the Parliament till that now of later times under pretext of introducing a New Religion they have taken upon them to exercise a more absolute power over their Subjects But in Antient Times the whole Kingdom of England was divided into four lesser Kingdoms as Spain also hath been anciently distributed both into many several Kingdomes both of which Countries did afterwards grow into two entire Kingdomes although it cannot be denied but that the Power of the Kings of England was never so great as that of the Kings of Spain My opinion is therefore that the King of Spain should do well to employ under hand some certain Merchants of Florence that are wise and subtle persons and that traffick at Antwerp who because they are not so much hated by the English as the Spaniards are should treat with some such of the English as are some way or other descended from some of the former Kings of England and should promise each of them severally no one of them knowing any thing what is said to the other all the possible aides that can be from Spain for the restoring of them to their Inheritances Legally descending down to them from their Ancestours and undertake to effect this for them if not as to the whole Kingdome yet at least to some part of it requiring them to engage themselves to nothing else so to give a colour to the businesse save only that they shall not joyn their forces and assist the English in setting upon the Spanish Fleet at its return from the West Indies For by this meanes each of them being puft up with hope will presently fall to question the King of Scots his Title to the English Crown and will endeavour to oppose him in it Let him also send privately to King Iames of Scotland and promise him that He will assist him to the utmost of his Power in his getting possession of the Kingdom of England upon this conditionâ— viz that He shall either restore there again the Catholick Religion for the love whereof His Mother Mary Stuart Queen of Scots refused not to spend her dearest blood and even to lay down her Life too or at least that he shall not annoy or any way disturbe the said Spanish Fleet. But then again on the other side let him under hand labour with the English Peers and the chiefest of the Parliament and egge them on to endeavour to reduce England into the Form of a Republick withal assuring them that the King of Scots when he shall have once gotten into the English Throne must needs prove a cruel Prince to them as having alwaies about him a deep remembrance how injuriously the English have heretofore dealt with the Scots Moreover let Him endeavour to strike a terrour into Queen Elizabeths friends by often putting into their heads that they will find that King Iames will revenge his Mothers blooâ— upon Queen Elizabeths friends seeing that She is like to leave behind her None of Her Own blood upon whom He might take revenge especially seeing that His Mother Queen Mary when she was now to dye seriously commended unto Him the care of the Catholick Religion and the Revenge of Her Blood The English Bishops are also to be exasperated and put into Fears and Jealousies by telling them that the King of Scots turned Calvinist out of hope and desire of the English Crown and being also forced to do so by his Heretical Barons but that when He shall once be quietly settled in the English Throne He will then quickly restore the Former Religion for as much as not onely His deceased Mother but even the King of France also have both of them very earnestly commended the same unto Him By which means it must necessarily follow that the seeds of a continual War betwixt England and Scotland will be sown in so much that neither Kingdome shall have any leisure to work any disturbance to the Spanish Affaires Or else by buzzing into their ears that in case King Iames should be possest of this Kingdom He wilâ— however be a Friend of Spain that the whole Island would be devided into many Dominions or else that it would come to be an Elective Kingdom by which means the King of it will be the lesse careful of making himself Master of other Countries and of adding them to the English Crown neither indeed though he should never so much desire it would he ever be able to do so as I have before shewed where I speak of France or else that this Country of England will be reduced into the Form of a Common Wealth which will perpetually be at feude with Scotland and that all Actions It shall undertake will be long in bringing to effect and so It will be able to do the lesse harm to Spain The Spirits of the English Catholicks also are to be rouzed up and as it were awakened from sleep and encouraged to Action for by this means so soon as ever the Throne shall be vacant the King of Spain shall come into England under Pretence of assisting them Let Him also deal with those English Nobles who are possessed of some certain circumjacent Islands lying about England that they should exercise an Absolute and full Jurisdiction each of them in their several places and have Peculiar Courts of Justice of their own distinct from those of England which very thing we read to have been Anciently done by them The Chief of the Irish Nobility also are to be dealt with that as soon as they hear of the Queens death they should new model Ireland either into the Form of a Republick or else should make it a Kingdom of it self throwing off all Obedience to the English withal promising aides to each of them in particular and that so much the rather because that in that Kingdome or Island the Catholicks and especially the Friers that are of the Order of S. Francis are very greatly esteemed and beloved There is also much greater agreement and correspondence betwixt the Spaniard and the Irish then betwixt them and the English whether it be by reason of the Similitude of their Manners or else by reason of the Clime and the nearnesse of these two Countries one to the other There are also in Ireland many Vagabond persons and such as have fled their Countries being men that are most impatient of Government and yet are good Catholicks and such as may be able to do good service in this kind as hath been shewed already But this sort of Men is not very rare to be found either in England or Scotland also These and the like Preparations may be made before hand that so soon as ever Queen Elizabeth is dead they may be immediately put into Execution For there is no man but knowes what horrid Civil Wars and what strange Alterations and Turns have happened several times in England So that what I have here proposed ought not to appear to any man as things either New or Impossible CHAP. XXVI
above Humane Condition and ought to be esteemed as a kind of Godâ— or a Christ or at least is to be reputed as qualified with a certain measure of Divinity and to have some eminâ—nt knowledge conferred upon him from above as had that Divine Law-giver Moses and as at this day have the Pope and the Bishops Or if this be not granted to Him he ought however â—hrough Humane Virtue at least to submit and yield Obedience to the Divine Law-giver as did Charles the Great And there have been some who wisely considering these things have endeavoured to perswade the World that they were Inspired from Heaven as did Mahomâ—t and Minos whose Lawes were thereby held in great Reverence by the People And certainly wheresoever the King shall approve himself to be such the People in general will be made good where as on the contrary if the Prince be Bad the People will be so too And therefore following the Example of the Pope and his Bishops he ought to appear as like them as he can doing nothing at all without their approbation but making a Union betwixt his Kingdom and their Church so to make up one Body of a Republick betwixt them as I have said before and by observing the Ecclesiastical Order and by constituting good Lawes he must render himself Worthy of Reverence from the People which by appearing but seldom abroad among them in Publique he shall be sure to have from them As for those Acts which Humane Nature cannot abstain from as eating and the like these he ought to do privately Or if at any time he do any of them in Publiâ—k He must alwaies after the example of Philopoemen the General of the Achaeans have some by him to discourse touching Peace and War Our King must not endeavour so much to be Accounted a Vertuous Person as to be so Really for where any one is discovered to have but once played the Dissembler no body will ever believe him again afterwards And because that for want of Issue to succeed him the Kingdome may easily fall to the ground His chiefest care must be that he get children as soon and early as he can And so soon as ever his Eldest Son shall be grown up to any maturity and himself perchance is yet a young man he may then do well to â—end him to Rome that so he may be instructed both in the affaires of the World and in those of Religion also and withal the Kingdom of Spain may be the more firmly incorporated into the Church by having both the Cardinals and Popes themselves alwayes true to their Faction and also that His Son and the Barons may not dare to joyn together and take up Armes against Him which our King Philip suspected of his Son Charles and so by Obeying he shall learn how to Rule The King of Spain ought also alwayes to design some of the House of Austria to be his successor in case that he should die without a successor of his own Let him alwayes speak the Language of his Native Country and give Audience to such only as speak the same He ought alwayes to keep his Court in Spain the Head of his Empireâ— neither let him ever go out of it unlesse it be to the Wars and leaving his Son behind him Or to suppresse some mutinying Province or some Baron that he suspects He may go and take up his quarters among them that so being thereby reduced to want and scarcity they may be forced to serve the King instead of Souldiers and He by this means may be freed from all fears and jealousies The rest of His Male Children that are not brought up in the hope and expectation of Reigning he may make Cardinals neither ought he at any time to commit the rains of Government to their hands least happily they should be possessed with a desire of Ruling And hence it is that among the Turks it is the Custome alwayes to make away with all the yonger Sons And the King of China shuts up those that are next in blood to Him in large spacious places which abound with all variety both of necessaries and Delights as the King of Ethiopia confines all his to a certain very high and most pleasant Mountain called Amara where they are to continue tell they shall be called to succeed in the Kingdom But yet for all this neither doth the King of China or Ethiopia by confining their nearest of kin nor the Great Turk by killing his nor yet the Moor by putting out the Eyes of his acquit themselves from the danger and fear of Seditions and Rebellions For notwithstanding that the Parents of these confined Persons may haply bear it with a patient and quiet mind enough yet it may possibly be that either the Common People or the Nobles of the Kingdome being moved either with Indignation and Fury or else Fear of Punishment or desire of Revenge may corrupt and provoke those Persons so shut up or by killing their Keepers may carry them away out of their prisons by force and may place them in the Throne as those they call The Common Rebels of Spain attempted to carry away by force the Duke of Calabria who was at that time a Prisoner in the Sciattive Tower And in China many most cruel Tyrants â—f both sexes both Kings and Queens have been murdered And of late years in Ethiopia Abdimalo was called to the Crown not from ouâ— of the Mountain of Amara but from out of Arabia whether he had fled to preserve himself Neither is there any Country where there have been more Civil Wars and Rebellions raised then among the Moors in Maâ—ritania The Kings of Ormus before that that Country was subdued by the Portuguez were wont to kill their Parents which custome was practised also by some Emperours of Constantinople by the Kings of Tunis also and of Marocco and Fez as likewise among the Turks as appears by the Wars betwxt Bajazet and Zerim and of Selim and his father Bajazet the second Therefore this Cruelty of the Turks renders them not much more secure thereby For in other Kingdomes it is onelyâ— Ambition and a desire of Honour and Rule that excites men to raise sedition and to take up Armes against the Prince Which Ambitious Desires may either be satisfied some other way or be diverted to some other design or possibly may be overawed and crusht But those of the Blood Royal among the Turks and Moors besides Ambition have a Necessity also of seeking the preservation of their own Lives to force them on to such Attempts For seeing they are all certainly enough assured that they shall be put to death by the succeeding Emperour they have need all of them to provide for themselves and so are necessitated in a manner to take up Armes and to implore the aid and assistance either of subjects at home of Forrain Princes abroad Hence it was that Sâ—lim was wont to say that He was to be
