people were quite quailed On the contrarie part the feare which his enemies had conceiued at the first brunt when they saw so great a power by little and little vanished away And he was to blame for that by too long lingring vpon desire to do his things too surely he let slip the occasions of doing manie good and â—aite exploits notwithstanding that he vndertooke them well and executed them with speed but he was slow in resoluing and cowardly in aduenturing The fourth maner of defending is to haue an armie readie within the countrie and there to wait to giue him battell as Thomyris did against Cyrus For she tarried for him with a quiet foot and her Massagets about her within her countrie of Scythia And as Basiil duke of Moscouia did who did the like on the further side of the deepe and swift riuer Boristhenes But therein he did amisse for that whereas by encountering with Constantine the chieftaine of the Polonians as he was passing the riuer he might haue made the victorie certaine by his fighting with him in the plain field without aduauntage he lost the battell And so did the Aetolians against the Romans for want of prohibiting them the passage of Naupact So did the Venetians vnder the conduct of Lalmian at the riuer Dade against king Lewis the twelfth So did the viceroy of Naples and Prosper Columna against the Frenchmen And so haue many others done who verie seldome haue found good speed For the courage and lustinesse of a conqueror must be broken by taking him at some aduantage as when he is incountered at some passage afore he haue set his men in aray or haue passed them all ouer or by delaying and driuing off the time if he cannot be stopped otherwise But if necessitie require then must he be fought withall as Themistocles did vnto Xerxes Hanniball vnto Scipio and Charles Martell vnto the Sarzins CHAP. VIII Whether it be better to driue off the time in ones owne countrie or to giue battell out of hand IOhn Iaques of Trivulce marshall of France said That a prince must neuer attempt the fortune of a battell except he be allured by some great aduantage or compelled by some vrgent necessitie It is to grosse a kind of play to hazard a battell when a man stands vpon his gard Gasely one of the great captains of Egypt said That the warres of greatest importance which at the beginning haue vehement and sodaine swayes are woont to asswage of themselues by intermission and space of delay and that on the contrarie part man cannot assay a battell in his owne countrie without great daunger because there is no way to amend a fault that is done in battel For if the battell be lost the countrie is in great perill to be lost too as befell to the Romans at the battell of Cannas against Hanniball To Campson and Tomombey against Selim and vnto the last king of Hungarie who chose rather to bid the Turke battel than to winne time of him for he lost both his life and his kingdome Xerxes by loosing the battell against the Greeks lost but his men because he was the assailant But Darius by giuing battell in his owne countrie lost his whole kingdome And to say the truth it was to grosse a kind of play against one that had so small a rest And he shewed himselfe too negligent in his own defence and too hastie in bidding battell Too negligent in that he being so great a lord and hauing wherewith to set out a million of men he tooke not order to haue three armies in a readinesse one to enter into the countrie of Greece therby to turne their forces backe againe another to watch at the passage into his owne countrie and the third to be about him in his realme to gather vp those againe togither which had not beene able to defend the passage and to haue encamped himselfe in a sure place of aduauntage to follow the taile of Alexanders host as Fabius did the host of Hannibal that he might not be compelled to come to a battell But in stead of bethinking him what he had to do as commonly they do which vpon an ouerweening of their owne greatnes do despise their enemies he let Alexander come in so farre that it gaue him courage to trie his fortune And when Darius saw him well forward in his countrie he made verie great hast with an inâ—init number of men to find the new conquerour and he was sore afraid least he should scape his hands and returne without battell But Alexander eased him well of that feare for he came to meet Darius in the face and with a well ordered armie gaue him battell and discomfited him Wherin Darius did greatly amisse for he might haue held him play with his great number of men haue wearied him with some of his light horsemen as the Parthians could well skill to do afterward to the Romans without hazarding the substance of his armie And the thing that vndid him was his ouerweening opinion that he should ouercome Alexander with ease which is the thing that ouerthroweth all such as vpon disdain to their enemies do set no good order in their affairs and in the leading of their armies This dispising of enemies caused the losse of the battell at Poyctiers where king Iohn was taken prisoner And of the battell of the Moscouits at the riuer Boristhenes which also did put the citie of Semoleuch in daunger of taking if the winter comming on had not foreclosed the Polonians from besieging it Caesar being in penurie of all things went to seeke Pompey with intent to giue him battell Pompey being wise would not tarie for him there because he was sure that ere long he should haue him by famin Neuerthelesse being ouercome with the suit of his captaines that desired battell vpon trust of their power which without all comparison was â—arre greater than Caesars he gaue him battell and lost it by putting the assured victorie togither with the time in hazard of a battell to the ruine of the Senate and of the whole common-weale Now then it is a great fault to put that in hazard at one houre which is sure in tarying the time And they that haue so hazarded themselues haue commonly beene vndone Contrariwise they that haue hazarded theÌ„selues vpon necessitie haue had the vpper hand The Spaniards being entred a good way into the lands of the Venetians with a power well armed were sodainly abashed to see a mightie armie readie at hand and to auoid the daunger wherein they saw themselues they fled before the host of the Venetians and took the way to Trent but yet in order of battell howbeit with small hope to escape them But Lalnian and Loridam suffering not the faire occasion that was offered them to slip away did thrust themselues forward in such headlong hast that the viceroy of Naples and Prosper Colonne chose rather to trie the
the sixt which is the greatest dignitie is that the wise commaund the ignorant and the seuenth is that which commeth by lot and by the grace of God so as he that is chosen by lot commandeth and raigneth and he that faileth of it is bound to obay Cicero speaking of Pompey saith that a good emperor that is to say a good Generall of a field must haue the skill of chiualrie and feats of arms vertue authoritie and felicitie He must be painfull in affaires hardy in daungers skilfull in deuising things quicke in performing and of good prouidence to foresee Titus Liuius saith that the great Captaine Hanniball was wonderful hardy in putting himselfe to the perils of warre and very resolute in the middest of danger that neither his body nor his minde were fore-wearied with trauel that he patiently abode both heat and cold alike that he measured his eating and drinking rather by naturall appetite than by pleasure that for sleeping or waking he made no difference betweene day and night but looke what time remained vnto him from doing of his businesse he bestowed it in taking his rest not vpon a soft featherbed in some place far from noise but ordinarily lying vpon the ground couered with a souldiers cassocke among the warders the whole troops of the men of armes When he went among the horsemen or the footemen he marched alwaies formost and was the first that gaue the onset and when the fight was ended he was the hindermost in the retreit Plutarch treating of Sertorius saith that in matters ciuile he was gentle and courteous and in matters of warre he was of great fiercenesse and forecast He was neuer seene surprised with feare or ioy but like as in most perill he was void of feare so in his prosperity he was very moderate He gaue not place in hardinesse to any of his time nor for valiantnesse in fighting nor for setled resolution in all suddaine aduentures When any enterprise was to be done that required good aduise or skill to choose the aduantage of some place of strong scituation to lodge in or to giue battell or to passe a riuer or to shift off some mishap that for the doing thereof there behoued great sleight or the working of some policie and the giuing of some gleeke to the enemie in due time place he was a most excellent crafts-maister Besides all this he was liberall magnificent in rewarding honorable deeds of arms and meeld and mercifull in punishing misdeeds He was not subiect to his bellie neither did he drinke out of measure no not euen when he had no businesse to do In time of most vacation he was wont from his very youth to put himselfe to great trauell to make long iourneis to passe many nights together without sleepe to eate little to be contented with such meats as came first to hand And whē he was at leisure he was alwaies either riding or hunting or running or walking abroad in the fields I haue inserted this the more at length to the intent it may serue for a patterne to Princes that intend to prosper and to performe their charge happily Now let vs come to a king The Latine word Rego whereof commeth Rex which betokeneth a king signifieth to rule or gouerne And so a king is nothing else but a ruler or gouerner of people Likewise Homer termeth him sometime the Garnisher and sometime the heardman or sheepheard of the people because he ought to be carefull for his people as the sheepheard is for his sheepe and to watch ouer them as the sheepheard doth ouer his flocke that no man doe them wrong And as Plutarch saith a good prince is like a sheepheards dogge which is alwaies in feare not for himselfe but least the wolfe should fall vpon the sheepe and so is a good Prince in feare not for himselfe but least any euill should befall his subiects Aristotle in his third booke of matters of State saith There are foure sorts of kingdomes the first is where the king hath no soueraigne authoritie further than in matters of warre and in sacrifising of which sort were the kings of Sparta or Lacedemon and this maner of kingdome is as a perpetuall captaineship matched with souereigne authoritie of life and death such as Agamemnon had who did put vp iniuries when he sate at counsell but had power to put whom he listed to death when he was in armes And of such kingdomes some goe by inheritance and other some by election The second sort of kingdomes are those that goe both by inheritance and election the which notwithstanding approcheth vnto tyrannie sauing that the keeping thereof is king-like that is to say the kinges are garded by their owne subiects whereas the tyrants are garded by strangers And the kings commaund by law and are obayed with good will wheras the tyrants raigne altogether by constraint Insomuch that the one sort are garded by their owne citizens or countrimen and the other by strangers against the countrimen The third is Barbarous not for that it is against law but for that it is not in custome of which sort was the gouernment of the Mitylenians which chose Pittacus against their banished persōs And the fourth sort is that which was vsed in the time of the noble princes whom the Greeks called Heroes who vsurped not dominion by force but had it bestowed vpon them by the people of good will deliuered ouer afterward lawfully to their successors They intended to the warres and to church-matters and therewithall iudged matters of controuersie Of these foure sorts of kingdomes he maketh a fift which is when one commaundeth absolutely This kind agreeth most to our time specially in this country where the king commaundeth absolutely howbeit without infringing the law for then were it not king-like but tyran-like And according to Aristotle when a Prince reigneth without law it is all one as if a wild beast reigned A King then is a soueraigne Prince that reigneth ouer a people not seeking his own peculiar profit but the profit of his subiects This maner of reigning is like to houshold gouernment for although the maister of the house do ouer-rule his traine and his seruaunts at his pleasure yet notwithstanding he regardeth aboue all things the welfare of his familie euen so a good king is to haue an eye most principally to the welfare and benefit of his houshold namely of his subiects For vpon them dependeth his owne welfare as the welfare of the maister of a household dependeth vpon his meiny and seruants One being asked vpon a time what a prince was to doe that he might raigne wel said He must commaund his subiects as a father commaundeth his children for the father commaundeth not his children any thing but that which is for their welfare In this respect Homer called Iupiter Father of Gods and men according to the saying of our Lord who hath taught vs to call the soueraigne
behauior And as saith Plutarch in the life of Pompey the disagreement of two mightie citizens that are at variance among themselues vpholds the common weale in equall ballance like a staffe that is equallie charged at both the ends so as it cannot sway one way or other But come they once to ioine in one body to knit themselues together in one then it maketh so great an inclination or sway as no man can withsâ—and insomuch that in the end they turne all things vpside downe therfore vnto such as went about complaining that the quarrell enmitie of Caesar and Pompey had ouerthrowne the common-weale Cato said that they ouershot themselues very greatly in saying so because it was not their discord and enmitie but rather their friendship and good agreement that was the first and principall cause therof When Pope Iuly had made a league with the Venetians and the king of Arragon against the Frenchmen many men commended his dealing as wherby he meant to driue away the Frenchmen at the costs of the Spaniards in hope to driue away the Spaniards afterward when they had bin tired already by the Frenchmen But the best aduised sort found this counsell to be pernicious vnto Italy saying that sith it was the hard hap of Italy to haue both the ends thereof possessed by straungers it was better for the countrie to haue them both continue there still because that as long as the one king was able to weigh euen with the other those that were not yet entered into bondage should be able to maintaine their owne libertie than that the Italians should be at warres among themselues by means whereof so long as such warres continued the parties that were yet whole and sound should be torne in pieces by sacking burning and other miserable inconueniences and finally he that gained the goale would punish the whole country with the harder and irkesomer bondage That was the cause why Pope Clement turned to the French kings side bearing himselfe in hand that as long as the emperour and the king continued both in Italy the Apostolike sea should be vpheld by the power of either of theÌ„ and therfore he would not suffer the kingdome of Naples and the duchie of Millan to fall both into one hand Small dissentions forasmuch as they be intermingled both with perill and profit cannot ouerthrow a state but when the dissention is great and betweene great persons it maketh strange tragedies as did the dissentions betweene Marius and Silla Pompey and Caesar. For hauing once gained and drawne vnto them the whole citie of Rome and hauing weapon in hand and men of warre at commaundement they could hardly eschew that their discord should not procure the ruine of the state The enmitie that was betweene Aristides and Themistocles had like to haue ouerthrowne the state of Athens and when vpon a time they had nothing preuailed in an assembly by their quarelings Themistocles returning thence in a great rage said that the common-weale of Athens could not continue in good state vnlesse that he himselfe and Aristides were both cast downe The enuie that some citizens bare vnto Alcibiades was a cause of the destruction of Athens Likewise the state of Florence was in short time ouerthrowne by such partakings The Romanes in time of danger chose a dictator that had soueraign authoritie but he was not to continue any long time for feare least his ouer-great authoririe should turne into tyranny When Cicero was Consull there was giuen vnto him a greater authoritie than ordinarie in these words namelie That he should haue a speciall care of the common-weale that it incurred not any danger and this was at such time as they perceiued the conspiracie of Catilin to hang ouer their heads Cicero in this his time of authoritie did put many noble men of Rome to death being first atteinted and conuicted of high treason which thing he could not otherwise haue done The Senat perceiuing that the magistrats of Rome did not their duties and that all went to hauoke determined to chuse Pompey to be Consul alone to reforme the common-weale and of that mind also were Bibulus and the yonger Cato howbeit that they liked not of Pompeys behauior and trade of life saying it was much better to haue a Magistrat be what he be may than to haue none at all And this their vsing of the absolute maner of gouernment by one alone in the times of danger doth shew that they liked better of it and esteemed it to be better and more certaine than the maner of gouernment that was in Athens and that they abhorred not so much the thing it selfe as the name thereof Also Mithridates king of Pontus said That the Romanes hated their kings because they were such as they were ashamed of as namely Shepheards Bird-gazers Sooth-sayers Outlawes Bondmen and which was the fairest title of all Vain-glorious and Proud The Carthaginenses likewise had but one Generall captaine of warre whom they changed oftentimes Contrariwise the Athenians chose many captains at once to lead their forces of warre In respect whereof Alexander maruelled how the Athenians could find euery yeare ten captains seing that he himselfe in al his lands could find but one good captain which was Parmenio Also we see that common-weales haue not made so great conquests as Monarchies haue done except the common-weale of Rome which brought all kingdomes vnder the dominion thereof But for that one common-weale ye haue many kingdomes which haue had greater possessions and haue kept them a longer time As for example the kingdome of Assyria had mo Kingdomes and countries vnder the dominion thereof than euer had the citie of Rome The Romane empire lasted partly at Rome and partly at Constantinople about fifteene hundred yeares The Empire of Almaine which began vnder Otho the second about two hundred yeares after the coronation of Charlemaine hath continued vnto this day but yet in some things it sauoreth of the Aristocracie The kingdome of France hath endured about a twelue hundred yeares As for the dominion of Venice the gouernment wherof is an Aristocracie is the Paragon of all Common-weales in the world as which alonely may vant that it hath maintained his state the longest time of all others howbeit with such good lawes as were able to preserue it as they well shewed vnto one of their citizens whom they dispatched out of his life without speaking any word vnto him only because he was of authoritie and credit to appease a certaine sedition or mutinie among the men of warre in their citie And to say the truth the thing that ouerthrew the state of Rome was the ouer-great authoritie which they suffered their citizens to beare Now then as a good king is a right excellent thing so when he becommeth a tyrant he is as excessiue a mischiefe For the man that is set in that authoritie hath power ouer mens persons to dispose of them at his
