times the face of feare whereupon she seemeth more apt to maintaine then conquer States There are many singular men that laugh at her for ruling all her actions by such solide and mature counsels without ever venturing any in the hand of that Chance and Fate vvhich haue so favoured and made glorious the French when as on occasions they haue bene carried more by valor then discretion And some are of the minde how that only proceedeth from her being as sparing of her owne bloud as she is thirsty after others Whence it is that the most vnderstanding Captaines in the Art of warre deride her for aspiring to the Empire of the World and yet will neuer fight for this mighty Queene being resolved to make acquisition of great States by marriages she abhorreth that dreadfull custome of the French to buy others Kingdomes with the price of their owne bloud Being then more advised then couragious she is more dangerous to her friend in peace then to her enemy in vvarre wherefore the French that hitherto haue liued with her in a supine negligence haue at length after so many calamities learned to double barre the doore when once they haue concluded a peace with the Spaniards She is most carelesse of her owne but so greedy of others riches that she careth not to waste her owne patrimoniall estates so as thereby she may get anothers She is so close so reserved that it is not possible for any cunning of man to find out her ends but he that will iudge of the disposition and customes of such a Lady must be fully perswaded that in all the affaires which either she manageth herselfe or others haue to negotiate with her she is within quite contrary to that she appeareth without And albeit that amongst the aforesaid vertues she hath so notorious vices yet by the greatnesse of her fortune every thing in her is interpreted and admired for Vertue so that many wise Princes hold it an honor to imitate her even in vices She is of constitution very strong whereupon it is concluded that she is long-liu'd only she suffereth in the indisposition of the distraction of her members a matter that doth infinitely weaken so great a Body and although with the ayde of the liberty of Genoa and the alliance she hath with the Duke of Savoy she vseth many devises to vnite them yet by the diversity of the interests of those Potentates she prevaileth litle But such a Princesse by nothing receiueth so much preiudice as by her principall ministers the Spaniards whose services alone she vseth in the greatest Charges exercised by them with so much insolency odious pride 〈◊〉 they will not be honored as men but adored as gods an impertinence that hath made the Spanish Dominion distasifull not only to the Italians and Flemmings but euen to the very Spaniards themselves This mighty Princesse then appearing in the Royall Hall before the Maiesty of Apollo she caused her seruants to vnbinde her left arme and shewing it naked vnto Apollo and to all the sacred Colledge of the Learned she spake in this manner Lord and Father of good letters this vvhich you see is that same stinking Yssue of Flanders vvhich the French the Germanes and some Italian Princes vvhich seeme my friends and that in bowelled beyond Sea Renegada made me so many yeeres since out of the suspition they had of mee I grant that the Princes I haue named had iust cause to bee iealous of my power at such time as after the death of Henry the second they saw France falne into the calamity of infant Kings and that in their minority I sought to sow dissention in that Kingdome But now that those suspitions are vvanting and that in the great contention vvhich I had with the French and particularly vvith that same vnchayned Prince of Beaâ—ne I vvas condemned in costs I doe beseech of your Maiesty that so fastidious an Yssue may be stopped since every one seeth that by the great abundance of humors vvhich are there concurring it is become so raging a Canker that I pray God it doth not end vvith the ruine of the vvhole I did not passe into Italy through mine owne ambition nor had that ardent desire to possesse my selfe wholly of it as mine enemies affirme it is vvell knowne that I was called nay forethly haâ—â—â—… thither by the Princes of Italy themselues to deliuer them from the great feare they were in of the domination of the French And happy had it beene for my House of Spayne vvhich I had covered with Slate of silver and Tyles of massie gold if I never had had any thing to doe with the Italians a double dealing Nation full of deceits and interests and onely good to imbarke men in dangerous affayres vvithout Bisket and then to abandon them in the middest of greatest perils making profession of nothing more then to fare well at other mens costs And it seemeth marueylous strange to mee that Italy which as every man knowes hath suffered her selfe to be towzed by so many strange Nations should now make such profession of chastity to mee that if shee see me never so little to moue shee entreth straight into a jealousie that I vvill depriue her of the honour of her Liberty And albeit the greatnesse wherein the Kingdome of France standeth at this instant secureth Italy and all the Princes which I have named from the feare they are in of my power yet vvhen it shall so seeme good to your Maiestie I am ready to give security to every one of not offending so that this same fastidious Yssue of mine may be stopped By order then of his Maiestie the Yssue then was diligently considered by the politicall Physicians and having made an exquisite consultation thereupon they delivered That in regard the Spanish Monarchy was troubled with an ardent thâ—rit of Domination that Yssue was necessary for her whereby those grosse humors might be purged away which from Peru distilled downe into her stomacke and caused that vnquenchable thirst And those worthy Physicians considered that if the sayd Monarchy had not that Yssue there was manifest danger that the pernicious humors of Peru would mount vp into the head of Italy with apparant ruine of the principall members which now remaine free in her and that the said Monarchy of Spayne would fall into the Dropsie of an Vniuersall Monarchy to avoid vvhich inconveniences nothing was so proper said they as that same Yssue of Flanders which was to be kept open so long as Peru ministred those pernicious humors to the Monarchy of Spayne This resolution greatly displeased the Spanish Monarchy vvherevpon being much incensed she said thus Sir if through the malice of others I must so foully consume away my selfe in ministring oyntments to the Canker vvhich my enemies call a divertiue Yssue some peradventure that litle dreame of it shall haue their share in it This was presently apprehended by the English the French and Italians who replied
