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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50353	The publisher or translator of Nicholas Machiavels whole works out of Italian, faithfully into English, concerning the following letter of Nicholas Machiavels, wherein he clears himself of the aspersions alledg'd by some on his writings also, his judgment as to government, whether monarchie or democracie be the best : and lastly, (tho' a papist) shews their wicked and base errours, both of popes, Jesuits, priests, &c. and that they shall be brought to ruine / written by the author, April 1st, 1537.	Neville, Henry, 1620-1694.; Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469-1527.	1688 (1688)	Wing M139; ESTC R23469	20,698	46

can I in reason be accused for that it would become those who lay this blame upon me to undeceive them whom my Papers have mis-led and to shew the World to what other causes we may impute those admirable effects those Heroick qualities and performances that integrity and purity of manners that scorning of riches and life it self when the publick was concerned If they please to do this they will oblidge my Readers who will owe to such the rectifying their Judgements and not at all offend me who have reasoned this matter impartially and without passion nor have positively affirmed any thing But what if this part of my accusation had been true Why should I be condemned of Heresie or indiscretion of preferring a Common wealth before a Monarchy Was I not Born Bred and imployed in a City which being at the time I write under that form of Government did owe all wealth and greatness and all prosperity to it If I had not very designedly avoided all dogmaticalness in my observations being not willing to imitate young Scholars in their Declamations I might easily have concluded from the premisses I lay down that a Democracy founded upon good Orders is the best and most excellent Government and this without the least fear of confutation for I firmly believe that there are none but Flattorers and Sophisters would oppose me such as will rest Aristotle and even Plato himself to make them write for Monarchy by misapplying some loose passages in those great Authors ●● nay will tell their Readers that what is most like the Government of the World by GOD is the best which wholly depends upon his absolute Power to make this comparison run with four feet these Sycophants must give the poor Prince they intend to Deific a better and superiour Nature to Humanity must Creat a necessary dependance of all Creatures upon him must endue him with infinite wisdom and goodness and even with Omnipotency it self It will be hard for any man to be mis-led in this Argument by proofs wrested from Theology since whosoever reads attentively the Historical part of the Old Testament shall find that GOD himself never made but one Government for Men that this Government was a Common wealth where in the ●●nchadrim or Senate and the Congregation or ●opular Assembly had their share and that he ●hanifested his high displeasure when the rebelli●us people would turn it into a Monarchy but that I may not stricke upon the rock I profess to shun I shall pass to that which is fit indeed to be wip'd off and which if it were true would not only justly expose me to the hatred and vengeance of GOD and all good men but even destroy the design and purpose of all my Writings which is to treat in some sort as well as one of my small parts can hope to do of the Politlcks And how can any man pretend to wrire concerning Policy who destroys the most 〈◊〉 sential part of it which is obedience to all Governments It will be very easie then for Guilio Salviati or any other Member of our Society to believe the Protestation I make that the animating of private Men either directly or indirectly to disobey much less to shake off any government how despotical soever was never in my Thoughts or Writings those who are unwilling to give credit to this may take the pains to assign in any of my Books the passages they imagine to tend that way for I can think of none my self that so I may give such persons more particular satisfaction I must confess I have a discourse in one of my Books to encourage the Italian Nation to assume their ancient valour and to expel the Barbarians meaning as the ancient Romans used the word a● Strangers from amongst us but that was before the Kings of Spain had quiet possession of the Kingdom of Naples or the Emperour of the Dutchy of Milan so that I could not be interpreted to mean that the people of those two Dominious should be stir'd up to shake off their Primces because they were Forreigners since at that time Lodovic Sforza was in possession of the one and K. Frederick restored to the other both Natives of Italy but my design was to exhort our Countrey-men not to suffer this Province to be the Scene of the Arms and Ambition of Charles the 8th or K. Lewis his Successor who when they had a mind to renew the old Title of the House of Anjou to the Kingdom of Naples came with such force into Italy that not only our good were plundered and our Lands wasted but even the liberty of our Cities and Government endangered but to unite and oppose them and to keep this Province in the hands of Princes of our own Nation this my intention is so visible if the Chapter it self that I need but refer you to it Yet that I may not answer this imputation barely by denying I shall assert in this place what my principles are in that which the World calls Rebellion which I believe to be not only rising in Arms against any government we live under but to acknowledge that word to extend to al● claindestine Conspiracies too by which the peace and quiet of any Countrey may be interrupted and by consequence the Lives and Estates of innocent Persons endangered Rebellion then so described I hold to be the greatest crime that can