that duty when he had neither Compassion nor love He will neverthelesse that that accident be the foundation of his designe to seize upon all th' authority ad to Reigne alone He will have his wife to be entirely troubled of her senses though she was onely a little weake He will that she hath lost all he Reason though she had onely diminished it That there was no Light at all when there was onely a Mist and that she was in a totall inability to governe though there remained in her enough of good sense t' act For that effect and the better t' hide his Game he keeps her shut up and permits not any person to see her of them that durst speake to her of the State of her disease A strangeproceeding to take away her Liberty after he had taken away her Honour and not to leave th' se of the first good of naturall life after had ruined th' Ornament of the Civil The Father durst not open his mouth to him of it in the first Conference they had together and chose rather to suppresse his Inclination then to sharpen more that spirit which was but too sharp and to touch him in a place where he was so sensible as I have above observed In the second Meeting Philip obtained of him a secret Declaration by the which he consented that he alone should have th' administration of State by reason of th' Inability of his daughter though after he made a publique protestation That his son in Law had forced from him that Declaration and that he gave way onely to the Malice of the time and to the violence of the stronger according to the Maxime of wise Men. Philip staid not there after that Ferdinand was retired into Arragon He would oblige the Grandies of Spaine to subscribe an Act which he had caused to be drawne of the weakeness of the senses wherein the Queene was fallen But therein he found Resistance Th' Admirall of Castille opposeth it generously after he had visited that Princesse and discovered that the disposition of her Understanding was not entirely spoiled Represented unto him th' Inconveniencies that would arise from that Enterprize The noise it would make in the world and th' ill hmours it would raise in Spaine where the people love their Masters naturally because of the Roialty they exercise and reverence that Character in every person in whom 't is Imprinted At last to give the world the finall Example of ingratitude and an Eminent evidence of the power of Jealousie to reigne without a companion when it hath taken possession of the soul He would cause his wife to be declared troubled in her senses in full assembly of the States and by Consequence unable to governe which he could not obtaine There was his acknowledgment of th' incomparable fidelity of that Princesse and the paiment of the most violent and durable love that ever wife bare to a Husband Therein was his recompence of that eternall passion which possesse her during the Life of Phillip to the change of his spirit which could not be abated by his Death and time that overcomes what is most firme in the World and most opinioated could never diminish For 't is true that after the Death of Phillip which was precipitated which cropt him in the Flower of his Age with some suspition of poyson she never forsook the body she caused his Coffine very day to be opened she took it with her when she travelled and accomplished what had been prophesied by an Old Woman of Spain who had said seeing th' entry of Phillip into that Kingdom and that proud Magnificence wherewith he took possession That he would walke there longer after his death then during his life At last after his body was laid in a Chappell of Granada in the Sepulchre of the Kings of Castille she made her constant stay in that City and powred out into Tears and Groans the rest of her Life upon the Ashes of him whom she had loved with so great Heat and upon the Ruines of a body which she had Idolized To what end serves then th'Alliances of bloud which are made amongst Princes and since they have been instituted t'unite in friendship diverse families and t' extend them the more and enlarge that virtue which is one of the Principles of the civill Life and one of the bonds of humain society what use are they of in the conditions of Soveraigns They may serve much and are not unprofitable provided that they come not in competition with th'Interests of State and with that invincible jealousie which Princes have for the good of their Affairs The treaties where they intervene are made with more reputation and dignity They are pretious pretences to lay down Armes which two Princes are a weary to bear they are honest doores to let out warrs from which otherwise they cannot retire with honour and which they cannot Continue without dammage And there 's no resentment so just which they may not safely submit to the Consideration of the Parentage into which they enter and of that sacred bond which is instituted to conjoyne what is divided and t' unite the wills which are disunited Francis the first recovered his liberty with more honour by Marrying the sister of Charles th' Emperour and he made appeare to the World th' Esteeme he gave to his Prisoner in seeking his alliance The peace of Soissons which followed a warr wherein the same Princes did run two great though different Fortunes Th' one to lose a part of his States and th' other of his Reputation in retiring Had for foundation the Marriage that staid it and which was not accomplished betwixt Charles third son of France and one of the Daughters of th' Emperour or one of his Neeces The peace of the Castle of Cambrey which was so pernicious to France which took from us in one day what we gained in Forty yeares which being th' End of our forraigne warrs was it may he the Beginning of Civill warrs Comprehended the Marriage of Elizabeth Daughter of Henry th' second with Philip the second King of Spaine The daughters which enter into Soveraigne Houses may also do much for th' Interests of them from whence they come when they seize upon the spirits of their Husbands and gaine th' Ascendent upon their Wills which sometimes happens That subtile Portugese which Married Charles the third Duke of Savoy did what she would with him in the differences of Francis the second and Charles the fifth And in that famous dissention whereof Piedmont was so long the Theater she turned Her nephew of th' Emperours side though the good of his affaires obliged him to be of our side and made him take the most disadvantagious part in a warr wherein he had even done himselfe wrong if he had stood a Neutrall That Lacedemonian understood it better and her Conduct was more judicious though it may be not just enough Her father and Husband were Entred into
