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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51725	Discourses upon Cornelius Tacitus written in Italian by the learned Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi ; dedicated to the Serenissimo Ferdinand the Second, Great Duke of Thuscany ; and translated into English by Sir Richard Baker, Knight.; Discorsi sopra Cornelio Tacito. English	Malvezzi, Virgilio, marchese, 1595-1653.; Baker, Richard, Sir, 1568-1645.	1642 (1642)	Wing M359; ESTC R13322	256,112	410

the Father and the Sonne the beginning of the Holy Ghost yet neither the Father is cause of the Sonne nor the Father and Sonne cause of the Holy Ghost as Thomas Aquinas doth learnedly demonstrate In Philosophy seeing Aristotle in his Physicks and in his books of Generation and Corruption shews manifest difference between beginnings and causes But because Aristotle in distinguishing thē takes thē not alwaies in the sense that we take them and oftentimes also confounds them as in his Metaphysicks where he shewes that a cause and a beginning are as Ens and Vnum which are convertible one with the other and in another place affirmes that all causes are beginnings and in Divinity likewise the Greeke Fathers mingle oftentimes in the Persons of the Trinity the causes with the beginnings as Saint Gregory Nazianzen and others we therefore in this place will forbeare to speak of them either Philosophically or Theologically but will frame our Discourse by way of actions shewing into how great errors those men have runne who confound causes with beginnings a thing which Tacitus is not guilty of who in his History saying Struebat jam fortuna in diversa parte terrarum initia causas Imperii shewes plainly he knew that a cause and a beginning were not both one thing We may therefore take causes to be those that are in the understanding beginnings those by whose meanes that which is in the understanding is put in execution And so a cause comes to be the first in the intention and the last in execution a beginning the last in the intention and the first in execution This Polybius well understood where he saith Causae omnibus in rebus primae sunt Principia verò ultima causarum equidem ita existimo Principia dici Primas omnium actiones in rebus quae judicatae as deliberatae sunt causas verò quae judicium deliberationemque praecedant And thereupon excellently well he saith That the cause of the second warre of the Carthaginians with the Romans was the indignation of Amilcar Hannibals father who though he were not overcome by Land of his enemies the Romans yet the Carthaginian Forces being put to the worse by them he thought it his best course to make peace and to lay downe Armes for the present reserving in his mind a perpetuall indignation which cncreased afterward by their threatning of warre at such time as the Carthaginians distracted with other discords and thereby not able to withstand them lost Sardinia Whereupon Amilear incensed with a new indignation had an intention to make warre upon them many yeeres before Hannibal passed into Italy These were the causes of the warre but the beginnings of it were afterward the siege of Saguntum and Hannibals passing over the River Hiber So you see the beginnings were not at the same time but were long before preceded by the causes To roturne now to our purpose concerning the alteration of States it is seldome seen that the cause and the beginning happen both at one time The cause that moved Caesar to change the State in Rome was an impatience of equality which being borne and bred with him was hastened in him by the threatning of his enemies pressing him to give over his Consulship and to give an account of what he had done a thing of great difficulty and danger in Common-wealths as was seen in the case of Scipio of Furius Camillus and others But the beginning was his passing over the river Rubicon So likewise the change which the Israelites made in the time of Samuel from Judges to Kings had a beginning diverse from the cause there being in their hearts sometime before a desire of Kings through an impatience of liberty as writers hold which afterward tooke beginning from the injustice of the sons of Samuel The cause then that Rome came to be a free State was Romulus and the Citizens growing to perfection Romulus because he being sole King made such lawes and ordinances in the State that shewed he had more regard to prepare the Romans for liberty then to establish the Monarchy to his successors seeing he reserved to himselfe no other authority but to assemble the Senat nor other charge but to command the Army in time of warre It may be said then that either Romulus shewed but small signe of wisdome to make ordinances contrary to himselfe whereof being afterward aware he meant with a greater error to take from the Senat that authority which being now established was soone after the cause of his death Or we may say and better that Romulus as having no children had no desire to leave Rome under a Regall government and the City having none in it but imperfit men he had no power to leave it a free State untill by being governed first by one alone they should learne to be able of themselves to hold that which to come to know they needed first to be guided by a King Just as swimming masters use to doe who beare a hand over them they teach untill such time as they grow able to governe themselves and