hemselfe to the vast Ottoman Empire said vnto him That the crueltie which he vsed onely vpon light suspitions against his chiefest ministers was held by all the world to bee a bloudy course it being a received opinion that men of extraordinary valour and merit should not be layd hands on but for great and prooved offences And that when the Ottoman Princes did even justly take away the lives of their ministers the custome of seizing vpon their Estates to their owne vse and thereof vtterly depriving the children did scandalize all good justice because it seemed that with such cruell rigour the Estates rather then the faults of the delinquents were hunted after To this so open a correction the Ottoman Empire answered with admirable gravity That hee was growen to that greatnesse wherein hee was seene by the onely two most powerfull meanes of reward without measure and punishment vvithout end And that the sole foundation of he quiet of every State being placed in the fidelity of the most important ministers Princes were not to seeke any thing with more care then with immense rewards to allure them vnto faithfulnesse and vvith infinite punishments to terrifie them from trecheries That those ministers vvhich have in their power the Forces Command and Governments of States not beeing able to erâ—e but in most important matters it vvere the counsell of a foolish Prince vpon suspitions of that moment to arraigne accuse and heare the justifications of the offendor but in such a case the Prince which will runne no danger ought to indevour to surprise his minister vpon the sudden and to deale so securely that the execution of the punishment may precede even the accusation itselfe That many times it had fallen out that he with a suddaine chastisement had preuented the consummation of most foule treasons Which resolution though he acknowledged to be most seuere yet he knew it had so wrought that there vvere neuer seene in his State any Counts St Paul Princes of Orange Dukes of Guise d' Aumale du Maine de Mercure and other foule monsters of disloyaltie vvhich vvith the shame of those Princes that vvith halters poynards and axes knew not how to preuent such dangerous offences haue beene seene otherwhere It being a rule in matters of State as common as secure That that minister which giveth to his Prince the least shadow of suspicion of his faith incurreth a capitall paine because those Captaines which haue the care of Armies in their power are bound like the wives of Honorable personages to liue with such puritie of minde that they be free not only from blame but from the least suspicion of a blame-worthy thought That touching the seazure of his Basshawes estates after their death he thought he might truly say that the entertainements gifts and wealth wherewithall other Princes rewarded their ministers in comparison of those inexhaustible riches which he bestowed on his well-deseruing Officers were vile and poore as those Royall Treasures which Ruften Mahomet Ibrahin and infinite others left behinde them after their decease haue fully testified That the greatest regard which a Prince ought to haue in rewarding his ministers consisteth in prouiding that the vnmeasurable riches wherewith he bought of them infinite fidelitie may not possibly at any time be conuerted to the prejudice of him that vsed the liberalitie That from the grieuous disorders fallen out in the States of other Potentates he had found it to be a matter most pernicious vnto Princes that the extraordinary riches left by a deseruing minister should passe vnto his children not hauing first deserved it by their vertue valour and fathers said fidelitie of the Prince That he had not out of couetousnesse as many misjudged confiscated the great inheritances of his Basshawes but that by the coÌ„moditie thereof those subjects should not be idle consequently vicious which being descended of fathers of notable valour gaue the Prince assured hope they would imitate the vertues of their Progenitors That the gate of his Treasure stood perpetually open to the heyres of his ministers to restore them their fathers enheritances twice doubled when they with their fidelitie and valour should deserue them and how much the riches of men vicious and subject to ambition were apt to disturbe the peace of any Kingdome how great soeuer well appeared by the fresh examples which he had seene both in France and Flanders Whilst the Ottoman Empire spake in this manner he obserued that the renowned French Monarchy with the shaking of her head seemed to declare that she no way approued those reasons whereupon somewhat the more moued he said thus Mighty Queene my custome in seizing vpon the estates of my Basshawes is profitable for the greatnesse and quiet of my State and in regard of the friendship that is betwixt vs I would to God the same course were obserued in your France for you know full well to what vse Henry the Duke of Guize conuerted the exceeding riches wherewithall the liberall Kings Francis the first and Henry the second rewarded the merits of Duke Francis his father You and I and all those that raigne do know how the sweetest bayte that can allure men is a Crowne and there beeing no man which for to taste neuer so litle of it but would hold