pleasure as Samuel told the Israelits when they chose their first king And as sayd Othanes he peruerteth the lawes and the customs of the countrie he rauisheth women and he putteth folke to death without sentence of condemnation If ye commend him modestly he is discontented that ye doe it not excessiuely and if you commend him out of measure he is offended as though ye did it of flatterie Policrates the tyrant of the Isle of Samos made warre vpon all his neighbours without any respect saying that he pleasured his friend the more in restoring to him that which he had taken from him than if he had not taken ought from him first Neuerthelesse it behoueth a Prince to thinke that if he forget himselfe and doe not his dutie ne performeth his charge as he ought to do besides that he shal yeeld an account for it before him that gaue him that charge he shall not leaue his kingdome to his posteritie Which thing Denis the tyrant of Siracuse did his son to vnderstand rebuking him for the adulteries and other crimes that he had committed and declaring vnto him that he himselfe had not vsed such maner of dealing when he was of that age Whereunto his sonne answered him that he had not had a king to his father neither shall you quoth his father haue a king to your son except you doe better And as he had said so it came to passe Peter king of Castile for his tyrannie and wicked demeanor towards his subiects was first driuen out of his realme by his bastard-brother aided with the helpe of such as hated Peter and afterward when he had recouered it againe by the means of the blacke Prince as soone as his brother the bastard came againe with any force all the countrie reuolted from him to the bastard and the Spaniards that were with him would neither put on armor nor mount on horse-backe at his commaundement by reason whereof he was faine to craue succour of strangers and yet notwithstanding he lost the battell with the battell both his kingdome and his life Alfons the yonger king of Naples hauing done many tyrannicall deeds fled dishonorably out of his kingdome at the comming of Charles the 8. king of France and as Guicciardine reporteth being tormented with the sting of his owne conscience found no rest of mind day nor night for a night-night-times those whom he had wronged appeared vnto him in his sleepe a day-times he saw his people making insurrectiō against him to be reuenged His son also to whom he left the kingdome felt himselfe pinched with the sins of his predecessors for the Neapolitanes forsooke him as wel as his father turned to the French kings side We see what befell to Roboam the son of king Salomon for exacting too much vpon his subiects to the duke of Guyen commonly called the blacke Prince for raising a fowage in the country of Aquitane Marcus Aurelius said that the cause why God suffered wicked Princes to be murthered rather than other wicked men is for that the priuat mans naughtinesse hurteth but himselfe and his owne familie for want of abilitie to extend his naughtinesse any further but the Prince that is tyrannous and wicked ouerthroweth the whole Common-weale To conclude the tyrannicall dominion is very dangerfull and noisome to all the people but the kingdome that is gouerned according to law passeth all other states of gouernment be it in comfort of the people or in the durablenesse of itselfe or in making of great conquests CHAP. IIII. Whether the State of a Kingdome or the State of a Publike-weale be the antienter MAnie be of opinion that the Kinglie authoritie had his beginning from the people and that the state of a Publike-weale was afore the state of a King Of that opinion is Cicero in his bookes of Duties saying that Kings were chosen at the first for the good opinion that men had of them And in another place he saith That when folke found themselues harried and troden vnderfoot by the richersort they were constrained to haue recourse to some man of excellent prowesse to defend them from the oppression of the mightier sort and to maintaine both great and small in a kind of equalitie Of the same opinion likewise is Aristotle Because the men of old time saith he were benefactors to the communaltie either by the inuention and practise of arts or by making warres in their behalf or by assembling them together into corporations and by allotting them their territories the multitude did willinglie create them Kings so they conueyed their kingdomes ouer by succession to their posterities Plinie saith that the Athenians were the first that brought vp the popular gouernment which neuerthelesse had been vsed long afore by the Iewes as Iosephus witnesseth in his books of their antiquities Indeede Thucidides in his first booke of the warres of Peloponnesus saith that when the countrie of Greece was become rich by reason of the nauigations there stept vp euerie day new tyrants in the cities by reason of the greatnesse of their reuenues For afore that time the kings came in by Succession and had their authorities prerogatiues and preheminences limited Whereby he doth vs to vnderstand that kingdomes were afore common-weales as indeed there is great likelihood that the state of a king was the foremost And it is not to be doubted but the first men that were after the the floud when the earth was repeopled againe did rule the lands which they possessed first in their owne housholds and afterward when they were increased in gouerning the whole off-spring that came of their race as we see was done by Sem Cham Iaphet Ianus Gomer Samothes and such others of whom some reigned in the West and some in the East And Nembroth of Chams linage was the first that troubled his neighbours by making warre vpon them and the first that made himselfe a king as S. Iohn Chrisostome affirmeth vpon the ninth of Genesis For afore that time time there could be no king because there were no store of people to be subiects Also Abraham hauing a great houshold tooke three hundred and eighteene of his owne men and pursuing those that had spoiled Lot discomfited them The fathers of old time therefore hauing many slaues and seruants which were multiplied afterward with the increase of their issue had them at commaundement as a King hath his subiects And of this opinion seemeth Iustine to be in his abridgement of Trogus Pompeius who saith in his first booke That at the beginning euery nation and euerie citie was gouerned by kings and that such as had none of their owne did chuse one either for the good opinion which they had of the person whom they chose or for some good turne which they had receiued at his hand or else for that they felt themselues misused by their head whom they themselues had set ouer them as it befell by the sonnes of
either in the soule or in the body or in both together in pleasure or in vertue or in both together concluding That the euerlasting life is the souereigne good and the euerlasting death the souereigne euill for the auoiding of the one whereof and for the obtaining of the other it behoueth vs to liue wel and by faith to seeke the souereigne Good which we cannot see now but we liue in hope to see it hereafter Now then for the present time we will omit the true and only perfect blessednesse and rest vpon the worldly happinesse seeking that which is most beautifull most acceptable and most happie in this world which thing some doe place in pleasure some in profit and some in both together For as the Poet saith That man hath atteined to full perfection which matcheth pleasure with profit But the matter is to know what is pleasure and what is profit and by what means a man may attaine to it that it may become sound substantiall and durable So soone as a kingdome is falne to a prince by Succession or Election by and by he is counted happie because he is honored and followed of all men and may doe his pleasure with his seruants and take his pleasure of them as much as he can wish In old time Cressus seing himselfe peaceably possessed of a goodly rich kingdome plentifully stored with gold and siluer which he tooke out of Pactolus a riuer of Lidia gazed vpon himselfe in his fortunatenesse and great riches and hauing inuited thither Solon one of the seuen sages of Greece demaunded of him if euer he had seene a more happie prince But Solon making no reckoning of his riches preferred before him an Athenian named Tellus and in the end told him That no man could be esteemed happy in deed afore he were dead because that in this life many mishaps come vpon vs which disturb our ease welfare and quietnesse And so befell it to that king for he was taken by Cyrus and lost his kingdome and was put in danger of being burned quicke This sheweth vs sufficiently that we cannot stay our selues vpon such maner of blessednesse seing it accompanieth vs not any longer than while we be in this life And therefore we must seeke it further off Al such as haue writtē of blessednesse say That to be happie we must seeke perfection For no man can be termed happy vnlesse he haue throughly attained to the ful measure of al good fortune blessednesse And perfectiō as saith Aristotle is the thing that is taken chose for the good that is therin not for any other thing for albeit that the desire which we haue to be honored and to be of a good mind and to haue vertue it selfe be things worthie to be desired without any other stay yet our wishing of them is cheefly for that we thinke we shall by means of them be come happy And so blessednesse and faelicitie lie in all actions that are vertuous Therefore to attaine therunto it behoueth a man to be vertuous Moreouer I say that in this world there are three kinds of goods which make vs well contented and happie The one sort commeth of fortune as to be rich or honorable another sort is of those which we terme the goods of the body as beautie strength health and actiuitie And the third sort is of those which we call the goods of the mind as sciences and vertues As touching the goods of fortune for as much as they easily admit change and we see ordinarilie how rich men become poore and poore men rich the happy and blessed state cannot be in them Besides that it falleth out oftentimes that the richest and greatest lords are neither well contented nor well at ease Likewise the goods of the body cannot make vs happy For what is a man the better for being faire and in good health if he be a beggar or a vitious person Therefore it is to be concluded that forasmuch as the mind is more excellent than the body and all worldly goods the blessed state consisteth in the goods of the mind that is to wit in knowledge and vertue which neuer forsaking vs doe yeeld vs continuall pleasure and contentment In respect wherof Antisthenes said That riches without vertue yeelded as much pleasure as a banquet without any body at it Demetrius hauing taken Megara demaunded of Stilpon the Philosopher whether his men of warre had taken any thing of his away or no and Stilpon answered him no for no man hath bereft me of my knowledg Bias one of the sages of Greece made the like answere when he was demaunded Why he carried not away his goods as other of his citizens did at their fleeing out of the citie then newlie taken I carrie all my goods with me quoth he meaning his knowledge and vertue wherin he thought all his welfare to consist Aristippus hauing lost all that he had by ship-wracke and being cast vpon the coast of the Rhodes by a tempest after he had disputed within the schooles of Philosophie there was forthwith plentifully rewarded with great store of presents by the Rhodians and set againe in very good furniture And because he determined to abide among them he said vnto his friends that returned home that he could not tell how to doe better than to bestow such things vpon their children as might purchase them possessions that might be saued with their persons if they escaped shipwracke Meaning to gather therevpon that the true riches of this life are those which neither the contrarie blasts of fortune nor the change of estate nor waries can appaire Also Socrates being asked by Gorgius what opinion he had of the great king that was a title which they gaue to the king of Persia and whether he thought him not to be very happie answered I know not how he is prouided of knowledge and vertue meaning that the true felicitie consisteth in those two things and not in the slightfull goods of fortune Hereby ye may vnderstand that that prince is right happie which hath his mind well instructed and well giuen to al vertue For of knowledge and vertue spring sobrietie and wisdome and wisdome findeth the way to gouerne well his kingdome of which gouernment ensueth both pleasure and profit as shall easily appeare hereafter And first of all I will speake of Profit as of the lesser and afterward I will come to Pleasure Many doe deeme this profit to consist in the enlarging of a mans lordship or dominion by seazing vpon the next cities or by laying an impost by the prince vpon all sorts of impostes But the things that are gotten by euill means cannot be called Profit As touching the incroching vpon neighbours it is not easily to be done if they be of any power and oftentimes the sauce costeth more than the meat is worth And to take more than ordinarie of the subiects or more than the agreement made
prince to be of two natures the one of beast the other of man and that when the nature of man will not preuaile he should haue recourse to that of the beast And that of the beasts he should chuse the fox his nature to discerne snares and the lions to put the woolues in feare And therfore saith he a wise prince cannot keepe his faith if this obseruation be turned the contrarie way And because there be wicked men which keepe not their promise neither ought he also to keepe touch with them Among the examples of the princes of his time he alleageth pope Alexander the sixt who made no bones or conscience at al to deceiue men Neuer was there any man quoth he that assured things with greater force of words or affirmed them with greater othes and that meant lesse good faith or lesse perfourmed them yet notwithstanding his packings came alwaies to passe as he would wish because he gaue his mind to it I coÌ„fesse that the cosener the hipocrit the dissembler do coÌ„monly sooner dispatch his businesse than he that is open plaine honest and faithfull But it were better for a man not to haue so great successe than to be deceitfull and wicked And it were better for him to follow the counsell of Cicero in his books of Dueties who sayth That no good man will euer lie for his owne aduantage For if he that dealeth altogither by frawd be had in estimation I see not in comparing the lesser with the greater why either a shamelesse person or a theefe should be blamed of whom neuerthelesse the one is hanged and the other is pointed at with folks fingers and baited out of all good mens companies For their doing so is but to auoid pouertie and to find the means to liue vpon other mens purses as the prince that is a deceiuer is desirous to doe his affairs at the cost of his neighbour True it is that because he is a great lord men say of him as a certain pyrat said of great Alexander namely that because he himselfe roued but with one gallie he was counted a robber and because Alexander went with a great number of ships therefore he was counted a king but in effect they were both of one trade sauing that the one of them was rich puissaunt and well attended and the other was poore and meanly accompanied And as Plutarch saith in the life of Pyrrhus kings and princes must not blame priuat persons though now and then they step aside as opportunitie fitteth them for their profit for in so doing they doe but imitate their souereigns examples and follow the footsteps of them that are their ringleaders in all vntrustinesse trecherie and vnfaithfulnesse as who would say that he dispatcheth his businesse best which least lifteth to obserue law and vprightnesse But although some vnfaithfull prince doe happen to prosper it dooth not therefore follow that a faithfull prince cannot prosper Titus Traian Antonine the meeke Mâ—rcus Aurelius and other good emperors of Rome haue obtained as many victories yea and haue also far better maintained their estate than Tiberius Nero Caligula Domitian and such others Philip grew great by subtiltie and Alexander his son conquered the whole world by loialtie and magnanimitie I beleeue well that a prince ought to be sage and wel aduised and to be skilfull both in playing the lion to encounter such as will assaile him and in playing the fox to saue himselfe from the trains and snares that are layd for him but not to intangle and intrap others After the battell of Cannas which the Romanes lost vnto Hannibal there were ten prisoners who vpon safe conduct giuen them by Hanniball tarried still at Rome contrarie to their promise giuen vnto him but they were all denounced infamous and one of them was sent backe againe vnto Hannibal to doe what he would with him The consul Regalus did not so for he perfourming his promise returned at the time which he had set notwithstanding that he was sure to go to exquisit torments that were prepared for him The Carthaginenses hauing lost a battell vpon the sea against the Romans sent Amilcar Hanno to treat with them for peace Amilcar would not put himselfe into the Romanes hands because he had a little afore taken Cornelius Asina the consull prisoner whome the Romanes had sent embassador thither But Hanno sticked not to proceed foorth and when he had begun to declare his message a certaine Romane captaine sayd threatningly vnto him that as much might befall him as had bene done to Cornelius But the consuls putting the captaine to silence told Hanno that the Faith of the empire of Rome should deliuer them from that feare At such time as Tissaphernes brake the truce which hee had made with the Lacedemonians Agesilaus sayd he thanked the gods that Tissaphernes had angred them and offended them and thereby made them gracious and fauourable to the Lacedemonians esteeming it a thing very displeasant vnto God for a man to falsifie his faith And therefore Mimus Publianus saith That he which hath lost his credit hath no more to lose because the whole welfare and honour of a man dependeth thereupon Bias said there was no excuse for a man that brake his promise because he that looseth the credit of his word looseth more than hee that looseth the thing that was promised him Cinna hauing sent for Marius made it a matter of consultation whether he should receiue him or no. Sertorius was of opinion that he should not send for him but Cinna told him he could not with his honour refuse him hauing sent for him When Sertorius heard him say so he told him he did amisse to make it a matter debateable whether he should receiue him or no seeing he was come at his commaundement For the binding of your faith quoth he suffereth not the matter to be debated or consulted of any more Sextus Pompeius was aduertised by his admirall Menodorus that now it was in his hand to be reuenged of the death of his father and of his brethren hauing both Augustus and Antonie at supper with him in his gallie and that if Pompei would giue him leaue he would vndertake to cause them to be drowned and it should neuer be perceiued how But Pompei sauouring of the antient honour of the Romans answered the messenger thus Tell Menodorus that he might well haue done it without me seeing he maketh none account of periurie but it cannot beseeme me to giue my consent vnto it seeing I haue not bene woont to falfifie my faith This faithfulnesse of the Romanes was the cause that Ptolomei king of Aegypt committed his yoong sonne in wardship to the people of Rome who performed the charge with all integritie and surrendred the kingdome againe into his hands when he came to age Archadius leauing his sonne Theodosius in his minoritie and being at his wits end whome he might leaue to be his
prince and had borne the the title of Father to his people The other neuer attained so neere nor was so much beloued as he for all his liberalitie There is yet one other sort of recompence and that is of honour and profit matched togither when men attaine to dignities by degrees as when a meane souldier becommeth the leader of a squadron captaine master of the campe and colonell And when a man of arms mounteth by degrees to bee chiefe herbinger guidon ensigne lieutenant then chiefe of the companies great maister admirall marshall and so foorth Also to the intent that the prince forget not them that doe him seruice and deserue recompence because they bee so great a number that he shall not be of memorie sufficient to remember them all it behoueth to haue a booke or a paire of tables wherein to set downe the names of all such as doe him any notable seruice that he may reward them in due time and place as the emperors Charles the fift and Alexander Seuerus did who wrate downe those that did him seruice and the rewards which he had giuen to many of them And if in perusing his notes of remembrance he saw any man that had done him seruice and was not worthilie recompenced hee made him to come before him and asked of him why he had not sued for recompence willing him to sue boldly for any thing agreeable to his estate And for as much as it is an easie matter for a prince that hath so many subiects to recompence them all it behoueth him to take good heed that he bestow not two offices or mo vpon one man For in so doing he bereaueth himselfe of the meanes to recompence manie and is not so well serued as he else should be For as Alexander Seuerus was woont to say it is a hard matter that he which hath two charges at once should be able to vse them to his owne honor and his masters profit When I speake of the recompensing of Seruices my meaning is that it should be done measurably and not by putting men in trust with too great a charge nor by making them too mightie least perhapes they turne head against their maister For mightinesse ingendreth riches enuy and pride as it befell to Perennius who perceiuing himselfe to bee ouergreat and the ordering of all affairs to be in his owne hand conspired against the emperour Commodus his maister to whom he was beholden for al his welfare But his treason was bewraied and he punished according to his deserts We know what happened in Fraunce to the maires of the pallace which caused Consaluo to be called home out of Naples where he managed the king of Aragons affairs so wel and vnto whom the king his maister was beholden for the kingdome of Naples which thing was done for feare least he should haue seazed vpon the kingdom considering his credit his good gouernment and his experience in war There remaineth yet one doubt more concerning the execution of iustice to wit whether a prince for the benefit of his common-weale ought to chaunge his officers as they did in old time in Rome and in Athens If it be obiected that those were pulick-weales wherein euery man ruled by turne I wil oppose Alexander Seuerus a sage prince and such a one as minded not any thing but the publick-weale who also chaunged his officers saieng that when princes are gouerned continually by any one sort means are found by intreatance gifts and other corrupt dealings to peruert their good dispositions And peraduenture at that time Alexander had seene the inconueniences therof the which he meant to remedy or at leastwise to assay to remedy But in this manner of dealing there may be as great inconuenience as in the other namely that their king shal not haue them so well affectioned towards him as they ought to be For they that are accustomed to the seruice of a good prince do loue their maister far better than those that are but new come in And as the Prouerb saith A man must first know ere he can loue Besides this affection they be the better acquainted with his humors and the better experienced in his affaires For practise maketh men sufficient and the new come is as easie to be corrupted as the old seruitor when the way to corruption is once set open Moreouer they that come fresh try by al means to make their hand of the bountie and liberalitie of the prince insomuch that most commonly the oftner that there is a change the oftener the princes purse is emptied Record hereof is the fable of the flaine fox who would not suffer the flies to be driuen from him that had fed vpon him for seare least when they were gone there would come others fresh and fasting which would doe him more harme and paine than the former that were alreadie full Augustus altered not the maner of dealing which the Romans had vsed of sending senators into a prouince for a certaine time Neuerthelesse being disquieted by a feat that had bene done in Germanie to make all sure to hold the people of that prouince in obedience he would not haue the senators to remoue thence to the intent that the subiects should be held in obedience by men of experience that were alreadie acquainted with the people of that countrie And therefore it is best for all euents that a prince should not change his officers but that if any of them offend hee should well punish them as Augustus did a secretarie of his whose thighs hee caused to be broken because he had taken a bribe to shew a letter Lewis the twelfth king of France liued in all prosperitie because he was serued by the auntient officers of the crowne yea euen by those that had taken him prisoner in battell when he was duke of Orleans Contrariwise king Lewis the eleuenth was in hazard to haue lost his crowne by changing all new I graunt that the dealing of Alexander Seuerus was well to be admitted in cases of account where the prince hath more need of a man of honestie than a man of great skill Also the said good emperor permitted them not to continue in office aboue one yeare at once for feare least their ouer-long continuance in those dealings should make them theeues terming the offices of generall Receit a necessarie euill because that on the one part they cannot be forborne and on the other part they teach men to play the theeues Froissard saith that the earle of Fois of whome he maketh very great reckoning tooke twelue notable men to be of his Receits of whom two serued euery month and so from month to month other two by turns which alwaie yeelded their accounts to a controller in whom he put greatest trust To conclude this discourse the prince and he that is authorised vnder him to be a iudge must keepe well the precept of Martian namely that he be neither