then they leave them at their owne liberty This made Tyberius as Dion reports praise Augustus so much though not without flattcry saying he had imitated those Physitians who barring their Patient the ordering of his own body they first restore the Body to health before they allow him the ordering of it Insomuch that after the death of Romulus the people not yet grown to perfection there was not one man that once spake of liberty but all agreed to desire a King Regem tamen omnes volebant saith Livy libertatis dulcedine nondum experta It was not thus at the time of the Tarquins for the people being then growne to perfection there was in the City good store of Common wealths men fitter to governe then to be governed And so came up this government most agreeable to nature which is as the Philosopher saith that he be commander of others who is wiser then others And therefore Numa Pompilius needed no guard to safeguard his life seeing governments that are naturall are a guard to themselves From hence it was that our Lord God the first time he gave a King as the holy Scripture saith Non erat similis ei in Israel meaning to shew that he is not worthy to be ruler over others who is not wiser then others There being then in those times such excellent men in the City of Rome as ought rather to give then to take lawes from the Tarquines they had in them an ardent desire to obtaine that liberty in possession which they had now prevented with merit And therefore it appeares that Junius Brutus even from his youth had this intention for going with the sonnes of Tarquin to the Oracle to aske which of them should be Lord of Rome and the Oracle answering he that first should kisse his mother he presently kissed the Earth and yet he knew not then that Tarquin should ravish

contrary to the first and I doubt is at this day more used then is fit and it is to give eare and heare what every one sayes and to take any mans counsell that will give it which thing be it spoken with others leave seemes to me not onely to be subject to confusion but also to contempt because every one will then pretend to counsell the Prince who hearing continually such diversity of opinions must needs be confounded in himselfe and despised of others whereupon in the Histories of Tacitus when it was debated to send Embassadours to Vespatian Elvidius Priscus was of mind that men of great wisedome and judgement should be sent who might helpe the Prince with good advises but Marcellus Epirius was of another mind as knowing it to be a most distastefull thing to give a Prince counsell without being required Whereupon although Plato commend Cyrus for giving leave to any of his subjects to speake his opinion in any thing that was to be done yet to me it seemes a thing dangerous for him that gives it and more for him that takes it And therefore Claudius hearkning once to counsell in this manner was confounded not knowing what he should doe turning himselfe sometimes to one mans counsell and sometimes to anothers Ipse modo huc modo illuc ut quemque suadentium audierat and at last finding his errour he called a counsell A Prince therefore in my opinion ought alwaies to have about him him a Band of experienced men In quibus sit veritas qui oderint avaritiam by truth is meant wisdome which according to the Philosopher is nothing else but a knowledge of the truth and by covetousnesse are understood all vices because as the Scripture saith Avaritia est Principium omnium malorum if then they have wisedome they will be able to give counsell and if they be free from vice they will give it but yet I hold it not fit that at their owne pleasure without being called by the Prince they should fall a counselling which perhaps Sallust knowing was the cause he durst not give Tiberius counsell about the death of Agrippa Sed monuit Liviam ne arcana domus consilia amicorum ministeria militum vulgarentur an arrogancy not sufferable in a servant to presume to give his master counsell without being called And who knowes but this presumption in Sallust might be the cause of his fall seeing he was out of the Princes favour before he died as Tacitus relates Amasias being reproved by the Prophet answered Nunquid Consiliarius regis es by which it appeares that those Kings used not to be counselled but by their Counsellours But if it be arrogancy in a servant to give counsell not being asked it as is much indiscretion in a Prince not to aske it This is that I would have Princes to doe have alwaies about them a Band of choice counsellours to aske their advice in all his affaires so did Nerva so Salomon teacheth to doe when in his Proverbs he saith Gloria regum est investigare sermonem that is a Prince ought not to stand expecting he should be counselled but rather it is fit he should go and seek after counsell After a Prince hath heard the opinions of his counsellours it may be doubted whether he ought to deliver his owne opinion and when and in what manner he should doe it As farre as I can judge I thinke it not fit he should deliver his owne either first or last or in the midst For if he doe it first all the rest will presently consent and if he doe it last every one will come about to his opinion as it happened to Henry the third who as Historians relate deliberating about the death of the Duke of Guise called foure to counsell of whom when two had spoken their opinions the King had scarcely heard them out when he delivered