be committed amongst men both against Policy Morality and in foro Conseientiae but notwithstanding all this it is an offence which will be committed whilst the World lasts as often as Princes tyrannize and by enslaving and oppressing their Subjects make Magistracy which was intended for the benefit of Mankind prove a Plague and Destruction to it for let the terrour and the guilt be never so great it is impossible that Humane Nature which consists of Passion as well as Virtue can support with patience and submission the greatest cruelty and in justice when ever either the weakness of their Princes the unamity of the People or any other favourable accident shall give them reasonable hopes to mend their condition and pro●ide better for their own interest by insurrection ●o that Princes and States ought in the Conduct of their Affairs not only to consider what their ●cople are bound to submit to if they were inpired from Heaven or were all Moral Philoophers but to weigh likewise what is probable de facto to fall out in this corrupt age of the World and to reflect upon those dangerous Tumults which have happened frequently not only upon oppression but even by reason of Malver●ation and how some Monarchies have been wholly subverted and changed into Democracies by the Tyranny of the Princes as we see to say nothing of Rome the powerful Cantons of Switzerland brought by that means a little before the last age to a considerable Common-wealth courted and sought by all the Potents in Christendom If Princes will seriously consider this I make no question

of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye ●hall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for this promise ●s to you and to your Children and to all that are afar ●ff even as many as the LORD our GOD shall call Next to judge infallibly of Divine Truth and to forgive sins as CHRIST did Then to be the Head of all Ecclesiastical Persons and Causes in the World to be so far above Kings and Princes as to Judge Depose and Deprive them and to have an absolute Jurisdiction over all the affairs in Christendom in Ordine ad Spiritualia yet all this the Canonists allow him and he makes no scruple to assume whilst it is plain that in the whole New Iestament there is no description made of such an Officer to be at any time in the Church except it be in the Prophecy of the A●ocalyps or in one of St. Paul's Episties where he sayes Who it is that shall sit in the Temple of GOD. shewing himself that he is GOD. CHRIST tells us his Kingdom is not of this World And if any will be the greatest amongst his Disciples that be must be serwant to the rest which shews that his Followers were to be great in Sanctity and Humility and not in worldly power The Apostle Paul writing to the Christians 〈◊〉 those times almost in every Epistle comman●● them to be obedient to the Higher Powers or Mag●●strates set over them and St. Peter himself from whom this extravagant Empire is pretended t●● be derived in his first Epistle bids us submit o●● selves to every ordinance of man for the LORDS sake whether it be to the King or c and this is en●● joyn'd although it is plain that they who go●● vern'd the World in those days were bot●● Heathens Tyrants and Usurpers and in th●● submission there is no exception or proviso for Ec●clesiastical immunity The practice as wel as precepts of those Holy Men shews plainly that the● had no intention to leave Successors who should deprive Hereditary Princes from their right o● Reigning for differing in Religion who without all doubt are by the appointment of the Apostl●● and by the principles of Christianity to be obeyed and submitted to in things wherein the fundamental Laws of the Government give them power though they were Jews or Gentiles If I should tell you by what Texts in Scripture the Popes claim the powers before mentioned it would stir you up to laughter and prove too light for so serious a matter yet because possibly you have never heard so much of this subject before I shall instance in a few They tell you therefore that the Jurisdiction they pretend over the Church and the power of pardoning sins comes from CHRIST to St. Peter and from ●im to them Thou art Peter and upon this Rock 〈◊〉 will build my Church I will give thee the Keyes of ●he Kingdom of Heaven whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou ●halt loose on Earth c. From these two Texts ridiculously applyed comes this great Tree which hath with its branches over spread the whole Earth and kill'd all the good and wholsome Plants growing upon it The first Text will never by any man of sense be understood to say more than that the Preaching Suffering and Ministry of Peter was like to be a great foundation and Pillar of the Doctrine of Christ the other Text as also another spoken by our Saviour to all his Apostles whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retain they are retained are all by the primitive Fathers interpreted in this manner wheresover you shall effectually preach the Gospel you shal carry with you Grace and Remission of sins to them which shall follow your instructions but the people who shal not have these joyful Tidings communicated by you to them shall remain in darkness and in their sins But if any will contest that by some of these last Texts that Evangelical Excommunication which was afterwards brought into the Church by the Apostles was here presignified by our great Master how unlike were those censures to those now thundered out as he calls it by the Pope these we● for edification and not destruction to affli●● the flesh for the salvation of the Soul that th● Apostolical Ordinance was pronounced for som● notorious scandal or Apostacy from the Faith and first decreed by the Church that is th● whole Congregation present and then denounced by the Pastor and reached only to deba● such persons from partaking of the