchast bookes nor to heare ribaudrie talke nor to come in place or companie where such are read For words spoken in ieast or in earnest serue well to kindle the fire of loue according to the answer
it is doubted whether it be more daungerous to loose a battell at home oâ— in a forrain countrie Monsieur de Langey in his Discipline of warre is of opinion that it is lesse daunger for a captaine to fight in his owne countrie if he be a man of power as the king of Fraunce is than to fight in a straunge countrie And hereunto I will adde that which Paulus Iouius saith in his hystorie where he demaundeth Why Ismael Sophie king of Persland did let slip so faire an occasion of inuading the kingdome of Selim emperour of the Turks at such time as Selim was so sore incombred in Egypt The reason is that the king of Persia hath not sufficient power to make warre out of his owne countrie vpon so mightie a prince as the Turke is considering that the noble men and gentlemen in whom coÌ„sisteth a great part of the Persian strength are loth to go to the wars out of their countrie because they serue at their owne charges But when the case concerneth the defence of the realme and that they be to fight in that behalfe they imploy themselues wholy thereunto managing the warre fiercely and behauing themselues valiantly Also we haue seene how the Parthians afore them neuer passed so much to conquer out of their owne realme as to keepe their owne at home and that they haue discomfited all the armies of the Romans that euer came against them Neither hath the common saying beene verified of them That the assailants haue euer more courage than the defendants For that is not euer true Besides that there be means to assure the natural subiects by shewing them that the quarrell is iust and holy which men vndertake in defence of their countrie which ought to haue more force than the couetous hope of enriching mens selues by other mens losse And if it be said That the assailant bereaueth the prince defendant of the commodities which he had afore of his subiects to helpe himselfe withall because his subiects are destroyed A man may answer That the losse of goods turneth not the hearts and affections of the subiects away from theiâ— prince but contrariwise the harme that they recâ—yue maketh them fiercer against their enemies Whereas it is alledged That a prince dareth not to leuie mony of his subiects nor to taxe them at his will because of the neernesse of the enemie to whom they might yeeld themselues if they were molested by their prince Monsieur de Langey answereth thereunto That that prerogatiue cannot be taken from a priuce so long as his lands and friends be not taken from him as appeareth by the succours which the kings of Fraunce haue had of their subiects against the Englishmen and against the men of Nauarre True it is that he excludeth tyrannie saying That if a prince should misuse his subiects and outrage them for euery trifle he might doubt whether he should be well followed well obeyed of his people or no. And as for that which is said That the assâ—ilants being in a strange countrie do make necessitie a vertue because they be driueÌ„ to open the waies by force of armes The same necessitie lieth also vpon the defendants whom it standeth on hand to fight stoutly because they be in daunger to endure many mo things than the assailants For the raunsome or the prison makes their budget good for the assailants but the defendants lose their goods and the honor of their wiues and children and moreouer looke for perpetual bondage with an infinit number of other mischiefs Furthermore he that is assailed may wait vpon his enemies to his great aduauntage and distresse them with famin without perill of enduring any scarcitie his owne side and therwithall he may the better withstand the enterprises of his enemies by reason that he hath better knowledge of the countrie and of the passages Besides that he may assemble great coÌ„panies of men in few houres because there is not any subiect of his that is not readie at need to fight in his owne defence And if the defendant do chaunce to take a foile in his owne countrie he will relieue himselfe againe within few dayes to be at the pursute and new succours shall not need to come to him from farre To be short the defendant needeth to hazard but a peece of his force But if the assailant lose he putteth hir men and the goods and wel-â—are of himselfe and his subiects in perill though he be out of his owne countrie considering that if he be taken he must either continue a prisoner all his life time or else accomplish the will of his conquerour Yet notwithhanding for all the good reasons of Monsieur de Langey a learned and valeant knight and of great experience in feats of armes I will follow the opinion of them that say That it is better to go fight with a mans enemie farre from home than to tarrie his comming home to him Craesus counselled Cyrus not to tarrie for the Massagets in his owne countrie but to giue them battell in their owne because quoth he if you should lose one battell in your owne countrie you should be in daunger being once