it a great pleasure for to expose euen his life to manifest danger of losing it Princes ought to be most vigilant in keeping with extreamest severitie the passages thereunto closed vp against all men nay they ought to accomodate their affâ—â—â—es in such sort that no priuate man whatsouer should once hope to taste of so sweet a thing And I tell you freely that if your Duke of Guize had in my State but only thought that which with such publike scandall he boldly put in execution in your Kingdome of France I wold the very first day haue given him that blow whervnto your King Henry the third although hee were incited vnto it by the greater part of the Princes of Italy could neuer be drawen vntill the very last hower of his shamefull disgraces and euen at that instant when the sore of the French vprores vvas become an incurable vlcer for where ambition raigneth among Nobles Princes are constrained to shew themselues all severitie continually keeping scaffalds in readinesse and prepared to punish the seditious and rebellious and their Treasury open to reward the quiet and the loyall that Prince beeing vnworthy to command that hath not the vnderstanding how to make himselfe be obeyed neither can there be a more scandalous matter seene or met withall in a State then that the Prince should liue in jealousy of an Officer which ought to tremble before him But it is the propertie of you the Princes of Christendome making profession of Learning and directing your selues by rules of Policie to call me Barbarous and my secure way of proceeding Tyrannicall whilst in the meane time yee suffer your selues to be reduced by your heroicall vertues of
to attempt it The weight of this Kingdome was answerable to that of the last fifteenth yeare which amounted to sixteene Millions But the English to giue more weight to their Kingdome would haue put the Kingdome of Scotland into the Scale when the Scottish Nobilitie with drawen swords in their hands opposed themselues freely protesting that they would never suffer their Country to be annexed to the Kingdome of the English for yet fresh was the lamentable example of the miseries of Flanders who when she saw her Earles become Kings of Spayne foolishly beleeved that shee should command over the Spanyards whereas soone after not Spayne was sacked by the Flemmings but Flanders by the covetous and cruell Spaniards and that which made vp their miserie Charles the fifth the Emperor and King Philip his sonne by their continuall residence in Spayne of Flemmings became Spanyards The vnfortunate Flemmings by losing their Prince of naturall subiects grew to be esteemed strangers and men of little faith And so Flanders the naturall Country of Charles the fifth the Patrimony of King Philip became according to the termes of moderne Policie a State of fiue States and began to be governed by strangers with those jealousies and with those oppressions of Customes Taxes Contributions and Donatiues as begat those bad humors those ill satisfactions from whence since hath proceeded that ciuill warre which after an vnspeakable profusion of Gold an infinite effusion of bloud an incredible losse of honour to the Flemmings was converted into a covetous merchandise of the Spanyards Therefore the Scots by such lamentable miseries haue learned not to permit their King vpon any termes whatsoever to abandon the Royall Seate of his ancient Kingdome for to place it in a greater newly fallen vnto him in which case the Scots should vnder their cruell enemies the English be sure to suffer all the calamities which inferiour Nations are wont to endure at the hands of the superiour Some that were present at this Act report how the Spanyards told the King of England that those Scots which had spoken so arrogantly in the presence of his Majestie were to be seuerely chastised to whom the King of England answered That the Spaniards ought not to giue that counsell vnto others which had proved so pernicious to themselues and thereupon hauing commanded the stay of weighing their Kingdome hee assured his Scots that ere long he would giue them all possible satisfaction After this the vast Ottoman Empire was put into the Scale which the last fifteenth yeare arrived to the summe of two and thirtie Millions but now was found to be lesse then sixteene the strangenesse whereof made all the Princes very much to marvaile and particularly the Venetians who could not beleeue such a fall whereupon they desired that with more diligence it might be reweighed and it appeared how in that litle time running betweene the first and this second weighing it had fallen eight hundreth twenty and two pounds whereby it was manifest that the Ottoman Empire heretofore so terrible to the world now consumed with luxury covetuousnesse and idlenesse runneth headlong to his ruine which gaue great contentment to all those Princes Nevertheles it was observed by some of the wisest there present that the Spanyards were not so glad of it as the rest out of a doubt they had that the depression of the Turke would be the exaltation of the Venetian State Then came the Polach Senators and put into the Scale their Kingdome which in regard of the small authoritie the King hath there and the too much command which the Palatines arrogate vnto themselues made but a poore reckoning for it did not amount to six Millions of pounds whereas in times past it alwayes exceeded twelue After them the Signory of the Councell of Tenn put into the Scale the flourishing estate of the Venetian Commonwealth most admirable for the greatnesse thereof and oportunitie of scituation fitting for all great enterprises which went beyond all expectation in the weight for it came to eight Millions the cause whereof was sayd to be the huge masse of Gold which those wise Senators in so long a time of peace had gathered togither into their Treasury Next came the Swittzers the Grisons and other free people of Germany and brought their Comonweales to the Scale How beit the Princes required that they might