't is not to be forgot that God hath raised a Person to second his great and just inclinations who having an understanding and virtue above the Ordinary of men hath imployed all his wit and virtue for his Masters Greatness and Glory He laid aside the consideration of a particular Capacity so soon as he became a publique person nothing could divert him from doing his Prince good service He feared not the hatred of great persons nor the bitings of the people And he kept his way and pace at well through the contradictions and resistance was made him as through th'acclamations received and the prayers given him Then also when he might have landed after a glorious Voyage when Envy was silent and reduced to observe the future finding nothing in his past Actions for reproof but for Commendation when he might have enjoyed the sweetnesse of that Rest which attends happy troubles and honourable labours He would not because it was necessary for us that all forraine winds were not laid and that disturbances were busie amongst our Neighbours and Allies He chose rather to commit a full and entire glory as his was to the hazards of the future alwayes doubtfull and subject to revolutions than to permit his Master and Country to desire his care and aid And that which is most admirable is that his love so necessary and duty so inviolable have sometimes prevailed with him to suspend resentments which troubled him nearer then his personall preservation which were dearer to him then his life and which he preferred to all his fortune at Court and to all the greatness of the world In pursuance of this I say also what concerns the manners of particular persons and their Government Charity commands us to lay out on them the best Colours and most favourable Interpretations But when the question is of the good of States and Interest of Princes a greater severity of Judgement must be used All appearances of Evill must be attended with distrust and divers expedients must be used to avoid surprises and to secure against Ambushes The reason is that 't is not permitted to commit small faults in such great and general matters and that the will doth not engage to prepare us against deceit when a great opinion is had of the honesty of the persons that are to be treated withall But if precaution be at any time necessary and if there be need at any time of preservatives against so subtill and piercing a contagion 't is principally in that season when Treachery makes a part of politique Prudence and where the simplicity of them who suffer the surprise is more shamefull then the perfidy of them that deceive to their own advantage Add th'Artifices that are imployed to disguise it and the subtilties which have been invented to represent it under another name then its own and cause it to pass under shews contrary to its nature insomuch that though it be alwaies condemned by the mouth and in Coversations I doe not see nevertheless that 't is cast out of the commerce of Princes and use of affaires but by th' event when it proves fatall let us conclude then that in these occasions diffidence is the Mother of safety and not to be deceived preparation must be made as if it were to be expected The Twelfth Discourse That a Minister of State ought endeavour to make his Deportments more Profitable than Eminent THat a Minister of State ought to be a stranger to th'Apprehensions of the vulgar that he ought not to be subject to the weakness of Low spirits nor to touch upon th' objects which entertain them That he know how to make difference betwixt the reality and apparance of things betwixt the solidity and the brightnesse that he prefer not Glass before Gold because th' one is more shining and luminous and th' other more dark He must not value so much the colours of the Bow in heaven which are but a beam of light fixed for an hour in some drops of water thickned in th' air as the firm lasting Colour of the Ruby Emerode and Opale He must make a noble expence when it shall be necessary and be splendid on important occasions and appear for th' honour of his Master He must not neglect th' occasions whose principall Quality resides in Magnificency As the Embassies that are made upon the coming in of a King upon the Crowning of a Pope for an alliance or a marriage but let him not fall sick upon such expences nor be transported nor make it the greatest Ornament of his conduct and choysest expression of his life nor fix his greatness upon a transitory Pomp nor his glory upon a Magnificence that flyeth away and above all to beware that instead of being magnificent he become not prodigall for as Vice cannot be made beautifull what Ornaments soever are put upon it 'T is certain that the people are provoked when a vain ostentation is made of their substance and a triumph of their sweats and pains They are amazed and at a stand but in the same manner as they behold the pulling down of Temples and th'overflowings of Rivers Wise persons are troubled when the principal force of the State is dissipated the security of peace and th' instrument of War which is Money in superfluous expences since there 's never enough for the necessary occasions The things which I have said are chiefly in relation to the people which astonish and ravish them at the instant they make them afraid There are other things also which touch upon the great Spirits and transport th' highest Courages Such are th' Arms of War and th' objects of Valour There 's no virtue in th' opinion of the greatest part of men more in esteem than this and no matter is more acceptable for Conversation nor any Entertainment more bewitching then th' effects of War wherefore Historians shun the times of peace and dead seasons as Mariners do the gentle seasons and calms of the Sea on the contrary they triumph in War and in Tumults the Seditions and Insurrections of the people are the lights of their writings and their fairest subjects and most excellent Arguments are raised upon the Ruine of Empires and the death of great persons wherefore they that frequently read Tacitus do not so much fix upon the subtilties and deceits of State whereof his Books are full beyond probability at upon the routing of the Roman Legions upon the Revolts of Armies against their Generalls upon th'inundation of the Sea and wrack of Fleets Th' Art of Tiberius to govern is not read with so much pleasure nor the Artifices of Sejanus to establish himselfe as the poysoning of Germanicus or the violent death of Seneca The dexterity practised by Tiberius in the name of Sejanus is not so earnestly considered and the subtil and captious Letter he wrote to the Senate to be rid of him and whereof he was an Hearer as the punishment of a person who had raised his
