Looking-glass wherein he discerns their loves Now the Subjects love hath been ever accounted the prime Citadel of a Prince In his Parliament he appears as the Sun in the Meridian in the Altitude of his Glory in his highest State-Royal as the Law informs us But lest we should spin out too long a thread and so wear the Readers Patience thread-bare we will conclude this first Book and make the discourse which we allot for the scope and Subject of our next run in another Channel Finis Libri Primi THE Second Book TREATING Of KINGS and their PREROGATIVE CHAP. I. EK {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} A Jove Principium In the Trinity we find Unity Among the Orders of Angels there is an Archangel The Heavens have their Primum mobile and the Sun is their chief Luminary The Beasts of the Forest have the Lion to their King The Fowls of the Air the Eagle The Fish of the Sea a Soveraign And shall man only be Independent Absit Absit let us therefore sing with Homer {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Kings saith one of our quondam Pen-men though since an Apostate are lively Representations living Statues or Pictures drawn to the life of the great Deity these Pictures for their better continuance are done in Oyl the colours of the Crown never fade they are no water-colours They are Gods Vicegerents here upon earth nay God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost say they are Gods and would have them live as Gods God the Father plainly affirms Joh. 10. 34. Dixi dii est is I have said ye are Gods God the Son told Pilatâ— Thou shouldst have no power except it were â—â—…ta de super given from above And I 'm sure the Holy Ghost tells us Per me Reges regnant By me Kings reign and not by the suffrage of the people for then it would have been per nos They are the Lord 's anointed therefore not to be touch'd or brought in question by their Subjects for all the failings in a King can but make him a bad King but he remains a King still If indeed as one saith excellently Kings held their Crowns by Indentures from the People they were then disobliged from their obedience to him upon his failing in those things whereunto he was sworn at his Coronation on his part but if they receive their Crowns immediately from God and that by him alone Kings raign as is said before then they must still stick close to their Allegiance or else come off with the brand of Traytors Our modern times have furnished us with too many of that infernal rabble who were so hellishly wicked and impious as to fight against their lawful Soveraign and having got him in their clutches slew him at his own door But to the purpose The Athenians as Demosthenes writes in his Oration against Neaera when Theseus had contrived the model of their Commonwealth being accustomed to choose some one out of the number of the vertuous by a general consent manifested by holding up their hands they elected him King In ancient times the election of Kings was ever held sacrum divinum quid a certain holy and divine action among the very Heathens Romulus after the sight of twelve Ravens if we may credit Livy or rather because the lightning had pierced his body from the left to the right side as Dionysius hath it was by divination chosen King and that ordinance called Jus Auspiciorum was religiously obeyed Their authority hath been judged ever as divine as their election for Homer and Isocrates joyntly affirm That he that governeth as a King represents the Deity The Kings of Persia were honour'd as Gods and the people believed that they were the sole and absolute defenders of their Laws Liberties Lives and Country The ancient Latines called their Kings Indigetes that is deified as Aeneas and Romulus were whose bodies after they were expired could never be found Kings are the Sons not of the most voices but of the most High and as God is King of the whole Universe so are they Lords of the whole Commonwealth About their skirts they have this Motto written by the finger of God Touch not mine Anointed Nor did ever any Church-man Christian Father or Expositor obtrude any other sence upon this Text than that it was meant of Kings till such time as the Puritan and Papist both at a time and that time bearing not above 100. years date who began then to infect the world with this damnable doctrine That it was Lawful to murder Kings It is strange that two such contrary factions that had ever been antipathetical one to the other should nevertheless like Herod and Pilate agree in condemning the Lord's Anointed Dieu mon Droit is their Motto God and my Right no body else have any thing to do with me They have a Noli me tangere to defend them from the assaults of rebellious Subjects Yet although Kings are counted God's Lieutenants or Adjutant-Generals the Council Wisdom and Knowledge of Kings is not their own but given them by God who is the Author of every good and perfect gift according to that verse of the Holy Pen-man {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And since I say no King can with his own peculiar stock of wisdom govern his Kingdom rightly for it is the prerogative of the Almighty only to know all things that appertain to good Government they have ever used to call unto their aid and assistance some wise grave men by whose advice and counsel the Kingdom might be well regulated These men being as a mean between the King and the People do on the one hand understand the Office of the King and on the other the Duty of the Subject knowing what course must be taken for the preservation of the Kings Honour and Royal Prerogative and what belongs to the profit and benefit of his good and Loyal Subjects Thus a King may govern all things well not only by his own opinion which may oftentimes prove deceitful but by the general advice and counsel of others whereby his judgement and reason is brought to perfection And as the hand divided into many fingers is thereby made more strong and apt to lay hold on all things so he that governs by the aid and assistance of Councellors will manage all publike affairs tending to the benefit of the Kingdom and Country whereof he is Soveraign with the greater discretion and wisdom for a single person is not able to manage all affairs without additionall help Alexander King of Macedonia conquered many Countries and subjugated a multitude of Enemies Pyrrhus was excellent at the choice of places for Fortification Hannibal was often attended with success in Victory but knew not how to make the best improvement of it Vincere scis Hannibal uti Victoria nescis Philopoemon was a
brave Admiral at Sea Cleon could manure lands and possessions Cicero was a famous Orator Pompeius a valiant General Cato a grave Senator and Scipio admirable both in peace and war So were several others that might be instanced for every man according to the Proverb is a Roscius in his own Profession Now when so many well-qualified Heroes are bound up together in Council what a Constellation of Vertues will shine and appear there And what firm Edicts and good Laws will there be enacted by them for the publick benefit and good of the Kingdom which he is obliged to for he is called Rex à Regendo but some will have it à recte agendo And it is clear that one man cannot be so clear sighted as to perceive all which proves that verse of Homer to be true rendred into Latine thus Bini conveniunt melius rem perspicit alter Nor doth this any waies diminish his power and authority for though many convene yet he is still the head of them all and hath a negative voice nor can any Act be pass'd without his Royal assent or approbation It is taken pro confesso that there is much care and vigilancy required in a Monarch for he must not seek so much after his own profit as the publike good and commodity of his People he must observe the Laws preserve the Rights and Liberty of his Subjects and maintain the authority and reputation of his Senate For Kings were first of all instituted for the aid and assistance of the vertuous against those that are vicious to them absolute power is transmitted to the end that they may revenge injuries and be just Judges in all causes and legal proceedings A good King ought to be as vigilant over those whom Providence hath allotted him Supreme as a Shepherd is of his Flock Homer calls King Agamemnon the shepherd of the People and Plato in imitation of him the Shepherd and Conserver of Mankind Besides he should govern his People not as Masters do their Servants but as Parents do their Children with Paternal care not with rigid severity or cruelty And as it is customary with indulgent Parents sometimes to rebuke their Children sometimes to admonish and encourage them and sometimes also to correct and punish them so should a Prince behave himself toward his Subjects manifesting himself sometimes severe when moved thereunto and at other times gentle affable and courteous both for the preservation of his people and the safety of the Kingdom defending and enlarging the bonum commune with no less care than a Father provides for the sustentation of his Children This makes the difference between Kings and Tyrants the one is studious for the publike good the other for his own private profit The end of the Tyrants endeavour is voluptuousness but the Kings study is honour Riches are the mark at which a Tyrant levels but Vertue is the true Meta of the King Tyrants desire the assistance of strangers but Kings are guarded by their own loyal Subjects Alphonsus King of Arragon being demanded what Subjects of his he most tenderly affected answered I love them better that love me than those that fear me And not without reason did he thus express himself for fear is usually accompanied with hatred A King is as secure by the love good will and loyalty of his Subjects as by the defence of Arms and his Senators will stand him in more stead upon any occasion than a Tyrants Souldiers Trajanus that great Emperour of the World did alwaies call the Senate his Father for as the Father usually foretels the Son what may prove beneficial and what injurious to him so the Senate counsels the King and instructs him how to conserve his Kingdom and by what Laws and Ordinances it must be