chased to lose your whole countrie for the Massagets hauing gotten the victorie will pursue it and enter into your prouinces And if ye win the battell you shall not gaine thereby an inch of land But if ye ouercome them in their owne land you may follow your good fortune and be master of the whole realme of Thomiris This fashion did the Romans vse who were the most politike and best aduised men in war-matters that euer were in the world For they neuer suffered the enemie to approch neare their gates but encountered him aloofe Which thing Hanniball knowing well by the proofe that he himselfe had had of their policies and â—orce counselled Antiochuâ— not to tarry the comming of the Romans into his country but to go and assail them in their owne because that out of their owne countrie they were inuincible And in verie deed they were euer assailants and seldome times defendants At the beginning when their territory was verie small they went made war vpon the Fidenats Crustuminians Samâ—ates Falisks and other neighbor-people from whom they alway got the victorie And whensoeuer they were assailed it was to their extreme daunger As for example When Horatius Cocles sought vpon the bridge of the citie and sustained the whole force of the enemie while the bridge was â—ut asunder behind him wherwith he fell into the Tiber and by that means saued the citie Also they were in extreme daunger against Porsenna and the Volses and they were faine to employ all their priests and all the women of the citie to raise the siege of Coriolanus who our of all question had made himself master of the towne if the intreatance of his mother had not letted him It was neuer in their power to ouercome Hannibal in
this celler or warehouse whatsoeuer he listeth to choose For it is farre easier to take in one place the wares that come from diuerse parts of the world than to go seeke them a farre off and in places dispersed And yet is it to no purpose to seeke them all in one place vnlesse they be sorted out aforehand so as a man may put his hand to whatsoeuer he requireth For that cause it behoued me to vse a method in referring euery hystorie to his proper place There are many other points of warre to be found in hystories the which my hast to make an end of this my discourse causeth me to let alone and to content my selfe for this present to haue declared vnto you the things that I haue drawn out of Plutarch Thucidides and some other authours that came to my remembrance Also I haue left many which you may see in the Mounsieur de Langies Discipline of warre Of others I will say as an euil painter That they lie hid behind the Cipres cloth As touching the feats of warre of our dayes I will not presume to speake of them because they which are yet aliue haue seene the practising of a great part of them and can better and more particularly report them than they be written And to say the truth when I considered the feats of warre of these times I find them so honorable that they be nothing inferior to those of old time But it is better to leaue the reporting of them to those that were at the doing of them than to speake of them like a clearke of armes for feare least it be said vnto me That the things were not so done as they be written The which I doubt not but men will thinke euen of those also which I haue here alledged But they be drawne out of such authors as for their antiquitie and authoritie haue purchased prescription against all reproches FINIS †Alexander the great Arist. lib. 9. of matters of gouernment Isocrates in his Panathe What Policie is Cicero in his booke of the ends of good and euill Our life cannot be without Dutie Cicero in the ends of good and euil men The definition of Dutie Two sortes of Duetie Men are beholders of heauenlie thinges Cicero in his second booke of the nature of the Gods The louing of our neighbor is the fulfilling of the law â—n his 13 book of the citie of God Histories â—erue for good instruction The definition of a Prince Plutarch in the life of Pelopidas The prince is as a God among men A prince should not be bare of treasure What an emperour is The qualities of a good emperour Kings are heardmen and sheepheards of their people What a king is A king must commaund his subiects as a father doth his children * The iust coÌ„maundement of the prince and the iust obedience of the subiects are answerable either to other cannot be separated The marke of a tyrant A Kingdome Tyrannie The way to winne loue Vniustice is the cause of the alteration of states The kingdome that is maintained by friendly dealing is stronger than that which is vpheld by force No castle so strong as good will The best Bulwarke is the peoples loue The praise of Aristâ—cracie Kings do not so easily resâ—st their lusts as priuat persons doe The coÌ„mendation of the state of a kingdome Sole gouernment maketh men insolent Kingdomes haue passed al other states of gouernment both in largenesse of dominion in length of time A commendation of the popular state People are more tractable hauing a head than being without a head The reward of such as serue in popular state In the citie