the son of Henry the fourth and from the Brother of Lewis the just As to Sr. the Cardinal t is certaine that he brought unto the work an extraordinary Contest of body and spirit and that the cares and diligence He used in that Occasion were incredible as th' effect that did arise from them He manadged it in such fort as a sick person is handled to whom so little of life remaines that the least sinister Accident that befalls him destroyes him and the least things forgot of what might be Cordiall would kill him Two hundred postes dispatched in lesse then two Months so many orders given within and without the Kingdome no advice neglected that had any apparance of Good so many vessells got together in so little Time and so many provisions made for the revictualing of the place besiged In Briefe all that humane Industry hath of Inventions All that prudence hath of Conduct All that diligence hath of activity and all that Courage hath of boldness employed in this Occurrence are th' Infallible proofs of what I have said But t' act in this Manner It imports that a soul be extreamely free and have no passion but for his duty That it be not divided and 't is not too much that it employes all its forces in Occasions whereunto enough cannot be brought and wherein th' Affairs are but imperfectly done if any other Inclination divide them That if we have seen great persons as Caesar burne with Love and Ambition and done incredible things That if he gave himselfe up to the pleasures of sense and to the conquest to the World It was that those two Passions never entred into contest in his spirit nor disputed of the Victory and when the last appeared the first gave it place and left the field free yet 't is not possible but they savoured of the relation and that the contagion of th' one could not but offend th' other This hapned even to Caesar as incomparable he was and the Love of Cleopatra had once almost destroyed him and had cost him with his Life th' Empire of the World If he had not by swimming passed the Nile to save himselfe But that Sr. the Cardinall hath this Liberty of soul whereof we speak I have elsewhere shewed and therefore unnecessary to be here repeated The Second Discourse That the true exercise of Politique Prudence consists in the Knowledge of Comparing things with things and to choose the greatest Good and t' avoid the greatest Evill And to consider whether the Counsell Sr. the Cardinall gave to passe into th' Iland of Rhé was grounded upon the Rules of Prudence And if the King did well to march into Languedoc after the taking of Suze 'T Is a strange Hazard and a hard necessity to be shut up betwixt two troublesome extreams and of two evills which present themselves joyntly to chuse the least This last is a thing which all the World desires to do and for which Nature hath imprinted in us a violent and sharp instinct The lesser Evills appeare good when they are preservatives from greater and physick is good by reason of the diseases it is ordained against But to know how to make use of so dangerous a Composition to know how t' hold the Balance strait that is filled with venemous drugs and whose odour strikes into th' heads of them that hold it and to discerne of things whose quality astonisheth the sense and confounds the judgement if it be not accompanied with Courage 'T is not th' Effect of an ordinary prudence 'T is not employed with lesse difficulty though with more compleasancy pleasancy when good things are to be compared amongst themselves and to discover the difference when the spetious things are to be distinguished from the profitable and them that have weight in them from them that make a shew when we are to be exercised amongst the Caresses of Fortune and the favours which she offers us to stop at the greatest of them I have observed two places amongst many others in the Life of the King where as I conceive he hath divinely prospered in these two kinds of Prudence as he hath made most wise choices upon the Counsels which have been proposed Th' one upon the Counsell Sr. the Cardinall gave to passe part of th' Army into th'lland of Rhé to fight th' English who without that had been Masters of it T' expose of one side those brave Troops and Choyse Souldiers sacrifice so much Nobility whereof there were Princes To send poor Boates against a Fleet of great Ships It seems truly to have hazarded much and to give up too much to Fortune But also on th' other side who shall consider that the losse of our Troop was not infallible but that th' losse of th' Iland was if they had not passed That the remedy was dangerous but that there was none other t'heal the disease and that one part of the State was ready to be divided betwixt Domestique Rebellion and forrain Domination if th'Iland had not been relieved must confesse that this Counsell was not lesse commendable in the spring than in the successe If it was very bold it was intirely necessary and one could not only not do better but it could not have been well done if it had been otherwise done Th' other observation is in respect of the Counsell which Sr. the Cardinall gave to hasten to Languedoc after the taking of Zusa It must truly be confessed that then there was a necessity to make a defence against the most subtile attempt fairest shew of good which might have seduced an understanding if it had not been very strong to make resistance On th' one side the State of Milan was in prey and that beautifull Countrey which heretofore gave so much love and jealousie to two great Princes To Francis the first and to Charles the fifth which cost France and Spain so much Bloud and put Christendome so often into a Combustion to know who should have it was ours without resistance It depended upon the King in apparance to become Master and to take revenge of th'affronts which we have received there and of the five times that they had driven us by force out of the Countrey It was unfurnished of men of War and there was but some miserable Troops that had escaped at the siege of Casal and which the sole report of our Armes had overcome All the Princes of Italy made us tender of their Aides and believed that th' Hower was come to take away the Fetters from their feet and deliver their Country from the yoak which was not naturall to it and from that violent Domination whose shadow was dangerous t' all its Neighbours and weakned their Liberty if not oppressed it The Emperour was diverted against the King of Denmarke and he could not draw his Armies from thence without abandoning his Victories and without betraying his good Fortune Spain had neither Men nor Moneyes It was astonished at the