governed This is the only way to keep the King from Tyranny and the Subject from Rebellion Now tyranny in the one with rebellion in the other will soon verifie that Dystich of the Satyrist Adgenerum Cereris sine caede vulnere pauci Descendunt Reges sicca morte Tyranni A good King knows how to irretiate and allure the hearts of the People to him by love and clemency sooner than by violence and compulsion And good people know their duty and obedience and if the King through the sins of the people be any way misguided they will bite their nails and not scratch their heads they know it is a crime inexplable to quarrel with Majesty the only way to live happy in a Kingdom is this first to give God and then Caesar his due But when Kings grow tyrannical then there is little or no allegiance from the Subject but what they are compelled to whereas that is far more to be esteemed that flows naturally and voluntarily from the people and this usually stirs them up to sedition and so consequently to their utter ruine and destruction and the downfal both of Kingdom and King and the reason is because Tyrants use certain sleights and State-tricks to deprive the Subject of liberty First by clearing the Country of all good and wise men either by banishment imprisonment or death because the vertue of good men reproves them for their vice and renders them odious whenas all they aim at is only to enslave the Nation to the intent that they may prosecute their own lust and pleasure without obstruction Such counsel as this Periander poysoned Thrafibulus with who by his infernal Rhetorick endeavoured to perswade him to cut off the highest spikes of corn meaning thereby that he should cause the cream of the Athenian Nobility to be executed The like subtilty did Sextus Tarquinius the Son of Lucius follow who being suborned by his Father pretended to be banished and fled fraudulently to the Gabii where having scrap'd as much acquaintance as he judged convenient sent privily to his Father to know his will and pleasure and what farther was to be done in the business for his satisfaction who conducted the Messenger into the garden where walking together he with a wand in his hand strook off all the heads of the Poppies before him which being by the Nuncio reported to his Son who had hellish wit enough to understand such damnable mysteries soon put the chief of the Nobility to death and by force and injustice usurped the Government of the Commonwealth and deprived the Subjects of their liberty Another knack they have to prejudice their Subjects by inhibiting their meetings conventions and conferences to prevent their study of honest discipline Nay farther they often sow discord among the people to the end that filled with hate and private displeasure they may be stirred up to civil war and sedition who being thereby much impoverished and the war ceasing are compelled to pay for their pardon and being after this manner fleeced both waies of their money and reduced to poverty become base minded and altogether unfit to defend their Lives Laws or Liberties These and many more that might
and fields like brute Animals were first by Cecrops and after by Theseus confined to a City which was then called Cecropia now Athens and at length reduced to a Kingdom descendable to their Posterity But what authority the Senate had under those Kings which order did represent the Optimacie cannot be manifested or apparently known by reason of the length of time and multitude of years since elapsed as also the paucity of those Writers that have any waies discoursed thereon Yet we must believe that Kings had in those daies their Sages or Wisemen about them and made use of their counsel in the management of their political affairs The Kings of that Age as Thucydides writes did rule by consent of People and with their suffrages did many times determine those things whereof they themselves were doubtful Yet that Government was of short continuance for in tract of time which altereth all things it was committed to the multitude whose force and power did utterly subvert the Commonwealth The Lacedaemonian State seemed to contain all the three sorts of Government viz. King Nobles and People the Nobles were their Senators and the People were the Ephori for they were alwaies elected out of the number of popular men Now the Lacedaemonians are very much extolled in that for the space of seven hundred years compleat they have continued without any alteration of their Laws Customs or Government But the Venetians in that respect may challenge a greater portion of glory for they have till this very present Age of ours constantly lived under one Form of Government and Governours the space of one thousand years and better Now the Venetians in framing their Republick do include within the name of People Gentlemen and Citizens being very careful to oppose any other if he presume or dare usurp that title because they only are capable of Magistracy The Senate is chosen out of that number that represents an Optimacie and is the foundation as it were of that State The Duke is elected out of that number that resemble Kings Polybius doth very much extol the Roman Monarchy because it was made up of the King Nobility and People supposing that by this means the King for fear of the People durst not become insolent and the People out of respect to the Senate durst not disobey the King Which Form of Republick is accounted most just For as perfect harmony is made up of Treble Mean and Base so the best and surest agreement among men and the most stable Government is established by the mixture of the Best the Mean and the Base people Romulus saith Livy being as we have already mentioned by consent both of God and men elected King though the State was then but an Embryo refused to have the reins of Government lie altogether upon his own shoulders and did therefore call unto his assistance one hundred Senators who out of respect to their Age and Gravity were called Fathers And lest the People should suppose that they were hereby deluded misled and defrauded of all honour and thereby envy and malignity might ensue to the prejudice of the King or Senate He made them Judges and gave them full power and authority to sit and determine War and conclude peace with many other priviledges thereunto annexed And if this model of Government had still continued in Rome there had not been so great an effusion of bloud in aspiring after Liberty and enlarging the Territories of the Roman Empire Nor had the happiness of that Country been shaken with so many seditions which did at length work her ruine and desolation for she was observed to be very little acquainted with peace all the time she stood upon her own legs ever since she was able to go alone But now let us take the Governments of our Age into consideration and first of the French Monarchy which owns a King who rules ad placitum at his own discretion and although his authority come not under the lash of the Law yet like an honourable and just Prince he acts nothing contrary to Law or Honour In his Kingdom the Noblemen which they call Peers represent an Optimacie the People are divided into three sorts Gentlemen Clergy-men and the popular Multitude and a choice number of these three assembled together by the Kings Edict or Command determine matters of greatest importance in the Kingdom This Council was anciently called Panceltium as the Aetolians named theirs Panaetolium and the universal Council of the Ionians was termed Panionium though since as we have already hinted by reason of the English wars there the King got all authority into his own hands so that his word carries as much force and validity with it as the former acts of Parliament which were their three Estates conven'd and met together As for the Spanish Monarchy the King there hath Soveraign authority and power the Council-Royal represents an Optimacie and the three prime Orders of Knighthood may be compared to the popular State For the Order of St Jago Collatrava and Alcantara assembled with the King decide the most important State-controversies and affairs The Monarchy of Polonia consists likewise of these three sorts i. e. The King Nobility and People but it is to be noted that this word People here denotes only Knights and Gentlemen The Union and Fellowship of these orders is so admirable that the King without the advice of his Council and their authority can do nothing nor can the Council determine without the King's approbation and the Peoples consent In this Kingdom the Laws are of so great force that every man religiously swears to keep and observe them and if any person act contrary to that Oath he is accounted unjust and impious Now that Oath by which they swear to be strict in the observance of their Laws and Liberty is in their vernacular language called Captue which is as much as Tegmen capitis in Latine for as the head is kept in health and preserved from the injury of the nipping weather by being covered so by vertue of that Oath their Laws Lives and Liberties are conserved and to maintain it no man is so fearful as not to venture his life against Tyrants and all such as endeavour to cut the wings of publick Liberty and Happiness This people enjoy great freedom being principled with this perswasion that to live according to the direction of the Law is the most absolute Liberty in the World In this Kingdom the Prince follows not the dictamen of his own will and fancy but sticks close to the Rule of the Law In waging war or concluding peace he makes use of his Council never transgressing Law which works this effect that the Kings person is not only honoured among the people but had in high reverence and estimation so that he may be said to be adored rather than obeyed And who indeed is there that would not entirely love honour respect and reverence that Prince that in governing steers himself