Communi●on or fellowship of that Church till Repentance should readmit him but was followed by no other prosecution or chastisement as is now practised But suppose all these Texts had been as they would have them how does this make for the Successors of St. Peter or the rest Or how can this prove the Bishops of Rome to have right to such Succession But I make haste from this subject and shal urge but one Text more which is the spiritual man judgeth all men but is himself judged of none from whence is inferred by the Canonists that first the Pope is the Spiritual man and then that he is to be Judge of all the World and last that he is never to be lyable to any judgment himself whereas it is obvious to the meanest understanding St. Paul in t● is text means to distinguish between a person inspired with the Spirit of God and remaining one in the state of Nature which latter he sayes cannot judge of those Heavenly gifts and graces as he explains himself when he says The natural man ●●nnot discern the things of the Spirit because they are ●●olishness unto him To take my leave of this matter wholly out of the way of my Studies I shall beg of you Zen●bio and of Guilio and the rest of out Society to read over carefully the New Testament and then to see what ground there is for Purgatory by which all the wealth and greatness hath accrew'd to these men what colour for the Idolatrous worship of Saints and their Images and particularly for speaking in their hymes and prayers to a piece of wood the Cross I mean Salve Lignum c. and then fae nos dignos beneficiorum Christi as you may read in that Office what colour or rather what excuse for that horrid unchristian and barbarous Engine called the Inquisition brought in by the Command and Authority of the Pope the inventor of which Peter a Dominican Fryer having been slain amongst the Albigesi as he well deserved is now Cannoniz'd for a Saint and stil'd San Pietro Martine In the dreadful Prisons of this Inquisition many faithful and pious Christians to say nothing of honest Moral M●ors or Mahometans are tormented and samish'd or if they out live their sufferings burnt publickly to death and that only for differing in Religion from the Pope without having any crime or the least misdemeanor proved or alledged against them

action that he was the person whom God intended to make use in delivering them from the horrid slavery they were then under If any man will read over my Book of the Prince with impartiality and ordinary charity he will easily perceive that it is not my intention therein to recommend that Government or those men there discribed to the world much less to teach them to trample upon good men and a that is Sacred and Venerable upon earth Law Religion Honesty and what not if I have been a little too punctual in designing these Monsters and drawn them to the life in all their lineaments and colours I hope manking will know them the better to avoid them m●●● Treatise being both a Satyr against them and 〈◊〉 true Character of them I speak nothing o● great and honourable Princes as the Kings o● England France and others who have th● Sta●es and Orders of their Kingdoms with excellent Laws and Constitution to found and maintain their Government and who reig●● over the hearts as well as the persons of their subjects I treat only of those vermin bred out of the corruption of our own small Common wealths and Cities or engender'd by the ill blast that come from Rome Olivaretto da Fermo Borgi●● the Baglioni the Bentivoglio and a hundred others who having had neither right nor honourable means to bring them to their power use is with more violence rapin and cruelty upon the poor people than those other renowned Princes shew to the Boars the Wolves the Foxes and other savage beasts which are the objects of their chase and hunting whosoever in his Empire over men is ty'd to no other rules than those of his own will and lust must either be a Saint to moderate his passions or else 〈◊〉 very Devil incarnate or if he be neither of these both his life and reign are alike to be very short for whosoever takes upon him so execrable an employment as to rule men against the Laws of nature and of reason must turn all topsie turvy and never stick at any thing for if once he halt he will fals and never rise again I hope after this I need say little to justifie my self from the calumny of advising these Monsters to break their faith since to keep it is to lose their Empire faithfulness and sincerity being their mortal enemies and Vguccione della Fagivola to one who upbraided him that he never employed honest men answered Honest men will cut my throat let the King use honest men meaning the King of Naples who was established in his Throne and had right to it But that I may have occasion to justifie my self against a little more then I am accused of I will confess that in a work where I desired to be a little more serious than I was in this Book of the Prince I did affirm that in what way soever men defended their Country whether by breaking or keeping their faith it was ever well defended not meaning in a strick moral sense or point of honour but explaing my self that defacta the infamy of the breach of word would quickly be forgotten and pardoned by the world which is very true Nay what if I had said that good success in any interprizes a far less consideration than piety to our Country would have cancell'd the bleam of such perfidy as Caesar whom I compare to Cataline us'd towards his fellow Citiz●ns not only not detested by posterity but even crown'd with renown and immortal fame insomuch as Princes to this day as I have observed elsewhere think it an honour to be compared to him and the highest pitch of veneration their flatters can arrive at is to call them by the name of one who violated his faith and enslav'd his Country I hope that in shewing as well these Tyrants