found nothing so easie as to be in danger of poverty for the service of his Master insomuch that it may be said of him that he hath a soul so quiet that not a Motion ariseth in it but what his duty doth suggest not an Agitation but what the love he bears to his King hath occasioned and that nothing hath been acted but what Reason hath consented unto and what Philosophy hath conveyed into the souls of the wisest persons The fifth Discourse That good Ministers of State have not alwaies the Recompence which they deserve and that their Services are often payed with Ingratitude THat a Minister of State proposeth to himselfe to act for the Love of Vertue and to draw from himself the Approbations of Conscience as the chiefest Recompence for the good he doth For to hope alwayes or for the most part Acknowledgement or Justice from the souls of Princes is not to know their humour and to mistake their nature 'T is to be ignorant that the great services which are done them are so many great Crimes when they have not wherewithall to requite them That there are not in the world such dangerous debtors as Princes when they are insolvent that they make away their Creditors when they cannot pay them for the fear they have that they will pay themselves with their hands That they are never confident of the faithfulnesse of their subjects who have power to hurt them and that they forgive willingly enough the offences which have been done them but never pardon the ill which may be done though there be no will to do it There are so many Examples of this truth in Histories and in all Ages that 't is almost a superfluous thing to make stay upon it But amongst all I see none comparable to the disgrace of Bellisarius that great person who had no other crime then his Reputation and was not culpable but that he was powerfull Having conquered Persia and subdued Africa humbled the Goths in Italy lead Kings in Triumph and made appeare to Constantinople somewhat of old Rome and an Idea of the ancient splendor of that proud Republique After all that I say this great person is abandoned to Envy A suspition ill-grounded destroyes the value of so many Services and a single jealousie of State wipes them out of the memory of his Master but he rests not there for the demeanor had been too gentle if cruelty had not been added to ingratitude They deprive him of all his honours they rob him of all his fortune they take from him the use of the Day and Light they put out his eyes and reduce him to the company of Rogues and Bellisarius demands a charity I confesse when I consider the chiefe Captain of his Age and the greatest Ornament of the Empire of Christians after so many Victories Conquests accompanied with so high and clear a vertue and in the midst of Christendom reduced to the height of misery it seems to me that I read the Metamorphosis of Fables A desire possesses me to give the lie to History and I cannot hold from exclaiming against the memory of Justinian that could not suffer the glory of one of his subjects who had been so usefull to him and that of a Cabinet person and compiler of Lawes had made him a Conqueror and Triumpher over people so that basnesse cost him vey dear and obliged Narces who was as well a successour in merit as authority to Bellisarius not to expose himselfe to the like fortune This Narces upon a single act of disdain which was past upon him at the Court of the Emperour conceived that they might passe to a more cruel passion if he prevented not the ill and that it was better to shake off the yoak then to stay to be oppressed That spoiled th' affairs of Justinian in Italy The Goths revolted and Fortune could not forbear to be of the party which Narces followed nor to find the Barbarians where so great a Virtue was engaged All Princes nevertheless are not of his humour there are some whose Raign is more Christian and Conduct more just and with whom desert is in safety where services are acknowledged and in whom brave Actions beget love without giving them the least jealousie However the Raign of our King is an eminent Exception to a proposition so generall And if Machavell had observed many such in the world he had not advised them who rise very high by their Virtue to descend timely and to quit their greatness or to maintain it by force He had known that there is yet a medium betwixt two extreams and the King had made him see that his servants might continue great without making ill use of that greatnesse to become Rebels The second Example that I will propose is the disgrace of Ferrand Gonsalve 'T is not in truth accompanied with so eminent a persecution nor with such cruell marks of Ingratitude and Injustice as that of Bellisarius But it hath neverthelesse circumstances which deserve to be considered and whereupon a Minister of State ought to pause It must be confessed that Gonsalve is the greatest person that ever Spain brought forth He may passe among the greatest of all Ages He was worthy to enter the Lists of comparison with great Scipio and the Spanish vanity hath not invented so high a Title to honour him withall which he hath not made good by his Actions and merited of his Enemies He finished the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada and had the honour to conclude a War of ten years and to gain for Ferdinand and Isabella the Sirname of Catholiques He chased us from the Kingdom of Naples for to re-establish the Arragons And when Ferdinand shared with Lewis the twelfth the Goods of his Parents and that those Princes divided betwixt them the Inheritance of an unfortunate person He conquered his Master's share and forced ours from us He defeated our Armies in all places but at Seminara where he did not command He took all the Towns he assaulted and which were defended by us He knew how to overcome and to make use of the Victory And though no State in the World was more moveable or subject to Revolutions then that of Naples He assured it notwithstanding entirely to Ferdinand and his Race He stopped up there the Springs of the War and of Disorders He pulled up Factions that tore the Nation in pieces and if some root had since appeared it had so little life and force and such weak and faint motions that the safety of the Kingdome was not shaken nor its health altered He did not onely excell in War and exceed all Captains of his time in the glory of Armes but he supreamly understood the Art of Negotiations and the knowledge of Affairs His Eloquence was admirable His speech had inevitable charms and his Tongue furnisht infallibly to gain those whom his good Countenance had shaken and whose liberty was weakened and courage abated