be weighed each one severally by it selfe wherewith the Germanes were well contented so that it might be done But Lorenzo having put the Commonwealth of Basil into the Scale it appeared that the greater part of the other Common weales of Germany were all so linked together that it was impossible to seperate them one from another which put a many of ambitious Princes there in a sweate Then the Duke of Savoy caused his State to be put into the Scale by his noble Knights of the Annonciata which equalled the weight of the last fifteenth yeare but Lorenzo having added into the Scale that most noble prerogatiue of Title which the sayd Duke Charles Emanuell enioyeth of the Prime Souldyer of Italy it was seene to aggravate the weight a Million foure hundreth and twenty pounds After this with a pompe and Maiestie matchable to Kings appeared the Duke of Lorraine whose State though litle equalled the weight of great Kingdomes and it was considered that it fell out to be so by a certaine good fortune which that Prince had to haue his States so happily seated that he could easily put the Lowe-Countreys into grievous difficulties by impeaching the passage of those succors which the Spaniards conduct thither out of Italy whereby he hath growen into such reputation that to the most offerer he selleth for ready Gold the marchandise of that his adhering in such sort that after he had dreyned the Spanyards asmuch as any the devoutest French Lord of the Holy League whatsoever syding afterwards with the French he knew so well how to change his coppy that a King of France such as was Henry the fourth the great Duke of Toscan and the Duke of Mantoua were glad of his allyance And fully to make vp the Spanyards iealousye the famous Venetian Commonwealth drew into her pay a Prince of that House with such affection that if that great Lady had not made a vow of perpetuall chastity and her nature according to the custome of some Indians had not bene stytched vp the first day she was borne by the Venetian Signory most jelous of her honor it was verily beleeved by many that she would haue taken him to husband It was observed that the Duke of Savoy envyed much the felicity of this Prince because he finding himselfe also seated betweene the French and the Spanyards of Milan as the Duke of Loraine was betweene the French and the Spanyards of Flanders in stead of so many benefits and so many commodities as fell vpon the Duke of Loraine he had received most cruell kickes not onely from the French then his enemies but from
those intestine discords which have made it a slave to Strangers Vpon so sad an answere the Monarchy of Spayne full of griefe departed out of the Temple and much she marvailed when shee saw the French Monarchy present her selfe before her with whom having vsed her wonted Complements shee drew her aside and declaring vnto her what answere shee had received from the Oracle shee informed her that if the Vniversall Monarchy should returne againe to the Italian Nation France would quickly be as sure to feele a new Iulius Caesar as Spayne a second Scipio and therefore to secure their affaires there was no such way as to divide Italy betweene them Shee also offered to teach her the same Receipt which shee had so happily experimented in the Indiaes wherewithall they might so assure themselves of the Italian Nation that there should remaine no more of that wicked race of men in the world then the bare name Let me first forget answered then the French Monarchy that vnlucky devision of the Kingdome of Naples which my king Lewis the twelfth made not long since with you and then we will talke of this businesse For it is not so easy a matter to wrong the French a second time as I perceiue you perswade your selfe it is As for the receipt which to be secured of the Italians you propound vnto me I pray you vse it your selfe for to spoyle the earth of people as you haue done in the Indiaes and to raign over naked Countreys voyd of inhabitants is a certaine politick Precept which is not found in the French reason of State for I haue learned to my cost to content my selfe with a litle so it be good and therefore I place my greatnesse more in the multitude of Subiects then in the extent of Kingdomes and so as my French may liue cōmodiously in this world I am well pleased that others shall doe so too Moreover with that libertie which is proper to my nature I will freely tell you that the subduing of all Italy is not an enterprise so facile as you imagine for when I was of your humor I know how pernicious it proved to me and therefore be warned by my experience not to attempt that which in the end will bring you nothing but losse and disgrace CHAP. 7. Almansor sometime King of the Moores encountring with the Kingdome of Naples they relate one to another the miseries they sustayne by the oppression of the Spanyards THe famous King of Moores Almansor he that many yeares togither raigned in Spayne over the noble Realme of Granada met yesterday with the Kingdome of Naples and falling in talke with him after he had for a good space observed the chayne which the sayd Kingdome of Naples wore fastned about his legge he told him that the manufacture thereof being Moresco he verily thought that he had many times scene and handled it some where els and a litle while after with a shew of great marvayle he affirmed that he knew it well and how it was the very same wherewith all both he and the Moorish Kings his Predecessors had for the space of seven hundreth yeares held many Kings of Spayne in servitude and therefore he earnstely entreated him to let him vnderstand how by whom and when he was chayned in that manner A very good eye and an excellent memory hast thou Almansor answered then the Kingdome of Naples for this vnlucky chayne which thou seest about my legge was brought out of Spaine by Gonsalvo Corduba called the great Captaine and therefore it is very likely to be the same thou speakest of And now it is an hundreth yeares since first I found my selfe