his owne cleane contrary to theirs whereupon the two that were to speake after presently fell to be of the Kings opinion and the two that had spoken before retracting their former advice consented to that the King had determined which determination was the ruine afterwards of France and of the King himselfe So in Spaine when it was deliberated about making peace betweene Henry the fourth King of France and the King of Spaine after Il Moro had spoken and the Kings sonne being present replied the contrary all the rest came presently to be of his opinion Whereupon not without great judgement Cneius Piso in Tacitus when Tiberius would deliver his opinion in a certaine cause said Quo loco censebis C●…esar si post omnes vereor ne imprudens dissentiam si primus habebo quod sequar Therefore Tiberius another time commanded Drusus that he should be the first to deliver his opinion The Prince therefore should be silent and finding his Counsellours of different opinions let them debate the matter betweene themselves that he may see who gives the best reasons so he shall avoyd contempt by not suffering himselfe to be counselled without asking it and he shall not be flattered if concealing his owne opinion the truth is made manifest by l●…tting them debate it betweene themselves and lastly he shall shew himselfe more learned and more wise then the other if of himselfe without any others direction intervening he shall determine the matter All these things in my opinion are comprised in that place of Ecclesiasticus Audi tacens simul qu●…rens how can he be still that askes and heares but onely as I have explained it to aske counsell in all things to heare counsels and in hearing them to be silent and after of himselfe to determine as reason adviseth In this regard the ancient Poets feigned that Jupiter tooke counsell to be his wife meaning to shew that it is necessary for Princes to be counselled and after that his wife being great with child he swallowed her up and became himselfe great with child in his head and at the due time was delivered of Pallas which is wisdome to shew that counsell would be ruminated in the mind and that a Prince ought not to suffer his counsellours to be delivered themselves but ought by swallowing them up to make that to be his owne issue which was anothers That a Prince ought to determine of himselfe and ought not to determine of himselfe that is determine with counsell is the best of those that are given him and so not of himselfe seeing the counsels are other mens and yet of himselfe seeing the determination proceeds from his owne judgement I conceive it is sufficiently expressed in the booke of the Kings where Salomon saith Dabis ergo servo tuo cor dooile having said before Da mihi sapientiam For explanation of which passage we must know that understanding can have no knowledge of things but such as either it invents of it selfe or learnes of others To the finding them of it selfe is required a sharpnesse of wit and being

DISCOVRSES UPON Cornelius Tacitus Written in Italian by the Learned Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi Dedicated To the Serenissimo Ferdinand the second Great Duke of Thuscany And Translated into English by Sir Richard Baker Knight LONDON Printed by E. G. for R. Whitaker and Tho. Whitaker at the Kings Armes in S. Pauls Church-yard 1642. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM Lord Viscount Say and Seale Master of his Highnesse Court of Wards and Liveries and one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Counsell Most Honoured Lord I Should not have the boldnesse to present this booke unto your Lordship if besides the great service I owe you the Argument of the Booke did not invite me to it for consisting of Politique Discourses and considerations of State it is most fit to be presented to Counsellours of State amongst which I knew not whom better to present it to then to your Lordship and no lesse then the Argument of the Booke the Authour thereof invites me to it for being a learned Lord of Jtaly none more fit to entertaine him then some learned Lord of England of which number this Kingdome affordeth none more eminent then your Lordship I must not speake so much as I think for offending the modesty of your eare but I may boldly speake so much as all the world sees that nature and Art have joyned together to make you perfect in your place which is to be a faithfull Counsellour to the King and a loving Patriot to your Countrey for both which if I should not my selfe acknowledge an obligation to you I might worthily be thought unworthy to be accounted which I specially desire to be Your Lordships humble and devoted servant RICHARD WHITAKER TO THE SERENISSIMO FERDINAND the second great Duke of Thuscany my most gracious Lord. SEeing to nothing I am more bound then to serve your Highnesse I cannot consequently have any greater desire then to be accounted your servant that as the benefits which our House continually receiveth are publikely knowne so the markes of my devotion may publikely appeare which after dedicating my selfe to your Highnesse I cannot better manifest then by offering these Discourses which are so farre unequall to your greatnesse and to what I ow you that it may well appeare to be rather done for confession of my debt then for satisfaction of that obligation which as it can onely receive abatement from your commands so commands comming from so