Being a Prisoner to a King of Granada He gained him to the service of his Master and perswaded him to given himselfe up to Ferdinand who would have had much trouble to overcome him He withdrew the Colonnes and the Ursines from th' interest of France for to cast them upon th' interest of Spain And knowing well that long and inveterate hatreds as they were of both Families are fatall to the parties where they enter and dangerous in the occasions that awaken them He reconciled the differences and for a time healed th'Emulation they laboured of He was moreover so zealous of the Greatnesse of his Master and so passionate for the good of his Affaires that he quitted his Conscience and broke his faith to whom he had given it As in the Treaty he made with the Duke of Calabria whereof I shall speak in another place and when he seized with subtilty upon the person of Caesar Borgia and deceived that subtil person who had deceived so many other persons Th'incomparable qualites then of this person and infinite services which he had done to his Master rendred him a suspected person And though they love treason yet they hate the Traytors on the contrary the Virtue of Gonsalve gives Apprehensions and Alarms to Ferdinand for whom it had gained Kingdoms And the conquests also of Naples and th' entire reduction of that of that State being finished He began more willingly than he should have done to lend his Ear to the complaints made against him And the Calumny became insolent to assault him when it received credit from his Master 'T is impossible that they who have Commissions for great Commands should give content to all the world And 't is hard to give imployments to all such as believe to merit them or recompences to the esteem that every Person hath of his services and to the value he sets upon them and therefore there are alwaies persons that do complain because some do believe themselves ill used and who make spight and hatred to succeed at the rate of the good they have been disappointed of This unhappinesse befell the great Captain And it happened also that the complaints made against him in Spain were not disagreeable to Ferdinand who sought occasion onely to destroy him and did not act an Injustice willingly but when he had some pretence of Justice for to colour it 'T is strange what torments and inquietudes the reputation of Gonsalve gave to Ferdinand all the rest of his life The most loyal and best disposed of all his Subjects He to whom he owed a part of his Greatnesse who rendred him more formidable to other Princes then all the rest of his powers held his soul on a perpetuall wrack And he never had any Enemy from whom he suffered so much and so long as from him He was almost perswaded to extream Remedies to be rid of him and if he had not apprehended that in missing of his stroak he gave him occasion to become a Rebell he had caused him to be arrested upon the single Motions of Jealousie and had given an instance of the force of the greatest of all humane passions which is the love of Soveraignty This passion which so much vexed Ferdinand is worthy to be represented and th'Artifices used by the greatest Polititian of the world to ruine his own subject are too subtill and too curious to be concealed from a person of State The moderation also of Gonsalve and the strength he had to resist his own Greatnesse which was in his power and to repel a temptation which had a Kingdom for prize deserve to be proposed to the subjects of other Princes The sixth Discourse Th' Artifices used by Ferdinand to destroy the great Captain FErdinand then upon the bare complaints of discontented persons whereof the number is ever great against them that govern lesseneth the power of the great Captain and reduceth him to the ordinary Authority of Vice-Kings in a Kingdome which he had conquered How sensible this thing was to a person of great courage and what Emotion it ought to raise in the heart of Gonsalve may be judged by the displeasure all men have to fall and to be degraded in th' eyes of the world And it may be judged by the hatred all men naturally bear to ingratitude but they onely that exercise it and by th' injustice it contains that not onely the services that have been rendred shall be frustrated of the reward which hath been merited but that they also shall be th' originall of the disgraces suffered and of th' ill entertainments because a sufficient Recompence cannot be received Gonsalve notwithstanding subdued his resentments and appeared much greater in conquering himselfe in so ticklish an occasion then he had done in conquering so often th' enemies of his Master The patience wherewith he supported this injury did not sweeten Ferdinand nor cure his sick spirit On the contrary it made it irreconcilable He hates him the more whom he had newly offended because he gave him cause to resent it and takes the moderation which Gonsalve used for an Artifice because his passion would not suffer him to attribute it to the greatness of his Courage That made him resolve to bring him back from Naples though his presence there way yet very necessary and to deliver himselfe at once of all his feares and of all his apprehensions in removing him from that place where he was so powerfull He commands him then to return into Spain since th' affaires of Naples as he said were in good condition and informs him that he had use in other places of his person and of his service The great Captain prepares for his departure but not with that nimblenesse which Ferdinand desired To whose inquietude precipitation would have appeared slow since it seemed to him that he could never be soon enough healed of the distrust which did torment him This slowness which was for his service and for the confirming of Ferdinand's authority in the Kingdom which Gonsalve would not leave tottering encreaseth his feares and multiplies his jealousies Th' Enemies of Gonsalve close with this humour in Ferdinand Envy again riseth against his Virtue and there were but too many persons in Spain and in Italy who cryed down his Faithfulnesse and represented his Ambition to such a height that it would not fail speedily to compell him to assume the Pitle of Soveraign whereof he exercised the Power That made him again resolve to send Peter Navarre to Naples with private Orders to ceaze upon the person of the great Captain and to make a Prisoner of him in the new Castle And at the same time to lay him asleep and for fear the distrust he had of him should occasion the injury he feared if it were discovered he writes him a Letter by which he doth promise him at his return the great command of Saint James A dignity that did not truly equall the services of Gonsalve nor pay the