in the miserable servitude wherein thou beholdest me and from which I know not whither ever I shall be freed for in regard of the mighty power whereunto I see the sorces of the Spaniards arrived having vtterly lost all hope of assistance that may be expected from men I know that my ancient libertie standeth wholly in the poewrfull hand of God who had need to renew in me the miracles of the Red-Sea if my deliverance shall follow The yeares replyed Almansor confront well for a litle before the time of thy servitude the Spanyards vndid this my chayne from about the legge of the Kingdome of Granada where withall afterwards they bound thee But let it not displease thee O Kingdome of Naples to declare vnto me how it could come to passe that the Spanyards should make themselues Masters of such a Kingdome as thou art so potent and so farre distant from their Forces By fraud Almansor sayd the Neapolitan Kingdome did the Spanyards get into Italy for by open force they had never beene able to make such notable acquests and as thou saydest well so disproportionable to their Forces which vvere so farre off But heare and vvonder at the large and grosse conscience of a King of Spayne in matters of State although he vsed much art to seeme vnto foolish men a very Saint for thou shalt come vnto the knowledge of a Tragedy according to the rules of my Christian Religion most vvicked and cruell but according to the termes of moderne Policie the most advised that ever any Nation represented vpon the Stage of the vvorld Alfonso my King to his vtter and my chiefest ruine gaue Isabella his Niece for from this vnhappy marriage did my displantation take beginning to Iohn Galeazzo Duke of Milan for vvife The minortie first and then the vnspeakeable silly weakenesse of so infortunate a Prince incouraged Lodovico Sforza to vsurpe the State vpon his Nephew Alfonso as it behoved him sought to hinder that Tyranny vvhere of Lodovico being aware and knowing that without the ruine of my Kings it vvas not possible for him to arriue vnto the end of his most injust desire he fell into that resolution vvhich afterwards both to himselfe to me and to all the Princes of Italy proved so fatall of drawing the French into Italy to the conquest of me My Kings to defend themselues from such mighty enemies called to their ayde that holy soule of Ferdinand King of Aragon their Cousin who shewed himselfe so kind a kinsman and such a faithfull friend that in stead of chasing avvay the French enemies he divided me with them and to shew himselfe compleat a little after this vnhappy division he entred into warres against the French and having overcome them he forced them to returne full of shame and losse into their countrey vvhereupon the good King Ferdinand without any scruple at all of conscience became my absolute Lord and then it was that he fastned this chayne about my legge which thou remembrest to be the manufacture and worke of thy Nation And I do not thinke that in all the Chronicles of the Saracens Moores or Turks vvhich it is likely thou hast read there was ever a more vvicked treachery recorded done by a King that desired to be reputed a man of a good conscience and of an holy
disposition and that a litle before had receiued of the Apostolicke Sea that glorious title of the most Catholike King Truly replyed Almansor in the Chronicles which thou hast named of my Nation many foule actions cōmitted by divers Princes out of ambition to raigne may be read but this which thou hast recounted of Ferdinand goeth beyond them all But if thou O Almansor sayd the Kingdome of Naples diddest with thy Nation keepe the Kingdome of Granada chayned so many hundreth yeares vvhat course tooke the Spanyards for to free him That Vnion of the Kingdomes of Castile and Aragon replyed Almansor which followed vpon the marriage between Ferdinand and Isabella occasioned the libertie of the Kingdome of Granada a most vnhappy Vnion the which no lesse then I haue done and continually still doe the greatest Potentates of Europe haue lamented doe lament and perpetually with vnfained teares vvill lament as that which is the true and onely roote from vvhence are sprung all those greatest subversions of States which vnto this day haue beene seene in many partes of Europe but more remarkeably in Italy And beleeue me Neapolitan Kingdome that even till now might I haue raigned happily in Spayne if this pestiferous Vnion had not overthrowen my greatnesse for the many jealousies that raigned betweene the Castilians and Aragonians were my inexpugnable Cittadels which would haue maintayned my raigne here for ever Withall assure thy self O Kingdome of Naples that the aydes which the Popes gaue to Ferdinand and Queene Isabella greatly accelerated my taking in Peace peace Almansor said then the Neapolitan Kingdom for after thou wert chaced out of Spayne by the ambitious Spanish Nation the Popes vndervvent such miseries that it may be truly sayd how with ready mony they bought those extreame calamities wherewithall afterwards they encountred for though the Sea Apostolicall were well contented to see the Moores driven out of Spaine yet that satisfaction was much dissasted with my servitude which followed presently vpon it the Popes having never had any thing in greater feare then that I should fall into the hands of a mighty Prince vvho might make them liue in those perpetuall jealousies vvherein finding themselues drowned even vp to the very eyes many of them and particularly those that haue a greater knowledge of things of the vvorld do not alwayes make quiet sleepes A cleare testimony of the truth which I speake was the lamentable and wicked sacke of Rome perpetrated by the Spanyards a litle after my servitude with which ingratitude they payd the Apostolicke Sea for all they were debtors vnto it aswell for the remission of the Tribute of Naples as for the other succors which they received in the vvarre of Granada A calamitie that having past the termes of most grievous miseries hath in such manner