great a Prince will have force againe to make it the greater Vouchsafe then to honour me with commanding me thereby to make me the more obliged and be pleased to accept these weake labours with looking upon the value which your Heroicall Name gives them And upon the weight which my devotion puts upon them with which I wish to your Highnesse all those felicities which as you give manifest proofes to merit so by the divine goodnesse you shall happily obtaine And so I present you the most humble Reverence Of Your Highnesse most devoted servant VIRGILIO MALVEZZI To the Reader That yong men may be good writers in the Politicks and why Cornelius Tacitus gives so great contentment to them that read him IN antiquis est sapientia in multo tempore prudentia If it be true as true indeed it is which the holy Text by the mouth of Job intimates that onely old men are wise certainly it is in nothing more true then in things which belong to action Whereupon the Queene of Saba hearing the most wise Salomon although by the answers he gave to her questions she found he was deeply seene in the secrets of Philosophy and in the mysteries of Divinity yet she made no shew of wondring at it but when she found him endowed with no lesse excellency in things belonging to action then she brake forth into words of astonishment Major est sapientia opera tua quam rumor quem audivi Beati viri tui beati servi tui qui stant coram te semper audiunt sapientia mtuam Shewing thereby that it is no great marvell for a yong man to be excellent in things of contemplation the marvell is if he be excellent in matters of action seeing those require onely sharpnesse of wit which easily growes in verdant spirits these soundnesse of judgement which gets not maturity but by long experience and for this cause Aristotle excluded yong men from active Philosophy and a regard also to this had the Authour of the Tryviall saying That young men may be good Mathematicians but not good Philosophers I therefore may justly be taxed with over-great boldnesse to take upon me to speake in matters of Action being so yong a man as I am when it were fitter I should stand to learne of others then to put my selfe forward to be a Teacher And for this as S. Gregory well observes our Lord Christ in his childhood though he had taught and confounded the Doctours yet by all meanes would have his mother finde him hearkning to them as to learne of them The consideration of this would have stayed me from undertaking such a worke were it not that I detest so much the name of idlenesse that for avoyding of that I rather venture to incurre the blame of too great boldnesse Publishing these my discourses which in one course of the Sunne have had their beginning encrease and finishing and God grant that in the same yeere after the order of nature they have not also their decrease and abolishing and that in comming to the light they beginne not like their Authour from darknesse and then tarry in darknesse still Yet it is true that I have waies enow to desend my selfe from such calumniations And first as to this particular objection that yong men are not fit for action we must know that all action is preceded by contemplation which is the action of the mind and understanding seeing a thing cannot be in the will till it be first in the understanding according to that well knowne rule Nihil volitum quod non sit praecognitum As for example before it be determined to strike battell it is deliberated in counsell which is nothing else but to contemplate whether the action be good or bad And this Sallust sheweth us where he saith Nam priusquam incipias consulto ubi consulueris mature facto opus est And therefore to execute and doe a thing well it is needfull to have gotten a habit in the action which habit growing from many acts often iterated requires an experience which cannot be had without length of time and oftentimes not without a temper in the affections Now for contemplating an action there need not so many things but as he that is to execute a thing cannot doe it well if he have not the habit and the habit he cannot have but by doing many Acts so he that is to contemplate an action that is to be done must necessarily have a knowledge of that action which we may call a habit of the

of which Saint Austin speaking saith that by this the Holy Ghost would intimate that carnall men should be divided between themselves but good and spirituall men should be kept in unity of whom the Prophet Esay speaking after he had said Et fluent ad eum omnes gentes he addes Non exercebuntur ultra ad praelium as if he would say that between the good there shall be alwaies peace And therefore the Dove returning into the Arke brought in her mouth an Olive branch to shew that the peace between good men ought to be perpetuall as the leaves of the Olive which are never dry or as the Oyle which gets by time not lesse perfection but more purity Let peace therefore be kept amongst the good and let discord be raised amongst the wicked imitating the discretion of Physitions who divide and cut off corrupt members but preserve and keep united the sound Whereupon our Lord God in S. Matthew hath left written Non veni mittere pacem sed gladium which place S. Chrysostome expounding saith Quia videlicet praecipua singularisque Pax tunc praestatur quando quod tabo vel sanie corruptum est abscinditur at que projicitur quando factiosa improba pars repellitur aut