th' eyes of their subjects There 's nothing so easy as to passe them from Love to Disdaine and from Disdaine to Hatred and to Revolt The Life of Henry the third is an illustrious example of this Truth and th' Inconveniences wherein he fell after he had attained the Crowne make it appeare what foundation is to be laid upon the will of the people and upon th' inclinations of that beast which stirrs and his thrâ—st and which after it had adored the Duke of Anjou persecuted the King of France and dared to make War with him On th' other side it may be said that no Emperour is furer nor power better established than that which is founded upon Love And 't is certain that things are conserved by the same causes and with the same meanes which give them birth there 's also no doubt but that the soveraigne Authrority is the firmer when it is supported by the good will of the people from whence it took its Originall In the second place no violent thing is durable its proper force consumes it or some other that resists it and which is greater And 't is true that every sort of Chaine save that of Love weighes upon the spirit of man and that every sort of yoak if it be not voluntary opresseth it To conclude to raigne only by severity is to renounce the peace of the spirit 't is to charge upon himselfe the passion given to another 't is t' expose himselfe to an eternall necessity of distrusting all persons and to make them Enemies whom he would not suffer to love him for fear of not being sufficiently feared 'T is to fall into the the same mischiefs which traverse jealous husbands and in over-straining his subjects to be faithful to give them a will to rebell and to quit their obedience which would not be trusted to their vertue and to their inclination To the first Answer may be given that severity alone conserves very ill the power of a soveraigne and that t' employ violence against th'evills of a State 't is to use nothing but passion and fire against all the Maladies of the body and every sort of Ulcers That if great persons sometimes have affected an austere and hard humour and seem thereby to maintain themselves in Authority That effect neverthelesse proceeds from another cause And insomuch that that terrible conduct hath not been alone and was found in the Company of many great vertues that have tempered it It hath not done th'evill it was accusstomed to do This was observed in the life of Torquabes of Mariust of Sylla of Corbulon and of many others of the Ancients And of the Moderne in the Life of the duke of Alva of the Marquess of the Holy Crosse who left such cruell Markes of his Humours to the Terceres of the County of Fuentes and Wailstaine of this time who was so absolute in th' Armies he commanded that the name of the Emperour was but th' Image of the Soveraigne power He exercised If these great persons I say had known onely how to comand the setting up of Gallowses and to send men to death they had not been followed by their Souldiers in the occasions of glory and they had been unknown to us but a examples of Misfortune whereinto severity doth precipitate It may be also aswered to the second that Indulgency is a Means as little safe as facile to give power to raigne or to compell obedience that if the first men of the past and moderne ages seem to have neglected severe wayes and th' Examples of Rigour the better to subsist in the spirits of their subjects or of their souldiers 'T is that in effect they had extraordinary Qualities and I know not what of admirable in their persons which appeared in their face and countenance and inspited respect with love into the souls of them who came neer them such were Alexander Scipio Caesar Germanicus such Gaston of Foix Don John of Austria Ferrant Gonsalve and the two last Dukes of Gaise whose single presence-bewitched the world forced the wills of men in spight of Reason and constrained their Enemies to change their passion or to suspend it at the sight of them From this discourse I draw two Instructions which may be applyed to th' other matters of Policy The first is That for th' use of gentleness and severity and generall Rule cannot be Resolution must be taken upon th' Occasion Consultation had with the nature of Affairs with the condition of the times with the Quality of the persons and leve the disposition of th' event to fortune and t' other causes which are without us The second That although the difference brought of th'inclinations of divers people requires or the most part a very different application of the Means which are to be used for governing of them so 't is that as in the Oeconomy of th' humane body and dispensation of th' humours which compose it there 's of course one that predominates and which serves for a law to Physick and for a that 't is necessary sometimes to keep under that commanding Humour and that predominant Quality To raise others alter their order and change the course of certaine Occurences and according to the nature of the diseases which happen or threaten 'T is the very same with th' Humours of the People and Complexions of States There 's a certaine Conduct which is as naturall to them but it ought not to be inviolable A Minister of State ought not to be a slave He may quit it provided that he doth not abandon it and may resume it and a Minister of State is sometimes constrained to go out of th' high way t' avoide an ill passage or an Ambush There are people who are to be retained with Rigour and whose obedience is not ascertained but under a severe Empire But that ought not to be eternall 'T is good sometimes to gaine them and not alwayes to subdue them To bend them and not alwayes to break them and occasions doe happen wherein 't is of necessity to flatter them and to stroake them for feare of affrighting them lest they take the Bridle in their teeth and Carry him away that ought to Lead them The Seaventh Discourse That a Minister of State ought to treate in a different Manner with strangers as they are powerfull and free A Minister of State ought not onely to conforme his conduct to th' Inclination of the people which he governes or with whom he treats But he ought also to adjuste it to their power and to their weaknes He ought t' Imitate that wise Physician who considers as much the strength of the sick person as the virtue of the Remedy and seeks the proportion of that which actes with that which suffers There are States whose Greatness is in themselves which subsist upon their owne weight which can passe-by all others which have very little to feare from without and can hardly fall but bu their owne