opened the eyes even of men of the drowsiest vnderstanding that every one cōmeth clearely to know what it is to vnchayne the Lyon out of a zeale of pietie for the Spanyards no sooner saw themselues freed from the impediment of the Moores of Granada but that through the ambition which they shewed in desiring to cōmand over the whole Vniverse not onely in Italy but throughout all Europe most important jealousies of State and most grievous interests of Religion discovered themselues in so much that I haue often heard it discoursed by men of most vnderstanding in affayres of the vvorld how peradventure it would haue beene lesse prejudiciall for many Princes of Europe that thou haddest raigned still in Granada then that the Spanyards should haue passed into Italy to acquire such important States as at this day they possesse there Hereunto may be added the prejudices both publike and priuate which my ruine hath brought and continually doth bring vnto the Italian Princes and more particularly to the Popes because the Kings of Spayne had no sooner fastned this Chayne about my legge but presently they began to aspire vnto the Dominion of all Italy and the quicklier to arriue thereunto they knew very excellently how to interesse themselves in the differences which at that time depended betweene the Princes of Italy and the French about the possession of the Dutchy of Milan wherein that top of man Charles the fifth carried himselfe in such sort that hee made himselfe to bee knowen the worthy Nephew of his Grandfather by the Mothers side for having with the Forces of the Italian Princes chased the French out of Italy instead of restoring the Sforzi to the State as it was agreed betwixt him and the confederate Princes with the fraud of a thousand Turkish quarrels pickt of purpose which he well knew how to invent against the Sforzi he made himselfe absolute Master of that so important a Dutchy Stay Kingdome of Naples and making a point here sayd Almansor satisfie me in this seeing the noble State of Milan was fallen into the hands of the Spanyards what hindred them from running precipitously to the acquisition of all Italy and seeing thy servitude doth manifest vnto the world that the aydes and succours of Princes serue more for the benefite of him that giveth them then for the profit of him that receiveth them why would not the Italian Princes rather suffer that Milan should be vnder the Dominion of the French then by receiving ayde from the Spanyards runne the danger of letting that Dutchy beeing so important a member of Italy fall into the hands as thou saydest it did of the Kings of Spayne The power of the Kings of France answered the Neapolitan Kingdome defendeth that remnant of Liberty which remaineth in Italy from the ambition of Spaine for those glorious Kings out of the interest of their greatnesse will not endure that the Dominion of all Italy should fall into the power of the ambitious Spanish Nation which cannot extinguish the ardent thirst they have of commanding neither with the Conquest of all the new World discovered by them nor with so great a part which they possesse in the old Besides the Italian Princes who know the great perill wherein they finde they are of a dangerous and miserable servitude have so vnited themselves together that although they be many in number yet make they but one Body and the Spaniards who haue vsed and doe vse all possible devises to dis-unite them evidently perceive that they wash a Black-Moore But touching the State of Milan thou must know how it was iudged more secure for the publike Liberty of Italy that that Dutchy should fall into the power of the Spaniards then that it should remaine in the hands of the French who for that they were ioyning to Italy when therein they should possesse any little part there would haue beene manifest danger that they would haue made themselves absolute Lords of the whole but in the Spanyards it would fall out cleane contrary for their Forces albeit very great are notwithstanding so farre off that by so long a tract of sea they could with much difficulty transport out of Spayne
into Italy Forces that were able to maintaine the acquests they had made not that they could be sufficient to subdue the whole Thou speakest the truth sayd then Almansor but goe on and declare vnto me the prejudices which thy falling into the hands of the Spaniards brought vnto the Popes Know then replyed the Kingdome of Naples that whereas before the Popes were the terror of my Kings now it happeneth to bee cleane otherwise for they liue in a very great agony lest the Vnion of Milan with Naples should one day follow to which marke they obserue the Spanyards haue directed the scope of all their thoughts vvhereupon the Spanyards whose proper nature it is to make good vse of the feare vvhereinto they see they haue put the Princes their neighbours haue arrogated vnto themselves such authority in the Court of Rome that they vaunt they are the true arbitrators of all the most important matters vvhich there are handled Moreover when the Kings of Naples were not Kings of Spayne the Popes with every litle menace of denying the investiture obtayned of my Kings Principalities Dutchyes Earldomes and other great States in gift buying their friendships also with mariages and many other sortes of liberalitie but now the feare being ceased if the Popes vvil make their kinred great with titles of important States they must be glad to buy them with their ready mony and the advised Kings of Spayne besides the pretious Gold of entreaties which at any hand they will bee sure shall precede for a first payment sell them vnto them thoroughly sawced Important interests and grievous disorders are these sayd Almansor vvhich thou hast recounted vnto me but how cometh it that thou Kingdome of Naples which art the Magazine of Silkes the Granary of Italy shouldest goe so ragged and be so leane Seeing the Spanyards that come naked out of Spayne answered the Kingdome of Naples after they haue beene