excused for having made away with so many of his Brothers Nephews and Kindred seeing that otherwise the meanest person of the Ottoman line that should have but scaped acting a part in that Tragedy might have come to the same Dignity He enjoyed But passing by these Impious and yet â—neffectual Examples of Cruelty let us now come to the Daughters of the King of Spain And these Probably may do well to be matched with the Kings or Princes of Poland and France and also with the Kings of Denmark Muscovia England and the like upon this condition that these Princes promise faithfully to embrace the Catholick Religion which if they would do there would thence a double Benefit accrue The King must take into his Court all the most able and most knowing in all sorts of Sciences and He must endeavour to render both Himself and his Children as excellent in them as is possible that so the Eyes of all men may be turned upon Him and His and may joyn themselves unto them seeing them live so happily and securely In like manner as all the People of Israel even to the Maccabees themselves who had God for their Guide became yet admirers of the Romans and entring into a League with them fled to Them for Protection Now He that protects or assists may naturally be said to be Lord of him whom he protects as the Man became Lord of the Horse whiles He assisted him against the Stag. CHAP. X. What Sciences are required in a Monarch to render him admired by all ALl Great Men when they have gone about to set up a New Monarchy have changed the Sciences that the people were exercised in before and many times also the Religion of the Country that so they might render themselves the more Admired by their Subjects and by this means also other Nations have come in unto them too And this is the reason why the Assyrians under King Ninus changed the Religion of Noah and set up that of Iupiter Belus and applied themselves to the study of Astrology whereby they became so famous and admired that they brought the whole East under their Subjection The like course also was taken by the Persians under Cyrus who took upon himself the Title of Gods Commissary for These introduced into the World the Practise of Natural Magick a Science till then never heard of before and furnished it out with great Variety of New and Admirable Rites and Ceremonies The Macedonians made the world believe that their Prince Alexander the Great was the Son of Iupiter Ammon and withal abolisâ—ing the Ancient Disciplines they brought in upon the Stage the Aristotelian which confuted all that were before it insomuch that his Father King Philip rejoyced very much thereat foreseeing that this Novelâ—y of Doctrine would lay a Foundation for his son to erect a New Empire upon and so thenceforward neglected the worship of Iupiter Mercury Osiris and the rest of the most Ancient among the Gods Thus Mahomet also when he now aspired to a Monarchy introduced a New Religion fitting it to his own Palat and the Gust of the People Iulius Caesar likwise being now got to be chosen the Pontifâ—x Maximus and Astrology being at that time not very well known to the Romans He by changing the Old Account and rectifying the Year laid the Foundation of His Monarchy And the same must the King of Spain also do especially seeing He hath the best Opportunity that can be of doing the same For seeing that it is not Lawful at all times to introduce a New Religion He ought therefore to adorn and set forth the Old so much the more and to enlarge it with variety of New Rites anâ— Ceremonies as also to bring forth into the World New Sciences and such as shall be suitable to His Dignity But above all let him make a Law to be observed by all Christians First That whensoever any People or Country shall forsake the Roman Religion all Princes shall be bound upon pain of forfeiting their Estates to root out and extirpate the same like as God commanded Moses Secondly That the Clergy and such as are skilled in Church Matters shall make it Their care to look to the regulating of the Moneths of the Year and the Daies of the Week calling the several Moneths by the Names of the Twelve Apostles and the seven Daies of the Week by the Names of the Seven Sacraments For the truth of it is that the Inhabitants of the New World when they find in conversing with the Christians that the Heathenish Names of Moneths and Daies are still in use among them they are wrapt into a great admiration And the like course is to be observed in other the like things Thirdly that seeing that New Sciences do make a New Monarchy the more Admired I would have the Schooles of the Platonists and of the Stoicks opened again whose Opinions come nearer to Christianity then the Aristotelian And that we may descend to particulars the Telesian Philosophy is the most excellent of all seeing it comes the nearest to the Holy Fâ—thers and makes it appear to the World that the Philosophers knew nothing and that Aristotle who would have the Soul to be Mortal and the World to be Immortal and denyes Providencâ— also on which Christianity is grounded talks very absurdly notwithstanding all his so specious Reasons seeing that the same are refuted by stronger Reasons fetcht in like manner from Nature Fourthly It is necessary that he set the Wits of the Learned to work with Scholastick Questions lest by being conversant in the Sciences of Natural Things it set an edge upon their Ambition and by this meanes they should aspire to higher Matters Fifthly That He should banish all Theological Questions out of the Transalpine Schools seeing that all the Divines of those parts turn Hereticks by not continuing firm to the Holy Constitutious of the Pope but are still raising up fresh Controversies and the Wits of these men are to be exercised onely in the Disputes of Natural Philosophy Sixtly He must endeavour to get himself Renown as Iustinian did by reducing all the Roman Lawes into One Bodyâ— and as Charles the Great did by opening the School of Aristotle which was at that time the only School of Philosophy in Christendome for all the rest had been long before trodden down to the ground by the Barbarians as I have shewed elsewhere Seventhly He shall do well to shut up all the Greek and Hebrew Schools because that these Two Languages have been destructive to Monarchy and are besides the Main Pillars by which those Heresies that chiefly raign at this day are built upon And therefore on the contrary let him endeavour to bring in the Knowledge of the Arabick Tongue by meanes whereof the Mahumetans may be the better convinced and the troublesome Transalpine Wits may imploy themselves rather in confuting the Turks then in vexing the Catholicks with their Disputes Eighthly Let him also erect Mathematical
the Princes of Italy and that by reason of their Union in point of Religion I say moreover that He cannot suffer any Notable Overthrow â—nlesse it be by some very Potent Prince such a One as the great Turk is who yet lying so very far remote from him as Alexander the Great of old did from the Romans cannot so quickly ruin him whereas on the Contrary any Peaceable Agreement of the Christians among themselves if so be it were but Firm and Lasting would utterly confound the Turk And therefore I say that although King Philips Kingdomes lye scattered far and near yet his enemies also lye far asunder one from another and therefore it is clear that his Emulators the Italians Tuscans and Venetians will never enter into a Combination against him unlesse he First give them some evident cause and wrong them very much Neither indeed will the Pope ever suffer any acts of Hostility to be done against His Catholick Majesty and besides it is also most certain that the Catholick Princes both out of fear of the Hereticks and also of the Authority of the Pope will never attempt any such thing And the Hereticks are at very great Variance also amongst themselves and for this reason Germany being divided into severall small Republicks cannot do him any harm at all and it is besides part of it made subject to the House of Austria and the Archdukes thereof by the Emperours and part also to certain Archbishops who are withall secular Princes as namely the Archbishops of Mâ—ntz of Colen Trevers Salsburg Strasburg and Bamberg and part also to the Dukes of Bavaria so that the Protestants can by no meanes make any Insurrection against the King of Spain The Lower Germany also is divided into more Common-Wealths then the other all which bear Armes against the King of Spain though it be only to defend themselves and not to offend Him And of this number are the Provinces of Holland Frisland and Zealand Besides the Upper and the Lower Germanies differ very much in their Religion which we may also say of the Danes Norwegians Transylvanians Gotlanders Polonians French Switzers and Grisons so that the King hath no need at all to fear that these should ever all joyn together against him and besides the King retains a great part of these Nations in pay and by that means keeps them his friends and then the King of Poland and the Prince of Transylvania are allied to him by Marriage and so are in league and amity with him So that He hath no body to stand in fear of but only the King of France and the King of England which two Princes by reason of their being of different Religions can never agree together Now although the King of Spain cannot as yet subdue the King of France yet it makes very much for His Interest that the King of France being absolved by the Pope is returned again to the Obedience of the Church For otherwise he would have been the Head of all the Transalpine Hereticks and would have marcht with an Army of them over into Italy to the great Prejudice both of the Pope and of our King which None of the Hereticks hath to this day adventured to do merely for want of a Powerful General to head them Then besides there is a Division broken out in France betwixt the Catholicks and the Hereticks and which is the chiefest thing of all there are in that Kingdome many Potent Bishops who would not by any means see Spain ruined And lastly our Kings Subjects do not come into the field with Lances Swords and Horses as the French use to do but they come into it armed with Guns which are a kind of Arms that are fitter for the defending of strong Holds and Fortifications then for the setting upon an Enemy in an open Field And hence it is that the French are able indeed to resist all the Spaniards Attempts but they cannot overcome them for in this case the very Princes and States of Italy who have to this day alwaies held with the French would go over to the Spaniard for it is their Design to keep the Ballance alwaies so even betwixt these two Nations as that neither of them may preponderate and bear down the Scales and so make a Prey of the Other which Hiero King of Syracuse heretofore laboured to do betwixt the Romans and the Carthaginians although he failed of his purpose Besides the King of France cannot march with an Army into Spain by reason of the Fortified Places and Castles that lye in his way and are kept by the Spaniards who are very well skilled in defending such Places Neither can he so soon march out with an Army against Millan or Naples but that the King of Spain can be much sooner in France with an Army and shall so force him to return back again and defend his own Kingdom Neither did the King of France ever passe over into Italy unlesse when he was assisted by the Pope as the Expedition of Charles of Anjou testifies or except he were called in by some Prince or State of Italy as Charles the Eighth was called in by the Duke of Millan which yet at this time can hardly be done again For the Italians were now afraid that they would bring in a New Religion with them And besides it is a usual thing that that Prince that first calls Forraigners in to his aide shall be first ruined by them for he must necessarily entertain them and allow them Quarters who after they have overcome the adverse Party will joyn with them and so drive out Him who called them first in Examples of this we have in the Sforza's Castruccio's and the Florentines with many others and also in the Pope himself although his own Papal Authority restored him again And therefore the Spaniard hath no need to fear the King of France much And as for the English he hath much lesse reason to stand in fear of them seeing they are shut up within an Island and we seldome see Islanders get any sure footing and make themselves Masters of any part of a Forraign Continent And therefore it is sufficient for them if they can keep their own only they send out their Ships to fetch in Prizes by Sea but for this Mischief I shall hereafter set down a Remedy Only let the King of Spain take care that the English joyn not their Navy with the Hollanders Scots Danes Norwegians and Danzickers for if they should they might then be able to overrun all Spain as the Alans Goths and Vandals did of old And yet seeing that these Nations differ all in Religion and the King of Spain doth craftily under hand sow new seeds of Dissention amongst them there is no great cause to fear that they should joyn their forces together â—pon any design Let us now see what Spain is able to do within it self and by what means it may become Greater and enlarge its Territories laying down this