sword into their hands and hath Commanded that they should have power to punish not onely the Criminalls of their states but also to revenge th' injuryes done them and require reason themselves of other Soveraignes which had offended them since they have no superiours as particular persons who do the wrong I speak here of the wrongs which one Soveraigne doth to another For what concernes the Soveraigne to the subject t is a business which other Soveraigns have nothing to do with but to behold as not submitted to the Jurisdiction of any person and what God hath reserved for his Tribunall and for his Justice when the power is Legitimate th' use may be violent without being Lawfull for any person whatsoever t' alter it with force The people who are oppressed have nothing but prayers to divert it or Patience to suffer it Beyond that there 's no Resistance just nor exception to be admitted The Duty regardes not the person of Princes but th' Authority God hath put into their hands The bad as the good possesse it and therefore he wills that we acknowledge them equally and reverence as th' Image of his power them whom we cannot love as th' Image of his bounty The result of what hath been said is that a Soveraigne may sometimes strip another Soveraigne without injustice That the states of th' one may be the price and matter of Reparation for another that hath been offended or of th' Expence which he hath made in the pursuit and that there 's nothing Committed against th' order of things if Innocent subjects suffer for the faults of their Masters That they partake of his Evills as of his Benefits and receive the badas good influences of the head whereof they are members But for what concernes Popes and the Patrimony of th' Holy Chair The Considerations is very different They have Priviledges which are not Common t'other Princes nor t'other States God extends to them a Certain propriety by reason of Jesus Christ for whose Love they have been given which renders them unalienable which are not to be usurped without sacriledge and above the Right of Nations and those universall Lawes to which all Nations have consented for the Generall Good of the world And t is not alwayes true That the things which change Master cannot change Condition and take the Qualities of the last possessor which they had not with the former If the waters attract the virtues of the Mineralls by which they passe If the goodness of the soile communicates it selfe to the plants which are brought thither and gives them a grouth they had not in another If the proprieties of a Crowne descend upon the Members which are united to it And if Bretanny be subject to the Salique Law since it was incorporated into France why should not the dignity of th' Holy Chair infuse some what of particular to the States which are belonging to it Why should it remaine Barren why should it be without virtue and action in that behalfe Why should not Holy things have some exemption above the prophane and the Reflexion which is made towards Jesus Christ obtaine some Respect from Christian Princes which they give not t' one another and some speciall Distinction I say in the third place when the Pope quits the functions of his Charge and that of Father which he ought to be becomes th' Enemy of his Children when he breaks unjustly the Calme of Christendome and carries the warr to the States of other princes They may preserve for their defence and make use of th' offensive by way of Diversion and prevention provided that neither th' one or th' other tend to Conquest but onely to Conserve and passe not the designe of a lawfull Defence So the Duke of Alva did exercise it in the warr he made against Paul the fourth He stayed not to make his defence just till th' Ecclesiastique and French Armies were joyned and made Incursions into the Lands of his Master He drew into the field whilst they were preparing Enterd the Lands of the Church took many places and gave Terrour to Rome And if he would have forced the Victory as farr as he might he had seen it crowned with the taking of the Chiefest Towne of the world But his designe was t' affright the Pope and not to hurt him To shew lightning and restraine the Thunder to constraine him whom he could not bend and to bring him back to his duty by violence who voluntarily estranged himselfe from it So after we had received affronts before Civitella and before other places by the fault of the Caraffes After that our Army was Constrained to draw back and might have been defeated If the Duke of Alva had been disposed to have gained bloody Victories and not to have prepared bridges for his Enemies In their Retraite He made an Accommodation with Paul and an Accord which I preferre before the greatest Victory Spaine ever obtained He restored all the places he had taken He confessed his error He was at Rome to make his submissions to the Pope He demanded pardon for the fault'he had committed so Rome received him as in Triumph He had th' honour t' eate with his Holiness and merited of his bounty the praise of being the defender of the Holy Chair whilst he made warr with it And since when after six yeares of service and for a matter of nothing as I have else where expressed Philip the second sent him a Prisoner to his house in the Country Gregory the third interceded for him and endeavoured to gaine him his Liberty In the representing to him the long and great services which he had rendred to Spaine and to the Church and particularly the Moderations h' used in behalfe of th' Holy Chair when it was in his power t' have defaced ir unpuni shed to make use of the priviledges of a Conquerour and t' exercise Advantages which force gives to them that have it This proceeding is worthy of th' Approbation of all Ages and th' Imitation of all Princes Th' Action of Charles the fifth in the same subject is very different from th' other Let us represent it as it is and in its naturall posture Le ts take away the policies and painting wherewith the Spaniards have disguised it Le ts not flatter a Monster which cannot be formed too hideous and that so scandolous and black a Crime rest not unpunished in the Memory of Men. I am Content that the taking of Rome by Bourbon should be taken to be a Blow from th' hand of God and an effect of his provoked Justice and that the warr inclined it to that side against th' Intention of Charles and that Treaty which Moncado made with Clement was done without supecery and with Designe to Cause it to be observed by Bourbon and to suffer the Pope t' enjoy the Truce of five Months which had been accorded unto him And that th' Army of Bourbon took the bridle in the teeth and marched