three or foure dayes in my house will needs cover themselves all over with gold it is no marvaile if I be spoyled to clothe so many Raggedemuffins besides if thou sawest the rapacitie of the Vice-roys that to recover them selves are sent vnto me or if thou knewest the rapines of Secretaryes of thousand Officers and other Courtiers which they bring along with them all thirsty of my bloud thou wouldest greatly marvayle how it were possible I should satiare the raging and greedy swallow of so many hunger-starved wretches As for the litle flesh thou seest on my back the Spanyards affirme that in the booke of a certaine Florentine who hath given rules of the cruell moderne Policie they find written that being a Kingdome conquered after the manner of those horses vvhich are kept only for races I ought to be maintayned low in the flesh I but sayd Almansor then the Milanesi how are they entreated They also replyed the Kingdome of Naples are bathed with the water wherewithall thou seest mee so wet only this difference is betwixt vs that in Milan are droppes in my house flouds The true occasion of the diversitie of these entreatings is the quality of the Lombards dispositions most vnlike to my Neapolitans for the Nobilitie of the State of Milan are naturally phantasticall free resolute and farre from that vice so proper to my Neapolitans of flattery and affectation but so bold and hardy that they dare say how if one only Cremonese spirit had beene found amongst my Neapolitan Barons it would haue hindered that same forced donatiue that hath brought me to eate Bread and Onyons the which although with great words it hath beene often demanded by the Spanyards in Milan they haue beene as resolutely answered that they should take care to liue Besides the confining of the Grisons of the Duke of Savoy and Venetians are the cause that the Kings of Spayne proceed with more diseretion in Milan for when the Popes managed Armes I my selfe also was for their occasion greatly respected But soft Almansor yonder commeth my most capitall enemy Don Pedro de Toledo wherefore I pray thee withdraw a litle for at any hand I would not haue him take notice that I lament my disgraces heere vvith thee and for this onely vvere it for nothing els may I tearme my servitude most wretched in that I am forced to call this miserable state wherein thou seest me the happy golden Age. CHAP. 8. Sigismund Battor learneth the Latin tongue YEsterday about eight of the clocke in the evening the ordinary Post of Germany arrived at this Court and brought very ioyfull newes how Sigismund Battor Prince of Transilvania was growen so inamored of the gracefull Latine tongue that to his great glory he spake and wrote with the puritie and eloquence of the Cesarean style whereupon all the Vertuous earnestly besought Apollo that for such good newes there might be made in Pernassus all those demonstrations of ioy which to incourage Great-men to the loue of Learning were wont to be made when any Prince became learned But his Maiestie that seeth into the vttermost secret of all things denied those Vertuous their request and told them that then only there should be feasting in Pernassus when out of the freenesse of a noble minde and meere election of studies not constrayned by any necessitie Princes applyed themselves to Learning and that they were to know how Prince Battor had gotten the elegant Latine tongue neither out of ambition to shew himselfe to bee learned nor out of a vertuous curiosity to know many things but onely out of necessitie for his reputations sake to correct the foolish and childish absurditie which he committed in Gender Number and Case at such time as in the warre of Hungary he tooke that fatall resolution to arme himselfe against the Turke for to adhere vnto the Emperor of Germany whom in regard of the strong and lively pretensions which he hath to the Principaliâ—y of Transilvania he was to haue in more horror then seventy Ottoman Emperours CHAP. 9. The Cardinall of Toledoes Summa is not admitted into the Library of Pernassus THe illustrious and reuerend Francesco Cordova Cardinall of Toledo a personage of exemplarie life an exquisite Divine and excellent Philosopher hee that in his owne person honoured the Word of God in the Pulpit more then any other Preacher whatsoever of his time some few dayes since arrived at Pernassus having beene received vpon the confines of the State by Alessandro d' Ales and Cornelio Musso Bishop of Bitonto and all the way entertayned at his Majesties charge This honorable learned man presented his Writings vnto the venerable Colledge of the Vertuous and those of Philosophie were not only commended but admired as also the Commentaries composed by him vpon the divine passages of all the sacred Writers were received with extraordinary applause and shortly after they were carried in a precious Vrne vnder a cloth of Estate into the Delphicke Library and with the name of the Author consecrated to Eternity Onely his Summa although
farre as by their many deuises they haue labored to come neere it That also it was to be thought vpon how the first that in Italy and abroad disinherited with all kind of irreuerence and disrespect the Majestie of the Empire were those their Cousins of Spayne as clearely appeared by the vsurpation of Finale and other Imperiall feudes by them possessed All which things moouing dangerous humors without dissolving them afterwards do cause the House of Austria in Germany to be cruelly scourged by most powerfull enemies whilst the Spaniards with their only menaces seeke to put the whole vvorld into suspition and distaste And for conclusion he desired all the sacred Colledge to consider that to the miserable sterilitie of children which is seene in the present Emperor is adioyned a lamentable fertilitie of brethren one of which incited by the most violent spurre of ambition hath not doubted at last to goe about to ouerthrow his owne House vvhich is ready to fall All accidents so vnhappy that they vvould