for railing vpon Maximilian Sforcia duke of Millan And Liuian a captaine of Venice hauing taken many prisoners vsed them all well sauing Godfrey Galear whose head he caused to be smitten off immediatly because that in scoffing at him he called him ordinarily the little crook-backt beast Augustus shewed by his punishing of it how much more daungerous railing and slaundering is than manslaughter For he pardoned Cuma that would haue murthered him and made him consull whereby he woon him to be his friend But for railing vpon him he draue Timagenes out of his house deeming that of an enemie he might make a friend and of a friend a defender but of a railer backbiter and slaunderer a man can make nothing else And therefore he thought good to driue away the slaunderer because he was not to be reformed And lie did it not so much for reuenge as to sequester the slaunderer farre from him For ordinarily he was not mooued at such people saying It was inough for him that men did him no further harme than in words Among slaunderers we put them that vpon choler do tell of their cruel wrongs of which sort of men a wise man will make none account because he deemeth that the wrong returneth alwaies to him that hath told it Like as dust flieth backe into the eies of him that puffeth it as saith Saint Ambrose or like as the reflexion of the light offendeth weake eies the more as saith Plutarch so those are most offended at their wrongs which the truth hath made to rebound against them that offered them And as the North-east wind draweth clouds vnto him so a wicked life draweth wrongs vnto it And therefore a prince must be well ware that he haue not a tickle tongue and ticklish eares as Saint Ierom saith in the life of Clearks That is to say he must neither mis-speake others nor heare others mis-spoken of to the end that men may learn not to be hastie in misreporting men when they see the king taketh no pleasure in it who ought to shun such persons as the plague and to shew them no good countenance For as the wind driueth away the raine so doth a frowning looke driue away the slaunderer For if the Prince suffer them to come neare him he shall become like them not onely a â—launderer but also a scorner whom Dauid detesteth in his first Psalme affirming that man to be blessed that hath not sit on the seat of the scornefull Salomon in the two and twentith of the Prouerbs forbiddeth vs to scorne any man in the bitternesse of his soule For God who seeth all things is he that exalteth and pulleth downe And in the ninth chapter he opposeth scornfulnesse against wisdome saying thus If thou haue vnderstanding thou shalt be wise to thy selfe but if thou be scornefull thou shalt suffer all alone And in the 14 The scornefull seeketh wisdome and findeth it not and nothing maketh a prince to incurre the ill will of his subiects more than scornfulnesse Fur as Terence saith They that are not rich and they that are nothing in respect of the great ones do take all things in ill part and think continually that all men hold scorne of them Plutarch in the life of Phocion saith That commonly aduersities make men fretting wayward and easie to be set in a choler loth to giue â—are to anie thing and soone offended at all speeches and wordes that are but somewhat roughly spoken Whosoeuer reproueth them when they do amisse seemeth verily to vpbraid them with their misfortunes and he that speaketh freely seemeth to raile vpon them For like as honie being of it owne nature sweet doth neuerthelesse breed paine when it is laid to sores wounds and parts infected so oftentimes wise and true admonitions do bite and exasperate them that are in aduersitie vnlesse they be wel sweetned Whereupon it commeth to passe that if a man do scorne a man that is poore and distressed the poore man beareth it vnpatiently The which thing Scipio Nasica was made to seele who suing for the Edil-ship at Rome and being in a maner sure of all the voices tooke one of his electors by the hand and asked him if he would go hand in hand with him because the man had rough hands as commonly all labourers and artificers haue Wherewith the people being prouoked to displeasure did flatly refuse him There is another sort of scorning which is called â—easting the which may well inough become a man if it be to good purpose but there are few that vse it without some bitternesse For as Macrobius saith A ieast is as bitter as an accusation if it be not spoken fitly And when it is cast forth by a great lord it is in such sort as lightly it hath some bitternesse with it Ptolomie king of Aegypt ieasting with an ignorant Gramarian asked him who was the father of Pelius Sir quoth the Gramarian I will answer you if you will first tell me who was the father of Lagus meaning thereby to giue a quip to the kings race whereat when all his men were offended he said If it be not meet for a king to put vp taunting words at other mens hands neither is it meet that he should taunt any other man Next the scorner and the slaunderer commeth the flatterer which is a verie perillous beast For it biteth laughing and turneth kingdoms and principalities vpside-downe One demaunded on a time of Diogenes what beasts teeth did bite most venemously and daungerously If ye speake of tame beasts quoth he the flatterer if of wild beasts the backbiter Both of them haue a mischieuous tooth but the tooth of the flatterer is the more daungerous When we heare a man speake euil of vs we do what we can to correct our fault but it is hard for vs to beware of the flatterer For he is not easie to be discerned because he pretendeth to be a friend and not to gainsay vs and in the end he suffereth himselfe to be ouercome with reason and doth so throughly bewitch the mind of him whom he possesseth that it is easie for him to deceiue him afterward For as Cicero saith in his Duties We be of such nature that to our own seeming we be worthie of praise Now the allurements of such kind of people are more daungerous saith Salomon than the wounds that come by enimies Their words are sweet but they wound and pearce euen into the bowels And therefore Esay saith thus My people they that praise thee seduce thee and disorder the paths of thy feet And Dauid in the 12 Psal. wisheth that God would cut out the tongues of all flatterers And the thing that maketh them to preuaile with vs is the loue of our selues as saith Plutarch in his treatise how to discerne a flatterer from a friend By reason wherof forasmuch as euery man is the first greatest flatterer of himselfe it is easie for him
it is doubted whether it be more daungerous to loose a battell at home oâ— in a forrain countrie Monsieur de Langey in his Discipline of warre is of opinion that it is lesse daunger for a captaine to fight in his owne countrie if he be a man of power as the king of Fraunce is than to fight in a straunge countrie And hereunto I will adde that which Paulus Iouius saith in his hystorie where he demaundeth Why Ismael Sophie king of Persland did let slip so faire an occasion of inuading the kingdome of Selim emperour of the Turks at such time as Selim was so sore incombred in Egypt The reason is that the king of Persia hath not sufficient power to make warre out of his owne countrie vpon so mightie a prince as the Turke is considering that the noble men and gentlemen in whom coÌ„sisteth a great part of the Persian strength are loth to go to the wars out of their countrie because they serue at their owne charges But when the case concerneth the defence of the realme and that they be to fight in that behalfe they imploy themselues wholy thereunto managing the warre fiercely and behauing themselues valiantly Also we haue seene how the Parthians afore them neuer passed so much to conquer out of their owne realme as to keepe their owne at home and that they haue discomfited all the armies of the Romans that euer came against them Neither hath the common saying beene verified of them That the assailants haue euer more courage than the defendants For that is not euer true Besides that there be means to assure the natural subiects by shewing them that the quarrell is iust and holy which men vndertake in defence of their countrie which ought to haue more force than the couetous hope of enriching mens selues by other mens losse And if it be said That the assailant bereaueth the prince defendant of the commodities which he had afore of his subiects to helpe himselfe withall because his subiects are destroyed A man may answer That the losse of goods turneth not the hearts and affections of the subiects away from theiâ— prince but contrariwise the harme that they recâ—yue maketh them fiercer against their enemies Whereas it is alledged That a prince dareth not to leuie mony of his subiects nor to taxe them at his will because of the neernesse of the enemie to whom they might yeeld themselues if they were molested by their prince Monsieur de Langey answereth thereunto That that prerogatiue cannot be taken from a priuce so long as his lands and friends be not taken from him as appeareth by the succours which the kings of Fraunce haue had of their subiects against the Englishmen and against the men of Nauarre True it is that he excludeth tyrannie saying That if a prince should misuse his subiects and outrage them for euery trifle he might doubt whether he should be well followed well obeyed of his people or no. And as for that which is said That the assâ—ilants being in a strange countrie do make necessitie a vertue because they be driueÌ„ to open the waies by force of armes The same necessitie lieth also vpon the defendants whom it standeth on hand to fight stoutly because they be in daunger to endure many mo things than the assailants For the raunsome or the prison makes their budget good for the assailants but the defendants lose their goods and the honor of their wiues and children and moreouer looke for perpetual bondage with an infinit number of other mischiefs Furthermore he that is assailed may wait vpon his enemies to his great aduauntage and distresse them with famin without perill of enduring any scarcitie his owne side and therwithall he may the better withstand the enterprises of his enemies by reason that he hath better knowledge of the countrie and of the passages Besides that he may assemble great coÌ„panies of men in few houres because there is not any subiect of his that is not readie at need to fight in his owne defence And if the defendant do chaunce to take a foile in his owne countrie he will relieue himselfe againe within few dayes to be at the pursute and new succours shall not need to come to him from farre To be short the defendant needeth to hazard but a peece of his force But if the assailant lose he putteth hir men and the goods and wel-â—are of himselfe and his subiects in perill though he be out of his owne countrie considering that if he be taken he must either continue a prisoner all his life time or else accomplish the will of his conquerour Yet notwithhanding for all the good reasons of Monsieur de Langey a learned and valeant knight and of great experience in feats of armes I will follow the opinion of them that say That it is better to go fight with a mans enemie farre from home than to tarrie his comming home to him Craesus counselled Cyrus not to tarrie for the Massagets in his owne countrie but to giue them battell in their owne because quoth he if you should lose one battell in your owne countrie you should be in daunger being once chased to lose your whole countrie for the Massagets hauing gotten the victorie will pursue it and enter into your prouinces And if ye win the battell you shall not gaine thereby an inch of land But if ye ouercome them in their owne land you may follow your good fortune and be master of the whole realme of Thomiris This fashion did the Romans vse who were the most politike and best aduised men in war-matters that euer were in the world For they neuer suffered the enemie to approch neare their gates but encountered him aloofe Which thing Hanniball knowing well by the proofe that he himselfe had had of their policies and â—orce counselled Antiochuâ— not to tarry the comming of the Romans into his country but to go and assail them in their owne because that out of their owne countrie they were inuincible And in verie deed they were euer assailants and seldome times defendants At the beginning when their territory was verie small they went made war vpon the Fidenats Crustuminians Samâ—ates Falisks and other neighbor-people from whom they alway got the victorie And whensoeuer they were assailed it was to their extreme daunger As for example When Horatius Cocles sought vpon the bridge of the citie and sustained the whole force of the enemie while the bridge was â—ut asunder behind him wherwith he fell into the Tiber and by that means saued the citie Also they were in extreme daunger against Porsenna and the Volses and they were faine to employ all their priests and all the women of the citie to raise the siege of Coriolanus who our of all question had made himself master of the towne if the intreatance of his mother had not letted him It was neuer in their power to ouercome Hannibal in
this celler or warehouse whatsoeuer he listeth to choose For it is farre easier to take in one place the wares that come from diuerse parts of the world than to go seeke them a farre off and in places dispersed And yet is it to no purpose to seeke them all in one place vnlesse they be sorted out aforehand so as a man may put his hand to whatsoeuer he requireth For that cause it behoued me to vse a method in referring euery hystorie to his proper place There are many other points of warre to be found in hystories the which my hast to make an end of this my discourse causeth me to let alone and to content my selfe for this present to haue declared vnto you the things that I haue drawn out of Plutarch Thucidides and some other authours that came to my remembrance Also I haue left many which you may see in the Mounsieur de Langies Discipline of warre Of others I will say as an euil painter That they lie hid behind the Cipres cloth As touching the feats of warre of our dayes I will not presume to speake of them because they which are yet aliue haue seene the practising of a great part of them and can better and more particularly report them than they be written And to say the truth when I considered the feats of warre of these times I find them so honorable that they be nothing inferior to those of old time But it is better to leaue the reporting of them to those that were at the doing of them than to speake of them like a clearke of armes for feare least it be said vnto me That the things were not so done as they be written The which I doubt not but men will thinke euen of those also which I haue here alledged But they be drawne out of such authors as for their antiquitie and authoritie haue purchased prescription against all reproches FINIS †Alexander the great Arist. lib. 9. of matters of gouernment Isocrates in his Panathe What Policie is Cicero in his booke of the ends of good and euill Our life cannot be without Dutie Cicero in the ends of good and euil men The definition of Dutie Two sortes of Duetie Men are beholders of heauenlie thinges Cicero in his second booke of the nature of the Gods The louing of our neighbor is the fulfilling of the law â—n his 13 book of the citie of God Histories â—erue for good instruction The definition of a Prince Plutarch in the life of Pelopidas The prince is as a God among men A prince should not be bare of treasure What an emperour is The qualities of a good emperour Kings are heardmen and sheepheards of their people What a king is A king must commaund his subiects as a father doth his children * The iust coÌ„maundement of the prince and the iust obedience of the subiects are answerable either to other cannot be separated The marke of a tyrant A Kingdome Tyrannie The way to winne loue Vniustice is the cause of the alteration of states The kingdome that is maintained by friendly dealing is stronger than that which is vpheld by force No castle so strong as good will The best Bulwarke is the peoples loue The praise of Aristâ—cracie Kings do not so easily resâ—st their lusts as priuat persons doe The coÌ„mendation of the state of a kingdome Sole gouernment maketh men insolent Kingdomes haue passed al other states of gouernment both in largenesse of dominion in length of time A commendation of the popular state People are more tractable hauing a head than being without a head The reward of such as serue in popular state In the citie of Athens wise men propouÌ„d and fooles iudge Whether dissention be requisite in a common weale or no. The friendship of Caesar and Pompey was the ouerthrow of the common-weale Great dissention between ouer-great personages is dangerous to a state The absolute gouernment is best and most certain The Athenians had many Captains Kingdomes haue been of longer continuance and made greater conquests than any other state of gouernment Of a Tyrant A Tyrant sildome leaueth his kingdom to his posteritie Why Tyrants are murthered rather than priuat householdâ—rs being both of them wicked Nembroth the first King Elections are causes of great warres In the kingdome that goes by inheritance there is no cause of warre A King that is vnder age ruleth by his counsell Wicked kings are sent of God for the sins of the people The state of the time and of affaires causeth ciuill warres Priuat quarrels caused the wars vnder Charles the sixt The hearts of kings are in the hand of God Princes cannot be vertuous vnlesse they be learned Good bringing vp moderateth mens affections Good Education altereth a mans euill disposition Wild horses become good by well handling Good Education in youth is the root of all goodensse A young prince of neuer so good a nature shall hardly doe any great thing being not trained vp in vertue By what means a yong prince is to be drawne to learning and vertue The rod and correction giue wisdome Why many princes begin well and end ill Children are to be kept from the company of flatterers The hating of lies The best way to learne rule is first to obay Euery man is desirous to be the chiefe of his profession The pains that Demosthenes tooke to become an Orator The way to learning is to descend into a mans selfe A prince ought to consider his owne abilitie A prince must be affable retaining the maiestie of his person and state A prince ought to be a Warriour The enemies of peace are ouercome by warre Warre must not be made but for to establish peace Kings haue lost their states for want of applying themselues to the warres Captains despise them that loue not chiluarie It is no reason that the man that is well armed should yeeld to him that is vnarmed The things that are to be done in war are to be learned afore haÌ„d at leisure Princes must inure themselues their subiects to the exercise of arms Whether the common people be to bee trained to the wars or no. A profitable discourse concerning Philopoemen What the souereigne good is Wherin the happinesse of princes may consist To become happy we must seeke perfection Felicitie lieth in all vertuous actions Riches without vertue be like a feast without any man to eat it Which are the true riches Of profit Of Pleasure Pleasure is to be considered by hir going away The pleasure that commeth of the beholding of the things that are done in a Common-weale A good name is a sweet sent or sauor The wise saying of king Ferdinand All princes are iealous of their honor Men must be such as they would seeme to be A doer of good to others is esteemed as a God The pleasure of princes consisteth in honor A definition of Vertue A diuision of Vertue Vertue is the Art of al our whole life