and how great Errours we have of late years committed in reference to them that so for the future we may be the more wary as to this Particular The French Nation being descended from Iaphet by Gomer by their strength and the force of their Armes and having also their Religion and the Fates Propitious to them have had very great Successes in that under the Conduct of Charles the Great and King Pepin they arrived to so great a Monarchy as they then had And certainly all the other Princes of Christendom had at that time an eâ—e upon the Kingdom of France and if the French had but crusht the Impiety of the Mahumetans when it was yet but in the Bud they might easily have compassed the Monarchy of the whole World and that so much the rather by reason that their Rivals the Spaniards were divided into Many several Kingdomes and were besides held in Play with the Moors who had invaded their Country so that at that time they were not at leasure to interrupt the French or to take them off from their Designes as the French at this day hinder Them in theirs But for as much as the French have not the skill of carrying a Moderate Hand in Government over such Forraigners as are under their Subjection but are too Impatient and Indiscreet they could never yet attain to so great a height of Power For they are apt to arrogate too much to themselves shewing no gravity at all they permit their Subjects to do what they please and so sometimes they use them too cruelly and sometimes again too gently having no regard at all to their own defects and weaknesses And hence it hath come to passe that though they have gotten many things abroad yet they have not been able to keep any of them For in One eveningâ— they lost all Sicily and almost in as short a time the Kingdom of Naples too together with the Duchy of Millan and for no other reason but only because that they knew not how through want of Prudence in Governing to oblige their Subjects to them by the Love of the Publick Good nor yet took any care to draw in others to put themselves under their Protection For when the people once perceaved that there would be very litle or no difference to them in respect of their Libertyâ— whether they served the French or the Spaniards they would not vouchsafe so much as to draw a Sword in their behalf And for the very same reason did the King of France and the Duke of Millan several times lose their Dominion over the Genois We may add hereto in reference to the French the Discord that was betwixt the Sons of Charles the Great because that one of them would be King of Italy another of Germany and a third of France and likewise the weaknesse of the French Nobility who would needs all be free Princes and live of themselves without any Head such as are the Duke of Burgundy the Earl of Flanders the Duke of Bretaigne of the Delphinate of Savoy the Count Palatine of the Rhine with diverse others each of which would needs be an Absolute Prince of himselfâ— So that as well for these Reasons and because of their being dâ—vided in their Religion and also as well by Fate as by God himself and besides by not laying hold upon Occasion when it was offered they seem to be excluded from ever attaining to the Universal Monarchy of the whole World And therefore the Majesty of the Universal Dominion over all seemes rather to incline toward the Spaniards both because Fate it self seemes to have destined the same unto Them as also because it seemes in some sort to be their Due by reason of their Patience and Discretion But because that the very Situation of the Country the manner of their Armes in War and the natural Enmity that there is betwixt the French and the Spaniards seem to require that France should be continually in War with Spain and should be still interrupting their Glorious Proceedings like as also when it was in a flourishing state under Charles the Fifth it was hindred by Francis King of France and as it may also at this day be troubled by the Hereticks of France and their King Henry the Fourth who is a Valiant and Warlick Person these things I say being considered it nearly concerns the King of Spain seriously to consider the state of his own Affaires and withal to weigh the Power of France and to be sure when any fit Opportunity is offered to fall upon them with all his might to set upon them on that part where they are Weakest that â—o that other part where they are more powerful may sink of it self Seeing therefore that they are weak not in Armes but in Wisdom and Brain He ought to manage his War against them accordingly And therefore first of all he must be sure to lay hold on Fortune and Opportunity whensoever they offer themselves as evidently appeares by the example of that good Fortune that delivered the aforenamed King Francis and Germany into the hands and power of Charles the Fifth by which means had he pursued that Opportunity he might have crushed all the Princes that were his Competitors for he ought immediately to have bent his whole strength against France and by the assistance of the Germans to have repressed and curbed the Insolency of the French I say by the assistance of the Germans for they as being the more Fierce Nation of the two have alwaies been as an Antidote against the Fiercenesse of the French And hence it is that the Franconians Normans Swedes Gotlanders Danes and other Northern Forraign Nations have alwaies in a manner been to hard for the French that lye not so Northerly as they And therefore as I said Charles the Fifth ought immediately with an Army of Germans to have set upon France And after that he should have put Guards of Spaniards into all their Castles and strong Holds and should have placed Italians in all their Courts of Judicature and have appointed them to regulate their Lawes and then should either have brought France wholly under his own Power and Obedience or else should have put it into the hands of some Petty Princes to be governed by them and so should presently have declared Himself Head of the Christian World But he instead of doing thus had recourse to that Vain uselesse course of securing himself by marriage chusing rather to winne over to him his Rivall Neighbour by Fair meanes which is never to be done but with those that are farther off and which is especially to be declined when a Prince hath so Potent Neighbours that are his Antagonists for an Empire For the Fâ—ench had first a design of making themselves Universall Monarchs of the World before the Spaniards had any such thought whom the French afterwards envied when they found them aspiring that way A second Opportunity of keeping France under in such
be sufficient if He could but bring it about that the Hollander and the Freezlander should with their Fleets fall upon the English Forces at Sea as I shall by and by make it plainly appear But seeing He is so far from doing thisâ— that his own Navies are very often damaged by the English ships the only Remedy that is left him is to provide himself of some Vast Fleets of ships which should lie at Corugna and Lisbon that when ever the Spanish Fleet shall return from the Indies they may serve as convoys to It and may bring it home safely or else they may be sent forth either against Ireland or England and so may divert them from lying in wait for and infesting of the Spanish Navies And because the King of Spain is to be Lord of the Seas it is very necessary that He build himself many Wooden Cities that is to say great Navies for the securing of His Treasure that he recieves out of the New World It would also be a very good course for him to hire those that are of the greatest strength among the Hollanders though it cost him a Million of mony to guard such Fleets of his as are to passe to and fro in the Northern Seas and to deal in the like manner with such Nations as are better skilled in Nautical affaires then the English themselves are as namely the Danzickers by means of the King of Poland who is allied to the house of Austria likewise with the Gutlanders Swedes Finlanders and the rest that are of Scandinavia Denmark Pomerania and Borussia procuring them to declare against the English and either to set upon some of their Islands or else to invade England it self that so they may divert them from falling upon the Spanish Fleets or else if the King shall think it better to set upon the English Navy it self If I say He would but be at so great a charge as to hire the said Nations to fall upon the English and would besides but give them all the Booties that they should take from the English He might compasse all his desires and besides the seeds of such a Feude once sown would spread far and near and would never be killed and choaked again And therefore I conceive that Mony alone would be able to set these People at Variance and make them fall foul one upon the other And it is certain that England stands in fear of no other Nations so much as of those above named because they are both more fierce and more Populous Nations and also more powerful at Sea then the English themselves are For Spain cannot it self make any considerable opposition against the English unlesse it be by makig use of some such Artifice seeing that they are better acquainted with those Northern Seas then the Spanish are And then England is an Island whose Inhabitants are both very Numerous and they are also a diligent and subtle People and it is besides very strongly fortified both by Sea and Land and withall a deadly enemy to Spain partly by reason of their different Religions and partly because the English claime a kind of Right to that Crown by reason of the Castilian Line which is derived by the House of Lancaster besides diverse of the former Kings of England of the Family of York and others have been allied to Spain Now as concerning the weakning of the English there can no better way possibly be found out then by causing Divisions and Dissentions among themselves and by continually keeping up the same which will quickly furnish the Spaniard with better and more advantageous Opportunities And as for the Religion of that People it is that of Calvin though very much Moderated and not so rigid and austere as it is at Geneva which yet cannot so easily be extinguished and rooted out there unlesse there were some certain Schooles set up in Flanders with which People the English have very great commerce by meanes of which there should be scattered abroad the Seeds of Schisme and Divisions in the Natural Sciences as namely betwixt the Stoicks Peripateticks and Telesians by which the Errours of the Calvinists might be made manifest For the truth of it is That Sect is Diametrically contrary to the Rules of Policy for they teach that whether a Man do well or ill he doth all by Divine Impulsion which Plato Demonstrates against Homer to be opposite to all Sounder Policy which sayes that every Man hath Free Liberty of Will either to do Well or Ill so that it is in our own Power either to observe or not observe what is commanded us and from hence we are to expect either our Rewards or Punishments according as I have most evidently demonstrated in my Dialogue touching Policy where I have discoursed of this Point though but briefly and without any flourish of Language which They since they have become Hereticks are grown somewhat subtle in and yet being of a Nature that is still desirous of Novelties and Change they are easily wrought over to any thing As concerning their Dominions and Private Estates the English are divided and live in several Countries whence some time or other the Spaniard may easily light upon some convenient Opportunity of advantage against them For the King of Englands Dominion is divided into Ireland and England which together with Scotland maketh up the Isle of Great Brittain Now Scotland it self hath also many small Islands belonging to it which are called the Orcades And hence it is that the Isle of Great Brittain had alwaies two Kings reigning over it namely one of them was King of England and the other of Scotland who by reason of their lying so near to each other were in a manner continually at wars and invading one anothers Territories for their Kingdomes are severed only by a little small River and some few hills But now the King of Scots hovers as it were at this time over England not only by reason of his Neighbourhood to it but also because of His Right of Succession for His Mother was Niece to King Henry the Eighth who was Father to Queen Elizabeth that now reigneth and if we should confesse the truth there is none so near in blood to the Crown of England as He is And therefore the time now draweth on that after the death of the said Queen Elizabeth who is now very old the Kingdom of England must fall into the hands of their Ancient and continuall Rivals the Scots We may here add that the Peers of the Land who when they are assembled together in a Body are called in their Language the Parliament carry a great sway with them and have very great Power in so much that they seem to desire to set up an Oligarchy or an Aristocratical State according to the example shewed them by the Netherlandeâ—s For all Northern Nations are Naturally impatient of Monarchy or Absâ—lute Power in Princes and the Kings of England were alwaies kept under by
may be diverted from Theological Questions and may apply themselves to study Questions of Philosophy for these come nearer to the Christian Faith then the Doctrine of Aristotle doth Now the King in doing these things shall follow the Example of Hercules who to the end He might the more easily overcome Anâ—taeus drew him forth of his own Territories and also of Cadmus who brought over New Arts and Sciences with him into Boeotia and by means of the same got to be Prince of that Country And by taking this Course the Principal among the Hereticks when they shall see there is more to be gotten there then here forsaking their Heresies will become Ringleaders in the Sects of Philosophy and Astrology And besidesâ— that they may gain our favour they will probably make head against their enemies the Turks and their impious Doctrine which hath insensibly crept into Germany because it agrees very much with Calvinisme There should also be erected Publick Work-houses for the exercise of Mechanical Arts to which this People is exceeding Apt and so by this means will the Businesse of Navigation be much promoted together with the skill of Besieging Towns and of taking them in by the use of Artificial Fire-works By this means the People probably will be taken off from their False Religion and divided one from another to the great Advantage of the King and Kingdom of Spain to whom many will now come and tender their Service and His Empire which of late hath been Contemptible and hateful to all the World shall recover its ancient Splendour and Honour 13. There must mutual Contentions and Hatred be stirred up amongst the Nobles and Principal Men of the Country and that part that most favours the Spanish Interest must be assisted and rewarded with gifts that so the rest may be brought over too and may be encouraged to do the like But if this cannot be done He must then rid them â—ut of the way or if the cannot â—e found to have deserved death any way then must their Repâ—tation only be diminished â—or Injustice never yet took deep root or else they must be sent away into some other parts Paulus Aemilius that he might leave Macedoniâ— in a quiet and peaceable condition perswaded all the Principal of the Nobility to take their wives and children and go live in Italy And Charles the Great to prevent the frequent Tumults and Commotions that were in Saxony sent all the Nobility of that Country into France 14. They should be prevailed with to sail away into the New World and to joyn with the Portugal Fleet and break into Arabia and Palestine through the Read Sea â—o to annoy the Turks as shall be hereafter shewed that so being drawn out of their own Country to