make euen Salomon himselfe seeme to the World a very foole These replies which to all the Assistants seemed very vveighty satisfied the Censor vvho turning him to the vvarlike French Monarchy said vnto her How all the Vertuous of Pernassus much desired of her that she vvould rule the furious vnquiet capricious and exceeding impetuous dispositions of her French reducing them to those termes of prudence advisednesse and stayednesse of minde which are seene in the noble Italian and Spanish Nations how it much blemished her reputation that the Kingdome of France which holdeth a first place amongst the most principall Monarchies of the World should be inhabited by men so infinitely rash To this aduert sement the French Monarchy replied That the Censor not well informed of the interests of her Kingdome had censured for defects the chiefest vertues vvhich she loued in her French Folly lightnesse vnaduisednesse and a precipitous nature were they which had made her so feared and formidable a Queene because her French with vnspeakeable alacritie and forwardnesse would vpon the least nodde of hers expose themselues to those perils whereunto other Princes could not with the rope the cudgell and the cruellest kinds of punishment compell their wise aduised and circumspect subiects And that in the many warres which she had held with most valorous Nations she had learned to know how an army framed of souldiers which had litle braine and much courage so that they are ledde by a valiant and discreet Generall doth carry away the victorie from those people who professe more circumspection and wisedome This answere of the Monarchy of France was so much the more commended of Castiglione by how much regarding the qualitie of a mighty Kingdome he knew that the French possessed all those endowments and vertues vvhich vvere requisite in a Nation for to found amplify and maintayne a great Empire Then the Censor turning to the powerfull Monarchy of Spayne sayd vnto her how it vvas evident nothing gaue greater satisfaction to all people in generall but more particularly to those which were subject to strange Nations then the humanitie and affable cariage of such as governed them whereas she sending to the governments of Naples Milan and Sicilia none but her owne Spanyards they with their ordinary Castilian statelinesse and insupportable Spanish pride without all comparison farre exceeding that which the Kings of Spayne themselves either could or would haue vsed in those States did so exasperate even their good and faithfull subjects that the Spanish Dominion was growen infinitely odious And that further both in vveighty and sleight affayres he desired more quicke expeditions from her seeing that by her too much delay and perplexitie in the deliberation of important matters shee had lost many fayre occasions that had presented themselves vnto her for the enlarging of her Empire The Monarchy of Spayne very much thanked the Censor for the advertisements he had given her and in her excuse answered how that honorable Gentleman which had a young vvife beyond all expression fayre but of a disposition enclyned to lasciviousnesse should shew himselfe very discreet if he desired that a proper handsome servant whom he kept in his house should bee rather extreamely hated then any whit affected by his wife and that vnto the delay in the resolution of her affayres which she knew to be virious and prejudiciall it lay not in her power to give remedy for almighty God having not without important occasions created her Spaniards wholly and altogether quite different in disposition from the French vvhilst they in the deliberation of businesses were rather precipitous then executive she in her beeing so slow and irresolute obeyed the will of God vvho would haue it so The next drawen out of the Vrne vvas the Monarchy of Poland vnto vvhom Count Baldasar sayd How all the Princes of Europe could haue vvished that the present King Sigismond had vsed towards those seditious Nobles which last rebelled against him some severitie worthy so grievous a fault onely to the end that by their example other Lords might have beene deterred from committing the like To this the Polach Monarchy answered That those chastisements giuen to the Nobility which in an hereditarie State would be commodious haue alwayes prooved in her electiue Kingdome prejudiciall And how that Kingdome which another receiueth in gift from a Nobility in whose power is the election of the King cannot without evident perill of falling from his greatnesse be governed with that rigour vvhich in other hereditarie States is necessary for that Senate which out of an election of love giveth another a Kingdome if it be provoked by the powerfull passion of hate knoweth also how to re-assume it in regard well-advised Senators are vvont to reserve vnto themselves those necessary instruments vvhereby vpon every occasion of evill satisfaction they may recall their vsed liberalitie And that the present King Sigismond beeing the first of his House vvhich had raigned in Poland he vvas to direct the ayme of all his thoughts to no other scope so much as by an extraordinary indulgence to vvinne the hearts of the Nobilitie of his State that so vvith a gratefull memorie of his clemency he might perpetuate the succession of such a Kingdome in his Bloud An advertisement most necessary for Sigismond his King by reason the Polachs although their King be electiue do neuer defraud the Royall Bloud of the succession if he that raigneth can tell how to get the generall loue of the Nobilitie For the Polonians being a Nation that know not how to liue in an absolute libertie do so abhorre all manner of servitude that that King among them a matter common to all electiue Princes shal be most oculatiue and vigilant in the matters of his State that least seemeth either to see or know any thing Not only the Censor but the whole Colledge of the Vertuous admitted the justification of the Polach Monarchy for excellent Hereupon the Count turning