vncorrupted as also by her most prouident motherly gouerning of hir people with all iustice clemencie to their greatest trāquilitie benefit and welfare Wherupon hath also ensued Gods most mightie and miraculous protection of her mastiesties most roiall person her realms dominions and subiects from exceeding great perils both forreine ciuil and domesticall such and so fitly contriued by the sleights of Satan satanicall practisers as but by the wonderfull and extraordinarie working of the diuine prouidence could not haue beene found out and much lesse preuented auoided or escaped an assured token of Gods speciall loue and fauor towards both soueraigne and subiects To be short so many and so great are the benefites which we haue receiued and still receiue by and from our most gracious soueraigue lady Queen Elizabeth that I know not how to conclude her Maiesties most iust deserued commendation more fitly than with the verses of a certaine auncient Poet written long since in commendation of that renowmed prince of Britaine the noble king Arthur the which verses I haue put into English with small alteration of some words but no alteration at all in matter and sense after this maner Hir deeds with mazeful wōderment shine euerywher so bright That both to heare and speak of thē men take as great delight As for to tast of honycombe or honie Looke vpon The doings of the noblest wights that heretofore be gone The Pellan Monarch fame cōmends the Romās highly praise The triumphs of their emperors Great glory diuerse waies Is yeelded vnto Hercules for killing with his hand The monsters that anoid the world or did against him stand But neither may the Hazel match the Pine nor stars the sun The ancient stories both of Greeks and Latins ouerrun And of our Queene Elizabeth ye shall not find the peere Ne age to come will any yeeld that shall to her come neere Alone all princes she surmounts in former ages past And better none the world shall yeeld so long as time doth last What remaineth then but that all we her natiue subiects knitting our selues togither in one dutifull mind do willingly and chearfully yeeld our obedience to her gratious maiestie with all submission faithfulnes and loialtie not grudging or repining when any things mislike vs but alwaies interpreting all things to the best not curiously inquisitiue of the causes of hir will but forward and diligent in executing her commandements euen as in the sight of God not for feare of punishment but of verie loue and conscience Which things if we doe vnfeinedlie then no doubt but God continuing his gracious goodnesse still towards vs will giue vs daily more cause of praise and thanksgiuing multiplying her maiesties yeares in health and peace and increasing the honour and prosperitie of her reigne so as our posteritie also may with ioy see and serue her manie yeares hence still reigning most blessedly which are the things that all faithfull subiects doe and ought to reioice in and desire more than their owne life and welfare and for the which we ought with all earnestnes to make continuall praier and supplication vnto God But while I am caried with the streame of my desire to encourage my selfe and my countreymen to the performance of our dutie towards her maiestie wherein neuerthelesse I haue ben much breefer than the matter requireth I feare least I become more long and tedious than may beseeme the tenour of an epistle dedicatorie And therefore most humbly submitting my selfe and this my present translation to your honourable censure and acceptation I here make an end beseeching God greatly to increase and long to continue the honor and prosperitie of your good Lordship and of your noble house Written the xxvii of Ianuary 1595. Your Honors most humble to commaund Arthur Golding To the King SIr forasmuch as it hath pleased your maiestie to command the states of your realme and to inioine all men without exception to shew vnto you whatsoeuer they thinke to be for the benefit and preseruation of your state and the comfort of your subiects And I see that euery man straineth himselfe to giue you the best aduice he can surely I alone ought not to be idle and negligent nor to forslow the duetie wherby I am naturally bound vnto you The which thing hath caused me to gather these matters of remembrance which should haue ben better polished ere they had ben presented to your maiestie if the state of your affairs and the time would haue permitted it You haue voutchsafed me the honour to be neer about your person and to do you seruice in such cases as it hath pleased your maiestie to imploy me and specially in following the warres where I haue the good hap to be a witnesse of the victories that you haue fortunatly obtained to the great reioycing of all christendome And surely sir this maketh me to hope that you will accept this mine attempt in good part as a testimonie of the good will and great desire which I haue alway had and will haue to spend my goods and life in the seruice of your most christen maiestie beseeching God to keepe mee euer in this commendable deuotion and dutifull good will and to giue vnto your highnesse a most happie long life From Paris the 28. of October 1588. Your most humble seruant and subiect Iames Hurault lord of Vieul and Marais The Contents of such Chapters as are contained in this Booke The first Part. OF Office or dutie and of Policie or Estate Pag. 1. 2 Of a Prince a King an Emperour and a soueraigne Lord. 4 3 Of the three sorts of gouernment and which of the three is the best 13 4 Whether the state of a kingdom or the state of a Publike weale be the antienter 24 5 Whether it be better to haue a king by succession or by election 26 6 Of the education or bringing vp of a Prince 30 7 Of the end whereat a good Prince ought to aime in this life 36 8 What is requisite in a Prince to make him happie 45 9 Of Vertue 56 10 Of the Passions of the mind 65 11 Whether Vertue and Honestie be to be separated from profit in matters of gouernment or state 76 12 That a prince ought not to falsifie his faith for the maintenance of his state 89 13 Of Truth 104 14 Of Religion and Superstition 107 15 That the prince which will be well obeyed must giue good example in himselfe to his subiects 138 The Contents of the second Part. 1 Of Wisdome and Discreetnesse 149 2 That the good gouernor must match learning and experience together 162 3 Of Iustice or Righteousnesse 170 4 That a Prince ought to be liberall and to shun nigardship and prodigalitie 212 5 That Gentlenesse and Courtesie be needfull in the orderering of affairs the contraries whereunto be slernenesse and roughnesse 236 6 That modestie or meeldnesse well beseemeth a Prince and that ouer statelinesse is hurtfull vnto him 259
Monarch I meane the aeternall God Our father and not our king and our Lord whereby he teacheth vs that the true soueraigntie is that which resembleth the soueraigntie of fathers and that the true subiects are those that resemble children All such as haue written of gouernment say that a kingdome well ordered consisteth but in two points namely in the iust commaundement of the Prince and in the due obedience of the subiects And if either of them both faile it is like the separation of the soule and the body in the life of man as king Francis the first right excellently declared to the men of Rochell in the yeare of our Lord fiue hundred forty three Isocrates in the instruction which he giueth to Nicocles saith thus It is to no purpose for you to haue faire horses and faire hounds if ye take no pleasure of them ne loue them so is it also to no purpose for a prince to haue such subiects as he desireth if he take no pleasure in dealing well with them And as the same author saith Those kingdomes and states of gouernment continue long which are charie ouer the welfare of their people The treasure of a good prince that loueth his subiects is in the houses of his subiects and it is a common saying That the pouertie of a prince appeareth by the pouertie of his subiects but when they be well at ease and wealthie then is the prince to be deemed rich Therefore the marke of a tyrant whom Homer termeth A deuourer of his people is to be seene in the pouertie of the subiects for that he fleeceth them to enrich those that are about him namely the ministers of his pleasures and of his euil lusts which thing causeth all men to hate him and to shun him as a witlesse beast so that for his reward he hath the indignation of God and hatred of man a short life and a perpetuall shame wheras the reward of a good Prince that keepeth the laws honoreth vprightnesse and iudgeth according to iustice is to liue and raigne long time as Moses affirmeth Which thing Philo laying foorth at large saith That although a prince die in body yet liueth he still for euer by his vertues which cannot be abolished or defaced by death A kingdome therefore is a publike state wherin one only commandeth hauing respect to the common-weale The contrary whereof is Tyrannie which is a monarchie that respecteth alonly the profit of the monarch The state of a king because it respecteth the common profit by that means draweth the hearts of the people vnto it is durable and is vpheld by the only friendship of the subiects Contrarywise because a Tyrant is like a roaring lion and a hunger-staruen beare as Salomon saith in his Prouerbs and in that respect is not ordinarily beloued of his people nor of any good men therefore he is faine to keepe a gard of strangers about him to make men feare him and obay him by force which force of his maketh him the more behated For the maintaining of which guard he is faine to be at great charges which is a cause that he becommeth the more odious by his charging and greeuing of the people And therefore a certaine Gymnosophist of India being asked of Alexander by what means he might make himselfe most beloued answered wisely By being very good and by dealing so as men should not stand in feare of him For feare is an ill preseruer of the thing that is to continue And it is apparent that such men endure but a little while for as soone as the patience of the people beginneth to faile by and by those princes loose their children and their state as it befell to Denis the tyrant of Siracuse and diuers other like For as saith Ecclesiasticus a kingdome is transferred from one nation to another for the vniustice the iniuries the extortions and the fraudes that are diuersly cōmitted Paulus Iouius speaking of Ismael Sophie saith That after he had recouered his grādfathers kingdome by the fauor of the prouinces that were greatly affectioned towards him he released the tribute incōtinently being alwais of opinion that the good will of men which is easily wone by liberality iustice was the surest strength of a kingdome and to his seeming it was not the part of a good king but of a proud Potentate and new vpstart to raigne lord-like ouer the only goods of his people when the hearts of them all were estranged from him by the grieuousnesse of tributes Therfore I will conclude that the kingdome which is maintained by fauorable means is much more strong and durable than that which is vpheld by force Which thing Philip king of Macedonia perceiuing sought by al means he could to continue in friendship with the Greeks notwithstnading that he was oftentimes constrained to vse force in bereauing them of their liberty And vpon a time when he was councelled by his faithfullest seruants to set Garrisons in all the cities of Greece that he had conquered he would not take knowledge of it saying he had leuer to be esteemed a good man for a long time than to be king or a lord for a short time because he thought that the soueraigntie which is held by loue is durable whereas the soueraignty that is held by violence terror cannot continue any long time At another time hauing gotten the possession of a certain place in Peloponnesus he deliberated a long time whether he should keepe it or leaue it to the Messenians wherein he asked the aduice of Aratus and Demetrius The opinion of Demetrius was That he shuld hold fast the Oxe by both the hornes meaning that he should easily keepe the country of Peloponnesus if he had the said towne which was called Ithomata together with Acrocorinth which he had already But Aratus after long thinking vpon the matter said thus Sir the Phocenses haue many cities and so haue also the Acarnanians all wel fortified as wel in the firme land as vpon the Sea-cost of all these you shall not enioy any and yet notwithstanding they faile not to doe whatsoeuer you commaund them without compulsion The outlawes are in the rocks and mountaines and there they hold themselues strong but vnto a king there is no castle more strong and sure than good will Also counsell was giuen to Antigonus to place a good garison in Athens to keepe it from reuolting any more and to make it as a bulwarke against all Greece but he answered That there was not a better bulwarke than the loue of the people And as Plutarch saith in the life of Aratus The surest guard that a great lord can haue is the true and constant good will of his subiects For when the nobilitie communalty of a country are wont to be afraid not of him but for him that gouerneth them then doth he see with many eies and heare with many eares and perceiueth
a far off whatsoeuer is done And therfore there is more profit and more honor also in being a king than in being a tyrant And as it is Gods commaundement and will that the prince should haue a singular care and regard of the welfare and benefite of his people because he is chosen to be vnto them a defender and protector so on the contrarie part he is forbidden by the mouth of Salomon to pill and oppresse the poore because they be succourlesse For the Lord saith he will take their cause in hand will deale roughly with such as haue dealt roughly with them CHAP. III. Of the three sorts of Gouernment and which of the three is the best FOrasmuch as we treat of the state of gouernment we must not suffer a very cōmon thing to passe in silence which yet to my seeming ought not to be omitted namely that there be three sorts of ciuill gouernments approued in the world whereof the one is called by the generall name of a Publike-weale wherin all men as wel poore as rich noble as vnnoble are admitted to gouerne by turne Another is called Aristocracie which is compacted of some smal number of noblemen and men of reputation who beare all the sway And the third is the Monarchie or Kingdome wherin al things are at the commandment of one alone These three sorts of gouernment because they tend all to the welfare of the whole state are all allowable and many like well to be vnder them some vnder one and some vnder another according as the humors of people be diuersly disposed As for example The Aegyptians could not abide to be without a king and the Athenians could not endure to haue a king The contraries to these three sorts of gouernment are faulty and reproued namely Democracie the contrarie to a Publike-weale wherin the people beare all the sway alone and carrie all the credite without calling the nobilitie and gentlemen to counsel Oligarkie the contrararie to Aristocracie which is the gouernment of some few men that conuert all things to their owne profit and tyranny the contrarie to a kingdome which is the gouernment of one alone that doth all things at his pleasure without refourming himselfe to law and reason To say which of the said three good states is the best it is a hard matter yet notwithstanding many men prefer Aristocracie before the Kingdome because it is not ruled by the discretion of any one transitorie man vpon the valour whereof the welfare of the whole state might depend but it is gouerned by the immortall counsell of an euerlasting senate For it is a rare matter to find any one man so fully perfect worthie to raign And as Nicholas Foscarin of Venice said Kings doe not easily resist their owne lusts as priuat persons do because that in asmuch as they be customably honoured in their kingdomes and are heard and obayed in the twinckling of an eie they be not only high-minded and insolent but also impatient if they obtaine not whatsoeuer seemeth iust vnto them and to their seeming all things is iust that they desire bearing themselues in hand that with one word they can put away all impediments and ouercome the nature of all things nay they thinke it a shame for them to shrinke from their inclinations for any difficulties taking counsell not of discretion reason but of their own will statelinesse And as Soderin Gonfalonier of Florence said when he moued the Florentines to take a parte and not to be newtors any more Princes thinke themselues wrōged when they be denied their requests flie vpon euery man that followeth not their will and hazardeth not his state together with theirs But if they be such as they ought to be vndoubtedly it is the greatest good turne that can befall to a realme and most resembling God who by his euerlasting prouidence raigneth alone ouer the whole world And it is also conformable and drawing neere to our nature wherin we see one that ouer-ruleth all the rest for if we consider our body we see it is ouer-ruled by a soule which giueth mouing to all the members without the which the body is but as a blocke Among our members we haue a heart which is as you would say the Prince and king of all the rest And in the mind reason beareth chiefe rule The Bees haue their king In an armie there is a generall that commaundeth and in a ship there is a Pilot that guideth it Rome could not abide two brothers raigning together Esau and Iacob stroue euen in their mothers wombe In the church-gouernment one only bishop or Metropolitane commaundeth In a house there is but one maister the residue are but seruants obaying the commaundements of the maister of the house And therefore he that would haue altered the kingdome of Sparta into a popular state came short insomuch that Agesilaus said vnto him It was meet that he should first stablish a popular state in his owne house doing vs to vnderstand that that forme of gouernment which a man would be loath to haue in his house is not meet to be in a citie or country For as saith Aristotle A citie is nothing else but a great houshold To the same purpose did Homer say That the gouernmēt of many was nothing woorth and that mo than one gouernor needed not After the death of Cambises when the Princes of Persia had expulsed the Magies who had inuaded the empire they assembled together to consult how they might thensforth gouerne the State In this meeting there were three sundry opinions One was of Othanes who said there needed no king to be chosen but that the affaires of the realme were to be managed by all men in common and euerie man ought to be left at his owne libertie without subiection to any one because it is ordinarily seene that a sole soueraign becommeth insolent and that if he be displeased he may satisfie his insolencie to the full Megabysus was of the contrarie opinion saying that such libertie is more dangerous than Tyranny because that if the noblemen and cities should be without a soueraigne lord they might abuse that libertie at their pleasure And therefore he thought it good that neither the cities themselues nor the whole multitude of the nobilitie should haue the managing of the publike affairs but that the doing therof should be committed to some certaine number of good and vertuous Princes which should haue the gouerning of the State and be obeyed as a king of all the rest But Darius liked none of both those aduises because that if all men should be at libertie without obedience to anie it could not continue long forsomuch as it was not possible that a multitude of free lords could any long time agree among themselues and to take any small number of them to rule the State it was also vnconuenient because there would rise innumerable matters wherein the princes would
not be all of one mind and moreouer there would alwaies be some one or other that would attempt to controle the rest which thing would breed dissention among them and finally the ruine of the State And therfore he was of opinion that of all the kinds of gouernment ther was not a better than the Monarchie The which aduise of his all the rest of the princes followed Of a verie truth we see that neither the State of Aristocracie nor the State of Democracie haue atteined to like greatnesse as kingdoms haue sauing onely Rome for the largenesse of empire and Venice for continuance of time For as for Lacedemon and Athens their dominions extended but a little way notwithstanding that the one of them made their power to be seene in the lesser Asia and the other became terrible to the Persians But aboue all other the popular gouernment is most vnweeldie because it is full of ignorance and confusednesse of people whose nature as said Bellifarius is to moue by rage rather than by reason and who as saith Guicciardine grounding themselues vpon deceitfull and vaine hopes being furious in their dealings when danger is far off and quite out of courage when peril doth approch are not in any wise to be ruled or restrained And as Philip of Nauar was wont to say there is not any certain stay in a coÌ„munaltie for that cause he would not trust the Parisians nor come within their citie what shew of good will soeuer they were able to make persuading himselfe that he could not be in sufficient suretie among so great a number of people of so diuers humors Which thing the Senat of Rome considering chose rather to giue their people Tribunes than to giue vnto them the reines of authoritie without a magistrat For although the power of the tribunes was ouer-great yet thought they it better than the ouer-vehement and boistrous power of the people who become more tractable when they haue a head than when they be without one For a head considereth the danger but the people cast no perill at all The popular gouernment is hard to be dealt with for it is a beast with many heads which doth good vnto them that would it euill and requite euill to them that doe it good As the Athenians did to Miltiades whom in recompence of the good which he had done them in deliuering them from a dangerous siege and in vanquishing ten hundred thousand Persians himselfe hauing but ten thousand men they amerced at a great fine keeping him in prison till he had fully paid it and finally banished him out of the country They did as much to Themistocles Aristides Alcibiades and other good captaines of their citie whereof anon after ensued their owne decay We know how Iames of Arteuill gouerned the people of Gaunt in his time and what power and authoritie he had ouer them and how he was beloued of all and yet neuerthelesse they put him to death vpon a small suspition and would not so much as heare his reasons They did as much to Iohn Boulle one of their captains because that without cause and without likelihood they had wrongfully surmised of him that he had brought them into an ambush vpon secret compact with the earle of Flaunders and he was not permitted to shew his reasons and excuses For without hearing him they drew him out of his lodging into the street and there hewed him into small peeces euerie man carying away a peece that could come by it Therefore Demosthenes who was banished Athens as others had been considering how Athens was dedicated to Minerua said O Pallas what meanest thou to enterteine so wicked and foule beasts as a night-owle a dragon and a popular gouernment for vnto Pallas were these things dedicated And Aristides the best man of life that euer was in Athens vpbraided the Athenians with their rashnesse who had condemned him for excecuting his charge faithfully in not suffering the common treasure to be robbed spoiled and had had him in great loue and estimation when he winked at the pilfries which he saw committed as though he had then worthily faithfully discharged his duty For a multitude is hard to be ruled and other counsel is there none with them than such as they bring of theÌ„selues misconceiued misvnderstood misiudged by passions neither is there any thing so vnequall in a common-weale as that is which they call equalitie of persons All is there equall and euen sauing their minds which are as farre at oddes as may be And yet notwithstanding because things goe by the number of voices without weighing them otherwise they passe alwaies with the most number that is to say with the foolishest opinion By reason whereof Anacharsus said that in the citie of Athens wise men propounded matters and fooles iudged of them And Phocion whâ—neuer agreed in opinion with the common people hauing in open assembly deliuered an opinion that was liked of the whole multitude insomuch that all the standers-by yeelded to his aduise turned himselfe to his friends and asked them whether some fond thing had not escaped him in his speech vnawares As touching the common-weale of Rome albeit that the Romanes had conquered the whole world by battell yetnotwithstanding they were oftentimes ill gouerned for all their good policie For after that the kings were once expulsed the citie was neuer without quarels some while against the ten coÌ„missioners another while the people against the Senat and the Senat against the people one while against the tribunes and another while against the consuls and nothing did euer vphold and maintaine the citie so much and so long as the forreigne wars which caused them to compound their quarrels at home without the doing wherof they could neuer haue continued for as soone as they had any vacation from forreigne warres by and by they lost their libertie and found from that time forth that the opinion of Scipio Nasica was grounded vpon great reason when he would not that Carthage should haue been destroyed that it might haue kept Rome stil in hir rigoâ—t wirs for in very deed their couetousnesse and ambition bred cruell dissentions among them which in the end did bring the ouerthrow of their State And therefore I will not say but that disagreements are often times necessarie in a house a kingdome or a coimmon-weale and that as Onomademus said after the rebellon of the Island Chios it is not behooffull to make cleane riddance of ell enemies for feare least there should be dissention among friends I am fully persuaded it is not amisse to suffer some enemies to spight one another as well for the reason aforementioned as also for that the enemies by their crossing one another doe discouer their owne lewdnesse couetousnesse and ambition to the benefit of the prince and of the common-weale and yet notwithstanding are afraid to doe euil least men should espie their doings and