of Athens wise men propouÌ„d and fooles iudge Whether dissention be requisite in a common weale or no. The friendship of Caesar and Pompey was the ouerthrow of the common-weale Great dissention between ouer-great personages is dangerous to a state The absolute gouernment is best and most certain The Athenians had many Captains Kingdomes haue been of longer continuance and made greater conquests than any other state of gouernment Of a Tyrant A Tyrant sildome leaueth his kingdom to his posteritie Why Tyrants are murthered rather than priuat householdâ—rs being both of them wicked Nembroth the first King Elections are causes of great warres In the kingdome that goes by inheritance there is no cause of warre A King that is vnder age ruleth by his counsell Wicked kings are sent of God for the sins of the people The state of the time and of affaires causeth ciuill warres Priuat quarrels caused the wars vnder Charles the sixt The hearts of kings are in the hand of God Princes cannot be vertuous vnlesse they be learned Good bringing vp moderateth mens affections Good Education altereth a mans euill disposition Wild horses become good by well handling Good Education in youth is the root of all goodensse A young prince of neuer so good a nature shall hardly doe any great thing being not trained vp in vertue By what means a yong prince is to be drawne to learning and vertue The rod and correction giue wisdome Why many princes begin well and end ill Children are to be kept from the company of flatterers The hating of lies The best way to learne rule is first to obay Euery man is desirous to be the chiefe of his profession The pains that Demosthenes tooke to become an Orator The way to learning is to descend into a mans selfe A prince ought to consider his owne abilitie A prince must be affable retaining the maiestie of his person and state A prince ought to be a Warriour The enemies of peace are ouercome by warre Warre must not be made but for to establish peace Kings haue lost their states for want of applying themselues to the warres Captains despise them that loue not chiluarie It is no reason that the man that is well armed should yeeld to him that is vnarmed The things that are to be done in war are to be learned afore haÌ„d at leisure Princes must inure themselues their subiects to the exercise of arms Whether the common people be to bee trained to the wars or no. A profitable discourse concerning Philopoemen What the souereigne good is Wherin the happinesse of princes may consist To become happy we must seeke perfection Felicitie lieth in all vertuous actions Riches without vertue be like a feast without any man to eat it Which are the true riches Of profit Of Pleasure Pleasure is to be considered by hir going away The pleasure that commeth of the beholding of the things that are done in a Common-weale A good name is a sweet sent or sauor The wise saying of king Ferdinand All princes are iealous of their honor Men must be such as they would seeme to be A doer of good to others is esteemed as a God The pleasure of princes consisteth in honor A definition of Vertue A diuision of Vertue Vertue is the Art of al our whole life
expenses Sparing is a sure reuenue The treasure prepared for the necessitie of the state is not to be â—ashed out in time of peace Liberalitie is vnderpropped by two things Good turnes misbestowed are euil turns Good must be done for good desert and not to get praise Two sorts of Liberalitie Liberalitie must be vsed without preiudice to any Of Alms. Hospitalitie a spice of Liberalitie Tâ—eataâ—â—eneâ— of Liberality Liberalitie of despising mony and gifts Liberalitie consisteth bâ—â—h in giuing and in taking Of Magnificence Too gret sparing be commeth not a great lord The honest expenâ—e of a â—able is to be commended The charitie of diueâ—s Romanes The charitie of Gillias and Buza The bountifulnesse of Hiero. The â—lâ—teians The bountifulnesse of Alexander matched with courtesie and cheerfulnes Alexander passed the bouÌ„ds of liberalitie Caesar prodiâ—alâ— It is euil done to borrow vnder vain hope The libeâ—alâ—â—â— of 〈◊〉 Caligulaes prodigalitie Prodigalitie is a counterfeiter of Liberalitie If a man wâ—ll be wâ—lâ—hie he must not be too lauish Of Coueâ—ousnesse Couetousnes withstandeâ—h the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 It is vse that maketh richeâ— Couetousnes breedeth theeâ—erie The goods that are hoorded vp by the couetous shal be wasted by the prodigall Who is rich and who is poore What a prince is to doe for the wel-garding of his kingdome The miserable case of the couetous The meane to become rich Nothing so royall as to be helpfull to many Couetousnes is nought else than vniustice aâ—â— wickednâ—â—â— A couetous king vndoeth his realme Kindnesse or Kindheartednesse reacheth further than vprightnesse Fiue sorts of Gentlenesse or Kindnesse The subiect is dâ—sirous to be knowne of his prince A prince ought to 〈…〉 He is to â—e pitâ—ed which submitteth himselfe â—o ouâ— mercie Of the excesse of Gentlenesse Whether a prince ought to be meeld or sterne It is hard for him that reigneth to be gentle to all men