as the poor people who are forced to live under them their danger that is by laying before the former the helish and precipitous courses they must use to maintain their power by representing to the latter what they must suffer I may be instrumental first to deter private Citizens from attempting upon the liberties of their Country or if they have done it to make them lay down their ill gotten Authority and then to warn the rest of the Nobility and people from these factions and malignancies in their several common-wealths and Governments which might give hope and opportunity to those who are ambitious amongst them to aspire to an Empire over them However it prove I hope I am no more to be blamed for my attempt then that excellent Physician of our Nation is who hath lately taken so much pains to compose an excellent Treatise of that foul Disease which was not long since brought from the new world into these parts wherein though he be forced to use such expressions as are almost able to nauseate his Readers and talk of such Ulcers Boyles Nodes Botches Cankers c. that are scarce fit to be repeated especially when he handles the causes of those effects yet he did not intend to teach or exhort men to get this Disease much less did he bring this lamentable infirmity into the world but discribes it faithfully as it is to the end men may be detered and avoid the being infected with it and may discern and cure whenever their incontinence and folly shall procure it them I shall say no more in this matter but to conclude all make a protestation that as well in this Book as in all my other Writing my only scope and design is to promote the interest and welfare of manking and the peace and quiet of the world both which I am so vain as to believe would be better obtained and provided for if the principles I lay down were followed and observed by Princes and People than they are like to be by those Maxims which are in this Age most in vogue For my self I shall only say and call you all to witness for the truth of it that as by my Birth I am a Gentleman Chief Magistrate and of a Family which hath had many Consaloniers of Justice in it so I have been used in many imployments of great trust both in our City and abroad and at this hour am not in my Estate one penny the better for them all not should I have been although I had never surfered any losses by the seizure of my Estate in the year 1531 for my carriage it hath ever been void of faction and contention I never had any prejudice against the house of Midici but honoured the person of all those of that Family whom I knew and the memory of such of them as lived before me whom I acknowledge to have been excellent Patriots and Pillars of our City and Common-wealth During the turbulent times of Piero and after his expulsion out of Florence though my employments were bu● Ministerial my advice was ask'd in many grave matters which I ever delivered with impartiality and indifference not espousing the heady opinions of any much less their passions and animosities I never sided with any Party further than that the Duty of my charge oblieged me to serve the prevailing Party when possess'd of the Government of our City this I speak for those changes that happened between the flight of the laid Pien● de Medici and the horrid Parricide committed by Clement the 7th upon his indulgent Mother joyning with his greatest enemies and uniting himself with those who had used the most transcendent insolence to his own person and the highest violence and fury the Sun ever saw to his poor Courtiers and Subjects and so accompained he might sheath his Sword in the bowels of his own desolate Country At that time and during that whole Siege I must confess I did break the confines of my Neutrality and not only acted as I was commanded barely but rouz'd my self and stir'd up others haranguing in the Streets and places of the City the People to defend with the last drop of their Blood the Walls of their Country and the Liberty of their Government taking very hazardous Journeys to Ferrucio and then into the Mugello and other parts to bring in Succours and Provisions to our languishing City and acting as a Souldier which was a new profession to me at the age of above sixty when others are despensed from it For all which I had so entire a satisfaction in my mind and conscience that I am perswaded this cordial made me able to support the sufferings which befel me after our Catastrophe and to rejoyce in them so far that all the malice and cruelties of our enemies could never draw one word from me unsutable to the honour I thought I merited and in some sort enjoy for being instrumental to defend as long as it was possible our Altars and our Hearths But all that I have undergone hath been abundantly recompenced to me by the favour and courtesie of the most excellent Signior Cosimo who hath been pleased to offer me all the prefer ments the greatest ambi●ion could aspire to which I did not refuse out of any scruple to serve so incomparable a Prince who see early years manifest so much courage humanity and prudence and so fatherly a care of the publick good but because I was very desireous not to accept of a charge which I was not able to perform my years and infirmities having not brought me to a condition in which I am fitte● to live in a Cloyster then a Palace and made me good for nothing but to talk of past times the common vice of old Age So that I did n●● think it just or grateful to reward this exce●lent person so ill for his kindness as to give him 〈◊〉 useless Servant and to fill up the place of a fat better This is all I think fit to say of this matter I chuse to address it to you Zenobio for the constant friendship I have ever entertained with you formerly with your deceased Father the companion of my Studies and ornament of our City And so I bid you farewell The first of April 1537.