Samuel whose vniust behauior caused the Iews to demaund a King Here is a faire field offred me for the discoursing of this matter on either side but it shall suffice me to haue had this speech following at a glaunce CHAP. V. Whether it be better to haue a king by Succession or by Election SOme there are that demaund whether it be more behoofull and expedient for the welfare of a people to haue a king by Election or by Succession For if ye proceed by Election it is to be presumed that ye will choose the best namely such a one as hath made good proofe of himselfe and is knowne to be wise fortunat and valeant Or if ye let it goe by Succession it may be that the king shall be yoong of small experience and of little vnderstanding And therefore Alexander knowing the dutie of a king said He would leaue his kingdome to the worthiest Pirrhus being asked of his children to whom he would leaue his kingdome answered To him that of you all hath the sharpest sword as if he should say to him that is the most valeant Whosoeuer would maintaine this opinion should haue reasons enow to vphold and defend it Yet notwithstanding we ought to rest vpon the custome of the country and not to swarue from it Such as are wont to choose their king do well and worthily therein And yet the granting of a kingdome to goe by Succesion which also is a very generall custome in most countries is not to be misliked For oftentimes it falleth out that Elections are a cause of many warres as we haue seene in the Romane emperors On the other side when the kingdome goeth by succession there is no quarrell or ciull warre because it is knowne who ought to be king For that cause did Geâ—srike appoint by his will that his children should exceed one another in the kingdome so that after the death of his eldest sonne dying without issue the eldest next him should succeede And as long as that order was obserued among them the kingdome continued in the race of Gensrike as witnesseth Iordane in his historie of the Gothes Moreouer a father is desirous to leaue all things in best order to his children the which thing tendeth alwaies to the publike commoditie Contrariwise they that are chosen endeuor rather to diminish than to enlarge their kingdomes because they shall not leaue them to their heires and therefore they labor to draw all things to their owne peculiar profit that they may leaue to their familie some frute of the kingdome wherto they were come and therwithall they be bound to fauor and recompence their Electors which cannot be done without expenses and charges to the common-weale And it will not serue the purpose to say that oftentimes it falleth out that kings are yoong and vnder age and consequentlie without authoritie and without abilitie to gouerne themselues and much lesse their people or else that they be witlesse or out of their wits which is worse For it is well knowne that nothing is so well ordered in this world nor any law so well stablished which may not admit some inconuenience But in this case the incounenience is such as may easily be remedied For if a king be yoong he hath a Counsell by whom oftentimes he ruleth better than some old man that will needs do all things on his owne head as we read of Iosias who was crowned at seuen yeares of age and raigned forty yeares in which time he did not any thing which was not to be done so as the minoritie of his age made him not to be the lesse honored regarded Herof we haue record in little Europus king of Macedonia the presence of whom notwithstanding that he lay in his cradle caused his subiects to win the battell and the Macedonians said all with one voice That when they fled afore they wanted not corage but their king in whose presence they fought as manfully as if he had beene of discretion to haue marked them that did well And although we haue somtimes had warres by reason of the minoritie and debilitie of our kings as it happened in the times of S. Lewis of Charles the sixt and lastly of the late king Charles whom God pardon yet may we well avow that we neuer had so much harme therby as the Romans had by their wicked emperors that came in by Election yea euen by the best taught of them as Heliogabalus was who being trained vp in all duties of honor and godlinesse by Varia Mesa did neuerthelesse become one of the wickedst creatures vnder the sunne And therefore we may well say that it commeth of Gods will who according to his threatning of the Israelites in old time sendeth vs babes or fooles to be our gouernors when he listeth to punish vs and oftentimes princes well brought vp but yet abiding in their wicked and il-disposed nature such as were Tiberius Nero Caligula and infinit other mo Neuerthelesse there is this difference that the king which is of tender yeares or simple-witted hath his counsell which notwithstanding that they be oftentimes at ods among themselues omit not for all that to giue him good counsel in most things But as for the Prince that is of a froward nature he beleueth nothing but that which is of his own head neither giueth he himselfe to any thing else than to do mischeefe I know wel that the minoritie of a prince is oftentimes the cause of many dissentions partakings for the gouernmeÌ„t and that men stand not in so great awe of him as of an elder person that is well aduised But yet the state of the time and of affaires doth more in that behalfe than all other things For if they happen vnder a prince that is yong or simple-witted they procure great tragedies and yet for all that they faile not to step in also euen vnder a king that is man-growne and well aduised If Robert of Artois who was the cause of all the misfortune that we had in France by the Englishmen had beene in the time of a young prince men would haue said that the small regard which he had of the princes age had made him to despise him And yet neuerthelesse hauing to do with a king of full age and well experienced aforehand he forbare not for all that to make open warre vpon him and to cause the English men to come into France vpon a choler and despite for that Philip of Valois had adiudged the earledome of Artoys to his aunt The king of Nauar had to do with a king of sufficient years with such a one as had not then tasted of such misfortune as he felt afterward by experience and yet notwithstanding hee forbare not to giue many proud attempts against him to slea his constable and to refuse to be at his commaundement vntill the king had giuen him his sonne the earle of Aniou in hostage At such
time as Charles the fift was regent of France the same king of Nauar being vnderpropped by certain seditious persons of Paris forbare not to make warre vpon the said Charles for all his wisdome puissance and good gouernment In the time of Charles the sixt no such distresses aduersities had befaln in France but for the iarres that were betweene the houses of Burgundie and Orleans And therefore we must not impute the misfortune so much to the vnskilfulnesse of the king as to priuat quarrels and to the troublesomnesse of the time wherein he raigned which was such that if they had had neuer so sage a prince he should haue found himselfe very sore cumbred After that Charles the seuenth had recouered all France he was not so greatly redouted nor so setled in peace but there remained vnto him some small ciuill warres Lewis the eleuenth was a prince of sufficient wisdome forecast and age to guide himselfe and yet he could not turne away the warres from the common weale which had not hapned vnder princes of vnripe years For the gouernors of a yoong prince durst not to haue despised the greatmen openly nor to haue defeated the antient officers as he did whereof insued euill vnto him What would haue been said of the war in Germanie if it had happened vnder a simple witted Emperour seing it befell vnder a prince of gouernment fortunat puissant and well aduised Men haue imputed our warres to the minoritie of the late king But had he been much elder than he was he could not haue preuented them seing that to the discontentment of most men the case stood vpon the state of religion a matter sufficient being so intermedled both with matters of state and with priuat quarrels to maintaine the tragedies that we haue seene Therefore it behoueth vs to yeeld vnto custome and to say with S. Paul That the power of a king commeth of God and likewise with Salomon in his Prouerbs That the heart of a king is in the hand of God as is the course of waters and that he inclineth them which way he listeth Some men like well of the kingdome that goes by Election and othersome mislike not of the kingdome that goes by Inheritance Both in the one and in the other there be diuers inconueniences and reasons enow both to commend them and to discommend them CHAP. VI. Of the Education or bringing vp of a Prince LYcurgus the Law-maker of Lacedemon being desirous to make his countriemen to loue vertue and intending to shew them to the eye as it were with his finger that nature and custome be the means to atteine therto vpon a time when they were assembled altogether in a place to consult of the affaires of the citie brought foorth before all the companie a couple of dogges of one litter of one dam and of one syre the which he had kept vp so diuersly that the one of thē being altogether giuen to hunting was extreamly sharp set vpon the prey and the other being accustomed to the kitchin and to licke the dishes had no desire at all to hunt For proofe wherof when he had set before thē a platter of porrage and a quicke Hare by and by the one of them ran after the Hare and the other stept to the porrage Whereupon he said Ye see here O ye Lacedemonians how these two dogges being both of one dam yet diuersly brought vp do resemble their bringing vp euen so trainment and custome are means of great importance to engender vertue in mens hearts Which thing we cannot but rightly say of the education of princes which ought to be better learned than other men and to beleeue that they cannot be vertuous if they be not learned but are like to a peece of ground which being neuer so good becommeth barren if it be not husbandred and contrariwise doth bring forth good fruit being well tilled and composted though of it selfe it be very bad The bodie that is strong forgoeth his strength for want of exercise and contrariwise the man that is feeble and of weake complexion becommeth strong by continuance of exercise and trauell Plutarke in his booke of the bringing vp of children saith That to make a man perfect in vertue there behoueth three things to concurre namely Nature Reason that is to say instruction or teaching and Custome or Excercise It is no wonder therfore though such as haue treated of the qualities that are requisit in Princes hauing begun at their very cradle trained them vp from their first infancie For the time most fit and conuenient for the doing thereof is while they be yet tender easie to bend of that first Education of theirs wil they haue a tast euer after For as Horace saith The bottle that hath licour of good sent put into it at the first wil keepe the tang therof a long time Among the authors of our time Francis Petrarch hath written very largely therof teaching of the nursing of a prince of his keeping of company of his tutors and teachers of the maner how to make him a god horseman and consequently of good horses of running of wrestling and of other exercises of the body of shooting of hunting of hawking and consequently of the nature of hawkes of playing at tennis and other pastimes of husbandry of Geographie and of Cosmographie But my intent is not to traine vp a prince from his cradle to his tombe but to gather such doings of theirs as may serue them for good example to the well gouerning of their people Therefore as touching their bringing vp I referre me to the things which are written by the said Petrarke and afore him by Zenophon Isocrates Plutarch and many others Only thus much I say That the prince which hath children ought to be carefull to bring them vp well in lerning and vertue For as Plutarch affirmeth in the comparison of Agis and Gracchus good Education moderateth and stayeth a mans mind not only in things of pleasure by keeping him from passing the bounds of honesty and honor in word or deede but also in matters of anger and in the greatest heats of ambition and of desire of honor Philip king of Macedon vowed his sonne vnto Aristotle as soon as he was borne and afterward did put him happily into his hands and he trained him vp in Philosophie For good Education not only fashioneth a man but also altereth his nature as we read of Socrates whom a professor of Phisnomie deemed to be full of all vices and when the man was blamed for his misdeeming Socrates answered that he had not failed in his Art for by nature he said he was such a one as he reported him to be but diligent heed and good Education had made him altogether another man The schoolemaister of Themistocles beholding his ready and quicke wit told him aforehand that he should one day doe either some great good or some great harme to his
during his life yet did he take order for the punishing thereof afore his decease saying thus vnto Salomon his sonne Thou knowest what Ioab did vnto the captaines of the host of Israell namely vnto Abner and Amasa whom he slew and shed their blood in peace as it had beene in warre and put the blood of battell vpon his girdle that was vpon his reins looke therefore that thou deale with him according to thy wisedome and suffer not his hoare head to goe downe to his graue in peace Dauid beeing persecuted by Saul had him at an aduantage when he found him in the caue and might very well haue done him displeasure but would not But had that good politike fellow Ioab bin there he would no more haue suffered Saul to escape than he suffered Absolon Now to come againe to our matter like as God gaue the victorie at that time to the aforesaid duke Charles so at another time he made his heire the prince of Salerne to loose the field and to be taken and condemned to haue his head stricken off as the said Conradine had had afore And when this sentence was pronounced vpon him which was on a Friday he answered he was contented to take his death with patience for the loue of him which suffered death on the like day But when Constance the queene heard of this his answer she said that for the loue of him which had suffered death for vs she was determined to shew mercy to the prince and without doing him any further harme she sent him to Cataloine to the king hir husband full sore against the peoples will who would haue had him put to death In which action we haue to consider one notable thing namely that Charles who had slaine Manfred in battell and put to death both Conradine and his cosen the duke of Austrich vnder forme of iustice could not keepe his kingdome so long time to his posteritie as the heire femall of Manfred did by vsing fauor and mercie But when a stranger hauing no former quarrell comes with a great number of men to inuade a countrie I beleeue it shal be well done of him that getteth the victorie to let none of his enemies escape least their inlargement prouoke them to set a new voyage abroche as the Frenchmen did in Gallia and the Gothes in Italy Againe there is no loue or kindnesse to be hoped for at such folks hands But out of that case I see not that crueltie ought to be vsed for the maintaining of any state and as for to leaue vertue for profit it ought not to be so much as once thought Augustus for the better assuring of his state caused Cesarion the sonne of Iulius and Cleopatra to be slaine It may be perchance that in so doing he delt for his profit but surelie he delt not vertuously Contrariwise Sextus Pompeius who had the staffe in his owne hand to haue killed Augustus and Antonie his enemies delt honorably in letting them goe but to his owne destruction which thing he chose rather to doe than to falsifie his faith as I will declare anon more at large I could alleage many mo examples of euill princes which haue finished their daies in wretchednesse and lost their kingdomes or at the leastwise their children after them whom I will omit for briefnesse sake speaking but only of Caesar Borgia that we may see whether such a prince can be had in estimation I am well assured that to lay the foundation of his principalitie which came to him but by fortune as they say he had many things to do the which he brought al to passe by his wit But yet can I not allow that maner of dealing For he caused the Columnians to be destroyed by the Vrsines and afterward dispatched the Vrsines too for feare least they should take part against him He vsed the helpe of the Frenchmen to get possession of Romania and afterward draue them out when he was peaceably setled in it To purchase the peoples fauour he executed rigorous iustice vpon theeues robbers and extortionors and for the doing thereof he set vp a very good and seuere Iusticer named Remy Orke Afterward perceiuing that his ouer-rigorous iustice procured him some hatred to root that conceit out of their imaginations and to shew that that came not of him but of his officer he made maister Remy Orke to be cut in two pieces and to be laid in an open place with a bloodie knife by him I see not wherein this duke Valentine is to be allowed I beleeue he was well aduised what he did and assaied all the means he could to make his owne profit but that profit was vtterly seperated from vertue What policie was it to kill folke by trecherous sleights and treason which had neuer trespassed him either in word or deed What a reward was that for a iudge to receiue for doing his duetie and for seruing him faithfullie If such princes may bee allowed then shall murther and frawd be no vice so it bring profit And then let vs take Socrates his saying the contrary way and say that vertue ought to attend vpon profit And so should it follow of consequence that whosoeuer could deale most for his owne profit should be the best and honestest man But all the paine that this wretched prince tooke to stablish his state stood him in small steed For he vtterly forwent it and was deceiued himselfe as he had deceiued others Thucidides in his historie interlaceth a notable saying of the Corinthians which was spoken to the counsell of the Athenians If a man will say saith he that that which we say is very reasonable but that the opinion of the other side is the more profitable if there be warre we answere that the more vprightly men walke in all things the more is it commonly for their profit Therefore it is most expedient for a prince that wil not faile of his purpose to fix his eye continually vpōn vertue and to set it before him as his marke to shoot at and to assure himselfe that he cannot haue profit without vertue Vpon a time Themistocles told the Athenians that he had a way to make them great yea and lords of all Greece but that the same was not to be imparted to any mo than one least it should be knowne Hereupon the Athenians chose Aristides to take notice of his deuice Vnto whom Themistocles declared that the nauie of the Lacedemonians might easily be set on fire whereby it would be an easie matter to vanquish them When Aristides had heard the counsell of Themistocles he went vp into the pulpit with great expectation of the Athenians and told them that Themistocles had giuen a woonderous behooffull and profitable counsell but it was not honest whereupon the Athenians without hearing any further what it was disallowed the counsell of Themistocles as not good At such time as Pirrhus made warre with the Romans one of