THE Sage Senator DELINEATED OR A DISCOURSE OF The Qualifications Endowments Parts external and internal Office Duty and Dignity OF A PERFECT POLITICIAN WITH A Discourse of KINGDOMS Republiques States-Popular As Also Of KINGS and PRINCES To which is annexed The New Models of Modern Policy By J. G. Gent. London Printed by Ja Cottrel for Saâ—… Speed at the signe of the Printing-Press in St. Paul's Church-yard 1660. To the Reader THere are few or none I presume even among the Vulgar but understand that Republique or Kingdom to be most happy that lives most peaceably Yet what doth most conduce to the Welfare and Felicity of King and People hath been long debated by the Ancient as well as Modern Philosophers and Politicians Some are of opinion that good Laws work and frame the people to a civil life others think it lies in the power of good Education some imagine that it proceeds from the Influence and Operation of the Stars upon sublunary Bodies and others from the Endeavors and Examples of good Kings To the last we subscribe for the peace and tranquillity of a Nation proceeds primarily from the splendor of Princely â—â—â—…rtues which are so glorious and attractive that they do not onely incite the Subject to gaze on them but with an extasied admiration to adore and affect them so that they are stimulated to an imitation as far as in them lies and when Prince and People mutually labour in the pursuit of Vertue pro viribus as we say according to the utmost extent of their ability how can there chuse but be a result of Unanimity Peace and Concord To perfect this 't is requisite that a Senate be elected which is a certain number of grave wise discreet Persons that may help their Soveraign to pull in or slacken the reins of Government according as 't is judg'd convenient by the Nobility of whose Persons and the Prudence of whose Consultations married to the Judgement of the King the quiet and glory of the People is infinitely promoted and preserved To which intent and purpose we have here deciphered A SAGE SENATOR with all qualifications tending to his Perfection his Office Duty Honour Preferment and Repute among the Ancients as well as those of latter Ages first asserting and then proving their necessity and the benefit that accrews to a Kingdom or Republike from their grave and serious Debates in Counsel and their industrious management of political Affairs By such Union between King and Council Prince and People the whole Nation will undoubtedly flourish with a perpetual Verdure as if an immortal peace were entail'd upon them and their posterity for ever Laws will have their full force and efficacie as well for the punishment of Malefactors as the Reward of honourable deserving Persons Justice will run in its proper current and not be diverted to sinister and base ends by lucre or self-interest two Hammers that are able to knock a Kingdom in pieces Learning will be advanced and the Learned promoted according to their merit and desert without this no Kingdom can stand take away the Pen and the Pike will be unnecessary 'T was the Saying of a potent Monarch That He received more benefit from his dead then living Counsellours intimating thereby that his Library did afford him better Counsel then his Senate Learning and Senators like Hippocrates his Twins are inseparable they cannot dwell asunder especially in such a one as is here described And though I am sufficiently sensible that a discourse of those Qualities that are required in a Perfect Politician is not onely a work of great Importance but attended by a Troop of opposing Difficulties Yet I have endeavored to display the Ancient Government of the most famous Kingdoms Republiques and States Popular according to the Statutes Laws and Customs of the most potent as well as prudent Monarchs And my hope is though my imbecility can lay no claim to merit that my earnest desire to promote the publick good will plead my excuse and I am confident there is no person that is unprejudiced if commonly courteous but will accept of my humble Devoirs which is the very highth of the Authors Desires who at this present hath no more to say but bid thee Reader Farewel J. G. The Table The First BOOK Chap. 1. OF Senators in General their Original and Necessity pag. 1 Chap. 2. Of the diversity of Man's nature in general and of the Parentage and Education of a Senator in particular p. 13 Chap. 3. The knowledge of Arts and Sciences required in Senators and particularly that of Philosophy p. 32 Chap. 4. Of Eloquence Clemency Piety and other Vertues necessary to the accomplishment of a Senator p. 47 Chap. 5. Of Justice and her concomitants which our Senator ought to be adorned with p. 78 Chap. 6. Of Fortitude and her Concomitants as Magnanimity Constancy Patience Confidence c. p. 113 Chap. 7. Of Travel the Age Gravity and Election of our Senator pag. 136 The Second BOOK Chap. 1. OF Kings and their Prerogative pag. 157 Chap. 2. Of the division of Commonweals and Kingdoms pag. 170 Chap. 3. Wherein is contained the various Forms of the most renowned and famous Commonweals and Kingdoms in the World pag. 186 Chap. 4. The New-fangled Model of Modern Policy being of three sorts a Protectordom a Committeedom and a Rumpdom and first of the Protectordom pag. 198 Chap. 5. Of a Committeedom pag. 206 Chap. 6. Of a Rumpdom pag. 211 THE Sage Senator BOOK I. CHAP. I. Of Senators in General their Original and Necessity HE that sweateth in the pursuit of those studies that conduce to private recreation as well as publike emolument personates and represents a grave wise man and merits the general applause of all persons For Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utilâ— dulci And if I may be a competent Judge there is no Science accompanied with more delight to the Student or benefit to the Commonwealth into which he is incorporated than that of Government wherefore being sufficiently convinced that all the transactions of a well-regulated State are managed by solid reason mature deliberation and sound judgement not by wavering opinion uncertain fate or fantastique fortune I have made the original of Senators their duty dignity internal and external qualifications the Theme on which I intend to expatiate in general in this first Book But more particularly in this Chapter of the original cause of their institution or creation For the performance of that task which I have voluntarily imposed upon my self I have dived into the depth of civil knowledge and pried into the Arcana of Philosophy collecting whatsoever hath been related penned or experimentally known heretofore either by Academick Learning Parliaments in Commonweals Policy in Government or History But to begin Man the perfection of the Creation was not made a Citizen or Inhabitant of this World only but Lord Paramount over all Creatures that have a being within the compass of the terrestrial
God also without action by his perpetual and divine contemplation and prescience foreseeing all things doth by his own example move Philosophers to prefer divine contemplation before all humane action and felicity That Philosophy is necessary in a Senator for the more secure management of State-affairs will appear by what follows Philosophy is the eternal immortal gift of the Creator instructing us in the knowledge of all things both divine and humane as also the nature of vertue and vice so that he that as in a glass peeps therein and then considers and meditates upon it shall see the forms Idaea's and Images of all things and perceive a resemblance or representation both of body and mind It was not therefore without cause styled by fluent Cicero Universal knowledge the conduct of life the searcher of vertue the expeller of vice and the Panacea or health of the Soul For indeed there is nothing in the world to be thought or acted either in Court or Council of great or small importance but proceeds from Philosophy as the Nurse of all consultations actions and resolutions which if you make your rule to walk by all your words and actions will be judged sober wise discreet and in all respects perfect as far as man can be For in what Country soever the People have a Philosopher to their Prince or one that is counselled by Philosophers war discord or rebellion is seldome found But methinks I hear some Phanatick lay this Objection in my way as a stumbling-block to my proceedings Dost thou imagine Sir Philosopher that 's as good as Mr Doctor an usual phrase among them that the felicity of Kingdoms and Republicks or the wisdom of Kings and Governours proceeds from thy lazy idle discipline Rash illiterate fellows they never consider that the sweat of the brains is greater than the sweat of the brow whenas that Art is but a meer juggling prating science not that knowledge whereby men arrive to their intended felicity How canst thou be so impudent the Omer of respect they afford to every one is Thou and Thee and if it lay in their power they would take away two as necessary Pronouns Thine and Mine as to dare to infect the Kingdom Commonwealth I should have said for the name of King is enough to fright them into convulsion-fits with that that will prove the ruine and destruction of it For as thou hast filled the Schools with debate and contention so wilt thou rend the state with divisions and though it may be argued out in the University without blows yet canst thou think that it will be determined in a Commonwealth without the effusion of bloud How shall the happiness of a Republick be maintained and preserved by Philosophers whose opinions carry so much variety dubiousness and diametrical opposition Which of all the Philosophical Sects shall our Common-wealth be guided by the Platonist Peripatetick Stoick Cynick or Epicure Now they that differ about the summum bonum do they not dissent in the substance of Philosophy Therefore I am clearly of opinion That they who relie solely on Philosophy are rather to be excluded than admitted to govern in any State or Republick whatsoever Is it consentaneous to reason that he should be a Legislator that approves of no Law but what is of his own prescription relying wholly upon his own reason or rather phancie and opinion conceiting all persons himself excepted brutish and irrational Is not this the humour and disposition of your philosophical crew Did Diogenes Zeno or Epictetus ever deserve to sit at the Helm of State To which I reply There are two sorts of Philosophers whom I judge altogether unfit to govern the first are they that have only had a smack