fight against Forreign Enemies they may be destroyed by the Spaniards who in this particular are much abler men then They. 15. The seeds of Emulation and Envy should be sowed amongst them that after the example of those Brothers that sprung up out of the Serpents Teeth they may destroy one another and that those few of them that shall remain may be afterwards made use of by the King of Spain for his service But then it is necessary in the first place that the Serpent of Sedition it self I mean Count Maurice should be destroyed and not have Opportunity given him by the continuing of the War of growing greater and more powerful every day then other But before allâ— as I said before there must be New Learning and New Languages introduced amongst them according to the Example of Cadmus and there mâ—st likewise Women be got away from them after the example of Iason 16. The Hollanders are to be hired every year though it should Cost the King a Million of Gold to be a convoy to the Spanish Fleet returning out of the West Indies and also to secure the Sea Coast of Spain against the English and those that are the Chief amongst them in that expedition should deliver up their Sons for Hostages till such time as they shall have done their businesse effectually For these men will willingly be hired for mony to fight against England and very probably there will at length be found some one or other of them that will for mony also betray even Holland it self and their whole Fleet to the Spaniards And certainly if the seeds of Dissention and Envy were but once sowed among the Principal men and Nobles of these Common-Wealths they would never be able to hold up so stifly against the Spaniards and gain strength every day as they do neither would those that now maintain Bookish Controversies against the Pope get so much reputation and Authority among the People and the King himself would also by this means confirm his own Empire both by Sea and Land and would draw these People over to him 17 These People are wonderfully taken with Miracles and are great Admirers of any Excellency and Eminent Vertue so that any Holy and Wise men might easily by their Arts draw them to any thing Therefore there is need of such diligent Workmen who by their Doctrine and Spotlesse Sanctimony of their Lifeâ— may call home those straying sheep to the way of Truth And if it should please God to call Me to take this Imployment upon me I should c. 18. When these People were now once divided and weakened they should then upon the sudden be set upon by an Army for Delay tends rather to the confounding then the well Ordering of Affaires For Semper nocuit differre paratis When Preparations now are made Designs are by Delay betray'd The King should therefore fall in upon them with a numerousâ— and powerful Army in the head whereof Himself should be and should withal make use of some unusual Stratagem without which all his Designs will come to nothing There should also some one among the Spanish Commanders who is both a Stout and also a Wise and circumspect man be suborned by the King of Spain to counterfeit himself to be a Renegado and going over to the Enemy should insinuate himself into the States General and should prevail with them to make him their Generalâ— as we read Zopyrus did who betrayed the City of Babylon whether he had fled having first cut off his own Nose Ears and Lips and making them believe that all those were the Marks of the Cruelty of Darius to his Master or as Sinon did to the Trojâ—ns and as Sextus Tarquinius did who going over to the Gâ—biiâ— and making them believe that he was fled from his Father and being both believed by them and also chosen to be their General he first cut off the cheif men of the Common-Wealth and afterwards betrayed the said Gabii to his Father For the bringing about of the like Designe whereof the King of Spain hath need of a man that is most faithful as well as Valiant and Wise and not such a one as was that Perfidious fellow Antonio
THOMAS CAMPANELLA An Italian FRIAR And Second MACHIAVEL His advice to the King of Spain for attaining the universal Monarchy of the World Particularly concerning England Scotland and Ireland how to raise Division between KING and PARLIAMENT to alter the Government from a Kingdome to a Commonwealth Thereby embroiling England in Civil war to divert the English from disturbing the Spaniard in bringing the Indian Treasure into Spain Also for reducing Holland by procuring war betwixt England Holland and other Sea-faring Countries affirming as most certain that if the King of Spain become master of England and the Low Countries he will quickly be Sole Monarch of all Europe and the greatest part of the new world Translated into English by Ed. Chilmead and published for awakening the English to prevent the approaching ruine of their Nation With an admonitorie Preface by WILLIAM PRYNNE of Lincolnes-Inne Esquire LONDON Printed for Philemon Stephens at the Gilded Lyon in St. Pauls Church-Yard Mr. WILLIAM PRYNNE his premonitory Epistle concerning Campanella's discourse of the Spanish Monarchy To the Ingenuous Reader THou hast here presented to thy serious perusal by an able hand a faithful English Translation of a discourse touching the SPANISH MONARCHY penned by Thomas Campanella a famous Italian Frier and second Machiavel about the end of Queen Elizabeths Reign prescribing sundry politick plots to the King of Spain how to make himself sole Temporal and the Pope sole Spiritual Monarch of the world in general and of England Scotland and Ireland and Holland in particular laid down in the 25. and â—7 chapters by sowing the seeds of division and intestine wars between England Scotland Ireland and the Netherlands eithâ—r by changing our Hereditary Kingdom into a Commonwealth or at least into an Elective Kingship and other policies there laid down to destroy our temporal Kingly Government and by broaching new Opinions and Sects in Religion and by scattering the seed of Schism and division in the natural sciences and promoting the study of Astrology to undermine our Church and Religion and usher in Popery by insensible degrees by Romish Emissaries If thou wilt but seriously peruse these Chapters and compare them with the counsels projects proceedings new models of Government and wars with the Scots and Hollanders of the late Agitators and general Council of Officers in the Army and their Anti-Parliamentary Conventicles ever since the year 1647. till this present thou wilt most clearly discern and ingenuously confess that they punctually pursued Campanella his projects to advance the Popes and Spaniards Monarchy over our three Kingdoms and the Netherlands and reduce them under their unsupportable Tyranny both in Civils and Spirituals wherein they have now made either ignorantly or affectedly such an unhappy dismal progress by subverting our ancient Kingly Government to metamorphose us into a Commonwealth which hath crumbled our formerly united Kingdoms Churches into so many opposite irreconcileable Sects Factions Parties Interests undermining oppressing each other by impoverishing our Kâ—ngdoms destroying their Trades and eating them up to the very bones by a perpetual domineering all swaying Army and intolerable endless Taxes Excises Militia's Imposts Free-quarters and all sortâ— of violences and oppressions and leaving us no legal visible Head Authority Council Parliament Governours Judicatures to which they can flie for protection or advise that unless Gods infinite mercy interpose they are in all probability ready to be invaded overcome and swallowed up by the united forces of these Combined Enemies and to incur that fatal doom which Christ himself hath predicted to every Kingdome and City in our present condition Mat. 12.25 Every Kingdome divided against it self Is brought to desolation and every City or House divided against it self shall not stand Which Campanella laying for his ground made it his Master-piece to set down straâ—agems to divide us and other Kingdoms and Nations against and between themselves to bring them first to desolation by themselves that so the Spaniard and Pope might without much difficulty seise upon them whiles in that condition which imminent danger and approaching ruine we have no probable means left to prevent but by a speedy cordial Christian union between our lawful KING long exiled Head and members and happy restitution of our Hereditary King Peers and English Parliaments to their ancient just Rights and Priviledges according to our sacred Oathes Protestations Vow League Covenant and an avowed future renunciation of all Campanella's Jesuitical Popish Spanish Counsels Plots Innovations dividings which I leave thee to contemplate Concluding with this memorable observation and passage of St. Basil the great in his Ascetica This holy Saint of God being very much perplexed in his mind at the manifold Schismes and vehement dissentions then in the Church of Christ between Christians Bishops and Ministers themselves renting the Church with opinions and practices contrary to the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ and diligently enquiring and much doubting what should be the true cause thereof at last that text in the Book oâ— Iudges coming into his mind Every one did that which was right in his own eyes the cauâ—e whereoâ— is dâ—clared in the premised words In those dayes there was no KING in Israel after some consideration and meditation thereupon he concluded not as a paradox but undoubted truth that the very râ—ason why there was then so great contention and fighting amongst Christians in the Church of Christ was the contempt of that great true and only KING of all Men whilst every one departed both from the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ and did set up his own cogitations and definitions by his own authority as his rule and would rather Command against the Lord then be subject to the Lord and governed by him When I pondered these things with my self and stood amazed at this enormous impiety and would yet further search out the truth hereofâ— I was perswaded that the aforesaid cause was true in this as it was in other affairs of this life For I saw all the multitude to be a well compounded State and to Consent and Consist together so long only as obedience was yielded to some one Supream KING of them all and on the other side That dissention and division of every kind and also Polyarchy to arise from hence if there being no KING every man obtained licence to do what he pleased I have sometime seen even a swarm of Bees out of the Law of Nature to wage War and to follow their own KING in order and I have seen and read many such things of them and thoâ—e who are busied about such things know much more so that what I have said may be proved true from hence For it is the propertye and peculiar of those who regard the command of one and use one KING that they be well and Vnanimously disposed between themselves therefore all dissention and discord is both an Index and Prognostick of that contumacy wherein the Principality of one is
be forced by the necessity of imposing upon his Subjects Unusual Taxes to gain their ill will and lose their Affections which was Caligula's Case heretofore who after that he had in riotous courses fool'd away all his own Estate was necessitated presently to snatch away other mens Certainly whosoever takes in hand any high and difficult Attempt under the Assistance of a Favourable Fate he must necessarily be Couragious and daring and indeed every Great and Memorable Enterprise requireth a certain Extraordinary Valour and Courage which yet in case the successe should not be answerable would be called Rashnesse As for example it was accounted a Bold undertaking in Columbus to go in search of a New World but plain Rashnesse in Vlisses only because the one escaped safe but the other suffered shipwrack But when a Prince hath effected his desiâ—es he must then have an eye to the uncertainty of Fortune and must therefore take heed how he is too bold and daring the observing of which Counsel being neglected by Charles the Fift was the cause of bringing to nothing all that he had atchieved before in Germany for he did not take the same wise Course to preserve what he had gotten as he had done in the getting of it And the case was the same also with the great Iulius Caesar. And then again in war there is a necessity of using severity that so the Souldiers may all be kept to their several duties and besides those that perform any Signall peices of Service are to be rewarded accordingly which Course unlesse it be taken they will begin to spurn at the Government and break out into seditious wayes as Tiberius his Army did when it was in Germany and will fall to an insolent course of Plundering and robbing and so by these meanes will bring the Victory they had gotten before to nothing as it happened to Conradinus the Swevian and Charles of Anjou Therefore after any Conquest gotten over a Kingdom the Conquerour must modestly use his Victory and endeavour to please the People For otherwise he will alienate their affections from himself and they will be apt upon all occasions to invite in his Enemies to fall upon him as it happened to Rehoboam and Charles of Anjou in Sicily and to the Carthaginians after the First Punick War and to Aecolinus against whom his subjects the Citizens of Padua shut their gates as likewise to Nero who though Prince of it was yet called The Enemy of his Country And although many Crafty Practises are now in use among Princes for the keeping of their Subjects in due obedience yet I dare boldly affirm that they will in the end prove destructive to those Princes For we see that Tiberius that Grand Artifex of Subtleties and Craft was miserably hated by his Subjects and so led a very sad life because he found he was not loved by any body so that he was fain to put some or other every day to death as contemners of his Majesty and so to be ever of a troubled disquieted mind which certainly may better be called a Death then a life Therefore the highest and most advantageous Craft that a Prince can make