together with those ceremonies of theirs such as they were they had Religion also in singular reuerence and estimation insomuch that they would rather doe against their lawes than falsifie their oth because they deemed it a hainouser matter to offend God than to offend man So deeply had they Religion that is to say The loue and feare of God imprinted in their hearts without which a prince or a common-weale can neuer prosper For as Machiauel saith in the first booke of his discourse a little better than he speaks in his booke of a Prince whēsoeuer the fear of God once faileth needs must the kingdom decay Paul cōmandeth vs to honor the king because he hath his power of God Now if we ought to honor the king in respect of the power which he hath from God what ought the king himselfe to doe to whom God is so gratious as to place him in that dignitie and to make so many men obedient vnto him Certes seeing he is the image of God the least that he can doe is to lift vp the eies of his mind to behold him whom he representeth to worship that heauenly mirror wherin by looking on himselfe he must needs behold the goodnesse and maiestie of God S. Iohn Chrisostome writing vpon these words of Genesis God made man after his owne image and likenesse saith it is meant of the image of soueraigntie For like as God commaundeth all men so man commaundeth all the liuing things that God hath put into this world A prince commaundeth all inferior persons and God commaundeth the prince Which thing Dauid acknowledging in the 118 Psalm saith that he praised the Lord seuen times a day He had good store of businesse to doe but yet could they not turne him from the seruing of God As proud and high minded a prince as great Alexander was yet the first thing that he did euerie day after he was vp was to doe sacrifice to the gods There haue bin few princes which haue not at least wise pretended to be religious or bin religious indeed But there is as much difference betweene the one and the other as there is betweeene truth and vntruth or betweene the soule and the body Yet notwithstanding seeing that they which haue not any zeale of religion cannot forbeare the pretence therof it declareth vnto vs that religion is a thing most requisit for the maintenance of a state because men are of opinion that the prince which is religious is so guided by Gods hand that he cānot do amisse which causeth them to reuerence him obay him the more easily And to say truth we see not only that kings haue bin maintained vpheld by religion but also that princes haue obtained kingdomes and empires by religion As for example Numa the second king of Romanes being a Sabine borne was sought and sent for by the citie of Rome to be made king of Romans because they saw him wholly giuen to religion persuading thēselues that they could not speed amis if they were gouerned by a deuout and religious prince And in very deed it fell out according to their hope For he did so much that that people being then barbarous altogither giuen to the wars without law without religion attained to that greatnesse of state which we haue seen since wheras it had bin vnpossible for a warlik nation as that was to haue escaped frō vndoing thēselues had they not bin bridled by religiō the only means to hold the cruellest people of the world in peace and in obedience to the Magistrate That was the cause which moued Alexander to name himselfe the sonne of Iupiter For as Plutarch saith he was not so presumptuous to imagine that he was begotten of a god but he serued his owne turne with it to hold men vnder the yoke of obedience by the opinion of such diuine nature which hee by that means imprinted in them like as in his ceremonies also he had the feat to reuiue the foretellings of his soothsaiers which thing he shewed specialle at the siege of Tyre For wheras his soothsaier had assured him that he should take the citie before the end of that present month and euery man laughed at it because it was the last day of the month and the citie was impregnable he putting all his forces in a readines for the assault made proclamation that that day should be reckoned but for the 28 day of the moneth yet notwithstanding gaue present assault to the citie and wan it out of hand contrarie to his hope The emperor Charles the fift vsed the like feat whē he arriued at S. Lawrencis in Prouince For he considered that it was the 25 of Iuly which is S. Iames day and because he had landed in Affrike the same day twelue-month the yeare before he made great vaunt of his fortunat and happy lucke and handsell in arriuing the same day in France saying that his voiage was miraculously guided and directed by the will of God the disposer and orderer of humane affairs and that as on the like day he had put the Turke to flight at Argier so hee hoped to doe as much to the French king through the direction and fauor of God seeing they were arriued in France on the same day and vnder the same head Constantine made himselfe great by imbracing the Christian religion as the Ecclesiasticall historie witnesseth vnto vs. The thing that serued Pepins turne most was that he was reported to be religious and beloued of religious men because he had caused the churches to be reedified which had bin beaten down by the Sarzins and had restalled the bishops of Reines Orleans in their sees frō which they had bin put by his father and had restored the tenths to the clergie that Charls Martel had takē away giuen to his men of warre And to compasse his enterprise with the more ease he helped himselfe at his need with Religion that is to say by the Pope without whom he had come short of his purpose For the Pope dispensed with the Frenchmen for their oth which they had made to Childerik comming himselfe personably into France did put the realme into Pepins hand Which thing the Frenchmen had neuer agreed vnto as our histories beare witnesse if it had not bin vnder the cloke of Religion and by authoritie of the partie whom they deemed to haue power to dispence with mens consciences The same Religion made Charlemaine emperour and diuers persons kings of Naples and Sicilie by deposing the true heirs Religion gaue the kingdome of Ierusalem to Godfrey of Bulleine and made the Christians to trauell ouer seas and lands to conquer the holy land vnderzeale of Religion Vnder pretence of Religion and of an excommunication the kingdome of Nauarre was wrongfullie seazed by the Spaniards The kings of Persia lost their kingdome through disagreement in Religion and the Sophy because he was found deuout
thing which is not rightfull and I commaund not any thing which redoundeth not more to the benefit of the commonweale than to mine own profit To conclude Wisdome is a shield against all misfortune Men in old time were wont to say that a wise man might shape his fortune as he listed supposing that misfortune be it neuer so ouerthwart is wonderfully well ouer ruled by the discreation of a wise and sage person And as Plutarch saith in the life of Fabius The Gods doe send men good lucke and prosperitie by means of vertue and discreation notwithstanding that the euents of fortune be not all in our power as said Siramnes who being demaunded why his so goodly so wise discourses had not euents answerable to their deserts because quoth he to say and to doe what I list is in mine owne power but the sequele and successe thereof is altogether in fortune and in the king Therefore when Phocion the Athenian had resisted Leosthenes in a certaine case wherof notwithstanding the euent was prosperous and saw that the Athenians gloried of the victorie which Leosthenes had gotten I am well contented quoth he that this is done but yet would I not but that the other had bin councelled Iulius Caesar gloried in his good fortune but yet his bringing of his great enterprises to passe was by his good gouernment and experience in feats of warre To be short the wise and discreet man findeth nothing strange neither feareth he any thing no not though the whole frame of the world as Horace saith should fall vpon him The reason wherof is that he had minded it long time aforehand and had fore-considered what might happen vnto him and had prouided remedie for all by his foresight and discreation For as Salomon saith The mind of the wise shall not be attainted no not euen with feare Such folke are not subiect neither too great greefe nor too excessiue ioy they neuer waÌ„t hope neither do they quaile for any misfortâ—ne so that they be hard to be ouercome because they be fully resolued of all things that may betide them and do take order for all things aforehand by their wisedome For wisedome saith Salomon is to his ownour as a liuely fountaine as a deepe water and as a flowing streame And as a ioint of timber closed together in the foundation of a building cannot be disioined so also cannot the heart that is stablished in the thoughts of discretion And as S. Austin sayth Wisdome teacheth vs to continue at one stay both in prosperitie and aduersitie like vnto the hand which changeth not his name but is alwaies one whether it be held out or gathered vp together And albeit that wisdome be a gift of God and come of a well disposed mind and of a good vnderstanding yea and of a body that is well tempered as witnesseth Galen in his first booke of Temperatures where he sayth That the first action of a man of good temperature is Discretion yet is it gotten by learning and discipline For the true desire of discipline is the beginning of wisdome Also it is gotten by long experience and knowledge of things past and by continuall exercise in dealing with sundrie affairs For as Afranius sayd by report of Aulus Gellius Wisedome is begotten by vse and conceiued by memorie meaning thereby that it consisteth in bookes which put vs in remembrance of things past and in experience which is the vse and practise of wisedome In so much that neither he that hath but only learning nor he that hath but only experience is able to attain vnto wisdome but he that will deale perticularly and vniuersally in all affairs must haue them both as well the one as the other And as Aristotle saith there are three things needfull to the obtainment of Wisdome namely Nature Learning and Exercise For it is in vaine to striue against Nature Learning must be had at learned mens hands and Exercise is the perfection of learning And therefore it will not be amisse to treat of Learning and Experience CHAP. II. That the good gouernour must match Learning and Experience together AS the body is made the more strong and better disposed by moderat exercise so mans vnderstanding groweth and encreaseth by learning and becommeth the stronger and better disposed to the managing of affairs In which respect Demetrius Phalareus counselled Ptolomie king of Aegypt to make diligent search for such bookes as treated of kingdoms and declared the qualities that are requisit for the well and due executing of the office of a king And Alexander Seuerus neuer sat in counsell vpon any case of importance or vpon any matter of state and war but he called such to counsell as bare the name to be well seene in histories Bias would not haue any man chosen a gouernour in his common-wealth but such as were of skill saieng that the want of skill is the cause of great inconueniences Philip commaunded Alexander to obey Aristotle and to be a good student to the intent quoth he that ye do not many things whereof ye shal repent you afterward Adrian as well in peace as in warre had of the skilfullest Philosophers alwaies about his person and among others he had two great lawyers Saluius and Neratius Plutarke in the life of Coriolan sayth that the greatest fruit that men reape of the knowledge of good learning is that therby they tame and meeken their nature that afore was wild and fâ—erce so that by vse of reason they find the Meane and leaue the Extream When one asked Alfons king of Arragon wherfore he did so greatly loue learning Because qd he by reading I haue learned war and the law of arms acknowledging therein that no wit be it neuer so good can fashion it selfe wel and become worthie of the charge which it shall vndertake without learning and doctrine Like as the fattest ground in the world can beare no corne except it be well tilled so nature of it selfe draweth and prouoketh vs by giuing vs a desire of knowledge and skill as Cicero saith in his books of Duties but Ignorance which wee find fault with as with the thing that darkeneth and defaceth mans vnderstanding cannot be done away but by learning My meaning is not to make a prince perfectly skilful in all sciences but only in that kind of learning which concerneth histories and precepts of good life according to the counsell of Demetrius and Isocrates who said that the wisdome which is proper to kings consisteth in Learning and Experience of which two Learning teacheth the way to doe well and Experience teacheth the meane how to vse Learning well And albeit that Traian who was one of the best princes of the world gaue not himselfe to learning for any commendation therof that Plutarke made vnto him saieng that the gods immortall had not made him to turne ouer the leaues of bookes but to deale with martiall affairs yet was he not
appeare vnto you with terror and that right soone For a very sore iudgement shall be executed vpon them that haue ben in authoritie And in Ieremie he sweareth that if princes execute not iustice their houses shal be left desolate Wherewith agreeth that which S. Remy said vnto king Clowis namely that the kingdome of France should continue so long as iustice raigned there Also Totilas king of the Goths said that all kingdomes and empires were easily destroied if they were not maintained by iustice and that as long as the Goths delt iustly their power was had in good reputation but when they fell once to couetousnes and to taking more than they ought to haue done by and by they came to decay through their owne discord among themselues A prince is called a liuing law on earth because that lawes speake not ne moue not but a prince is as a liuely law which speaketh and moueth from place to place putting the law in execution and appointing euery man what he should doe and thereof it commeth that we be said to doe men right Seeing then that a prince is the law it followeth that he must be iust and do iustice to his subiects in doing wherof the world receiueth very great good And as Aristotle saith in his mattets of state the iustice of the prince that raigneth is more profitable to his subiects than riches are S. Ciprian in his treatise of twelue abuses saith that the iustice of a king is the peace of his people the safegard of innocents the defence of his country the foyzon of his hand the reliefe of the poore and the hope of blessednesse to come to himselfe Salomon in the 20 of his prouerbs saith That a king sitting on his iudgement seat disperseth all iniquitie with his looke Hereby is nothing els meant but that he driueth away all naughtinesse by his only shewing of himselfe to his people by bearing a good countenance Howbeit the meaneth it of a good prince such a one as is an executer of iustice for such a one maketh the wicked to quake euen with his only look although this vertue ought to be chiefly and principally appropried to princes because kingdomes without iustice are but maintenaÌ„ces of mischiefe according to S. Austines saying in his ninth booke of the citie of God yetnotwithstanding it faileth not to be behooffull for all sorts of men yea euen for solitarie men as saith Cicero and for such as neuer goe abroad as well as for them that buy and sell bargaine and couenant which things cannot be done without vprightnesse the force wherof is such that euen they that liue of robbery and leaudnesse cannot continue without it in that it assureth the goods of the robbers vnto them In cities iustice procureth peace and equitie For as saith Dauid Righteousnes and peace imbrace one another In priuat houses it maintaineth mutuall loue concord betweene the man and wife good will of the seruants toward their master mistresse good vsage of the master towards his seruants Agathias said that the FreÌ„chmen became great by being iust vpright and charitable For iustice and charitie make a coÌ„monweale happie stable long lasting and hard to be surprised by enemies whereas a man may reckon vp a great sort that haue bin ouerthrowne by vniustice Of iustice or righteousnes are two sorts the one of the law and the other of equalitie That of the law is the more vniuersal as which comprehendeth al sorts of vertue and is that which in our English toung we properly call Righteousnesse For he that performeth the commaundements of the law is Righteous because he doth al the vertuous things commaunded in Gods law so as he is liberall lowly modest kind-hearted meeke peaceable and so forth When I say that a man is righteous I meane not that he is righteous before God otherwise than by grace and not by the law as S Paule teacheth vs in his epistles to the Romans and the Galathians saieng By the law shall no man be found righteous For the blessed â—ife consisteth in the forgiuenes of sinnes as Dauid declareth in the one and thirtith Psalme And therfore what good so euer we doe our Lord will haue vs to account our selues vnprofitable seruants The other sort of righteousnes is of equalitie and consisteth in dealing vprightly and in yeelding euery man that which belongeth vnto him the which in English we terme properly Vprightnes and Iust dealing And this kind of righteousnes is diuided againe into other two sorts whereof the one concerneth distributing and the other concerneth exchange This which coÌ„sisteth in matters of exchange serueth to make equalitie where vnequalitie seemeth to be and is occupied about buieng selling bartering and bargaining betweene man and man For we see that one man hath monie that another man wanteth who hath corne and wine here doth this kind of righteousnes procure an equalitie For the monied man giuing his monie receiueth corn for it that he wanted and the other giuing corne wine hauing more than he needed receiueth monie where of he had want Therfore when lending buieng intercoÌ„moning hiring morgaging such other things proceed duly without fraud then is a realme seene to prosper because right reigneth there The like wherof we see in our bodies the eye by the sight of it directeth our steps but cannot go it selfe the foot is able to go but it cannot see so as it carrieth the eye and the eye guideth it The hand wipeth the eye clean and the eye directeth it the feet beare vp the head and the head ruleth them and without that the body could not continue Euen so the body of a common-weale could not endure if euery man should not succour one another by such interchange The distributiue iustice which the king vseth toward his subiects coÌ„sisteth chiefly in distributing honor and promotion vnto theÌ„ according to euery mans desert Semblably in our bodies there reigneth a kind of iustice as for example we see how the heart giues life and mouing to al the members at leastwise according to most philosophers who hold opinion that the beginning of life and mouing is in the heart and likewise that sence is in the braine Wherefore it is requisit that as the heart for his excellencie reigneth as king ouer all the other members so he that is most excellent of al other men should haue the prerogatiue to coÌ„maund others that if he bee borne to haue gouernment he should make himselfe worthie of that charge For as Cicero saith in his Duties Those that at the first were chosen to bear rule were such as the people had great good opinioÌ„ of Others of whom Francis Petrarch is one diuide Righteousnes into 4 sorts namely Diuine which is sister to Wisdom wherthrough we beleeue in God and acknowledge him to be the creator of al things without whom we cannot do any thing It is he that directeth