of Philosophy so that the thirsting heat of their vitious desires and appetites is not quenched by vertue and they themselves lead lives quite contrary to the Precepts of Philosophy for want of good ground and solid foundation in that Science Another sort of Philosophers there is quite contrary to the forementioned who having à tenera aetate from their very youth been conversant with Philosophers and studied Philosophy do waste away their daies in the contemplative part only such kind of Philosophy which conduceth not to the emolument benefit of the Commonwealth or Kingdom is altogether improfitable For albeit they be learned wise and have turned over most Authors and can give an account of all their Precepts and rules yet they applying their minds to contemplation not being experienced in civill affairs are unfit for Government Now these contemplative Philosophers are justly called Sapientes but they are not prudentes as Geometricians Mathematicians and all the Society of natural Philosophers In like manner Diogenes Zenocrates Chrysippus Carneades Democritus Metrocles Aristippus Anaxagoras and Thales were wise men and of profound knowledge but not prudent because their manner of wisdom and Philosophy did prompt them to recreate and content themselves in obscure secret and hidden matters contrary to the nature of prudence and though these Sciences in themselves are good and commendable yet are they impertinent and unprofitable to the State when kept close to themselves and not employed for the publick good Now prudence consists in those things that require deliberation and counsel yet if those contemplative Philosophers had not debarr'd themselves from humane Society and conversation but sought after employment in publike affairs as Pericles Solon Lycurgus Plato Demosthenes Cato Cicero and others did they had no doubt been men of incomparable wisdom and prudence which Socrates though herein he contradict Aristotle styles the only vertue meaning as I conceive with submission to more mature judgements that no vertue can be or continue without it Bion was of opinion That Prudence did excel all other vertues as far as the sight doth the rest of the senses affirming that vertue to be as proper and frequent in old men as vigour and strength in those that are young Wherefore it is requisite that our Senator be endued therewith for he can neither speak nor act any thing sutable to his age and gravity if he be not as with sauce seasoned therewith The Latines call this vertue Prudentia à providendo from foreseeing things to come disposing of those that are present and recollecting things past For he that doth not ruminate on things past is altogether unmindful of his elapsed life and he that foresees not things future is subject to many perils and apt to be ensnared by every misfortune Prudence saith Cicero is the knowledge of things good evill and indifferent consisting wholly in the choice of that which is to be embraced as also in that which is to be eschewed or carefully avoyded And according to Aristotle it is a habit coupled with perfect reason apt for good action and exercised in those things which are either good or evil and may evene or happen to man during this life Therefore contemplative wisdome differs from Prudence in this
Man aspireth to that which is noble so by the other he thinks it no derogation to him to be humble and being thus in aequilibrio he inclines neither to this side nor that so that he shall never dare nor doubt too much And as by Fortitude we are able to repulse injury so by Temperance and Moderation we abstain from offering injury By the former we are prompted to an honest becoming violence by the latter we are instructed to check and curb hair-bain'd fury and to quench the flames of a vindicative spirit Now it is the opinion of Plato that the Musical and Gymnastical Sciences conduce much to these qualifications For to the one Temperance and the other Vertues may be referred to the other Fortitude of body and magnanimity of mind Wherefore it is convenient that they be both united and walk hand in hand because the Gymnastick Exercises alone create firmness and Musick of it self begets too much mildness and effeminacy but both twinn'd and coupled together in any man do mould him according to the shape and perfection of Vertue Therefore every person that would be thought fit for counsel must be thus exercised because hereby he is adapted both for peace and war and to this very purpose was he born for he must be as able to perform the Office of a Commander as a Counsellor notable therefore and worthy the mentioning was that Roman Institution which imposed a command upon them to train up their noble and honourable Citizens to be Counsellors at home and Captains abroad which is the reason that Rome enclosed so great a number of Sage Senators and stout Souldiers within the circumference of her walls Insomuch that Cyneas the Embassadour of Pyrrhus having had audience of the splendid and illustrious Senate reported that in Rome he had seen an Assembly of many Kings Nor can they be skill'd in commanding if the Subjects are not exercised in obedience which is performed by their love and honour to the Magistrate as well as obeying their Commands all which proceeds from the due execution of Laws and the first step that leads up to the Temple of Vertue is to submit to the Law and the Law maker for the Law of every Kingdom State or Republick is nothing but vertue and a good decorum in the leading of our lives reduced to certain rules Theopompus King of Sparta hearing it related that the reason why that Commonwealth flourished so much proceeded from the Kings skill in Policy and Government replied No such matter for the true reason is this The Subjects are well exercised in their duty and obedience to Superiours And as Plutarch hath it to obey the Magistracie and the Laws to undergo all dangers and travels with patience to fight manfully and die voluntarily was the chief point of the Lacedemonian discipline And herein they were all trained to the end that being thus instructed they might know how to defend their Country in time of War govern it in time of Peace and such as live privately to employ their vacant hours honestly that is in the prosecution of Learning obtaining a becoming gesture musick painting vaulting and the like that they may keep themselves in action and be freed from that gross imputation of ignorant It behoves him also to be witty and docible Now Wit is a certain natural force of reason able to conceive what is rational which although many times it be not helpt by industry art or memory yet it is powerful of it self and without learning may burnish a man Wherefore he must so know his own wit as to become sharp in reason and finding out the causes of things which of it self is a happiness and that a great one too as the Poet sings Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Nay wisdom her self whereby we first conceive all things springs from acuteness of wit Now they that are adorned with them both are termed ingenious and that wit is the best and most to be commended which is constant strong sharp pleasant and natural Now the edge of ingenuity is very much acuated by the whetstone of docility and memory By the one we are taught to make a construction of those things that are laid before us by the other we retain whatsoever proceeds from our invention or the expressions of others therefore it is requisite our Counsellor should be well exercised in these accomplishments for it is an argument of a dull slow ignorant person not to have a quick conception of what is said and a tenacious memory to recollect what hath been spoken by others Now next he must have Understanding For as wit is the ornament of a Senator so Understanding is the light of wit by which we conceive all things or their Idaea's whether true or false For by common understanding we comprehend the knowledge of things and thereby pass a judgement on them and conclude all that is honest is to be referred to vertue and what is unlawful or dishonest to vice yet this understanding is not separated from the Senses who are as it were Interpreters and Reporters of knowledge yet must we be careful to avoid being deceived by sensual judgement for it is frequently known that either art or subtilty singly or joyntly play the cheat with us which errour is to be diligently avoided Besides he must be circumspect not only in private but publick chances and events For he must endeavour to foresee all blustring storms that may be injurious to the State and study the preservation of every member thereof This that we call circumspection is a careful and mature consideration of things to be practised or acted and of great importance as well in the serene time of peace as in the blustring season of war because that wise circumspection diverts the force and fury of Fortune and we are ready to submit to grave counsel and advice In this vertue Quintus Fabius did excell for he according to the Poet by procrastination and lingring delay preserved the Roman State Unus homo nobis cunctaendo restituit rem But on the contrary Flaminius relying upon the arm of strength and his courage incircumspectly assaulted Hannibal to his great disadvantage and prejudice So Q. Scipio the Consul with divers that might be mentioned through their incircumspection were infested by the Cimbri And it is as useful in time of peace for the Senator should be eyed like Argus and Lynx-sighted to pry narrowly into those things that might arise to the discommodity of the Commonwealth and make a discovery of them otherwise he cannot prevent the seditions wars and calamities that dayly happen to the prejudice of the Common-wealth Some men are so ignorant and blinded with superfluity and pleasure that they can hardly discern things that are placed before their eyes much less foresee them which sort of men as persons given up to their private more than the publike interest are to be exempted from Government For though they understand that