use of is to shew himself Beneficent Religious and Liberall toward his Subjects yet this in so moderate a way as that by this means he give them not occasion to despise him as happened to Pope Celestine the Fifth But let us now proceed to those things that more Particularly concern Spain As I have before shewed by Divine Reasons that there can be no Universal Monarchy among the Christians expected save that of the Pope and have also declared how he is to be dealt withal so I shall now prove by Reasons of Policy that there can be no Monarch in the Christian World unlesse he have his dependance upon the Pope For certainly what Prince soever hath any other that is superiour to Him though in Religion onely and not in point of Armes as the Pope is he can never attain to an Universal Monarchy For whatsoever He shall take in hand it will be successelesse and he shall be as it were crushed in pieces by the superiour For All Religions as well the False as the True do prevail and are Victorious when they have once taken root in the Minds of men upon which onely depend both their Tongues and Armes which are the onely Instruments of attaining Dominion Thus we see that Iulius Caesar when any were created Consuls if the Poâ—tifex Maximus came and sayd They were not created Rightly they were presently by him put by and so whensoever he was to enter into a fight if the Augurs said that The Pullen would not eat their meat he forbare to go on and did onely what he was directed to by their Omen And therefore when the same Caesar had fallen upon a resolution of making himself A Monarch he opposed Cato as much as possibly he could and endeavoured by all possible meanes to be chosen to be the Pontifex Maximus Which when he had once attained unto he acted another way and took upon himself all the Martiall Offices that were to be administred by the sword that so he might drive on his designs the more securely and withal by his gifts obliged all the Souldiery so to him as that they refused not to bear arms for Him even against their Country and to assist him in his designs of changing the Government of the state So in like manner Cyrus would be called by the Title of Gods Commissary that so no Prophet might pretend to be greater then Himself And Alexander the great would be accounted the son of Iupiter Ammon for the very same reason It is also very evident that no Monarchy in the Christian World hath arrived to the Height by reason of the obedience which is due to the Pope And hence it is that Mahomet when he aspired to a Monarchy brought in first a New Religion which was quite different from what was before For Armes cannot effect any thing against Religion if they be overmaster'd by another more powerful Religion though a worse if so be it be but entertained by the People For as much therefore as there is no more powerful Religion found in the World then that of the Roman Christian it is evident that neither Spain nor France can attain to any greater Dignity then It. And hence it was that Charles the Great when he had a design upon the Universal Monarchy of the World took upon himself the Title of being The Protector of the Pope and indeed so long as he stood up in a defence of Christianitie he became Great If the King of Spain therefore do in like manner aspire to the same Height it is necessary that he frame some New Religion but this neither God nor Reason permits him to do For First this is never to be done but in the very Infancy and beginning of a Kingdom as you may see in the examples of Mahomet Romulus
and Pythagoras for otherwise he must needs come to ruine by changing the Auspicia Regni the Fortune of the Kingdom as I may call it whose dependance is from Faith in Christ and then the People will immediately betake themselves to their Armes and revolt from him Neither indeed have any Monarchies been either more certainly or more miserably brought to destruction then when they have changed their Religion as is testified by Histories And then again the Pope and the rest of the Princes of Christendom would joyn their whole strengths together and would in a very litle time root him out of his Kingdom of Naples Millan and consequently also of the New World the rest of his Dominions And although these things were not done to Henry the VIII of England nor yet to the Duke of â—â—xony because their Territories were encompassed within small though well fortified Bounds yet for all that did they fail of succession and so their States went away from them And we have examples hereof also in Ieroboam Iehu Iulian the Apostate and others who for having changed their Religion incurred the hatred of their People and brought destruction upon themselves Unlesse we shall say that the Pope hath no power at all in Temporal things nor is any whit above either any other of the Bishops or theirs Surrogates or Chaplains in Authority or degree which is evidently contradictory to Gods Ordination by which He hath been constituted a Regal Priest and hath been armed with both the Swords as well the Civill as the Spiritual For were it otherwise Christ should be a very mean Law-giver and should be lesse then Melchisedech who was both King and Priest together which addeth both the greater Majesty as well as security to any Kingdom as I have proved in my Treatise Touching Monarchy against Dante who looking only upon the Priesthood of Aaron allowes to the Pope nothing but Spiritualties and Tithes only And which is more this impugnes also all Reasons of Policy because the Pope can never want those that will take up Armes in His defence in case He should not be able to defend Himself and that either by being moved thereunto through Zeal to Religion as the Countesse Matilda did against the Emperour Henry or else out of Emulation or some interest of Faction as it was in the Case of the Venetians making war upon the Emperour Frederick whom they compelled to kisse the Popes Foot or for both these reasons as when King Pipin and Charles the Great took up Armes in assistance of the Pope against the Lombards and others who waged war against him Thus we see that the Constantinopolitan Empire came to be destroyed for the Apostasy of Iulian and Constantius in like manner as all the Fredericks Henries and other Kings also of Naples suffered for the same Cause as often as they denied their Obedience to the Pope And certainly the Opinion and Beliefe which hath prevailed upon the Minds of all People touching the Christian Religion is of very great force and moves them to defend It to the utmost of their power so that whensoever the Pope hath excommunicated any Prince He doth at the same instant ruine him also Do but observe I pray you to what state Ferraria is reduced at this day But we have discoursed more copiously of this in the Treatise of Monarchy It is lastly against all Policy too for the Pope withholds the rest of the Princes of Christendom from invading Spain as he doth the King of Spain from invading them by continually composing their differences in like manner as he divided India betwixt the Portugals and the Spaniards and thus hath several times made peace betwixt the Spaniards and the French Venetians and Genowaies and so likewise betwixt Pisa and Florence which yet he would not so easily be able to do by the meer Reverence they bear to Religion For here in these Cases they have an eye as well to the force of Armes as to Religion for He that is in the wrong Cause may justly suspect the Popes joyning of his strength to that of his Antagonist and so for this reason he will the more readily obey the Popes Injunction as I have declared formerly in the forementioned Treatise And the King of Spain if he but declare himself for and stand up in the defence of the Pope shall be sure to have alwayes the assistance of His Forces at his devotion at any time which will be a good means of confirming his Kingdom to him And therefore I conceave it very necessary according to the Fate of Christendom that if the King of Spain would arrive to an Universal Monarchy He must declare himself publiquely to have his dependance from the Pope and command it to be published all abroad throughout the World that himself is the Cyrus that was before typified and the Catholick King that is the Universal Monarch of the World declaring this his Monarchy by his Religious Counsels and pious Actions and passing also by many litigious Controversies which he hath with the Pope and dwelling in the Tents of Sem making it appear to all the World that He is the Chief Defender of Christian Religion that depends wholly upon the Pope of Rome calling together also the Christian Princes to consult about the recovery of those Countreys they have lost and are at this day in the hands of Hereticks and Turks and He must proceed to the causing of such to be excommunicated as shall deny their assistance herein and lastly he must also take care that Pious and diligent Preachers be sent abroad into the World to promote this businesse For the Plain truth of it is that the Pope picks quarrels sometimes with the King of Spain for no other reason but only because he is afraid that in case he should subdue the King of France and the Princes of Italy hee would then make Him only as his Chaplain And this is the reason why He desires that they should alwayes be at variance one with another that so in case either of them should fall off from Himâ— by reason either of Apostasy or some quarrel or other He might have the other to assist him And this is the reason why he stirred up the Western Empire against the Eastern onely because they had forsaken their former Religion had had many Clashings with the Pope about It. But now if King Philip will but do that which is his duty as is before declared and will but give way to the Pope in some things which he pretends His Right and will besides send some Bishops and Cardinals into the Belgiâ—k Provinces and to the New world to dispose of and order things there he will by this meanes both free the Pope from this suspition and shall withall effect his own desires seeing that it is evident that the Pope by his Indulgencies and Croysados brings him in more mony then those Dignities which he bestowes upon Cardinals Archbishops Bishops and
Rich and that He himself may have greater Testimonies of his Subjects Love and Fidelity which might easily be brought about if so be that those Rules before laid down touching the encreasing the Number of the Subjects and the remitting and abating the Taxes and Exactions laid upon them were but observed and if the King going into the Wars Himself in person would by that means chalk out to his Wise and Valiant Commanders and Souldiers the Way to Honour rather then to Covetousnesse and would also propose New Arts and Sciences So likewise if He would make some such Lawes to which those that are Obedient should have their former honours continued to them but the Refractory and Disobedient should have Disgraces cast upon them and to perswade Obedience to which Lawes there should in the Second place some Profit and Advantage be proposed for such but in the Third place before the Disobedient should be laid down the Fear of Punishment to which our Modern Writers absurdly attribute the First Place in Relation to the due Observing of Lawes who having regard to the Time rather then to Religion require Fear in Subjects rather then Love because that the Rulers of the Gentiles preferred this Later before the Former and so taught that Wicked Wretch Macchiavel and other the like Polititians those Rules But if there be no place left for a Reformation it is then necessary that respect being had to the Present Abuses there should be good store of Treasure got up together lest at length the King should be undone by Use-Mony or some other Losses should fall upon him in case the Plate Fleet should not return back from the West-Indies in three or four years together perhaps I shall first therefore lay down the Usual Rules in this case and then such other as I my self have thought upon First therefore there must be matter administred for the promoting of Vsury and Vsurers and every one of them is to be bound under a certain Penalty to have alwaies a stock of Monies lying by them that so when there shall be any Necessity the King may know where to fetch presently good store of Large Summes of Mony Which Course is to be taken in all the chief Cities both in the Kingdome of Naples and of Spain Then when any great War is near at hand the said Summes of Mony are to be called for at the said Usurers hands and that by the intervening too of the Popes Authority that so the King may not draw upon himself alone the Hatred and Ill Will of his Subjects Secondly let him introduce the Tribute of Apulia which was brought up by King Ferdinand through all the Provinces that are under him imposing it either in the same or some other the like Form Thirdly let Him cause all the Barons to bring in what summes of Mony they have binding them thereto in the name of Religion and the Crown of Spain to which they are joyned and engaged Fourthly let Him procure of the Popâ— Indulgences and Croisados for all his Kingdomes and those Summes of Mony that shall be raised by the same He shall lay up in some Treasury where they may encrease to such a quantity as that an Army may be raised out of them which may be sent into the Holy Land Fifthly let Him get an Injunction from the Pope that for the space of five years all Churches Monasteries Bishopricks and Parishes throughout all his Provinces shall pay in a certain sum of Mony into The Sacred Treasury so called as being collected for the making of a War against the Infidels that is to say Five in the Hundred of all their Revenues but so that every year there should be an abatement made of One As namely the first year they should pay Five in the Hundred the second year Fourâ— the third Three and so on till the five years be expired But the Venetians exact the Tenths And this Course may be takenâ— betwixt the King and the Pope under the Pretense of making a War upon the Infidels After all this is done let Him then appoint two Bishops to be the Treasurers