our footsteps in the right path is so gracious vnto vs by the intercession of his welbeloued son that for his sake our sins are not imputed to vs. Wherfore this vertue consisteth in praising God in worshipping him in giuing him thankes in obeieng him and in doing his coÌ„mandements For Gods commandements and testimonies are righteousnes truth saith Dauid in the 119 Psalme and they doe bring vs forth humilitie patience innocencie trustinesse and all manner of vertues Another sort of Righteousnes is called naturall because it is borâ—e with vs as for example to honour and serue our fatherâ—s mothers to cherish our children to do good to theÌ„ that doe good to vs are properties of nature and whosoeuer doth otherwise is esteemed an vnkind monster For as saith Cassiodorus Euen they that are ignorant of law do neuerthelesse acknowledge reason and truth because that so to doe is not peculiar to man only but also is coÌ„mon to the brute beasts to whom nature hath giuen such inclination For we see that all kinds of beasts do cherish their yong ones wherto they be led and taught by nature and therfore the lawyers call it the Law of nature The Storke cherisheth his syre and his dam when they be old and therfore the acknowledging recompencing of kindnesse with like kindnesse againe is called in greeke Autipelargia as ye would say A Counterstorking The brute beast knoweth him that feedeth him and is mindful of him that doth him good as appeareth by a certain lion which could well skill to requite the pleasure that a slaue had done him in taking a thorne out of his foot For he fed the slaue a long time in the caue where he had hidden himselfe afterward when both of them were by chance taken and carried to Rome and the slaue being condemned to death for robbing his master was cast vnto the lions to be deuoured by them this lion being there among the rest knowing him saued him and defended him from hurt yet the time was past long afore that the slaue had done him the said pleasure Now then it is a naturall thing to do good to them that do vs good The third kind of righteousnesse is that which we call ciuill which consisteth in yeelding vnto euery man that which beloÌ„geth vnto him in gouerning cities and countries in maintaining coÌ„mon society in such like things The fourth is called Iudiciall which belongeth to those that haue charge to iudge of controuersies betweene parties according to lawes For the maintaining of these lattertwaine it behoueth to haue magistrats and therfore they beloÌ„g properly to princes kings soueraign magistrats may be reduced both into one considering that iudges do but supply the roomes of their soueraigns Also the law which serueth for the executing of iustice in giuing vnto euery man that which is his right is called of the lawyers the Ciuil Law and not the Iudiciall Law By these diuisions a man may see what the dutie of a prince is in case of iustice for the worthy executing wherof he must aboue al things be religious and feare God as I haue said afore and therefore I will speake no more thereof Also I will omit the naturall Righteousnes because it is common to all liuing creatures but the ciuill and iudicial Righteousnes is peculiar to kings and gouernours of countries and consisteth first in well keeping the lawes of their countries and in causing them to be well kept secondly in taking good order in cases of controuersie and strife between partie and partie by themselues in their owne persons or by chusing fit persons to doe iustice Thirdly in doing right to the iudges themselues and to the other officers whom the prince hath set in authoritie namely in honoring and rewarding them according to their deserts and likewise in punnishing them for their misdoings and lastly in doing iustice among their men of warre As touching the first point which concerneth the maintaining of the written lawes it is so necessarie that it may well be said that the honor of a countrie dependeth therevpon according to the wise answere of Pittacus who being demaunded of Craesuâ— king of Lidia wherin consisted the honor and maiestie of a kingdome answered Vpon a little peece of wood meaning the laws written in tables of wood as who would say that where law hath his force and strength there the realme florisheth For the law is the stickler betweene right and vnright punishing the bad and defending the good saith Cicero in his xij booke of Laws And Plato saith in his common-weale that that common-weale goes vtterly to wrecke where the law ouer-ruleth not the magistrats but the magistrats ouer-rule the law On the coÌ„trarie part al goeth well where the law ouerruleth the magistrats and the magistrats are obedient to law It belongeth to magistrats to keepe the lawes and to beare in mind that the lawes be committed to their custodie saith Cicero in his books of duties Aristotle saith in his matters of state that they which would haue law to reigne in a citie or common-weale would haue God to reigne there Aliamenes being asked why he would not receiue the presents of the Messenians Because that if I should haue receiued them quoth he I could not haue had peace with the lawes For to say truth the lawes are as the pillers of a state vpholding it as pillers vphold a house so as the casting down of them is the ouerthrow of the house Wherefore men ought to take good heed how they breake lawes which hold one another together like the links of a chaine For by vndoing one all the rest follow after And euen so befalleth it in lawes when men fal to dispensing with them Not without good cause therefore did Adrian the emperour ordaine that no man should bring vp any straunge custome in Rome And as Plutarch reporteth in the life of Paulus Aemilius men forsake the keeping of the chiefe foundations of the state of a publick-weale when they refuse the care of the diligent keeping of the ordinances thereof be they neuer so little and small And Plato in his common-weale forbiddeth the chaunging of any thing yea euen of so much as the plaies that young children are wont to vse because the chaunging of them changeth the manners of youth without feeling and maketh folke to make no account of antient things and to couet and esteeme of new things a matter very dangerous to any state And anon after he saith againe in these expresse words I tell you that all manner of alteration except it be in euill things is very dangerous both in diet of the body and in manners of the mind And I see not but that the yoong folke which are permitted to haue other plaies games and pastimes than haue bene accustomed aforetimes will also differ in behauior from the youth of old times and being come to such difference they will also seeke a differing
dauncing laughing and singing as one that had made an end of a great war but what did he then he tooke off his owne cassoke and couered therwith the body of Darius philosophically hiding as saith Plutarch the royall off-spring Alcioneus the sonne of Antigonus vnderstanding that one had cut off the head of Pirrhus went to see it and required to haue it the which as soone as he had receiued he ran to his father and cast it downe before him But as soone as Antigonus had seene it and knew it he draue away his sonne with strokes of a cudgell calling him cruell a murtherer barbarous and vnnaturall and therupon hiding his face with his cloake he began to crie for compassion sake and afterward caused the head to be honourably buried Within a while after Alcioneus met Helen the sonne of the aforesaid Pirrhus in very poore estate apparelled in a very simple cloake and receiuing him courteously with gentle and amiable speeches brought him to his father Whom when Antigonus saw he said to Alcioneus My son this deed of thine is much better and pleaseth me far more than the other but yet thou hast not done altogether as thou oughtest in that thou hast not taken away this course cloke that hangeth vpon his shoulders which doth more dishonour to vs that haue gotten the victorie than to him that hath lost it Therwithall he embraced Helen and hauing set him in good apparell sent him home into his kingdome of Epire and being possessed of the army of Pirrhus he delt very courteously with all his seruants But in Gentlenesse as in all other vertues a man may offend in too much or too little as they doe which through shamefastnesse do condescend to all things of whom Plutarch speaketh in his booke of Misshamefastnesse and as soothers and slatterers doe which sooth men in all that they say as Gnato doth in Terence The other sort is of them that denie all requests that are made vnto them be they neuer so iust and which through a froward disposition of gainesaying that accompanieth them doe encounter all things that are spoken to them or else are so rough and sterne that they neuer laugh neither can a man tell how to be acquainted with them And so kindnes or gentlenes matched with meeldnes is a vertue that represseth the excesse and moderateth the default keeping men frō exceeding in ouermuch pliantnes like the soother the flatterer and frō the default of vnpliablenes like the cloune and the churle For oft-times ouer-great familaritie maketh a prince to be had in contempt and ouergreat sternnes grauity make him odious hard to be intreated and not to be come vnto Therefore it behoueth him to hold the meane and to cōsider what may best beseeme him For as the Preacher saith All things haue their times there is a time to laugh a time to weepe a time to graunt and a time to refuse The which some not considering aduisedly doe either counsell princes to make themselues too familiar and to deny nothing or else to refuse all things and in no wise to giue their subiects easie accesse vnto them saying that if a king make himself too gentle too easie to be spoken to he shal be despised and consequently ill obayed of his subiects because that ouermuch familiaritie breedeth contempt And therfore the Englishmen Spaniards Turks and Scithians do reuerence their kings well neere as gods and dare not prease into their presence For they that suffer themselues to be comne vnto do oftentimes promise more than they can perform as Titus did who often promised more than he was able to doe saying that no man ought to goe away sad and discontented from the presence of a prince Insomuch that many mē allowed the apophthegme of Brutus who said That that man had mis-spent his youth which graunted all things Caligula made no nicenesse to denie all mens requests saying That there was nothing in his owne nature that he esteemed so much as impudencie and stoutnes of denying all things The which point the emperor Maximilian practised vpon a poore man that craued an almes of him and told him that the emperor and he came both of one father to wit of Adam and so consequently were brethren and therfore he desired him to deale brotherly with him and to do him some good The emperor consented and gaue him a small peece of siluer Wherat when he saw the poore man discontented hee told him that hee ought to take his gift in good woorth saying that if euery of his brethren would giue him as much he should be richer than he himselfe was A certaine courtier whom Archelaus loued well praied him to giue him a certaine goodly vessell by and by Archelaus commanded one to giue it to Euripides Wherat the party marueling that had craued it receiued none other answere but this thou art worthy to aske it and to goe without it and he is worthy to haue it without asking Meaning that he had giuen the courtier accesse to aske what he would but that the goodnes of Euripides was such as deserued some gift without asking Philip counselled his son Alexander to behaue himselfe gently and graciously to his subiects afore he were king for were he once king he could not be so gracious Deeming very wisely that as there is not a better thing to stablish a kingdome than the loue of the subiects so it is very hard for him that reighneth to be gentle to all as well because the state of a king is subiect to enuy as also because it cannot maintaine it selfe against it vnlesse it punish the wicked For it behoueth a king so to temper his goodnes and gentlenes as therewithall he retaine his authoritie and grauitie For oftentimes ouer-great gentlenes causeth men to make no account of a prince And as Plutarch saith in the life of Pericles It is very hard for a prince to keepe a seuere grauitie for the vpholding of his reputation and therwithall to suffer all men to haue familiar accesse vnto him After the time that Pericles had the managing of the publicke affairs he was neuer seene abroade in the streets nor at any feasts They that would haue a prince to be familiar defend their cause by reasons and examples saying that gentlenes maketh a prince wel beloued well-willed and acceptable For as Terence saith he that is a man ought to be a partaker of that which belongeth to man that is to say hee ought to be gentle louing and mercifull And as saith Iuuenal nature hath made mans heart tender that hee should pittie such as are distressed who craue helpe of the prince whose throne is vpheld by goodnesse gentlenesse and kindnesse as sayth Salomon in the twentith of the Prouerbs Dennis the father sayd That hee had chaines of adamant to vphold this dominion namely a guard of eighteene thousand strangers besides his ordinary souldiers and a great number of gallies On the
dominion of Athens to become hatefull to their allies But when Cimon came to the gouerning of the state he tooke the cleane contrarie way For he did not compell or inforce anie man to the warres but was contented to take monie and emptie ships of such as listed not to serue in their owne persons and he liked well of it that they should wax lasie and grow out of kind by the allurements of rest at home in their houses and of good men of warre to let them become labourers merchantmen and husband-men And in their stead he caused a good number of the Athenians to go into their gallies in hardening them with trauell of continuall voiages Insomuch that within short time after they became lords of those that had waged and intertained them healing themselues at their cost And in the end they made those to be their subiects and tributaries which at the beginning had bin their fellowes and allies The like hath come to passe of diuerse captains that serued in the campe and had the leading of armies for in the end of Captains they haue made themselues dukes kings and emperors as Vespasian and other emperors without number Tamerlane king of Tartars Othoman king of Turks Sforsa duke of Millan and other great lords whom it would be too long to number Nero and many others haue by their wickednes and negligence lost their empires Sardanapalus by his lasinesse lost the kingdome of Assyria So long as the kings of France suffered their affairs to be managed by others than themselues they were lesse esteemed than an image surely no more than liked the master of their Palace to allow theÌ„ who at length draue out the kings without gainsaying as men of none account and vnprofitable For it was the opinion of all men that those were vnworthie to raigne and to commaund men which were theÌ„selues inferior to women and by their vnweeldines had made themselues verie sots and beasts For as Anacharsis saith Idlenesse and sluggishnesse are cruell enemies to wisdome But he that loueth vertue shunneth not anie paines saith Theodericke Plutarch in the life of Dion saith That the carelesnesse and negligence of Dennis the soone getting coÌ„tinually the vpper hand of him caried him to women and bellicheere and all vicious pastimes at length did break asunder his adamaÌ„t chains that is to say the great number of his warlike soldiers and his store of Gallies of whom his father bosted that he leâ—t his kingdome fast chained to his sonne And that is the reason why he that is the gouernor of a people should intend to the state whereunto he is called lest he receiue blame at a womaÌ„s hand as Philip and Demetrius did of whom the one being of his owne nature gentle and easie to be spoken to yet at that time hauing no leisure to do iustice and the other being hard to be come vnto did either of them learne their lessons at two poore womens hands who told it them in one worde saying Then list not to be kings This free speech of the one made Philip to do iustice vnto hir out of haÌ„d the same free speech of the other made Demetrius to begin thenceforth to become more affable to all men Although Augustus was as peaceable a prince as euer reigned yet failed he not to intend continually to other mens matters and sometimes to refresh his spirits he would go from Rome to a pleasant house that he had neer vnto Naples and yet euen there he could not be without doings But the hypocrite Tiberius made his soiourning there to serue to cloke his lasinesse or rather to discouer it For whensoeuer he was readie to depart thither hee gaue strait commandement that no man should be so bold as to come thither to speake to him of any matters And besides that he set warders vpon the way to stoppe such as trauelled thither And he receiued the reward of his lasinesse For as he was playing the drunkard in all excesse newes was brought vnto him of the inuading of three of his Prouinces by his enimies Vitellius was so deepe plunged in voluptuousnesse that he had much a doo to bethinke himselfe that he was Emperour and his end was like his life All slouthfull princes haue either had a miserable or violent death or else their names haue bene wiped out of the remembrance of meÌ„ For as Plutarch saith The maner of punishing those that haue liued lewdly is to cast them into darknesse out of all knowledge and through euerlasting forgetfulnesse to throw them downe into the deepe sea of slouth and idlenesse which with his wauing bringeth darknes and putteth folke out of knowledge And as Theodorick saith to the Gothes vnder idlenesse and slothfulnesse commendable prowes is hidden and the light of that mans deserts is darkened which hath no life to put the same in proofe Contrariwise by aduenturing by vndertaking and by setting hand to worke great things and of great value haue beene compassed which to the carelesse and negligent seemed vnpossible and not to be hoped for And if the diligent and painfull haue happened through their desire of honour or by some misfortune to end their daies with violent death yet hath the remembrance of their noble deeds flowne through all the worlde and beene commended and honoured of posteritie And as Salomon sayth in the 12. of the Prouerbs The hand of the diligent shall beare rule but the idle hand shall be vnder tribute And in another placed An idle hand maketh poore but a diligent hand maketh rich The slouthfull person shall not gaine nor haue whereof to feed but the store of the diligent is precious The slouthfull person wisheth and his heart alwayes wanteth The idle folke shall suffer famine but the life of the diligent shall be maintained And in the 21. of the Prouerbs The thoughts of the diligent tend altogither to abundance but whosoeuer is slouthfull shall surely come to penurie And in the 36. Like as a doore turneth vpon the hinges so doth the slouthfull man wallow in his bed The sluggard hideth his hand in his bosome and is loth to put it to his mouth And in the 21. of Ecclesiasticus The slouthfull man is like a filthie or mirie stone whereof all men will speake shame Hesiodus sayth That men grow rich by trauaile and diligence For not paines taking but idlenes is vnhonest And he sayth moreouer that slouthfulnesse is accompanied with scarcitie which feeding it selfe with vaine hope ingendreth manie euils in a mans mind and keepeth a man idle in fower way leete without getting wherwith to liue Aeschilus sayth That vnto such as watch god reacheth out his hand liketh wel to help them that take paines We see how goods do melt away betweene the hands of the slouthfull without his spending of them and that oftentimes hee hath as little as the prodigall person that is diligent according
haue slender wits Therefore we call him a glutton which eateth either too much or too hastilie or oftener than he needeth besides his ordinarie meales or that seeketh delicate and daintie meats And we call him a drunkard which drinketh out of measure For to drinke wine moderatly is not forbidden And as Anacharsis said The first draught serueth for health the second for pleasure the third for shame and the fourth for madnesse For as Herodotus saith Drunkennes putteth a man out of his wits and makes him mad Moyses forbiddeth the priests to drinke wine or any other drinke that may make men drunken during the time that they were in their course of sacrifising Plato in his common-weale forbiddeth magistrats wine during the time of the executing of their office and also children vntill they be eighteene yeares old for feare of putting fire to fire For great heed ought to be taken that we driue not youth into a setled disposition of furie And after that time he will haue them to vse wine moderatly And when they be come to fortie years then they may drinke the more liberally as a remedie against the waywardnesse of old age And in the same booke He that is full of wine sayth he both draweth and is drawne hither and thither And therefore a drunkard as a man besides himselfe is vnmeete for generation because it is likely that his procreation shall be vnequall crooked and vnstable as well in members as in maners And therefore he saith That a drunkard being set in any state of gouernment whatsoeuer it be vndoeth and marreth all whether it be ship or armed chariot or any other thing whereof he hath the guiding and gouernment The Carthaginenses prohibited wine to their magistrats and men of warre and so doth also Mahomet to all those that hold of his law It was felonie for the magistrats of Locres to drinke wine without the licence of a Phisition And the yong Romans dranke no wine afore they were twentie yeeres old Atheneus saith That the Greeks neuer dranke wine without water and that sometimes they put fiue glasses of water to one of wine and sometime but two of water to foure of wine Hesiodus will haue men to put three parts of water to one of wine Sophocles mocked the poet Aeschylus for that he neuer wrote but when he was well drunken For although he write well saith he yet writeth he vnaduisedlie Aristophanes termed wine the milke of Venus because it prouoketh men to lecherie And Horace saith That a cup of wine is the companion of Venus And for that cause a certaine Iewish sect called Esseans who were holier and of better conuersation than the Pharisees or than the Saduces who were heretikes abstained from wine and women as witnesseth Iosephus in his Antiquities Osee saith That wine and fornication bereaue men of their harts that is to wit of right vnderstanding and discretion For wine hideth and darkeneth wisdome And Salomon in the the 23 of the Prouerbs saith That the drunkard and the glutton shall become poore And in another place Who saith he haue misfortune who haue sorrow who haue trouble who haue sighing who haue stripes without cause and who haue â—aintnes of eyes Euen they that sit at the wine and straine themselues to emptie the cuppes Wine is alluring but in the end it stingeth like a serpent and leaueth his sting behind him like an aspworme At that time thine eies shall see strangers and thy hart shall vtter fond things Plinie in the 14 booke of his naturall Historie saith among other things that it maketh the eies water the hands quiuering the nights vnquiet lewd dreames a stinking breath in the morning and vtter forgetfulnesse of all things Moderate wine helpeth concoction and the sinewes and abundance thereof hurteth them Esau by his gluttonie lost his birthright Noe by his drunkennesse became a laughing stocke to his owne children and Lot delt shamefully with his owne daughters Betweene a drunken man and a mad man is small difference And as Crysippus saith Drunkennesse is a peti-madnesse as we read of Alexander who in his drunkennesse was commonly furious And as Strabo saith Like as a small wind doth easily carie him away that is swaieng forward alredie so a little greef doth easily make him mad that hath taken in too much wine And Sophocles saith A drunken man is easily caried away with choler and hath no vnderstanding whereby it commeth to passe that when he hath rashly discharged his tongue he is constrained afterward whether he will or no to heare of it at their hands of whom he railed in his lustinesse For who so euill speaketh saith Hesiodus shall shortly after heare more of it than he had spoken Theognis saith That as gold is tried by fire so is a mans mind by wine For wine bereaueth him of all knowledge and consequently of all aduisement and meane to dissemble so as it is ill done to commit anie secrets to a drunkard If a drunkard offended in his drunkennesse Pittacus would haue him punished with double punishment that he should the rather abstaine from drunkennesse The Romans did put them out of the Senate that were drunkards In old time a man could not put away his wife except she had beene an adultresse a witch or a wine drinker To eschue this vice we will take the remedie of Anacharsis who counselled them that were subiect to that vice to behold how drunken men behaued themselues or rather as Pithagoras said to bethinke them of the things that a drunken man hath done That was the cause why the Lacedemonians made their bondslaues drunken that their yong folk might learne to hate drunkennesse when they saw those poore soules out of their wits and scorned at all hands Furthermore it is to be considered what mischiefs haue come of drunkennesse whereof all stories are full as how the armie of Thomiris was discomfited by Cyrus for that they hauing drunke too much were laid downe and falne a sleepe How the citie Abida in Mesopotamia was lost by drunkennesse because the men that were set to gard the tower of Hipponomethere hauing drunke too much were falne into so deep a sleepe that they were surprised by their enemies and slaine afore they could awake In general for frugality we must haue the vertue of Temperance before our eies which warneth vs to follow reason and to eschue superfluitie of eating and drinking vnder colour that we haue whereof to make good cheere and say as Alcamenes did who being vpbraided that he liued so sparingly and poorely for the riches that he had said That he which hath great reuenues ought to liue according to reason and not at his pleasure For frugalitie doth alway well beseeme a Prince so long as it proceed not of nigardship Our former kings lost their kingdome through following their delights King Charles the seuenth who was woont to sup with three yong pigeons