be voyd of all passion hate or partiality one that scorns bribery will not be daunted with menaces or threatned out of the truth or moved by the subtilty of adulation for where a Judge Magistrate or Senator is subject to passion there is little or indeed no Justice in his Judicature nor is there any one thing that poysons a Commonwealth or Kingdom more then corrupt and unjust Magistrates Justice of old was by Philosophers painted like a beautiful Virgin having a severe grave countenance penetrating eyes a chaste look inclining to gravity which Image carries this representation that Judges ought to be incorrupt chaste severe sharp-witted good grave constant and inexorable Cambyses King of Persia caused the skin of an unjust Judge to be flea'd and hung up in the Court as a terror to all those that were unjust in their sentence Solon being demanded How a Kingdom might best be preserved answered By the Peoples obedience to Superiour authority and the Magistrates subscription to the Law And Bias used to say That place was most secure where men stood in awe of the Law no less than of a Tyrant It is a shame and reproach to a Nation to have Laws that like the Spiders web entangle the weak and simple and let the strong and mighty escape Which our Senator must very diligently observe and continually provide that the Laws be preserved inviolable Justice admits of another division among Moral Philosophers and that is Distributive and Commutative Justice Distributive is that that respects equality in the distribution of reward or punishment according to Geometrical proportion For as there are several degrees of crimes and offences perpetrated by the impious so there are likewise of the merits of deserving and vertuous persons In regard that the circumstances of persons places and time do oftentimes aggravate the crime As for instance He that offends a Magistrate deserves a higher punishment than he that offends a private person And he that commits an insolency in the Church during divine service or in Court before a Judge sitting upon the Bench must be more severely corrected than if these circumstances did not accompany the fault And in like manner the different conditions of men in the distribution of recompences or conferring of honours must be narrowly considered and pried into Wherefore it is apparent that in the distribution of honour as well as in the inflicting of punishment this Geometrical proportion must be observed because that by this means we observe the same proportion between persons as we do between things and though there be an inequality of measure yet will there be an equality of reason As thus He that hath a double share of merit twice as much as another man deserves a double recompence according to the Geometrical proportion which differs from the Arithmetical observed in Justice Commutative for the latter respects the equality of quantity and things distributable without regard to the merits or demerits of a person Justice Commutative is that that looks upon equality and faith in contracts bargains humane commerces and negotiations as buying selling borrowing and the like As for example the same sort of wine oyl corn cloath or other vendible commodities is sold to a Magistrate as well as to a Mechanick But now let us come to her Concomitants And first of Piety by which we please God and get repute among men Numa Pompilius to get credit by the Religion that he framed for the Romans counterfeiting Piety induced them to believe that he and his Wife Aegeria used to convene with the Gods in a certain place consecrated to Camena and there did receive the Laws and Religion the Romans were to follow so that they that neither by the softness of perswasion nor the violence of compulsion could be reduced to Religion by a counterfeit colour of Piety were brought to be very religious And if so among them how will the true Religion prevail among us that are Christians Yet in Religion two things are to be declined viz. heresie and superstition which vices pervert weak instable persons There is likewise a certain kind of Piety due to Parents by which we obey reverence and respect them Innocency is another of her Associates which Vertue affects simplicity abhorring dissimulation and hypocrisie wherefore fawning Sycophants that Dog-like will {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} fall down under your feet and seem to adore you Dissemblers that hold with the hare and run with the hound carry fire in one hand and water in the other and tale-bearers that are rimarum pleni full of chincks no sooner a secret can be committed to their keeping but it drops from them like water through a sieve such persons are to have no place in the Catalogue of our Senators And as no man might have admittance into the Temple of Ceres Elucina but he that was innocent there being this Superscription over the Portal Let no man enter but he that knoweth his own innocency So into holy Council which is the Temple of Justice and Truth let no man have admittance but he that is innocent and of integrity His mind must be open and sincere not obscure or deceitful saying one thing and meaning another his thoughts and his words must be Relatives his tongue must be the true interpreter of his mind and his face not shrowded with a fained disguise but full of natural sincerity Courteous he must be for an affable debonaire disposition will scrue it self into the good will of all men He must hear with patience and reply with discretion free from all sowerness and insolency in words or action Benignity is another thing necessary for as God is kind and gentle to us so must we manifest our selves to those that are a sphere below us He must therefore be gentle mild and of a sweet disposition not austere supercilious and as Timon was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} A man-hater For as to the Moderator of all things Religion and Piety is due so is love and benevolence unto men Next Clemency which properly appertains to Magistrates and men in authority for by vertue hereof the heat of their displeasure towards Malefactors is abated and they themselves qualified Her opposite is Cruelty and bitter extremity in punishment a quality proper to Tyrannical and inhumane persons Draco was so rigid and severe nay I may say cruel that he inflicted death upon idle persons as well as Murderers and being askt the reason replied because he thought that punishment due for the commission of a petty offence and for those of a higher nature he could not invent any great enough But Scipio much more clement and pitiful could say That he had rather be instrumental to the saving of the life of one single Citizen than to the slaughter of 1000 Enemies And indeed for a Magistrate to be perpetually punishing is as reproachful as to see Physicians alwaies killing their Patients with their Quacksalving and Emperical tricks
yet whensoever they went out on publike Embassage or Commission being arrived at the borders of the Athenian Land there they laid down all contention and former enmity though after their return home they did often renew their old grudge and displeasure To forget injuries received is a noble part and an argument of a royal spirit Out of Friendship ariseth Concord which is nothing but civil amity and a conspiracy or plot among all degrees of men to maintain Liberty Law Justice Fidelity Religion and Quietness in a Kingdom Wherefore the Senate of Rome did usually sit in the House of Concord to demonstrate thereby that in Council nothing should pass contentiously Agesilaus King of Lacedaemonia being asked why Sparta was not environed with walls informed the Questionist that the Citizens lived united and shewing him the men said Behold the walls of Sparta Scilurus blest with a numerous off-spring fourscore Sons before he expired produced a bundle of arrows and bid them break them all at once they replied It was absolutely impossible then took he the arrows from them one by one and so brake them all thereby exhorting his Children to live in concord for so they might be invincible and happy whenas otherwise they would be ruinated and dispersed In like manner Mycypsa King of Numidia being on his death-bed assembled all his Children and left them this golden Sentence as a Legacy By concord the smallest inconsiderable things encrease but the greatest and most considerable by discord come to confusion Hospitality is a companion to Friendship and Concord which entertains strangers as well as friends with courtesie and affability which Vertue redounds very much to a mans credit and reputation The priviledges belonging thereunto are so considerable that the Romans observed the performance of the rights thereof even to their very enemies and would never joyn in battel with them till such time as the Prisoners to whom they were indebted for food were manumitted Plato understanding that it was impossible to reduce his Commonwealth to a happy condition by any other way but amity concord or hospitality brought down all Laws and Customs to friendship making all things common that so mutual society and love might be conserved affirming withal that that brace of words Meum and tuum were like a pair of Engines framed on purpose to unhinge the whole World Now since it is manifest that man whilst he lives floats in a turbulent Sea of vexations and misfortunes subject to perils as considerable for their number as their weight and that we must overcome them by patient suffering or manfully revenge them we must next discourse of Fortitude which is able to supply us with weapons to defend us against the assaults of the mind and fortune A Life free from the intermixture of discontent is aimed at by all but impossible to be obtained by any for Nature hath so ordained it that care trouble and molestation is interwoven with the web of our life so that as our more gross part the body is burthened with labour and toyl so our more spiritual part the mind is disquieted with discontented imaginations Nor indeed can we tell how to rellish Vertue unless we first taste of discontent for the clouds of sorrow being overblown like rest after labour the fruit of felicity is much more delightful and pleasing Vertue is not a Lady that loves to smother her self in down and lie at her ease Petit ardua virtus But she affects industry triumphing in the midst