omnino destruitur sic certe coelis terra conjungi potest Nam medicus hoc modo reliquum corpus conservat facile si quod reduci ad sanitatem non potest ceciderit atque abjecerit militiae Dux ad solvendam militum conspirationem alterum in alterum concitat So did God in the Tower of Babel So did S. Paul in the conspiracy plotted against him and this may suffice for declaration of my meaning Now as to our purpose seeing discords may be divided into internall externall Internall between Citizens of the same City External between one City another because it is a subject no lesse large then difficult I will divide it into foure discourses In the frist I wil handle whether an external war with the enemies of the Christian faith be the best meanes to hinder internall discords amongst Christians In the second in what manner and at what time discords should be raised with the enemies of our faith for our most advantage The third shall shew what discords they are that serve to uphold the formes of states In the last I will shew that by reason of our imperfection there is necessary a certain discord which may be called a Concord Whether an externall warre with the enemies of the faith be the best meanes to hinder internall discords among Christians The sixth Discourse ARistotle in his Politicks seemes to thinke that feare may be a great means to uphold Common-wealths where he saith Conservantur autem Respublicae non solum ex eo quia procul sunt a periculis sed etiam interdum quia propinquae sunt homines enim formidantes vigilantius intendunt ad reipublicae custodiam Itaque oportet eos qui rempublicam salvam esse volunt formidines quasdam ut caveant neque dissolvant quasi nocturnam quandam custodiam reipublicas observationem Whereupon many are perswaded that a forraine warre is the onely meanes to maintaine peace at home And Sallust having an eye to this saith Metus bostilis in bonis artibus civitatem retinebat And the Romanes as long as they had Carthage for an opposite were free all that while from civill war and therefore Scipio Nasica accounted the wisest man of his time and as such chosen by the City to have the keeping of the Mother of the Gods in his house as the Oracle had commanded gave counsell that by no meanes Carthage should be destroyed Timens inf●… animis saith S. Austin hostem securitatem tanquam pupillis civibus tutorem necessarium videns esse Terrorem and in a manner with the same words hath Livy intimated the same conceit Disciplina erat custos infirmitatis qua inter validiores optime Timor continet And therefore the Athenians as Plato relates never attained to greater perfection then when the Persians assailed Greece But yet this Rule as many other in the Politicks though it be sometimes good yet is not to be trusted alwaies and in generall for a Politician in this case must doe as a Physician apply to one complexion one medicine and to another a divers and oftentimes to the same Patient in diversity of diseases diversity of medicines and more then this to the same Patient in the same disease apply diverse medicines according to diversity of times And therefore Vindicianus the Physitian as S. Austin relates having given a medicine to a sicke friend of his at that time it healed him but after some yeeres the same man falling again into the same disease and using without farther counsell of his Physician the former medicine it did him no good whereat marvelling and asking Vindicianus the cause he answered Quod non intellexerat videlicet●… illi aetati jam non hoc se fuisse facturum and the reason is because we must not so much consider that the person which useth the medicine is the same as that the time is diverse and if the diversity of time be of so great moment of what moment is the diversity of individuals We may therefore conclude with Aristotle in many places of his Ethicks that in things belonging to particulars there cannot be given any Rule universall I will therefore distinguish men and consequently Cities seeing Cities are nothing else but a communion of men assembled together to live well as the Philosopher defines them afterward I will divide the times and lastly the formes of states Of men some are quiet some turbulent some addicted to Merchandise some to study so of Cities whether by any power of the Ayre or of the influence of the starres some one is full of sharpe wits fit for merchandizing others of stout spirits fit for Armes some have ordinances which lead them in a way of peace others of warre sometimes they are both by nature and art of so strong a scituation that in regard of their difficulty to be assaulted they are altogether carelesse of Military profession In this last case it will be an easie matter to maintain peace at home to which they are either called by nature or ayded by art and especially if the inhabitants shall give themselves to such exercises which keepe men from dissentions But if the Citizens be of stout natures and imperfect I meane not in essence for I well know by divinity that every creature in its essence is perfect it will then be necessary there should be feare and this S. Austin meant when he said Infirmis animis hostem securitatem and there is good reason for it for if they feare to be overcome of an Enemy they will strive to overcome their own will and take for a master the feare of vertue And therefore our Lord God when he gave Joshua the Land of Promise as he had promised to Abraham