vpon Hanniball yet notwithstanding had not the foresight of Fabius ben the valeancy of Marcellus had serued the Romans to small purpose But Hanniball hauing two valeant captains vpon him at once of two diuerse humours was sore incumbered how to deale with them For when Marcellus had lost a battell Fabius was readie at hand to stop Hanniball from passing any further And in this case seeing the Romans were able to maintaine two armies and it stoode them on hand to conquer or at leastwise to recouer that which they had lost at the iourny of Cannas they were not misaduised in their counsell to chuse these two braue captains of so differing humors to the intent that the continuall fighting of the one might wearie Hanniball and the lingering of Fabius might ouerthrow him But this is not easie for all men to do and specially for theÌ„ that haue not their people trained to the wars as the Romans had who sent them out of Rome as it were by swarms After whose example the prince that is able to leuie store of men and well trained needeth not to be afraid to giue battell to vncumber himselfe of a noisome enemie that cannot be driuen away but by fight The Romans did so against the Gaules and Germaines against Pyrrhus and against Hanniball So did Charles Martell against the Sarzins and Philip of Valois against king Eâ—ward But when a prince sees that fortune is against him then must he alter his manner of dealing as Charles the fifth did against the Englishmen For the former victories that they had obtained against the Frenchmen had taught him to seeke the oportunitie of time For sith the former way auailed him not it behoued him to try another The Gaules were valeant and furious in fight and therfore Cneus Sulpicius did well to protract time with them Hanniball was inuincible in Italie and therefore Fabius did wisely in trying another way and Scipio did boldly and valeantly in making warre in Affricke to turne him away from Italie If Manfred had taken the aduauntage of time at Naples he had done wel for he had cut the combes of the Fenchmen who are furious and almost vnpregnable at the first brunt and had in short time brought Charles to vtter want of vittels and monie Contrariwise it stood Conradine on hand to giue battell to Charles duke of Aniou as he did For he was to reconquer the countrie And Charles of Aniou being but a new conquerour and as yet scarce well assured of his kingdome was not to haue refused him neither did he For there are times and seasons which permit not delay but require of necessitie the hazarding of a battel In our ciuill warres we haue seene two captains that haue vsed means cleane contrarie one to another and yet the purpose and resolution of either of them was commendable and had come afterward to a good end if it had been ripe The duke of Guise a braue and valeant captaine if euer any were sought battell by all the means he couâ—d and could not away with lingering delaies the which he did not without great reason For first he ment to alay the fire which he saw increasing in such sort as it would be hard to quench if it were once throughly kindled in all parts Againe he feared least the prolonging of time would increase the contrary side and that many would incline that way if it were not preuented by destroying the chiefe leaders of that part by a bloody battel And as for winning therof he thought himselfe sure of it For although the contrary party had the choise of the souldiers of the old bands yet had he not such a number of horsmen as the duke of Guise led the which alone might be a cause of victorie for the footmen do nothing without horsmen Moreouer he had a great number of Suislers and a goodly bâ—nd of French harquebuzers store of ordnance seeld peeces and whatsoeuer else is requisit in an army roiall whereas the other side was but an army patched vp howbeit that there were some good and well practised captains and valiant souldiers Contrariwise Monsieur de Tauanes perceiuing that there behoued many battels to be giuen for the vtter defeating of the contrary side though it be better to delay the time and that the king should by length of time bereaue them of the countrie that they had conquered forasmuch as he had sufficient wherewith to hold out the war at length which abilitie they had not who oftentimes wanted monie and men of war to be at commandement of the ring leader because the most part serued of good will and could not enforce vs to hazard a battell but to their owne great disaduantage And if that maner had continued any longer than it did they had ben brought to a great afterdeale CHAP. IX Whether it be possible for two armies lodged one neere another to keepe themselues from being inforced to fight whether they will or no. WE haue seene the profit that commeth of waiting to take the oportunity of time and of ouermatching the enemy by long delay and protracting of time but yet there remaineth a doubt concerning the possibilitie thereof whether it lie in a mans power to refuse to come to battell when he is neere his enemie and marcheth side by side with him They that hold the opinion that a man cannot be enforced to battell alledge the examples of Cneus Sulpicius against the Gaules of Fabius Maximus against Hannibal of Pericles against the Lacedemonians of Charles the fifth against Edward king of England of the constable of France at Auignion of the duke of Alua at Naples against the duke of Guise and of diuers others who by delay of time brought the enterprises of their enemies to nothing and were neuer enforced to come to handstrokes On the contrarie part they that haue hazarded a battell in their owne countrie haue found themselues ill apaid as Craesus against Cyrus Darius against Alexander Philip of Valois against king Edward and many others aforealledged whom we forbeare to speake of to auoid tediousnes But these examples are not able to proue that a captaine cannot be compelled to fight whether he will or no. For when a conquering enemie commeth strongly into a countrie he may compell you to come to battell or else to flee or else to shut vp your selfe in some citie which are dishonourable points and of dangerous consequence The duke of Saxonie meant to haue wone time of the emperour Charles the fifth after that maner vpon trust of the great riuer Albis that was betweene the two camps but the emperour found a foord the which was shewed him by a miller whereat he passed some of the troops of his horsmen and the residue did so much by swimming and by boats that they got land on the side where their enemies lay Philip king of Macedonie the father and Perses his son encamped themselues vpon a mountaine wherunto there
was but one onely accesse very difficult But the Romans at length caused them to dislodge and the said Perses who feared nothing so much as to come to baâ—tel was compelled to come to handstrokes Ye know how the late prince of Condie trusting to the riuer Charent came before Newcastle thinking it vnpossible for vs to haue enforced him to battell but to our disaduantage and yet was he driuen therto without any difficulty And therfore I say with Machiauell in his discourses that a very small army may well wearie and vexa conqueror but in the end they shal not keepe themselues from battell vnlesse they will leaue the field free to their enemies As for the examples that I haue alledged of Pericles and of king Charles the fift they will not serue the turne in this case For they had no armies and therefore were contented to hold themselues close and in couert For the one knew well inough that the Lacedemonians were not of power to besiege Athens nor to do any more than burn the countrie and the other hauing well prouided his towns and set good garrisons in euery of them wist well that the Englishmen being wont to ouercome the countrie could do him no harme in wasting it but were as a flash of lightening that passeth away For the king of England was not able to maintaine a continual army as the Romans were But if king Charles had had an armie he could not haue followed the Englishmen but he must haue ben driuen to fight with them some one time or other And therefore he suffered them to cast their â—ite and to trauell a hundred leagues without any profit during all which time king Charles spared his men and mony But they that maâ—ch neere their enemie cannot exempt themselues from comming to a battell would they neuer so faine Neueâ—â—â—elesse i◠〈◊〉 â—â—ue a conuenient nu0mber of men and well trained they may fight to their aduauntage Such was the resolution of Fabius who would not â—aue refused battell if he had seene himselfe forced therto because he knew he should haue the aduantage as he well shewed in the succour that he gaue to Minutius For he left the hillgrounds and came downe into the plaines and the let was in Hanniball that the matter was not tried by battell But Hanniball thought it better to sound the retreit than to hazard himselfe against so mighty an enemy that could not be deceiued by his slights as other captains had ben whom he had sought withall As touching that which the constable did at Auinion it proued him to be of good discretion For being vnable to make head against so mightie an enemy he was faine to fortifie and strengthen himselfe in a place where he might not be forced And in the while that hee staied the emperour and quailed the luslines of his army men came to him from all parts whereby his owne armie became so increased and strenghned that it was sufficient to encounter the emperours power And it is not to be doubted but that if sickenesse had not cast downe the constable he would haue followed the emperour as Fabius followed Hanniball encamping himselfe in places of aduauntage and in that case if he had been forced to battel it would haue bin to his aduantage and to the emperors losâ—e As for example The Spaniards could not exempt themselues from encountering aâ— Bicocke but that was to the Frenchmens losse As touching the fact of the duke of Alua holding fast continually this principle Not to come to battell in his owne country without necessitie when he saw that the duke of Guise had not yet taken sooting in the kingdome of Naples but rather that he was stopped at a litle town which he could not obtain the protracting of time was needful for him And if the duke of Guise would haue passed on further he should haue wanted vittels hauing so great an armie attending vpon him at hand to cut them off not one towne wherein to make his storehouse So that the duke of Aluaes protracting of time hauing lodged his camp in a strong sure place was profitable to himselfe and preiudiciall to the duke of Guise who sought nothing so much as to come to hand strokes whereby he might haue opened vnto himself a way into the realme of Naples if he had had the lucke to win the battell but he could neuer come vnto it The emperour Charles and the king of France plaid at the barriers one against another in Picardie and Arthois For as soone as the one did put off armes the other entered by and by into his countrie with an armed power And all the fruit of their salies one against another in al a whole summer was but the taking of som litle towne so they skirmished one with another at handie strokes And in this case although there was a light armie against the assailant onely to cumber him and to cut off vittels from him yet was it wisely done to shun the combat For it was well knowne that the winter would cause the armie to break vp there was no need to put any one man in ieopardy But when a puissant enemie is in a countrie whence he intendeth not to depart the prince thereof must oppose against him as strong an armie as his or at leastwise an armie sufficient to encounter his if he will not lose his estate and yet notwithstanding to the intent he tempt not fortune the wisest counsell is to abstaine from encounter For at length if he haue not gotten manie townes ye shall ouermatch him But yet for all this a good occasion must not be ouerpassed nor the winning of a battell be refused which is made sure vnto you by hauing a place of aduauntage the which is easier for him to chuse that standeth vpon his guard than for him that is to make the conquest as you may see by Fabius who vsed it wisely For although he had an armie well trained yet would he not without purpose aduenture against another more trained to the wartes and against so braue a captaine seeing it was more for his owne profite to make delay than to fight out of hand But if his enemie would haue enforced him to forsake his ground he would haue answered him without refusing the battell because he could not but be sure to haue woon it hauing a good and strong army and the aduauntage of the place Paulus Eâ—nilius was determined to haue followed the same counsell had it not beene â—or the headines of his fellow And that maner of dealing would in the end haue compelled Hanniball to abandon Italie without stroke striking and without the hazarding of any one mans life CHAP. X. Whether the daunger be greater to fight a battell in a mans owne countrie or in a straunge countrie THis principle being well obserued not to fight at home but vpon necessitie or vpon some good occasion of assured victorie offered
expenses Sparing is a sure reuenue The treasure prepared for the necessitie of the state is not to be â—ashed out in time of peace Liberalitie is vnderpropped by two things Good turnes misbestowed are euil turns Good must be done for good desert and not to get praise Two sorts of Liberalitie Liberalitie must be vsed without preiudice to any Of Alms. Hospitalitie a spice of Liberalitie Tâ—eataâ—â—eneâ— of Liberality Liberalitie of despising mony and gifts Liberalitie consisteth bâ—â—h in giuing and in taking Of Magnificence Too gret sparing be commeth not a great lord The honest expenâ—e of a â—able is to be commended The charitie of diueâ—s Romanes The charitie of Gillias and Buza The bountifulnesse of Hiero. The â—lâ—teians The bountifulnesse of Alexander matched with courtesie and cheerfulnes Alexander passed the bouÌ„ds of liberalitie Caesar prodiâ—alâ— It is euil done to borrow vnder vain hope The libeâ—alâ—â—â— of 〈◊〉 Caligulaes prodigalitie Prodigalitie is a counterfeiter of Liberalitie If a man wâ—ll be wâ—lâ—hie he must not be too lauish Of Coueâ—ousnesse Couetousnes withstandeâ—h the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 It is vse that maketh richeâ— Couetousnes breedeth theeâ—erie The goods that are hoorded vp by the couetous shal be wasted by the prodigall Who is rich and who is poore What a prince is to doe for the wel-garding of his kingdome The miserable case of the couetous The meane to become rich Nothing so royall as to be helpfull to many Couetousnes is nought else than vniustice aâ—â— wickednâ—â—â— A couetous king vndoeth his realme Kindnesse or Kindheartednesse reacheth further than vprightnesse Fiue sorts of Gentlenesse or Kindnesse The subiect is dâ—sirous to be knowne of his prince A prince ought to 〈…〉 He is to â—e pitâ—ed which submitteth himselfe â—o ouâ— mercie Of the excesse of Gentlenesse Whether a prince ought to be meeld or sterne It is hard for him that reigneth to be gentle to all men Only good will maketh a kingdome sure The great princes of old time â—anqueted priuaâ—ly with their friends The visiting of the sicke Crassus being of lesse authoritie than Pompey got the fauour of the people against him by Gentlenesse and Courtesiâ— The gentlnes of Totilas drue the souldiers to him that had warred against him Men are to be tuned by gentle means as well as brute beasts The tyrant that is a coward is most cruell and suspicious Too great gentlenesse and too great seueritie are both verie dangerous God enforceth 〈…〉 to obedience He that altereth a state must haue force to make men feare him vntill he be surely setled in his tyrannie A new dominion is to be gotten by force and to be maintained by gentlenesse To be ouer-easily intreated may be hurtfull Of Enuie The differeÌ„ce betweene hatred and Enuie Enuie is vndeterminable The sin of Enuie is vnexcusable Whether a prince be subiect to Enuie Wherto enuie serueth The Enuie oâ— Caligula The inconueniences of Enuie Remedies against enuy How to eschew enâ—y Prouerb 11. A Definition of Pride God abhorreth all lofâ—â—nes of heart VVhereof pride coÌ„meth Pride a hinderance to al the fruits of righteousnesse He that wil â—e good must beleeue himselfe to be euill The prowd prouoketh God to wrath A proud persoâ— ouerthroweth a whole citie He that honored not his parent is proud All disobediâ—nâ— commeth of Pâ—â—de Ambition springeth of Pride Pride and Ambition neuer grow old Enuie proceedeth of pride Pride is the ordinarie vice of estates Pride assaulteth good men and such as are best occupied Pride stepâ—â—th â—n euen iâ— deuotion God wil haue none to be great but himselfe The way to keepe a 〈◊〉 from Pride Humilitie 〈◊〉 lowlinesse is as a bit or a bridle against ouer-weening to subdue it to reason 〈…〉 that 〈◊〉 modes and meeke Pride is lâ—kâ— bâ—a◠〈…〉 wind The proud man resembleth him that is sicke of the falling euill The fruits of Humilitie To haue honourâ— a man must flee from it Plutarch in the life of Pirrâ—us A definition of Prowesse Three sorts of Prowesse It is no point oâ— Pâ—owesse 〈…〉 to eschue â—isâ—hiefe Ariâ—totle lib. 8. Floral Appendants of Prowesse Of Trauell Of ResolutioÌ„ Of Strength Of Boldnesse The difference of Boldnesse and Prowesse Of ConfideÌ„ce Of Sufferance To beare with things amisâ—e is a â—oint of Prowesse Prowesse oâ— Valiantnesse is most proper to waâ— Why the conceit of death is greater in battel than in other places It is easier to 〈◊〉 boldnesse 〈…〉 Wherin Prowesse doth chieâ—ly consist The definition of Fearfulnesse The differenâ—e betweene the valiâ—nt and the fooâ—e-hardâ—e A notable iudgement of the Lacedemonians â—euen sorts of Pro 〈…〉 The feare of 〈…〉 Prowesse is a skill Xâ—nophon in his fourth booke of the deâ—ngs and sayings of Socrates Accustomednesse vnto perill maketh those to seem haâ—die that be not Aristotle in his ninth booke of Morals Aristotle in the eight of his Morals Sorrow and Anger make men to seeme hardie Despight maketh a man to forgee the basenesse of a lasie and languishing mind They that haue the managing of great matters ought not to set their minds vpon base things The definition of Magnanimitie The differâ—â—â—â— between 〈◊〉 Magnanimity The nobleminded-man is not trubled either with prosperitie or with aduersitie He that hath a loftie courage in adnersitie is a noble minded man A braue port and stout countenance is in aduersitie commeâ—â—able but in prosperity discommendable Noblemindednesse the meane betweene Faint-hartednes or Bacemindednes and Fool-hardines The nobleminded hath six properties Magnanimity passeth not for vaine turmoils A prince should passe his subiects in diligence In doing nothing men learne to doe euill An armie must not be suâ—â—ered to be idle The diligence of Iulius Caâ—sar The harme of going slowly about a mans businesse Of ouermuch sleepe A solitarie life is alâ— one with the life that is troublefull A policie of Cimon Such as were but captaines haue in the end made theÌ„ selues Dukes Kings Emperors by their diligeÌ„câ— Slâ—ggishnes 〈◊〉 an enemie to wisdome A king ought to be diligent in looking to his estate The harm that Tiberius took of his lasines Sâ—othfulnesse bringeth darknesse which is a great punishment Slouth and idlenesse ouerwhelm prowesse Great things are done by diligence William Bellay in his Ogdoades The hand of the diligent shal bear rule The slouthful man coÌ„meth to penurie Not trauaile but idlenes is a foule thing To them that watch God reacheth out his hand Mens minds wax rusty and forgrowne by doing nothing The definitioÌ„ of Temperance Cicero in his second booke of the Ends of good and bad Temperance the strength of the soule The difference betweene Valiantnesse and Temperance Temperance maketh vs happie Intemperance vtterly confoundeth the state of the mâ—nde He liueth most at ease that is conteÌ„ted with least Temperance the foundaâ—ioÌ„ of all vertue Voluptuousnesse blindeth the eyes of the minde Câ—cero in his duties Voluptuousnes bereaueth men of their wit Voluptuousnes the plague of all coÌ„monweales Libertie is maintained by frugalitie Mens maners change according to the