of most imminent danger which made Hercules forsake the path of pleasure because it was wide broad and easie to be traced and turn into the way of Vertue whereunto the passage is hard and the ascent difficult Nor must we only despise all labours and difficulty in ascending the Pyramid of Vertue but when we are possessed therewith we must with far more courage and magnanimity endure all calamities sorrows and afflictions Now there is no misfortune how great soever but she can withstand and with her own power overcome This excellency of mind is called Fortitude an affection that submits to Vertue by constant and patient suffering The nature and substance of Prudence Justice and Temperance is soft and effeminate without Fortitude for it is their property to think and act only but the quality of this Vertue is to think and execute constantly manfully and valiantly All commendation due to Fortitude consisteth in Domestical and Publike or Military actions Domestical Fortitude adorns a Man and her quality is to remove all perturbation of mind Fear Sorrow Anger Voluptuousness and every other exorbitant affection Fortitude Military consists in undergoing all perils and dangers all labour and hardship that so a man may be able to look death in the face if his country or a good cause require it He must look to lie sometimes at the signe of the Star and have his bed feathered with the down of Heaven lie down a Man and rise a Snow-ball gnaw Match instead of Liquorish He must fear nothing contemn all worldly things and be resolved to suffer whatsoever can befall him Moreover it is the duty of our Senator to be so couragiously affected and disposed that all his gifts of body and mind be as with a certain sauce seasoned with Fortitude for as without salt all meats so all Vertues without Fortitude are judged unsavoury This is that which defendeth both body and mind from the cruel shock of misfortune This is that which renders us quiet and peaceable in Prudence constant in Temperance and stout valiant and invincible in Justice Yet is there something to be declined in this Vertue as being fool-hardy proud rash timerous sloathful or puny-spirited For he that intends to gain the reputation of valiant must be pricked forward by no other spur than Glory Renown or Vertue Immensem gloria calcar habet He must follow the conduct of no other Captain but Reason and not be led up by Chance Hazard or Desperation alledging that rash piece of Poetical fury for his excuse Una salus victis nullam sperare salutem The People of Numantia chose rather to be massacred than yield to the merciful enemy and the Saguntines were guided by the same Precepts but we must never act any thing desperately Well might that Roman Demosthenes Cicero say Injustissimam pacem bello justissimo antefero I prefer the most unjust Peace before the most just War Now he that despairs flees from Fortitude and it is an argument of a dunghil-spirit to seek death by shewing the heel through fear and pusillanimity But a valiant man despiseth life judiciously fighteth stoutly not as one destitute of all hope but because he is grounded on this perswasion that it becomes him so to deport himself which moves him rather to choose an honourable death than blur his life with the stain of reproach This Vertue hath many Concomitants which with some other qualifications shall be the subject of the ensuing Chapter CHAP. VI
is Saturnine slow and dull so likewise is the disposition of their mind Good proportion and comliness of bodie is requisite in our Senator for according to the Poet Gratior est pulchro veniens corpore virtus Now I call that comliness in him which shews him to be manly and not effeminate Aristotle saith in tall persons there is no great vertue and in the short or low of stature little therefore let him be of a moderate size His body must not be gross nor yet lean and dry like a Skeleton or Anatomy For the former is unapt for travel and the latter over-weak to endure hardship Besides great notice should be taken of those that Nature hath mark'd with any deformity or defect of Member as the want of an eye For such persons are counted crafty and subtile and so unfit for Consultation had this been observed among us Hewson had never sate so oft in Council Yet notwithstanding all these niceties of features and comeliness if any such person though deformed in body be perfect in mind he shall be admitted for the excellency of Vertue over-comes the imperfection of Nature And though the inward disposition is sometimes known by the outward complexion yet is not the conjecture of the virtues of the mind by the lineaments of the body so certain but that it may fail for many there be who are rough-hewn without but neatly polisht within Nor can deformity of body blemish the mind though the beauty of the mind beautifie that of the body Nor doth Vertue confine her self either to beauty or deformity meanness or greatness but sometimes dwels with russet honesty in the low cottage as well as with plumed gallantry in lofty Palaces So that not the countenance of a Senator is altogether to be regarded but his mind and qualifications Now to the Robes and Vesture of our Senator He must be decently apparelled according to his degree and dignity for the comely ornament of a garment adds a reverence to his person and by his Robes he is distinguished from all other sorts and kinds of persons The Roman Senators wore a Garment set full of studs or tufts of Gold and on their Hose did they wear the form of the Moon which was the cognizance or hadge of great honour This kind of Ornament the Romans were beholding to other Nations for according to all probability for Isaiah the Prophet foretold the Noble women of Judaea that God would take away those Moons and Ornaments of the Hose Plutarch alledgeth four causes of this fashioned Hose among the Romans which for the Readers delight and recreation I shall here rehearse First Because their superstition taught them that the souls of their Heroes should be led the nearest way to Heaven by the light of the Moon The second was that the Sign of the Moon did manifest their descent from the Arcadians who came into Italy with Evander and the Arcadians were so lunatick as to imagine themselves more ancient than the Moon The third cause that mov'd them to the wearing of the Moon was to the end that in prosperity it might be as a memento unto them of the mutability and inconstancy of Fortune For as the Moon is sometimes partly lightned and partly darkned so no honour or felicity can be so clear and refulgent but it may somtimes be overcast with clouds of obloquy and malice The fourth cause was that as the Moon drinks in all her light from the Sun so ought all men to think themselves indebted to heaven for their wisdom Others there are who affirm that the Roman Senators did not wear the figure of the Moon but the proportion of the letter C. as though the hundred that Romulus chose to be Patres as he call'd them should thence take their Title It hath ever been a Custom in all Kingdoms Republicks and well-govern'd States heretofore to distinguish the Degrees of men by their Vesture and without doubt this is of much moment to make them constant and settled in their professions Among the Romans no man might be adorned with Purple but Senators Magistrates Priests and the Younger sort that were of noble ranke and quality I omit the mentioning of Rings Chains and Bracelets which were bestowed on vertuous persons advanced to dignity as encouragements Though these customs now adaies are obsolete since the alteration of vertues manners and times for Jone is as neatly trickt up as my Lady and the Artizan as the Gentleman It is most certain that by ornaments and additional titles of honour men are put in mind of their duty and thereby they prosecute all things with the more eagerness and diligence Scepters Crowns Chains Rings Gowns Robes and Saddles are no dignities but the badges of Dignity whereby men are stirred up and encouraged to perform what is requisite in the office and place whereunto those Badges belong Remulus saith Livy intending to take the Government of a strange People upon him did adorn himself with his majestical Robes and called twelve Lictors with Maces to attend upon his person that he might thereby appear with greater pomp and ostentation and so captivate the hearts of the people for the Vulgar like Children are hugely taken with the outward face and appearance of things and mind the outward bark more than the inward substance Our Senator therefore shall observe such a decorum in his apparel as not to encline to lightness or foolish gallantry so to decline all slovingliness and rusticity As he must not be like the Frenchified Gallant who when he hath once seen Paris comes over metamorphos'd both in body and mind dancing out an entertainment to his friend with a giddy feather in his Crown no more must he be like the Sunbak'd-peasant who understands nothing of ceremony or civility besides the management of his plough and understands no other Gammut but Hay gee ho which he signs to his country Teem when they draw the Plow that furrows the face of the Earth He must ever observe such a comly neatness as may speak him man and not woman utterly declining and abhorring all nice curiosity CHAP. VII Of Travel the Age Gravity and Election of our Senator THe major part of the wisdom of a Counsellor consists in the knowledge of the Manners Laws and Customs of all Nations which is best attained by forrain Travel as Homer sings of Ulysses Dic mihi Musa virum captae post tempora Trojae Qui mores hominum multorum vidit urbes And indeed there is nothing accomplishes a man more than forrain Travel In motu melas There is a certain kind of harmony in motion And as the Master of Eloquence hath it Plebeiae sane sunt istae animae quae suis affixae trabibus domi resident illa divinior quae coelum imitatur gaudet motu Those are dunghil spirits that live confin'd to the narrow round of the place of their nativity and that soul is of a more noble allay that like the