to succeed I passe by that which they might have done who thought that the glory of Command was the ultimate End of Man and Ambition somewhat a nobler and a better thing then justice But even amongst the very Christians and in th' houses which Piety hath made famous that Passion hath been seen t' overflow to the prejudice of blood and violate th' holiest lawes of Nature and which the very barbarous people Reverence I will recite here a Memorable Example 'T is a thing sufficiently known in the world what th' house of Austria was to th' Alliance of blood and if devotion as t is said hath been the foundation of Greatness 't is well known that Alliance hath built it up and carried it from a Moderate beginning to that high Power wherein 't is seen and to that vast domination for which th' Heaven hath no Horizon nor th' earth Limits Maximilian the first hath gained by that means the Low Countries and those faire Provinces which by their fertility and by the wealth wherewith they abound have deserved to be called th' Indies of Europe Philip the first and his posterity have obtained by it all Spaine and those Countryes of the new world where the sun in retiring from us goes to beget Gold and those other unprofitable things whereof men are Idolaters Philip the second came to the Crown of Portugall by that meanes and to all those States which that Nation possessed in Asia in Afrique and th' East Indies That very Prince thought t' incorporate England to Spaine by the marriage of Mary his first wife that was Queen thereof But the judgments of God in that supplanted the prudence of men and permitted that Princesse to dye without Children either to suppress the growth of a Power which would have been fatal to the Liberty of Christian Nations or for the punishment of the Iniquities of th' English and that base Compliance wherewith they had received the Schism which Henry th' Eighth introduced amongst them and applauded the passions of that Prince who chose rather to quit the Church then to separate from a Concubine The same Philip also aspired to the Crown of France for his Children by reason of the Marriage of his third wife daughter of Henry the second and the most important Article wherewith th' Instructions of the Duke of Feria were Charged when he came to Paris during the league was to cause the Salique laws to be Abolisht and to root out from the spirit of the French their Aversion of having no Soveraignes that spin and of not submitting to th' yoak of Women Insomuch that it hath been allwayes the designe of the Spaniards and a premeditated prudence of the Princes of th' house of Austria to look about them and to cast their nets upon the parties that could joyne some new estate to theirs and under a Title so innocent and just t' extend their domination With what heat did they labour to cause the eldest Daughter of Lewis the twelfth to be given to Charles the fifth who brought for her Dowry the Dutchesse of Britanny and of Orleans and our pretentions for Italy How many propositions were made upon that foundation and how many treaties concluded which the Time hath made abortive and which Fortune laughed at Neverthelesse as they have been ever Industrious to draw to them as much as they could th'estates of their Neighbours They have been also carefull not to permit any of theirs to be alienated nor to suffer any division without knowing the Meanes of Consolidating it and to destroy the divided Members and the loose pieces Th' Emperour Charles never promised the Low Countryes or the Duthy of Milan upon the Marriage of his daughter or of his Neece with the son of France but with Intention to break his promise or at least with hopes that Fortune which had done such strange things in his favour that had so often given the Lye to Apparences and disturbed th' order of things for the Love of him and which had sometimes sent him prosperities which he desired not would exempt him from that Obligation under some plausible pretence as it did And when Philip the second transmitted the Low Countryes to th' Arch Dutchesse for her Dowry There 's apparence that he was assured that time would make up that Breach and that he made not so great a wound in the rest of his Estates without preparing the Remedies to heale it But to returne to my designe and make it appeare That th' Alliances of blood work softly upon the spirits of Princes and are but weake bonds t' hold their Amities I will represent th' originall and th' effects of that which hath been the most profitable to th' house of Austria and it may be the most dammageable to the Christian Common-wealth Philip the son of th' Emperour Maximilian married Joane youngest Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella Kings of all the dominions of Spaine Th' Eldest was married into Portugall according to their Custstome The Catholique King had also a son called John who dyed young and whom Spaine saw almost as soon put out as shine and had almost at one time the Contentment to see him come and the Griefe to lose him Presently after the death of that Prince th' Arch Duke Philip and Arch Dutchesse his wife who lived onely by the love she bare to her husband and was Idolatresse of all his motions and passions caused themselves to be Called Princes of all the Dominions of Spain to the prejudice of the Queen of Portugall to whom the Crownes did belong in priority of birth to her sister That attempt ill digested out season and that precipitated Ambition displeased Infinitely Ferdinand and Isabella who judged of the Tree by the fruits and gave their son in Law and daughter t'understood that they were to leave that borrowed Title and to put off that imaginary Quality and which did not belong to them Behold a very pleasant Beginning of Philips Ambition since it made Invasions upon its owne Relations and the first shew of that furious Appetite to reigne which hath vexed his Posterity After that he guided his Interests apart from them of his Father in Law He held him alwayes at distance he looked upon him only as a Prince which stood in his light and there was no other Communication amongst them but a continual Commerce of Complaints and disorders In a Treaty which Maximilian and he made at Blois with Lewis the twelfth being permitted t' either parties to Comprehend therein whom they would He made no more mention of Ferdinand then as if he had not related to him or that He had been indifferent to him He did also the same thing in another Treaty which his Father made at Hugano with the Cardinal of Ambois so Ferdinand had his Revenge in disavowing the Treaty his son in Law made at Blois with Lewis the twelfth for the kingdome of Naples and in Contracting a second Marriage and marying of Germania sister