of this Mony Sixthly let the King by his Treasurers traffick in every Country with such Commodities as are used there as in Calabria with Silks in Apulia with Wheat in Sicily with Oyl for by this means He will divert his Subjects from applying themselves to Usury and will cause them to attend more the Manuring of the Ground and withal will hereby mightily enrich Himself Seventhly let Him send out into every City and Town especially in the Kingdom of Naples a Commissary having a Counsellour joyned with him who shall be one of the Clergy to make enquiry into all Usurers and to cause Them to make it appear by the testimony of Three Witnesses that they have taken no other Use then what is allowed to be taken by the custome of the Kingdom and where they shall find any to have done otherwise to seize upon all they are worth and carry it away to some publick place for the King's use But then the King may afterwards restore half of it to them again if he think fit as for example suppose his Officers took away from any of these Usurers Ten Thousand Crownes He may then restore to the Owner Five Thousand Crownes of his Mony again For they are a hateful sort of People and are despised by all men so that you need never fear that they will rebel and besides the people when ever they see Them ruined will be very glad of it neither will any of them take their parts and indeed the Usurers themselves when they have half of their estates left them will think themselves very well dealt withal And with the rest of such Monies the King may set up A Bank of Charity where poor people shall take up Monies upon their Pawn but upon this condition that if they redeem not their Pawn by the Limited Time that then it shall be forfeit to the King And afterward with the Mony arising from hence He may drive a Trade of Merchandise as the Usurers themselves use to do or else He may with those monies erect Cloysters or Seminaries for Souldiers and Poor Women as hath been shewed before And if some of the Clergy were sent abroad with the like Commissions to inquire into the Barons also it would do them much good both in reference to their Soul Body and State who otherwise by their arts would swallow up and devour the whole World Eighthly let Him require an Account of all the Kings Ministers and Commissioners for the whole time of their being employed in their Offices and whatsoever Fines shall be set upon their heads let it be put into the Treasury or the King may remit half to them if he please or lesse as he shall see cause and by taking this course with them both Himself and his Subjects shall be much advantaged and have cause to rejoyce Ninthly let Him call all
least in the World deserve to have any such Conspiracies contrived against him and so also the Conspirators themselves will presently lay aside the Ill Opinion they had conceived of Him In the mean time for the Prince to cause any of his Subjects to be thought guilty of Rebellion and Treason when no such thing can be proved against them is but a very sad businesse for then out of the sense of the Infamy that is cast upon them they will be forced to desire a Change of Government and will invite the Kings Enemies to invade him which hath often happened both in the Low-Countries and in France And notwithstanding that there seems to be some hope of gain issuing from thence because an Occasion may hereupon be taken of keeping a stricter hand over the Subject which advantage being readily apprehended by the forementioned Cosmo de Medicis he took an Occasion presently to break off the Articles of Peace that had been concluded upon betwixt him and the Florentines in like manner as our King also upon the like Occasion held a harder hand over the Arragonians upon Pretense that they had entred into Conspiracy against Him with Antonio Peâ—ez yet in truth the King receives more damage then Advantage thereby And therefore the more sure and certain way to confirm and assure his Kingdom to himself would be so to winne over the People to him by Mutual Love and favours bestowed upon them that they should not have any ground to have any such Suspicions of him And besides where this note of Infamy is thrown upon the Subjects not only themselves but their Children also will be sure to preserve the memory of it and so will watch for some fit opportunity of Revenge which when it offers it self they will not stick openly to joyn with Forreigners against him and thus their Treasonable Designs are not by those meanes quite quashed but are deferred only And hence it was that Nero's hoping to get mony out of the People about the First Conspiracy against himself and so by punishing them to benefit himself did not at all suppresse the said Conspiracy but only put it off till some other time which also the Senatours afterwards set on foot again but with greater care and circumspection as it likewise happened to Tiberius and other wicked Princes If any such thing therefore should befall our Prince He should endeavour to obliterate and blot out the memory of such Rebellions by Benefits rather then Punishments by that means both putting a bridle into their mouthes and yet withall sweetning them and winning them over to Himself by his bounty so much more advantagious is it for a Prince at all times and in all places to approve Himself rather Good then Cunning But yet it cannot be denied but that such Conspiracies are most dangerous which are countenanced by the Pretext of Introducing a New Religion or when any Seditious Preacher takes liberty to cast Reproaches upon the State And therefore I shall say something in my following discourse touching Preachers both Good and Bad and afterwards also of the Vniting and Division or falling off of Kingdomes and Countries from one another I would also have Severer Punishments and more examplary peeces of Justice then usual if it may be to be at once and speedily inflicted upon all Conspirators least by often repeating of lighter Punishments upon them their Hate be thereby the more encreased and shew it self upon all Occasions But again if any such having made their escapes shall yet after some space of time begin to be humbled and repent of their Wickednesse I would not that all hope of Pardon and Reconciliation should be cut off from them As for the Preventing of the Barons rising against the King the courses before laid down may be taken No Heresies can spread or get any footing any where but by the Clergy as I have demonstrated elsewhere The King's Deputies or Viceroyes ought to have no command over any Castles or Frontier Townes that have Garrisons in them but all such places are to be committed to the trust of some Particular Commanders residing in the same and who are Experienced Souldiers and betwixt whom and the Viceroyes there is no great correspondence And let these be chosen out of the Barons of the Kingdome that so their Baronies or Lordships may be as Pledges for their Fidelity to the King And to this end I would have Spaniards to be sent into Italy and contrariwise Italians to be sent into Spain to take upon them these Charges CHAP. XVIII Of Preachers and Prophesies IT is certain that the People especially of a certain number of Kingdomes are of more power then the King himself with all his Friends and Souldiers I mean in the Christian World for in Turky whether it be so or no is as yet something a doubtful businesse It is therefore necessary to produce here some reasons why the People do not upon every light Occasion rise up against the King and shake the Yoak from off their neck and these are because that being so scattered and at such a distance from one another they cannot so well joyn in a body and stick together or else because they are worthlesse dull-headed fellowes and have none to head them in a Rebellion in whom they may repose their confidence and hope Now it is manifest again on the other side that the Causes of the Publick peace and quietnesse do derive their Original from the Wisedome of the Preachers and others of the Clergy to whom the people give an ear and that so much the rather because These promise unto them Eternal Blessings which if they do but despise their Temporal they may attain unto perswading them withal that it is agreeable to the Will of God that Obedience should be yeilded to the King and that by suffering Afflictions they shall be rewarded by God himself withal often inculcating into their minds Humility and other the like Vertues but grievously threatning all Theeves Murderers Whoremongers and Seditious persons declaring what Punishments both from Men and God himself continually hang over their heads on the contrary comforting and encouraging the Good and promising them all manner of Happinesse And so by this meanes the words of these men being greedily hearkned unto by their Auditors overcome and captivate their Minds and Affections and then again all Wicked Irreligious persons are cast out of doors with their Perfidious designs being unable to infect any either Magistrate or Souldier with their corrupt malitious Perswasions or by any means to incite them to a Rebellion The First Instrument therefore of Raigning well and quietly is the Tongue and the Second is the Sword And the truth of this will best of all appear by the contrary Use of It. For whensoever any Seditious Preachers rise up against the King they are able in a short time to bring the people that before dissented in Judgments to be now of one and the same mind and
sort as that It should not have been able to have opposed or hindred the growing Potency of the Spaniard was offered to his Son Philip had he but had the skill to have laid hold of it and to have made the right use of it For Henry the III. of France being slain by a certain Dominican Frier under pretense of his favouring those of the Religion and the whole Kingdom of France being now divided into two Factions namely the Catholicks and the Huguenots and many Governours of Provinces having at that time the said Provinces at their Devotion as for example Montmorency had that of Languedoc and Espernon and others had others the Line of Valois being now quite extinct and there being a great Controversy started amongst them whether it were best for them to think of choosing any New King of some other House or not and lastly Henry of Navarre being by reason of his being an Heretick hated by the Catholick Party King Philip had at that time five Opportunities offered him either of which had He but laid hold of it would have been sufficient to have made him Master of France or at least to have weakned the power of it very much not to say any thing what might have been done when all of them concurred and met together And yet to say truth it lay not in his power at that time to effect this for he saw that if he should fall upon this design in an open way of making war upon them it would have been necessary for Him then to have had good store of Souldiers to have brought into the Feild which at that time He had not to be able to divide and distract all the Nobles of that Kingdome and to set them together by the ears And therefore he should first of all have dealt under hand either with the Duke of Guise or of Maine or with some other of the most Powerful amongst them and have promised to make Him King and besides to make him His Son in Law and at the same time to give hopes also to all the rest of the Nobility that they should every man of them be made the Proprietary and Absolute Lord of their several Provinces as that Montmorency should have Languedoc confirmed to Him Esperâ—on should have Provence and every one of them should have had a promise made him of such Lordships as they liked best and all of these He should also have furnished with mony that they might have been the better enabled to make resistance against Henry of Navarre He ought also to have entred into a League with the Pope and the rest of the Catholick Princes that so joyning all their forces together they might all at once have set upon Henry of Navarre who was of a different Religion from them And then besides all this He ought to have obliged to him the hearts of all the French Bishops and Preachers by conferring upon them large Dignities and Preferments And when all these things had been thus ordered then either the King himself in person or else if He should not think that fit His Son or the Duke of Parma should presently have invaded France with an Army of at least a Hundred Thousand men consisting of Germans Italians and Spaniards and He should also immediately have sent out some to make Excursions into France by the way of the Duke of Savoys Country and by Navarre and Picardy And all these things should have been with all care and diligence put into Execution which if they had He had then certainly done his businesse and had either added France to his other Dominions or else might have Canton'd it out into many small Baronies and Republicks as Germany is and so he should have been ever after secure from their being able to do Him any hurt But King Philip was not nimble enough in his businesse and besides He was deluded by the French Nobles who almost all went over to the King of Navarre whereas had He been but as quick as He shonld have been all this had never happened For this is the usual Course of the World that every man looks first of all to his Own Interest and then to that of the publick and accordingly men use to bestirr themselves in troublesome times But here in this case where every one of them perceived that the good of the Publick did consist in the welfare of each Particular person and so on the Contrary they then presently made choice of that which they conceived would be for the Publick Good And so although those French Nobles being at the first by Mony and fair Promises wrought over to favour the King of Spain and so were brought to enter into Action in order thereunto yet when upon better Consideration they found at last that in case the Crown of France should passe away to another or that the Kingdom should be parcell'd out into small Dominions and Republicks the losse would at length redound to each of them in particular whiles that the King of Spain might then with ease reduce them one by one and bring them under his Obedience seeing that they were so divided as that they could not in any convenient time joyn their strengths together to make any opposition against him and besides knowing that France it self which had been hitherto so much honoured by all other Nations would now come to be despised by them and that all hopes of ever attaining to the Crown would now be quite cut off from them and that they should afterwards find that the Spaniards would but laugh at them for all their pains they conceived it to be the safer and more advantageous Course for themselves to adhere to the King of Navarre and receive him for their Prince Which certainly when at the first whiles they were inveagled and blinded by the false hopes of the Spaniards Mony they had not so well and throughly considered as They did afterwards when they had once weighed in their minds what the Event was like to be and also saw with their eyes what the Kings Proceedings were They then at length began to elude Art with Art Besides the French perceiving also how great Inconveniences would arise by maintaining a War with the Spaniard did therefore the more willingly and chearfully proceed to the election of a New King because that they were perswaded that when a King was once chosen those evils would then be removed which yet at the first they made litle account of But the King of Spain committed yet another Errour in this Point in that by his Slownesse He gave the King of Navarre time to make over to his Party the Princes of Italy and the Pope only by making them believe that He intended to abjure the Protestant Religion and turn Catholick besides that those Princes did likewise consider that when France was once subdued by the Spaniards whom they knew very well to gape earnestly after an Universal Monarchy their Own Turnes would