the time was somewhat changed yet not given to a multitude for till the State returned to the Basis and foundation of Government Monarchy Senators were elected by Consuls Censors Dictators or Chieftains In all which Elections till the time of Augustus there is no mention made of lots but the Fame Family Order Office before born riches and possessions were most of all considered and respected Now since there is no earthly possession but comes far short of Vertue for excellency in the choice of Senators that must be chiefly look'd upon because they are reputed Defenders of the Law Moderators of Liberty and Conservers of a Kingdom And as the Republick or Kingdom is oftentimes infected by the vice and impiety of Magistrates so is it antidoted corrected and repaired by their vertues Such are the People of every Country as are the Manners of their Governours and the Subjects are apt to Ape the Customs and Constitutions of their Prince It was well said of one That the change of Princes Lives and the alteration of Manners in Magistrates would also work even to a mutation of the Customs Institutions and Rights nay of the Kingdom it self And to deal really with you evill Princes are very much to be blamed not in that they themselves are guilty of any crime for it is a Maxim in our Common Law That the King can do no wrong but that thereby the Subjects are prone to be feduced and led away to the same exorbitancies which may justly be so termed in them though not in a King And indeed how can it enter within the lists of possibility for a man to perswade other men to be vertuous when he himself is vicious The Romans derided Scylla who though a man infinitely debauched and wholly given up to licenciousness did nevertheless admonish and stir up others to Sobriety Temperance and Frugality And who would not blame Lisander though he swam in a contrary stream yet he allowed and gave toleration to the Citizens for those vices which he himself abstained from and abhorred But Lycurgus deserves commendation because he never imposed the observation of that upon any man which he himself did not first of all diligently follow Yet in a free-State if any such there be it hath been observed they have been directed by the suffrage of chance This order of Election is observed by that Virgin Venice The like institution Solon authorized among the Athenians for the choice of the five hundred Senators For out of every Tribe were so many elected as were thought to deserve that dignity whose names were put into a Pot and into another as many Beans the one half white and the other black now so many as hapned upon the white were pronounced Senators and those that chanced to light on the black were repulsed and dismissed which made Thucydides to call that Senate Senatum à Faba Besides it was observed among the Romans what Office he had born before his Election and with what fidelity he had discharged himself of his duty for they made choice of their Senators out of that number of men only that were by them styled Patres which was as it were the Nursery of Counsellors that so they might be known to be men famous for some publike exploit or renowned for their Wisdom and Gravity Among us those that sit in Parliament obtain that Dignity three manner of waies First By reason of their Tenure Secondly By vertue of Writ and Thirdly By vertue of Office Per Tenure are these Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Dukes Marquesses Earls and Barons And these are summoned to appear before the Parliament in the space of 48. daies They that come in per Breve or by Writ are these Knights of the Shires Burgesses Citizens Barons of the Cinque-Ports and the King's Council There come also per Breve directed to the several Deans and Arch-Deacons of this Kingdom two several Proctors of the Clergy for every several Deaconry Arch-deaconry and these Proctors of the Clergy are elected by the Clergy There come hither per Service or by vertue of Office The Chief Crier of England The Chief Usher The Chancellor The Treasurer The Chamberlain and Barons of the Exchequer The Justices of either Bench The Steward of England The Porter Grooms and all tyed by service to be here done The Stewards Office was to place the Lords the Porter used to see there be but one door to enter in and go out at And every one of the above-mentioned Officers hath had his several Charge respectively Thus have you had a description of our Sage Senator of all the qualifications that tend to his accomplishment his Duty Dignity and Office displayed and laid open the rewards due unto and conferred on him the ancient Customs of the Romans and Grecians touching this particular their election and choice as also their manner of sitting in Parliament among us how and by what means they obtain the Senatorship or title of Parliament-men according to our modern styles who were so termed because every Member of this High and most absolute Court of Justice in England from which there is no appeal to any other for redress should sincerely and discreetly Parler la ment as it is in the old Norman French that is freely express their minds for the benefit of the Kingdom Nor are the Laws of this Island only and the Liberty of the Subject conserved by Parliament but those of all well policied Kingdoms Countries else in Europe The Germans have their Diets The Danes and Swedes their Riicks Dachs The Spaniard calls his Parliament Las Cortes And the French have or at least should have their Assembly of the three States though it be now in a manner grown obsolete because the authority thereof was by accident devolv'd upon the King it will not be altogether impertinent to give you a succinct account of this memorable alteration which hapned as followeth When our Nation had taken such large footing in France that they advanced as far as Orleans and had forced their then Soveraign to fly to Bourges in Berry for sanctuary the Assembly of the three States not being able to convene during these pressures in full Parliament because that by those invasions the enemy made into the very bowels of the Kingdom the Country was altogether unpassable so that the power that was inherent in the Parliamentary Convention of enacting Laws assessing the Subject with Taxes subsidiary Levies and other Impositions was transmitted to the King during the rage and fury of that war only which proving of long continuance that entrusted Authority began to grow habitual and could never hitherto be taken from him so that his Edicts stand in lieu of Acts of Parliament Out of these foregoing premises this Conclusion may easily be deduced That the principal Fountain whence the King derives his happiness and safety is the Parliament It is the great Conduit-Pipe which conveys unto him his Peoples bounty and gratitude the truest
be numerated are the plots and devices of Tyrants all which they imagine tend to their own benefit and to the promoting of their ambitious designs whenas oftentimes it proves quite contrary to their own ruine and personal destruction for if they mount themselves too often on the Subjects galled back they will undoubtedly cast their rider let him be never so expert a Horseman But Kings are of a quite contrary temper and disposition it is the good and not the ruine of their Subjects they labour for because they understand sufficiently that the loss of Subjects is the shaking off of their Crowns and wanting their protection they are left unarm'd to the mercy of the insulting enemy But we will now leave the lofty Subject of Kings to the fancy of a more sublime wit and the work of a more noble quill and come to our second Chapter which treats of the division of Commonweals CHAP. II. Of the division of Commonweals and Kingdoms THe diversity of Republicks proceeds not from Fortune or Chance-medley nor the disposition of the Heavens or the influence of the Stars upon things sublunary but every Government is framed according to the minds tempers and constitutions of men their wits and education though some ascribe their variety to the situation of the Country or Climate where men have their allotted residence and beeing It is confest that sometimes through sedition faction and civil war Kingdoms are subverted and changed into States for the proof whereof we need not ramble far since our native rebellions have lately manifested the truth hereof Such is the fluctuating condition of all worldly things that mischance waits at the elbow of good fortune and vice is masked with vertue that she may not appear in her own native hew and deformity for Man is prone to forsake vâ—â—â—…ue and embrace vice which ever hood-winks him with an appearance of good Sometimes also it falls out that well-governed Republicks through evill Ministers are either utterly extinguished or altered into other forms of Government Hence it happens that Kingdoms become Tyrannies Optimacies come under the jurisdiction of a few Popular States are perverted into licentious liberty and from that reduced into Tyranny and this is the revolution of their Government and original of their Catastrophe Plato writes that the mutation of Commonweals is fatal through the disposition of the Heavens and the operation or influence of Coelestial bodies upon Terrestrial But as we have already instanced their variation happens from the variety of the minds of the Inhabitants For some Countries abound with rich others are cram'd with poor men In some there is store of Nobles Souldiers and Husbandmen in others plenty of Merchants Handicraftsmen and Artificers Now wheresoever the number of Merchants Artificers and Husbandmen surmount the rest that State usually becommeth Popular But where there is the greatest quantity of rich men there is established the government of a few Where the major part of Citizens be good wise and vertuous that State is apt to be governed as an Optimacy There are three things saith Aristotle that contend for priority in Government Liberty Riches and Vertue For Nobility which supplies the fourth place is the associate of vertue and riches because the equal mixture of rich and poor men make a Popular State A faction of rich men is called the Government of a few and the consent of all three viz. Freemen rich men and good men is counted an Optimacie such was the Carthaginian Republick for Rich men Good men and Noblemen were therein equally