Only good will maketh a kingdome sure The great princes of old time â—anqueted priuaâ—ly with their friends The visiting of the sicke Crassus being of lesse authoritie than Pompey got the fauour of the people against him by Gentlenesse and Courtesiâ— The gentlnes of Totilas drue the souldiers to him that had warred against him Men are to be tuned by gentle means as well as brute beasts The tyrant that is a coward is most cruell and suspicious Too great gentlenesse and too great seueritie are both verie dangerous God enforceth 〈…〉 to obedience He that altereth a state must haue force to make men feare him vntill he be surely setled in his tyrannie A new dominion is to be gotten by force and to be maintained by gentlenesse To be ouer-easily intreated may be hurtfull Of Enuie The differeÌ„ce betweene hatred and Enuie Enuie is vndeterminable The sin of Enuie is vnexcusable Whether a prince be subiect to Enuie Wherto enuie serueth The Enuie oâ— Caligula The inconueniences of Enuie Remedies against enuy How to eschew enâ—y Prouerb 11. A Definition of Pride God abhorreth all lofâ—â—nes of heart VVhereof pride coÌ„meth Pride a hinderance to al the fruits of righteousnesse He that wil â—e good must beleeue himselfe to be euill The prowd prouoketh God to wrath A proud persoâ— ouerthroweth a whole citie He that honored not his parent is proud All disobediâ—nâ— commeth of Pâ—â—de Ambition springeth of Pride Pride and Ambition neuer grow old Enuie proceedeth of pride Pride is the ordinarie vice of estates Pride assaulteth good men and such as are best occupied Pride stepâ—â—th â—n euen iâ— deuotion God wil haue none to be great but himselfe The way to keepe a 〈◊〉 from Pride Humilitie 〈◊〉 lowlinesse is as a bit or a bridle against ouer-weening to subdue it to reason 〈…〉 that 〈◊〉 modes and meeke Pride is lâ—kâ— bâ—a◠〈…〉 wind The proud man resembleth him that is sicke of the falling euill The fruits of Humilitie To haue honourâ— a man must flee from it Plutarch in the life of Pirrâ—us A definition of Prowesse Three sorts of Prowesse It is no point oâ— Pâ—owesse 〈…〉 to eschue â—isâ—hiefe Ariâ—totle lib. 8. Floral Appendants of Prowesse Of Trauell Of ResolutioÌ„ Of Strength Of Boldnesse The difference of Boldnesse and Prowesse Of ConfideÌ„ce Of Sufferance To beare with things amisâ—e is a â—oint of Prowesse Prowesse oâ— Valiantnesse is most proper to waâ— Why the conceit of death is greater in battel than in other places It is easier to 〈◊〉 boldnesse 〈…〉 Wherin Prowesse doth chieâ—ly consist The definition of Fearfulnesse The differenâ—e betweene the valiâ—nt and the fooâ—e-hardâ—e A notable iudgement of the Lacedemonians â—euen sorts of Pro 〈…〉 The feare of 〈…〉 Prowesse is a skill Xâ—nophon in his fourth booke of the deâ—ngs and sayings of Socrates Accustomednesse vnto perill maketh those to seem haâ—die that be not Aristotle in his ninth booke of Morals Aristotle in the eight of his Morals Sorrow and Anger make men to seeme hardie Despight maketh a man to forgee the basenesse of a lasie and languishing mind They that haue the managing of great matters ought not to set their minds vpon base things The definition of Magnanimitie The differâ—â—â—â— between 〈◊〉 Magnanimity The nobleminded-man is not trubled either with prosperitie or with aduersitie He that hath a loftie courage in adnersitie is a noble minded man A braue port and stout countenance is in aduersitie commeâ—â—able but in prosperity discommendable Noblemindednesse the meane betweene Faint-hartednes or Bacemindednes and Fool-hardines The nobleminded hath six properties Magnanimity passeth not for vaine turmoils A prince should passe his subiects in diligence In doing nothing men learne to doe euill An armie must not be suâ—â—ered to be idle The diligence of Iulius Caâ—sar The harme of going slowly about a mans businesse Of ouermuch sleepe A solitarie life is alâ— one with the life that is troublefull A policie of Cimon Such as were but captaines haue in the end made theÌ„ selues Dukes Kings Emperors by their diligeÌ„câ— Slâ—ggishnes 〈◊〉 an enemie to wisdome A king ought to be diligent in looking to his estate The harm that Tiberius took of his lasines Sâ—othfulnesse bringeth darknesse which is a great punishment Slouth and idlenesse ouerwhelm prowesse Great things are done by diligence William Bellay in his Ogdoades The hand of the diligent shal bear rule The slouthful man coÌ„meth to penurie Not trauaile but idlenes is a foule thing To them that watch God reacheth out his hand Mens minds wax rusty and forgrowne by doing nothing The definitioÌ„ of Temperance Cicero in his second booke of the Ends of good and bad Temperance the strength of the soule The difference betweene Valiantnesse and Temperance Temperance maketh vs happie Intemperance vtterly confoundeth the state of the mâ—nde He liueth most at ease that is conteÌ„ted with least Temperance the foundaâ—ioÌ„ of all vertue Voluptuousnesse blindeth the eyes of the minde Câ—cero in his duties Voluptuousnes bereaueth men of their wit Voluptuousnes the plague of all coÌ„monweales Libertie is maintained by frugalitie Mens maners change according to the