Of Poland Muscovia and Transylvania THe Kingdom of Poland is in Our time the most Potent of all the Northern Kingdomes insomuch that if it were not so divided in it self about Points of Religion as it is and were withal an Hereditary Kingdome and had a Prince that were a Native and were not Elected out of some Forraign Nation as their custome is it would prove a sufficient Terrour to the Great Turk especially if the Great Duke of Muscovia were but joyned with them But the Nobility of that Nation in whose Power the Election of the King is are very much afraid of the King's Power and for that reason They keep as hard a hand over Him as possibly they can The King of Spain therefore must endeavour as much as lies in Him that no King be elected there but such a one as is of the Catholick Religion which course hath hitherto been observed amongst them For should they chuse themselves a King that were of any other Religion He would then very easily be induced to countenance by his Authority the Northern Hereticks who do all agree in these two Points although they differ among themsâ—lves almost in all the rest namelyâ— that the Pope is Antichrist and that the Arch-Dukes of Austria are all of them such as fight for Antichrist And therefore upon any the least Occasion that could be they would be apt to joyn their forces together against both the Pope and the Emperour their Neighbour had they but any Powerful Prince to head them and to be their General which Charge none is so able to undertake and go through with as the King of Poland is For the King of Denmark is but a weak Prince and the King of Sweden lies too far off and besides is severed from Germany by the Sea The King of Spain must then in the next place by all meanes endeavour that one of the House of Austria may be advanced to the Crown of Poland or at least such a one as is some way or other allied to the House of Austria as the now King of Poland is And lastly he must be such a one as shall alwaies make head against the Turk and that should enter into an Association with the Muscovites who together should to their utmost endeavour as much as in them lies the utter Ruine and Extirpation of the Turks He must also make choyce of some of the Wisest and most Eminent persons of his Kingdom whom He shall send as Embassadours to Cracovia and who by their presence may adde Authority and Weight to the Spanish Union in the Esteem of the Electors of Poland and that may obtain of them that in case the King of Spain should have more Sons then one that theâ— They would Elect one of the Younger of them to be their King for certainly were any of the King of Spain's Sons chosen King of Poland He would never be so simple and foolish as to take upon him to govern the Kingdome of Poland according to his Own Will and pleasure as the King of France's Son endeavoured to do Besides He must deal with the People of Scandia and the Dantzickers by the means of the King of Poland who now is King of Swethland also that they would joyn together and send out a Fleet against the English as hath been said before For by taking this course the Kings expense will not be half so great as his Gains will be He must also labour that the Prince of Transylvania may in like manner enter into a league with the Polanders or else that either He or the great Duke of Muscovia may be chosen King of Poland For seeing that these two Nations are not only Neighbours to â—he Turks but do also naturally hate them they might easily be able to stop his proceedings And I am verily perswaded that among all the Northern Nations there is not any so fit and able to oppose the Turk as is the Muscovite who would but the Tartarians and the Polanders joyn with him might be able to make Incursions into the Turks Dominions and march up even to the very Walls of Constantinople Neither indeed hath Macedonia or Moldavia or Bulgaria or Thrace ever suffered so much losse by any Nation as by the Muscovitâ—s And if there were an Association contracted betwixt the King of Spain and the Muscovite either by Marriage or else by the nearer Tie of Religion brought about there by the Industry of the Iesuites it must needs prove a very advantageous businesse to Him because that Spanish Gold is among these Northern Nations of greater Estimation and Account then any thing else in the world And then must the King of Spain be very careful that as soon as ever he finds he hath wrought up the affections of these people to a Willingnesse to do him any service He set them upon some Notable Expedition or other while they are now ready for it and before they begin to cool again and repent themselves of their forwardnesse For Delay hath alwaies been the Ruine of the King of Spain's Affaires by reason that his Confederates through his slownesse in putting them in execution have alwaies had time enough to smell out the subtilty of His Designs and by this means it comes to passe that he commonly loses his labour and is at charge to no purpose The Bohemians also might be hired by the King of Spain's and the Popes Mony to joyn with the Transylvanians against the Turks because that They are in league with the House of Austria Yet when all is done there cannot be any considerable matter done in this Particular without the Assistance of the Polanders also and the Muscovites and unlesse the Emperour himself also be a Man of a stout and Warlike spirit as we shewed before when we spake of Germany and use his utmost endeavour to stop all growing Mischiefs in their very Beginings least by Delay they get head and grow so much the stronger and Intractable CHAP. XXVII Of Flanders and the Lower Germany IT is not without good cause that the King of Spain endeavours by all possiblâ— meanes that he can to recover the Low-Countries again about the keeping of that only part whereof which he still possesseth it hath cost him more Humane Blood then there is Water in it and about which He hath spent more Gold then there are stones in it And yet neither is this a matter so much to be wondred at seeing that could He but once make himself Master of those Countries again He might then very easily make himself Lord also of the Whole Earth For were this but done both France and Germany would quickly follow in spite of what ever they could do and also England it self would be utterly ruined and indeed all the Northern Nations would be much weakned and rendred utterly unable to make any resistance against Him For we see that Caesar after he had once conquered the Belgians made little account of all the rest
King is possessed of the Kingdome of Oran there already where He is in continual Wars with the Moors who might easily all of them be conquered if he should but make One Invasion only upon them with an Army of Germans Neither indeed need the King fear any Obstruction to His Spanish Monarchy from those Parts For those Nations are much fitter to serve then to Command and bear Rule neither have They ever been able to conquer any of the Northern Nations but rather themselves have been alwaies conquered by Them excepting only Carthage which was a Colony of Tyre who yet were at length utterly ruined by the Romans And the Arabians also passed over out of Africk into Spain where they kept their footing for the space of Eight Hundred yeares yet were at length quite driven out again Neither indeed were they truly Africans but only the Novelty of their Armes together with that of their Mâ—hometan Religion encouraged them so far as to fall upon so bold an attempt But the Africans at this day are a very Weak unwarlike People and for as much as they are Naturally Envious Crafty and of a servile Nature the King of Spain by making use of one of the little Kings there might in a little time break in upon them and make his way to the most Inmost Countries of all Africk as the Romans of old did by the help of Mâ—sinissa And therefore Sebastian King of Portugal did wisely when he made use of the King of Fâ—z his sons for the getting and possessing himself of that Kingdom although he was not so very wise in venturing his own Person in that Expedition And indeed because that the sons of those Kings are wont to kill one another they are so much the more easily conquered if a man do but make any one of them over to him But seeing these People are so much divided among themselves there is no need of fearing them at all The King of Spain ought therefore to get further footing in Africk seeing that he hath opportunity enough of doing so by reason of the many strong Holds that He is Master of all along the Western and Soâ—thern Coast of Africk And He should do well to make over to him the above named Prester Iohn whom he should cunningly set against the rest and get him to make War upon them And the King of Spain may very easily contract friendship with this Prester Iohn by means of the Jesuites whom he may send thither And He should also by his Emâ—assadours sent to him for that purpose put him in mind of the Duty and Obedience that he owes to the Pope which was formerly done in the time of Pope Eugenius IV. and Clemens VII by means of the Portuguez and so should make a League with him There should therefore be sent thither such as are both true Catholicks and Learned men to instruct them in the Arts and in the True Religion both which they are as yet Ignorant of For they would be easily converted and that so much the rather because they say it hath been heretofore foretold them by a certain Prophetesse whose name was Sinoda that They were predestinated to joyn with the Latines and to root out the Turk and to set at Liberty the Holy Sepulchre of Christ. Seeing therefore that the King of Spain is Master of all the African shores He must make it his care that none may have any Fleets to passe by the said Coasts but that it may be free and safe for the aforesaid Prester Iohn by the assistance of the Portuguez to sayl into Palestine when ever he pleases by the Gulf of Arabia and there to fall upon the Turks and to do them what mischief he can And to this purpose He is to be furnished with all Necessary Means as namelyâ— Engines of War and other such Provisions whereby he may be the better enabled to conquer the Turk For if Mahumetanisme should but once be introduced into that Kingdom of his it would prove extreamly prejudicial to the whole Christian World and especially to Spain He may also come in by Egypt and so fall upon the Turk And if there were but a gallant Fleet lying about Naples that might go out at pleasure and scour the Seas all along the Northern Coast of Africk it might easily be brought under the King of Spain's power and those Slaves also that are at Algier and in Cyrene might be dealt with to rise up all at once and rebel in favour of the Spaniard And such a Fleet as I but now spake of might be maintained meerly by the Prizes that they should take and so by that means would both Italy be secured and all such other places also that are now obstacles to the Spanish Monarchy might be taken in CHAP. XXIX Of Persia and Cataia THe King of Spain must endeavour by all Means possible to hinder the Persians and those of Taprobana from putting out any Fleets of Ships to Sea and also the Arabians for these people would questionlesse be a great hinderance to his Affaires in the East-Indies and would annoy His Fleet in its passage that way and might also probably infect the New-converted Christians there with Mahumetanisme He ought therefore to build strong Castles all along the Coasts of Arabia and Ethiopia and so likewise upon the Coasts of the Arabian Gulf and also in all the Southern Islands that lye upon the Coast of Africk and Asia and He should enter into a League with the Persian against the Tâ—rk And yet perhaps He need not so much care to have the Turk quite extirpated for whosoever of those two should overcome the other whether the Turk or Persian he would thereby become so powerful as that he would be able to conquer the whole Christian World and so consequently to spoyl all the hopes of a Spanish Monarchy and it might prove as Prejudicial to Christendom to have the Turk ruined by any other but some Christian Prince as it would be for the advantage of Christendome that he should be conquered by the Christians themselves alone But yet seeing that the Turk does us continually very much harm breaking in upon us by Hungary Sclavonia and Africk it would be good Policy to set the Persian upon him and to take a course that He may have Guns and such like Artillery â—ent unto him to make use of in his Warres against the Turk For it was meerly the want of these that was the cause that He lost almost all Armenia and that the Turk is now so Potent in the East and that he so little fears the Persian as he does for by this means whiles he is making War upon the Christians in the West He is secure from all danger from Asia and so gets ground upon us daily more and more It would be convenient therefore to make a League with the Persian and especially in respect of the Kings Negotiations in the East-Indies because that His Fleet must passe by