esteemed Now it is the disposition and desire of some men to live in Kingdoms rather than in any other State who are such men as are naturally ambitious of honour vertuous and fitted for action The Cappadocians having enjoyed Kings for many years whose Race was at length extinguished were profered by the Romans to have their State converted into popular Liberty but they refused it whereupon they appointed Ariobarsanes their friend King of Cappadocia The Athenians followed the quite contrary course for they affecting a Popular State would not allow of the Government by one nor many Yea some there are that approve of Tyrannical Government most of all as the Siculi of old who were ever accustomed to be ruled by Tyrants and so were almost all the people of Asia who being naturally servile are even to this Age subject to tyrannical Government Now if any man demand What a Common-wealth is This doubt cannot arise from the name it being a certain order among the Inhabitants assembled together in one City or Country and there residing but from the variety and difference of Republicks for as mens manners delights and estates be various so also is the Government of Commonweals manifold And though the Terminus ad quem or end is one and the same viz. bonum good yet the Terminus d quo or means whereby they aspire to that good are various and so consequently the Laws and Customs are of sundry sorts that are by them used For he that shall compare the Laws of Hippodamus enacted for the Miletians with those of Minos made for the Candians or the Ordinances of Lycurgus with the Decrees of Solon the one writing of the Lacedaemonian the other of the Athenian Government may with facility understand their Laws to be divers their Magistrates unlike and the Form of their States very discrepant The seven Wise wen Thales excepted who did not care for fishing in the troubled waters of State-affairs introduced several exercises Laws and Governments according to the peoples capacity and their own pecular fancies and by sundry orders and uses did execute them Which variety of Government hath ministred matter of great controversie and contrariety of opinion Insomuch that the Learned as well in our as forrain Schools and Universities have assumed the disputation of the several sorts of Commonweals and confined them to a certain number besides they have manifested which of them deserve the greatest commendation and ought to be embraced Plato and Aristotle seem to excell all persons that ever wrote on this Subject For they with solid judgement and great respect to the nature of men and the temperature of the Region or Climate have discreetly appointed Laws and Governments suitable to the disposition and temper of the Inhabitants therefore according to the opinion of these two famous Philosophers we will discourse of three sorts of Republicks The first is called Monarchia The second Aristocratia And the third Democratia which the Latines term Regnum Optimatum Principatus Popularis Respublica The Supreme Governour of all things by his Providence divine hath so ordered that the faculties or powers of man's mind should reside in three parts of his body representing thereby three Idaea's or Forms of Republicks constituting Reason as sole Monarch or Lord Paramount of them all to remain in the head being the highest part The second part as most vigilant and apt to obey he hath placed near
by the Cynosure of the Law contented to be led by the Line of reason directing himself in all his undertakings according to the prudent and grave advice of his Senators Authority thus used creates a general love liking and consent among the Subjects To conclude the King of Polonia seems such a Prince as Plato Aristotle Xenophon and other Legislators have desired to bear sway in all well-regulated Commonweals and Kingdoms and such as both God and Nature approve The Senate here bears the Image of Optimacy and hath much power and authority for they being chosen out of the wiser sort of Nobles they only I say consult with the King about State-affairs Their authority is not unlike the Homotimi of Persia or the Ephori of Lacedaemonia The Gentlemen of Polonia resemble the Popular State for on them is imposed a great part of the Government and may be said to be as a Seminary from whence issue both Counsellors and Kings The Empire of Germany consists of the Emperour Princes and People which being governed by divers Potentates and their policy being scattered into sundry Governments comes not easily within the reach of a concise description The quondam Kingdom of Britain now called England obeyeth one King who electeth Senators unto whom the residue of Nobles and some of the Popular Order being joyned make one Common Council which is called in our Idiom a Parliament But native modesty forbids us to proceed any farther upon this subject whose Encomia's we judge to be a Theme far more suitable to a forrain Pen One difficulty there remains still the resolution whereof we have reserved for the close of this Chapter and that is this What a Citizen is which we have so much all along discoursed of To which we answer That this word Citizen hath had several acceptations among Writers Some have called the whole number of Inhabitants by the name of Citizens Others only those that are descended of Noble and free-born Citizens Some call them Citizens whose Fathers were free-born within the City Others would have them to fetch their Pedigree more remote from their ancient Grandfathers And some are of opinion that forrainers received into the Society of Citizens and naturalized or Denizen'd deserve the name of Citizens Aristotle terms them Citizens that are capable of publick Offices in State and are descended of free and honest Parentage In popular States all they are usually called Citizens that dwell in the City as well Poor as Rich Bad as Good none being Bond-men for every one is capable of Government because there is an universal parity among them Of this nature was the Athenian Commonwealth before spoken of so long as it was subject to Popular Government and the Cantons of Switzerland steer the same course even to this very Day And divers Cities in Germany there are called free where the Inhabitants live popularly secluded from Gentlemen and noble Citizens In an Oligarchy because men are most respected for their revenues and substance they that are most rich are reputed Citizens though they are dishonourable because careless of all vertue and make it their whole study to be rich Quo jure quaque injuria by hook or by crook as we say right or wrong no matter which way they obtain it to the end that they may come to dignity and preferment not as wise and vertuous but as rich and wealthy persons Among the Romans there were several sorts of Citizens Some were called Municipes some Coloni and others Latini every one of them retaining those conditions that were allotted them by the people of Rome Some whereof were free some Confederate and some Stipendiary Some were created Citizens pleno jure which was by voice and they were thought worthy of all honours Others Jure honorario which were of the number of those that were admitted into the the City without the suffrage of the people and they were honoris gratia called Citizens as the Campani and Equites He likewise was counted a Citizen of Rome whose name was written in the Book of the Censors and was an House-keeper By all which it is perspicuous and evident that in all Republicks they were properly called Citizens that could plead a right to Office and could give suffrage in the State whereas he that wants these priviledges is rather to be called Inhabitant or Client than Citizen In Monarchies and Aristocracies those are Citizens that are vertuous In the latter good and vertuous men only govern in the former one alone that for Bounty Liberality and Magnificency excels all others Those people which are naturally Slaves or wickedly debauched do for the most part obey Tyrants and that Government is called Imperium despoticum Yet are not all they to be judged Slaves that are encumbred with the power and oppression of Tyrants if they be not withall base minded and vicious For we read of many Citizens that have freed themselves and their Country from servitude by slaying or expelling the Tyrants and if they found their expectations were herein frustrated they chose rather to lose their lives than their Liberty as Brutus and Cato did with many other Romans Thus we have given the description and division of the ancient States Popular Republicks and Kingdoms in the next Chapter we shall demonstrate the new models of Government set up by the rebellious since the late unhappy wars between King and Parliament CHAP. IV. The new-fangled Model of Modern Policy being of three sorts a Protectordom a Committeedom and a Rumpdom and first of the Protectordom AS for that hellish monster that damnable Machiavilian that first gave rise to this same strange and unheard of Government we shall say nothing tending either to his Parentage Birth or Education because we have reserved that as a subject for another entire peece only that he might be said to be a man of blouds in the plural number as Zipporah said to her Husband Moses Who butcher-like made cruelty his profession and was never better than when he had his Sword sheathed in his Country-mens bowels so that we may affirm what succeeding Ages will unquestionably maintain Dicat de Tygride natum Posteritas An audacious Rebel that durst aspire from the mean condition of a private person to the Throne though he first wash'd his hands in the bloud of his Soveraign He represented the real Tragedy of a King and no King whose mouth water'd after that Title but that he durst not assume it being he had fought so long against it and was sworn to the deposition of all Kingship for the future He to raise himself on the top of the Pyramid of honour trampled over the heads of the most Loyal Subjects of the Realm made a foot-ball of a Crown and endeavoured utterly to extirpate the Royal Progeny Root and Kind Stem and Stock Nay I will be bold to say if that an innocent Babe had been born with Vive le Roy in his mouth he must have been food for his