that they performed things most worthy to be committed to everlasting Memory namely their so frequent Compassing the Earth about their finding out of so many Islands and Continents and which is the most eminent piece of service of all the rest the Discovery of the New World yet did they never all this while take care to employ any Able person in the committing of these famous Acts of theirs to Memory and after the example of the Greeks and Romans to record them in Writing and transmit them over to the Perpetual Memory of Posterity Although that the Portugals have herein gone far beyond the Castilians for they have found out such able persons as have published abroad to the world their gallant Acts both in Latine and in their own Native Language The Second sort of Rewards should respect Profit and this I would have to be the Chiefest Dignity or place of Honour in the Kingdom that should be taken in the King whereof should be carried over into Spain and should there be instructed in the Catholick Religion and there should also be conferred upon him some Barony in Spain to the end that It might so be rendred the more Illustrious and also that the rest of the Indian Princes might be given to understand that we put not to death any of the Kings of such Countries as we subdue if that they will but embrace Our Religion as for instance Motecuma Atabalipa and some other petty Kings that we could name but rather use them with all courtesie and civility that may be For it is Fear of being put to death only that forces those Princes to take up Armes against the Spaniard Businesses of State do all contain in them some Certain thing the not knowing of which makes all other things both Difficult and also Vain and to no purpose as in sayling there are some that spread the sailes and others that ply their Oares and some again are imployed either in casting forth or taking in of Ballast yet are all these things to no purpose unlesse there be joyned with these an able Pilot who by his skilful steerage of the Vessel shall make good and set forward the Labours of all the rest And therefore Spain especially hath very great need of some Wise Person that should know in what thing chiefly consists the Stern as we may call it of the Kingdom without the knowledge whereof all Conceipts Contrivances Labours Charges and Consultations whatsoever will come to nothing After that Pope Clement the VIII began to think of making a Reformation among the Clergy all men were ready to put to their helping hand and assist in the framing of New Lawes Orders and Ceremonies together with appointing of Fasting daies and such Habits as every one should wear But I living at that time at St. Sabines told them plainly that all the endeavours of the Commissaries were vain seeing that the Rule it self was sufficient for the bringing about of all those things neither indeed did they know wherein the main point of the businesse lay I added moreover that the whole businesse of the Reformation consisted in this that no one particular person of the whole company in Monasteries or the like Religious Houses should have a Key or Lock to himself of his Cell but that there should be only One Common Key that should serve both for the Dormitory and also for every mans particular lodging For this would have been a means at once to have put an end to all Proprieties and to have kept out all Wanton Books Gifts and Obscene Poetry But when that the Chief and Principal Governours of this Ship once perceived that all this would redound to Their Losse there was none of Them then that would set his hand to the Stern nor come to the head of the matter but they would onely have some Lawes to be made concerning Novices only and such as were newly entred in Religion but would not hear of any thing at all that touched their own interest And so by this means the good Intention of the Pope was utterly frustrated and came to nothing The Kingdome of Spain therefore hath need of some Wise Palinurus by whose Conduct all things may be rightly managed according to the Rules before laid down Which certainly would much more tend to the advancement of the Majesty of its Empire then any Macchiavilian Suggestions and Cunning Devises whatsoever which have nothing of a Good Conscience in them at all and which besides serve as a Cloak only to disguise the Tyranny and Cruelty of Princes by arming them with the Law of Majesty and which countenance such Abuses as even not silly Women much lesse People that have been accustomed to Liberty can endure And therefore I cannot sufficiently wonder that there should be any that should so extol this Impious Politician to the heavens as they do as if His Writings were a Certain Rule and Idea of a Good and Happy Government And yet this I do not so much wonder as I am angry at when I see that most Vile Maxime in Politicks to be admitted in the Administration of State Affaires namely That some things are Lawful in respect of the State and others in respect of Conscience Then which Opinion there cannot certainly be imagined any thing to be either more Absurd or more Wicked For he that shall take away or restrain that Universal Jurisdiction that Conscience ought to have over All Things as well Publick as Private shewes thereby that he hath Neither any Conscience nor any God The very Beasts themselves are lead by a Natural Instinct to such things as are good for them and refuse whatsoever would be hurtful to them and should the Light of reason and the Dictate of Conscience which were given unto Man that He might know how to distinguish betwixt Good and Evill be utterly Blind in Publick Things and fail in businesses that are of the Greatest Moment I have had I confesse I know not what Itch upon me to give an account in writing of such Points as that Author ought to be chastised for with the Rod of Censure and not onely he himself but all his Disciples I mean the Counsellours of Princes and their nearest Favorites for certainly both all the Scandals of the Church of God and all the Perturbations and hurly burlies that have happened in the whole World have had their rise from hence But yet I have thought fit to hold my hand till some other time seeing that some others have written of the same Subject already very copiously and also because that the thing is of it self clear enough And therefore I fell upon another Design whereby I might Illustrate the Majesty of the Spanish Empire the conservation whereof is a businesse of much greater difficulty then the Acquisition For Humane Things do as it were Naturally encrease sometimes and sometimes again decrease after the example of the Moon to which they are all subject And therefore it is a
and likewise that all Commissions Proclamations and Petitions be published or written in no other Language but that This was also done heretofore by Charles the Great who having made himself Master of the Exarchate of Ravenna which He afterwards bestowed upon the Church He would have it called by the Name of Romania that so by degrees He might bring into disuse the Language and Customes of the Greeks to whom that People had been formerly subject and might withal implant in them the love both of the Roman Church and of the Roman Emperour And even the Great Turk also does not suffer any of the Inhabitants of Natolia to use any other Language but the Turkish save onely in their Church Services 25. Education also seemes to have a great stroke herein as being indeed as it were a second Nature by the meanes whereof strangers are in a manner Naturalized The King of Spain therefore should do well to take the Sons of the Nobility and Principal men as also such Poor mens sons ar are found to be endued with any extraordinary Natural Parts and to take order that they may be carefully brought up in some of the afore mentioned Seminaries in Spain either of Armes or of Arts. Alexander the Great finding the benefit of this course commanded that so many Thousands of the Peâ—sian Youth should be picked out and be Trained up in Learning the use of Armes in the Habit and Manners of the Macedonians conceiving that He should bâ— this meanes receive as much benefit by them when they were once grown up to be men as by his own Natural Subjects of Macedonia themselves After the same manner doth the Turk bring up his Ianizaries who are onely the Children of such of his Subjects as he hath conquered by war or else of Christians and Forreigners such as he can catch abroad at Sea which afterwards prove the most faithful Souldiers to him that ever he had And indeed these are the men to whom the Guard and Protection of the Emperours person is committed and these men doth the Great Turk make use of only in all Affaires of the greatest consequence where there is most need either of strength or Fidelity By meanes of the Turks thus bringing up of â—he sons of his subjects He makes two great Advantages to himself For first he deprives his unfaithful subjects of their strength and then secondly by that strength of theirs of which he hath deprived them he confirmeth his own 26. I would advise Our King not to despise or make light of any the least Commotions or Distempers among his Nobles or Subjects for all Mischiefs have but small Beginnings which yet if they be neglected and not looked unto in time will very probably bring Ruine with them in the end as we see the least Clouds in appearance at first do in the end produce most Horrid Tempests and storms 27. I would not have the King to assent to the Proposal of any thing that may introduce with it any Change or Innovation in the State for His very giving way to have the same deliberated upon addes both Authority and esteem to the same All the Troubles that havâ— befallen both in the Netherlands and in France took their Rise from Two little Books of which the one was read to Francis the Second King of France by Caspar Coligni and the other was presented to the Duchesse of Parma by the L. de Brederode 28. Let the King take heed how he ever exercises his Absolute Power among those people where His Ordinary Power will serve the turn well enough for That way of proceeding is proper to Tyrants only but this Later to Good Princes And indeed all Absolute and Extream Power may rather be said to be Tempest as then Potestas a Tempest rather then Power 29. Let there be all care taken about the chusing of the Ministers of State in those Countries that only such be made choyce of as are but just sufficient to discharge the Trust committed to them and that they be neither too much above it nor beneath it which we find to have been carefully observed by the Emperour Tiberius For those whose Abilities are above the Employment they are put upon will be apt to neglect the same as despising it and thinking it below them and then the other are not able to discharge it if they would Lastly Let Him never so much trust to any Peace as to make him quite lay aside his Armes for such an Vnarmed Peace would prove but a weak one Constantine the Great enjoying now a Settled Peace every where round about Him disbanded all the Souldiers that lay in Garrisons upon the Borders of his Empire by which means He set open a Gate for the Barbarous Nations to break in upon His Territories And in like manner Maximilian the First trusting too much to the Truce agreed upon betwixt Him and the Turk and thereupon laying down his Armes was the cause of the Ruine of very many Christians And thus have we discoursed of these Particulars as copiously as we thought was fit to be committed to Paper but as for the rest of those more Secret Particulars and which are more worthy of Observation I shall reserve them till some other time when it shall please his Majestie to admit me to his Presence and shall give me Audience concerning the same However in the mean time those things which we have here proposed are not to be omitted for unlesse by these Means here set down the Peoples good Affection towards their King be stirred up and cherished His Dominion in those parts will prove to be but like a Plant without any Root For as every the least Storm will be apt to overturn a Tree that hath no firm Root in the ground in like manner will every the least Occasion offered alienate the hearts of the Subjects from their Prince where they are but ill affected to Him before and will take them off from their Allegiance to their Natural Prince and being thenceforth hurried about by Fortune they will one while adhere to One and by and by again to Another And hence arise all the Mutations that we see in Kingdoms and States a most evident Example whereof we have in the Kingdom of France CHAP. XXVIII Of Africk THe Turk possesseth in Africk all Egypt Algier and Tunis The Kiâ—gdome of Fâ—z hath a peculiar King of its own who nothwithstanding might very easily be cast out of his Throne because that Mahumetanisme in those parts is divided into above sixty several Sects The rest of the Kings in Africk have but very small Dominions except only the King of the Abyssines who is commonly called Prester Iohn and hath above fifty smaller Kingdomes under him This King of the Abyssines is a Christian although He doth not professe the Pure Catholick Religion It is necessary therefore that Forces should be brought over thence into Spain seeing that the passage to and fro is very easie For our